Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 BJP general secretary and the party's state affairs in-charge Tarun Chugh joined Bandi Sanjay Kumar on the Praja Sangrama Yatra on Friday. (Photo: Facebook) HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday described the TRS as an ek Niranjan party, and declared that only byelections will bring development to any constituency in the state. Addressing a meeting at Ammanabrolu in Nakrekal constituency on his Praja Sangrama Yatra late in the evening, Sanjay said, If a byelection comes to Nakrekal, then this constituency will also see a sudden rush of fund releases, starting of development works in a hurry as is now being seen in Munugode. He said once it was confirmed that Munugode will face a bypoll, the government had announced the formation of Gattuppal mandal. When the BJP comes to power we will make Ammanabrolu a mandal, he added. He said the TRS was a party that is run by one person, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, and the ruling party is only concerned about the welfare of the Chief Ministers family, and not of the common people. Sanjay was joined by the state BJP in-charge and the partys national general secretary Tarun Chugh on the padayatra on Friday. and Meta (formerly Facebook), at the loggerheads over privacy changes in iOS and App Store, once planned to "build businesses together" where was in discussions with Mark Zuckerberg-run social network about how it could make more money from its ad revenue. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, and Facebook discussed "revenue-sharing arrangements, including a potential ad-free, subscription version of Facebook". They discussed creating a subscription-based version of Facebook that would be free of ads. Apple also reportedly argued that it deserved a cut of certain portions of Facebook's ad revenue from so-called "boosted posts". A boost allows a user to pay to increase the number of people that see a post on Facebook or Instagram. "Apple, which doesn't take a cut of advertising from developers, argued that Facebook boosts should be considered in-app purchases, according to a person familiar with the matter," the report said late on Friday. The tech giants could not reach an agreement on discussions that took place "mostly" between 2016 and 2018. Facebook is struggling to patch its ad-tracking systems after Apple brought tough privacy changes in its App Store. Apple introduced the "Ask App not to Track" prompt as part of iOS 14.5 in 2021 which has had a significant impact on various companies, including Meta which said that Apple iOS privacy changes will cost it a whopping $10 billion in 2022. "We believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion, so it's a pretty significant headwind for our business," Meta CFO David Wehner said earlier this year. Apple's iOS 14.5 update, released in April 2021, came with an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that has affected digital advertising for tech giants. According to the WSJ report, Apple's privacy move resulted in a "sharp business slump that has shaved approximately $600 billion from the company's (Meta's) market value in less than a year". A Meta spokesman said that the company has "made significant changes over the past five years to protect people's data while also allowing businesses of all sizes to grow". --IANS na/svn/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Li Xiongwei, CEO of Telecommunications (India), on Friday while responding to the Income Tax Departments position to his bail plea told a Delhi court, "I am a Chinese (national) and not a terrorist." His line came in reference to Shah Rukh Khan's line in movie, My name in Khan, where he had said, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist." The remark was made by Li's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal in the court where the I-T department had asked to rejected his bail plea, reported The . As India does not have an extradition treaty with China, if the India CEO leaves the nation, it would 'be very difficult' to bring him back, the I-T department told the court in an affidavit, adding that the investigation is not yet complete, reported ET. The department posted the affidavit after Li filed a plea seeking to quash a look-out circular issued against him. A look-out circular, or LOC, prevents a person from travelling abroad. It is used by authorities to prevent accused people from leaving the country; the person generally finds out about such curbs at the airport. Li's lawyer, objecting to the department's circular, said that it was 'disturbing' that the department was opposing the CEO's bail in a bailable offence, ET reported. issued against Li is a 'misuse of power', Aggarwal claimed, adding that it can only be issued for a cognisable offence, while the CEO's offence is non-cognisable. The I-T department said that the against Li was "correct and as per the provisions of law," adding that there are "no grounds for to be revoked in the present scenario," the ET report stated. The "rights of an individual needs to be balanced with safeguarding the interest of the prosecuting and investigating agencies. Foremost in the present case would be the economic interest of the country," the department's affidavit added. The court said that it would have to examine safeguards to ensure that the India CEO returns to India if he is allowed to visit . The court added, "What if tomorrow he flies (to China) and never returns?" quoted the newspaper. The court will pronounce its decision next week, as the bench enquired about Li's salary and asked his lawyer to ensure that sureties, both Indian nationals, are arranged by that time, reported ET. The court also enquired about Li's relatives and assets in India. Li's counsel has volunteered seven-day advance intimation to the department before leaving the country, ET reported. Telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, are in talks with the central government on harmonisation of the 5G spectrum, The Hindu BusinessLine reported on Friday. The telecom firms have started talks with the government over harmonisation of the 5G spectrum to reduce interference in the bands purchased by them in the auctions, a top executive with one of the operators told the business daily. This is the standard operating procedure after the conclusion of an auction. The discussions are happening on all spectrum bands, the executive told Hindu BusinessLine. The spectrum harmonisation process, critical for 5G services, brings together a bunch of radio wave holdings within a band into one contiguous block with the consensus of all telecom service providers. The harmonisation of the spectrum leads to greater efficiencies for players, as chunks of radio-wave holdings in one band are brought together or consolidated with the consensus of all players, PTI reported earlier. The auctions concluded on August 1, and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that the government would allocate radiowaves bought in the auction by August 12 and the first installment of payments by telcos will be due on August 17. and will encounter major interference issues in their spectrum bands and these issues will not be resolved by discussions with the government, an expert told BusinessLine. Speaking to BusinessLine, the expert added that is encountering interference issues in the 3.5GHz spectrum band due to the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System installation in six locations, in which case the harmonisation is out of question. He added that 3.5GHz is not free to use in some circles for both Bharti and Vi. Meanwhile, has a head start in the race over Airtel as it has bought additional spectrum in six specific circles to ensure it does not face interference issue in the spectrum band. In six cities, along with its surrounding geographies- Jio has punched a hole right in the middle of Bhartis 3.5GHz spectrum, by compelling them to buy spectrum that has navigation interference, the expert told BusinessLine. These six cities are Hassan in Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Shillong in North East, Jodhpur in Rajasthan, and Port Blair in West Bengal. Vi and Airtel are also encountering interference issues around international borders. An interference issue for means they will not be able to boast a seamless 5G network pan-India. Airtel and Vi could potentially deliberate spectrum sharing agreements in the band in a bid to ensure they both get a large quantity of contiguous spectrum, said experts, BusinessLine reported. Nearly one crore school children in created a world record by singing patriotic songs at the same time under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' campaign to celebrate the occasion of 75th in India. These students from different districts across the state sang patriotic songs simultaneously from 10:15 to 10:40 a.m. The main event took place at Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with 26,000 school children of the state capital. This achievement of children has been accorded a place in the World Book of Records. Pawan Kumar Goel, Additional Chief Secretary, Education Department, said that 67,000 government and 50,000 private schools of the state were included in this singing programme. Nearly one crore children studying from class 9 to 12 from all over the state simultaneously sang six patriotic songs for 25 minutes, Goel added. --IANS arc/khz/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Saturday reported the fifth case, a 22 year-old- who is currently under observation. Speaking to IANS, Suresh Kumar, MD, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, said the tested positive for the virus on Friday after she was admitted for showing symptoms of . He said the is currently under observation in the hospital. Out of the five cases in the capital, one patient has already been discharged after recovering, while four others continue being treated in the hospital. In the wake of the positive cases, the government has directed three private hospitals to create at least 10 isolation rooms each for the management of cases. confirmed its first monkeypox case on July 24, while the country's first-ever case was reported on July 14 in Kerala's Kollam district. --IANS avr/ksk/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A total of five people have died in Bhualpur village in Bihar's Saran district in suspicious circumstances and it is suspected that they had consumed spurious liquor, an official said on Saturday. "It is being said that these persons died after consuming alcohol however it is not yet confirmed if they actually drank it," Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Marhaura Saran, Yogendra Kumar said on Saturday. The incident took place on August 11. According to the SDM, three people were admitted to the hospital as they were reported sick, while the bodies of two among the five deceased were sent for postmortem at the Saran hospital. The deceased have been identified as Allauddin Khan, Kameshwar Mahato, Rohit Kumar Singh, Rajendra Ram, and Ram Laik Mahato. Around 10-12 people were arrested on Friday night after the police personnel raided the premises of the Marhaura area. Earlier on August 5, eight people were reported died and several others fell ill after consuming spurious liquor in Chhapra in the Saran district. People fell critically ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor and lost their eyesight. The incident was reported from Bhatha village under the Maker police station area in Saran. Following the incident, the Saran District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police met the victims at Sadar hospital. The officials also collected information from the villagers and the families as part of their investigation. Saran DM said that victims were being treated at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and a team of doctors and paramedical staff had been dispatched to the village to ascertain the cause of deaths. The superintendent of the hospital Dr I S Thakur had said that the villagers were tested through a breath analyzer and at least 35 others were sent to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Despite a liquor ban in the state since April 2016, several such incidents have been reported in the past. Earlier on August 2, two people died after consuming spurious liquor at Panapur police station. (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.) Nudged by the Supreme Court, the Patna High Court has withdrawn the suspension order of a judicial officer, who was penalised for completing a minor's rape trial in a record time of one day. The high court has also dropped the disciplinary proceedings against the judge. Shashi Kant Rai, an Additional Sessions Judge from Araria in Bihar, had moved the apex court through advocate Nitin Saluja challenging the suspension order issued by the high court. On August 8, the had asked the Patna High Court to drop all disciplinary proceedings against a suspended additional sessions judge from Bihar for deciding cases within days. A bench comprising justices U. U. Lalit and Ravindra Bhat told the counsel representing the high court: "Our sincere advice is to drop everything. If you don't want to, we'll go threadbare into it..". The bench said unless there are allegations of corruption and malafide only then disciplinary action is justified. Advocate Gaurav Agarwal, representing the high court, submitted that he would inform the high court. "There shouldn't be overzealousness to punish," Justice Bhat had added. Senior advocate Vikas Singh represented Rai in the apex court. Singh said his client was willing to submit a statement to the high court rebutting the charges against him. The top court orally told the high court's counsel, "He's only following up on his orders, extremely unfair on him...It sends a bad message to others, who are otherwise efficient". Citing the apex court order on August 8, the high court, in an order passed on August 12, said it will drop departmental proceedings against Rai, special judge POCSO-cum-additional district and sessions judge VI Araria, which was initiated against him on August 5. The high court also recalled the order of suspension issued against him in February this year and the renewal of suspension in August. On July 29, the top court issued a notice to the registrar general and the state government on the claim by Rai that his suspension order and the pending disciplinary proceedings against him recorded no reasons. Rai sought to quash the non-speaking suspension order dated February 8, 2022, issued by the Patna High Court and the purported disciplinary proceedings as mentioned therein, being malicious, illegal and arbitrary. --IANS ss/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.) on Saturday called for India to reiterate its support for the 'One-China' policy in the backdrop of the crisis in the Strait, a day after New Delhi suggested that there was no need for any "reiteration" on it. The comments by Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong came amid escalating tension between and following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-governing island last week. On the eastern Ladakh border standoff, the envoy said both sides should maintain dialogue and work for a mutually acceptable solution even as he noted that Beijing will work hard to bring the bilateral ties back to the "right track". "My understanding is that India's 'One China' policy has not changed...We hope that India can reiterate support for the 'One principle," he told a group of journalists. At a media briefing on Friday, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi avoided mentioning the 'One-China' policy, noting that India's position on "relevant" policies is well-known and consistent and they do not require reiteration. "India's relevant policies are well-known and consistent. They do not require reiteration," he said. Beijing has claimed that around 160 countries have reaffirmed their support to the "One China" policy following Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, an island that China considers its breakaway province. Though India supported the 'One China' policy, it has not reiterated the same publicly or in bilateral documents for over a decade. "We do hope that the Indian side will continue to stick to its independent foreign policy, understand and support China's just position and its efforts to maintain sovereignty and territorial integrity," Ambassador Sun said. He said the 'One China' policy is the basis for China-India relations and it is also the foundation of China's ties with all other countries. Sun said the US was attempting to violate China's sovereignty and territorial integrity To a question on China putting a technical hold on a move at the UN Security Council to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar as a global terrorist, Sun said it was done to study the proposal. He said China needs more time to analyse the listing application and it has done so as per laid down provisions. Asked about the return of Indian students to China to resume their studies, Sun said the first batch will be back in that country in "near future" as both sides are working on the matter. To a question on China developing massive military infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and instances of its military jets flying close to the LAC in the region, Sun did not give a direct reply. "For the overall bilateral relations, the significance of bilateral ties has to be understood by both sides, we will attach importance to China-India relations and work hard to bring it back to the right track," he said. "We hope that this kind of effort could be reciprocated from the other side and we do believe that when we achieve such kind of a target, it will definitely benefit not only both of us but also the region and the world," he added. The envoy said China is making all efforts to strengthen its communication with India and deepen understanding so as to avoid any kind of "misjudgement or misunderstanding". "It is natural for our two big neighbours to have differences. The important thing is how to handle this. I think we have all those guidelines by our leaders and also the channels that we discuss frankly," Sun said. "Differences should not be the whole picture of China-India relations, it should not define the bilateral relations," he said. Sun said President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to President Droupadi Murmu after she took charge of the top office. (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.) Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Saturday inaugurated 15 model smart schools of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and also handed over regularisation letters to 187 contractual sanitation workers of the civic body. Saxena reiterated his commitment to ensure upgradation of all primary schools run by the civic body by the year-end. The inaugural function at the Municipal Corporation Primary Co-educational School, Sector-8 in R K Puram was attended by Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, Special Officer of Ashwini Kumar, Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti and others. "Launch of 15 smart schools is the beginning of a new chapter which will fully unfold, with all schools of the becoming the best in their category," Saxena said on the occasion. The smart schools of MCD have been provided with modern building, furniture and IT-enabled interactive learning pedagogy. "These schools reflect how progressive and positive developments are taking place in primary education.... Computer education has become part and parcel of education even at the primary level. We will try to take this initiative to 1,000 more MCD schools by the end of this year," he said. In another function at the MCD headquarters, the lieutenant governor handed over regularisation letters to 187 sanitation workers engaged between 1998 and 2000. He also flagged off a 'Tiranga Rally' to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commemorating 75 years of India's independence. "It is a historic day as we are just two days away from completing 75 years of our independence. The wait of almost 22 years is over as 187 'Swachhta Sainiks' are being regularised today and in future, MCD will regularise the remaining daily wage sanitation workers against the vacant posts in a phased manner," Saxena said. The MCD had prepared a policy regarding the regularisation of sanitation workers in 1978. It was decided that the MCD will regularise the services of sanitation workers in a phased manner. Under the policy, temporary sanitation workers were regularised in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and in 2016. The MCD has given jobs to 109 dependants of deceased municipal employees in the Engineering department on compassionate grounds. In the last 10 years, the civic body has given jobs to a total of 2,810 people on compassionate grounds, he added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Instead of August 15, 1947, our Independence Day could well have been June 30, 1948. That was the hurried decision of Prime Minister Clement Atlee. Hurried, because acute nervousness descended on Westminster at the disturbing news from India. A mutiny had broken out in the Royal Indian Navy and it was spreading like wildfire. The pros and cons of this historic event are in Pramod Kapoors meticulously researched book 1946: The Last War of Independence, Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. The Congress was so gripped by paranoia that its government in West Bengal, as late as 1965, tried every trick in the book to stop Utpal Dutts Kallol from being staged. Despite the Congress obstructions, the play was staged at Minerva theatre to record audiences. One can understand the British empires desire to suppress the uprising. The puzzle is the Congress conspiracy of silence. A riveting part of the book is the conspiracy before the spark was ignited by the privates (non-commissioned personnel) and sailors. Who were the politicians involved? Where did the conspirators meet? How did they escape the British intelligence net comprising largely loyal Indians? In his advance praise for the book, filmmaker Shyam Benegal introduces an episode about one Balai Dutt, barely out of his teens, among the mutinys leaders. Later, Dutt, a staunch Communist, rose to become an advertising executive in Lintas, which Benegal joined as a copywriter. The book places something of a dampener on the romantic image many have nurtured of our national leaders Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel as fighters against the British. All of them appear more sympathetic to the British than to the ratings who ignited a massive rebellion against discrimination and poor rations. It was a popular uprising against the British. Why was the Congress opposed to it? What must have rung alarm bells in London and conservative Indians like Gandhi, Patel and Jinnah was the fact that the uprisings leadership was with the Communist Party of India. Leaders like S.A. Dange, who later became the partys secretary-general, were in the vanguard as were left-wing Congress leaders like Aruna Asaf Ali. Nehrus dilemma was acute. He was anxious about the Congress leftists: what if they deserted the party, weakening him? After extensive planning by the plotters (writes Kapoor), the fuse was ignited on Monday, 18 February. Kapoor extracts a quote from historian Sumit Sarkars Modern India: The afternoon of 20 February saw remarkable scenes of fraternisation, with crowds bringing food for the striking ratings at the Gateway of India and shopkeepers inviting them to take whatever they needed. And the Congress opposed this? The mutiny spread to 78 ships, 21 shore establishments and over 20,000 ratings. In less than 48 hours, it crippled one of the most formidable navies of the Second World War. There were pitched battles. Hundreds were killed. It severely impacted the leadership of the Congress and Muslim League. Freedom, they seemed to think, would come as a reward for good behaviour, not by scaring the British such as by sinking their armada. On the opposite side was a mesmerising, vocal galaxy Prithviraj Kapoor, Salil Chowdhry, Balraj Sahni, Zohra Sehgal, Utpal Dutt, Aruna Asaf Ali, Minoo Masani, Ashoka Mehta, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Josh Malihabadi, Sahir Ludhianvi, and a host of others. The Hindustan Standard of February 28 had its front page cluttered with the reactions of Congress leaders. Gandhis reaction was a banner across five columns. Aruna Asaf Alis call I would rather unite Hindus and Muslims at the barricades, than on the constitutional front invited a rejoinder from Gandhi. Gandhis response: The barricade life has to be followed by the Constitution. According to Gandhi, Aruna betrays want of foresight in disbelieving the British declarations and precipitating a quarrel in anticipation. The same page has Maulana Azad, then Congress president, arguing that the national spirit must not be suppressed. Sardar Patel, on the other hand, was worried about the mass awakening being exploited by others. Who are the others? That is the crux of the matter. That the Royal Indian Navy, the pride of the empire, was so vulnerable was disconcerting enough. What really set the cat among the pigeons in Westminster was the rapid gains being made by the Communists both in India and across the world. Although the Telangana uprising occupied newspaper headlines only in July 1946, intelligence reports on the massive underground network was available to the British much earlier. Beyond India, Maos revolution was in its final stages when the mutiny erupted in the Navy. In the 1940s-50s, as colonialism was receding, imperialism was being challenged by the Communist expansion in Korea, particularly after the Chinese crossed the Yalu river in 1950. In 1957, the first Communist government through the ballot box was installed in Kerala. Then came the Communist governments in West Bengal and Tripura. These events happened much later, but the imperial establishment had sensed that the wind was blowing in one direction. As soon as the mutiny expanded, Clement Atlees government in London dispatched the Cabinet Mission, replaced Lord Wavell as Viceroy by Lord Mountbatten, and set June 30, 1948, as the final date for Independence. Lord Mountbatten swiftly brought the date forward to August 15, 1947. He was quick to grasp the message from London: hand over power to the leaders the British had cultivated, the leaders who were people like us. Considering the Leftist wave sweeping the world since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, there was every danger of the ground being cut from under feet of the moderate politicians in India with whom the British Raj had struck a rapport. Farmers protesting here for the past five days over the non-payment of dues by a sugar mill lifted the blockade from the one side of the Jalandhar-Ludhiana stretch of the Highway-1 on Saturday. The decision came after Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said his government has withdrawn the letter of open auction of the Phagwara sugar mill property and directed the Kapurthala deputy commissioner to expedite direct registry of it. Dhaliwal had held a two-hour-long meeting with farmers' representatives and senior officials here late Friday evening. The open auction letter had become a bone of contention and angered the farmers, the minister had said. However, farmers said they will continue to block one side of the highway. Manjit Singh Rai, president of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba), and Satnam Singh Sahni, general secretary of the farmer body, on Saturday said blockades on roads leading to Hoshiarpur, Nakodar and Nawanshehar have also been lifted. Service lanes and other arterial routes were also cleared of any obstacle for the convenience of the public, they said. The one side of the Jalandhar-Ludhiana section of NH-1 had been blocked since Monday while the other side was blocked on Friday. The farmer leaders said they were given the government's letter through which the condition of open auction of sugar mill's Fatehabad property was withdrawn. They said the minister shared several other measures to be taken for making the mill management fall in line. However, the farmer leaders said a massive gathering of farmers from all over will be held here on 25 August if Rs 72 crore of cane farmers were not cleared by then. All 31 constituents of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha will take part in the massive morcha of 25 August, they said. They also said they have not called off their protest. "Our indefinite 'dharna' and partial blockade will continue," they said. "We have already been allowing school buses, emergency cases and ambulances during our earlier blockade," they said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The campaign initiated as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,' to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of independence will run till August 15. The Central government has urged people to hoist or display tricolour in their homes from August 13 to 15 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence. A citizen, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist or display the Flag on all days and occasions. There is no restriction on the timing of flag display. The government has amended the Flag Code of India to allow tricolour to be displayed in the open and on individual houses or buildings day and night. The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December last year allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags. Earlier, Indian citizens were allowed to hoist the flag only on select occasions. However, the change came after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal that ended with a Supreme Court judgement that came on January 23, 2004, which declared that it is the right of the citizen to fly the flag with respect and dignity within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Jindal lauded the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, while also appealing to every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens of the country to use 'Tiranga' as their profile picture on social media accounts between August 2 and August 15. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The has upheld the conviction of two journalists and a newspaper publisher in a criminal defamation case filed by bureaucrat Anant Kumar Singh over an interview published in 1994. Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh of the Lucknow bench of the high court, however, granted them the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act and released them on probation. The bench dismissed the revision petitions filed by reporter Raman Kripal, executive editor A K Bhattacharya as well as printer and publisher Sanjiv Kanvar challenging their conviction by lower courts. The matter pertains to an interview of Singh, the then district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar, published in The Pioneer and the Swatantra Bharat newspapers. In the interview, Singh was quoted as saying that it is a human tendency when a woman is seen at a lonely place in the jungle any man will be inclined to rape her. Though Singh had sent denial the same day saying that no such interview was given, they sat upon it for a week and later published it in the "Letter to Editor" column in a truncated form with the rejoinder of the reporter, further creating an impression that the interview was taken and the district magistrate had made the objectionable remarks. Singh later filed a defamation case. The special chief judicial magistrate, Lucknow had convicted and sentenced them in 2007. The court of additional sessions judge confirmed the conviction in 2012, against which the three had filed revision petitions in the high court in 2012. Dismissing the revision petitions on August 8, the high court considered the unconditional apology tendered by the applicants in the course of the hearing and provided them the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act. It further directed Kripal to pay Rs 1 lakh and Bhattacharya and Kanwar Rs 50,000 each to Singh within one 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 government Saturday sacked four employees including son of Syed Salahuddin, the self-styled chief of banned terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, and the wife of a jailed separatist who was also involved in fatal attack on minority community members. All the four have been dismissed for allegedly having links with forces working against India and spreading malicious propaganda, officials said. They have been dismissed under Article 311 of the Constitution which enables the government to sack its employees without any inquiry. Syed Abdul Mueed, son of Salahuddin (Syed Mohd Yusuf) and Manager (Information and Technology) at the Commerce and Industries Department, is among the dismissed employees. He is the third son of the Hizb chief to have been sacked from the government job. Syed Ahmed Shakeel and Shahid Yusuf were dismissed from service last year. According to the officials, Mueed has allegedly been found having a role in three terror attacks on the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) complex at Sempora in Pampore and his presence in the institution has led to increased sympathy with the secessionist forces. Assabah-ul-Arjamand Khan, the wife of Farooq Ahmed Dar alias 'Bitta Karate' and a 2011-batch Administrative Service officer (JKAS), is alleged to have been found involved in providing false information for seeking a passport. She is alleged to "have links with foreign people who have been indexed by the Indian security and intelligence to be on the payrolls of the ISI". Also her involvement in ferrying consignment of money for funding anti-India activities in Jammu and Kashmir has been reported, the officials said. 'Bitta Karate' has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2017 in a case related to terror-funding. He was also involved in the killings of several members of the minority community in the early 1990s. Also sacked from the government is Dr. Muheet Ahmad Bhat, posted as a scientist in the Post Graduate Department of Computer Science in Kashmir university. He is alleged to have been found involved in propagating secessionist-terrorist agenda in the university by radicalising students for advancing the programme and agenda of Pakistan and its proxies. Majid Hussain Qadri, a senior Assistant Professor in Kashmir University, is alleged to have a long association with terror organisations including the banned Lashker-e-Taiba. He had earlier been booked under the stringent Public Safety Act and figures in a number of FIRs related to various terror cases. Around 40 employees have been dismissed so far from the government services in Jammu and Kashmir. Prominent among them being the two sons Salahuddin and tainted deputy superintendent of police Devender Singh (now removed), who was caught with a most wanted terrorist and two others along Srinagar-Jammu highway. Officials said the sacking was effected after the Lt governor was satisfied, upon considering facts and circumstances of the cases and based on the information available, that the activities of these employees warrant dismissal from service under provision of Article 311 (2) (C) of the Constitution. Under this provision, the sacked employees can only approach the High Court with their plea against their dismissal. The process of dismissal began in April last year, a week after the Union Territory administration constituted a committee to investigate allegations of involvement of government employees in anti-State activities, and recommend dismissal of those found involved. (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.) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Saturday expressed concern over President testing positive for COVID-19 for the second time in two months. In a tweet, he wished her a speedy recovery. "Concerned about the health of Indian President Tmt (Mrs) who has tested positive for COVID-19. Wishing her a speedy and complete recovery. Hoping to see her back in action soon," he said. " President Smt. has tested positive for Covid-19 today. She will remain in isolation as per Govt. protocol," Congress general secretary had said in a tweet earlier in the day. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government has drafted a Rs 2,300 crore plan to provide facilities to around 10 lakh people living in areas under 18 urban local bodies of the state. The projects will be funded by agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme of the central government, an official release said here on Saturday. Urban Infrastructure Development Company (JUIDCO), a wing of the state urban development department, will implement the projects. The scheme will be completed in a stipulated time frame, as the government's priority is to provide pure to every urban citizen as soon as possible, State Urban Development Authority Director Amit Kumar said. JUIDCO Deputy General Manager Alok Mandal said the supply projects in Gumla, Lohardaga and Jamtara will be implemented with Rs 500 crore assistance from the Asian Development Bank. The same facilities will be developed for Rs 1,800 crore in 15 other urban local bodies including Barki Saraiya, Dhanwar, Domchanch, Kapali and Chhatarpur, the release said. Of them, the World Bank will provide financial support of Rs 1,200 crore for the projects in 13 towns, while Rs 600 crore will be spent under the AMRUT scheme in two others. AMRUT scheme under the Union ministry of Housing and urban affairs seeks to providing basic services like water supply, sewerage and urban transport to households and build amenities in cities. JUIDCO held a meeting of prospective bidders for the project here on Friday. The government recently said that it was working on a war footing to provide tap water connection to every rural household under the Jal Jeevan Mission by 2024. Jal Jeevan Mission under Union Jalshakti Ministry is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. (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.) Live news updates: The golden period of Indian sports is knocking on the doors, said Prime Minister on Saturday as he hailed the gutsy show of the Indian contingent which returned with 61 medals from the . Modi on Saturday hosted the Indian contingent at his residence to felicitate the players here. The Indian athletes produced a sensational show in Birmingham, claiming 61 medals, including 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze. The on Friday sought to remain equidistant from the BJP-led and the comprising the Congress, saying it is for the JD(U) and its allies to decide if they want as their prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear next week the plea of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which alleged that a smear campaign against the vaccination drive and modern medicines are being conducted in the country. A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari was told by a lawyer, representing the IMA, that a concerted effort is being made to discourage the vaccinations, including the COVID-19 jab drive, and the use of allopathic medicines in the country. The recent Chinese actions around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability, the White House said on Friday, adding that Beijing is going to continue its pressure campaign against . With an aim to empower rural women, the Churu district administration has launched 'Computer Sakhi' to train about 70,000 people for basic programmes and internet. The district administration has also written to the state government to provide RS-CIT ( State Certificate course in Information Technology) on priority so that the trained women could land jobs at the gram panchayat level. Around 6,500 women have already availed the training at government school laboratories and another batch is about to start next week. "We have 70,000 women involved with self-help groups. We aim to make them digital and financially literate so that they can play a positive role in society. We are using government school computer labs. We are utilising the existing infrastructure which is not incurring any additional cost," Churu District Collector Siddharth Sihag told PTI. He said there are 532 schools in Churu district and almost all of them have computer labs and teachers. "By the end of this year, we will have computer labs in all schools. Soon, they will also have internet connectivity," he said. Sihag said a proposal has been sent to the state government to give priority to these rural women associated with SHGs in RSCIT for proper certification. He said an in-principle approval has been granted. The pilot run for the programe was started in April with 1,000 women. Nodal Officer for the programme Sanjay Kumar said the training is given for 15 days during which internet, Google search, paint software, typing and UPI transactions are taught. The administration aims to train 25,000 to 30,000 women in the next six months, he said. Women, who have availed the training, are enthusiastic about the programme as it is helping them learn new skills. "My son studies in an English medium school and I did not know much about computers. This training has helped me learn the basics. I want to learn more and get a proper certification to land a job at the village level. A certification and guidance will be of great help," Daulat Kanwar (30), a resident of Bidsadar in Churu district, said. Kamla Devi (33), living in Ratangarh town of Churu, said not many women are familiar with computers. "This programme is not only helpful in basic computer knowledge, but it will also act as a feeder if linked with RS-CIT certification. This will be helpful in getting jobs," she 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.) Salman Rushdie was on a ventilator with damaged liver and may lose an eye after the Mumbai-born controversial author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man who apparently sympathised with Shia extremism and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar, a US of Lebanese origin, on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western . "The news is not good," the 75-year-old writer's agent, Andrew Wylie said about Rushdie's critical health condtion, sending shockwaves across the literary world which condemned the incident as an attack on freedom of expression. A profusely bleeding Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania and underwent surgery for several hours. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," Wylie told The Times. Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his novel "Midnight's Children", is still unable to speak, he said. The suspect, Matar, was from Fairview, New Jersey, State Police Troop Commander Major Eugene J Staniszewski said in a Friday evening news conference. Police are working with the FBI and local authorities to determine the motive. A preliminary review of Matar's social media accounts by law enforcement showed him to be sympathetic to Shia extremism and the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a law enforcement person with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. The officials say investigators found photos on Matar's phone of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Iraq's pro-Iranian militia movement, who were killed by US forces in a drone strike in Baghdad in 2020. Matar has since been charged with attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Saturday. He was arraigned on Friday night and remanded without bail, Schmidt said. We have been in touch with our counterparts in the State of New Jersey where the attacker is from to share information and assist them in helping us to better understand the planning and preparation which preceded the attack so that we and the different agencies involved can determine what, if any, additional charges should be asserted, the DA's office said. Authorities are also working to obtain search warrants for several items found at the scene, including a backpack and electronic devices, Staniszewski said. Authorities believe the suspect was alone but are investigating "to make sure that was the case," Staniszewski said, adding that authorities will determine "appropriate charges" as the investigation continues. Rushdie's fourth book The Satanic Verses in 1988 forced him into hiding for nine years. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused Rushdie of blasphemy over the book and in 1989 issued a fatwa against him, calling for his death. Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. Rushdie was stabbed as he was on the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, a not-for-profit community on Chautauqua Lake in southwestern state. Staniszewski said Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. Rushdie was about to speak at the special Chautauqua Lecture Series event exploring the theme of "More than Shelter" for a "discussion on the United States as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression". He was joined by Henry Reese, co-founder of the Pittsburgh nonprofit City of Asylum, the largest residency programme in the world for writers living in exile under the threat of persecution. Staniszewski said at approximately 10:47 am local time, Rushdie and Reese (73) had just arrived on stage at the Chautauqua Institution for the event. "Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped onto the stage and attacked Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen." Reese was transported via ambulance to a local hospital, treated for facial injuries and subsequently released, authorities said. "We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time," Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House tweeted. US Security Advisor Jake Sulliving denounced the appalling attack and said members of the Biden-Harris administration were praying for his speedy recovery. A leading literary organisation expressed shock and horror at the brutal, premeditated attack on Rushdie. PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil, she said. Cautauqua Institution president Michael Hill said the organisation is holding Rushdie and Reese as well as their families "close in prayer at this hour". "What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history..." "Today, we are called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits. Hate," Hill said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on Saturday staged a protest here, demanding release of Sikh prisoners who have completed their terms. A memorandum in this regard was also submitted to the deputy commissioner. In the morning, a large number of the SGPC members and employees led by SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami took out a protest march from the Golden Plaza, outside of Golden Temple. They all had donned black turbans and were carrying placards demanding the immediate release of 'bandi Singhs' (Sikh prisoners). The march passed through different areas of the city and then reached the Deputy Commissioner Office for submitting the memorandum, which was received by the Subdivisional magistrate on the behalf of the commissioner. The memorandum was addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said SGPC secretary Kulwinder Singh Ramdas. On August 10, when the SGPC had decided to hold this protest, Dhami said that the made over 80 per cent sacrifices for the freedom of the country, but sadly they are being "alienated for the last 75 years. "An example of this discrimination is keeping the Bandi Singhs behind bars for the last three decades where they have served more than their life sentence," he said. The Constitution of the country gives equal rights to every citizen but the governments' attitude towards the has remained negative. It is due to this anti-Sikh attitude that justice is not being given to imprisoned for the last 30 years", Dhami had 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.) will soon list its land holding company on the exchanges after receiving the corporate ministrys approval. On the other hand, The Income-tax department on late Friday said that tax collections from corporates soared 34 per cent in first four months of the fiscal over that in the equivalent period in 2021-22. Read more on these in our top headlines. to list land holding company, clearing way for privatisation will soon list its land holding company on the exchanges after receiving the corporate ministrys approval, helping efforts for the privatisation of the defence public sector undertaking (PSU). Hiving off BEML's non-core assets into the land holding company required approval from the West Bengal and Karnataka governments. All approvals were received on August 2, an official said. Read more Get ready for 5G at Rs 10k next year: Qualcomm India chief Global giant Qualcomm dominates the Indian chip market for mobile phones. It works with most of the key mobile device players and telcos. Rajen Vagadia, president of Qualcomm India & SAARC, describes how the 5G ecosystem and consumer case uses across brands will evolve in an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta. Read more Corporate tax collection soars 34% between April and July: I-T dept The Income-tax department on late Friday said that tax collections from corporates soared 34 per cent in first four months of the fiscal over that in the equivalent period in 2021-22, indicating that the simplified tax regime with low rates and no exemptions has lived up to its promise, the department said. Read more Two more proxy firms for Vijay Shekhar Sharma's ouster as Paytm CEO A day after Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) wanted shareholders to vote against the reappointment of Vijay Shekhar Sharma as CEO and MD of Paytm, two more proxy advisory firms have followed suit. Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) and InGovern Research Services have both recommended that public shareholders defeat the resolution. Read more RBI's digital-lending rules: Paytm's BNPL biz may need operational tweaks The buy now, pay later (BNPL) business of Paytm may need some operational tweaks to comply with the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) digital lending guidelines, even as the firms merchant and personal loans business is completely in sync with the new norms, analysts say. Currently, under Paytm Postpaid, loans are not directly disbursed to the customer's account. Instead, these are disbursed to a nodal account, from where the payments firm routes them to the merchants account. Read more Health Minister Dr K. Sudhakar on Friday appealed to people to, amid this Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav, pledge to donate their organs which could be the "amrit" of someone's life. "Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will also take an organ donation pledge. I too along with other officials will also take a pledge along with CM Bommai at the event on Saturday," he said at a press conference here. "We call blood donation a great donation. I would like to go one step ahead and say organ donation is the most superior donation. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi also has appealed to citizens of India during one of his Mann Ki Baat addresses." The minister said that an awareness programme will be held where a human chain will be formed from Bengaluru's Mekhri Circle to Freedom Park on Saturday to mark the World Organ Donation Day. The human chain will consist of over 5,000 which would include students, youth and ASHA workers to express cooperation amongst people, he added. In addition to this, several stakeholders from the field of health and medicine will stand in the shape of kidneys at Tripura Vasini grounds from 8 to 8.15 a.m. to raise awareness, Sudhakar said. Also, CM Bommai will be felicitating family members who donated the organs of their loved ones who unfortunately had been declared brain dead, at an event that will be held in Vidhana Soudha. Additionally, those who were the recipients of the organs will also share their thoughts on the occasion, he added. Calling for to become a role model in organ donation, Sudhakar said that is heartening to see so many come forward to pledge for this. "Even our beloved Puneeth Rajkumar's eye donation has helped restore vision to five people. Organs of actor Sanchari Vijay have helped save five people," he added. --IANS mka/vd (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.) Shocked over the attack on Salman Rushdie, the literary world on Saturday spoke in unison against the violence and stressed upholding while wishing a speedy recovery to the Booker Prize-winning author. The Mumbai-born controversial author, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing 'The Satanic Verses', was stabbed by a 24-year-old man on Friday while he was being introduced at an event in New York in the US. Geetanjali Shree, the first Indian to join the esteemed club of International Booker-winning authors, described the attack on Rushdie as an "inexcusable and inhuman" act. "Where is humanity going? A day of such distress, such shame. We pray for the fast recovery of this votary of democracy and . Violence must not be allowed to become the way of dealing with difference of opinion," Shree told PTI. Shree was in news last month when an event to honour her in Agra was cancelled following a controversy over the content of her award-winning novel "Ret Samadhi" which was translated into English as "Tomb of Sand". Though the motive behind the attack on Rushdie is yet to be ascertained, it is widely suspected that it has got to do with his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses". The 1998 novel, which earned Rushdie a Whitbread Book Award, forced him into hiding for nine years as a massive controversy erupted after the release of the book with several Muslims seeing it as blasphemous. A year after the book's publication, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution for publishing the book for its blasphemous content. Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. India, under the Rajiv Gandhi-led government, had banned the book. Put under police protection in Britain after the issuance of the fatwa, Rushdie spent the most part of the next decade in hiding before the government of Iran in 1998 declared that it no longer backed the fatwa. He has recounted the experience in his 2012 memoir "Joseph Anton", named after his alias while in hiding. But the fear of living under constant threat, as felt by Rushdie, can be possibly understood by exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. The 59-year-old author, who has been living in exile for the last 27 years after the ban of her book "Lajja" and subsequent fatwa for allegedly offending religious sentiments, posted a string of tweets condemning the attack on Rushdie. She expressed fear for the life of anyone critical of Isalm across the world. "I just learned that Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York. I am really shocked. I never thought it would happen. He has been living in the West, and he has been protected since 1989. If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked. I am worried," she tweeted. Sanjoy K Roy, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) that grabbed headlines in 2012 for the proposed visit of Rushdie and the subsequent protests, said, "It is not an attack on a writer but on a civilization and shows the vulnerability of anybody who presents a different narrative from the one that's acceptable". "Violence has become acceptable, be it in America, Europe or wherever, and that is sad," Roy told PTI. Recalling how "politics, violence and mob mentality" made it impossible for them to host Rushdie at JLF in 2012, the festival co-director and noted author Namita Gokhale said his books remain a seminal influence on contemporary South Asian writing and "this barbaric act cannot silence his creative voice". Rushdie, who visited the JLF in 2007, and was set to attend the festival in 2012 as well, eventually had to pull back citing protests from Muslim organisations and intelligence inputs by the host state Rajasthan. Even his scheduled video address had to be cancelled following threats to the festival. "His presence at the JLF was thwarted by politics, and the violent mob mentality of those who had perhaps not even read the book made it impossible for us to host him. We salute his courage and literary genius," she told PTI. The who's who of the literati world, including eminent authors Neil Gaiman, Amitav Ghosh, Stephen King, and Jean Guerrero took to Twitter showing solidarity with Rushdie and wishing him a speedy recovery. "I fervently hope that Salman Rushdie pulls through. He's funny, brilliant, and dry, he has written beautiful wise books and I wish the people who think they hate him would read his words. (You don't hate Salman, who is a real person. You hate someone in your mind who has never existed.)," tweeted English author Neil Gaiman. Even those in the publishing industry, be it Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut Books, who worked with Rushdie briefly, and Meru Gokhale of Penguin Random House India (PRHI) said they are deeply upset with this "terrible act" -- one that they did fear about but never thought would happen in reality. "We are very much thinking of Salman's well-being as he recovers from this terrible attack, which took place while he was doing what do, engaging with readers in the public sphere. We are honoured to have been his publishers over many years," Gokhale told PTI. Rushdie's next novel "Victory City", is scheduled to release next year. He has authored 14 novels, including 'Midnight's Children' (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), and four non-fiction works so far. (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 Central government has reinstated controversial IAS officer Shah Faesal and appointed him as Deputy Secretary in the . The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in its order issued two days ago appointed Faesal in the Union Tourism Ministry, a senior DoPT official told ANI. The Centre's move comes four months after it accepted Faesal's application for withdrawing his resignation and reinstated him in the service in April. Faesal, a 2010 batch IAS topper of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre, now AGMUT, had resigned from the services in January 2019 and joined politics, which he later quit in August 2020. Faesal floated the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) party soon after submitting his resignation. He was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act immediately after the abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, after his release, the doctor-turned-bureaucrat gave up politics and started dropping hints of his willingness to rejoin government service. His resignation had not been accepted. On 27 April, Faesal, taking to Twitter, expressed that his idealism had let him down. "8 months of my life (Jan 2019-Aug 2019) created so much baggage that I was almost finished. While chasing a chimera, I lost almost everything that I had built over the years. Job. Friends. Reputation. Public goodwill. But I never lost hope. My idealism had let me down," he had tweeted. The eight months he mentioned in his tweet was the period after his resignation, which he spent launching his party. Faesal is the first UPSC topper from Jammu and Kashmir. He came into the limelight for the first time after topping the Civil Service Exam. (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.) 75 years ago, India stepped into a new dawn. With the economy in turmoil, the country's founding fathers made a commitment to themselves and its citizens to bring this country at par with the big, more prosperous countries. Ravaged by 200 years of colonial rule, the task at hand seemed difficult and far-fetched. Yet as it completes 75 years of independence, India is a force to reckon with. And the numbers speak for themselves. According to World Bank, India is the sixth largest country in the world by gross domestic product (GDP), with a size of around $3.17 trillion. Since 1950, the (PCI) has jumped over 500 times. In 1950, it stood at Rs 265. It increased to Rs 1,28,829 in 2020-21. Since the fold of the new millennium, in 2000-01, when it was Rs 18,667, the PCI has jumped seven times, the 2020-21 showed. India's foreign reserves, which serve as a cushion against the shocks from the external world in today's globalised world, have jumped 335 times since its independence. Since 1990 alone, when India opened up to the world through its liberalisation, globalisation, and privatisation (LPG) reforms, the forex has jumped 60 times. In 1951-52, the forex stood at $ 1.82 billion. By 2021-22 it has risen to $607 billion, the fourth highest in the world. These foreign reserves have also helped the country maintain stability despite the disruption caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine. True to its name 'Spice Basket of the World', India today meets 75 per cent of the global demand for spices through exports. Since 1950, spice exports have grown 15 times in quantity and 120 times in value. The quantity exported has significantly increased nearly eight times since 2000-01. According to 2021-22, India's spice exports were 47.2 thousand tonnes in 1950-51. In 2020-21, the number was 1,607 thousand tonnes. The value of these exports rose from Rs 17 crore in 1950 to Rs 29,529 crore in 2020-21. Along with the spices, India has massively improved the per capita availability of edible oil, despite facing a population boom in the 1970s. From 3.2 kg in 1960, the per capita edible oil availability has improved 6-fold to 19.7 kg. Much of it can be credited to the National Food Security Mission launched in 2007. The mission facilitated improvement in the production of oil seeds in the country to decrease the dependence on imports. In 2020-21, the country produced 38.5 million tonnes of oilseeds. India has also shown signs of tremendous growth in the textile sector. The per capita cloth availability has increased 3.5 times from 15 metres in 1960-61 to 53.33 metres in 2019-20. The government has also allocated Rs 10,683 crore under the Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the textile sector to encourage production and improve the supply chain in India. Also, with the wheels of the economy spinning, more and more Indians have found themselves capable of buying their own vehicles. The number of vehicle registrations in the country jumped from 300,000 in 1951 to 29 million in 2019. Vehicle registration has seen a growth rate of 9.91 per cent in the last ten years. British Prime Minister expressed his shock at author Salman Rushdie being stabbed by a man at an event in New York on Friday and condemned the attack on his freedom of expression. "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend," Johnson said in a tweet. "Right now, my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay," he said. Former chancellor and the contender to succeed Johnson as the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, also took to Twitter to express his shock. "Shocked to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie in New York. A champion of free speech and artistic freedom. He's in our thoughts tonight," Sunak said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the other finalist in the Conservative Party leadership election, said: "Disgraceful attack on Sir Salman Rushdie. People must be able to speak freely and freedom of speech must be defended. "My thoughts are with him, his family and loved ones." In a statement, Rushdie's publishers at Penguin Random House said: "We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time." Rushdie, the Mumbai-born controversial author who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was "still undergoing surgery", several hours after being stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident at an event in western New York State. Hadi Matar (24) from Fairview, New Jersey has been identified as the suspect who stabbed Rushdie, the New York State Police said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The recent Chinese actions around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability, the said on Friday, adding that Beijing is going to continue its pressure campaign against . "China's actions are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability. They are part of an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan, which has not ended, and we expect it to continue to unfold in the coming weeks and months. The goal of this campaign is clear -- to intimidate and coerce and undermine its resilience," Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo Pacific, told reporters during a conference call. The United States, he said, will continue to take calm and resolute steps to uphold peace and stability in the face of Beijing's ongoing efforts to undermine it, and to support Taiwan, in line with its longstanding policy. "These steps, across a range of areas, will unfold over the coming weeks and months because the challenge is long term. We will not be reflexive or knee-jerk, we will be patient and effective," Campbell said. America, he said, will continue to fly, sail and operate where law allows, consistent with its longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation, and that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks. "We will continue to fulfil our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes supporting Taiwan's self-defence and maintaining our own capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise Taiwan's security, economy or society," Campbell said. Referring to the Chinese decisions to suspend climate change talks with the US and closing other channels of communications, Campbell called on Beijing to reopen those channels. There are a large number of countries that are keenly interested in preserving that peace and stability, he said in response to a question, adding, "I will leave it at that, in terms of our consultations and engagements with those partners, specifically." "The Taiwan Relations Act requires us to provide appropriate defensive articles and capabilities to Taiwan. And those articles are designed to most effectively engage on those defence issues that are related to the evolving security circumstances that Taiwan faces," Campbell noted. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese officials are planning for President Xi Jinping to visit Southeast Asian nations and meet face-to-face with US President Joe Biden in November, Wall Street Journal reported. This visit comes after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan which has irked the Chinese government and in response, they launched a military drill around the self-ruled island. This visit would mark the Chinese leader's first trip in nearly three years and his first in-person meeting with Biden since the American leader's inauguration. According to the publication, this trip preparations suggest that Xi is confident about his fortunes at a twice-a-decade congress set to take place this fall, where he is expected to break with recent precedent and claim a third term as Communist Party chief. The Chinese leader is first expected to conclude the party Congress and then would likely attend a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations on the Indonesian island of Bali from November 15 to 16. And after two days, Xi is expected to travel to Bangkok, Thailand's capital to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, they said. However, the plans can change as it is still at the early stage and the part of preparations is to prepare a possible meeting between Xi and Biden on the sidelines of one of the two summits, the people said. " supports Indonesia and Thailand as the hosts of the two conferences, and is willing to work with all parties to promote the conference to achieve positive results," China's Foreign Ministry said in a response to The Wall Street Journal's question on Xi's potential trip. Meanwhile, the White House said that the two leaders discussed a possible face-to-face meeting during their recent call and agreed to have their teams follow up to sort out the specifics. The official declined to provide details on the time or location, according to Wall Street Journal. Recently, when Pelosi visited Taiwan against China's wishes, Beijing started holding large-scale military exercises while threatening to take over the self-ruled island. After more than a week-long training near Taiwan, on Wednesday announced that it has concluded its military drills, simulating an attack on the island. PLA's Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed various missions during recent drills around Taiwan and effectively tested the troops' joint operation combat capacity, state media outlet Global Times reported. The Chinese military said they will regularly organize combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait. Justifying its large-scale military drills and airspace violations in the East and South sea, China said that after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the country is now preparing itself for every possible scenario. Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Pelosi's Taiwan visit is a major provocation that upgraded US-Taiwan relations and a real threat to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity adding that China has to prepare itself for every possible scenario. Recently, on Friday, as many as 24 Chinese aircraft and six vessels were detected by the Taiwan Defence Ministry near its territory, two days after China halted its large-scale military drills near the self-ruled island. (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 federal judge has reinstated a moratorium on coal leasing from federal lands that was imposed under former President Barack Obama and then scuttled under former President . Friday's ruling from US District Judge Brian Morris requires government officials to complete a new environmental review before they can resume coal sales from federal lands. Few leases have been sold in recent years as coal demand shrank drastically. But the industry's opponents had urged Morris to revive the Obama-era moratorium to ensure it can't make a comeback as wildfires, drought, rising sea levels and other effects of climate change worsen. The coal program brought in USD 387 million for federal and state coffers through royalties and other payments in 2020, according to government data. It supports thousands of jobs and has been fiercely defended by industry representatives, Republicans in Congress and officials in coal producing states. Among President Joe Biden's first actions in his first week in office was to suspend oil and gas lease sales a move later blocked by a federal judge and he faced pressure from environmental groups to take similar action against coal. The administration last year launched a review of climate damage from coal mining on public lands as it expanded scrutiny of government fossil fuel sales that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Extracting and burning fossil fuels from federal land generates the equivalent of 1.4 billion tons (1.3 billion metric tons) annually of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, according to a 2018 report from the US Geological Survey. That's equivalent to almost one-quarter of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. (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 President Donald Trump's companies ex-Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Allen Weisselberg, the long-time business associate at the Trump Organization, is still facing a variety of criminal charges related to tax evasion allegations after he failed in a New York court this week at getting the charges levelled against him by the District Attorney (DA) dismissed. Manhattan Judge of New York district Juan Merchan rejected arguments from Weisselberg that insufficient evidence underlined his charges. Weisselberg's lawyers also previously suggested his prosecution was the result of vendetta-fuelled witness testimony from someone who, although apparently unnamed in publicly available arguments. Revelations sat behind key investigative efforts targeting the Trump Organization, including the Manhattan-based criminal investigation that culminated in part in the criminal charges against Weisselberg in a case in which the Trump company itself was included as a co-defendant. Weisselberg stands accused of evading the required taxes on hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits related to his work for Trump, the Bipartisan Report said. Bipartisan is a liberal bias website founded by the owners of Costco Wholesale stores chain in the US which accepts emails from people. It calls itself Bringing the News portal even as Republicans have accused the portal of being partisan and lacking transparency. Over 15 years, Weisselberg allegedly benefited from $359,058 covering tuition costs for multiple family members of his, $196,245 for car lease charges, $29,400 in unreported cash, and a variety of additional personal expenses. The Trump company itself alleged the charges, which were filed by the Manhattan district attorney's office, as a case "neither the IRS nor any other District Attorney would ever think of bringing". The district attorney's team says the case "at its core, is ordinary" -- rather than an angry, anti-Trump political initiative. The Trump company and a connected company dealing with payroll saw a charge of criminal tax fraud in the fourth degree dismissed -- seemingly with prosecutors' agreement, because of the relevant statute of limitations, but all of Weisselberg's charges stand after his motions to dismiss failed. Weisselberg's trial is scheduled for the near future, with jury selection slated to begin on October 24. Weisselberg's charges, as reported by 'Law & Crime', include conspiracy, grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. Previous revelations from Cohen also helped drive a civil investigation into the Trump family business from New York state Attorney General Letitia James, whose probe is focusing on issues including the Trump Organization's apparent "deceptive representations of values of key assets, including conservation easements at Trump-owned properties in California and New York". Those "deceptive valuations" were posed to provide financial benefits for the Trump company like tax breaks, which the company obtained through providing the deceptive values for the conservation easements to tax authorities. After losing a multi-stage judicial fight to stop depositions of Donald and two of his adult children, the former president recently sat for questioning in the James investigation -- and pleaded the Fifth Amendment over 400 times. This week's hearing in the Manhattan criminal case at which Weisselberg lost his attempt to undo the charges against him was the first time he and the Trump Organization appeared in court in this case in almost a year. Another hearing in the case will be taking place September 12, where a motion from Weisselberg will be deliberated over. The Trump exec's push is to suppress statements he made while initially in custody in July of last year from usage in the proceedings against him. At that time, he evidently admitted to living in Manhattan -- within the bounds of New York City -- since 2005, and spoke of the cost of education, which he seemingly defensively referred to as "expensive", the Bipartisan report claimed. In the meantime, Merchan indicated a written order outlining his decision-making process regarding this week's matters would be forthcoming. Weisselberg's indictment includes 15 felony criminal charges. He is also accused of hiding his New York City residency and thereby evading city income taxes. --IANS ashe/pgh (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The seized classified material from in a search that has thrown US into turmoil, and court filings revealed the former president may be under investigation for mishandling government records and potentially compromising national security information. Court documents unsealed by a judge Friday shed new light on Trumps legal exposure in the latest of a string of investigations into his activities as a businessman, sitting president, and ex-officeholder and deepens his legal troubles on the eve of a potential third bid for the White House. The list of information seized during Mondays search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida includes documents that bore the US governments highest top-secret rating, and prosecutors indicated they are exploring possible violations of the federal Espionage Act among other allegations. The seized TS/SCI documents, which stands for top-secret and sensitive compartmented information, a government label for material gathered through sensitive intelligence sources or methods. The items were taken during the execution of a search warrant signed by a Florida judge earlier this week that was immediately attacked by Trump and his Republican allies as a political move by the administration of his successor, President Joe Biden. The White House has said that Biden wasnt told in advance about the search. The search has galvanized some in the Republican Party as it intensifies its campaign to retake Congress and bolster Trump for a possible 2024 run. Trump suggested the search warrant -- which a federal judge had to sign off on after finding probable cause that a search would yield evidence of crimes -- was politically motivated. The former president and some conservative commentators also floated baseless conspiracy theories that agents might have planted evidence. In an effort to calm the outcry from Trump allies about the search of the Florida compound, US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday asked the judge to unseal the warrant. Trump said in a posting on social media Thursday night that he supported the release of the documents. US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart unsealed the documents Friday. Prosecutors said they were searching for evidence of violations of three specific federal criminal laws: 18 USC 793, which is part of the Espionage Act and makes it a crime to remove or misuse information related to national defense; 18 USC 2071, which makes it a crime to hide, damage, or destroy government records; and 18 USC 1519, which makes it a crime to falsify, destroy, or cover up records to obstruct or interfere with a federal investigation or proper administration of any matter under the jurisdiction of an agency. Ryan Goodman, professor of law at New York University, said that the Espionage Act is the most serious federal offense anyone can imagine. There are limits to what the president can do unilaterally and this signals an order of magnitude even above what the president can do alone, said Goodman. It raises the stakes enormously in terms of the pending criminal investigation, he said. The judge authorized agents to gather any documents with classification markings as well as information about how national defense information or classified material had been stored and handled. The judge also gave agents leeway to collect any other government records created between the day Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2017 and when he left four years later that might be evidence of violations of the Espionage Act or other document-related crimes under investigation. An FBI property receipt didnt elaborate on the nature of the classified files. But taken together, the warrant and the receipt gave a glimpse of the DOJs rationale in searching the home of a former president -- a step that provoked outrage from Trump and his allies and alarm among national-security specialists that national secrets had been left at risk of exposure. All three potential offenses cited in the warrant are felony crimes. The obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The Espionage Act crime has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and the catch-all offense for destroying government records carries up to three years behind bars. The records destruction statute also states that a person found guilty shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States, but legal scholars have largely agreed that its unlikely that punishment could apply to the presidency, since the Constitution directly spells out what qualifies, or disqualifies, a person for that office. Included in the materials removed from Trumps home Monday were 11 sets of documents labeled classified, confidential, secret and top secret included in about 20 boxes. Other items listed included a handwritten note, the executive clemency grant for Trump confidante Roger Stone, photos, and information about the President of France. Shortly before Reinhart ordered the documents unsealed, Trump issued a statement claiming that the information was declassified. Number one, it was all declassified, Trump said. Number two, they didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. Some of the former presidents supporters have claimed he has the power to declassify documents on his own. While a president can request or initiate a declassification, the original classifying agency must undergo a process to complete the declassification, according to former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade.Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said the records were ordinary or declassified. A representative for the Justice Department didnt immediately reply to a message seeking comment. This raid of President Trumps home was not just unprecedented, but unnecessary -- and now they are leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponization of government against their dominant political opponent, Budowich said in a statement. The US National Archives and Records Administration had ongoing communications with Trumps representatives throughout 2021, which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes to NARA in January 2022, Archivist David Ferriero wrote in his Feb. 18th letter to House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, which prompted NARA staff to contact the Justice Department and resulted in the investigation that lead to the FBIs search on Monday. It was only after archivists began indexing those recovered records that they discovered the boxes contained classified national security information, Archivist David Ferriero wrote in his Feb. 18th letter to House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, which prompted NARA staff to contact the Justice Department and resulted in the investigation that lead to the FBIs search on Monday. The Justice Department did not ask to unseal an underlying affidavit that prosecutors had to file in seeking the search warrant that would have laid out more details about what they were investigating and what evidence they already had. Trump allies have been calling for that document to be released once DOJ announced it wouldnt object to sharing the warrant, but experts say its likely officials will want to keep that under wraps to protect the ongoing investigation. A man went on a rampage in the streets of this western Montenegro city on Friday, killing 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead by a passerby, officials said. Montenegrin police chief Zoran Brdjanin said in a video statement shared with media that the attacker was a 34-year-old man he identified only by his initials, VB. Brdjanin said the man used a hunting rifle to first shoot to death two children aged 8 and 11 and their mother, who lived as tenants in the attacker's house in Cetinje's Medovina neighbourhood. The shooter then walked into the street and randomly shot 13 more people, seven of them fatally, the chief said. "At the moment, it is unclear what provoked VB to commit this atrocious act," Brdjanin said. Andrijana Nastic, the prosecutor coordinating the crime scene investigation, told journalists that the gunman was killed by a passerby and that a police officer was among the wounded. Cetinje, the seat of Montenegro's former royal government, is 36 kilometres (22 miles) west of Podogrica, the current capital of the small Balkan nation. Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic wrote on his Telegram channel that the incident was "an unprecedented tragedy" and urged the nation "to be, in their thoughts, with the families of the innocent victims, their relatives, friends and all the people of Cetinje". President Milo Djukanovic said on Twitter that he was "deeply moved by the news of the terrible tragedy" in Cetinje, calling for "solidarity" with the families who lost loved-ones in the incident. (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 Sri Lankan government has allowed a high-tech Chinese research ship to dock at the southern port of Hambantota from August 16 till 22, official sources here said on Saturday, days after it asked Beijing to defer the portcall amidst India's concern over the vessel's presence in its neighbourhood. The Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship, 'Yuan Wang 5', was earlier scheduled to arrive on Thursday and remain at the port until August 17 for replenishment. However, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry requested the Chinese embassy here last week to postpone the vessel's visit following security concerns raised by India. Subsequently, the vessel did not dock at the Hambantota port on Thursday as planned. According to the sources, the government has finally permitted the ship to dock at the port. It will now arrive on August 16 and remain at the port till August 22, they said. The ship was awaiting clearance to enter from its location 600 nautical miles away east of Hambantota. Meanwhile, the matter created much controversy in the island nation with the Opposition blaming the government for what they termed mishandling of the issue. The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota is considered strategically important for its location. The port has been developed largely with Chinese loans. India has said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests. New Delhi is concerned about the possibility of the ship's tracking systems attempting to snoop on Indian installations while being on its way to the Sri Lankan port. India has traditionally taken a stern view of Chinese military vessels in the Indian Ocean and has protested such visits with in the past. The ties between India and came under strain after Colombo gave permission to a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to dock in one of its ports in 2014. India's concerns have been focused on Hambantota port in particular. In 2017, Colombo leased the southern port to Merchant Port Holdings for 99 years, after was unable to keep its loan repayment commitments, fanning fears over the potential use of the port for military purposes. On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was "completely unjustified for certain countries to cite the so-called security concerns to pressure Sri Lanka. India on Friday rejected China's "insinuations" that New Delhi pressured Colombo against the planned visit by the Chinese research vessel but asserted that it will take decisions based on its security concerns. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Sri Lanka, as a sovereign country, makes its own independent decisions and noted that India would make its judgment on its security concerns based on the prevailing situation in the region, especially in the border areas. is the main creditor of Sri Lanka with investment in infrastructure. Debt restructuring of Chinese loans would be key to the island's success in the ongoing talks with the Monetary Fund for a bailout. India, on the other hand, has been Sri Lanka's lifeline in the ongoing economic crisis. It has been at the forefront of extending economic assistance of nearly USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka during the year as the island nation is grappling with the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. (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.) Pakistani authorities on Friday revoked a broadcast permit for a private television station after it was taken off air following an interview during which an opposition party official allegedly incited troops and officers against the military leadership. The development came after ARY TV in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday aired the interview with Shahbaz Gill, a close aide of former prime minister Imran Khan and the chief of staff for his Tehreek-e-Insaf opposition party. In the interview, Gill urged Pakistani troops and officers to refuse to obey "illegal orders" from the military -- remarks that were seen by authorities as incitement to revolt. He was subsequently arrested on treason charges and could face the death penalty. The TV station's news director, Ammad Yousaf, was detained following the interview but then released on Thursday, after an outcry from a media watchdog, rights defenders and top opposition leaders. ARY has distanced itself from Gill's remarks, stressing that it is not part of any campaign against the army. Still, Pakistan's media regulatory took the station off air and on Friday suspended its licence amid what it described as "adverse reports from agencies". The move drew condemnation from journalists and opposition leaders. ARY's founder, Salman Iqbal, also denounced the suspension. Asad Kaleem, an executive producer at ARY, told The Associated Press that the action means that 4,000 employees at the TV are now without work. He pleaded with the government to reverse its decision and bring the hugely popular ARY back on air. Khan came to power in 2018, promising to break the pattern of family rule in Pakistan, but his opponents said he was elected with help from the powerful military, which has ruled the country for half of its 75-year history. After his ouster in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April, Khan has blamed army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, claiming the general took part in an alleged United States plot to oust him. Washington, the Pakistani military and the government have denied the charge. (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.) Iranians reacted with praise and worry on Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdie's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Mattar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event on Friday in western New York. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Iran's capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities. Others, however, worried aloud that could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China. Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the country's economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammad's life. "I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled Satanic Verses' ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death," Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: "Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven." Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on August 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. At newstands on Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie. The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: Salman Rushdie in neighborhood of death? But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over USD 3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Iran's former shah by Khomeini's supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as bonyads in funded in part by confiscated assets from the shah's time, often serve the political interests of the country's hard-liners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalise the country's Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the country's government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami's foreign minister in 1998 said that the government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it". Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a good feeling after seeing Rushdie attacked. This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people, he said. Others, however, worried the attack regardless of why it was carried out could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. It will make Iran more isolated, warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid, Khamenei said in 1989. As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target. As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslim's duty in this regard? Khamenei responded: The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued. (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 ship docked in a Ukrainian Black Sea port on Friday to begin loading up with wheat for hungry people in Ethiopia. It will be the first food delivery to under a UN plan to unblock grain trapped by Russia's war on and bring relief to some of the millions worldwide who are on the brink of starvation. For months, fighting in and a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports meant that grain produced in Ukraine, one of the world's key breadbaskets, piled up in silos. That sent global food prices sky-high and led to hunger in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. In recent days, several ships carrying grain have left Ukrainian ports under the new deal but most of those shipments were animal feed and went to Turkey or Western Europe under previous contracts. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the ship named Brave Commander will carry its wheat to the Horn of nation of Djibouti, where it will be unloaded and sent on to Ethiopia. The wheat will go to the World Food Program's operations in Ethiopia, supporting the Horn of drought response as the threat of famine stalks the drought-hit region," he said. It is one of many areas around the world where the near-complete halt of Ukrainian grain and food on the global market has made life even harder for the families already struggling with rising hunger. The ship was expected to take on more than 23,000 metric tons, according to Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry still only a tiny portion of the 20 million tons of grain languishing now in . It docked in the port city of Yuzhne late Friday, the ministry said. Ethiopia, along with neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, is facing the worst drought in four decades in the Horn of Africa. Thousands of people across the region have died from hunger or illness this year. Forecasts for the coming weeks indicate that for the first time, a fifth straight rainy season will fail to materialize. Millions of livestock, the basis of many families' wealth and food security, have died. Millions of households will struggle to cope with these shocks in Ethiopia, according to a new assessment by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. Food assistance needs are at record levels, with up to 15 million people in need of food assistance. While one shipment won't solve the crisis, the World Food Program still heralded it as an important step" in getting Ukrainian grain out of the country to the worst-affected countries. Ethiopian officials did not respond to requests for comment. Yet on Ukraine's front lines, the fighting was incessant, especially in the eastern region of the Donbas, where much of the fighting has been centered as the war approaches the six-month mark. The town of Kramatorsk was hit by 11 rockets overnight. Seven people were killed and 14 were wounded in and around the town, which remains cut off from gas, running water and electricity. Three quarters of the population of the region have already been evacuated, because incessant shelling by the Russian army doesn't leave civilians any choice it's either to die from wounds, or from hunger and cold in winter, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television. The threat of a nuclear accident also loomed in southern Ukraine, where shelling has hit near Europe's largest nuclear plant. Shelling near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continued overnight. Russian forces fired more than 40 rockets at the city of Marhanets, which is across the Dnieper River from the power plant. Three people were wounded in the most recent shelling, including a 12-year-old boy. The neighbouring city of Nikopol was shelled as well, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. The UN nuclear chief warned late Thursday that very alarming military activity at the nuclear plant could lead to dangerous consequences. Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi urged Russia and Ukraine, who blame each other for the attacks at the nuclear plant, to immediately allow nuclear experts to assess damage and evaluate safety and security at the sprawling nuclear complex. He said the situation at the plant has been deteriorating very rapidly. He pointed to shelling and several explosions at Zaporizhzhia last Friday that forced the shutdown of its electrical power transformer and two backup transformers, forcing the shutdown of one nuclear reactor. Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said authorities were drafting plans to evacuate residents from towns and villages near the plant. There is a high-level threat, so there are plans for any possible development, including release of radiation, Monastyrsky said Friday. We all have seen the Russian shelling of the plant. It's horrible. He said Russian forces have stationed weapons at the plant and have denied Ukrainian nuclear workers access to some areas in the complex. It's hard to even imagine the scale of tragedy if the Russians continue their action there, he said. We have become convinced that there is no restraining factors. There is a deliberate stand declared by the Russian authorities that they are ready for any action, regardless of consequences. (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.) World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is shocked and saddened by the brutal attack on author Salman Rushdie, calling it cowardice and abhorrent. The 75-year-old Mumbai-born writer, faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. Shocked and saddened by the brutal attack on #SalmanRushdie. This is cowardice and abhorrent. My thoughts are with him and his loved ones, Ghebreyesus tweeted. Matar, stabbed author Salman Rushdie, is facing charges of attempted murder and assault. The New York State Police, which is investigating the attack on prior to a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, said that on Friday the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey for Attempted Murder 2nd degree and Assault 2nd degree. Matar was processed at State Police Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned in centralised arraignment on Saturday. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) on Saturday condemned for sanctioning Lithuania's Deputy Minister of Transport, Agne Vaiciukeviciute over a Taipei visit, saying such a "bullying action" is groundless. Vaiciukeviciute arrived in Taipei on August 7 for a five-day visit to promote future cooperation, reports dpa news agency. Beijing said on Friday that Vaiciukeviciute had undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. has had an independent government since 1949, but considers the self-governing democratic island part of its territory. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that Beijing's announcement from Friday exposes China's bullying actions which disregard the rules-based order. The Ministry said the Chinese government's retaliation over Vaiciukeviciute was "groundless" and defied normal exchanges conducted by sovereign states. Lithuania's Ministry of Transport and Communications expressed its regret late Friday over China's sanctioning of Vaiciukeviciute "to suspend relations with Lithuania in the field of road transport". On Thursday, before wrapping up her visit, Vaiciukeviciute said her delegation had met representatives from Taiwan's transportation agencies and leading electric bus manufacturers to pave the way for future collaboration in the field of electric buses and green transportation technologies. "Lithuania chooses to cooperate with countries willing to cooperate with us," Vaiciukeviciute told a news conference in Taipei, stressing that the trip was planned for months. In response to media questions about China's increasing pressure on both militarily and economically after a 19-hour visit to Taipei by Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on August 3, Vaiciukeviciute stressed her country "supported the G7 statement which was announced last week". The G7 statement called on "not to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the region" while reaffirming a "shared and steadfast commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait". Beijing had also imposed unspecified sanctions on Pelosi "and her immediate family members" over her visit. Tensions have also arisen between Lithuania and China in recent months. Beijing downgraded its diplomatic relations with the Baltic EU state after it allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius under its own name rather than under a formula demanded by Beijing, such as Chinese Taipei or simply Taipei. --IANS ksk/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The foreign ministry of the dispensation in on Saturday said it welcomed India's diplomatic presence in Kabul and promised to ensure security to the Indian mission in the Afghan capital. In a statement, it said India's diplomatic presence in would result in the completion of "unfinished projects" that India had initiated and the commencement of new ones. The statement said "welcomes India's step to upgrade its diplomatic representation in Kabul." In June, India re-established its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a "technical team" in its embassy in the Afghan capital. India had withdrawn its officials from the embassy after the seized power last August following concerns over their security. "Besides ensuring security, we will pay close attention to the immunity of the diplomats and cooperate well in endeavours," it said. "The Afghan government hopes that upgrading diplomatic representation and dispatching diplomats would strengthen Afghan-India relations leading to the completion of unfinished projects by India and the commencement of new vital projects," the Afghan foreign ministry said. Last month, supreme leader Hebatullah Akhundzada said no one would be allowed to use Afghan soil to launch attacks on other countries. India has not recognised the new regime in Afghanistan and has been pitching for the formation of a truly inclusive government in Kabul, besides insisting that Afghan soil must not be used for any terrorist activities against any country. In the last few months, India supplied several consignments of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. India has been pitching for providing unimpeded humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's actions to "intimidate and coerce" following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability, the White House has said, asserting that the US would take "calm and resolute" steps to support the self-ruled island. China's ruling Communist party has long claimed sovereignty over . Beijing insists its one- principle would bar most incumbent foreign government officials from setting foot on the island. The People's Liberation Army announced war games in the busy Strait from August 4 to 7, the day after Pelosi, who is the highest-ranking US leader to have visited Taiwan in 25 years, left Taipei after high-level meetings. Later, the Chinese military extended the war games, surrounding Taiwan, which Beijing views as a rebel province that must be reunified with the mainland, even by force. on Wednesday warned that Beijing will organise regular combat patrols as a new normal to enforce its one- policy. "China's actions are fundamentally at odds with the goal of peace and stability. They are part of an intensified pressure campaign against Taiwan, which has not ended, and we expect it to continue to unfold in the coming weeks and months," Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo Pacific, told reporters during a conference call. "The goal of this campaign is clear -- to intimidate and coerce Taiwan and undermine its resilience," he said. The US, he said, will "continue to take calm and resolute steps to uphold peace and stability in the face of Beijing's ongoing efforts to undermine it," and to support Taiwan, in line with its longstanding policy. "These steps, across a range of areas, will unfold over the coming weeks and months because the challenge is long-term. We will not be reflexive or knee-jerk, we will be patient and effective," Campbell said. America, he said, will continue to fly, sail and operate where law allows, consistent with its longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation, and that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks. "We will continue to fulfil our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. That includes supporting Taiwan's self-defence and maintaining our own capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise Taiwan's security, economy or society," Campbell said. Referring to the Chinese decision to suspend climate change talks with the US and close other channels of communications, Campbell called on Beijing to reopen those channels. There are a large number of countries that are keenly interested in preserving that peace and stability, he said in response to a question, adding, "I will leave it at that, in terms of our consultations and engagements with those partners, specifically." "The Taiwan Relations Act requires us to provide appropriate defensive articles and capabilities to Taiwan. And those articles are designed to most effectively engage on those defence issues that are related to the evolving security circumstances that Taiwan faces," Campbell noted. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese officials are planning President Xi Jingping's visit to Southeast Asia for his first one-on-one summit with his US counterpart in November. Reports of tension between the two countries over had emerged after US House of Representatives Speaker visited the self-governing island earlier this month. It was the first such visit by a US House Speaker in 25 years, as Pelosi's aim was to show support for Taiwan, which Beijing considers its own territory. Kurt Campbell, White House Coordinator for Indo-Pacific, told the media that Biden and Xi had discussed a possible in-person meeting during their recent call, however, "nothing more in terms of location details is available at this point of time". He also indicated that the situation in would continue to be a source of concern for the US, warning that was using Pelosi's visit as an excuse to "launch an intense pressure campaign against Taiwan", which is "expected to continue in the coming weeks and months". "The goal of this operation is clear - to intimidate and force and undermine its resilience," the official said. If Xi travels to Southeast Asia in November, it will be his first trip in nearly three years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The visit is expected to come after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party where Xi will look to secure his third term as leader. Xi is scheduled to attend the G20, a two-day summit of leaders of a group of 20 economies, in Indonesia from November 15, and then travel to Bangkok, two days later, to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. According to reports, preparations are still in the early stages and plans could change, with Xi and Biden likely to meet on the sidelines of one of the two summits. Last month, the two leaders had held their fifth call since Biden took office in January last year. While warning each other about the destabilising acts regarding Taiwan, they also discussed the value of meeting face-to-face, asking their teams to find "a mutually agreed time to do so", a senior US administration official said. Meanwhile, Campbell on Friday called China's launching of dozens of warships with missiles in the waters surrounding Taiwan in reaction to Pelosi's visit as "overreaction". "Even today, many warships remain around Taiwan," he said. The official added that the US will continue to take "calm and firm steps" to maintain peace and stability in the region, said the officer. --IANS anil/sks (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.) Astral's consolidated net profit rose 20.3% to Rs 88.90 crore on a 73.1% rise in net sales to Rs 1,212.90 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. Profit before tax increased by 29.6% to Rs 127.70 crore in Q1 FY23 from Rs 98.50 crore recorded in Q1 FY22. Total expenses rose 81.2% year on year to Rs 1,098.9 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2022. Cost of materials consumed stood at Rs 865 crore (up 67.7% YoY) and employee benefits expense was at Rs 76.8 crore (up 32.2% YoY) in Q1 FY23. Consolidated EBITDA grew 36.9% to Rs 183.1 crore in Q1 FY23 from Rs 133.7 crore posted in Q1 FY22. EBITDA margin declined to 15.1% in Q1 FY23 from 19.1% posted in the same quarter last year. The Plumbing segment revenue rose 73.6% to Rs 876.1 crore and revenue from Paints and Adhesives segment increased 71.7% to Rs 336.8 crore in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. The company said it is planning to set up multiple channel partnership-based showrooms (investment by distributors) in major cities across the country in the coming years. The faucets and sanitaryware division have a market potential of aprroximately Rs 15,000 crore in India. The company's consolidated cash (including cash equivalents) and bank balances as at 30 June 2022 stood at Rs 542.2 crore. Astral is engaged in the business of manufacturing and trading of pipes, fittings and adhesive solutions. Shares of Astral closed 0.40% higher to end at Rs 1985.70 on the BSE on Friday. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation reported a standalone net profit of Rs 15,206 crore in Q1 FY23, steeply higher than Rs 4,335 crore recorded in Q1 FY22. Net revenue increased 83.8% YoY to Rs 42320.72 crore during the quarter. ONGC recorded a pre-tax profit of Rs 20342.97 crore in Q1 FY23. It had reported a pre-tax profit of Rs 6750.17 crore in the same period last year. While the company's net crude oil price realization was $108.54 per barrel (up 65.5% YoY), gas price realization was $6.10 per mmbtu (up 240.8% YoY) in the first quarter. ONGC's crude oil production rose by 3.2% to 4.742 MMT in Q1 FY23 over Q1 FY22. Gas production during the period under review was 5.216 BCM, up by 2.1% on YoY basis. Maharatna Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is the largest crude oil and natural gas company in India, contributing around 71% to Indian domestic production. It has in-house service capabilities in all areas of exploration and production of oil & gas and related oil-field services. The Government of India held 58.91% stake in ONGC as of June 2022. The scrip jumped 4.94% to end at Rs 139.25 on the BSE yesterday. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eleven Opposition parties, including the Congress, on Saturday resolved to fight against what they called the misuse of electronic voting machines, money power and the by the BJP-led government at the Centre, claiming it poses the "gravest challenge" to democracy in India. The 11 parties are the Congress, CPIM, SP, BSP, CPI, NCP, TRS, RJD, RLD, Welfare Party and the Swaraj India. Three resolutions were passed at a conference attended by these parties here. At the conference, they discussed and deliberated at length the challenge of 3Ms -- machine, money and -- faced by India's electoral democracy and unanimously passed the resolutions on them. The first resolution was on EVM and VVPAT counting in which they said that it is recognised that purely EVM-based voting and counting does not comply with "democracy principles" which require that each voter should be able to verify that his or her vote is cast-as-intended; recorded-as-cast and counted-as-recorded. They claimed electronic voting machines (EVMs) cannot be assumed to be tamper-proof. "The voting process should be redesigned to be software and hardware independent in order to be verifiable or auditable. The VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) system should be re-designed to be fully voter-verified. A voter should be able to get the VVPAT slip and cast it in a chip-free ballot box for the vote to be valid and counted, the resolution stated. In the second resolution, the parties stated how massive money power and the criminal muscle-power created thereof is destroying the very integrity of India's elections. "Candidates expenses have a ceiling but political party spending does not have any ceiling The fast-rising economic oligarchy in the country threatening India as a welfare state is the direct fallout of this extreme criminal and money power in elections which is the fountainhead of all corruption in the country, they said. The parties claimed that the government, using the Money Bill route to bypass Rajya Sabha, introduced the electoral bond scheme that has increased opaqueness and consolidated the role of big money in electoral . The electoral bond scheme in its current form must be immediately discontinued. The third resolution was on how India's mediascape has undergone a major transformation with the exponential growth in the use of the internet across the world and also in India. "Unfortunately, communication technologies and platforms are creating polarization through the circulation of disinformation and hate- filled text posts and tweets. Despite guidelines and codes, ECI (Election Commission of India) has not seemed to be taking cognizance of the many violations in the past elections. ECI failed to curb fake news online before and during these elections, the resolution said. "Procrastination, silence, and inaction characterised ECI's responses even to serious violations of Model Code of Conduct and media code. We urge the ECI to take strong and effective actions against the offenders whosoever they may be, according to the resolution. All 11 political parties extended their support to the resolutions. leader Digvijay Singh said he did not trust as people couldn't be sure where their vote went and due to electoral bonds, people did not know where money was going and by unchecked use of money, the BJP was controlling the media and in fact even funding the spread of fake news. He alleged that in many states the BJP was using money power and various agencies, including Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the income tax department, to lure legislators and make governments fall and install its own. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said electoral bonds were smuggled in through the Money Bill route. He said despite multiple legal challenges to it, including one that he filed, the Supreme Court had not decided the matter even though more than three years had passed. He said the time has come for all political parties to join hands and start a Jan Andolan (mass movement) to save democracy. Singh was quoted in a statement as saying that the way the Election Commission is functioning it has become like the Executive Council rather than an independent constitutional body. CPI leader D Raja said the CPI was in full agreement with the resolutions and had in fact adopted similar resolutions at their recent party . RLD leader Mairajuddin Ahmed said the role of big money and criminalisation of have completely skewed the electoral field. He said today there is open misuse of even bureaucracy. "Selling tickets for money, using criminal elements to intimidate voters is well known and documented and needs to be countered. Such conclaves should be organised at every district in the country, he said. NCP leader Jitendra Awad said the fight to save democracy has to be on the streets. " can be manipulated everyone knows - but where will you go for justice? The Supreme Court, the institutions are all compromised. Therefore we have to go to the court of people. Everyone saw how the BJP brought down the Maharashtra government by buying so many MLAs that they stole the whole party itself, but how do we raise a voice when no one is listening. We have to fight much more strongly and take everything to people. He said fascism is at its peak, according to the statement. TRS leader Suresh Reddy, BSP leader Danish Ali, Ghanshyam Tiwari of the SP, Ilyas of the Welfare Party and Yogendra Yadav of the Swaraj India supported the resolutions. Civil rights activist Aruna Roy spoke on how the issues emerging from the conference can be taken forward. (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 Aam Aadmi Party is expanding exponentially in and people consider it as the only viable alternative that can pull the state out of the "mess" of corruption and unemployment, senior party leader Sushil Gupta said on Saturday. Under attack from rival parties for promising freebies to people to "grab power", Gupta, who is the party's in-charge for Haryana, said giving basic facilities to the public such as health, education and electricity should be the government's primary responsibility and nobody should see any wrong in it. The party's stupendous performance in neighbouring Punjab earlier this year has come as a boost for its unit in Haryana, where it failed to taste success in the 2019 assembly polls. "The is now expanding exponentially in . We are setting up our unit in every village...people are looking at us as the only viable alternative which can pull the state out of the mess of corruption and unemployment, and improve the state of health and education," Gupta, a Rajya Sabha MP, told PTI over phone. Several leaders from rival parties in had joined the after its victory in the Punjab assembly polls earlier this year. Former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, who had later switched over to the Trinamool Congress, and former Minister Nirmal Singh, were among those who joined the party. With polls in Haryana due nearly two years from now, Gupta said his party has already started preparations. The party is working to build a strong cadre and looking to reorganise the state unit in the coming months. Highlighting that unemployment was one of the biggest challenges in Haryana, Gupta said the AAP's state unit will hold a demonstration in Delhi on August 17 and demand the Manohar Lal Khattar government to come up with a roadmap to generate jobs. Gupta also hit out at the Congress claiming that it was busy with infighting and only the was playing the role of opposition in the state. He said the 2024 polls in Haryana is a direct fight between the BJP and the AAP. "In villages, there is a strong undercurrent in favour of the AAP. Resentment against the BJP-led dispensation is visible. The JJP has no standing, its core voters feel cheated. The JJP had got 10 seats in 2019, a vote which they got fighting against the BJP, but later on, they joined hands with the BJP. And everyone knows their stand during the farmers' agitation," he said. Accusing the Khattar government of corruption, he said, "Where is zero tolerance towards corruption? Everyone knows corruption is rampant in this dispensation. Even for setting up an industry, ask anyone how many obstacles they have to face." On rivals targeting the AAP over its promise of delivering freebies, Gupta said what the party has assured are basic requirements that which everyone should have access to. Last month, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had defended his schemes on free education, health services, transport facility for women in buses, electricity and water, saying they were efforts towards laying the foundation to make India the number one country in the world. In Punjab too, the AAP had made several promises before the polls. The Bhagwant Mann government is now giving 600 units of free power per billing cycle to every household. Gupta said despite providing welfare schemes for the people, the Delhi government is in a "revenue surplus" because there is "no corruption". "Around the world in developed nations, health and education are free. Why (the rivals) do they want to deprive the people of this? One has to understand it is the primary duty of the government to provide these facilities," 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.) Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar's unexpected move to snap ties with the NDA and form the government in the eastern state in alliance with the RJD and Left parties has prompted the to come up with a concrete strategy to counter the eight-time chief minister. has been claiming of late of contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections along with the Opposition parties. In fact, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, after taking part in a meeting with CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Friday, said that all the opposition parties should form a strategy together. The recent statements of and Tejashwi Yadav drop an apparent hint that both leaders are trying to bring all Opposition parties on a single page to counter the in the 2024 general elections. Even as is yet to make any official statement in this context, he could emerge as a potential prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Parliamentary battle. And the is not unaware of such probabilities. The BJP was a long-standing political ally of Nitish Kumar's JD-U. Both had worked together in the Central as well as state arena. The BJP believes that one of the weak spots of the CM where it could target him is his alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD -- a party that does not enjoy a "clean" image on several counts. The party has been targetting Nitish Kumar over the corruption-related allegations levelled against Lalu Prasad and his family members since he is currently running the government along with the RJD. Interacting with mediapersons at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sambit Patra said: "'Jungle Raj' is back in Bihar. In fact, it was Nitish Kumar who had coined the term 'Jungle Raj' when Lalu Prasad was in power. Today, he has joined hands with his party to run the government." According to sources, the BJP's strategy to target Nitish Kumar will mainly be related to issues of corruption charges against the Lalu Prasad's family. The party would be posing questions to the Bihar Chief Minister and take them out to the people (voters) of other states as well. --IANS stp/pgh/ arm (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The on Saturday made light of the Congress' criticism of the government for not holding any function in Parliament to mark the 75th year of Independence, and asked it to share pictures of its leaders hoisting 'tiranga' as part of an ongoing official campaign. finds fault in everything, spokesperson said after the general secretary raised the issue and alleged that the milestone occasion has been reduced to "glorifying the sarvagyaani", an apparent swipe at Prime Minister . Patra said the government's 'Har Ghar Tiranga' initiative to mark the 75th anniversary was not a matter of and noted that leaders have hoisted the flag at their home as part of the exercise. He said wryly that leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would have hoisted the flag as well and the should share their pictures as the BJP members have done. They had not posted pictures of them taking the COVID-19 vaccine, though, they had taken the jab, Patra said, taking another swipe at the Opposition leaders. Ramesh had said there were special functions in Parliament's historic Central Hall to mark the 25th, 50th and 60th anniversary of Independence. "Sadly, nothing like that has been organised for the 75th anniversary, which has been reduced to an occasion to glorify the Sarvagyaani (one who knows it all)," he said. Patra also criticised the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal for restricting the tiranga yatra headed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, saying it shows how far the party is removed from patriotism and nationalism. The BJP also welcomed the Jammu and Kashmir government's decision to sack four employees, including the son of terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin, the self-styled chief of banned terror group Hizbul Mujahideen. The party has zero tolerance to terrorism, Patra said, adding that terror activities have come down in the Union territory. (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.) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Saturday said the expenditure incurred by the government on and cannot be construed as freebies and stated such measures were being extended to the poor and those living in the fringes. He also took an apparent swipe at Prime Minister for opposing freebies but said he did not want to talk much about it as "it will become ." In fact, the Supreme Court has said freebies and welfare scheme were different, Stalin said in an event at the Arumigu Kapaleeswarar Arts and Science College at his Kolathur constituency here. "The expenditure on and cannot be freebies. Because is about knowledge while medicine relates to . This government wants to implement adequate in both these sectors," he said. Listing out the initiatives in Health and Education, including those delivered on doorsteps, Stalin said "these are not freebies (but) social ." "These are implemented to benefit the poor and those in the fringes,' he said. In an apparent reference at Modi, Stalin said, "some people have now newly emerged with the advice there should be no freebies." "We are not bothered about that. If I talk more, it will become . So I don't want to talk more about this," he said. Modi had recently said freebies are a spoke in India's effort to become self-reliant and also a burden on taxpayer and criticised some opposition parties for engaging in the of freebies. Further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had hit out at Delhi Chief Minister for giving a "perverse twist" to the debate on freebies, saying the AAP leader putting education and health in that category is an attempt to create fear in the minds of the poor. On Friday, Stalin had said his government's flagship free bus travel for women scheme was not a freebie but an "economic revolution" that had ensured savings for the beneficiaries. The different DMK and AIADMK regimes have over the years implemented various government initiatives free of cost in different sectors in the state, such as the colour TV scheme (DMK), the milch animals and laptop for students (AIADMK). (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Home Minister on Saturday hoisted the tricolour at his residence here as part of the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign and asked citizens to do the same. Shah also paid tributes to the fallen heroes. "Tiranga is our pride. It unites and inspires ever Indian. On PM Narendra Modi ji's clarion call of 'Har Ghar Tiranga', hoisted a tiranga at my residence in New Delhi today and paid tributes to our valorous heroes who sacrificed everything for the motherland," he said in a message. The home minister appealed to all the countrymen to hoist the flag at their homes from August 13 to 15 and be a part of this campaign to "awaken the spirit of patriotism in every heart". He also called upon the people to upload their photos with the tricolour on http://harghartiranga.com and inspire others for the same. (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.) leaders including Union ministers joined the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign across the country on Saturday as the three-day exercise began to mark the 75th anniversary of India's independence. Home Minister Amit Shah hoisted the flag at his residence and posted on Twitter a picture of him and his wife with the tricolour. Union minister Bhupender Yadav visited Ballia in Uttar Pradesh to pay tributes to freedom fighter Chittu Pandey. Party leaders were also scheduled to attend different programmes, including 'Prabhat pheri' and tiranga rally, at various places. general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh took part in a 'Prabhat Pheri' at Una in Himachal Pradesh. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will attend a tiranga rally in Jodhpur and also unveil the statue of Durgadas Rathore, a warrior credited with spearheading the fight against the Mughals. president J P Nadda will be flagging a "Har Ghar Tiranga Yatra" in Meerut, the party said. In a tweet, Shah said, "Tiranga is our pride. It unites and inspires every Indian. On PM Narendra Modi's clarion call of Har Ghar Tiranga , today hoisted a Tiranga at my residence in New Delhi and paid tributes to our valorous heroes who sacrificed everything for the motherland." He urged people to hoist the flag at their homes during August 13-15 and "be a part of this campaign of awakening the spirit of patriotism in every heart." He also appealed to them to upload their photo with the flag. (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.) Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson on Friday lashed out at Aam Aadmi Party's convener and Delhi Chief Minister over 'Rewari culture'. " traps people by giving them grains," alleged. held a press conference at party headquarter in Delhi and the spokesperson was addressing the media. Freebies are not only meant for the poor but for all, their main purpose is to grab power. Such schemes are not beneficial for the country in the long run and have only short-term benefits for one person and one political party, he claimed. Explaining the differences between 'freebies' and welfare schemes, Patra said, "Welfare schemes are aimed at a specific target group that is for making them self-dependent and economically empowered and working towards the economically weaker section comes under the ambit of 'Benefit' and freebies mean short-term benefits that only benefits Kejriwal and his party." "Kejriwal has just one goal to establish the prominence of in the country, to fulfil their ambitions, and to carry forward their aspirations. That is why he is presenting lies day after day," he further said. "Freebies are baits to lure so that the ambitions of get fulfilled. He acts as if he is worried for the entire world but he is worried only about himself, only about the benefits of "Main, "Mera" and "Meri Party", the leader added. The 'freebie' controversy started when lashing out at Arvind Kejariwal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in July, had said, "This 'Revdi' culture (or the freebies culture) is dangerous for the development of the country. Those with Revdi culture will never build new expressways, new airports, or defence corridors for you. Together, we have to defeat this mentality, remove Revdi culture from the of the country."Responding to this, Kejriwal addressed a rally in Gujarat on earlier on Sunday and had said, "These people abuse me saying that 'Kejriwal is looting money, distributing free revdis'. Kejriwal is not going to Swiss banks with money, he is not wasting public money on the public. (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 of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday slammed Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA KT Jaleel for his "Azad Kashmir" remark saying that his statement was "nothing less than treason". He also demanded the resignation of Jaleel after the latter referred to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) as "Azad Kashmir". "An elected MLA of saying that the Kashmir which is part of India, is an Indian occupied Kashmir and describing the Kashmir which has been occupied by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir. It is nothing less than treason. It is a very-very blatant anti- statement," said Muraleedharan. He further said that the MLA should be prosecuted before the law. "He should be asked to resign. It is a shame on the people of that such a person is represented in the legislative assembly of Kerala. His party should ask him to resign forthwith," the Union Minister added. Earlier, former Kerala minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA KT Jaleel, who recently visited Kashmir, sparked controversy by referring to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as "Azad Kashmir", adding that the people of the valley have forgotten how to laugh due to strong deployment of security forces in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that Pakistan does not have major administrative control over the occupied part of Kashmir (PoK) which Pakistan refers to as 'Azad Kashmir'. The Kerala legislator in his social media post said, "the part of Kashmir that is with Pakistan was known as 'Azad Kashmir'. The Pakistani government did not have a direct influence in this area. Only the currency and military help were under Pakistan's control." Jaleel further said, "Azad Kashmir had their own military. During Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq's time, the military became the common one. The Pakistan government does not have any major administrative power in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir." The Kerala MLA said the heavy deployment of forces has altered the essence of Kashmir. He said Kashmiris are longing for normalcy in the valley. Jaleel claimed he found anger among Kashmiris against the Centre for bifurcating the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. "Wherever you look, you see only Army with rifles. It seems like Kashmiris have forgotten to smile. For decades the colour of Kashmir is army green. All politicians are under house arrest. No political activities for months. In its second term, the Modi government has divided Kashmir into three parts and the anger can be read on people's faces. Was revocation of Article 370 able to meet its purposes? People in Kashmir are hoping to go back to normalcy," added the CPI(M) leader. Meanwhile, Kerala BJP slammed Jaleel for his narrative on Jammu and Kashmir. "This CPI(M) Kerala leader has insulted our armed forces and negated India's official position on Kashmir. He is a traitor," said Kerala BJP state president K Surendran. In August 2019, the central government scrapped Article 370 which gave special rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the region into two UTs - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI/PNN): KSB Limited, a pioneer in the manufacturing of critical application pumps for Nuclear power plants, has bagged another order from NPCIL worth Rs 500 Crores for the supply of 8 nos of fully indigenized Primary Coolant Pumps (RSR 400/2) along with its electric motor and spares for the Kaiga Atomic Power Project 5 and 6, at Karwar, Karnataka. This new order is a follow-up order to the 2018 order received from NPCIL for the supply of 8 nos of fully indigenized Primary Coolant Pumps (RSR 400/2) and related accessories for Gorakhpur Anu Vidyut Pariyojana 1 and 2 projects in Haryana. Commenting on the order Farrokh Bhathena, Director - Sales and Marketing commented, "This repeat order for the supply of the most critical Primary Coolant Pumps in the Nuclear power plant reinstates the confidence NPCIL has in KSB. The deliveries of this order shall start from the year 2026 onwards in a phased manner. We hope to receive continued patronage from NPCIL in the days to come. We are in discussion with NPCIL for the supply of Auxiliary Pumps for the primary cycle of the Nuclear Reactors for Gorakhpur Anu Vidyut Pariyojana 1 and 2. With this, the company has reinstated its supremacy and reaffirmed its position of being the sole domestic supplier of Primary Coolant pumps. KSB has also developed and has a full range of pumps for the secondary cycle applications." NPCIL has plans to set up 12 units of 700 MW nuclear power plants and KSB is looking forward to this opportunity for the supply of the pumps required for the Primary as well as Secondary cycles, being manufactured at the state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Shirwal. The Shirwal plant is set up in a total area of approx. 1 lakh sq. mt. and has specialized machines like 5-axis CNC machines, Hirth gear grinding machines, EDM, critical fabrication setup, mechanical seal manufacturing setup and advanced pump and mechanical seal testing facilities etc. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In February 2014, Lawrence Wong, Singapores then acting minister for culture, community and youth, made a special guest appearance at major Lunar New Year event in Singapore known as River Hongbao. Going on-stage with an electric guitar, he serenaded the audience with his rendition of Eric Claptons classic Wonderful Tonight. Post-performance, Wong deftly made his way through the crowd, making small talk with the public as his entourage trailed behind. Eight years later in 2022, as the young nation celebrated its 57th year of independence, Wongs genuine likeability and easy demeanor would be no doubt one of the reasons why he was picked to be the future heir apparent to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Buses with migrants sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to Washington, D.C., and New York City apparently pass through Chattanooga regularly. Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross on Thursday told of an encounter with a Texas bus of immigrants at Trenton. On Friday, two Texas buses were at the Comfort Inn and Suites on Brown's Ferry Road by I-24 in Lookout Valley. The buses had a bar code marked US Capitol. A desk clerk said the Texas buses stop by often. She said the drivers rest at the hotel, while the passengers remain on the bus. This administration will respond with compassion to vulnerable people fleeing extremely difficult circumstances. Joda Thongnopnua, chief of staff for the city, said, "We are aware that Chattanooga is apparently a stopping point for charter buses sent by the state of Texas to the East Coast carrying migrants following the legal process of asylum. We are coordinating a multi-agency response to ensure these individuals are able to connect with their families and safely arrive at their final destinations.This administration will respond with compassion to vulnerable people fleeing extremely difficult circumstances. "Its important to understand that these are migrants who have been screened by the Department of Homeland Security and are legally seeking asylum - which is a protected legal status." Switzerland is not neutral anymore after sanctioning Moscow with the west, and it cannot represent Kyiv. This was the opinion of the Foreign Ministry of Russia regarding the consequences of Bern choosing the western side. Consequences for Those Imposing Russian Sanctions Ivan Nechayev, the Deputy Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, revealed that Bern had inquired whether Switzerland could advocate for Ukraine in Russia and vice versa last Thursday. The ministry responded that it had surrendered that option when Bern supported US sanctions, which caused it to lose neutrality in the matter, and acting as a mediator would be detrimental to the debate, reported RT. He made it apparent that Bern would continue to negotiate with Ukraine despite Moscow's apparent position on the topic, concluding that the EU country does not respect Russia's position or interests. The Russian source strengthens the argument that Switzerland's role as a mediator and representative is out of the question, and charged Bern with backing Ukraine by joining the anti-Russian uprising led by the West and Ukraine, noted Yahoo News. Furthermore, it is puzzling how a nation acting this way could provide mediation, legal counsel, and other beneficial services. Bern and Kyiv agreed on Wednesday that, provided Moscow agrees with the arrangement, it might advocate diplomatic concerns in Russia, though not neutral. Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth? Switzerland Should Be Allowed To Mediate According to Michael Steiner, head of media at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Russia must accept a protecting power's mandate to be legitimate. The Swiss foreign ministry also stated that since the start of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine in late February, due to cutting diplomatic ties with Moscow, it has offered its services as a mediator.Steiner claims Bern is willing to host and facilitate discussions between Moscow and Ukraine, citing CSM Times. He asserted that the purpose of a protective power is to allow states to maintain limited interactions during times of war and supervise and protect the rights of parties in conflict and their nationals. Oleg Nikolenko, a Foreign Ministry official at the time, acknowledged such arrangements, indicating Ukraine had reached a deal in general with Bern, allowing it to advocate Ukrainian priorities in Russia. Bern, one of the EU states that joined Washington in imposing sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine, must be acknowledged. After African and Asian countries rejected the US and EU for stifling the Russian economy, they took desperate measures, freezing Sberbank and preventing the trade in gold. On March 5, the Kremlin placed Switzerland as one of the countries complicit with the US and other states in harboring hostile intent against Russia, especially the bloc. Before this, the country had dealings with other nations entangled with Russia; one of these was the representation of Georgia in Russia. They were dealing with Georgia cutting diplomatic ties after the conflict in 2008. The Russian Foreign Ministry called Switzerland not neutral after joining successive sanctions against the Kremlin, saying Bern cannot be representing Kyiv, but an arrangement could be reached. Related Article: Reports Assert Only 30% of Western Weapons Reach Ukrainian Troops, Most Sold in the Black Market @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Paul Lee, executive director of the 5,000 member Fellowship of Christian Police Officers, USA, spoke at the luncheon meeting of the Chattanooga Civitan Club. Mr. Lee, a Chattanooga native, had almost 30 years of service as a police officer with the Chattanooga Police Department before he retired. He now has eight years as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Police Officers. Mr. Lee is now the leader of the organization that has 260 chapters in 49 states with its headquarters now being in Chattanooga. He spoke of the difficulties and stresses common to police officers and the challenges that are faced in this most important job. He told the Civitan members that his Christian faith-based organization has one mission and that is to teach Bible truths to its law enforcement members. It includes federal, state and local law enforcement members aimed at positively affecting the lives of police officers and their families, and then to the community that they belong. The non profit christian organization encourages and guides its members in over 260 chapters nationwide. Mr. Lee received a "heart-felt applause" from the Civitan member at the conclusion of his speech. When I think of Chattanoogans who made a difference the name Herman Lamb comes to mind. The Chattanooga native enjoyed photography and now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has dozens of his pictures available for public viewing. I first met Mr. Lamb while a Junior Optimist in high school. He was a member of the downtown club and every year looked forward to the Tri-State Interstate Fair at Warner Park. Lamb and his fellow Optimists had a B-B-Q tent at the annual event. He would give Junior Optimist rides to the fairgrounds to assist in serving and cleaning. His passion in life was taking pictures. Lamb said he and his brother became interested in photography while in elementary school. At eight years old we built a dark room in our home. Many remember Mr. Lamb from the Camera Center that he and his wife Dottie operated downtown for over 50 years. Their lifetime together began in 1941 when they got married. Mr. Lamb said, We always enjoyed doing things as a couple. The Lambs retired in 1986 but their volunteer work continued. Before retirement, the Lambs invited me to their home to look at some of Hermans photographs. He was especially proud of the pictures he took when President Roosevelt came to Chattanooga for the dedication of the Chickamauga Dam (Sept. 2, 1940). Lamb said, I got a close up and they put it in the paper. When Mr. Lamb became a resident of St. Barnabas he was roommate with my brother Eddie. I enjoyed many visits just listening to him tell his stories. Mr. Lamb shared some of his service experiences during World War II. He said the government hired him to make pictures of the Womens Army Corps at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. and MGM hired him to help with the movie WACs Keep your powder dry. He would always say, "I have taken more photographs of women in military uniform than anyone else in the country." Lamb had many stories about the early days at the Tennessee Valley Railroad and their various excursions. He and his wife were founding members of the Cromwell Road museum. He said he really enjoyed talking about trains especially with students. Lamb was recognized for his skills by Encyclopedia Britannica, Popular Photography, Southern Living, National Geographic, the National Railway Historical Society Magazine and other publications. Many of his pictures were turned into postcards. Lamb said News Free Press Editor Lee Anderson would call him often and say, Herman, have you made any new pictures? Reporter Jim Ashley said while working in advertising at Provident he took a lot of film to Mr. Lamb. He said, I always got smiles and fast dependable service." Another customer, Jim Stevens, said Mr. Lamb was the best along with Herb Cohen and Ray Solomon. The Lambs were active in various area Baptist churches. Herman shared his Christian experience saying he trusted Christ at the age of 12 (1929). He remembered Dr. Lee Roberson holding a revival at the Northside Baptist Church on Mississippi Avenue. Lamb said, I went every night to hear Dr. Roberson, a real man of God. A visit to the Tennessee Valley Railroad just isnt the same anymore without Herman and Dottie. In addition to working the gift shop and the roundabout, the Lambs spent a lot of time just walking around greeting guests. One can never forget those friendly smiles. Herman Lamb died Sept. 9, 2011 but he left an indelible mark on the city of Chattanooga, the city he greatly loved. Check out Mr. Lambs collection of pictures at https://digital-collections.library.utc.edu/digital/collection/p16877coll23 Legendary music group Dave Matthews Band is no stranger to wild performances. Theyve made a name for themselves for being one of those bands that just sound better live, in no small part due to how they like to mix it up while on stage. However, this sense of danger doesnt typically apply to what goes on after the performance, save for one really crappy incident from several years ago. Dave Matthews Band | Andrew Lipovsky/Getty Images DMBs tour bus contaminated a river DMB was going strong back in 2004. Less than two months out from releasing The Gorge, the band traveled to Chicago on their way to a special two-night show in Wisconsin. Things went just fine on the first night, but while they were traveling around the city before the second event, things took a bit of a turn. The bands driver, Stefan Wohl, drove one of their five buses onto the Kinzie Street Bridge above the Chicago River. Without warning and certainly without authorization, he let loose the floodgate on the bus septic tank. This allowed an estimated 800 lbs of liquid human waste to come pouring out straight into the waterway. As contaminated as the Chicago River normally is, its certainly not a free pass to start pulling stunts like this. Human waste is an obvious health hazard for both people and the animals that live in the river. Both illegal and an ecological nightmare, things were made all the worse given that the driver just took off like nothing had ever happened once he was done. More than just the Chicago River were affected by the stunt Dumping a bunch of liquid excrement into a river is bad enough, but thats not where things ended that day. Turns out, Wohl had inadvertently timed his sweet release with a local boat tour scheduled by the Chicago Architecture Center. Normally, these tours are a great way to see the city via the river, and the open-roofed seating makes it all the better. This was not a normal day, however. The one-in-a-million chance created the perfect you-know-what storm for the tourists that day. Described as a brownish-yellow rain, the contents of the tank soaked close to two-thirds of the passengers. It absolutely ruined their clothes and their days and even ended up making several people sick. A quick-thinking tour guide tried to tell everyone it was just water, but virtually no one believed that. At the time, the only clue to the identity of the fecal bandit was the eyewitness reports of two tour buses on the bridge above. 15 years ago today, the Dave Matthews Band, uhh, dumped a load of bus waste off the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago. What a day that was. Today's Topic: songs about messes#DailyFeedback pic.twitter.com/L2jP7FSmvA 91.3 WYEP (@WYEP) August 8, 2019 The band tried to make amends after getting caught While no one was sure of who to blame for this disaster at first, people eventually connected the dots. Thanks to reporting by the Chicago Tribune, the reported buses were eventually traced back to DMB. Several months later, in March of 2005, Wohl pleaded guilty to the charges that had been filed for that day for reckless conduct and dumping into the river. As a result, he had to serve 18 months of probation and do 150 hours of community service. As for the band themselves, they apologized for their drivers bone-headed move. Theyd go on to donate $50,000 to the Friends of the Chicago River charity and the Chicago Park District to make up for it. There was a separate lawsuit filed against DMB for this, too, but they settled out of court for $200,000. Overall, everyone seems to have moved on from the incident, despite Wohl and the band being caught brown-handed as they were. RELATED: Stevie Nicks Was Told She Couldnt Perform This Song Because It Was a Mans Song When it came to casting the lead role of Dr. Nate Samuels, Beast executive producer Jaime Primak Sullivan had a specific vision of which actor could be the embodiment of survival and it all came down to actor Idris Elba. When I first had the idea it was never about the actor, she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. It was about the survival. And while Sullivan never had a specific actor in mind, she did want her leading man to be a Black actor. Weve seen every Liam Neeson survival thriller, so we know that white men know how to survive, she joked. Beast is a thriller that follows a widowed doctor (Elba) and his daughters family vacation to Africa, which turns to terror when a vengeful lion mercilessly stalks the family looking for blood. Beast EP explains why Idris Elba was the perfect leading man And we just thought, lets do it differently, she explained. Lets find a movie star who doesnt look the way every other survival thriller movie star looks. And, we found our leading man in Idris. And I mean, what a leading man he is. Idris Elba | ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images Sitting next to him in South Africa in the bush [sigh], she said. Just like sitting next to him and he would just be talking to me with his very British accent. You forget hes British. By the way, he is not African American and he will correct you quickly because hes not American. So hes Black. Elbas talent also blew her away. Just sitting next to him, I mean, you just really get why the world is in love with him. And it is amazing, she said. It really is amazing how when a director says action how he goes from like the British guy talking about his DJing career and the video games he loves to play. And all of a sudden hes this American doctor and his children are in deep jeopardy. And youre just like Save me, Idris. Beast has a much more important message, Jaime Primak Sullivan describes Elba was also the perfect man to go up against the ultimate predator. And so for me, it was like, what would happen if you took the Cujo isolation element with the Jaws feel and put them together? she wondered. And I would like to say for the record, this is very important. Ultimately, what motivated this movie was what poaching is doing to the ecosystem in South Africa. The education that we got and the amount of money that land owners have to spend on anti-poaching efforts because what the poachers are doing to these prides and what theyre doing to the elephants and what theyre doing to the rhinos, it is horrific, she said. So [writer] Ryan Engle did a very good job and we tried to do a very good job of showing people that this lion is reacting to what man had started, Sullivan said. This isnt just like a lion having a bad day. This is a lion who lost his mate and lost his pride because of poaching. And he realized, Oh, you guys are the problem. And so hes doing what lions do. Idris Elbas family gets stuck in the middle in Beast Sullivan said while the lion in Beast is portrayed as the villain, hes simply protecting his land. And unfortunately, this family gets stuck in his territory and he cant discern, obviously, the good from the bad, she said. Join me for a Twitter Q&A on Wednesday August 10 at 4:15pm EST chatting about @BeastMovie. #AskBeastMovie #BeastMovie pic.twitter.com/9vyQVGpv3p Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 8, 2022 But poaching its an epidemic. And its horrific, she emphasized. And I understand or I try to understand the lengths in which people will go to feed their families and to make money and survival. But I just cant help but think theres got to be a better way than killing these animals and leaving these cubs without fathers to protect them, because then other males come in and kill. Its just its a cycle of horror, to be honest. Beast, starring Idris Elba premieres in theaters on August 19. RELATED: Idris Elba Couldnt Find Work for Years as an Actor Because of His American Accent Lila Rose calls on lawmakers to help make America 'a friendlier place for families' A prominent pro-life activist is calling on lawmakers at both the state and federal levels to embrace policies that will help make America a friendlier place for families as many legislators allied with her movement remain hesitant to support such initiatives. In an interview with The Christian Post, Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life advocacy organization Live Action, discussed the state of the pro-life movement and what laws she would like to see enacted to make life easier for women and their children now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Following the court's ruling on a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks gestation, known as Dobbsv. Jackson Womens Health Organization, many states have outlawed or severely restricted abortion, leading to a push to help pregnant women and their families bring their pregnancy to term. Last week, Indianas Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a measure into law that allocates $45 million to support the health of pregnant women, postpartum mothers, and infants and to help low-income families with children younger than age 4. Making America a friendlier place for families is a crucial pro-life public policy objective, Rose said. Listing legislative proposals designed to achieve that goal, which her organization supports, Rose said these plans include a tax credit for children that makes it easier to raise a child, financial support for pregnancy resource centers and non-abortion health centers and adoption tax credits. One state Rose lauded as an example was Georgia, which recently enacted a policy allowing parents to claim a $3,000 tax exemption for their preborn children. We need more laws like that, she added. The pro-life movement should be focused on both private and public financial support for families to help them raise their children, she said, because it can be very hard to raise children in our world today, not just because of our culture but because of these economic struggles that many families face, would-be parents face. Given that a tremendous amount of money is spent at all levels of government, Rose strongly believes that children and families should be first in line [when] were doling out tax credits and other incentives and policies. But convincing Republicans, the party most sympathetic to the pro-life movement, to support such policies at both the state and federal level will [take] time, she added. It takes time to move most ships in politics. The Republican Party has a libertarian faction who sees any government spending as a no, she said, but also expressed optimism about the pro-life movements progress in convincing GOP lawmakers to embrace legislation to advance the well-being and the sanctity of the family. At the federal level, Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have introduced the New Parents Act, which would enable parents with household median outcomes of $60,000 or less to take paid family leave by using a portion of their Social Security benefits. Rose praised the bill as a no-brainer. In addition to disagreement between pro-life lawmakers and activists about legislation providing financial incentives to parents, there is also disagreement within the movement about the role of birth control in making America a friendlier place for families. Like Rose, Mississippi state Rep. Becky Currie has advocated for the state government to take a more proactive approach in enacting such legislation. However, Currie told Mississippi Today that in her state, we need to make sure every woman in every county has access to birth control. Indianas recent law overwhelmingly passed both chambers of the state Legislature, receiving near-unanimous approval from both Democrats and Republicans. As part of its efforts to assist families with young children, Senate Enrolled Act 2 set aside money to support pregnancy planning, including addressing barriers to long acting reversible contraception. For her part, Rose rejects the idea that ensuring access to contraception will lower the number of unplanned pregnancies and lead to fewer abortions. Birth control does not curb our abortion rates, she asserted. The contraceptive mindset only lends to the abortion crisis because it separates, it says that children, which is a natural consequence of sex, that children are a burden and that people should, are entitled to sex without any of the natural consequences. Lamenting that birth control perpetuates the wrong understanding of sex and its helping create the abortion problem, Rose said, we have to go toward a new sexual ethic as a country that celebrates children and also sees that sex belongs in a lifelong, committed and loving relationship where children can ultimately thrive. She also expressed concern that many contraceptives are also abortifacients or drugs that induce abortions. Its crucial that were certainly not lending any support, public taxpayer support, in any way or having the government encourage [the use of] contraceptives that are abortifacients, she proclaimed. Going forward, Rose would also like to see adoption made more affordable and ensure women are educated on what adoption can entail for them. Rose recalled that many women she's spoken with who had abortions rejected giving their baby up for adoption because they did not know whats going to happen to that child. She emphasized the need to inform women that you can have open adoption and highlighted the option for expectant mothers to hand select families to place their children with. She also supports putting more societal pressure on men, not just to pay child support, but to stand up and be fathers and step into the role of protector and provider. 1 2 Next Salman Rushdie, author of Satanic Verses, remains hospitalized after stabbing attack in New York British author Sir. Salman Rushdie, who spent nearly a decade in hiding after the Iranian leader called for his murder over his book The Satanic Verses, was stabbed about 15 times at a theatre in New York Friday allegedly by a 24-year-old Shia Muslim. The 75-year-old author is on a ventilator and could lose an eye, his agent said. Rushdie, who was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, after he was stabbed in the abdomen and the neck while he was on the stage of Chautauqua Institution for a discussion, will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged, the BBC reported, citing his agent, Andrew Wylie. The suspect rushed the stage and attacked Rushdie after he had just sat down onstage with the discussions moderator, Ralph Henry Reese from the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, City of Asylum, for exiled writers, The New York Times reported. The India-born British author was scheduled to give a talk before 2,500 people about the United States being a safe haven for exiled writers. Reese, 73, also suffered injuries to his face and was treated and released from a local hospital. But Rushdie was still unable to speak as of early Saturday because he remains on a ventilator. The New York State Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar from New Jersey, and said his motive was unknown. It took like five men to pull him away and he was still stabbing, Linda Abrams, an onlooker, was quoted as saying. He was just furious, furious. Like intensely strong and just fast. Another witness, Kathleen James, said Matar was wearing black clothing and a black mask. We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that theres still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds that it wasnt, she told The Associated Press. Matar, who was arrested at the scene by a state trooper who was assigned to the lecture, was sympathetic to the Iranian government, The New York Post said, quoting anonymous law enforcement sources. Based on his social media posts, Matar is a supporter of Iran, its Revolutionary Guard and Shia extremism, the Post reported. The venue, Chautauqua Institution, where the stabbing took place, had rejected previous recommendations to toughen security measures, fearing that would create a divide between speakers and the audience and change the culture at the institution, two sources told CNN, which clarified that it was unclear whether the recommended measures would have prevented the attack on Rushdie. President Joe Biden called the attack reprehensible. This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery, Biden said in a statement. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack heart-breaking. It was a police officer who stood up and saved his life and protected him, The Telegraph quoted Hochul as saying. Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai, India, promotes freedom of speech and speaks out against religious extremism. He has faced Islamist death threats since 1989 when Irans then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a religious edict, or fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill him over his novel The Satanic Verses, which was deemed as blasphemous. Rushdie, on whose head a $3 million bounty was placed for anyone who kills him, lived under the protection of the British police for most of the next 10 years. DOJ investigating 'multiple entities' within Southern Baptist Convention, leaders say The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, according to leaders of the nations largest Protestant denomination. In an emailed statement to The Christian Post on Friday, the SBC Executive Committee said that the DOJ has initiated an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, and that the investigation will include multiple SBC entities. The SBC leadership said they were resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation, implying that the investigation is tied to a May 22 report by Guidepost Solutions and commissioned by the SBC's Executive Committee detailing how some leaders mishandled allegations of abuse and mistreated victims of abuse. While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future, the Great Commission Council said in the statement. The fact that the SBC Executive Committee recently completed a fully transparent investigation is evidence of this commitment. The SBC leadership went on to note that our reform efforts are not finished and said their commitment to cooperate with the Department of Justice is born from our demonstrated commitment to transparently address the scourge of sexual abuse. While so many things in the world are uncertain, we can be certain that we serve a mighty God. Nothing, including this investigation, takes Him by surprise, continued the SBC leaders. We take comfort in that and humbly ask you be in prayer in the days and weeks ahead. Specifically, we ask God to grant wisdom and discernment to each person dealing with the investigation. In May, Guidepost Solutions released a report on how SBC leaders intimidated whistleblowers and exonerated churches with credible claims of negligence toward sexual abuse victims. For almost two decades, survivors of abuse and other concerned Southern Baptists have been contacting the [SBC EC] to report child molesters and other abusers who were in the pulpit or employed as church staff, read the executive summary, in part. They made phone calls, mailed letters, sent emails, appeared at SBC and EC meetings, held rallies, and contacted the pressonly to be met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC. In response, the SBC passed a series of abuse reform recommendations at its Annual Meeting in June, which included creating a task force to better combat abuse and creating a ministry check database to keep track of church leaders accused of sexual abuse. SBC President Bart Barber, who was elected at the June meeting, said that our problem is not with our theology or our polity; indeed these things are among our strengths and that it is because we are convinced that our theology is right that we are convinced that our actions have been wrong. Barber said that while sexual predators have used our decentralized polity to try to turn our churches into a hunting ground, he also believed that the same decentralized polity can be used against predators. Where there is no diocesan bishop to fire a local pastor, there is also no diocesan bishop to protect him. Where there is no regional presbytery to defrock a pastor, there is also no presbytery to reassign him while covering up his villainy, said Barber. Predators have realized the vulnerabilities of our system; it is time for Southern Baptists to realize how nimble and resilient our Baptist polity can be to put sexual predators on notice that Southern Baptist churches are a dangerous place for them. Minnesota jury sides with pharmacist pastor who refused to provide the morning-after pill A Minnesota jury has ruled that a pharmacist who refused to fill a woman's prescription for emergency contraception in 2019 because of his religious objections didn't violate state discrimination law. An Aitkin County jury ruled last week that George Badeaux, a pharmacist at the McGregor Pharmacy in McGregor who also serves as a local pastor, did not violate state human rights law when he refused on moral grounds to provide the morning-after pill to Andrea Anderson in 2019. Although ruling in favor of Badeaux, the jury also concluded that Anderson had suffered "emotional harm" to the amount of $25,000. The feminist group Gender Justice, which represented the plaintiff, denounced the jury's decision and vowed to appeal the case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. "To be clear, the law in Minnesota prohibits sex discrimination and that includes refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception," said Gender Justice Legal Director Jess Braverman in a statement. "We will appeal this decision and won't stop fighting until Minnesotans can get the health care they need without the interference of providers putting their own personal beliefs ahead of their legal and ethical obligations to their patients." In 2019, Anderson filed a lawsuit, claiming that the pharmacist violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. A trial began on Aug. 1. The mother of five claims she had to drive over 100 miles roundtrip in wintry conditions for around three hours to get the emergency contraception from another provider located in Brainerd. Anderson said she also contacted a local CVS but was declined her prescription request. Anderson is also suing the CVS pharmacy. "The pharmacists I encountered ignored my health needs and my doctor's instructions," stated Anderson in a statement. "I could not believe this was happening. I was angry." Aitkin County District Judge David Hermerding said that questions regarding freedom of religion were not to be considered. "The issue for the jury is not defendant's constitutional rights," said the judge, as quoted by The Associated Press. "It is whether he deliberately misled, obfuscated and blocked Ms. Anderson's path to obtaining [emergency contraception.]" Charles Shreffler, Badeaux's lawyer, said he and his client are happy with the decision and don't believe that Anderson will receive any payments in damages because the jury ruled that she was not discriminated against. "We are incredibly happy with the jury's decision," Shreffler said in a statement shared with media outlets. "Medical professionals should be free to practice their professions in line with their beliefs." The pharmacist will not have to pay the $25,000 unless the finding that he didn't discriminate against Anderson is overturned as the litigation proceeds. "In order for [Badeaux] to be liable for damages, he has to be found liable. The jury has to first find that he discriminated against Ms. Anderson on the basis of her sex, and the jury specifically found that he did not discriminate against her," Shreffler told Minnesota Public Radio. In an interview with "Fox & Friends First" host Todd Piro on Wednesday, Badeaux said he believed that people "should be able to live out our beliefs in our workplace." "I couldn't fill this prescription because one of the possible mechanisms of action of the medication is that it can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterus," Badeaux continued. "In my mind, that would be ending a new human life." Badeaux defended his refusal to administer the emergency contraception, saying that he "did everything I could" to help the woman "in light of the facts." "I went out of my way to phone the patient when there was a small possibility that the pharmacist who would be working the next day who would fill the prescription might not make it because of a snowstorm forecast," he added. Did Apostle Paul promote and practice positive confession? The Bible contains many positive declarations that celebrate Gods love and faithfulness and express the desire of Gods children to remain strong in faith and obedience. For example, David declared: I desire to do your will, O my God (Psalm 40:8). I will be careful to lead a blameless life (Psalm 101:2). In God I trust; I will not be afraid (Psalm 56:11). Faithful Christians read and proclaim these holy declarations, as well as many others in Scripture, as positive professions of godly intent. In contrast to biblical faith, there is a philosophy known as Positive confession that claims your own words can mysteriously create whatever you want to happen. You know, like magic. It is an alluring practice whereby people are instructed to just name it and claim it. If you want a promotion, simply speak it into reality. If you long for greater wealth, then declare it. If you desire a spouse, create this outcome with your words. Rub the lamp and a genie in the bottle will fulfill your dreams. With positive confession, however, you actually become your own genie. You get to determine your future by just speaking it into existence. Does Gods Word endorse this tantalizing formula? Did the Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, promote and practice positive confession? Well, lets see. Consider this oft-quoted declaration Paul penned: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). While this verse is certainly a noble and positive statement, we must carefully consider the context or we miss the point. Paul wrote: I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:11-13). This seems like it would have been the perfect opportunity to promote and practice positive confession. Instead, Paul celebrated Christ and his all-sufficient ability to produce contentment in the apostle's heart regardless of his circumstances ... whether living in plenty or in want. Paul explained that his Christ-centered approach produces deep contentment, even when material needs are lacking. The materialistic aspirations often associated with positive confession are a far cry from the biblical descriptions of genuine godliness, humble faith, and mature discipleship. Paul learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. It is a completely different mindset than relying upon your positive confessions in hopes of gaining wealth, material things, promotions, etc. Pauls highest goal in life was profound: I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings (Philippians 3:10). Positive confession, on the other hand, seeks to manufacture one's dreams, wishes, and wants in a magical manner. Paul was Christ-centered and spiritually-minded, whereas the practice of positive confession is man-centered and often geared toward materialism. Rather than validating positive confession, the opulent lifestyles of its most well-known promoters merely illustrate that obscene wealth can be acquired by enticing people to become their own genie and then convincing them that this mystical method really works. When the New Age book, The Secret, came out in 2006, its contents sounded eerily similar to positive confession. Readers were taught that by following the correct formula, the universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you. See the things that you want as already yours. If you can think about what you want in your mind, and make that your dominant thought, you will bring it into your life. In other words, magically create your preferred future. Another New Age book that year, The Law of Attraction, stated: If something you want is slow to come to you, it can be for only one reason: You are spending more time focused upon its absence than you are about its presence. If you want it and expect it, it will be yours very soon. As with positive confession, the law of attraction and The Secret actually hinder people from discovering the true secret of contentment. Rather than attempting to speak his troubles away with positive confessions, Paul prayed fervently about his hardships and trusted Christ regardless of the answers. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me. That is why, for Christs sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul didn't proclaim positive confessions in hopes of improving his agonizing situation. Instead, he pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away. Rather than making positive declarations to the universe, Paul repeatedly brought his urgent request to the Lord. Interestingly, the apostle grew stronger in the grace and power of Christ due to his request not being granted. Paul never taught that our declarations can create financial wealth, promotions, new relationships, worldly success, etc. The popular practice known as positive confession is a cheap counterfeit to the faithful way Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to rely upon his Savior in any and every situation (Philippians 4:12) and to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). While speaking positively is typically a good practice, it is dangerous to attempt to magically manipulate and control your circumstances by so-called positive confessions. Praying continually in Jesus name beats the magical practice of positive confession every day of the week and twice on Sunday! US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) explains the need for an updated deterrence as events play out with Moscow and Beijing. The conflict in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific theatre shows tensions are rising sharply. All these changes need a reassessment said the high command, as the US is scrambling. STRATCOM To Formulate New Strategy As the situation in Ukraine evolved this winter, the STRATCOM grew aware of these shifts and obtained a commander's assessment of what would be needed to prevent nuclear war in the real world, reported Sputnik News. The US is developing a new nuclear deterrence theory that calls for simultaneous confrontation with Russia and China, said the chief commander of the country's nuclear arsenal, the Defense One news website published on Thursday. At the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Alabama, STRATCOM chief Navy Adm. Chas Richard said that more Americans must concentrate on measures to prevent nuclear war. The agency is responding, he continued, in a way that calls for greater attention since the alleged threats from China and Russia are so dissimilar this year. According to the report, several nuclear command post teams have been flying missions on modified Boeing 707s called the E-6 Mercury "Looking Glass" aircraft. In an attempt to control and manage Russian activities, especially in Ukraine, military officials attempted to draw the other combatant commands into alignment. Read Also: Kim Jong-un Net Worth 2022: How Wealthy Is North Korea's Leader? 'Mutually Assure Destruction' Theory Not Enough This widely recognized hypothesis of preventing a nuclear war (MAD), which would spell Armageddon for all combatants, calls for changes to be made by the military establishment. It has prevented a possible conflict between the USSR and NATO for almost 75 years. Due partly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US High Military Command will permit changes to MAD. He issued a firm warning to the US-led NATO to refrain from interfering or face the consequences. Most US military officers allegedly do not anticipate using all of their nuclear arsenals; instead, they are worried that Russia might begin a limited nuclear conflict that they have long feared by using smaller payloads on specific targets. Existing threats from Russia have made the organization make the changes needed to deal with them. According to Admiral Richard, these plans are solely for a two-way party version, citing Wion. This disregards US worries about nuclear weapons delivered by Chinese hypersonic technology and Beijing's aspirations for Taiwan. Lessons from the West's management of the Ukrainian conflict have shown China the possibility for China and Russia to merge their aspirations in a way that would expose the US to multiple nuclear threats. Despite all the concerns about Russia or China using nuclear weapons for the first time, the US remains the only country to use them against people. The US Air Force carried out the first nuclear attack on Japan in August 1945, using B-29 long-range bombers to obliterate the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic bombing resulted in 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki, where most of the victims were civilians. Related Article: White House Attempts To Win Over Africa After Successful Inroads by Beijing and Moscow @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Its never too early to start a legacy: The importance of financial stewardship You may not have heard of R.G. LeTourneau. A widely successful industrialist of the early and mid-20th century, LeTourneau made his living creating earth-moving equipment that was used to support Allied forces during World War II. He is one of the greatest inventors of our time, with over 300 patents granted. A devout Christian whose life passion and calling were to spread the Gospel and leave a lasting spiritual legacy, LeTourneau gave 90% of his income to Gods Kingdom work. LeTourneau once said, I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back but God has a bigger shovel. I have been in Christian financial and fundraising ministry for nearly 30 years. If youve been in fundraising and donor relations for that long, you have likely been asked, How can you be comfortable asking for money? Yes, fundraising involves the transactional aspect of money, but more importantly, it is relational and spiritual before it is transactional. In Christian ministry, and as individual donors ourselves, giving is an act of worship based on the sacred relationship between the giver and God. There is an intersection that too few of us pause at for very long and that is the intersection of Kingdom stewardship and Gods call upon the resources and gifts he has entrusted to our care. Imagine a seat with a spiritual view that allows you to both see the needs of the world and reflect on all God has given you that can help meet those needs. Let me call this the stewardship seat. Many will rush into the stewardship seat when they are older and thinking about their legacy or when the weighty stress of final-days reality sets in. My teams and I have helped many of these people with their final-days gift planning. You see, its an honor and sacred privilege to assist them with making these important decisions. This is why fundraising is comfortable; as fundraising professionals with Kingdom-minded ministries, we, too, have a seat at the intersection of Kingdom stewardship and Gods call upon the Kingdom steward. But the stewardship seat is for more than just those who are 55 and over. There is an open seat to people of all ages and of all financial means. A mite-y heart Many of us are familiar with the story in the Bible about the widow and her mite (Luke 21:1-4). We have a tendency to think we arent wealthy, and we dont seem to have disposable income or other assets on the scale others do. Although the widow gave the equivalent of 1/8 of a cent in todays currency, heres what Jesus saw in the heart of the widow: I tell you the truth, Jesus said, this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has. Being a good steward isnt just about being generous with your giving. Its about being generous with your heart. Generosity can be expressed through our time, talents, spiritual gifts, relationships, advocacy, and prayer. Yes, the widow gave all that she had, and in no ones eyes was this a big amount, but she gave from her heart. This poor widows stewardship was memorialized for generations to come. The seat of stewardship calls each one of us to sit and consider prayerfully all the resources that God has entrusted to us and how we can put those resources to use for Kingdom purposes. The sooner we recognize that he owns it all, sit in sincerity of heart and ask God to show us how we can be counted among His faithful stewards, the more Kingdom impact we can have during our lifetime (and after). Here are three questions to ask yourself: 1. What transformational change do I want to see in the world? For the past 15 years, I have been called to steward the work and resources of Bible translation at Wycliffe Bible Translators and Wycliffe Foundation. I can think of no more compelling thing that I can be doing with my life than what I am doing now. My hearts desire is for people from every language to understand the Bible and be transformed through a personal, life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ and to see his Kingdom stewards engage in a cause that is close to the heart of God. But I know that others have different callings and passions. For you, this might be providing help to children in need, the deaf community, those who are homeless, Gods global Church, or younger generations. The earlier you can identify what transformational change you want to see, the sooner your stewardship journey can begin. 2. What do I want my legacy to be? Some people are born into a deep family legacy of spiritual heritage, wealth or fame. Most arent. I wasnt. When our adult daughters were young, my wife and I began to consider what it meant to leave a legacy; we learned from my wifes parents who were devout Christians, and we started building our own legacy. If you dont have a legacy, start building one now! We began to live and give in such a manner that our daughters, and their family, would have a strong spiritual foundation. Legacy building is so much more than passing on financial resources. Our hearts desire is to pass on our faith and values so they, too, can experience the joy of receiving the well done as they sit in the stewardship seat. The Rev. Billy Graham once said, The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith. To build this kind of legacy requires us to live intentionally, spending time in Gods Word and in prayer, and be obedient to what God is asking of us. When we sit in the stewardship seat, we allow ourselves time to ask, What do I want my legacy to be? 3. How do I get started? Once you understand that you are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, that He owns everything, that you have been bought with a dear price and are his Kingdom steward and discern the transformational change you want to see in the world that is close to the heart of God, you must begin the journey. Theres no need to wait until we are over 55 to believe we can make an eternal impact in this life! Seek out godly counsel to help you begin the journey. After 30 years of helping people be good stewards, I take great joy in knowing they are glorifying God with their stewardship, building and passing on their legacy, and will one day hear these words: Well done, good and faithful steward; you have been faithful with what I have entrusted to you, and now you will be entrusted with much more. Enter into the joy of your Lord! All of us regardless of age or economic status stand at the intersection of being Gods stewards and being obedient to His calling. We just need to sit in the stewardship seat long enough to hear where God is calling us to action now. The pro-life movement needs to rebound from the confusion in Kansas One (nearly) ironclad rule of politics is that people wont vote for what they dont understand. This is why name recognition is so important in state-level elections in particular. If voters, who are usually rushing to the polls before work or trying to squeeze it in on the way home afterward, cant understand what they are being asked to vote on, they will just instinctually vote no. This is particularly true of direct democracy-style ballot measures, such as state-level constitutional amendments. While this isnt the only explanation for what happened in Kansas this past Tuesday when a pro-life measure was defeated, I think its significant. If I was a betting man (and not a good Southern Baptist) my money would be on mass confusion as the primary reason behind this apparent setback for the pro-life movement in a post-Roe world. Here is the text of the proposed Value Them Both amendment: 22. Regulation of abortion. Because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, laws that account for circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother. Did that make sense to you? If not, it doesnt mean youre slow. Ive read thousands of pages of legislative text in my life, during my time working in Congress and doing legislative affairs for the Executive Branch, and this is one of the more convoluted paragraphs Ive ever come across. The purpose of the amendment was to nullify a 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court of Kansas which held that the Kansas Constitutions Bill of Rights protected the right of women to seek abortions. This means that even with the Supreme Court of the United States overturning Roe v. Wade, in states like Kansas they cant just pass a law banning abortions they have to change their constitution. This amendment would have done just that, paving the way for the Kansas legislature to take efforts to end abortion in the state, which is currently legal up until 22 weeks. Ultimately, the amendment was defeated by a vote of 59% to 41%. As Eric Teetsel, former president of the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, explained: According to data from the Kansas Secretary of State, 463,592 Republicans voted for one of the two candidates in the Republican Senate primary race on the same ballot as the constitutional amendment, but 'YES' received a total of just 374,611 votes. That means at least 89,000 Republicans either voted 'NO' or abstained. Teetsel points out the highly aggressive campaign by the pro-abortionists to sow confusion and spread alarm about the amendment. And, despite being in many ways a red state, Kansas currently has a Democrat governor. The voting base isnt neatly divided. Teetsel concludes that, when it comes to fighting for life in a post-Roe world, this just happened to be a perfect storm of opposition that managed to get the upper hand. In his article at The Federalist, Pro-Lifers Need Not Despair Over Kansas Abortion Setback And Heres Why, Michael New shared words of hope and encouragement for disappointed pro-lifers after the amendments defeat. He also goes on to point out real pro-life wins on the board across the country: Since the Dobbs decision, numerous state-level laws have taken effect protecting thousands of preborn children. Furthermore, a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute found that in 11 states where pro-life laws were in effect, 43 abortion facilities were no longer performing abortions. Overall, Guttmacher predicts that protective pro-life laws will eventually be in effect in 26 states. I can personally attest to this, bringing you tidings of pro-life cheer from my current state of residence, Kentucky. After some judicial ping pong, on August 1, a Kentucky appeals court reinstated the almost total abortion ban law that went into place after the Dobbs ruling. As it stands today, almost all abortions in Kentucky are illegal. The abortion clinics have closed back down. Lives are being saved today because of it. This isnt some political sedative to help ease the pain of the Kansas loss, but the reality on the ground right now, and a cause for great rejoicing. As the Freedom Center explained, Kentucky also plans to move forward with a constitutional amendment, one that is much clearer and easier to understand than the Kansas amendment: In November, Kentucky voters will have a chance to decide on the issue with a ballot amendment referred to as the No Right to Abortion in Constitution Amendment. The proposed amendment reads, To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion. That said, let me pivot back to the other K state in question. How should Christians respond to the defeat of the Value Them Both amendment? Consider three Cs of explanation and two Ps of biblical admonishment. First, the text was confusing. And in politics, if you have to explain, you are losing. The lesson? These amendments need to be simple and clear. Second, the pro-abortion side waged a better-funded and more aggressive campaign against the amendment than it seems the pro-life crowd did in support of it. The lesson? Pro-lifers need to get ready to fight, state-by-state, to secure the end of abortion in the states where it is currently still allowed. Dobbs was a huge victory, but that was just a major battle it wasnt the entire war. Pro-lifers need to get organized and fast. Third, the electoral politics in Kansas are complicated. The lesson? Pro-lifers need to approach each state on its own, unique terms. A one-size-fits-all approach is largely bound to fail. What might win in Oklahoma could lose in Kansas. If we are serious about saving the thousands and thousands of preborn babies who still live under the threat of at-will abortion, then we must work to be clearer, campaign better, and consider the electoral complications we face in each state. Now for a biblical admonishment consisting of two Ps. First, we must persevere. In Proverbs 24:16 we read that for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. Christians, conservatives, and pro-life allies must rise again after this setback. Indeed, there is no cause, or time, for despair. We must keep pressing forward. We only lose if we quit so dont quit. Second, we must pray. Psalm 127:1 reminds us that Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. We are trying to build a pro-life house here in the United States, but unless the Lord blesses our work, it will be in vain. Therefore, we must appeal to God, in prayer, asking Him to give us wisdom and, ultimately, success. Proverbs 16:33 tells us that The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. In the same way, every vote is cast at the ballot box, but the final decision is directed by the Lord. It was Gods sovereign will that this Kansas amendment would fail. And even if we cant always trace the purposes of His hands, we can always trust His heart. God only, ever, does what is good, just, and wise. Wickedness may sometimes appear to prevail, but in those moments, we simply need to look to the cross and remember that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees life eternal life wins in the end. So, chin up. Put your shoulders back. Prepare to persevere in the pro-life cause. At the same time, be quick to bend your knee in prayer and entreat God to bless the efforts of those striving to rescue those being led away to death (Proverbs 24:11). God is the God of the entire universe. Is He not the God of Kansas, too? Yes, of Kansas too. And we can count on that. Originally published at the Standing for Freedom Center. UK Tavistock gender clinic could be sued by 1,000 former patients for 'medical negligence' A United Kingdom gender clinic is expected to face a massive class-action lawsuit from people who experienced adverse effects from what a lawyer leading the legal action describes as possibly one of the "largest medical negligence scandals of all time." The U.K. law firm Pogust Goodhead has launched a website featuring a "lawyer bot" designed to help people "investigate a claim involving treatment received and Gender Identity Development Services (GIDS) provided by the Tavistock Centre." The firm is pursuing a group litigation order against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. People who received gender transition services at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust as a minor have the option to fill out the form, as do guardians of such patients. "Following concerns raised by young people, parents, and professionals working at GIDS about the services provided, [National Health Service] England commissioned an independent review to assess how children and young people with gender dysphoria are being supported by the service," a Wednesday statement from the law firm states. "Since the interim review was published, a number of service attendees have spoken publicly about their concerns that they were misdiagnosed." Pogust Goodhead asserts that "those that had taken masculinising or feminising hormones are now left to live with the irreversible and life-changing consequences." The law firm acknowledged that while "the long-term effects are unknown," many who sought treatment at Tavistock continue to suffer psychological repercussions. Barrister Thomas Goodhead of Pogust Goodhead told The Times that the firm anticipates that "at least 1,000 clients" will join the class-action lawsuit his firm is spearheading against the clinic. "It's hard to put a precise number on it now, but we ran over 25 very large class actions in our firm," he said in an interview with Times Radio. "We've got decades and decades of experience in the size of these groups that sign up." He predicted that litigation against Tavistock would reveal "one of the largest medical negligence scandals of all time." The Tavistocks gender clinic is facing a class action lawsuit from patients over treatments. Barrister @thomasgoodhead, who leads the class action, says the case "is going to be one of the largest medical negligence scandals of all time". pic.twitter.com/yZUW3MFe55 Times Radio (@TimesRadio) August 11, 2022 The U.K. National Health Service recently ordered Tavistock gender clinic to close following the publication of a review determining that the gender clinic's "clinical approach and overall service design has not been subject to some of the normal quality controls that are typically applied when new or innovative treatments are introduced." The review also concluded that the "single specialist provider model is not a safe or viable long-term option in view of concerns about lack of peer review and the ability to respond to the increasing demand." Dr. Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health and former chair of the British Academy of Child Disability, headed the review. The findings of that review were published in an interim report, which expressed concern about the "affirmative, non-exploratory approach, often driven by child and parent expectations" at the clinic and the lack of a "standardised approach to assessment or progression through the process." The Cass report also noted that once an adolescent was "identified as having gender-related distress, other important healthcare issues that would normally be managed by local services could sometimes be overlooked." The report cited testimony from clinic staff who felt "pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach" they viewed as "at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake in all other clinical encounters." Sajid Javid, who served as secretary of state for health and social care under U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson before resigning earlier this year, characterized the order for Tavistock to close as "welcome news and absolutely the right decision based on the independent evidence gathered by Dr. Hilary Cass." "As Health Secretary, I was determined to protect vulnerable children from being failed by gender identity services at Tavistock," Javid stated. As Health Secretary, I was determined to protect vulnerable children from being failed by gender identity services at the Tavistock. This is welcome news and absolutely the right decision based on the independent evidence gathered by Dr Hilary Cass. https://t.co/QddfRT7z0V Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) July 28, 2022 Concerns about the ethics and practices of Tavistock date back to long before Pogust Goodhead began pursuing class-action litigation against the gender clinic. Between 2017 and 2019, a social worker at the clinic repeatedly raised questions about the "rogue medics" embraced by her employer, specifically referring to the prescription of experimental drugs as puberty blockers for youth with gender dysphoria. She received $27,000 in damages after a court concluded that she faced improper retaliation from Tavistock for sharing her concerns. Additionally, the National Health Service's Care Quality Commission awarded Tavistock an "inadequate" rating in 2021, citing its "overwhelming caseloads, deficient record-keeping and poor leadership." The Telegraph reported that since 2009, about 20,000 children have been referred to Tavistock. The 5,000 referrals to the clinic between 2021 and 2022 constituted a dramatic increase from the 250 referrals a decade earlier. Keira Bell, a "detransitioner" who once identified as a member of the opposite sex and underwent hormone therapy but has returned to identifying with her biological sex, has emerged as perhaps the most prominent critic of Tavistock and gender transitions for youth in general. Bell was a claimant in a lawsuit filed against the clinic and maintains that minors cannot "consent to the use of powerful and experimental hormone drugs like I did." Goodhead said that the topic of gender transition services "has been very much taboo in the public sphere until quite recently." "There is a very poor quality of data," Goodhead said. "The percentage of those who have undergone these treatment pathways who subsequently detransitioned or who regret it or long-term evidence in respect of the effect of puberty blockers and then people almost inevitably continue on to sex hormone treatments is still unknown." Concerns about the long-term effects of puberty-blocking drugs and other gender transition services for minors have spread to other countries. A hospital in Sweden recently shut down the prescription of puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria, citing such concerns. In the United States, Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas have implemented bans on medicalized gender transition procedures for minors while the Texas Commissioner of Family and Protective Services has classified such procedures as "child abuse." (Bloomberg) -- Peloton Interactive Inc. will embark on a sweeping overhaul that includes cutting nearly 800 jobs, raising prices for its Bike+ and Tread machines, and outsourcing functions such as equipment deliveries and customer service to outside companies. The changes, which the company disclosed Friday in a memo to employees, also include gradually closing many of its retail showrooms a process that will get underway next year. Its the widest-ranging shake-up yet under Chief Executive Officer Barry McCarthy, a tech veteran who took the helm in February. Peloton is hoping to turn around a business that thrived during the early days of the pandemic but suffered a punishing slowdown in the past year. Revenue is declining, losses are mounting, and the companys stock price was down nearly 90% over the past 12 months. The latest moves are an attempt to reinvigorate sales, boost efficiency and restore some of Pelotons former cachet. We have to make our revenues stop shrinking and start growing again, McCarthy said in the memo provided to Bloomberg, adding that the changes are essential to making Peloton cash-flow positive again. Cash is oxygen. Oxygen is life. Read the Peloton CEOs full memo here.Investors applauded the moves, sending the shares up 14% to $13.53 in New York trading. It was the biggest one-day gain in more than three weeks. In its third known set of layoffs this year, the company will fire 784 employees across its distribution and customer service teams. Peloton will stop using in-house employees and vans to deliver equipment and shutter 16 warehouses across North America. Instead, it will rely on providers of third-party logistics, or 3PL, to set up bikes and treadmills at customer homes. Peloton already uses third-party shipping companies JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. and XPO Logistics Inc. for some deliveries and will offload its remaining in-house distribution to those firms. The company acknowledged that such a change might not be loved by all buyers, as some have complained that the third-party delivery services arent on par with Pelotons own efforts. This has been a challenge, McCarthy told staff. We wont fix it overnight, but we have no choice but to make it work, so were leaning into it and proactively managing our 3PL relationships. We are confident in the plan weve put in place and were encouraged by the progress were making. Peloton is also cutting about half of its customer support team, which is mainly located in Tempe, Arizona, and Plano, Texas. The company will use third-party firms to handle support requests as needed to augment the staff it is keeping. These expanded partnerships mean we can ensure we have the ability to scale up and down as volume fluctuates while still continuing to provide the level of service our members have come to expect, McCarthy wrote. The winding down of in-house deliveries, distribution and warehouses will eliminate 532 jobs, while another 252 will be culled from support teams. Peloton said last month it would cut about 570 employees in Taiwan as part of a move away from in-house equipment manufacturing. In February, it fired nearly 3,000 employees across the company. Still, McCarthy said the company will continue to hire in key areas, including its software engineering group. I share this so you wont think were driving with our foot on the gas and the brake at the same time, he said. The company is raising the price of its flagship Bike+ by $500 to $2,495 and its Tread treadmill by $800 to $3,495. The increases are a reversal as the Bike+ was priced at $2,495 prior to cuts in April. The new Tread price is higher than it was four months ago. McCarthy acknowledged the about-face, saying that the April price cuts were necessary to more quickly move units and generate cash flow. I probably wouldnt have messed with the prices at all if I had been confronted with different inventory states back when we lowered the pricing, he said in an interview. At the time, Peloton was in the early days of an $800 million restructuring plan and was still in the process of securing a $750 million bank loan. The price cuts cheapened at least the perception of the brand, he said. So this is a return to historical positioning. Peloton is betting that the price increases will help juice sales. During its fiscal third quarter, the New York-based company missed analyst estimates with revenue declining 24% and losses coming in far wider than expected. Peloton also said it intends to undergo a significant and aggressive reduction of its retail footprint in North America beginning in 2023. The company currently operates 86 stores across the US and Canada. McCarthy said in the interview that the number of locations shuttered will be determined by negotiations with landlords. He said that the savings from store closures will be reallocated toward marketing and selling its products in other ways. We need to be where our customers are when they make purchasing decisions, McCarthy said in the interview. Increasingly they do that online, he said, and thats reflected in the foot traffic. The announcements come six months after McCarthy was appointed CEO in a broader management reshuffling. The former Spotify Technology SA and Netflix Inc. executive vowed to cut costs, improve Pelotons products and move increasingly to a subscription-based model. The pandemic had been a boon to Pelotons business, with lockdowns sending consumers scrambling to buy its bikes and sign up for online fitness classes. But the company overestimated demand, produced too much equipment and mistakenly believed the surge in demand would continue after economies reopened. After Peloton began struggling, the board replaced co-founder John Foley with McCarthy though Foley remains chairman. Before the latest moves, Peloton already moved away from in-house device manufacturing, shifting the production of its bikes to partners in Asia. The company also implemented a leasing program that could lower the cost of equipment ownership and hiked the price of its content subscription service by $5 to $44 per month. Peloton is making other changes, including a return to in-person work. Office employees will have to come in at least three days a week starting Sept. 6, McCarthy said Friday. Thats in line with the approach used by other tech firms, such as Apple Inc., but marks a twist for a company that benefited from the work-from-home lifestyle. So far, Wall Street has been skeptical of Pelotons comeback. The shares continued to slide after McCarthy took the job and remain down about two-thirds in 2022. Management is betting that improving Pelotons fixed costs and raising prices will boost investor sentiment. I continue to be optimistic about the future of Peloton, McCarthy said in the memo. That doesnt mean there wont be challenges ahead. There will be, and there will be unforeseen setbacks. Thats the nature of turnarounds. But Im confident we can overcome the challenges because weve come so far in just the last four months, which feeds my optimism about our ability to engineer our long-term success. 2022 Bloomberg L.P. "The CAT is back. Le CAT est de retour." The bilingual marketing for the high-speed ferry is unavoidable as I plot my 10-day trip to Nova Scotia. But why is it called the CAT? Cats hate water, don't they? Only when I drive our car into the Bar Harbor departure terminal and see the boat do I understand: CAT means a giant catamaran propelled not by traditional shaft propellers but with jet engines. It is now "back" after a pandemic-caused hiatus - and no longer at its old home berth farther down the Maine coast at Portland. The CAT's high speed means that the 98 nautical-mile passage from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth takes only 31/2 hours, crossing the Gulf of Maine, one of four distinct bodies of water that surround the Canadian maritime province. The others are the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and, of course, the Atlantic Ocean. With a resulting 10,000 miles of coastline, Nova Scotia is billed as "Canada's Ocean Playground," and no place in the province is more than 50 miles from the coast. My intention is to test the waters. Will they be healing waters? Given the war in Ukraine and other despondency-inducing current events, I feel a bit like the narrator Ishmael in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." To escape the "November in my soul," he seeks "the watery part of the world." I've always found solace in swimming and boating, indeed all aquatic pursuits, and the waters don't have to be warm (as they surely aren't in Nova Scotia) to be therapeutic. The CAT arrives in Yarmouth shortly before 6 p.m. Actually, it's 7 p.m., I belatedly realize. We've lost an hour traveling from the Eastern to the Atlantic time zone. The place I've booked for the night is a couple of hours away, along what's called the Yarmouth-to-Halifax "Lighthouse Route." The rental cottage is not coastal but lakeside; in Nova Scotia even the land's interior boasts bodies of water. There are over 6,000 lakes with surface areas greater than 2.5 acres, according to the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change. The often-memorable names for Nova Scotia's bodies of water reflect the land's settlement history: From the First Nation Mi'kmaq word Kejimkujik (meaning "tired muscles from canoeing") to the French Barachois (coastal lagoon) to the Scottish Loch. Most of the lakes are glacial in origin. As recently as 15,000 years ago, the land that the British would christen with the Latin equivalent of "New Scotland" lay under ice up to a mile thick. The now-liquid lake over which our cottage is perched lies in the wonderfully named Whynotts Settlement, just outside the old port town of Lunenburg. Established in 1753 by Britain to assert control over land claimed by both Indigenous people and the French known as Acadians, Lunenburg has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for retaining the original layout and appearance of its British colonial settlement. After a good night's rest on the soothing shores of the small lake, my wife, Pat, and 25-year-old son Thomas (visiting from Hawaii) want to see the 1800s vernacular architecture for which the Lunenburg waterfront is famous. The picturesque fishing village of Blue Rocks, less than four miles seaward, also beckons. Then we head further up the coast toward Halifax, where another fishing village, Peggy's Cove, is so picturesque that it's typically clogged with tourists. Just a few miles farther, but far from the crowds, we reach the secluded waterfront cottage that we have booked for a full week - our lily pad from which to make exploratory hops. The water here is known as the Northern Arm, a jagged inlet off the Atlantic Ocean. The cottage has a dock for boating and swimming, which floats up and down with the incoming and outgoing tides. To paddle around, we rent a canoe. At the property's entrance is Black Duck Run, which feeds into the Northern Arm. But at high tide, the creek flows upstream, as if backward, and broadens into a brackish pond. The tide differential averages 3 to 4 feet, and the water is chilly, somewhere in the 60s. But I find it slightly less chilly if I take a dip as the tide goes out. Still, I stay in the water only a few minutes, just long enough to swim to a rock outcropping revealed at low tide. Later in the day, as the rock becomes even more exposed, it serves as a favorite perch for a loon. For Thomas, who is a big-wave surfer on Oahu's North Shore, the water is never too cold as long as he's surfing. So he takes the car and heads for a surfboard rental place on Lawrenceville Beach, a few miles northeast of Halifax. Afterward, he reports that the waves are just "OK" (compared with Hawaii), but still interesting and fun: A beach not of sand but of pebbles and cobbles, framed by pines instead of palms. For Pat and me, our exhilarating waterborne adventure will be rafting the Bay of Fundy's tidal bore as it roars up the rivers feeding the bay. Thomas will join us, of course, anticipating an adrenaline rush similar to surfing. We make reservations for a two-hour tour the next day on the Shubenacadie River, on the opposite, northern side of Nova Scotia from our cottage, but only about an hour's drive away. Boarding the inflatable raft, equipped with a powerful outboard motor, is timed to the low tide that afternoon. It's so low that the riverbank is a mud flat, and we slip and slide our way to the water. Our raft is one of three, with each holding a maximum of eight people, plus a guide manning the outboard. As we motor downriver, two bald eagles soar above us. The Bay of Fundy, known for the world's most extreme tide fluctuations, is shaped like a long funnel. As the incoming tide is forced into the bay's ever narrower, shallower upper reaches, it collides with and reverses the river currents running downstream. The result is a huge cresting wave called a tidal bore - from the old Norse word "bara," meaning "first wave." The guide at the raft's helm expertly heads into the wave's face, then zooms back and forth, creating the sensation of riding a very bumpy roller coaster. Everyone gets splashed, even soaking wet; some scream with delight; no one falls overboard, though that often happens (why life jackets are required). The standing waves are equivalent to a class-three-or-four white-water rapid. Sharing our raft are giddy members of a bachelor party joking with the groom while firmly clasping the bouncing boat's safety lines. Pat, speaking from experience, joins the banter: "Marriage is like riding the tidal bore, up and down and wildly unpredictable." At trip's conclusion, shivering, we're offered outdoor showers to wash off the mud before changing into dry clothes. Hot water spraying from the shower head has never felt so good. Thrills can best be savored in retrospect, so the next couple of days at our waterfront cottage seem especially restful and reflective. Relaxing in an Adirondack chair overlooking the dock, I can't help but hear Otis Redding playing in my mind: Sittin' in the mornin' sun/I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes. . .. I also reflect upon the notion of Lebenskunst ("the art of living well"), since the cottage owners are Swiss German. The water here is never the same. When the prevailing southwesterly winds align with the rising tide, the surface texture ripples, no longer smooth. There's even an occasional whitecap. And the blue water always changes its hue, gradually, then suddenly, depending on the color of the sky and angle of light. When fog slides in from the sea, the rocky shoreline's sharp shapes soften, as if covered by a wedding veil. To stretch our legs, we hike the trails at nearby Polly's Cove (adjacent to Peggy's Cove). Where land and sea meet is always striking, but the rugged beauty here can make other coastlines seem ho-hum. Narrow but well-worn paths weave through a landscape of heath and coastal barrens, a colorful carpet of wildflowers and evergreens made into dwarf-like shrubs by constant exposure to salt spray and wind. We maneuver around (sometimes over) huge boulders - what geologists call "erratics," deposited by retreating glaciers - interspersed with freshwater bogs and fens. At the trail's terminus are towering cliffs from which we look down at ocean swells crashing against the rocky shoreline. Though we feel like we never want to leave our waterfront cottage here near Polly's Cove, other waters beckon - in particular, the Bras d'Or Lake at the very tip of Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island. There, the pristine water's shores so enchanted the inventor Alexander Graham Bell, reminding him of his native Scotland, that he built a grand summer home and research facility, which he used to test man-carrying kites and hydrofoil boats. Though called a lake, it is actually an estuary with two narrow entrances to the Gulf of St. Lawrence as it meets the North Atlantic. A canal at the lake's southern end, built in the 1860s for shipping traffic, also connects to the sea. In 2011, UNESCO designated Bras d'Or a Biosphere Reserve. Today, the lake is a well-known destination for sailing enthusiasts, so we charter a 42-foot catamaran for a few hours on the water. The captain, who grew up here and custom-designed the boat himself, says to think of the 424-square-mile lake as "an inland saltwater sea." Because of its protected nature and shallow depths, he's been told that the summer waters are counterintuitively "the warmest north of the Carolinas." I want to test the proposition by jumping in the lake. Instead, Pat, Thomas and I join the captain for drinks on his boat's dock in the village of Baddeck, where the eponymous river joins Bras d'Or. Several drinks, for it happens to be my birthday. From him, I learn more about the waters of Nova Scotia, so much more that I'd have to write a longer story. Or better, come back soon to Nova Scotia. - - - If you go What to eat: Shaw's Landing 6958 Prospect Rd., West Dover 902-823-1843 shawslanding.ca Located in a charming fishing village near Peggy's Cove, with a casual oceanfront atmosphere, Shaw's logo boasts "Beer and Lobster. Enough Said." But its extensive menu offers much more, including seafood chowder, Digby scallops, calamari, fish cakes, pickled herring and pan-seared haddock. Open daily noon to 7 p.m. Entrees from about $8. The Freight Shed Waterside Bistro & Market 2 Jones St., Baddeck 902-295-1389 m.facebook.com/thefreightshed Located on the wharf on the shores of the Bras d'Or Lake, the restaurant is a favorite for visitors and natives alike. The menu offers everything from seafood linguine, smoked salmon bagels, crab cakes, seared fresh haddock and steamed mussels to gourmet grilled-cheese and burgers. Open daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Entrees from about $13. What to do: Tidal Bore Rafting Resort 12215 NS-215, Urbania 902-400-0104 raftingcanada.ca One of a number of outfitters offering tidal bore rafting adventures around the Bay of Fundy. 2.5-hour tours from about $54 per person 12 and over, about $49 per child ages 6 to 11, ; 4-hour tours about $73 per person 12 and over and about $67 per child ages 6 to 11. Reduced rates for groups of eight or more. Open May to October. Book online to choose extreme, high, or regular tides. Includes flotation gear and post-tour hot showers. Also available are lodging options and venues for special events. East Coast Outfitters 2017 Lower Prospect Rd., Lower Prospect 902-852-2567 eastcoastoutfitters.com Outdoor resource center features half-day, full-day and sunset sea kayak lessons and guided tours. Individual equipment rentals are available for experienced paddlers. Rental rates for single kayaks range from about $31 for 2 hours to about $62 for full day; double kayak, about $39 to $76 and canoes from about $23 to $70. Canoes may be taken off-site. Stand-up paddleboards also available, from about $27 to $58. East Coast Surf School 4348 Lawrencetown Rd., East Lawrencetown 902-449-9488 ecsurfschool.com This surf school is located just steps away from the waves at Lawrencetown Beach. Open daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Daily lessons by ISA certified instructors are available; surfboard and wet suit rentals included. Group surf lessons from about $58 per person, beginner lessons from about $66 per person, private lessons from about $82 per person. Surfboard and wet suit rentals about $19 per day. Sailing CBI (Cape Breton Island) 2 Jones St., Baddeck 902-567-1492 sailingcbi.ca The sailing charter is a 42-foot catamaran called Cape Bretoner 1, docked at the Baddeck Community Wharf. Overnight, single and multiday charters available; two-hour evening charter from about $385 for a private group charter of up to 6 people, with $35 per additional guest to a maximum of 12. Cottage rentals are also offered. Available June to October. Information: novascotia.com PLEASE NOTE: Potential travelers should take local and national public health directives regarding the pandemic into consideration before planning any trips. Travel health notice information can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interactive map showing travel recommendations by destination and the CDC's travel health notice webpage. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Three day-old lion cubs were on display Saturday in a cardboard box at a Gaza City zoo, a rare joyous sight for children and adults alike, just days after Israeli aircraft pounded the territory and Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. Veterinarian Mahmoud al-Sultan said each cub weighed about 700 grams. He said he felt lucky the birth was successful despite the deafening sound of constant explosions during three days of fighting. The cubs' mother had suffered miscarriages in the past, said al-Sultan. Loud noise "causes stress to the wild animals, especially the lions, whose roars get higher, and they keep moving in a circular way inside the cage, he said. The cubs were born on Friday, several hours apart, and five days after an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire halted the fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants. Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children, were killed and several hundred were injured in the fighting. Shocks from war aren't the only threat to animals. Gaza is impoverished, with double-digit unemployment, largely as a result of a border blockade Egypt and Israel imposed after Hamas militants took control of the territory 15 years ago. In the past, a number of animals in small private Gaza zoos starved to death or were killed in the long-running conflict, which included four Israel-Hamas wars and countless smaller skirmishes. International animal welfare groups carried out several evacuations to move frail lions and tigers to sanctuaries in Jordan and Africa. The costly effort to rescue animals, while some 2.3 million Gazans remain largely trapped in a small territory, has also drawn criticism. On Saturday, visitors flocked to the small Nama zoo on the outskirts of Gaza City, with children allowed to pet the newborns. Nama is operated by a private charity, putting it in a slightly better position than the small number of private zoos that often struggle to provide for the animals. Schools organize daily trips to the zoo and the entry fee is less than $1, helping to cover costs. The zoo also houses a variety of birds, along with monkeys, deer, foxes, wolves and hyenas. BANGKOK (AP) The Chinese air force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military on Sunday. The training will include air support, strikes on ground targets and small- and large-scale troop deployment, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its website. China's expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the United States and its allies and form part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the world's two largest economies. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Thailand in June as part of an effort to strengthen what he called Americas unparalleled network of alliances and partnerships in the region. The Falcon Strike exercise will be held at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in northern Thailand near the border with Laos. Thai fighter jets and airborne early warning aircraft from both countries will also take part. The training comes as the U.S. holds combat drills in Indonesia with Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Singapore in the largest iteration of the Super Garuda Shield exercises since they began in 2009. It also follows China's sending warships, missiles and aircraft into the waters and air around Taiwan in a threatening response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its territory. Kurt Campbell, a top advisor to President Joe Biden on the Indo-Pacific, said Friday that the U.S. would take resolute steps to support Taiwan, including sending warships and aircraft through the 160-kilometer (100-mile) wide waterway that separates Taiwan and China. Well continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, consistent with our longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation, he said in a call with reporters. And that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Dutch financial prosecutors say they detained a man suspected of involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering" through the virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash. The 29-year-old man was arrested Aug. 10 in Amsterdam, the financial prosecution service FIOD said in a statement Friday. The suspect's identity was not released, in line with Dutch privacy regulations. SOUTH ROXANA Village officials have announced a partnership between South Roxana and Clearwave Fiber to expand high speed internet to the village. With a gigabit download and upload speeds, Clearwave Fiber will bring 10 times more speed to South Roxana residents. Clearwave Fiber is slated to begin construction in 2023. CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - One image shows a Black man wearing headphones surrounded by White protesters carrying the Confederate flag. In another, a woman stares at the camera, expressionless, her face illuminated by a single lit candle. A sea of college students assembles on a field in a third image, a sign peeking out from the crowd that reads, "Take back the lawn." Many of these photographs, hanging on giant banners among the willow oak trees in this city's downtown mall, were taken during the summer when neo-Nazis and white supremacists descended here for the deadly Unite the Right rally five years ago. News stories broadcast around the world that weekend brought attention to the racist chants and men in khakis hoisting tiki torches and raising their arms in Nazi salutes. But when the city's residents look up at the newly placed banners, they won't see any of that. Instead, the camera focuses on residents who fought against that hate. "I want us to be able to tell our story as a community," said photographer Eze Amos, 47, who put together the exhibit "The Story of Us," a collection of 36 images he captured of fellow residents. "We need to take back the narrative that the world has of Charlottesville." For much of the nation, the Unite the Right rally was a brazen display of racism and bigotry that awakened many people to the growing threat of far-right violence. Videos of white supremacists brutally beating a Black man and of a neo-Nazi ramming his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one of them, became synonymous with this central-Virginia college town. As far-right extremism continues to fuel violence - with mass shootings in Pittsburgh, in El Paso, Tex., and in Buffalo, N.Y., leading to hate-crime charges and members of far-right groups charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol - Charlottesville's activists and artists say it is more important than ever to hear from those residents who stood up in their city. Photo for The Washington Post by Zack Wajsgras Community members also say they have grown tired of outsiders using their town's name as a shorthand for hate. This year, through a candlelight vigil, an archival exhibit at the University of Virginia and Amos's interactive photo installation, they want to focus on how they resisted and how others might do the same. "We got rid of our racist Confederate statues. We got rid of those Civil War participation trophies. But the white supremacy that held them in place is still active here," said Lisa Woolfork, an anti-racist organizer and U-Va. professor. Woolfork, who witnessed the car attack that killed 32-year-old counterprotester Heather Heyer and injured more than a dozen others, wants people to resist falling into apathy. Fighting white supremacy, she said, is everyone's responsibility. "America is at a turning point," she said. "We need to decide what kind of country we are going to choose to be." --- In a poster introducing the U-Va. exhibit, tiki torches have been concealed from a photograph of angry white supremacists surrounding students at the Thomas Jefferson statue on campus. In their place: wildflowers. "We are trying to reframe and re-center the narrative of that summer and that weekend on the people that were resisting," said Hannah Russell-Hunter, 24, a co-curator of the exhibit. "They're trying to build a better and more joyful world where there are no white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and that's symbolized by the flowers and the growth." The exhibition, on display on the first-floor gallery of U-Va.'s special collections library through Oct. 29, highlights historical campus activism, artifacts from students standing up to neo-Nazis in 2017 and the ways community members continue fighting white supremacy. The exhibit also includes then-high-schooler Zyahna Bryant's 2016 petition to remove the city's statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Curators highlighted the ways students researched, spoke out and counterprotested white supremacists ahead of the Unite the Right rally weekend. One of those warnings, a report compiled by local activists detailing the ways rallygoers talked about plans for violence and presented at a July 2017 council meeting, is included in the exhibit. A report released by U-Va. the month after the rally found that the school was ill-prepared to respond quickly and adequately. The report questioned why police did not act sooner when white-supremacist marchers descended on the Jefferson statue and surrounded students, many of whom were attacked. A separate report by a law firm hired by the city to assess the response to the white-supremacist events, sharply criticized the police department, the Charlottesville City Council, attorneys from the city and state, U-Va. and the Virginia State Police. Visitors to the exhibit are greeted by reading materials that include a guide for what people can do when neo-Nazis come to their town. The co-curators, including U-Va. graduates Russell-Hunter, Kendall King and Natalie Romero, who was directly hit and suffered a skull fracture during the deadly car attack, hope those who see the exhibit are inspired to keep learning about the university and city history, and are inspired to become involved in local social justice issues, like advocating for affordable housing. "We don't want students to forget all the terrible things that have happened, because it's easy for us to be blind," said Romero, who was a plaintiff in a recent federal civil suit against white supremacists and neo-Nazis associated with the rally. "We're not hopeless. We are not powerless. Things are in our hands and we have a lot of work to continue to do." --- Since the rally in Charlottesville, there have been 131 killings committed by individuals either motivated by white-supremacist ideology or affiliated with a white-supremacist group or movement, more than 400 white-supremacist events and more than 16,000 incidents of propaganda, where fliers promoting hate are plastered across the country, according to Oren Segal, the vice president of the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League. Ahead of the anniversary, residents in neighboring Albemarle County said they had received plastic bags at their homes filled with birdseed and white-supremacist fliers that promised to "restore a white, Christian nation." "I don't think anybody today would be shocked if the events of 2017 happened this weekend," Segal said. When the mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, reacting to President Donald Trump's false claims that the election was stolen, insignia and symbols of hate in the nation's capital were some of the same as those seen during the Unite the Right rally. There are people and groups who were in Charlottesville that weekend who joined the insurrectionist mob, the Southern Poverty Law Center's HateWatch reported. This week, within hours of the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, the former president's supporters began calling for violence - something Unite the Right rallygoers spoke of in messages planning the event in Charlottesville. Last fall, a jury found the white supremacists and hate groups who participated in and organized the rally liable, deciding they should pay $26 million in damages to the plaintiffs, including Romero. "I don't think we can we can overemphasize the pervasiveness that the methods they used have become the modern-day playbook for extremists everywhere," said plaintiffs attorney Roberta Kaplan. She pointed to messages organizers shared with one another before the rally, including slurs against Black and Jewish people and violent fantasies of cracking skulls and driving into crowds, and the ways those plans turned into real-world action. Her co-counsel Karen Dunn added: "There's really not a day that goes by that you don't see something in the world that is evocative of what happened in Charlottesville. . . . Everything that's happened since has demonstrated that it was not a fluke. It was one stop on a larger journey that we're all still on, and nobody knows where that goes." --- For many of those who stood up against the white supremacists five years ago, the anniversary has been one to avoid, not observe. Will Jones, 39, who is featured in one of the photos hanging downtown, said he is taking his kids to ride roller coasters at the King's Dominion amusement park north of Richmond, Va. Bryant, who started the petition to take down the city's statue of Lee, tweeted that she is engaging in "radical rest" and ignoring emails about Aug. 11 and 12. "I know it was five years ago, but it really always feels extremely present in life," Romero said. "You think it's just a date, but it's not. Quite literally, your body remembers that trauma and it lives with us and it's something that you never get over. You have to learn to live with it." Heyer's mother, Susan Bro, said she planned to stop doing media interviews days before the anniversary. She misses her daughter, she said, and feels the weight of that grief every day. "There's work. There's handling the press. There's handling the family. There's cleaning the house. There's talking to friends," Bro said. "But then out of the blue every so often, it will just slam me: I used to have a little girl." Amos, too, said that it has taken him plenty of time to heal from the events. A Charlottesville resident since 2008, he was punched in the face while documenting the rally. But at a public library in Charlottesville on Wednesday evening, he led a small audience through a slide show of the 36 images he had selected to display on the downtown mall. Each photograph is paired with an audio account of the moment he had captured, as told by one of the people in it: U-Va. students and professors, pastors, activists, city officials and victims of the attack. "These stories would not sell papers or make the headlines," he explained, "and that's why I wanted to go to these people and get their story so we can learn something from them." Some of them, he told the crowd, were people he had met in the aftermath: He got to know Capt. Jim Mooney, pictured in uniform standing at a vigil, as the former assistant police chief tracked down the man who had punched Amos in the face. He photographed another man at a vigil just days after the rally. Amos said the man told him he had unknowingly rented his Airbnb to white supremacists who came to Unite the Right. Then Amos flipped to a photo he took a few weeks later, on the site of the car-ramming attack, where residents had created a memorial with candles. He kept going there every night - to meet people and to photograph - and always wondered how exactly the candles were always lit. Finally, he saw the woman behind the flickering lights. They made eye contact, he said, and "she just went on doing her thing." He still has no idea who she was. But he knew the nameless, expressionless woman captured in his photograph was part of the community - and had to be part of the story, too. A search warrant that was only recently published on Friday reveals that the FBI is looking into Donald Trump for a possible Espionage Act violation and has already retrieved sensitive materials from his Florida residence. Trump was found to have several documents, including one marked "TS/SCI," the highest level of government classification, a handwritten note, and another item marked "Info re: President of France," according to the receipt that accompanied the search order. FBI Seizes "Top Secret" Documents From Trump's Mar-a-Lago Estate An item marked "Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr." (a reference to one of Trump's closest confidants who won a pardon in late 2020) was also confiscated from Mar-a-Lago this week. The search warrant reveals that federal law enforcement was looking into Trump for records removal or destruction, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Espionage Act, which can include offenses other than espionage, such refusing to give over sensitive information when asked. If found guilty under the laws, he may be sentenced to jail time or pay a fine, as per Politico. The records highlight the tremendous national security threat that federal investigators felt the missing documents provided. The Justice Department sought their public publication amidst ferocious assaults by Trump and his GOP supporters. Because of the growing concern, Attorney General Merrick Garland last week gave his approval for an unprecedented search of Trump's properties. One set was designated exclusively for viewing in specified government facilities, four were tagged "top secret," three were marked "secret," and three were designated "classified," according to an inventory made by FBI agents. The "President of France" was mentioned in yet another batch of data that was found, Telegraph via MSN reported. A house with roughly 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms, on a 17-acre estate," was how the warrant characterized Mar-a-Lago. The taking of "any physical documents with classified marks" was permitted. Communications "involving the retrieval, storage, or transfer of national defense information or classified material" were also to be confiscated. Read Also: President Joe Biden's Advisers Plot 2024 Presidential Campaign Early To Set Up Potential Rematch with Donald Trump Trump Denies Storing Nuclear Weapons Papers Before leaving the White House, according to Trump's attorneys, he declassified the material brought to Mar-a-Lago, although it was unclear if he had the power to do so with the most sensitive materials. According to reports, the Justice Department was worried that if such things were kept at Trump's estate they would end up as a target for foreign intelligence services. According to rumors, some of the documents may have been related to nuclear programs, but Trump refuted this. The action was taken after the Department of Justice petitioned the court on Thursday to unseal the search warrant, attachments identified only by the letters A and B, and the property receipt outlining the items seized during the search. Trump personally announced the search, but the Justice Department remained silent until Attorney General Merrick Garland made the move to unseal public on Thursday. "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the un-American, unjustified, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going further by encouarging the immediate release of those documents," Trump wrote late Thursday night in a post on his own social media platform, as per USA Today. Related Article: Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Raid: Attorney General Merrick Garland Confirms He Signed FBI Search, But Did Trump Support It? @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Neighbor to Neighbor is helping students to get ready for the start of the new school year thanks to its partnership with the Greenwich Rotary Club. The two organizations collaborated on Friday to distribute more than 500 backpacks to kids. Clients of the nonprofit Neighbor to Neighbor picked up new backpacks filled with three-ring binders, folders, notebooks, pens and other school supplies. It has all of the basics that children will need to start them off in the new school year, Neighbor to Neighbor Executive Director Margaret Tjimos Goldberg said. Families are really struggling, and they look at the inflated prices for food and health items and rent. This is something that is needed, but yet might still be down on the priority list. So were happy to be able to help. They handed out the backpacks from the nonprofits temporary headquarters in the Horseneck Parking Lot. This is something that is a main focus of ours, said Steve DeLuca, co-chair of the Greenwich Rotary Clubs Community Services division. We want to know where we can give the most help. Goldberg, a new Rotary member, she said the two sides connected very early on and now hold monthly meetings to determine how to collaborate to help the community. We are going to be partnering very frequently, Goldberg said. This operation also had the support of Point72 Asset Management, a Stamford-based investment company founded by Greenwich resident Steve Cohen. He and his wife, Alexandra, owners of the New York Mets, are major supporters of Neighbor to Neighbor, including in the construction of its new headquarters on the Christ Church campus that is scheduled to open this fall. The firm helped financially and filled the backpacks with the supplies, Goldberg said. Neighbor to Neighbor and Greenwich Rotary took care of the distribution. Theyve been a vital partner, Goldberg said. Downtown The founder of Yoga By Danit Method, a yoga studio at 6 Lewis St., was looking to support the community as it celebrates its fifth anniversary in town. Our community of students has been a source of inspiration and pride that have helped us grow and thrive throughout these last five years, founder Danit Schreiber said. Almost half of our time as a business has been during the COVID pandemic. We are so grateful that we have been able maintain and grow the business during these tough times that we feel the best way to celebrate is to give back to our community, she said. As a result, Yoga By Danit is again partnering with the nonprofit Neighbor to Neighbor to make Greenwich a better place for everyone, Schreiber said. Neighbor to Neighbor serves Greenwichs food insecure residents with its food pantry and delivery service. Demand for its services soared throughout the pandemic, which is why Schreiber said the yoga studio wanted to help the nonprofit. She called it important work supporting less fortunate families in our community. Neighbor To Neighbor is running an important campaign to enable families in need to purchase essential personal hygiene and cleaning products not covered by SNAP, she added. The exclusion of these essential products from SNAP is a source of real financial stress for many low-income households. The studio is accepting donations for Neighbor to Neighbor via its website at www.yogabydanit.com. By clicking on the announcement bar, the donor will go to an Amazon Wishlist created by Yoga By Danit Method specifically for Neighbor To Neighbor. Any item purchased from the list will be sent directly to Neighbor To Neighbor and from there to local families in need. Any donation, whether it is feminine hygiene products, toilet paper or a bottle of Lysol, will help a family here in Greenwich, Schreiber said. She founded the studio five years ago, after teaching yoga in Greenwich for nearly a decade. The studios classes are individual tailored to the students in the room, enabling each student to derive the maximum benefit regardless of the level of their practice. Central Greenwich The project to replace the water main on Brookside Drive will take a bit longer to finish due to delays caused by the required drilling work. This past week, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a 60-day extension for A.J. Penna & Son Construction to complete the project. Work was approved to begin in May, but the company said it began the work in July and ran into difficulties with the excavation work needed. Weve seen a lot of unfavorable digging conditions, Dino Georgiadis, senior project manager, told the selectmen. Weve seen a lot of granite and a lot of hard rock. Weve seen a lot of utilities that are in the way (underground). Its slowed production down quite a bit. The Brookside project is 40 percent complete, Georgiadis said, and has moved closer to Town Hall. Currently the work is centered along the stretch of Brookside between Field Point Road and West Putnam Avenue, behind the Acme grocery store. The road is closed except to local traffic. The extension will take the work into October. Without the road closure extension, Georgiadis said in a statement to the board, the company could not effectively finish the project with minimal impact on the community. The extension was granted unanimously without any debate or objection. First Selectman Fred Camillo said he wanted to make sure neighbors were notified about the ongoing work. Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said she has heard concerns about traffic backups during peak hours, especially for drivers coming from Arch Street toward Field Point. It would be a good idea to get some extra help directing traffic, she said, because it is already a tricky intersection for motorists coming up Sound View Drive onto Field Point. Its getting a little dicey out there, Rabin said. Aquarion Water Co. says the new water main will be eight inches up from six for improved fire protection and service reliability. Parts of the water main are nearly 120 years old, Aquarion said. Central Greenwich For the second consecutive year, Greenwich Hospital has earned a five-star hospital quality rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the highest distinction offered by the federal agency. This designation is a tremendous honor that recognizes our culture of excellence and the dedication of physicians, nurses and staff who deliver exceptional care each and every day, said Diane Kelly, Greenwich Hospital president. They are the reason why thousands of Connecticut and New York residents turn to Greenwich Hospital for care. Found on Medicares Care Compare website at www.medicare.gov/care-compare, the CMS ratings provide consumers with a simple way to compare hospitals quality and performance. The ratings are based on more than 40 quality measurements in five categories: mortality, safety of care, readmissions after treatment of common conditions, patient experience and timely and effective care. This year, only 13.8 percent of the 3,093 hospitals rated by CMS across the country earned a five-star designation. For Greenwich Hospital, the CMS recognition comes on the heels of recent national distinctions, including six patient experience awards from Press Ganey, a national organization that measures consumer satisfaction; a second consecutive designation as a magnet organization by the American Nurses Credentialing Center; and national recognition for stroke care from the American Heart/American Stroke Association. For more information on Greenwich Hospital, which is part of the Yale New Haven Health System, visit GreenwichHospital.org. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com CARLINVILLE A detailed history of Abraham Lincolns experiences and connections in Greene County is scheduled for release this fall. Writer Tom Emery of Carlinville is releasing "Lincoln in Greene County, Illinois" which features a wide variety of stories on the sixteenth president in Greene County, many that have never been covered. The book is slated for release and distribution in September. The fast-moving, illustrated, documented work analyzes the ties of Lincoln to some of the earliest names of Greene County history, including friendships with Jacob Fry, Edward Baker, C.M. Smith and David Woodson, as well as political relationships with prosecutor Josiah Lamborn and members of the Carlin family. Lincolns speaking appearances in Carrollton are also discussed, as are voting records and the countys reaction to his assassination. The role of Greene County in Lincolns near-duel at Alton in 1842 is examined, as are his court cases in the county. Topics include a hanging in Carrollton that induced Lincoln to change his speaking schedule during his 1858 Senate campaign against Stephen A. Douglas. Letters written to and from Lincoln in Greene County are also discussed. The book is 160 pages with complete notes, index, and bibliography, and is the most in-depth, well-rounded look at Abraham Lincoln in Greene County that has ever been attempted. Lincoln in Greene County, Illinois sells for $19.95 plus $1.24 tax and $3.76 postage ($24.95 total). Emery has produced a string of well-received regional studies on Lincoln, including his experiences in Alton, Macoupin County and Montgomery County, as well as Lincolns many connections to Illinois State University. Emery is a frequent contributor to many newspapers in the area, and has appeared at numerous speaking engagements in the region. To reserve a copy, orders may be placed with PayPal (use the e-mail enjoyhistorytoday@gmail.com) or by mail by sending your name, address, phone, and check or money order to History in Print, 337 E. Second South, Carlinville, IL 62626. For more information, call 217-710-8392 or e-mail enjoyhistorytoday@gmail.com. GASTONIA, N.C. (AP) A local North Carolina prosecutor has dropped a first-degree murder charge against a man whose conviction in the death of a university student was overturned by a judge eight years later. Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page formally dismissed on Friday the charge against Mark Bradley Carver, 54, of Belmont, saying in a news release that the evidence no longer supports the count. The dismissal meant Carver, who was released from prison in 2019 but remained under house arrest while awaiting a new trial, got an electronic monitor removed from his ankle late Friday, news outlets reported. Were happy its finally over, said Robin Carver, his sister-in-law. Its been a long time coming. Carver and his cousin had been charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 death of 20-year-old Ira Yarmolenko, who was a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Yarmolenkos body was found on the banks of the Catawba River next to her car, which was at the bottom of an embankment. A ribbon, bungee cord and drawstring were wrapped around her neck. Carver and the cousin, Neal Cassada, had been fishing nearby. Cassada died before his trial began. Carver, who has maintained his innocence throughout, was convicted in 2011 and received a life sentence. In June 2019, Superior Court Judge Christopher Bragg ordered a new trial, citing in part the DNA evidence that prosecutors used against Carver. Page, who became DA in July 2021, also said the evidence no longer supported a murder charge against Cassada. He said in his news release that the DNA prosecutors used at Carvers trial to tie him to Yarmolenkos car no longer contained a sufficient amount of DNA for examination. But Chris Mumma, Carvers attorney and executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence, has said state labs used outdated methods to test the DNA found on the car. Both men are innocent as they have always proclaimed, Mumma said in a news release. No other suspects in Yarmolenkos murder have been identified. Page said his office will continue to seek justice for the Yarmolenko family and all homicide victims as the evidence and rule of law permit. SHELTON The school districts principal shuffle has led to new leaders at two elementary schools. In May, the district shifted longtime Sunnyside School Principal Amy Yost to Mohegan School, with Mohegan Principal Darla Lussier moving to Sunnyside. Yost ultimately chose to leave the district, taking a principal post in the Wallingford school district and leaving an opening at Mohegan. That opening was filled last week when the Board of Education hired John Coppola, a veteran of the Ansonia school district. Lussier is remaining at Sunnyside School. (Coppola) has a passion and commitment for education, Superintendent Ken Saranich said after welcoming him to the district at Wednesdays Board of Education meeting. The board voted unanimously to hire Coppola, a longtime member of the Ansonia school district, where he served as a teacher and most recently assistant principal for the past decade. Coppola will earn $162,385 in the post. I had been an assistant principal for years, and it was time for me to take the next step and run my own school, said Coppola, an Orange resident who grew up in Derby. When this Mohegan job opened up, I saw this has a perfect spot. It has that small school, family feel, which is just what I was looking for in my next move. It is a wonderful place ... everyone has been so welcoming, he added. Board of Education Chair Kathy Yolish said some two-dozen people applied for the post, and in the end, Coppola stood above the rest. John brings a wealth of attributes to the position of principal, most notably having served in the military, working in all levels of the educational system as well as his involvement and commitment with the community he worked in. He literally checked all the boxes of what we were looking for in a candidate, Yolish added. Coppola has worked as a high school science teacher, middle school and elementary school vice principal, and was involved with the preschool accreditation process. He exemplifies a leader who will nurture staff partnerships, meet challenges, collaborate and communicate and build a strong staff-student-parent- community partnership, Yolish added. Coppola said he grew up in the Valley and is happy to remain in the area. He added that his educational experience combined with his four years of active duty in the U.S. Army have prepared him for this latest leadership role. Ive learned to take things in stride, to take care of people, Coppola said. In schools, my goal is to treat the students like your own and make a family atmosphere out of it thats the type of leadership Im bringing to Mohegan School. My goal is to not only honor the traditions already in place but also evolve and create new traditions. His positive approach, leadership skills, and understanding of the teaching and learning process makes him the perfect fit for Mohegan School and the Shelton team, Saranich added. Coppola served as an assistant elementary principal in Ansonia for almost 10 years. In his entire career with the Ansonia School District, Saranich said Coppola has developed his skills in social-emotional learning and targeted instructional strategies to improve student achievement. John has served at the elementary, middle and high school level, demonstrating a true understanding of student development in a Pre-k -12 system, Saranich said. Coppola is a graduate of Syracuse University and obtained his masters and his educational leadership degree from Southern Connecticut State. Yost, who had served as Sunnyside principal since 2014, was recently named the new principal at Cook Hill Elementary School in Wallingford. She starts her new position on Aug. 15. Lussier was named Mohegan School principal in 2020, taking over for Kristen Santilli, who was named the districts director of curriculum, instruction and data. Lussier served as an elementary school teacher in the district for the past 20 years before taking the principal position. She was the administrative intern at Sunnyside School for four years. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Lussier has served the district as the summer school program director since 2011. brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the timing of the principal moves in the district. Amy Yost decided to leave after she and the Mohegan School principal had already swapped places at the two schools. NORWALK The city has set its sights on a revised charter for the public to view and vote on by November of next year. A Charter Revision Commission was formed last week during a Common Council meeting to lead the revision, which was first discussed earlier this year, according to city documents. In March, the council decided a charter overhaul was needed following the findings of the joint public schools and city efficiency study. The charter was first drafted about 100 years ago, with language and portions that are now moot. The document is outdated and confusing, Betty Ressel, the project manager hired to complete the study, has previously said. Dated rules and allowances still in the charter include the power for Norwalks mayor to enter any house, building, place or enclosure wherein he may have reasonable cause to suspect dissolute or disorderly persons to be assembled, and, whenever he shall have reason to believe that great opposition will be made to the execution of his authority call out the military force of the state, according to the powers and duties of the mayor as outlined in the charter. To spearhead the revision efforts, the city brought on attorney Steve Mednick, council member Tom Livingston said during the meeting last Tuesday. Charter, as we talked about then, is extremely outdated and difficult for our citizens as well as all of us to understand and follow, Livingston said. Mednicks been involved in charter revision in many municipalities around the state and is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject. And he has been spending time since our last meeting beginning this revision process by starting to reorganize the charter to help facilitate this whole project. While the council finalized plans to form a Charter Revision Commission, the commission members will not be announced until a special meeting at the beginning of next month, Livingston said. Residents were encouraged by multiple council members, including Mayor Harry Rilling, to participate in upcoming meetings of the Charter Revision Commission. The principal charge for this commission will be to undertake a review of our charter and make it more accessible and understandable for our residents and useful in the day-to-day governance of our city, but the Charter Commission will have broad authority to go beyond that, Livingston said. They will have open meetings for residents and elected officials who would like to speak before them and submit their input. The council and commission hope the charter will be ready for review and voting by Norwalk residents come November 2023, Livingston said. abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com CAIRO (AP) Floods triggered by seasonal torrential rains in Sudan have killed more than 50 people and inundated over 8,170 homes since the rainy season started, a senior police official said Saturday. Nineteen fatalities have been recorded in North Kordofan province, followed by Nile River province, which reported seven deaths, said Brig. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Rahim, spokesman for Sudans National Council for Civil Defense. The western Darfur region, which has five provinces, reported 16 deaths, he added. APPLETON, Wis. (AP) Police in Appleton, Wisconsin, shot and killed a man after responding to a domestic disturbance call, authorities said Saturday. The shooting happened after officers were confronted by an armed man when they were called to a home in Appleton on Friday night, the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation said in a news release. Officers tried to negotiate with the man but later shot him, the department said. He died at an Appleton hospital. No officers were hurt during the confrontation. A firearm was recovered at the scene and body camera footage captured the shooting, according to the Justice Department's news release. The Appleton police officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, which is policy after a shooting. Authorities did not release any additional information. LAS VEGAS (AP) Police in Las Vegas say a car chase and gun battle ended with two officers injured in crashes and the arrest of an armed man who officers reported seeing steal one vehicle at gunpoint and try to carjack another. The two officers hurt in the high-speed chase late Thursday through the Las Vegas Valley were taken to University Medical Center with injuries that Capt. Carlos Hank said were not believed to be life-threatening. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate FREDERICK, Md. (AP) Joe Nieves, 40, sank into the couch of his living room. His service dog, Jem, a 3-year-old Labrador-golden retriever mix, hopped up next to him and rested her head on his thigh. He started petting her, running his hands over her ears. I mean, look at her. She doesnt have to be here right now, he said. She could be, like, in the bedroom, but she wants to be here and that means a lot to me. Jem is a service dog specially trained to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, like Nieves. Jem is a buffer for Nieves when he feels overwhelmed or disconnected from the world, he said. The two were paired in March. She has helped him more than he could have imagined, he said. Nieves, an Army veteran, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD in 2006. He also has anxiety stemming from his deployments to Iraq in 2004 and 2005, he said. Like many veterans, he carries invisible scars of what he witnessed overseas. Its funny, because a lot of the things that haunt people are the things that happened to them, he said. And things did happen to me, but the things that haunt me the most are the things I saw happen to those around me. Because of Jem, Nieves went to his first event in about five years Awesome Con, Washington D.C.s Comic Con convention, in June, which attracts tens of thousands of geek culture fans. Jem is trained to perform many tasks to assist Nieves. Most helpful, Nieves said, is how she helps him with anxiety in public. For example, she can be a barrier, standing either in front of or behind him to prevent people from getting too close. She can enter places before Nieves does, which takes the pressure off him, he said. Hes an introvert, and people shift their attention to Jem instead of him when they walk in. I think its a side effect of the command. For me, thats really good because the eyes arent on me, theyre on her and thats really refreshing, he said. A lot happened to Nieves during his deployment. To this day, one event sticks out. One night, Nieves was monitoring a checkpoint at his base in Iraq and a mortar hit a building 100 yards from where he was standing. Six or seven soldiers were sleeping inside, he said. The roof of the building exploded in a shroud of metal. It was like slow motion, like in the movies. Its just pure, slow motion. Its like the 100 yards just shot forward, and its just sitting in my eyes and in my face, he said. He heard the mortars before they hit. In that moment, he said, he knew what mortal fear was. He didnt know whether to move or stay where he was to avoid getting hit. Luckily, all of the soldiers survived with minimal injuries, he said. But the possibility of losing his entire squad that night haunts him. In 2012, he was medically retired from the military. Nieves tried many things to cope with anxiety, but they never stuck. For example, his wife, Katharina Nieves, got him a camera for when he went out with his two daughters. The camera was to help me focus down through the viewfinder. So Im not seeing everything else. Im just seeing her and my girls when I looked through the viewfinder, Nieves said. He knew service dogs were an option, but he was discouraged from getting one. It wasnt until around 2018, when he met the service dog of a veteran friend during Wounded Warrior Project support group meetings, that he felt reinvigorated that a service dog could help him. In 2019, he put himself on a list for Canine Companions. Canine Companions has six training centers across the U.S. and spends roughly $50,000 to raise and train each dog, said John Bentzinger, a public relations and marketing coordinator for the organization. A veteran goes through an extensive process to get a service dog. Nieves said the organizations matching process goes well. The organization picks multiple dogs that could be paired with a veteran. It didnt take long for Nieves to realize who his would be. It was love at first pet. She really was perfect, the perfect amount of energy, Nieves said. Jem has been a game changer outside the home, Nieves said, and has become part of his family. Nieves has another dog, an energetic and attention-seeking French bulldog named Nemesis. Shes lovely, he said, but Jem provides something different. The love and affection, like Ive experienced before, but its different with her and not in a better way than the other dog in the way that only she can provide, he said. Im eternally grateful even for just having somebody lay on the couch with me. RIGA, Latvia - As the United States and NATO inject personnel and equipment into Eastern Europe in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, vulnerable allies such as Latvia are scrambling to scale up their defenses for fear they will be next to come under attack. Like Ukraine, which is not a NATO member but considered a close partner of the alliance, the countries closest to Russia say they are desperate for more Western military aid. It is essential to arm themselves as well as Ukraine, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said during a visit from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this month, because there is a real risk the war will "come to our borders." The Biden administration has vowed to boost side-by-side exercises in the region to hone proficiency in air-defense capability and other vital combat skills, not only in Latvia but across the Baltics and in other nations within easy striking distance of Russian forces. About 100,000 U.S. troops are deployed across Europe, an increase of 20,000 in recent months, with a growing center of gravity in the east. But for those on Russia's doorstep, it's not yet enough. The NATO members bordering Russia and Belarus - which, once considered a buffer state, has functioned as a forward-operating base for Russian troops since the start of the Ukraine war - are pleased, they say, that the United States along with Europe's financial powerhouses have embraced the view that Russia poses an existential threat to the West. The military investments made over the past six months are accepted with gratitude, but leaders in the region believe the alliance must become more aggressive in the long term. They are mindful of the resistance from some corners of Congress to moving more U.S. personnel to Europe during a time of rising tensions with China, but most insist that having a greater American footprint in Europe is necessary to keeping Moscow at bay. Even more vital, Baltic and Eastern European officials say, is a turbocharging of defense production lines to accelerate fulfillment of long-standing orders for weapons that these front-line countries say they require. "HIMARS, Reapers, counter-battery radars: these are what we will need most in terms of military lethal power that is imminently needed to deter Russia," Kusti Salm, secretary general of the Estonian Defense Ministry, said in an interview. He was referring to high-mobility artillery rocket systems, drones capable of conducting surveillance and precision strikes, and technology used to detect incoming fire. "We are on the brink of taking risks," Salm said. "Very heavy risks of our own national security tapping into some of our reserves. . . . And I know that there are other allies doing the same. So the only solution is rapidly ramping up the manufacturing power, and making sure the policy framework and policy financing signal support for this." Earlier this year, Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars to support, train and equip foreign countries that aided the Ukraine war effort - a category that includes all of the frontline NATO states - as part of a $40 billion package of assistance for the government in Kyiv and other measures to strengthen Western defenses. Part of the initiative calls for accelerating efforts to replace with NATO-standard weapons the Soviet-legacy systems many frontline states rushed to Ukraine early in the conflict. Many of those countries also have been supplying Ukraine with NATO-compatible heavy weapons from their own stocks. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon, said that, in the case of Latvia, its government felt comfortable providing Ukraine with some weapons because Russian forces that had been positioned near their shared border were withdrawn to join the war effort. But Moscow's hostility toward NATO remains unchanged, this official said, and Western countries need to backfill those capabilities at some point. The official did not say how long that may take. The United States is looking for the Baltic countries to build training ranges and other military infrastructure, the official added, while noting that U.S. security assistance for the region has risen to $180 million this year. In an interview, the Polish defense attache, Brig. Gen. Krzysztof Nolbert, said "winning that war is absolutely fundamental to security in Europe." Poland is the third-largest donor to the Ukrainian military, Nolbert added, and has routinely urged the West to support Kyiv "more decisively as opposed to incrementally," including by sending in fighter jets. At the same time, Polish officials believe it would greatly help their own defense posture if the United States could accelerate delivery of certain weapons Warsaw has already been promised. Poland is awaiting Patriot missile batteries, HIMARS, F-16 fighter aircraft and Abrams battle tanks, all along multiyear schedules set before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Recently, the head of Poland's national security bureau, Pawel Soloch, spoke with President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, about the need for defense production to be more responsive to escalating threats, impressing upon him that the U.S. foreign military financing protocols needed an upgrade, according to people familiar with the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail a private conversation. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the characterization of their discussion. "I know they are working at maximum speed," Nolbert said. But, he added: "It's an emergency situation. We need it now." In Latvia, meanwhile, the defense minister, Pabriks, told reporters this month that his country is seeking the sophisticated long-range rocket artillery that has bedeviled Russian troops in eastern Ukraine plus air and coastal defense systems generally out of reach for countries with modest budgets. Latvia now considers the Belarus and Russian borders as one and the same, Pabriks said, and officials here closely watch what's happening on the other side with the aid of intelligence provided by the United States and other partners. There are currently about 600 Americans deployed in Latvia, up from about 100 last winter. The persistent deployments of NATO troops and weapons to countries along Russia's flank is a strategy Western military leaders call the porcupine defense. It seeks to make the idea of invasion unpalatable to adversarial war planners by demonstrating NATO troops can instantly mobilize and back up allies already toughened by Western training and equipment. During a stop at Latvia's Lielvarde Air Base, where U.S. troops have taken up residence, Austin heard from a Latvian service member who professed to be the first in his country to return from Black Hawk helicopter training in the United States. In recent years, Latvian pilots were more focused on missions like search and rescue, he told the defense secretary, but now he knows how to fly in combat. The meeting underscored, though, that even some small challenges remain. One U.S. soldier, deployed here from Ohio, disclosed that it's often difficult to work with his Latvian counterparts in person. They're based an hour's drive from one another, the soldier said, and transportation is lacking. "We'll work on that," Austin responded. "We'll figure it out. . . . We're going to make sure we know the people that we're committed to fighting alongside, and you get a chance to see some of the land you may have to protect one day." Pabriks sounded a more urgent and ominous tone, telling the assembled troops, "If something happens on our borders, we are ready to die." - - - Demirjian reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Michael Birnbaum in Warsaw contributed to this report. According to a representative for the actress, Anne Heche has been ruled brain dead even though she is still on life support for organ donation. Heche is "legally dead according to California law," but her heart is still beating and she hasn't been taken off of life support so that "OneLegacy may see if she is a match for organ donation," according to the actress' spokeswoman Holly Baird. Actress Anne Heche Declared Legally Dead Following a vehicle accident on August 5, the actress sustained a serious anoxic brain injury and wasn't expected to live, according to a prior health update provided by the actress' team on Thursday. Per Hollywood Reporter, Baird said that the celebrity had been in a hospital since the accident and was in a severe condition. A Los Angeles Fire Department report claims the actress struck a two-story house with her automobile in the Mar Vista district of Los Angeles, resulting in a fire. Anne Heche was previously identified by the Los Angeles Police Department to THR as being under investigation for misdemeanor hit-and-run and drunk driving related to the incident. Anne Heche has two boys who are 20 and 13 years old. She is well-known for the movies 'Volcano', 'Six Days', 'Seven Nights', and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. On television, she has been in 'Men in Trees', 'Hung', and 'All Rise'. For her work on the NBC soap opera 'Another World,' she was honored with a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Read Also: Queen Elizabeth II's Death: Here's Royal Palace's Plan on How To Spread Details of Monarch's Demise 'Girl in Room 13' Starring Anne Heche Still Scheduled To Premiere The network's upcoming feature 'Girl in Room 13', in which Anne Heche stars as a mother looking for her lost daughter, is still scheduled to air in September, Lifetime said earlier on Thursday. Police had earlier claimed to be looking into Anne Heche's suspected driving while intoxicated. Her blood was drawn by detectives with a search warrant, and they discovered drugs in her system, according to LAPD spokesman Officer Jeff Lee. To identify the medications more precisely and to distinguish them from any prescription she may have been prescribed for treatment at the hospital, toxicology tests must be carried out. These tests might take weeks to complete, CBS News reported. Police stated that they are still gathering evidence from the collision and that after their investigation is over, if necessary, they would bring a case to prosecutors. Heche's spokesperson declined to comment on the probe. According to Heather Duffy Boylston, a representative for Heche, she has been in a coma since the accident, sustained burns that required surgery, and had lung damage that necessitated the use of a ventilator to breathe. Lynne Mishele, the resident at the time of the accident, uploaded a video on Instagram on Thursday. Anne Heche has a GoFundMe page set up for her. Heche, 53, was one of Hollywood's most well-known movie actresses in the late 1990s, playing opposite with Johnny Depp. The next movie on Heche's Internet movie page is another drama called 'What Remains,' which is said to be about a small-town pastor who "is forced to reckon with an act of forgiveness when the convict he forgave for murdering his wife returns to town five years later while the town sheriff investigates another murder that may be related." Per NY Post, though it's unclear how she fits into the narrative, Heche is credited as playing a character by the name of Maureen. The 'What Remains,' cast is completed by actors Cress Williams, Kellan Lutz, Marcus Gladney Jr., Stelio Savante, and Juliana Destefano. The project was written and directed by Nathan Scoggins, and it was shot in Amarillo, Canyon, and Claude, Texas, in October 2021. Related Article: Anne Heche Crash: Actress Still in Coma, Now Under Investigation for Felony Due to Narcotics in Her Blood @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ALTON Illinois American Water Company workers began digging on Bozza Street near Fast Eddie's Bon Air parking lot Friday morning after a water main leak caused the road to rise several inches and buckle from the pressure of the leak. At 7:30 a.m. water was still gushing out of the raised pavement and Alton Police were blocking traffic until the water could be shut off. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) More than 6 million people per year undergo eye surgeries and require an eye shield for protection during the healing process. A team at Intermed Labs in Morgantown learned in July 2021 that the shields on the market arent very comfortable or easy to use, and set out to make something better. The result was SNAPS, now in beta testing before going to mass market. And it took just a year. A year in the world of medical devices unheard of, said Intermed co-founder and CEO Tom McClellan. To have a product already on the market from literally a napkin to discussing with a multinational, in my mind, is incredible and is a testament to what is possible here in Morgantown. SNAPS CEO Joe Duda explained that eye shields are plastic or other materials but are fixed on the face with tape. Theyre needed following cataract, retina, Lasik and reconstruction surgeries. Taping a shield on poses several problems, he said. It occludes air flow, needed to help healing. It has to be removed to examine the eye or apply medications, which may need to be done several times a day. And existing shields have sharp edges that dig into the skin, causing irritation. The unique things about SNAPS, he said, is the adhesive anchors that are used. Theyre modeled after cardiac leads, but smaller. No tape is needed. SNAPS is transparent and has air holes and is easily hinged open and rotated for an exam or medication application. And it sits up just off the skin so it doesnt dig in or irritate. McClellan described how SNAPS got started. When doctors have ideas, they dont necessarily have the time, money or expertise to make those ideas come to fruition, or they dont have the ability to pivot off those ideas to make them better. In this case, Intermed was approached by a retina surgeon in Sarasota, Florida, who had trouble with current eye shields and had an idea that technically wasnt good, McClellan said. But they started to do market research and saw that the shield issue is a bigger problem and could be a low-hanging fruit for problem solving. So they got Intermed together to figure out how to improve standard eye shields considering ease of manufacturing and market constraints price and production cost. A photo of a SNAPS prototype shows the developmental model was gray, being 3D printed there on the top floor. It went through multiple iterations to perfect the shape, size, connections. Intermed has a deep medical bench, McClellan said, through its partnership with Mon Health, and they consulted with physicians for suggestions and feedback. They considered using magnets for connectors, Duda said, but that was a no-go because of patient aversion to the magnets. That led to using the adhesive tabs modeled after cardiac leads. A patient will wear a shield anywhere from a day to a couple weeks, depending on the procedure performed. So their testing included showering with SNAPS on and other trials to make sure the tabs stick. Once they had the design they wanted, the final version was injection molded. The version theyve shipped for beta testing is medical grade polycarbonate. Its transparent but strong, Duds said. The anchors flex but dont break. Beta testing will last about three months, McClellan said. Production volume is in the thousands at the moment, McClellan said, but with 6 million shields per year in use, clearly this has room to ramp up. They recently talked with a multinational marketing and sales organization interested in partnering with them. Duda is a Morgantown native who recently moved to Winchester, Va. He is a pharmacist and MBA who worked at Mylan/Viatris and left that company in April 2020. After leaving Viatris, he said, he was connected with McClellan. It sounded like a very interesting, grass-roots opportunity, very boutique. They come in with an idea, sit around a table and get something done quickly unlike at a bigger company that moves more ponderously. Intermed design engineer Zac Hoopes was recruited from Pennsylvania. He said he was involved in the early design phase of SNAPS testing, materials, 3D printing but other engineers then took over. Hes heading up another Intermed project. Intern Emily Stanton is a UHS junior recruited in late July who is also developing her own project making prototypes based on her original ideas. Stantons internship led McClellan to talk about his vision for Intermed. If we can attract talent like this who stay locally and then continue to work for us, he said, and they spin off products to create revenue to hire them. Do you see the ecosystem were starting to build? This is a very unique place, he said. My singular goal for the rest of my life is to attract talent like this to West Virginia. They want to fill up the entire floor, 12,000 square feet, with engineers and design space, McClellan said. Thats why were so excited to be partners with Mon Health, and hopefully very soon CAMC in Charleston, and service the 5,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses in the state that have amazing ideas that can help patients. We can do all of that right here. The Royalton at River Oaks luxury high-rise was evacuated Thursday following structural failures that led to extensive flooding and dangerous conditions for building residents. ABC 13 reported Friday that the opulent condo complex at 3333 Allen Parkway is currently undergoing repairs following the collapse of sections of concrete on the first floor. Building management sent an email to residents detailing the "unknown" cause of the failure, including broken water lines that led to flooding on residential floors, according to the email obtained by ABC 13. "Structural Engineers will be onsite within the hour to begin an evaluation," the email stated. "The cause of the damage is unknown at this time. To summarize what we have found so far, the first floor concrete buckled near the business center/management office and main water lines ruptured on some residential floors." The email continued to explain that water remediation repairs are underway on the first floor and two companies are working to remove water from the building, which was described as having sustained "extensive" damage. Matthew Kitchen / Chron "We are unsure how long the evacuation will be in place," the email stated, adding that The Royalton management will be communicating with residents through emails as phone lines in the building are not working. The Houston Fire Department told KHOU's Lea Wilson that responders arrived at the building after an automatic alarm was triggered around 7 p.m. Thursday night. A statement provided by the department pinned the blame for the buckled flooring on a broken water main eroding materials on the first floor. "Water was flowing through the lobby and the floor had buckled due to a significant water main break," the department said in a statement, per KHOU. "A wall was also structurally damaged." Units at the unmistakable crown-topped building in River Oaks range in price from the low $300,000s to more than $1 million. The 33-floor structure was built in 2003, and in 2019 received a building permit that cleared the way for a $1 million renovation of its first floora remodeling that included the replacement of a wine cellar with a new package desk near the rear of the building, according to Houston Business Journal. An emailed inquiry for updates on the repairs and evacuation at The Royalton at River Oaks was not immediately returned Friday afternoon. WFO SAN DIEGO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, August 12, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northeastern San Diego County in southwestern California... * Until 800 PM PDT. * At 448 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 0.75 and 1.25 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts of 0.5 to 1 inch are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Hwy 78 Between Banner And S2, Hwy 78 Between S2 And Borrego Springs Rd, Borrego Springs, Ranchita, Hwy S22 Between Ranchita And Borrego Springs, Hwy S2 Between Hwy 79 And Hwy 78, Borrego Palm Canyon, Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, Shelter Valley and Santa Ysabel Indian Reservation. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO SAN DIEGO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Riverside County in southern California... San Bernardino County in southern California... * Until 330 PM PDT. * At 132 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain in Mill Creek, San Gorgonio River and headwaters Santa Ana River. Yucaipa Ridge has received 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes. Between 0.50 and 1.75 inches of rain have fallen in the warning area. The expected rainfall rate is 0.25 to 0.75 inches in 1 hour. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. El Dorado and upper portions of Apple burn scars. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. El Dorado burn scar and upper Apple scar. SOURCE...Radar and gauge. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Yucaipa, Big Bear City, Onyx Summit, Mount San Gorgonio, Lucerne Valley, Forest Falls, Beaumont, Banning, Big Bear Lake, Running Springs, Baldwin Lake, Hwy 18 Between Baldwin Lake And Lucerne Valley, Hwy 38 Between Onyx Summit And Sugarloaf, Seven Oaks, Hwy 38 Between Yucaipa And Onyx Summit, Johnson Valley, Angelus Oaks, Hwy 18 Between Running Springs And Big Bear, western Pioneertown and Mountain Home Village. Downstream runoff into Birch Creek and Mill Creek. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... When Flooded, Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads. Move away from recently burned areas. Life-threatening flooding of creeks, roads and normally dry arroyos is likely. The heavy rains will likely trigger rockslides, mudslides and debris flows in steep terrain, especially in and around these areas. Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form According to Ukraine's nuclear watchdog, new video shows that Russia is assaulting Europe's largest nuclear facility, endangering the continent with a catastrophe "on the size of Fukushima." The video was captured by Ukrainian workers during an attack over the weekend and provides a first glimpse inside the seized power plant in Zaporizhzhia. It also includes the sound of what sounds like mortar rounds being launched and hitting the ground. Russia Uses Europe's Power Plant as Nuclear Shield It takes only a split second for the mortar to fire and explode, which, according to nuclear chief Petro Kotin, establishes that Russian soldiers occupying the area are to blame for the fire. According to Kotin, the strikes are being carried out in an effort by Russian troops to damage the electrical cables that link the plant to the Ukrainian power system while also provoking a dangerous scenario that they can blame on Kyiv. As more proof that Moscow is to blame, he said that the Russian personnel holding the factory hostage had all fled into bunkers just before the mortars started firing, leaving the Ukrainian employees they were holding hostage above ground. The Crimean peninsula was cut off from the rest of Ukraine's electrical system in 2015 when it was invaded by Russia, according to Kotin, who claims that Russian occupants intend to send power produced at the facility from Ukraine to Crimea. Only one of the three power lines connecting the facility to the Ukrainian grid is now operational and the situation is extremely perilous since cutting the last connection would result in a power outage for the reactors, according to The Times. This would necessitate using diesel generators, which have just enough fuel for two weeks, to power the plant's cooling system. In order to keep the reactors stable once that fuel runs out, the Russians or the Ukrainian employees they are holding hostage would need to manually pump water through cooling tanks. A meltdown might occur if you don't do it. Read Also: Kim Jong Un Declares North Korea's Victory Over COVID-19 with Just 74 Reported Deaths, Blames South for Outbreak Zelensky Condemns Russia's "Terrorism" The fact that Russia has converted the power plant into a military post and placed armored vehicles and explosive munitions near the reactors further complicates the issue. Per Daily Mail, any of the six reactors might catch fire, resulting in a catastrophe comparable to the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011 after being hit by a tsunami. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned "Russian terrorism" yesterday night and said that the Kremlin was "threatening the whole world" with radioactive fallout. Rafael Grossi, head of the international nuclear watchdog IAEA, said news of strikes at the facility were "very alarming" when speaking last night at a UN gathering to assess the situation in Zaporizhzhia. Neither side is interested in a meltdown, which in the worst case could result in widespread releases of deadly radioactive material, contaminating territory stretching over hundreds of thousands of miles in whichever direction the wind blew, according to Zelensky, who also called the situation at the plant "one of the biggest crimes of the terrorist state." Reactors at the facility are built to resist a variety of dangers, including plane crashes and natural calamities. Direct rocket and missile impacts, however, may be a different story. For fear of damaging one of the six pressurized water reactors or the extremely radioactive waste in storage, Ukraine has so far refrained from retaliating against the facility using sophisticated rocket systems supplied by the United States, as per NY Times. Related Article: China Would Destroy 900 US Jet Fighters in Battle for Taiwan as Beijing Concludes Large-Scale Military Drills, Including a Dozen of Missile Firings @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Primeste notificari pe email Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele Officials said that a child has been charged with killing a mother and her two children last week in New Hampshire. Kassandra Sweeney, 25, and her two sons were killed, and the youngster, whose identity and age were concealed, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of manipulating physical evidence. Juvenile Shoots New Hampshire Woman, 2 Sons According to state law, the alleged murderer will be prosecuted as a juvenile, the New Hampshire Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday. Just after 11:30 a.m., Sweeney and her children, Mason, one, and Benjamin, four, were found shot to death in their Northfield home on August 3. According to NY Post, their deaths were deemed homicides by the medical examiner. There was no early news on a potential motivation, and neither the police nor state prosecutors specified what relationship, if any, the young suspect had to the victims. Everyone who knew Kass Sweeney knew she was born to be a wife and mother, according to her obituary, and she is survived by her husband, Sean Sweeney, who addressed the tragedy for the first time in a Facebook post on Sunday. Sweeney's cousin referred to the young mother in a GoFundMe campaign as "one of the most genuine and beautiful people you could ever meet." Attorney General John Formella of New Hampshire claimed there is no threat to the general public and that all parties involved have been identified in a statement to The Independent on Tuesday morning. On Saturday in Concord, a funeral service for Kassandra Sweeney and her children was scheduled. In response to rumors linking him to the murder, Kassandra Sweeney's husband, Sean Sweeney, said on Facebook that he was tired of having his "name dragged through the mud." Read Also: Houston Nurse Charged with Deaths of 6 People, Including Pregnant Woman, Baby in LA Crash; Suspect Involved in 13 Prior Accidents GoFundMe Page Created To Help With Victims' Memorial Service His wife was described as "beautiful" and "the most amazing, caring, sweetest, and all-around good person that anyone could ever meet," noting how much she cherished their sons. The woman's cousin started a GoFundMe to assist with memorial services. By Friday morning, it had increased to be nearly $47,000. Formella or the police withheld more information on the suspect according to juvenile law. As previously stated, the investigation has shown that on August 3, 2022, at around 11:33 am, police officers responded to a 911 request for assistance and traveled to 56 Wethersfield Drive in Northfield, New Hampshire. The three dead people were discovered inside the house when the police arrived, according to a statement from the Department of Justice's Office of the Attorney General. Per Meaww, the legislation prohibits the publishing of any more information since the suspected culprit is a minor, the statement continued. The juvenile is accused, but these are only accusations; he is assumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. He is "clearly beyond saddened as a result of these crimes," senior assistant attorney general Geoff Ward said of Sweeney's husband and the father of the children, Sean Sweeney, who has been praised by authorities for being "very cooperative and helpful in this investigation." Related Article: New Hampshire Police Conclude Missing Harmony Montgomery Case, Say Girl Died in December 2019 Despite Not Finding Remains @YouTube @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Authorities have identified the suspect in the brutal attack of author Salman Rushdie that has left the victim hospitalized and placed on a ventilator due to a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm, and an eye. The stabbing attack on the author led to praise pouring in for him from the West as he was disparaged in Iran. The 75-year-old victim was likely to lose the injured eye, said his agent, Andrew Wylie on Friday evening. Salman Rushdie on a Ventilator Police officials identified the suspect as 24-year-old Hadi Matar who was arrested after the incident at the Chautauqua Institution, a non-profit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak. The suspect, who was from Fairview, New Jersey, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, said Mayor Ali Tehfe. The victim's novel "The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, as per the Associated Press. The novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims who saw one character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book was quickly banned in Iran where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for the author's death. Law enforcement noted that the motive for the brutal Friday attack remains unclear, adding that Matar was born a decade after Rushdie's banned novel was first published. Investigators are now working to determine whether or not the attacker acted alone. Read Also: FBI Search Warrant Unsealed: Donald Trump's Home Raided for Potential Violation of Espionage Act, Obstruction of Justice According to CNN, authorities are also known to be working to obtain search warrants for several items found at the scene, including a backpack and electronic devices, said State Police Troop Commander Major Eugene J. Staniszewski. Brutal Attack The police official's remarks came during a Friday evening news conference following the brutal attack. Police were also revealed to be cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local authorities to determine the exact motive of the suspect. During the incident, the suspect reportedly jumped onto the stage and stabbed Rushdie at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen, said state police. Staff and audience members rushed to the suspect and pinned him to the ground before a state trooper took the assailant into custody. Officials immediately airlifted the victim from a field adjacent to the venue, in a rural lake resort about 70 miles south of Buffalo, to a hospital. Rushdie was undergoing surgery at a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania, said Erie Police Department Deputy Chief William Marucci. The co-founder of the Pittsburgh non-profit City of Asylum, Henry Reese, was also taken to a hospital and treated for a facial injury, and released. The organization was founded to "provide sanctuary in Pittsburgh to writers exiled under threat of persecution. Various writers and politicians have spoken out about the incident and condemned the brutal attack on Rushdie that left the victim unable to speak. Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leadership hopeful Rishi Sunak championed free speech in their messages of support for Rushdie, The Guardian reported. Related Article: New Hampshire Child Faces Charges After Shooting Dead Woman, 2 Sons, Falsifying Physical Evidence @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in upstate New York. Rushdie remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was off the ventilator and talking (and joking). Rushdies agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without offering further details. Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center, 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. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him. A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr. Rushdie, Schmidt said. Public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge while leaving him hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks. He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence, Barone added. Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said Friday evening. He was likely to lose the injured eye. The attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for The Satanic Verses. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world, and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom hes shown incredible warmth. President Joe Biden said Saturday in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were shocked and saddened by the attack. Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals, the statement read. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight's Children, in which he sharply criticized India's then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdies death in 1989. Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Irans current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasnt focused on the writer. Investigators were working to determine whether the suspect, born a decade after The Satanic Verses was published, acted alone. District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing against bail. Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met, Schmidt said. His resources dont matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and its sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County, the prosecutor said. Barone, the public defender, said after the hearing that Matar has been communicating openly with him and that he would spend the coming weeks trying to learn about his client, including whether he has psychological or addiction issues. Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. Rosaria Calabrese, manager of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tightly knit gym in nearby North Bergen, said Matar joined April 11 and participated in about 27 group sessions for beginners looking to improve their fitness before emailing her several days ago to say he wanted to cancel his membership because he wouldnt be coming back for a while. Gym owner Desmond Boyle said he saw nothing violent about Matar, describing him as polite and quiet, yet someone who always looked tremendously sad. He said Matar resisted attempts by him and others to welcome and engage him. He had this look every time he came in. It looked like it was the worst day of his life, Boyle said. 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 Associated Press. Flags of the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah are visible across the village, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Journalists visiting Yaroun on Saturday were asked to leave. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. On Friday, on AP reporter witnessed the attacker stab or punch Rushdie about 10 or 15 times. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriffs deputy were assigned to Rushdies lecture, and police said the trooper made the arrest. But afterward some longtime visitors to the Chautauqua Institution questioned why there wasnt tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. On Saturday the center said it was boosting security through measures such as requiring photo IDs to purchase gate passes, which previously could be obtained anonymously. Patrons entering the amphitheater where Rushdie was attacked will also be barred from carrying bags of any type. The changes, along with an increased presence of armed police officers on the bucolic grounds, came as something of a shock to Chautauquans who have long relished the laid-back atmosphere for which the nearly 150-year-old vacation colony is known. News about the stabbing has led to renewed interest in The Satanic Verses, which topped best seller lists after the fatwa was issued in 1989. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked No. 13 on Amazon.com. The death threats and bounty Rushdie faced over the book after its publication led him to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. After nine years of seclusion, Rushdie cautiously resumed more public appearances. In 2012 he published a memoir about the fatwa titled Joseph Anton, the pseudonym he used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk that year that terrorism was really the art of fear: The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid. ___ Italie reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut. Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media / NEW HAVEN A Waterbury man and purported gang member was sentenced to more than five years in prison Friday after he was found with drugs in a vehicle he stole from an off-duty Connecticut State Police trooper, according to federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven ordered Ralph Ernest, 19, of Waterbury, to serve three years of supervised release after his prison term, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said in a news release. GREENWICH Students activists who this summer began calling for local action on climate change celebrated as the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved a town resolution on the global issue. The finalized resolution, which represents a compromise between two drafts submitted to the board last month, was approved at Thursdays meeting at Town Hall after only a few additional language tweaks. The product that we finished with is actually much stronger than what we originally had, and I thank everyone who collaborated and was involved in the process, said Isabelle Harper, founder of the Greenwich Environmental Advocacy Group that created the original ordinance. I think this is going to be a really good thing for the town, said Harper, a 2022 graduate of Greenwich High School. First Selectman Fred Camillo expressed his support for the resolution. This shows that the town takes the environment very, very seriously. And we can lead, but we can do so responsibly and make it local, Camillo said. Under the approved resolution, the town pledges to continue to prioritize ways to advance sustainability and climate resiliency when town departments develop future plans, budgets and actions. The resolution acknowledges there might be other town priorities and policies to consider, but it also sets goals for developing a sustainability and climate resiliency plan by December 2023. It pushes the town toward carbon neutrality and to increase community resilience to a changing climate. The resolution notes that Greenwich has experienced extreme weather events, including severe storms, drought and intense heat, which have resulted in increased risks to public health, loss of power and basic utilities, high riverine floodwaters, inland and coastal flooding. It also refers to 14 extreme weather events that have hit Connecticut since 2012, causing an estimated to $16 billion to $24 billion in flood damage in the Northeast. The only debate at Thursdays meeting was over the word shall when it came to including strategies for new buildings, energy efficiency, transportation, renewable energy, town operations and other items in the climate resiliency plan. Saying the word shall was too binding for the town, Selectwoman Lauren Rabin changed it to may in the final version in a 2-1 vote, with Selectperson Janet Stone-McGuigan voting against it. Im not sure we can plan and flesh out plans for all items listed in what essentially will be 15 months, Rabin said. Not to say the town wouldnt be (able to do it), but to say we will commits us to something that may not happen. Stone-McGuigan, who supported the final version, objected to the one change. Camillo called the approved resolution a good compromise. It is still unclear whether the Representative Town Meeting will take up the resolution. No vote was taken on that issue, and Camillo said after the meeting that the RTM could consider it if it wanted to. This was the fifth meeting that included discussion on the resolution, which was the subject of intense debate within town. Camillo said they had heard from residents on both sides before coming up with the compromise resolution, which was discussed at a special meeting Aug. 2. The board members saluted the student activists and Camillo crediting them for scrapping the original resolution and working with them on the compromise version. Stone-McGuigan told the students , You have modeled what a very productive and constructive grass-roots effort can do. Town resident Nicole Freitas, a policy intern at Save the Sound who also worked closely on the resolution, told the board to continue its support of climate action. The future of Greenwich is in your hands, she said. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com The Southern Baptist Convention said on Friday that it is currently being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over a report that claims its leaders were involved in a history of sexual abuse for more than two decades. The report, which was 288 pages long, found that the denomination's top leaders ignored sexual abuse allegations and disparaged survivors. A statement from the organization's leaders read, "Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation." DOJ Investigation The letter continued to say that while the organization continues to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, it noted that current leaders across the SBC demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past. They are allegedly implementing measures to ensure that those crimes are now repeated in the future. The report was released in May and was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, which is an independent firm contracted by the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee. It discovered that survivors and concerned Southern Baptists continuously shared allegations with the executive committee, as per ABC News. Furthermore, the report found that those who came forward were "met, time and time again, with resistance, stonewalling, and even outright hostility from some within the EC." It added that SBC leaders were concerned about church liability and its reputation and ignored concerns "even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation." Read Also: Suspect Identified in Brutal Attack on Salman Rushdie That Left Author on a Ventilator During an interview in May, then-president of the Southern Baptist Convention Ed Litton said that the damning independent investigative report on sex abuse allegations was "overdue." He added that the rumors were always spread in public, revealing the truth about the organization's dark history. According to CNN, the SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, having an estimated 14 million members across more than 47,000 churches. On Friday, the SBC Executive Committee released a statement acknowledging that it was made aware of the DOJ investigation. SBC's History of Sexual Abuse The organization added that reform efforts within their group have not yet been completed and are continuing when the recently announced Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force begins its work. However, the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney's Office said in an email that it could not either confirm or deny the existence of such an investigation on the SBC. In June, the group approved two reform measures to address how it deals with sexual abuse allegations within its churches. One created what is called a "Ministry Check" website that would maintain a record of SBC "pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse." The SBC sexual abuse report had many damning discoveries about the organization, but one of the most notable was the existence of an internal list of 703 people suspected of abuse that had been compiled by an employee of the denomination's executive committee. Furthermore, the church later published a 205-page list of hundreds of ministers and other church workers whom it described as being "credibly accused" of sexual abuse in the past, the New York Times reported. Related Article: New Hampshire Child Faces Charges After Shooting Dead Woman, 2 Sons, Falsifying Physical Evidence @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PHOENIX (AP) Arizona began moving in shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall near the southern Arizona farming community of Yuma on Friday, with officials saying they were acting to stop migrants after repeated, unfulfilled promises from the Biden administration to block off the area. The move by Arizona comes without explicit permission on federal land, with state contractors starting to move in 60-foot-long (18.3-meter-long) shipping containers and stacking two of the 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter-tall) containers on top of each other early Friday. They plan to complete the job within days, and the containers will be topped with 4 feet (1.2 meters) of razor wire, said Katie Ratlief, Republican Gov. Doug Duceys deputy chief of staff. The state plans to fill three gaps in the border wall constructed during former President Donald Trump's tenure in the coming weeks totaling 3,000 feet (914.4 meters). "The federal government has committed to doing this, but we cannot wait for their action," Ratlief said. John Mennell, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the agency had just learned of Arizona's action and "is not prepared to comment at this time. The move is the latest pushback by a Republican-led border state to what they contend is inaction by Democratic President Joe Biden on immigration. It was immediately prompted by the announcement of the end of the Remain in Mexico program that was announced this week, Ducey's top lawyer, Annie Foster said. That program required asylum-seekers to return to Mexico and await a court date, although thousands of migrants who make it into the country were not returned. Arizona has been sending two to three buses of asylum seekers from Yuma to Washington over the last three months to make a political statement as the number of arriving migrants overwhelmed local resources. Ducey began the program in May and has said everyone on the bus trips are going voluntarily to the capital with intended final destinations in East Coast cities. Texas also is busing migrants to the East, and the mayors of New York and Washington sought federal help last month to deal with the influx, a request that brought a gleeful response from Republicans who say the pleas are evidence the U.S. is in an immigration crisis. As of Aug. 11, the state of Arizona had sent 1,425 asylum seekers to Washington, according to the governors office. Ducey is using $6 million for the project out of $335 million the Legislature authorized in June to construct virtual or physical fencing along the border with Mexico. Ducey, who co-chairs the Republican Governors Association, and other GOP politicians have tapped into border security as a potent political foil in an election year. He packed a signing letter for the budget with criticism of Biden. Arizona will not sit idly by as the Biden administration fails to do its job and safeguard our state and nation from the clear and present danger of an unsecure border, Duceys letter said. The Biden Administration announced late last month that it had authorized completion of the Trump-funded U.S.-Mexico border wall near Yuma. The area has become one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings, and they planned to fill in four wide gaps. Arizona officials said they did not know why there was a discrepancy between the three gaps they identified and the federal government's plans. Biden had pledged during his campaign to cease all future wall construction, but the administration later agreed to some barriers, citing safety. The Department of Homeland Security planned work to close four wide gaps in the wall near Yuma to better protect migrants who can slip down a slope or drown walking through a low section of the Colorado River. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized completion of the project near the Morelos Dam in July, a move officials said reflected the administrations priority to deploy modern, effective border measures and also improving safety and security along the Southwest Border. Arizona points to a rising number of migrants coming into the state and accompanying drug smuggling as a major reason for their action. Agents stopped migrants more than 160,000 times from January through June in the Yuma sector, nearly quadruple from the same period last year. The only other Border Patrol sectors with more traffic were Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Despite the federal promise to fill in the gaps, Arizona officials said no action had been taken to actually close the gaps. The federal government apparently put the project out to bid this week, but that may takes weeks or months. Foster said he decided to act even if the federal government later objects. At this point, we are closing that gap and we'll figure out the consequences as we move forward, Foster said at a briefing for reporters. But bottom line is that the federal government has a duty to protect the states that's part of the contract, that's part of the constitution. They failed to do that. NEWTOWN The uninhabited home along the shoreline of Lake Zoar piqued Eugene Tortoricis interest. The self-described entrepreneur had wanted to purchase property along the lake, a reservoir on the Housatonic River that snakes through four towns in lower Connecticut. Tortorici saw the waterfront property, located down a slope off Bankside Trail, as an investment in an up-and-coming neighborhood. The little white house looked to be abandonedone of only two abandoned properties Tortorici, a Southbury resident, was able to locate along the lake. Better still, a neighbor suggested to him the owner might be willing to sell. But tracking down the owner, a Massachusetts man in his 60s, proved to be a challenge. Pulling the records from the town led him to a dead phone number and a P.O. box address. Me being persistent as I am with every business that I have, Im like, Im not stopping there, the 32-year-old said in a recent phone interview. While police records dont indicate exact details of the search for the owner, an undeterred, Tortorici had his Realtor conduct a name search. It came back with three names one was the contact information that led to a dead number. But when Tortorici called the second contact on the list, a man picked up. He says yeah, you found me. Im the owner and Id like to sell it, Tortorici said. That was the fraudster. It was the moment what could have been an ordinary real estate deal took a bizarre turn. Because the voice Tortorici heard over the phone did not belong to the actual owner, but another man entirely who police say impersonated the owner and agreed to sell the home to Tortorici. Ultimately, the man Tortorici spoke with on the phone that day was identified by investigators as Edwin Robert Lewis III, of Willington. Newtown police charged him last month with second-degree money laundering, first-degree identity theft, first-degree larceny, criminal impersonation and second-degree forgery. Lewis has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. His attorney said in a statement last week that we intend to present evidence in the appropriate forum to confirm his not guilty plea. Tortorici and the man agreed to a purchase price of $65,000, records show. Fast forward a couple months down the road, I buy it, completely correctly through attorneys, Tortorici said. He duped two law firms. The home was sold on July 26, 2021, records show. Investigators believe the sale was able to go through because Lewis name was very close to to that of the genuine owner. The sale only raised suspicions for police after the real owner called Newtown police on Aug. 24 2021 and told them he believed his identity had been stolen, according to the warrant. The subsequent investigation led to the recent arrest. A neighbor had noticed Tortorici was on the property and contacted the actual homeowner. Thank God for him, Tortorici said. At the time I would have kept on investing in the property. The neighbor informed him that the owner had not, in fact, sold the property. Tortorici said he disregarded the neighbor at first that was until the police became involved. I didnt believe it, he said. But police told him they were almost certain the man who had agreed to sell him the house was not who he claimed to be. They had triangulated the mans cell phone, they told him, Tortorici said. The warrant shows police were able to use the phone number for Lewis and a Virginia drivers license for him to establish he was not the actual owner of the property. When police ran his identity through a state police criminal record system, they found Lewis had been arrested in Wethersfield in 2007 and charged with second-degree larceny, credit card theft, second-degree forgery, and criminal impersonation. Details from that case were not immediately available. Police also tied Lewis to the fraudulent sale through paperwork from the sale notorized at a bank in South Windsor on July 21, 2021, according to the warrant. Lewis phone location shows him near the bank on that date, and a man matching his description was seen on the banks surveillance photo having documents notarized there, according to the warrant. There was another clue that had led Tortorici to believe he was dealing with the true owner of the home. A neighbor had told him when he first expressed interest in the house that the owner had tried to convert the homes electrical system. Tortorici said the owner later denied that, but when he searched Lewis name, he learned he owned an electric company. Records in the states Department of Consumer Protection show more than two dozen complaints were filed against Lewis dating back to 1996. Most of the complaints are related to conducting work without the appropriate credential or permits, a spokeswoman for the agency said in an email. The agency said Lewis held an electrical unlimited contractor license, which expired in 2000, and had his electrical unlimited journey person license revoked in 2006. In 2008, he was ordered to pay more than $6,000 in fines and restitution for doing electrical and plumbing work without permits, a press release said. During the purchase, Tortorici said only one moment gave him pause. Early one morning during closing, around 4:30 a.m., Tortorici said he and his wife were awoken by a phone call from Lewis number. He picked up, but he said Lewis didnt speak. Tortorici said he hung up and called back, but Lewis didnt answer. I remember getting this weird feeling, Tortorici said. I felt really bad about it. He called back the next day ready to walk away from the deal, but he said Lewis offered an excuse claiming hed pocket dialed Tortorici by mistake on his way to work. Tortorici said he had to open a case and sit for an hours-long deposition, but after around 5 months, he was able to get his money back from the purchase. I was ecstatic, he recalled. I literally started crying on the front step. Then he got a call from the real owners lawyer, who pointed out that the house was still in his name. He offered to quit his claim to the home. The lawyer told him hed meet him at his door the following morning. As the lawyer was leaving with the paperwork, I told him listen, if he ever does want to sell it, its a long shot, if he ever does want to sell it, let me know, Tortorici said. A few days later the lawyer called him back and told him the real owner was interested in selling the home. A month later, Tortorici bought the home again this time, with a different attorney and different insurance policy, he said. The purchase price was $8,000 over his original purchase price from Lewis. The owner, reached by phone Friday, declined to comment other than to say he was grateful that the Newtown police concluded their investigation and that there was no violence upon the arrest. Court records show the owner later a suit in Connecticut civil court requesting that the courts identify him as the proper owner, and seeking damages. Tortorici was later removed from the suit. Kent Mancini, an attorney with Cramer & Anderson who represented the owner in in the suit, said this week that the lawsuit is proceeding in parallel to the criminal case. He said he didnt know about the second sale of the home. Tortorici is unsure now exactly what he plans to do with the home, suggesting at one point he may fix the home up and move in, rather than flipping it, as he had originally planned. Im going to make it nice, its going to be a nice property in the end, he said. After the sale closed, Tortorici said he and the real - now prior - owner of the property went out to lunch. Tortorici considers him a friend. The two, as he put it, have been through the ringer together. He didnt do any of this, Tortorici pointed out. and that was the most horrible part for me, Im like, I created all the problems for this poor guy because I was the one door knocking, I was the one calling, I put this all into action. But, I believe you do the right thing in life, you live righteously, things follow, he said. You know the worst luck of my life turned out to be one of the best afterwards. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) Republicans in Congress who are relying on Donald Trump to excite voters in the fall elections are not only defending the former president against the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home but politically capitalizing on it with grave and potentially dangerous rhetoric against the nations justice system. The party that once stood staunchly for law-and-order has dramatically reversed course, stirring up opposition to the FBI and tapping into political grievances and far-right conspiracies that fed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. It's all part of the GOPs election year strategy to harness voter outrage over the unprecedented search, quickly and unequivocally set in motion as Trump hosted a dozen Republicans for dinner of steak and scallops at his private Bedminster club the day after the FBI action. One Republican at the table, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, a former sheriff, said he told the former president loud and clear that it's time to protect himself politically by declaring his 2024 campaign for the presidency. "Mr. President, I said, the American people, your supporters, are concerned with this corrupt DOJ and the FBI." If I were you, sir, announce youre running for president," Nehls recalled telling Trump. "Take that doubt, take that anxiety away from the people that want you to be our 47th president. The escalating rhetoric comes amid stark warnings of violence against law enforcement, including the Ohio police shooting Thursday of an armed man clad in body armor who tried to breach the FBIs Cincinnati office and engaged in an hours-long standoff. The day before, FBI Director Christopher Wray had called the threats to agents and DOJ deplorable. The FBI has warned its agents to take precautions, citing an increase in social media threats to bureau personnel and facilities. In some extreme cases, GOP lawmakers and others are demanding the FBI be dismantled and defunded. It's all coming at a time of blistering attacks on the nation's civic institutions that experts say is worrisome, if not dangerous, for the future of U.S. democracy. With no branch of government unscathed, the discord risks sowing distrust in the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court. It has kept security tight in Washington, limiting public access to the government. All of this rhetoric is being thrown around without any consideration for possible consequences, said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI special agent who led the bureaus field offices in Seattle and Honolulu. All that does is stir up that minority within the base that arent satisfied with just words, they actually want to act it out. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said, "The vitriol coming from extremists, white supremacists and others, has been overwhelming, pointing to rhetoric from Trump's former campaign manager Steve Bannon and others warning of assassinations or calling for civil war. "We usually expect that from these quarters, but the same kind of rhetoric is coming from prominent Republicans and Trump allies," she said by email. These comments coming from Republicans are really worrying as they are mainstreaming violent rhetoric. Asked Friday at the Capitol about the responsibility leaders have to tone down the rhetoric and keep the nation calm during times of uncertainty and distress, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy demurred and blamed Attorney General Merrick Garland. I think the attorney general has a real problem here, McCarthy said. McCarthy, who is in line to become speaker if his party wins House control, revived Republican concerns that Trump is being treated unfairly, as the first former president to have his home searched by the FBI, and he criticized the attorney general for delivering only a few minutes' explanation during a press conference. In McCarthy's view, it was Garland, not his own party's rhetoric, that was dividing the nation. Why would you pause and not talk to the American public, knowing where the American public is at, that he is just inflaming the public, and why would you only speak for a few moments? McCarthy said. So I think the attorney general has a lot of explaining to do. Republicans believe the Justice Department has been overly tough on Trump going back to the Russia investigation into allegations the president was colluding with a foreign entity, including when he called on Russia to release emails it had stolen from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential election. The Republicans contrast the FBI search of Trump's private club and residence with its treatment of Hillary Clinton, who was investigated for using a private email server in violation of government rules during her time as secretary of state an offense the led to long chants of Lock her up! during Trump rallies. The No. 3 House Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik, claimed without evidence the Biden administration was weaponizing the Justice Department against Trump, a top potential 2024 rival for the White House. She joined fellow House Republicans on the Intelligence Committee on Friday in demanding information, and vowed if their party wins control in the November election they will find out what happened. The House Republican majority will leave no stone unturned when it comes to transparency and accountability into the brazen politicization of Joe Biden's Department of Justice and FBI targeting their political opponents, Stefanik said. Congressional Republicans have said their office phone lines are ringing from constituents outraged over the raid and they said they've never seen their colleagues more fired up to fight back all the way to the November midterm elections. Rep. Jim Banks, the Indiana Republican who organized the dinner with Trump, said they encouraged the former president to kick off the campaign now to seize the moment. Banks said Trump will be a big part of the House Republicans' campaign to win back the House majority. House lawmakers returned to session Friday to vote, walking through metal detectors to screen against firearms, a legacy of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Lawmakers had a security briefing earlier this week to address ongoing threats against lawmakers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that Trumps role inciting the insurrection at the Capitol was sufficient cause to have concerns about inflammatory political rhetoric. "You would think there's an adult in the Republican room who would say, 'Just calm down and see what the facts are and let's go for that,'" Pelosi said, instead of again instigating assaults on law enforcement. One republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a former FBI agent, called on lawmakers to cool it. I dont think any of this is okay, Fitzpatrick told reporters. Were the worlds oldest democracy, and that can go away very quickly, he said. As our adversaries have said so many times: The only way you defeat America, youre never going to beat America from the outside, ever. The only way you beat the worlds greatest democracy is from within turning American on American." He said, So its incumbent upon everybody to act in a way thats becoming of the office they hold and thats not casting judgment on anything until you know all the facts. __ Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston, Michelle Price in New York and videojournalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HONOLULU (AP) For their 16th wedding anniversary, Democrats in Hawaii gifted Josh Green and his wife, Jaime, a comfortable margin of victory in the gubernatorial primary Saturday. Green, the states current lieutenant governor, handily defeated former first lady Vicky Cayetano and KaialiI Kahele, who decided to seek the governors office instead of a second term in the U.S. House. Green, with lei of yellow and purple flowers and green leaves piled high up to his neck, alternated between throwing fists in the air and giving the shaka sign to a boisterous crowd of supporters at his victory party. On to November, we will win the governorship and lead Hawaii forward, he said to the cheering crowd. He will face former two-term Republican Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona in the general election, who defeated mixed martial arts championship fighter B.J. Penn in his partys primary. In an interview with Hawaii News Now, Aiona said his supporters trusted my ability to lead the state, and Im truly, truly appreciative and grateful for that. Green has served as second-in-command for the past four years to Hawaii Gov. David Ige, who has already served two terms and isnt eligible to run for reelection. The winner of the Democratic primary is favored to win the general election in the liberal state. Many voters said Hawaiis high housing costs were a top issue for them. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the median price of a single-family home topped $1 million in Honolulu, Maui and Kauai counties. To address the housing shortage, Green said he would issue an executive order to eliminate red tape and streamline construction approvals and enforce existing laws to shut down illegal vacation rentals. Aiona said he would eliminate the state Land Use Commission, which he blamed for slowing housing development. Herbert Rowland, an Oahu construction worker, said he likes Greens plans for tackling Hawaiis housing problem and homelessness. Im from this island, been here all my life. I dont want my children to move off this island because its too expensive and they cant find a house, Rowland said recently while holding a Green campaign sign and waving at passing cars in Honolulu. Aiona supporter Viola Alipio said she believes he will address rising crime in the state. Earlier in his career, Aiona served as a Family Court judge and Circuit Court judge. He spearheaded the Hawaii Drug Court program, which offers rehabilitation to nonviolent offenders as an alternative to prison. I know him very well. I know his values it all lines up to what my values are. Family, honesty, transparency, she said at a recent Aiona sign-waving event in Kailua. Green was a state senator and representative before serving as lieutenant governor. He was a doctor in rural areas on the Big Island before entering politics. He has continued working part time as a physician while in the state Legislature and as lieutenant governor. Green developed a following during the COVID-19 pandemic for his explanations of infection rates and trends and hospital treatment capacity. The states largest unions endorsed his candidacy in the primary, including the Hawaii Government Employees Association and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. The race got heated when Kahele and Cayetano questioned income that Green received while lieutenant governor from a limited liability company called Green Health International LLC. Green, who has continued in his emergency room doctor side job while lieutenant governor, said the money was for work he performed as a physician. Kahele drew attention this year for his own side job as a Hawaiian Airlines pilot and his heavy use of proxy voting in Congress. Like everyone who has voted by proxy, he submitted a required letter attesting he was unable to physically vote at the Capitol. He cited the ongoing public health emergency. Green was born in Kingston, New York, and grew up in Pittsburgh. He moved to Hawaii with the National Health Service Corps in 2000. Kaheles decision to run for governor opened up his congressional seat representing rural Oahu and the Neighbor Islands. Former state Sen. Jill Tokuda beat state Rep. Patrick Pihana Branco for the Democratic nomination for that seat, Hawaiis 2nd Congressional District. Among Republicans, former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst and businessman Joe Akana defeated business owner Joseph Webster. Hawaii is a vote-by-mail state so voters began mailing their ballots and placing them in drop boxes across the islands late last month. Election clerks in each county made a few voter service centers available for people registering to vote at the last minute or voting in person. In the 1st Congressional District, incumbent U.S. Rep. Ed Case beat attorney and political newcomer Sergio Alcubilla in the Democratic primary. Case in the general election will face former U.S. Navy SEAL Conrad Kress, who defeated two other candidates to win the Republican primary. In the U.S. Senate race, sitting U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz defeated Democratic primary challenger Steve Tataii, a conflict resolution consultant. Tataii made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2016. In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, state Rep. Bob McDermott beat five other candidates. Booking.com Greece has been one of the summers biggest travel destinations who isnt dreaming of paradisiacal islands after two years of basically zero international travel? and Hyatts just opened up one more reason to visit the idyllic island of Santorini to your bucketlist. The new Magma Resort Santorini is, yes, lava-themed, but think sophisticated grownup lava-themed, not amusement part lava-themed. The five-star resort sits atop the lava slopes and among the vineyards of the quieter side of Santorini, and its surrounded by views of the sea best taken in from the large terrace outfitted with a bonfire and plenty of seating. The property itself is designed to complement the landscape, with natural elements and colors inside and out that match the surrounding terrain. Milford Police Department / Contributed Photo MILFORD Once the clock strikes 9 p.m., residents should be sure to lock their vehicles and homes, according to a campaign from the Milford Police Department. The police department posted about its #9PMRoutine in a Facebook post Friday in an effort to deter crime. The campaign is supposed to educate and encourage Milford residents to eliminate the opportunity for crime, the police department said This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BOISE, Idaho (AP) Idaho's strict abortion bans will be allowed to take effect while legal challenges over the laws play out in court, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling means potential relatives of an embryo or fetus can now sue abortion providers over procedures done after six weeks of gestation before many people know they are pregnant. Another stricter ban criminalizing all abortions takes effect later this month. A doctor and a regional Planned Parenthood affiliate sued the state earlier this year over three anti-abortion laws, most designed to take effect should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, which it did in June. In a split ruling, the majority of justices on the Idaho Supreme Court said the laws could take effect but sped up the timeline for the lawsuits to be decided. Two justices agreed with expediting the cases, but said they felt the laws shouldn't be enforced until the legal wrangling is complete. Tonight, the people of Idaho saw their bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom taken away, Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Alexis McGill Johnson said in a news release. The court's decision today is horrific and cruel. But this isn't the end of the fight, and it isn't our last day in court. No one should see their lives used as pawns by their elected officials or judicial system. The U.S. Department of Justice is also suing Idaho in federal court over a near-total abortion ban, and has asked that the law be put on hold. The federal judge has not yet ruled in that case. Under the Idaho Supreme Court ruling, a near-total criminalizing of all abortions but allowing doctors to defend themselves at trial by claiming the abortion was done to save the pregnant person's life will take effect Aug. 25. Another law that takes effect immediately allows potential relatives of an embryo or fetus to sue abortion providers for up to $20,000 within four years of an abortion. Rapists cannot sue under the law, but a rapists' family members would be able to sue. Planned Parenthood has also sued over a third strict ban criminalizing abortions done after six weeks of gestation except in cases where it was needed to save a pregnant persons life or done because of rape or incest. That law was written to take effect Aug. 19. Dr. Caitlin Gustafson and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky filed three lawsuits over each of the laws. The Idaho Supreme Court consolidated those cases into one as part of Friday's ruling. Planned Parenthood and the doctor failed to show that allowing enforcement of the laws would cause irreparable harm, the Idaho Supreme Court found. The high court said the plaintiffs also didn't have enough evidence that they had a clear right to a remedy, or that they were likely to win on the merits of the case. What Petitioners are asking this court to ultimately do is to declare a right to abortion under the Idaho Constitution when on its face there is none, Justice Robin Brody wrote for the majority, joined by Chief Justice Richard Bevan and Justice Gregory Moeller. The complexity of the arguments are likely to break new legal ground in the state, the majority found. The justices said that meant the issues shouldn't be decided until the case plays out in full a process that can take months or longer. In short, given the legal history of Idaho, we cannot simply infer such a right exists absent Roe without breaking new legal ground, which should only occur after the matter is finally submitted on the merits, the court wrote. Justice John Stegner, joined by Justice Colleen Zahn, wrote in a partial dissent that even casual observers can tell that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling has caused "significant upheaval' in society. I begin by noting that never in our nation's history has a fundamental right once granted to her citizens been revoked, Stegner wrote. For almost half a century, the people of Idaho who performed or obtained abortions were protected by the recognized federal fundamental right of the woman involved in the procedure to exercise her right to bodily autonomy and health to terminate the pregnancy. Stegner took issue with the majority's decision to allow the laws to go into effect, noting that they relied in part on legal interpretations from other states and federal courts. Simply put, this case involves the application of Idaho law to a uniquely Idaho question, he said, and allowing the laws to take effect while that question is decided puts women at risk of being denied a fundamental right. The State and the Legislature's only argument that irreparable harm will not result is that the Idaho Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, Stegner wrote. This argument fails because it is premised on a decision we have not yet made. During oral arguments in the case last week, an attorney for Planned Parenthood and Gustafson told the high court that the abortion bans exceptions for saving a patients life are so vague that they are impossible to follow. That language gives no indication of how imminent, or substantial, the risk of death must be in order for a provider to feel confident performing the abortion, said Alan Schoenfeld. Suppose a patient with pulmonary hypertension has a 30 to 50% risk of dying is that enough? But attorneys representing the state and Legislature told the court that abortion has historically been outlawed in Idaho since statehood, and argued that stopping the laws from taking effect would cause harm to unborn children. Blaine Conzatti, president of the anti-abortion group Idaho Family Policy Center, lauded the decision. This is the day that the pro-life movement has worked towards for decades, Conzatti wrote in a news release, calling it a great day for preborn babies. Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate, said the organization would not stop its efforts. The Idaho state legislature has made it abundantly clear that this is the future they want for their constituents, and today, the court allowed their vision to become a reality. But his fight is not over, Gibron said in a news release. These cases and our fight to ensure that every Idahoan has access to legal, safe abortion care will continue. The Microsoft 365 Version 2206 update may be more troublesome than users expect. The Microsoft 365 version 2206 update was included in the newly implemented release for the company's patch Tuesday. Unfortunately, a plethora of users began to experience inconvenience since the apps kept on crashing after installing the latest update. Microsoft Office Apps Crashing As part of Microsoft's August Patch Tuesday, the users who immediately downloaded the patch reported that the applications in Office continue to crash when a user tries to view a contact or hovers over a name or photo. It all started with the Monthly Enterprise Channel version 2206 build 15330.20298, which is where the bug was first discovered. According to BleepingComputer, the applications will crash with exception errors of 0xc0000005 and 0xc0000374 when you try to open the contact card of a user or hover over their name or photo in comments, emails, or shared documents. On the Microsoft Answer forum, a user stated, "Just upgraded to Office 2206 in Monthly Enterprise Channel and whenever you move the cursor over the picture or icon of the sender of an email, Outlook immediately crashes." Reports found on Reddit and the Microsoft Answers site indicate that this is a widespread issue, and the only known solution is to downgrade to the Enterprise channel 2205, which was made available at the end of July. Those users who have already deployed the Microsoft 365 Version 2206 update are being urged to roll back to version 2205 in order to mitigate the effects of this vulnerability. Using the Microsoft 365 admin center, administrators have the ability to roll back to Microsoft 365 version 2205. Microsoft is aware of the problem, as evidenced by the publication of the MO412229 alert, which states that the company has temporarily suspended the availability of Microsoft 365 version 2206 in order to collect diagnostic data and examine the root cause. Regarding the problem the company stated, they are still looking into the specific reasons why this happened, but in the meantime, they have reverted to the most recent version that was not affected in order to speed up the remediation process. They have since confirmed that the issue has been resolved for some users who were previously affected. Read Also: Cisco Confirms Data Breach by Yanluowang Ransomware Gang Microsoft Patch Tuesday Microsoft's most recent patch that was released on Tuesday implemented upgrades and fixed a number of vulnerabilities found in the system. Microsoft also addresses the issues that were brought up by the two zero-day vulnerabilities, one of which was being actively exploited in the wild at the time. It is known as the "DogWalk" vulnerability, and Microsoft tracks it as the CVE-2022-34713 remote code execution vulnerability. The vulnerabilities that the company detected make it possible to execute code remotely or get additional rights. The update addresses a large number of vulnerabilities that have been discovered and are deemed to be of critical importance. The edition of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday that was released in August 2022 includes patches that address a total of 121 vulnerabilities. iTechPost reports these 121 vulnerabilities are: 64 Elevation of Privilege Vulnerabilities 31 Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities 20 vulnerabilities fixed in Microsoft Edge 12 Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities 7 Denial of Service Vulnerabilities 6 Security Feature Bypass Vulnerabilities 1 Spoofing Vulnerability Related Article: US Department of Justice Is Preparing To Sue Google For Ad Dominance in the Market Google Home received a redesign in March that made the device grid resemble the Device control panel on Android 11+ devices. Instead of using large device icons, the new design uses rounded rectangle tiles that can be fully interactable. However, it appears that Google is still working on redesigning the app. The company is considering ways to improve the whole experience five months later. And Google confirmed this in a posting seeking testers for the redesigned features, noting that it is developing a "next generation design of the Google Home app." What Is Google Home Let us give a brief introduction for those who are not familiar with the app. According to Mashable, the Google Home app acts as a centralized hub for all of your Google devices. You can also control connected home items like a Google Nest thermostat, lights, cameras, or speakers through the Google Home app. Depending on the situation, this app could be really helpful. You may use the app, for instance, to check in on things at your home while you're away on vacation. In case you forgot to check your camera feed, turn on and off the lights, and change the temperature before you leave your house, you can easily do so using this app. If something "important" occurs while you're away, it will also notify you. Both Android and iOS devices support this app. Mashable noted that the term "Google Home" can be a little misleading because it was once a brand name for the company's smart speaker. With the Google Home app serving as the primary hub, the Google Home brand now incorporates everything on its smart home platform. Google Announced 'Next Generation Design' for Its Home App Through the product testing provider Centercode, this new redesign is being teased. Google is searching for testers on the service to help fine-tune the redesign before it is made broadly available, according to a news story by Android Police. We will discuss how you can become one of these testers in the later parts of this article. Read More: Google Meet Now Live Shares Spotify Music, YouTube Videos, Games - Here's How it Works What Can you Expect With the Redesign Although it's not yet known what the redesign would include, Android Police noted that it sounds like it might involve a massive revamp of the Google Home interface. We might be set to witness some huge changes given that Google uses such big words as "next generation design" to describe it. How Can You Be a Tester A Google Nest product, such as a thermostat, networking device, speaker, display, camera, doorbell, lock, Nest Protect (smoke alarms), or Chromecast, is a prerequisite for participants to the program, according to XDA. Partcipants must also use "either the Nest app or the Google Home app" to control these items. If you meet these qualifications and are interested in testing out the Google Home app's newest design, go to the recruitment page by clicking this source link. You must also create a Centercode account. However, you should note that those that are shortlisted must sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Related Article: Google Home Unveils New User-Friendly Design The increasingly frantic tone of the leadership election suggests that the Conservatives are making a momentous decision that will define their party for years to come. In fact, the idea that the Tories face a grand strategic choice is an illusion. With two years until the next General Election, the new leader's only option is to turn out as many of Boris Johnson's 2019 supporters as they possibly can. Over the past decade, the Tory vote has become much more working class and culturally conservative more Brexity than when David Cameron became Prime Minister (a result, ironically, of his decision to hold the EU referendum that ended his premiership). It will not be easy to reassemble Boris Johnson's big, diverse voting coalition. Liz Truss, who is running to be PM along with Rishi Sunak, is pictured at a Tory Rally in Cirencester on August 11 The trick will be even harder to pull off because none of the three stars that aligned to make the 2019 result possible the Brexit deadlock, Jeremy Corbyn and Johnson himself is still in its place. Most people who voted Tory in 2019 agree it was time for Johnson to go. But as I found in my new research, published today, that doesn't mean they're happy about his resignation. While two thirds of them disapproved of his character and conduct, 84 per cent say he did a good job as PM. They still rate him higher than either of the challengers for his job. And, for many of them, his unconventional approach to politics was part of his appeal as well as his downfall. That is one reason Rishi Sunak is finding it hard to make headway. Even those who think Johnson's departure was overdue are reluctant to give Sunak any credit for helping to bring it about. Rishi Sunak pictured during a visit to Bray Film Studios, near Windsor, Berkshire, to meet with local party activists as part of his campaign to be leader of the Conservative Party on Friday 'He resigned to tee things up for himself he stabbed Boris in the back,' a man in our focus groups put it. This is not the former Chancellor's only hurdle. FIRST of the things our groups mentioned about him were always his wealth and his wife's tax status. Tory voters don't disapprove of financial success they just want to feel their leaders can relate to them and play by the same rules. Views about his record as Chancellor were mixed: people praised the furlough scheme and his calm authority but grumbled about wasted money, bungled PPE contracts and rising taxes. People questioned in our research knew less about Liz Truss, and often wrongly assumed she was the less experienced candidate. Seeing clips of her campaign events led many to find her to be direct, authentic and believable, and more impressed by her than they expected to be. In our poll of 10,000 voters, the word most often associated with Sunak was 'rich'; for Truss the word was 'unsure'. Part of Truss's advantage is that she hasn't yet disappointed them and is, for many, a blank canvas on to which they can project their hopes. Many had also clocked the big dividing line between the two: their approach to tax and debt. In principle, many agreed with Sunak that we should not land the next generation with bills we are not prepared to pay. Liz Truss talks with Camilla Tominey (L) at the Conservative Party leadership election hustings at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham on Thursday However, they felt people are struggling and need help now (as one woman put it, 'I wonder if he would be saying the same thing if he was on my wage'). The Truss pledge of early tax cuts found a ready audience; Sunak's own subsequent promises sounded to many as though he was playing catch-up and undermined his dismissal of what he had called her 'fairy tale' plans. Such contrasts of policy and style have so far made little impression on voters in general: in my poll, 56 per cent said they would prefer Starmer and Labour to a Sunak-led Conservative government, compared to 55 per cent who would prefer a Labour government to the Tories with Truss. Only one in three think Sunak and Truss would be very different prime ministers; nearly half say what happens in Britain over the next few years will be pretty much the same whoever is chosen. People say their likelihood of voting for each party varies little between these still hypothetical scenarios. The question is who is better placed to keep together more of the unwieldy Johnson coalition, with its competing demands for low taxes, high spending, worldly realism and boundless optimism. Tories themselves are coming to a view. They say Truss is more likely to get things done, to be honest with the public, and to care about people like them. And while voters in general think Sunak would be more likely to win a General Election for his party (perhaps being a non-Tory's idea of what a Tory should be like), Conservatives see Truss as the more likely leadership victor. Two years before the last change of government, in 2008, I was the Conservative Party's deputy chairman in charge of polling. I remember how the Tories enjoyed huge double-digit poll leads at a time of impending economic crisis and rising living costs. Two years later, they just crept over the line. LABOUR'S lead is not on the same scale but the economic outlook is worse and the Tories have suffered more mishaps than the Blair-Brown administration. The message that it is time for change will be hard to counter, even among those who rejected Labour in 2019. Sunak wants to reassure them with sound Tory prudence; Truss wants to come out swinging. We will soon see which route their party will take. A 29-year-old man was arrested for allegedly disguising illicit financial flows and promoting money laundering via Tornado Cash. An Alleged Money Laundering Facilitator Via Tornado Cash Was Seized The Dutch government agency investigating financial crimes has detained a person believed to be the creator of the American-approved cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash. According to the Fiscal Information and Investigation Business, the 29-year-old man was detained on suspicion of "concealing unlawful financial flows and assisting money laundering" using the well-known cryptocurrency mixing service. The move came days after the US government sanctioned Tornado Cash for facilitating the laundering of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency. Tornado Cash jumbles payments from several sources before transferring them to the final destination. According to the US Treasury, Tornado Cash has been used to launder $7 billion in virtual money since 2019. Security companies say the site was used to launder $100 million from the Harmony Bridge hack and $600 million from Ronin Bridge. Crypto and privacy advocates have questioned the Dutch agency's decision, claiming that standard payment systems have been used for far more money laundering than this. The Dutch agency's move is another example of governments' rising concern for so-called crypto mixers worldwide. Another cryptocurrency mixing service, Blender, was sanctioned earlier this year by the Office of Foreign Asset Control. The Dutch Financial Advanced Cyber Team (FACT) suspects Tornado Cash was used to hide unlawful cash movements, specifically bitcoin thefts (so-called crypto hacks and scams). These included money hacked by a North Korean organization. FACT said that Tornado Cash had generated at least $7 billion since its 2019 introduction. After US sanctions, Github, Circle, Alchemy, and Infura have erased Tornado Cash accounts. It declined from $16.5 to $13.7, continuing its monthly decline with a seven-day decrease of over 50%. Read Also: Rivian Files Patent for 'Front Dig Mode' - What Exactly Is It? The Cryptocurrency Market Adopted Tornado Cash's Open-Source Methodology After the US Treasury Department fined Tornado Cash's mixing service, the cryptocurrency industry accepted its open-source design. Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency mixer that makes tracking crypto wallets difficult. It mixes millions of transactions before sending them to investors' wallets. Crypto investors can't easily track down the final wallet address. A coin gets split into thousands of tiny pieces and delivered to crypto wallets. The US government discovered that a Lazarus organization is using Tornado Cash to steal $455 million. It helped steal $96 million in the Harmony Bridge heist and $7.8 million in the Normad theft. Tornado Cash failed to implement rigorous safeguards to prevent cyber criminals from laundering money through cryptocurrencies. The US Treasury Department took vigorous action against the perpetrators to stop the money laundering scheme. Investors and analysts agree a cryptocurrency mixer ban can be destructive. The Treasury has been criticized for banning Tornado Cash, a popular crypto wallet. Suspension removed the open-source mechanism from GitHub. Smart contracts are implemented in Ethereum's blockchain via a decentralized system. This has caused issues in the bitcoin industry, with some arguing the government is overstepping its bounds. Tornado Cash can easily copy and run the open source technology, but fighting the US authorities is too hazardous. Despite being a decentralized system without a central power, many governments impose rules and restrictions on the bitcoin market. Related Article: Tornado Cash Banned by US Treasury Following Links to Crypto Money Laundering, Cybercrime 'We have got to accept were about to face a very difficult four months, an ally of Liz Truss told me. Our party is going to need everyone to unite behind Liz. If they dont, shes going to find it impossible to deliver anything, and the country will get Starmer as PM. People have to make their minds up now. They either take the Blue Pill with Liz, or the Red Pill with Rishi. The Red/Blue Pill reference comes from the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves. You take the blue pill the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe, Reeves is told. Or you take the red pill you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Given that his character Neo takes the red pill, then embarks on a successful rebellion against an evil authoritarian regime, the analogy is imperfect. But Team Truss dont care. Liz Truss still doesnt seem to quite believe she has Sunak beaten. Shes still shovelling out statements and policy positions primarily designed to appeal to Tory Party members. By doing so, shes beginning to drive a wedge between herself and the country as a whole They believe Rishi Sunak is now following a kamikaze strategy, attacking with such blind ferocity that he has decided he either turns the contest around and wins the leadership himself, or destroys her and the Government in the attempt. What finally triggered Trusss anger was an incendiary press release issued last week, in which Sunak claimed she was divorced from reality over her belief that the cost-of-living crisis should primarily be mitigated by tax cuts, rather than handouts. Theyve basically gone mad, one Truss supporter told me. Theyre losing, and have decided that if they cant win then theyre just going to burn the entire house down. As a result, Truss has decided that if any similar attacks are launched by Sunak and his supporters, they will be permanently ostracised from her government. Campaign insiders have refused to name any names. But as well as Sunak, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, former Chief Whip Mark Harper and backbench attack dog Richard Holden have all been prominent critics of the Foreign Secretary and some of her policy stances. Sunaks team furiously reject the charge their man is fighting a dirty campaign. They point to attacks by leading Truss allies, singling out a Twitter meme circulated by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries depicting Sunak as Brutus attacking Boris Johnsons Caesar. Sunaks increasing political belligerence is likely to produce only three outcomes. First, handing Labour valuable ammunition I expect the campaign posters of Sunak claiming Liz Truss is divorced from reality are already being prepared They say calls for unity are wide of the mark, claiming that Sunak enjoys the support of a majority of Tory MPs. And they insist that it is actually Trusss cost-of-living policies that are playing into Sir Keir Starmers hands. The idea that from Day One as PM, Liz wouldnt have to adopt Rishis position on cost-of-living is for the birds, one Sunak supporter told me. Thats the reality we face this winter, and while she can play to the gallery now, shell be crucified if she doesnt U-turn on this. All of which may be true. But Team Sunaks rebuttal ignores an inconvenient but important fact. In three weeks, Truss will surely be Britains new Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak will not be. 'We have got to accept were about to face a very difficult four months, an ally of Liz Truss told me. Our party is going to need everyone to unite behind Liz. If they dont, shes going to find it impossible to deliver anything, and the country will get Starmer as PM. People have to make their minds up now. They either take the Blue Pill with Liz, or the Red Pill with Rishi. Sunaks increasing political belligerence is likely to produce only three outcomes. First, handing Labour valuable ammunition I expect the campaign posters of Sunak claiming Liz Truss is divorced from reality are already being prepared. Second, reinforcing the inaccurate perception he is disloyal and duplicitous. The reality is that Johnson needed to be removed, and Sunak had passed up numerous opportunities to resign. Third, a number of Sunak supporters will seize the opportunity to swap a losing campaign for a winning one, citing a need for party unity as their excuse. None of this may be fair. But politics, like life, isnt fair. And Sunak needs to recognise his dream of being Prime Minister is over. But there are lessons, too, for Liz Truss. The reality is that Johnson needed to be removed, and Sunak had passed up numerous opportunities to resign, writes Dan Hodges, pictured She has run a skilful campaign that has successfully reached out to the Tory grassroots. As Lord Ashcrofts research, seen by The Mail on Sunday reveals, not only is she a favourite with Tory members, but she is also a favourite with Tory voters (38 per cent Truss, 29 per cent Sunak), and that crucial sub-set of 2019 Tory defectors who backed Boris but say they dont currently intend to support the party again (33 per cent Truss, 25 per cent Sunak). But by continuing to focus on a narrow electoral constituency of Tory activists, Truss has started to make mistakes. She unveiled a policy of cutting pay for public sector workers outside of London and the South East, then was forced to abandon it 12 hours later. She launched an unsubstantiated attack on woke civil servants she claimed were guilty of fuelling anti-Semitism. She attacked the levying of an additional windfall tax on energy companies, saying it would send the wrong message. And she has sent out increasingly contradictory messages on support for those facing rocketing fuel bills, first playing down targeted support, then pledging to act to help hard-pressed consumers. None of these blunders is a game-changer. With his own track record, Sir Keir Starmer is hardly in a position to exploit flip-flopping over leadership campaign pledges. People wont besiege the nations phone-ins to angrily exclaim: That bloody Liz Truss! She said she wouldnt help me with my energy bills, but now she has! But her flip-flops are starting to be noticed by voters who have largely tuned out from the Tory leadership fisticuffs. As part of Lord Ashcrofts research, people were asked what words they most associated with the candidates. Truss was described as trustworthy, capable and down to earth. But the word most frequently used to characterise her was unsure. In an election, complacency can undermine the candidate who is in the lead. But insufficient complacency can be a danger, too. Liz Truss still doesnt seem to quite believe she has Sunak beaten. Shes still shovelling out statements and policy positions primarily designed to appeal to Tory Party members. By doing so, shes beginning to drive a wedge between herself and the country as a whole. Take, for example, the cost-of-living crisis. It cannot be solved by simply relying on traditional free-market orthodoxy. People need their Government to protect them from unsustainable energy costs. And that requires direct state intervention. The public arent interested in philosophical lectures about the triumph and glory of capitalism. They urgently want a Prime Minister who will nail the fat-cat energy profiteers to the wall. In any party leadership campaign, there comes a time when the winning candidate needs to pivot. To shift their focus from the immediate constituency to the future, wider one. For Liz Truss, that time is now. On-the-hoof policy pronouncements have to be parked. Inflammatory press-releases must be shredded. And she needs to start speaking to Britain, not just 100,000 Tory party members. In 22 days time, Liz Truss will become Prime Minister. She needs to recognise it. And she needs to start acting like it. We have to face it. Doctor Who was a dismal failure at warning us of the perils to come. In my schooldays, William Hartnell went off into the future and found the Daleks, who could not even climb stairs and had no sense of humour. But he did not discover comprehensive schools, in my view much, much more frightening than any Dalek. Had he done so, we would not have made that mistake. Nor did he manage to warn us that criminal justice was going to dissolve into mist, or that marriage would collapse, or that the English Channel, which foreign tyrants foolishly saw as an obstacle for centuries, was a doddle to cross. For a long time I have wondered what the point of this programme was. Now I propose a replacement, Doctor What?, in which a grizzled old geezer with dodgy hearing voyages intrepidly into the past, perhaps aboard a steam train, with an attractive younger assistant. Imagine the little ones hiding behind the furniture when they catch their first glimpse of teachers with authority, blackboards, exams you can fail. A stock image is used above [File photo] There he finds out how much better we used to do so many things. I could do this, Im about as decrepit as William Hartnell was in 1963. I dont think Doctor Who has frightened anybody much for years. But the things Doctor What? would reveal to an astonished audience would have many of them rigid in their chairs. Imagine the little ones hiding behind the furniture when they catch their first glimpse of teachers with authority, blackboards, exams you can fail. Picture the frisson of horror that would run through wrongdoers as Doctor What? encounters a policeman patrolling a street on foot. Perhaps the greatest national dismay would be reserved for the portrayal of a couple marrying before having children, and staying together even when things got rough. Picture the frisson of horror that would run through wrongdoers as Doctor What? encounters a policeman patrolling a street on foot, writes Peter Hitchens, pictured Footage of a criminal sent to jail, especially if the crime involved drugs, might have to be shown after the watershed, with trigger warnings before and a helpline after. You might follow it with a comic interlude about life before central heating, or the amazing way people got about without cars, when we still had railways and trams, and it was safe for children to walk and cycle to school. Once, it would have been worth pointing out the horrible fact that everyone smoked cigarettes in those days. But in the age of the vaping pandemic, and when cities stink of dope, thats not as scary as it might have been. There would, for obvious reasons, be no mention of man-made global warming, no swearing and no nudity, features which might gain the series a cult following. All we need is a theme tune. When he complained about some failure of service, which he did quite a bit, my late brother Christopher always responded to the stupid defence Nobody has complained about this before by saying Well, you wont be able to say that again. Now, we need a united and equally devastating reaction to the infuriating claim made by so many retailers that Sorry, we cant accept cash. I suggest: Please explain why exactly you cannot accept cash. Because of course they can accept it (though, outrageously, theres no legal obligation to do so). They just dont want to, a completely different thing. See it. Say it. Sorted. The cult of man-made warming has lowered the standards of journalism. On Saturday, the Financial Times, a well-regarded Left-wing newspaper, wrote that water levels on the river Rhine in Germany had fallen to new lows. The same account noted that water levels at Kaub, where the Rhine is measured, were just above 18 inches. Then it went on to note that four years ago, in 2018, this fell to just under ten inches, considerably shallower. So it was not a new low at all. When it starts raining again, it will be amazing how quickly we forget this panic. But we do need to do something. We waste so much water. My advice: Cancel HS2 and spend the money instead on building a national water grid which can quickly divert water from the wetter parts of the country to the drier ones when needed. I plan to publish a book later this year about the mad destruction of the grammar schools, and have devised this symbol (see below) to draw attention to the issue. It means Traditional education banned here except for the children of the rich and powerful. It is based on the pre-1965 sign for a school, replaced in the late 1960s by a stick-figure symbol, deliberately intended to be more inclusive and comprehensive. My symbol which means traditional education banned here except for the children of the rich and powerful A war in which Ukraine can do no wrong Have you noticed how Ukraine and Ukrainians cannot do anything bad? I think President Volodymyr Zelensky is actually quite a decent person. But his attempt to get all Russians banned from travelling to Europe is bigoted and foolish. Russians do not all agree with their governments stupid, bloody invasion. But Zelensky gets away with this proposal because Ukraine is a sainted nation. Now we have the weird episode of the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station which has been in Russian hands since they illegally seized it in March. This, whatever the provocation may be, is an extraordinarily stupid thing for anyone to do. But who is doing it? Well, since the Russian Army is dug in there, it is extremely unlikely that the Russians are doing it. So who is doing it? Martians? North Koreans? Eskimos? When I put the words Ukrainians shell Zaporizhzhia into Google, that search engine responded by saying: No results found for Ukrainians shell Zaporizhzhia. Instead I got several accounts of the Russians apparently shelling themselves. The BBC reported online on Friday that the power station had come under heavy fire. But who from? It is not even stated. Normally reporters are urged to avoid using the passive voice. But for Ukraine, this rule has been suspended. Meanwhile, Amnesty International, once revered by liberal global opinion, has made a cringing apology for a report in which it pointed out (as far as I know accurately) that Ukrainian troops had been sheltering in civilian buildings. Who really doubts it? Troops do this, even if they are not supposed to. But Amnesty now says it deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian militarys fighting tactics has caused. This is ridiculous. If news is reduced to childish one-sided propaganda, how can the citizens of adult democracies possibly make serious decisions about which policy we should follow? And finally...bring back Reggie and Anna I am struggling with the Australian drama series The Newsreader, which lots of people tell me is wonderful but I find a little slow and worthy. But it has given me an idea. Surely it is time to fictionalise the best TV newsreading partnership in history, ITNs pairing, below, of the intellectual beauty Anna Ford and the raffish epic drinker Reginald Bosanquet, always a sixteenth of an inch away from being too relaxed to read his lines. How we looked forward to ten oclock and how gripping were the catastrophes they recounted. Surely it is time to fictionalise the best TV newsreading partnership in history, ITNs pairing, below, of the intellectual beauty Anna Ford and the raffish epic drinker Reginald Bosanquet To comment on Peter Hitchens click here With the possible exception of Queen Boadicea, Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I are two of the most kick-ass women in history. Both distinguished themselves in a male-dominated world Joan in battle and Elizabeth as a Monarch at a time when women had very few rights save those afforded them by their husbands or fathers. Queen Bess famously professed to have the body of a weak and feeble woman but the heart and stomach of a king. No man ever met her standards for marriage, and she remained or at least so she claimed a virgin until her death. Likewise Joan, who even underwent an examination to prove herself truly the Maid of Orleans. Perhaps things would have been different had she not been burnt at the stake at the age of 19. By men, of course. For generations, their stories have captured the imaginations of young girls and women. Both represent something important, something inspiring: the notion that a woman can be every bit equal to a man in her scope and ambition, that womanhood is not a permanent state of weakness or victimhood, that women can determine their own destinies, even if it doesnt always go quite according to plan. With the possible exception of Queen Boadicea, Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I (pictured) are two of the most kick-ass women in history Their gender is a vitally important part of this. Its what makes them feminist icons. Take that away and you dilute their power. What makes Joan of Arc and Elizabeth I remarkable is that they were women that is to say, human biological females doing these things at a time when women werent supposed to do anything more than cater to the needs of their menfolk, produce babies and perhaps the odd bit of tapestry. That is why the decision by the Globe Theatre to re-cast first Joan as non-binary (on stage), then Elizabeth (in an essay defending the previous decision), offends so many feminists, including J.K. Rowling. Of course the Globe is an artistic venue, and art is freedom of expression, which is an important right that must be protected, particularly in the light of the heinous attack on Salman Rushdie. But to say that anybody who objects to the narrative of these new interpretations is denying the historical existence of the trans experience, as the author of the essay, one Dr Kit Heyam, has claimed, is disingenuous. Its really not about that (I certainly dont want to deny any trans person their experience, historical or otherwise). Its to do with the fact that the identity of these two women as bold, brave females in a male-dominated world, and therefore uniquely inspiring is being questioned for no other reason than to feed a particular narrative. Which is that because they acted like men, because they demonstrated characteristics most commonly associated with men, they cannot have been women. How sexist is that? Not only sexist, but it is also hypocritical. Because Joan and Elizabeth are, in effect, being misgendered something that many in the trans community suffer and find deeply distressing, quite understandably. Throughout history, strong women have been forced to take on the mantle of men because misogyny has required it. That is why Joan dressed as a man: it was the only way she could possibly be taken seriously. That is why the decision by the Globe Theatre to re-cast first Joan as non-binary (on stage), then Elizabeth (in an essay defending the previous decision), offends so many feminists, including J.K. Rowling Its the same reason Mary Ann Evans wrote as George Eliot, or the Bronte sisters published as Ellis, Currer and Acton Bell. They all faced anti-woman prejudice, and they got around it as best they could. All the Globe Theatre is doing is repeating and perpetuating that prejudice. It is saying that neither Joan nor Elizabeth could have done what they did unless they were secretly male, or possessed male characteristics. In doing so, they are denying the pair their identities as strong, brave women. Cant they see how insulting to women this is? How it attempts to deny us the few crumbs of history we can call our own? Joan of Arc knew what she was, as did Elizabeth I. They both led lives of conviction and courage, and they led them as women. For that, they are remembered, respected and even revered. Lets just leave it at that. Historian Lady Antonia Fraser spoke for us all when she said of the Duchess of Sussex: I just wish vainly shed shut up. Hope springs eternal, Dame Antonia. We all need a holiday: even MPs! Every summer its the same story: why is such-and-such politician on holiday when the country is in a mess? This year, both Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson have been rebuked for daring to take a family break. Such criticism is idiotic. First, because the country is always in some kind of mess, so theres never a good time to go away. Second, politicians ought to be firing on all cylinders, not worn out and exhausted. But perhaps most importantly, holidays allow us to see life from a different perspective. And that, in the blinkered world of Westminster, is never a bad thing. Why does the Government propose to give every household 400 towards fuel costs? For someone like, say, Jerry Hall whos reportedly got about 250million from her divorce 400 is probably what she spends weekly on flowers. For a pensioner, it could be the difference between life and death. Why not target the money based on income giving more to those who need it most? There's much talk of a return to the Seventies. I remember those times, as a youngster. It was quite exciting to do things by candlelight and it didnt matter that we couldnt watch TV as we didnt own one. These days its very different. Our internet-dependent lives are reliant on electricity. Even doorbells, landlines and cars need electricity. Forget the Seventies: power blackouts will feel like a return to the Stone Age. A husbands pain The widower of cancer victim Dame Deborah James has spoken movingly of her final hours, saying there were moments of joy, even as the darkness set in. People always talk about the courage of those who suffer with terminal illness, and rightly so, but let us not forget the pain of those left behind. I know of two families where young children have lost their mothers to cancer, and the pressure on their fathers to fill that gap can feel overwhelming. I hope Deborahs husband Sebastien, left, with his late wife, realises its not weakness or an act of betrayal to feel this way and that he has all the love and support he needs. How bitterly ironic that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the same week that several British universities said that theyll remove challenging books from their reading lists. Its precisely the kind of intellectual bigotry these supposed centres of learning are condoning that encourages such acts of abominable violence and they should be ashamed. Nine of the 15 contestants on the new series of Strictly are already on the BBCs payroll. Is there such a dearth of talent beyond the revolving doors of Broadcasting House? Or is the show now little more than a glorified works outing for BBC employees? Nicola's right... for once! IF you are a woman, Nicola Sturgeon has said, particularly in a senior position without children, there is an assumption made that youre a cold-hearted bitch that has decided to prioritise your career over children. I rarely agree with Scotlands First Minister but she is 100 per cent right: it is a sexist assumption. However, her argument would carry more weight if she was clear about what being a woman means. When asked earlier this year, she declined, saying it would oversimplify the gender debate. This is having your feminist cake and eating it. Many may be envious of Cara Delevingnes glamorous 30th birthday party on a yacht in Formentera alongside A-listers such as Margot Robbie and Sienna Miller. But its my idea of hell. Beneath the smiles, you can be sure its a cut-throat competition to see whos the skinniest, prettiest, coolest of them all. No thank you. While in France recently, I was reluctantly persuaded by my teenagers to stop at a McDonalds. Imagine my surprise to find that it offered macarons (Emmanuel Macarons, even?). Say what you like about the French, but it takes class to turn a revolting American fast-food franchise into a culinary triumph. Every intelligent person should be not just shocked but outraged at the attack on the writer Salman Rushdie. He suffered up to 15 separate wounds all knife stabs into the freedom of imagination and expression that keeps us human. It is all the sadder that, after years of living as a fugitive, Salman had bravely started living as a normal citizen in the world. He could write books, find love and seemingly travel freely. The Iranian fatwa issued on Rushdie in 1989 effectively a death sentence was a terrifying moment not just for the author, but the nation, too. It seemed to catch us unawares. We were appalled at the idea that writing a novel could lead to death. I remember profoundly the atmosphere of fear and confusion and the riots that followed the fatwa on him. When it was announced, I was a young writer with four books published. I recall my sense of shock. Suddenly the act of writing was fraught with danger. Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage in New York where he sustained nerve damage to his arm and his liver I was one of the first writers to respond in support of freedom of speech in an essay I delivered at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Hundreds attended in an atmosphere of defiance as well as fear. This attack has made creativity a matter of life and death The threat to Salmans life was no fiction. In time, I came to know Salman as a friend. I attended his wedding. Visiting his house, he showed me a cupboard crammed with books hed written. You could have something like this, he said. All this came from winning a Booker Prize. And he was right. Yet the bitterness of that moment in 1989 never really went away. The debate divided political, religious and literary communities. There was a whole range of sensitivities involved. The anger on all sides was real. The uproar helped to bring to public awareness the strength and variety of the Muslim presence in Britain. Strong voices spoke out in defence of religion and, to those who were not so aware of them before, the more than one billion Muslims around the world came into focus. The episode raised difficult questions about our changing society, about a multicultural Britain. It also hardened many positions and we have not been the same since. We already live in a climate in which it is increasingly harder to express oneself freely. Now, this attack on Salman Rushdie, which many of us have feared for more than 30 years, has made creativity a matter of life and death. A group of people rushed to assist the author after the attack, with the attacker being restrained by witnesses The internet has unleashed the monsters of trolling and hate speech. Death threats are issued to celebrities and to ordinary citizens expressing themselves on any number of issues. We have become less tolerant of nuance and disagreement. The atmosphere is more toxic than it has ever been. Yet it cannot be said strongly enough that a society cannot survive without free speech. Democracy is built on the right to dissent, on the right for people to hold opposing positions. Our societies need freedom of expression to protect us from the worst atrocities that governments can visit on their citizens. Every intelligent person should be not just shocked but outraged at the attack on the writer Salman Rushdie, says Ben Okri There are currently about 50 nations in the world in violation of basic rights to freedom of speech. In these places, writers languish in prisons, often without recourse to the law. In some Latin American countries, journalists are in danger for drawing attention to pollution and environmental destruction. Freedom of thought and expression are essential for civilised life. But this does not mean we have a right to hate speech, or incitement to violence, or words that denigrate or dehumanise. Free expression should be exercised with respect. I supported Salman Rushdie in the Eighties because I did not believe that he wrote his novel to deliberately cause offence. A novel is a dialogue of voices. A novel is not a polemic. It creates a world to question a world. I supported Salman because I believe we must protect the realm of the imagination. No one should be killed because of a novel. Violence is never the answer to disagreements. I am no stranger to the price writers pay for their work. In the Eighties I wrote a series of articles for a Nigerian newspaper lampooning the rigged elections. I was advised to leave the country the next morning. In the Nineties we saw how Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged for protesting against the environmental destruction caused by drilling for oil in his homeland. Today, it is impossible to know who will take offence at what when it comes to the world of the imagination. In certain states in America, Toni Morrisons Beloved is banned for drawing attention to the evils of slavery. I have just published a novel called The Last Gift Of The Master Artists, and it is set in the moment before the slave trade changes the life of a continent. Who can tell whether this will cause offence? We need freedom of speech and thought for the health of our culture. We need to be able to ventilate our fears and grievances and express our sense of injustice done. We need to be free to express our doubts. It is not asking difficult questions that diminishes us. It is being afraid to ask questions. Salman Rushdie is a writer who has not been afraid to ask awkward questions. He has asked questions about justice and has advocated for the values of a diverse and tolerant Britain. He is one of the most distinguished writers in the world today, and he is an icon of free speech. Rushdie was airlifted to hospital after receiving medical assistance from those at the event near Buffalo, in Upstate New York Enough attention has not been drawn to the incredible courage it takes to go on functioning with a $3 million death threat on your head. But the real courage for me is that Salman Rushdie has gone on holding firmly to the fundamental principle of freedom of expression when it would have been much easier to cave in and retreat in fear. In one of my conversations with him after the fatwa, he said: Ben, my greatest fear is that the fatwa, the clamour, will damage my imagination forever. In short, he was afraid we would not be able to write again. I knew he would write again because writing is a force in him, almost a destiny. And I was right. For he has written many books since. But that fear was very real. Our lives would be intolerable without freedom of thought It is that fear which we now ought to confront. The fear of being murdered for our writing, for our legitimate questions. The fear of our creativity, our imagination, being silenced. I believe that a civilisation is as great as its intrinsic freedom. Many forces threaten this freedom. But it is the triumph of this freedom that has given us our cities, our art, our literature, our laws, and the civic structures of our societies. Throughout history the thoughts that will take us forward have often been censored. But the thoughts that liberate us always triumph in the end. Writers and artists cannot afford to be intimidated by the reality of violence. This is not a matter for writers only. None of us can function without a measure of courage. Our lives would be intolerable without freedom of thought. This issue should never descend into a demonising of a religion or a people, but perhaps it is time for another high-level negotiation with clerics in Iran for a formal withdrawal of the fatwa. As long as the fatwa hovers over Salman Rushdie, his life is in danger. If one writer can be silenced and killed then we can all be. We cannot allow this legitimisation of the murder of an artist in our world. To kill one imagination is to kill all of our imaginations. It is too late in the day to turn back the clock of human liberties. Ben Okri is a vice president of English PEN, the campaign group for freedom of expression. Dame Deborah James' husband Sebastien has revealed how she was 'paralysed from the waist down' in the final days of her life - before she 'deteriorated' very quickly and 'slipped away.' The British broadcaster, who died in June at the age of 40 after a five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer, raised more than 7million through her fundraising efforts. In a touching interview with The Times, her widower Sebastien Bowen, 42, explained how he and his children Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, took on the care for Deborah at her parents home of Woking. The father-of-two said his wife became 'so weak' and 'frustrated' because she had been 'fiercely independent'. He said on the Sunday, Hugo 'helped her get dressed' and they 'had a good chat' before the family had lunch, adding: 'Deborah was being as bossy as ever, telling us what to do. Then at teatime she started to slip away; she was floating in and out of consciousness.' Dame Deborah James ' husband Sebastien has revealed how she was 'paralysed from the waist down' in the final days of her life - before she 'deteriorated' very quickly and 'slipped away' He went on to say the hospice team arrived at the house and administered a syringe driver to help her manage the pain. Then, Sebastien described how he slept with her for two days as he held her hand, saying she 'wasn't really there.' He said the family surrounded her to tell her how much they 'adored' her, continuing: 'On Tuesday her eyes opened and she came back into the room for a moment, and then she was gone within 15 minutes, with her sister, mother and father also surrounding her.' Elsewhere, he said Hugo would brush his wife's hair, while Eloise would help to fetch her drinks. The father-of-two (pictured with his family), who shared Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, with Deborah, explained how he stopped working to spend as much time with his wife as possible after she stopped active treatment and started to receive end-of-life care at her parents' house in Woking During the interview, Sebastien said it was his late wife's 'inner strength' during her final eight weeks that resulted in the couple being able to still experience 'some of the most mind-blowing, magical days of both our lives'. The father-of-two, who shared Hugo, 14, and Eloise, 12, with Deborah, explained how he stopped working to spend as much time with his wife as possible after she stopped active treatment and started to receive end-of-life care at her parents' house in Woking. Sebastien, a banker, acted as her carer, with support from her parents, brother and sister, and the two of them spent their final weeks together reading poetry, watching their favourite films and enjoying days out, including to the Chelsea Flower Show. He added that watching his wife enjoy her last few experiences 'changed all our perspectives on life.' The British broadcaster and campaigner (pictured left), who died in June at the age of 40 after a five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer, raised more than 7million through her fundraising efforts Following Deborah's funeral, Sebastien and his two children, who also helped care for their mother by brushing her hair and fetching her drinks, went to France. It's unclear if the family have returned to London or still remain abroad. Deborah, a former deputy headteacher, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, before launching a podcast You, Me and the Big C, to raise awareness about the illness. She raised more than 7million for her Bowelbabe fund, set up to fund clinical trials, through various collaborations, including a clothing range, a rose named after her and her book How to Live When You Could Be Dead. Sebastien (pictured with Deborah in 2019), a banker, acted as her carer, with support from her parents, brother and sister, and the two of them spent their final weeks together reading poetry, watching their favourite films and enjoying days out, including to the Chelsea Flower Show After inspiring the nation, the mother-of-two was presented with a damehood by Prince William shortly after announcing she was receiving end-of-life care. The Duke of Cambridge, 40, who lost his own mother, Princess Diana, when he was aged just 15, gave Deborah's two children 'powerful advice' about dealing with grief, according to Sebastien. Sebastien also explained how Deborah dictated the final chapter of her book to him, because she was too weak to write at that point. He added that he initially wasn't too keen about his wife's decision to speak publicly about her illness, but saw how the encouragement from her supporters helped her through her battle. Dame Deborah James was awarded a damehood from the Queen, which she received at home from Prince William on May 13 Last week, Sebastien revealed he kissed his dying wife on the head and told her he loved her before she died of bowel cancer. 'I kissed her on the head,' Sebastien told The Sun. 'I told her how much I loved her, that I would look after the kids and the last thing I said to her was that I was so proud of her. Then she slipped away.' Back in May, the mother-of-two was given just days to live - but Deborah fought her way through another two full months, defying the odds to spend her final weeks with her children and husband out of hospital. BOWEL CANCER: THE SYMPTOMS YOU SHOULDN'T IGNORE 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. It affects around 40 per 100,000 adults per year in the US, according to the National Cancer Institute. Advertisement She had an incredibly peaceful death, her husband added. 'People who didnt know Debs saw her getting weaker and weaker in those final weeks,' he said. 'But mentally it was the opposite. 'Through battling the fires of adversity she got stronger and in my eyes, it made her more and more radiant with every passing day. Ive never loved her more/ She knew what was happening to her, yet she was able to still find those magical moments.' He said he was in awe of what his wife had achieved while dealing with such emotional anguish. Thinking of what he loved about her, he said her way of finding joy in every moment, even in the darkest of times, was what he will miss the most. Deborah's candid posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, won praise from the public and media alike. Now, her husband said he feels a responsibility to carry on her positive spirit for their children. The couple first met in 2005 at Cafe de Paris in London, marrying within three years in France. Sebastien said lockdown, unlike in other circumstances, had been a blessing for their family - allowing them to spend more time together than they would have found otherwise. Meanwhile, Deborah told her children to 'take chances and experience life now' and to marry for love in a heartbreaking final letter before she died. She shared her life lessons in her new book How To Live When You Could Be Dead. 'Take a chance and back yourself. Remember to be your number one cheerleader,' she told them in a passage from her book seen by The Sun, set to be released on August 18. 'Dont leave the world and all it has to offer until retirement experience it now.' She reflected on how one could know true love in the chapter dedicated to her children, explaining that she knew she would marry her husband after their third date and telling her children she fancied Sebastien from the day they first met. He wasn't perfect, she told them, but he respected the former deputy head teacher and never let her wrap him around her little finger - and she still thought he was always the most attractive man in the room 18 years later. She also suggested that the rose named after her, the Dame Deborah James Rose, be added to her daughter's bouquet when she weds. She said: 'What breaks my heart and brings me the most beautiful thought, is that this variety will and can now be grown forever, and maybe one day even Eloise might choose to have it in her wedding bouquet.' Dame Deborah also told her children to buy a dog, writing that it was one of the best decisions she ever made. Doing one thing every day that makes you happy is important, she added, and never criticise others for the things that make them happy. 'We are given 86,400 seconds every day, and we each choose how to use them,' she concluded. 'It is only as they begin to slip away from us that we understand the value of each and every one of those seconds. 'So, my greatest advice to you is that you can do whatever you want with those seconds. You can use them however you want. The choice is yours, but the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Do you believe in yours?' It began with a headache and sore throat one morning at the end of June. Then came a heavy chest that made breathing a struggle, while the headache became so bad that 66-year-old Mio Blagojevic describes it as like having an out-of-body experience. The property developer from Hertfordshire adds: Id never felt so ill. It was like Id been hit by a bus. With symptoms like these, this time last year the instant suspicion would have been Covid. But Mio, a keen runner, and his wife Karen had been fully vaccinated and then boosted in January. Due to the severity of Mios symptoms, even the GP they called for advice did not suspect it could be Covid. They prescribed antibiotics, concluding that it was probably a bacterial chest infection. Just to be sure, Mio took a lateral flow test. It was positive. Elderly patients have been brushing off Covid-19 in recent weeks but younger fit and healthy people are being struck down with the 'worse flu ever' He recalls his shock: Wed been quite careful for most of the pandemic, wearing masks and avoiding many big events. But I was pretty confident that, if I did get it, I would be fine because Id had my jabs. But I couldnt get out of bed for days and it took almost a month for me to fully recover. Mio also suffered a total loss of smell for a month a symptom that characterised the first Covid waves but which research had suggested didnt hit people infected with the less severe Omicron variant. Meanwhile, Karen, who caught the virus at the same time, suffered no more than a headache. The whole episode left Mio shaken and baffled. It seems that he isnt the only one in this predicament. Last week, The Mail on Sundays resident GP columnist, Dr Ellie Cannon, wrote that while some of her older patients, previously at risk of falling seriously ill with Covid, had become infected and simply brushed it off, she was seeing an increasing number of fit and healthy people struck down with the worst flu ever. Since then she has received a flood of letters and emails from readers who had, like Mio, also been completely and unexpectedly poleaxed by the virus. Susan Smith, 68, says she caught Covid three weeks ago, and despite having had three jabs she describes the illness as the worst thing I can remember having. Her throat was so sore it felt like I had razor blades in it. She lost her sense of taste and smell and felt extremely fatigued. Susan believed a 78-year-old friend gave her the virus after he returned from Spain. However, he barely had any symptoms at all. This all begs the question: why, more than two years after Covid first appeared, are so many of us suddenly being laid so low? Alison Peek, a 64-year-old nurse, said her bout of Covid her first despite working in a nursing home during the pandemic left her in bed for ten days. Fully vaccinated and boosted, Alison says: The muscle fatigue I experienced was immense. I have never endured anything like it. It wasnt just tiredness. It felt like I was wading through quicksand. This all begs the question: why, more than two years after Covid first appeared, are so many of us suddenly being laid so low? Experts agree that the decision to offer all adults a third jab last winter, in response to the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, was a success. The reintroduction of Covid restrictions were avoided, and despite infections rising to record highs, the number of people hospitalised and dying with the virus stayed extremely low. In the spring, over-75s were offered a fourth top-up jab. And this autumn, all Britons over the age of 50 will receive another dose in preparation for the winter. In terms of vaccination, we are among the most protected in the world. However, there is still a lot of Covid around. While cases are now falling from a peak in mid-July, more than two million Britons have the virus. There are also several new sub-variants driving infections. Since the spring, two mutated versions of Omicron have been the cause of most cases in the UK. Labelled BA.4 and BA.5, they appear to cause some different symptoms to their predecessor. According to the Kings College London Zoe symptom tracker app, anosmia loss of sense of smell is often reported. Its analysis suggests that more people are experiencing sore throats, as well as a previously uncommon symptom: diarrhoea. These mutations can also overcome the immunity built up by vaccines and prior infection. It means someone who caught Covid in May could easily catch it again if exposed now. Experts agree that the decision to offer all adults a third jab last winter, in response to the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, was a success. The reintroduction of Covid restrictions were avoided, and despite infections rising to record highs, the number of people hospitalised and dying with the virus stayed extremely low Scientists say that with so many people infected, it stands to reason that statistically, while most can shrug off the virus thanks to protection provided by the jabs, some will still get hit badly. And a few will end up in hospital, even if they have been vaccinated. Thanks to vaccination, Covid is now essentially acting as two different diseases, says Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia (UEA). When the virus first arrived, doctors were most concerned about systemic infections where the virus can get into your lungs and lead to pneumonia. This is what usually kills patients. But were not seeing anywhere near as much of this. Instead, most people are experiencing an upper respiratory tract infection, which means its their noses and throats affected, and it doesnt get into their lungs. This is much like any standard cold and flu. But Prof Hunter also points out that regular colds and flu do floor otherwise healthy people. Its perfectly normal to see someone in their mid-20s get flu really badly to the point where they are in bed for a week. Their friend who got the same virus might be absolutely fine. He adds: In reality, if you caught flu now youd be more likely to get seriously ill than you would with Covid. This is because there has been very little flu, meaning few people have any immunity. Worryingly, scientists believe we are now due a bad flu season. Australia seen as a bellwether, as its winter occurs during our summer months has suffered its worst flu season for five years. Last month, the Government announced that everyone over 50 would be offered a flu shot with their Covid booster in September. It will also be available to people with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, healthcare workers and carers, as well as secondary school children. But putting this aside, is there a way to predict who might get a bad case of Covid? Experts say the most crucial factor is when people had their last booster. On average, the extra vaccine gives you only three months protection from infection, says Professor Lawrence Young, a virus expert at the University of Warwick. The good news is that scientists are certain the vaccines we have had will continue to provide most of us with protection against severe illness needing hospital treatment. Vaccines create antibodies which prevent the virus entering the body, but they also encourage the production of other protective immune cells including T cells, which attack invaders before they can do too much damage. Last month, the Government announced that everyone over 50 would be offered a flu shot with their Covid booster in September. It will also be available to people with underlying health conditions, pregnant women, healthcare workers and carers, as well as secondary school children T cell response still looks really solid, says Prof Young. But as your antibodies wane, more virus can get in, so your risk of getting a nasty yet non-threatening infection goes up. And since the over-75s had a booster jab in the spring, experts say this age group is, in fact, less likely to get very ill. Figures published last week by the Office for National Statistics appears to back this up. According to a survey of UK antibody levels, more than 90 per cent of people over the age of 75 those who had received a second booster have a high level of antibodies. However, just 60 per cent of those aged between 65 and 74 had similar levels. If youre in your 40s, your last jab will have been a lot longer ago than if youre in your 70s, says Prof Hunter. So it stands to reason the risk of the 40-year-old getting laid out badly may actually be higher. One 40-year-old who knows this all too well is Kristian Jenson, from London, who caught the virus for the first time last month. The vintage furniture seller had his third jab in December, and says while he expected to catch Covid eventually, he never expected to become so unwell. He adds: I had the worst headache, I was coughing loads and lost all my sense of smell and taste. Id had my booster and Im relatively young and healthy, so I thought Id be able to brush it off after a couple days. It was so bad I had to take two weeks off work, and Im still recovering five weeks on. Kristian will not receive another Covid jab soon, since only over-50s will be offered one this winter. This makes him nervous as he worries about catching the virus again. He says: It was really tough physically, but also financially because I had to take time off work, and then theres childcare as we had to keep our son home. It makes life really tricky when you get this ill. Scientists say there are other factors which determine the severity of Covid infection. Multiple studies show that men are more likely to suffer worse symptoms than women, which may in part explain why Mio suffered worse than his wife. Male immune systems tend to react more slowly to viruses, says Prof Young. Experts believe genetics play a role in the infections severity. A German study, published last year, found that people with the blood type O the most common group had a heightened protection against severe Covid compared with the national average. People with the less common blood type A were noticeably more likely to get dangerously sick, though scientists are unsure why. According to a survey of UK antibody levels, more than 90 per cent of people over the age of 75 those who had received a second booster have a high level of antibodies. However, just 60 per cent of those aged between 65 and 74 had similar levels Scientists also believe the amount of Covid particles someone is exposed to when they become infected could also determine how sick they get. If you get Covid after spending several hours sitting next to someone with the virus in an office with poor ventilation, youre probably going to get more sick than someone who picks up the virus after chatting with someone for two minutes, says Prof Hunter. Having had a recent cold reduces the severity of a Covid infection. This is because most colds are also forms of coronavirus closely related to Covid and similar in structure. So when the immune system develops cells to fight off a cold, these cells can put up defence to Covid. An American study, published last week, suggested that people who had suffered a cold as a result of infection with another coronavirus in the previous three months were far less likely to catch Covid. Regardless of this, experts say we have to expect several more years of regular waves of Covid. Professor Peter Openshaw, an immunologist at Imperial College London, says: People are still being reinfected because the virus is mutating to evade our immunity. So even though the vast majority of Britons have really high levels of antibodies, theyre still liable to get quite sick with the virus, even if theyre not as likely to end up in hospital. The good news, according to Prof Openshaw, is that the virus cannot continue keep evolving at this rate. The virus is essentially evolving under pressure. Its reacting to the vaccines and the build-up of previous infections, in an effort to survive, he says. But eventually, probably in about three years, it will settle down into something more akin to the common cold. Mouth cancers could be going undiagnosed as a result of dentists refusing to offer consultations, medical leaders have warned. Routine dental appointments always involve checks for signs of the disease, which include inflamed or white patches in the mouth, and small lumps or blisters. These examinations are vital, as the symptoms are often painless or not considered serious by patients. If anything worrying is seen, a referral can be made to hospital specialists for a definitive diagnosis. Almost half of mouth cancers are first spotted in this way. But last week a major survey showed that nine in ten NHS dental practices in England are not accepting new adult patients, and eight in ten wont take on children. Routine dental appointments always involve checks for signs of the disease, which include inflamed or white patches in the mouth, and small lumps or blisters. These examinations are vital, as the symptoms are often painless or not considered serious by patients. As a result, cases of mouth cancer, also known as oral cancer, will undoubtedly have been missed, says Dr Jane Wilcock, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners North-West faculty. Patients often arent aware of a problem in the mouth until a dental hygienist or dentist notices something suspicious, such as a red or white patch inside the cheek or on the gums. Not all will turn out to be cancer, but some will. The problem is, many people just cant get to see an NHS dentist at the moment. With fewer examinations, inevitably cases of mouth cancer will go undiagnosed. Cancer expert Professor Patricia Price, chair of Radiotherapy UK and co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign, says: With oral cancer, speed of diagnosis and treatment is hugely important. If opportunities to catch it early are missed, more oral cancer patients will die needlessly. In January, the Government pledged an extra 50 million to fund 350,000 more dental appointments, yet the latest figures suggest this has had little effect. The number of NHS dentists has fallen to its lowest in a decade to about 22,000, with nearly 1,000 quitting during the past year. A further 40 per cent are said to be looking to change career or seek early retirement this year. Healthwatch UK spokesman Jacob Lant says calls to their helpline reveal a frustrating situation. Weve heard from patients whove been unable to get a dentist appointment for two years and then tried to make an appointment, only to find theyve been deregistered because theyve not attended in so long. They then cant reregister, as practices arent taking on new patients. New cases of mouth cancer were already rising sharply before the pandemic. More than 8,722 people in the UK were diagnosed in 2019 an increase of 97 per cent since 2000. Given that trend, and with no new data since 2019, the fear is that new cases will have gone undiagnosed. One NHS Trust in England reported a 65 per cent drop in oral cancer referrals between 2020 and 2021, according to recent research from the Oral Health Foundation One NHS Trust in England reported a 65 per cent drop in oral cancer referrals between 2020 and 2021, according to recent research from the Oral Health Foundation. About two in three oral cancer patients are men, and three in four are over 55. Tobacco use and heavy drinking increase the risk. Its also caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) the same infection that causes cervical cancer. In a third of cases, the tumour is in or on the tongue. It can also appear in the cheeks, the roof of the mouth, the tonsils, salivary glands and in the upper throat, including in the larynx, or voicebox as its better known. Early warning signs include mouth ulcers that do not heal, persistent red or white patches in the mouth, unusual lumps and swellings and persistent hoarseness. If caught early, when tumours are small, 85 per cent of patients survive the disease. However, the majority of cases are picked up once the cancer has spread. Roughly half of these patients die within three years of diagnosis. Early treatment may just involve surgery, but more advanced cancers require radiotherapy and chemotherapy. At later stages surgery may involve a large part of the tongue, mouth or throat being removed, adds Dr Wilcock. This can make life incredibly difficult. Oral Health Foundation spokesman Dr Ben Atkins says: Ive worked as an NHS dentist for 25 years and Ive never seen challenges like we have at the moment. Were now at a critical point. He adds: If someone has an ulcer thats not healing or another problem in the mouth, and they cant get an appointment with a dental professional, then a they should see a doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible, and get checked out. One person who knows all too well the devastating impact of oral cancer is Kayleigh Samson, 31, whose mother Elizabeth died at 52 from the disease in April 2021. Elizabeth, from Ayrshire, first started suffering symptoms including facial pain in March 2020, just as the first Covid lockdown was imposed. Antibiotics prescribed remotely by her GP didnt help. When the pain moved to her mouth, she tried to get a dental appointment but was told as she didnt have a broken or missing tooth, or have bleeding in the mouth, she didnt fit the criteria for emergency treatment. Elizabeth managed to get a dental check-up in November that year and was referred for further tests at hospital a month later, where she was told she had a salivary gland tumour. The doctor said it was very aggressive, recalls Kayleigh. Mum didnt smoke and only had a drink on special occasions. Shed been trying to tell people something was wrong, but had been fobbed off. In January, Elizabeth had surgery, losing three-quarters of her tongue and 13 lymph nodes in her head. But it came too late, as the cancer spread to her brain and lungs. Kayleigh says: It all happened so fast, its still hard to take in. My advice to anyone who senses a problem in their mouth is to keep pushing to see someone anyone who might be able to take a look and offer some advice. Value for money is very much the mantra of the moment. Whether it's our weekly shop, renewing our home and motor insurance cover, or searching for a new broadband deal, most of us are doing our damnedest to fight the tide of rising costs. Although keeping a lid on day-to-day expenditure is now a priority, the search for value for money should not end there. It should also extend to how we invest for the future whether through a tax-friendly Individual Savings Account or a pension. We need our investments to give us the best chance of fulfilling our financial goals whether to help us build a nest egg to see us through retirement or to provide sufficient funds to help children and grandchildren through further education or get a foot on the housing ladder. Under attack: Big chunks of the investment management industry responsible for running the funds we patiently hold waiting for returns are not providing us with a fair deal Indeed, in light of the uncertainty swirling around stock markets like a thick fog, value for money in investing has never been more important. With returns for the foreseeable future likely to be impacted adversely by the threat of recession (here and in the rest of the world), and tensions in both Ukraine and the South China Sea, investors need to ensure that the money they commit to the stock market is not depreciating from a combination of high costs and poor investment performance. Sadly, and predictably, big chunks of the investment management industry responsible for running the funds we patiently hold waiting for returns are not providing us with a fair deal. They're either diminishing our returns by taking a big slice for themselves in fees or running investment portfolios that are not fit for purpose. The proof is provided in research undertaken exclusively for Wealth by Alan Miller, chief investment officer of wealth manager SCM Direct. It shows that on average, the country's actively managed UK equity large-cap investment funds, as defined by leading fund scrutineer Morningstar, are denuding investors' returns over five years by a third as a result of the various fees they take. This compares with the 12 per cent charge that passively managed UK funds take on average. Unlike actively run funds that seek to outperform the market, passive funds set out to replicate its performance, typically tracking either the FTSE100 or FTSE All-Share indices. Miller's findings also confirm that higher charges do not result in superior investment returns a myth perpetuated by many fund management groups to justify their fees. They also highlight that the performance of actively managed UK equity large-cap investment funds this year (funds that invest in big listed companies) has been 'truly atrocious' compared to the performance of both the FTSE100 and the overall market index, the FTSE All-Share. An average loss of 4.8 per cent on the funds compares with a 2.7 per cent rise in the FTSE100 and a 0.48 per cent fall in the FTSE All-Share Index (all figures to the start of this month). THE NUTS AND BOLTS BEHIND DAMNING DATA SCM Direct's Miller analysed the performance of 201 funds investing in the UK stock market with combined assets of 208billion. All are categorised by fund scrutineer Morningstar as 'large-cap UK equity' funds, meaning they are primarily invested in the UK's largest listed companies rather than smaller companies. They comprise 155 funds that are actively managed and 46 which track the UK stock market. Only funds with at least 100million of assets are included and all have at least a five-year track record. For each fund's main share class, Miller has calculated the annual investment return it generated over the past five years before all ongoing costs (annual management charge, portfolio trading fees and any performance fees). This is a true measure of investment performance, but it's not the return an investor gets. For those funds that generated a positive annual return, he has then calculated the percentage of investment returns that are absorbed by fund costs and charges. On average, fund management costs for actively managed UK investment funds reduce investor returns by 33 per cent. Fascinatingly, the tables show the investment funds where the impact of charges are greatest and where they are fairer. For example, the Abrdn UK Income Unconstrained fund has generated five-year annual returns before costs of 0.36 per cent. But once total annual costs of 1.22 per cent are taken into account, these returns are transformed into annual losses for investors of 0.86 per cent. In other words, the costs paid by investors (1.2 per cent a year) as a percentage of the underlying returns made by the manager (0.36 per cent) are a startling 337 per cent. The costs have turned a positive investment return (0.36 per cent) into a negative one (a loss of 0.86 per cent). Last week, Abrdn said it would be axeing or merging some 100 funds because of performance issues and investors fleeing the investment house. Miller's research also shows that of the actively managed UK investment funds analysed, the best five-year returns were registered by those funds with the lowest overall charges. For example, where total annual charges were less than 0.75 per cent, the average fund registered an annual return of 3.8 per cent per annum. Where charges were more than 1.5 per cent, the equivalent return was a loss of 0.2 per cent. WHAT DOES THIS RESEARCH TELL US? For the past 13 years, Miller has fiercely and fearlessly campaigned against what he calls 'opaque, anticonsumer high fees and charges' in the country's asset management industry. His work has occasionally aroused the regulator from its deep slumbers to take a look at fund charges. For example, in 2016, the Financial Conduct Authority published a major report on the investment fund industry. On the specific issue of charges, it said: 'There is limited price competition for actively managed funds, meaning that investors often pay high charges. On average, these costs are not justified by higher returns.' Sadly, since then, Miller believes little has changed. He says: 'The aim of our research published today by Wealth was to look at the relationship between overall investment fund costs and their performance as the days of high double-digit investment returns are behind us. Every penny of fees we pay as investors needs to be justified by investment managers.' Miller adds: 'Our findings not only highlight a simple truth, namely that active fund managers' clients are suffering a double whammy of poor performance and high fees. 'They also show that several big-name actively managed funds are producing no positive returns at all for investors and are still charging high fees. This is unjustifiable, unfair and uncompetitive.' Miller's work backs up analysis done last month by wealth manager AJ Bell. Looking at investment fund performance for the first half of this year, it compared the returns generated by actively managed funds against those from index-tracking alternatives in seven key equity sectors including the UK, Japan and North America. Its research, embracing 1,000 investment funds, showed that only 12 per cent of actively managed UK funds outperformed a passive alternative in the first six months of this year the lowest percentage among the seven investment sectors analysed. On the negative impact of high fund fees on investor returns that Miller's work highlights, AJ Bell's Laith Khalaf told Wealth: 'Fund groups aren't going to do anything to address this unless investors start voting with their feet. That's why it's so very important for investors to review their portfolios through the prism of value for money. In 2013, around 2.5 billion people used the internet worldwide. Today, more than five billion citizens are online daily, sending texts and emails, watching YouTube and TikTok videos, streaming films, using satellite navigation or logging on to Google for all things great and small. Our reliance on internet connectivity is predicted only to increase, with forecasters suggesting that, by the end of this decade, nine out of ten people over the age of six will be doing something digital most days of the week. Not only will the number of internet users increase, but the amount they do online is also expected to soar, as networks move from 4G to 5G technology. Well-connected: Spirent Communications is growing fast and specialises in testing technology for 5G networks The shift has already started, with the number of 5G connections expected to climb from 500 million last year to 1.3 billion by the end of 2022. But it will pick up pace, more than tripling to 4.8 billion in five years' time, so we can all do much more online in much less time. Geeks cannot wait. More old-fashioned folk may find it unsettling, but 5G is coming our way and nothing will stop it. For Spirent Communications, the trend is fabulous news. The company specialises in testing new technology and is one of the biggest players in the field, working with well-known names from Apple and AT&T to BT and Vodafone to Nokia and Siemens. These companies are big fans of 5G, but the tech is much more complex than anything that has gone before, so comprehensive testing is essential. In the past, Spirent would simply sell testing products to its customers and let them get on with it. Under chief executive Eric Updyke, the group has begun to do considerably more devising tests for businesses, identifying bugs and automating much of the process so that new technology can be introduced faster, at a cheaper price and with less effort. The approach is delivering results. In the first six months of this year alone, Spirent won 350 new 5G contracts from more than 130 customers worldwide. But Spirent does not just work with mobile phone specialists. The group also tests cloud technology for internet giants such as Amazon and Google, it provides cybersecurity testing for large businesses and has recently begun to test virtual and augmented reality kit for Facebook's parent company, Meta. 'Location awareness' is another specialist area for Spirent. A crucial component of satellite navigation and driverless cars, the technology highlights where people and objects are as they move about. Taken up enthusiastically by consumers and carmakers, the technology has a military use as well and Spirent provides testing services for the US government among others, ensuring that missiles and drones go where they are supposed to. Mistakes in this area could, clearly be disastrous, so Spirent's involvement in this field is testament to the quality of its work. Spirent tests kit before it is rolled out and once technology is up and running, too. This area of the business now accounts for a substantial proportion of group turnover and should continue to grow as software becomes increasingly complicated and reliance on digital connections increases. Testing is a competitive market, but Updyke is determined to keep Spirent ahead of the pack, spending around 20 per cent of annual sales on research and development, and constantly eyeing up opportunities in new countries and sectors of the market. Interim results earlier this month were encouraging and analysts are optimistic about the business, predicting an 8 per cent increase in this year's sales to $625million (511million), rising to $675million in 2023. A 12 per cent profits increase to $132million has been pencilled in for 2022, rising to $147million next year. The group reports in dollars because, even though it is headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, more than half of its sales are generated in the US, most customers are American and the majority of its employees are based in the US, including Updyke, though he travels to the UK on a regular basis. Spirent has a strong balance sheet and a policy of rewarding shareholders with decent dividends. These are declared in dollars but paid to UK shareholders in sterling, with 7.6 cents (6.22p) expected for this year and 8.48 cents for next. Midas verdict: Technology needs to be tested before, during and after it comes to market. Spirent is a leader in the testing industry, the business is growing faster than ever and Updyke is confident that he can increase sales to $1billion in the next few years, even if economic conditions deteriorate. At 2.76, the shares are a buy. Traded on: Main market Ticker: SPT Contact: spirent.com or 0371 384 2126 The heat is on for Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson and not just over the soaring bills faced by his customers. This weekend, he was blasted for shutting his main call centre in Manchester an hour early every Friday to host boozy social events for staff. Critics said letting employees crack open bottles of Prosecco at 4pm is 'unforgiveable', given the cost of living crisis. Pressure: Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson is critical of regulator Ofgem Jackson, though, is a glass half-full kind of person. He paid for the booze by donating his 150,000 salary to his staff welfare fund, he points out, and insists the Friday sessions are a 'morale boost' in tough times. 'If we're going to look after our customers, we have to look after our staff,' he says. 'Imagine how brutal things can be for them at the moment. 'That one hour on a Friday is what helps us attract and retain well-trained employees. If someone has been doing this job for a few years, they are a lot better than somebody using tick-boxes based somewhere overseas.' Whether that pacifies irate customers at a time when they are under unprecedented strain is open to debate. But Jackson believes he can empathise. While growing up near Middlesbrough in the 1970s, he experienced similar hardship to the one his customers face half a century on. Despite his single mother's best efforts to send a cheque promptly when the red reminder letters landed on the doormat, sometimes she was too late, he recalls and the gas and electricity were cut off. 'I know just how hard it is for families,' he says. 'I remember clearly the stress about using energy at any given moment in time.' Jackson, now 50, drew on that experience when he set up Octopus Energy in 2015. With a 260million stake in the 4.1billion renewable energy firm, Britain's fourth-biggest domestic supplier, he no longer needs to worry about heating his West London home or, indeed, charging his Tesla. But as grim forecasts predict households' annual energy bills will soar to more than 4,500 by the new year, he is determined to help insulate Octopus Energy's 3.4million UK customers from the shock. He plans to write to Tory leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak in the coming days to set out his blueprint for tackling extreme energy bills. And he will seek more help for society's hardest-hit. 'Energy bills should be the number one item for the new Prime Minister,' he says. 'And Ofgem, as the industry regulator, should be working hard to put ideas to that incoming Prime Minister on how to help Britain through this crisis.' Jackson is speaking shortly after an influential committee of MPs published a damning report into Ofgem's failings. Over more than 80 pages, the Commons' Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, chaired by Labour MP Darren Jones, branded Ofgem 'incompetent' and 'negligent'. The lambasting came after it failed to heed multiple red flags about a string of poorly run suppliers that went bust over the past year, costing the taxpayer billions. Jackson gave evidence to the inquiry that led to July's explosive report. He claimed Ofgem had failed to recognise the difference between 'fly by night chancers and serious challenger retailers'. In the aftermath of the collapse of 29 energy suppliers, Octopus took over one of them, Avro Energy, which the committee's report said had 'improperly used customers' money'. That included siphoning off cash to different businesses in the directors' names. This weekend, Octopus is also close to buying Bulb Energy, the biggest failed supplier, whose dramatic collapse is being dealt with through a taxpayer-backed special administration. This is expected to cost more than 2billion, plus 1billion of hedging costs that will eventually be recovered the biggest state bailout since the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008. As he mops up the mess, Jackson's view of Ofgem has hardly mellowed. He tells The Mail on Sunday the regulator ran the retail energy market like an East End market stall comparing it to Walford Market, the fictional bazaar in BBC soap EastEnders. 'Ofgem is trying to recreate Walford Market, where you pile it high and sell it cheap and as soon as the going gets tough, you pack up your stall and disappear,' he says. 'That's what has cost us dear. What Ofgem should be doing is encouraging extremely well-run energy businesses to offer better, cheaper, products for customers.' +++++ To illustrate the scale of the energy crisis, he points out that the annual bill Britain pays for its energy on the global markets has tripled from 25billion to 75billion in just over a year. 'We speak to up to 30,000 customers a day. When they see these increases in energy costs, they fear they won't be able to pay their bills. There's a deep anxiety about how they can afford it.' The two Tory leadership hopefuls are split on how to tackle high energy prices. Truss favours tax cuts over handouts, but has pledged to temporarily scrap green levies on electricity. She is also considering scrapping VAT on energy bills. Sunak said last week that he would give families direct support on bills by making 'efficiency savings'. While declining to say who he wants to see in No10 next month, Jackson says more support on bills is vital. British households each need an extra 500 to survive the winter, he suggests, because the existing 16billion support package will not be enough as energy prices continue to soar. 'The pandemic was like an earthquake,' he says. 'Now we are seeing the aftershocks and they can be just as deadly. If we don't put serious resources into dealing with them, we risk catastrophic energy bills and a terrible cost-of-living crisis.' Longer-term, Jackson believes nothing short of full reform of the UK's energy market will do, so that electricity bills are no longer linked to gas prices. This means that even though gas accounts for only half of the energy Octopus supplies, the charges for the remaining 50 per cent that comes from renewable electricity have risen, too. Jackson explains: 'National Grid sets the electricity wholesale price every half hour. Today, it's based on the most expensive unit generated, which is usually from gas. This is crazy because renewables are often a lot cheaper. Ofgem should use its brainpower urgently to fix this so we can see more of the benefits of cheap wind and solar.' Jackson also wants the Government to do far more to promote energy efficiency so Britain uses less gas and weans itself off overseas imports. Octopus Energy is working with housebuilders on new-build homes that have zero-energy costs because they incorporate green technology such as electric heat pumps and solar panels. Other projects to reduce bills include investment in four 3,800km-long subsea power cables linking Devon to a huge renewable energy farm in the Moroccan desert. To unwind from tackling the climate emergency, Jackson listens to Iron Maiden or reads a few pages from The Apollo Guidance Computer: a manual for the software on board the Apollo spacecrafts' missions to the Moon. 'Whenever I can't sleep I read a bit of it,' he says. 'I'm a real geek.' But with Britain's energy prices at the mercy of Russia sending gas through pipelines to Europe, he can never fully switch off. Even on holiday with his sons in France this month, he will work half the day throughout. 'There's never a day off in this job,' he says. 'This crisis must be a wake-up call to fundamentally change our energy market so we can never be held hostage by Putin's gas prices again.' BMW and Toyota want to work together to commercialize fuel cell vehicles that are necessary for large SUVs like the iX5 Hydrogen prototype. Toyota and BMW's Green Vehicle Partnership Continues and Will Launch Fuel Cell Toyota and BMW's long-standing green car relationship is about to produce more results. In an interview with Nikkei cited in Engadget, BMW's head of sales Pieter Nota stated that the companies want to sell jointly created hydrogen fuel cell automobiles as early as 2025. However, Nota emphasized that fuel cells are essential for big SUVs like the iX5 Hydrogen prototype and said nothing about what to anticipate (above). By the end of this year, the small-volume manufacture of the iX5 is expected to begin. BMW and Toyota have collaborated on several automobiles, including the reborn Supra. They formed their green car tech partnership in 2013 but didn't expect to build a fuel cell system until 2020. It may seem odd to create hydrogen-powered automobiles while EVs are increasingly popular. Note listed several technical safeguards. Unlike electric cars (EVs), fuel cell vehicles may be refueled in minutes. Nota said hydrogen vehicles are less prone to supply restrictions than electric ones, and BMW didn't want to focus on one technology. Nevertheless, BMW could accelerate EV development shortly. According to Nota, the business might achieve its 50 percent EV sales objective (which includes brands like Mini and Rolls-Royce) "one or two years faster" than the current 2030 aim. Pure electric cars have represented a more significant share of sales than previously anticipated. BMW still maintains a foothold in the combustion engine industry, but that stake may not continue for very long. Read Also: TwitchCon Now Requires, Proof of Vaccination Once Again A Londoner Converted a Historic Automobile into an EV Some people are willing to spend a lot to maintain their historic automobiles while minimizing exhaust emissions. A Londoner utilized a Nissan Leaf for his daily commute, but he ultimately opted to convert a classic car into an EV. He initially contemplated converting an Audi 100 coupe, but they were too expensive and uncommon, so he landed on a 1975 BMW 1602. It was refurbished, given the 2002 appearance, and now has a 120-horsepower electric motor instead of the car's 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine. The owner wanted something with similar power to the original, but this is still relatively quick, with a zero to sixty time of around 7.5 seconds, more than adequate for navigating London traffic. This isn't one of those powerful EVs that can turn their rear tires into dust if you prod the go pedal too much. The estimated range is 150 miles (240 km), which is reasonably acceptable considering the vehicle's daily commute is only a few miles long, and the owner charges it overnight in his garage. The owner ultimately paid twice as much for the electric vintage BMW as he would have for the Nissan Leaf he had been considering, but it is much more fantastic and enjoyable to drive and even to be caught in traffic. Along with a pair of top-notch speakers to make sitting in traffic on a busy side street even more comfortable, its makeover also provided the car full contemporary connection. Gas-powered cars are only permitted in the city center of London if their owners pay a daily fee, which may add up to be rather expensive if you have to go through the city daily. Even people who wish to drive antique automobiles choose EVs since continuing to drive an older vehicle is not practical for everyday use. Related Article: Chip Shortage Creates Problem for BMW: Cars Will Be Without Android Auto or CarPlay We explain the ways people can locate the money they had forgotten existed The Unclaimed Assets Register is closing at the end of August Up to 37bn is missing or unclaimed pensions and 4.5bn is lost bank accounts As the cost of living crisis goes from bad to worse, new research has revealed that Britons may have as much as 50billion sitting in inactive or dormant accounts. There are roughly 20million people with unclaimed money festering in forgotten pensions, bank accounts, savings, and investments, according to Gretel, a website that searches for peoples' lost money. If correct, that 50billion figure could equate to an average of 2,500 for every Briton who has lost track of an old account. Forgotten something? Up to 50billion of Britons' money is thought to be sat inactive in lost or dormant accounts Gretel estimates there to be between 19billion and 37billion in missing or unclaimed pensions, 4.5 billion in lost bank accounts, 2.8 billion in forgotten investments and 2 billion in unclaimed life insurance policies. It is estimated that one in four pensions are currently missing or unclaimed, according to Gretel. There are many reasons behind why someone can lose track of a pension. This can typically happen when someone changes jobs and forgets about a pension plan with an old employer. The average person changes jobs 11 times. These movements, combined with a lack of financial experience in someone's early years, can mean people lose track of what they were given and when. Major life changes, such as house moves, marriage, divorce and losing a loved one can also lead to people losing track of pensions. Forgotten bank accounts are also a major source of lost money in the UK. With more than 150 million bank and building society accounts, it may not be surprising to some that there is 4.5 billion stashed away in forgotten accounts. Moved on: There are many reasons why people lose touch with their savings accounts, but the most typical cause is a change of address There are many reasons why people lose touch with their bank or savings accounts, but the most typical cause is a change of address. Banks, building societies and NS&I seek to keep in touch with their customers and will contact a customer if an account has been inactive for an extended period. If no response is received, the bank, building society or NS&I will stop sending correspondence and will class the account as 'lost'. However, sometimes it can be because someone changed their bank account without closing their old account - which then continued to accrue interest. Secondary bank accounts can also be forgotten about during major life events whilst there are also cases in which someone else - such as a parent or spouse - have opened an account on another's behalf and this has ultimately led to it becoming lost. How can you find your lost money? Organisations that hold lost money are often impeded by not having the correct information on how to contact the owner. This could be because of a house move they forgot to notify them of, or a name change, or any other number of reasons that make finding someone harder. Experian's unclaimed assets register was often the first port of call for many people hunting for lost or unclaimed accounts. However, the service is closing as of 31 August. With only three weeks to go until the service is decommissioned it is unclear what the banks, pension providers, insurers and investment firms that have partnered with it will do to help their customers going forward. Duncan Stevens, chief executive of Gretel said: 'We're at a point in time where consumers face a cost-of-living crisis and the number who are considered vulnerable, continues to rise. 'Coupled with this, one of the primary vehicles for them finding their lost assets valued at 50billion - is set to close its doors in a matter of weeks, with no alternative provision put in place, seemingly, from the providers previously using the service. 'The need to get the billions in lost and unclaimed money from savings, investments and pensions back into the hands of the consumer, where it belongs, is more important than ever before.' Money finding services you can use Gretel Gretel offers a new route for Britons to recover lost or unclaimed assets, having set its dashboard live as of April this year. Gretel searches with companies and administrators, using its technology to query their records and retrieve any matches on behalf of its users. Once someone has signed up with Gretel, the service will continue working with them to look for lost money and flag any new accounts as and when they are identified. Gretel claims to be the only service that will cover the entire financial services industry, however, as it is still in its early stages it is still developing its coverage. It continues to add new financial organisations to its search database and every time it does this, Gretel will notify customers of any results. Uncovered: My Lost Account can help people track down forgotten savings My Lost Account For anyone who may have lost touch with their bank, building society or National Savings & Investments account, this could be a good option. This service covers over 30 banks, all 43 UK building societies and the full range of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) products. It is a free service bringing together the three tracing schemes of UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and NS&I into a single website. This means that anyone with a lost account with a bank, a building society, NS&I or all three can initiate a search simply by visiting this website and completing one application form. Information provided via the application form is passed to the institutions that may be holding the lost account. The institutions contacted will then carry out a search of their lost accounts and the applicant will be informed whether any account they hold matches the details submitted online. The Government pension service This service enables people to find contact details to search for a lost pension. It can reveal contact details of someone's workplace or personal pension scheme, or someone else's scheme if they have their permission. However, it cannot inform someone whether or not they have a pension, or what its value is. They will need the name of an employer or a pension provider to use this service, so some memory is required. A tourist who almost died after a severe bout of pneumonia landed her in a US hospital has been sent a bill for more than $200,000. Amanda Couchman, from New Zealand, was rushed to an emergency ward in Los Angeles on July 1 after suffering from shortness of breath. She was immediately put on life support, with doctors soon diagnosing her with pneumococcal pneumonia. The infection led to hypoxemic respiratory failure, several blood infections and fluid in her lungs. Ms Couchman was visiting LA for her cousin's wedding , but spent the special day in a hospital bed. She survived and returned to New Zealand - where she was met with an invoice for $US147,595 ($A211,000). Amanda Couchman (pictured) was taken to hospital in Los Angeles on July 1, after suffering shortness of breath. She was placed in the ICU and put on life support with doctors soon diagnosing her with pneumococcal pneumonia She was visiting LA for her cousin's wedding and returned to New Zealand with a whopping medical invoice of almost $US150,000 (pictured) WHAT IS PNEUMOCOCCAL PNEUMONIA? Pneumococcal pneumonia is caused by bacteria that live in the upper respiratory tract, and it can spread to others through coughing or close contact. Symptoms can include: - fever, cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, stiff neck, confusion, increased sensitivity to light, joint pain, chills, ear pain, sleeplessness, and irritability In severe cases pneumococcal pneumonia can cause hearing loss, brain damage, and death Advertisement Her brother Shane Tuala set up a GoFundMe page for his sister to help her chip away at the huge bill. 'If anyone knows Amanda, you'll know she has a heart of gold and is loved by many,' Mr Tuala wrote on the fundraising page. 'Any donation, no matter the size, would greatly help us in covering Amanda's medical costs and we would be forever grateful to any support we receive.' The GoFundMe, started by Mr Tuala on Monday, has raised more than $13,000. On Facebook, Amanda said the time had come to 'be a little vulnerable' and ask for help. 'It was certainly the biggest challenge of my life and the rollercoaster has although slowed down, (praise the lord), there are still a few bumps ahead,' she wrote. 'One being this very, very large number that is now my medical debt. 'I hope my payments to the hospital, which I may be making for a wee while, can help honour, thank and remunerate the many, many amazing specialists, doctors and nurses who saved my life and who (to be honest) saved my mental health as they were my temporary little family in a very foreign and at times very lonely place.' Amanda said it had been tough to ask for help but said it would 'mean the world' if people helped make a dent in the bill. Amanda ended the post with a tribute to everyone who has passed on their well wishes and had already offered help. 'My family and friends. Every prayer, every message, every playlist, every poem written, every bed time story read, every call, every voice message and every thought you sent me from afar and continue to send me. I could never say anything to repay you all in the ways that you have helped me but ... thank you from the bottom of my heart! I am truly filled and overwhelmed with the deepest gratitude and love for everyone,' she wrote. A poodle trapped 500 feet below ground for two months was miraculously returned to her owner after a group of cavers happened upon her while exploring. Owner Jeff Bohnert from Perryville, Missouri never thought he would see mixed-breed poodle Abby, 13, again after she went missing on June 9. But when experienced cavers Gerry Keene and Rick Haley took a group into the bowels of the Tom Moore caves south of St Louis, they found an unexpected dweller. Abby was skinny, covered in dirt and curled up on the mud floor when they found her last week. She was so frail that she could not wag her tail or even whimper, Haley said. Rick Haley (right) and Gerry Keene (left) hold Abby, 13, in a cosy duffle bag after the rescue After being handed a beef stick, Abby was 'ready to go up for another adventure', Keene said. The 13-year-old dog was stranded alone from June 9 to August 6, owner Jeff confirmed Dogs can usually only survive a few days without food and water, but luckily there's 'ample water' in the cave, Haley told MailOnline. 'As for food, I can think of nothing. It was evident by inspection of her she hadn't eaten in a very long time. 'It was heartbreaking to see this and think about how she endured.' After giving her urgent help and a cosy duffle bag to rest in, Keene and fire chief Rob Cahoon began knocking on doors in the neighborhood to track down the owner. Haley (left) was alerted to Abby curled up in a ball on the wet mud floor by a member of his caving group. Right: Keene gives the mixed-breed poodle some well-timed love and attention Haley rubs Abby as she took time to get used to the light before being returned to her owner Armed with a picture of Abby on their phone, neighbors eventually recognised her - and directed the rescuers to Bohnert. Haley said Abby is lucky not to have drowned in 'vertical' and 'very tight' cave passage, which often fills up with water. 'At times, there was likely too much water. There was heavy rain in the time period she was there.' Abby is recovering slowly and 'getting back to herself', Haley quoted owner Jeff as saying. Keene (left) struggles as he navigates Abby's exit from the cave 500ft below ground. Right: Haley smiles as he looks at a worse-for-wear Abby during her journey up to safety She has also returned home after receiving treatment from vets. 'Abby was just trying to stay as comfortable as she could', Haley told NPR, 'which was hard down there because it's very wet and it's 58 degrees (14C) or so. After they handed her a beef stick, Abby seemed 'ready to go up for another adventure', Keene added. A child from the NSW north coast is the third person to contract meningococcal disease after attending the Splendour In The Grass music festival. Earlier this month a Sydney man in his 40s who had attended the festival died with the disease. NSW Health has urged anyone who attended Splendour In The Grass - which took place from July 21-24 at the North Byron Parklands - to be alert for symptoms of the potentially fatal disease. A child from the NSW north coast is the third person linked to the recent Splendour In The Grass festival (pictured) to contract meningococcal disease Earlier this month a Sydney man in his 40s who had attended the festival died with the disease The ill-fated festival was almost cancelled after heavy rain wiped out the first day of performances when the site was turned into a mudbath. Up to 50,000 a day attended the event, the first of its kind in three years because of Covid-19. In early August all ticketholders were emailed by health officials to warn them of the possible meningococcal outbreak. 'We are urging people who attended the event in the North Byron Parklands on July 21 24 to be alert to the symptoms of meningococcal disease and act immediately if they appear,' NSW Health said in a statement. Splendour In The Grass (pictured) was marred this year by appalling weather conditions which left frozen music fans drenched and covered in mud 'Although the disease is uncommon, it can be severe.' Health experts have said meningococcal bacteria are carried by about 10 per cent of the population which can be at the back of the throat or in nose. MENINGOCOCCAL SYMPTOMS Sudden onset of fever Headaches Neck stiffness Joint pain Rash of purple-red spots or bruises Dislike of bright lights Nausea and vomiting Irritability and high-pitched crying in children Refusal to eat in children Difficulty waking in children Source: NSW Health Advertisement It is then spread to others through droplets caused by coughing and sneezing or even kissing. The majority of cases can make a full recovery if the infection can be detected at its early stages and through the use of the correct antibiotics There have been 17 cases of meningococcal disease reported in NSW this year, but the most dangerous period for the disease is now in late winter and early spring. Health chiefs have urged parents of children under five to be vigilant as they are most at risk, along with 15 to 25-year-olds. Anyone showing symptoms - which can include a red or purple rash, fever, headache, stiffness, light sensitivity, nausea, diarrhoea, drowsiness and confusion - are urged to contact a doctor immediately. Although the disease is uncommon it can be fatal, with authorities warning it can develop very quickly and kill within hours. A Northern Territory man in his 30s died with meningococcal on Friday, while a two-year-old child with the disease died in rural South Australia in July. Health authorities in the territory said the man had undertaken no recent interstate or international travel. Famous 'last chance' brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo is performing operations on Australians in overseas hospitals after being restricted in this country. Dr Teo, who was placed under temporary restrictions a year ago after complaints over his work, has operated at least four times in Spain and South Africa where he has gained a permit to conduct surgery. The celebrated but controversial surgeon operated on two stricken young Aussies, a Sydney woman and a Melbourne man in Madrid, Spain. He is also believed to have operated in Johannesburg and in Switzerland. Since then it is understood the Medical Council of NSW has enquired into Dr Teo's overseas surgeries and is poised to alert Spanish authorities of its concerns. Celebrated but now-restricted brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo operated on a young Sydney woman, Monica Lopresti in Madrid, Spain (Pictured Christina Lopresti with her daughter, Monica Lopresti) Dr Teo operated on a tumour in the back of a young Melbourne man, Billy Baldwin, from whom he removed a brain tumour when the man was a boy, in July in Madrid (Pictured, Dr Teo, left, with Billy Baldwin) Temporary restrictions were been placed on Dr Teo's medical licence by the NSW Medical Council after complaints were made about his work, including allegations of inappropriate behaviour. In July this year, Dr Teo, 64, attempted to 'save the life' of young Monica Lopresti in Madrid, after an MRI scan returned a shock diagnosis of a benign cystic tumour in her brain. 'No-one else was good enough to touch my child but Charlie,' wrote her mother Christina Lopresti in an emotional social media post praising Dr Teo. The celebrated but controversial surgeon operated on a young Sydney woman and a young Melbourne man in Madrid, Spain (Pictured, Dr Teo, left, during a brain operation in Spain this year) Famous 'last chance' brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo is performing operations on Australians in overseas hospitals after being restricted in this country 'After meeting him I was in total awe of his kind caring nature. Charlie agreed to operate and save my child's life.' Ms Lopresti said the family had previously lost 'a young husband' to GBM, which is Glioblastoma, a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumour. Sydney mum Christina Lopresti's emotional post over Dr Teo's help for her stricken daughter 'The only problem was he couldn't operate [on Monica] in Australia. He wasn't allowed to,' Ms Lopresti said. 'Thanks to so many of you, many strangers who helped us raise money to get Monica to Madrid. Yes you heard right. Madrid. 'Spain love him and adore him. They see the brilliance in him.' Christina Lopresti, who described herself as a 'widowed mum', raised $120,760 to fund brain surgery for her daughter, whom she described as 'my best friend'. The condition of Monica Lopresti is not known. In another case Dr Teo operated on a tumour in the back of a young Melbourne man in July. His father, Alistair Baldwin, paid Dr Teo and other neurosurgeons at Hospital Universitario Fundacion Jimenez Diaz $70,000 to operate on his son, BIlly, The Age reported. 'It's the last thing you worry about,' Mr Baldwin said of the cost. It is understood Dr Teo removed an aggressive brain tumour from Billy Baldwin when he was a child. Christina Lopresti, who described herself as a 'widowed mum', raised $120,760 to fund brain surgery for her daughter, Monica (Pictured above, Ms Lopresti's fundraising page) At the time the family was advised to seek palliative care options for Billy due to his anaplastic ependymoma. He was left deaf in one ear but is now 20. The Medical Council of NSW contacted Dr Teo's medical indemnity insurer after it was alerted Dr Teo was working overseas. It is also understood to be considering alerting Spanish health authorities to the restrictions on Dr Teo's medical registration. The NSW Medical Council ruled last August that Dr Teo must now obtain written support from an approved neurosurgeon before performing certain types of brain tumour surgery. Hospital Quiron de Torrevieja (pictured above), near Alicante in Spain, is one of the hospitals at which Dr Teo has been performing surgery 'If the written statement does not support the practitioner performing the procedure(s) the practitioner cannot recommend or perform the surgery,' the statement on his registration states. The career setback came after he separated from his wife of 30 year, Genevieve. The couple have four children. In an exclusive statement to Daily Mail Australia in 2020, Professor Teo said the couple 'separated over two years ago but remain great friends.' Spanish neurosurgeon Marcelo Galarza, who said he had performed two surgeries with Dr Teo, said the Australian doctor was 'the first surgeon' in the operations Spanish neurosurgeon Marcelo Galarza said he had performed two surgeries with Dr Teo at Hospital Quiron de Torrevieja near Alicante last month. He confirmed the Australian doctor had gained a temporary permit in Spain. 'Generally, he is the first surgeon, and I am usually the assistant,' Galarza said. 'The patients are Charlie's [Teo].' Dr Teo is also understood to have operated on Italian and American patients in Spain. In another case, Dr Teo operated on a man in South Africa in 2022. A woman from Pretoria said he removed a dangerous brain tumour from her husband. 'Dr Charlie came to South Africa to remove my husband's brainstem glioblastoma together with Dr Chris Profyris,' she wrote. 'They did what no other surgeon was willing to do and we'll be forever grateful to these two surgeons. The best with such good hearts.' Among the complaints made about Dr Teo were that from a woman who received surgery from him in 2003 but claimed later he had failed to remove the tumour and had operated on the wrong side of her brain. Dr Teo has previously said an enemy he labelled 'The Mole' was determined to paint him as a 'money-hungry sexual predator' and sabotage his career. Dr Charlie Teo could be set to marry his model partner and former patient, Traci Griffiths, who has been leaving subtle hints on her Instagram page the pair are engaged The pair have been frequently spotted attending public events together, working out and wearing outrageously funny costumes for fancy-dress parties An allegation surfaced in September 2019 that Dr Teo had told a nurse 'while you're down there...' as she bent down to pick something up. The neurosurgeon admitted he made the 'bad joke' but said it had been taken out of context and the nurse in question had been with him for 12 years, was like a 'sister' and the pair always joked around together. Following the split from his wife in 2018, Dr Teo found love again with a former patient, Traci Griffiths, 47, a model and vegan advocate. The world renowned surgeon was rumoured to be engaged to Ms Griffiths, whom he treated in 2011, after she was spotted with a ring on her finger last year. Dr Teo denied the speculation insisting the pair had made no plans on marrying. Ms Griffiths has indicated otherwise by uploading photos of herself alongside her brain surgeon boyfriend with the tags '#ilovemyfiance' and '#myfiance'. Daily Mail Australia approached Christina Lopresti for comment. A community is in shock after a note was found at the scene of a 10-year-old schoolboy's death which suggests he took his own life. Emergency services were called to the primary school south of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of NSW on Wednesday after the unconscious boy was located. However, the 10-year-old who was in Year 5 was unable to be revived. The Illawarra community is in shock after a note was found at the scene of a 10-year-old boy's death at school south of Wollongong, which suggests he took his own life It's understood emergency service workers struggled to come to terms with what they had seen, The Daily Telegraph reported. A note was discovered at the scene and the incident is not being treated as suspicious. Spokesman for the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong said: 'Following the death, the school and the Catholic Education Office have been and will continue providing comprehensive support to the school community, including counselling for staff and students.' 'It's the extent to which these communities, the school community, surrounding communities pull together and don't blame each other, that will help us get through it,' Executive Director of the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Research Institute, Professor Ian Hickie said. Emergency service workers struggled to come to terms with what they had seen at the school Professor Hickie added: 'Pre-Covid we were seeing increased rates of psychological distress and self-harming behaviour in younger people and younger ages of onset. 'Then we had Covid come along and that's been really tough for young people, particularly school age and early post-school years.' 'The upside is the community is aware, parents are aware, schools are aware, our general awareness of the extent to which young people are struggling has gone up,' he said. Professor Hickie said Australians need to find a way to connect relatives and friends with kids within the community. For help in a crisis, call 000. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. Advertisement Salman Rushdie is today on a ventilator, cannot speak, and will likely lose an eye, after being stabbed up to 15 times on Friday by a suspect police have identified as a man from New Jersey 'with sympathies toward the Iranian government.' Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of 24-year-old Hadi Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage at a literary event in upstate New York. The bloodied Rushdie, 75, who has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since 1989, was airlifted to the hospital and his condition was updated by his agent Andrew Wylie shortly before 7 p.m. 'The news is not good,' Wylie said in a statement. 'Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.' Rushdie was attacked and stabbed multiple times, including in the neck and abdomen, as he was being introduced for the CHQ 2022 event in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, on Friday morning. Matar, who police say gained access to the grounds with a pass, managed to walk off the stage before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie. Law enforcement sources told The New York Post that an initial investigation suggests Matar is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, although he was born around nine years after the fatwa against Rushdie was first issued. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. Reese was released from a hospital on Friday afternoon and in an emailed statement to the New York Times, he called Rushdie 'one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression,' then added: 'The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations. This labelled timeline of images shows Rushdie on stage before the attack happens, then the response, the arrest of assailant Hadi Matar, 24, and subsequent air ambulance On stage at the lecture theatre: Man thought to be Sir Salman Rushdie is seen on the left at the the Chautauqua Institution Helpers cradle the wounded author: Satanic Verse author Salman Rushdie is helped by people after he was stabbed on stage Suspect held down on stage: An officer and another man are seen holding someone down on the stage - thought to be Matar Suspect, Matar, is seen on the left being manhandled away by men while a group gather round wounded Rushdie to the right He is taken away by police: The man is put into a cop car and is still in custody after the attack on Salman Rushdie Meanwhile, it has been claimed, the man accused of stabbing Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander. British-born Booker Prize winning author Sir Salman Rushdie (pictured in 2019) got death threats and was issued a fatwah by Iran for his 1988 novel, the Satanic Verses. He has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and was today preparing to give a lecture about America being a haven for writers in exile That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia causes, including supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. According to the Council on Foreign Relation's profile on Hezbollah: 'The Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.' Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of 24-year-old Hadi Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage at a literary event in upstate New York. The driver's license also included a reference to an address in West New York, New Jersey, less than three miles from his listed address in Fairview, New Jersey. Matar had fake driving license in name of HEZBOLLAH commander and praised Iran's Revolutionary Guard on social media Salman Rushdie, 75, was attacked by a man who approached him from behind before stabbing him multiple times. The suspect, pictured with Sheriff deputies, was quickly pinned to the floor before being arrested Pictured: A group of people rushed to assist the author after the attack, with the attacker being restrained by witnesses Pictured: The author's suspected attacker was pinned down by witnesses and security staff moments after the attack The Algemeiner reports that a Twitter account linked to the Iranian state media, 'Iran in Arabic,' posted a photo of Matar next to a picture of Salman Rushdie with the words: 'Lebanese hero who stabbed Satan Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, in which he insulted the Prophet of guidance and mercy, the Messenger of God, Muhammad.' According to the Daily Beast, Mater moved from California to New Jersey in 2014. Matar attended the Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy, California, just outside of Los Angeles. A classmate of the suspect, Gabriel Sanchez, told the website that Matar was a 'very devout Muslim'. He added: 'He took it seriously and did the washing of the feet in our high school restroom.' Sanchez went on: 'The only time I ever saw him get "heated" when it came to anything was with our AP Bio teacher at the end of the year where he wrote in his evaluation of the class that he hated how he talked about religion.' He continued: 'He was a devout Muslim and one of the few things that I remember talking to him about was kindness. That's how I remember him and why I wish this isn't him.' Rushdie's novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims in the 1980s, and at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, leading to it being banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, calling for Rushdie's death. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government-funded protection program, until he emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. He has been in the United States since 2000. The attack occurred at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts arts programs in a tranquil lakeside community 70 miles south of Buffalo. Carl LeVan, an American University politics professor attending the event, told AFP he saw the suspect run onto the stage where Rushdie was seated and 'stabbed him repeatedly and viciously.' LeVan, a Chautauqua regular, said the suspect 'was trying to stab him as many times as possible before he was subdued,' adding that he believed the man 'was trying to kill' Rushdie. 'There were gasps of horror and panic from the crowd,' the professor said. LeVan said witnessing the event had left him 'shaken,' adding he considered Chautauqua a safe place of creative freedom. 'To know that this happened here, and to see it -- it was horrific,' he said. 'What I saw today was the essence of intolerance.' Rushdie was airlifted to hospital after receiving medical assistance from those at the event near Buffalo, in Upstate New York Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries. A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson, where the event was taking place, said: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' State Trooper James O'Callaghan gave an update Friday evening following the stabbing Another witness, John Stein, told ABC that the assailant 'started stabbing on the right side of the head, of the neck. And there was blood... erupting.' Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair that he had been sitting on. Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack on Rushdie 'heartbreaking' before confirming that he is 'alive', during and unrelated press conference. She added that he is 'getting the care he needs at a local hospital', and that a state police trooper 'stood up and saved his life' after the attack. Hochul said that Rushdie had 'spent decades speaking truth to power'. One witness told the New York Times that Rushdie had been stabbed 'multiple times' and was lying in a pool of his own blood. Rita Landman offered her assistance after the incident, adding that he appeared to be alive and did not receive CPR. Landman said: 'People were saying, 'He has a pulse, he has a pulse he has a pulse.' Police car parked outside UPMC Hamot Surgery Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, where author Salman Rushdie gets treatment Pictured: A view from the house of attack suspect 24-year-old Hadi Matar, as FBI members and police carry out a search Pictured: An FBI agent is pictured entering the house of Salman Rushdie attack suspect 24-year-old Hadi Matar Roger Warner of Cleveland, Ohio, was sitting on the front row when the attack took place, adding: 'He was covered with blood and there was blood running down onto the floor. 'I just saw blood all around his eyes and running down his cheek.' Rushdie's London-based son Zafar, 42, is aware of the incident and his father has been seen being transported by air ambulance after the attack. Thousands of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated as his alleged attacker was taken into custody. John Bulette, 85, who witnessed the attack said: 'There was a huge security lapse. That somebody could get that close without any intervention was frightening.' An usher at the amphitheater claims that the security at the Institution was 'lax' and that no additional measures were in place for Mr Rushdie's visit. Kyle Doershuk, 20, said: 'It's very open, it's very accessible, it's a very relaxed environment, in my opinion something like this was just waiting to happen.' A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson added: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' Rabbi Charles Savenor claims that the entire attack lasted around 20 seconds. He said: 'This guy ran on to platform and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, 'What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten.' A representative for the Iranian interests section at the embassy of Pakistan in Washington D.C. declined to comment on the attack. The embassy diplomatically represents the government of Iran in the United States. They told the New York Times 'we are not getting involved in this', before hanging up and refusing to give a name. Senator George Borrello branded the attack as 'shocking' adding that there is 'no room' for 'beliefs that demand that you kill someone who disagrees with you'. He added: 'This shocking attack on a celebrated and noted author, apparently prompted by fundamentalist extremism, has no place in America.' Rushdie was attacked on stage ahead of his speech in Chautauqua, with witnesses claiming he was 'punched and stabbed' Pictured: Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair Medics attended to Rushdie after the attack, with witnesses saying a man 'punched and stabbed' the author as he was announced on stage Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after being issued 'spiritual' death threat by Iran Sir Salman Rushdie is a Booker Prize-winning author and novelist. The 75-year-old was born in India, and his writing is often based around the themes of connections and migrations between Western and Eastern civilizations. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his second novel, Midnight's Children. His writing has spawned 30 book-length studies, and over 700 articles on his writing. Rushdie's writings have broadly been acclaimed to the genres of magical realism and historical fiction. He has been living in the US since 2000, and he was named a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in 2015. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, including for Midnight's Children, in 1983 for Shame, in 1988 for The Satanic Versus, in 1995 for The Moor's Last Sign, and in 2019 for Quichotte. Rushdie, 75, is an Indian-born acclaimed author and novelist Advertisement UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' Author Ian McEwan issued a statement about Rushdie, saying: 'This appalling attack on my dear friend Salman represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech. 'These are the freedoms that underpin all our rights and liberties. 'Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. 'He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage, and he will not be deterred.' The author was knighted in 2007 in Britain 'for services to literature' by his friend, then Prime Minister Tony Blair. His last piece of writing was about an assassination attempt, serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave on Sub Stack, which appeared to focus on spies and assassinations. Rushdie has previously received death threats for his writing, with his book the Satanic Verses which supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran. He wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain with protests taking place in the UK along with book burnings. Pakistan banned the book, and he was issued a fatwa a death sentence - by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989. Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves. The fatwa, or 'spiritual opinion', followed a wave of book burnings in Britain and rioting across the Muslim world which led to the deaths of 60 people and hundreds being injured. Rushdie was put under round-the-clock security from 1989 to 2002, at the expense of the British taxpayer, when a $3million bounty was put on his head. He was forced to go into hiding for a decade with police protection, and previously said he received a 'sort of Valentines card' from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million. After the attack Rushdie, who moved to the US in 2000, was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest. The author previously complained about having 'too much' security while attending other events. He told reporters a the Prague Writer's Festival: 'To be here and to find a large security operation around me has actually felt a little embarrassing. 'I thought it was really unnecessary and kind of excessive and was certainly not arranged on my request. 'I spent a great deal of time before I came here saying that I really didn't want that. 'So I was very surprised to arrive here and discover a really quite substantial operation, because it felt like being in a time warp, that I had gone back in time several years.' Rushdie is a former president of PEN America, with their current CEO Suzanne Nossel issuing a statement which said: 'PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was reportedly stabbed multiple times while on stage speaking at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. 'We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil. 'Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning Salman had emailed me to help with placements for Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face. Police remain on the scene at the Chautauqua Institution after Rushdie was flown to hospital via air ambulance on Friday Onlookers rushed to the stage to try to apprehend the suspect, and help Rushdie after he was attacked in front of hundreds Salmn Rushdie was urgently taken to hospital via air ambulance, and is currently on a ventilator and at risk of losing an eye His agent, Andrew Wylie, said that the author was currently in surgery for his injuries, but did not have an update on his condition The Seventh Wave: Rushdie's last published work focused on spies and assassinations Salman Rushdie was serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave, on Sub Stack, which appeared to have a heavy focus on spies and organized killings. His latest piece of writing referenced men in 'sodden balaclavas': Episode 48 The four men in black wearing sodden balaclavas are out in the open, closing in. ANNA and FRANCIS are on the terrace of the house, holding guns. FIRST MAN (shouting) Come down, Anna, Nobody gonna hurt you. And the other individual we don't require. ANNA (shouting back) Hello, boys! Would you like a refreshing drink? (They come closer.) SECOND MAN (also shouting) Don't you crack wise now, Anna. No, we do not need no fucking drink. Maybe you didn't notice it's wet out. ANNA (still shouting) We have towels. You need to dry your hair? (to FRANCIS) They are within range now. This is too easy. We can take them all. FRANCIS I don't know, Anna. I can't do it. Credit: Sub Stack Advertisement 'Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered. He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced. 'While we do not know the origins or motives of this savage attack, all those around the world who have met words with violence or called for the same are culpable for legitimizing this an assault on a writer while he was engaged in his essential work of connecting to readers. 'Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. 'We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.' Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese for Rushdie, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature. Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan. The novel's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993, but survived the attack. In Turkey, the book's translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37. Rushdie previously wrote a 655-page fatwa memoir, which was nominated for the UK's top non- fiction award, the Samuel Johnson prize. During the fatwa he lived in permanent terror and at one point thought his ex-wife Clarissa Luard and their son Zafar, who was nine at the time, had been killed by assassins or kidnapped. In 1998 Iran's reformist president relaxed the fatwa and said it had no intention of tracking Rushdie down and killing him. Technically it still stands but is unlikely to be enforced. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. He has has two children from his four marriages - his other son is called Milan - but has been linked with many other women including Indian model Riya Sen. Prince Charles also reportedly refused to support the author during his fatwa because he thought the book was offensive to Muslims. In an article for Vanity Fair magazine, Martin Amis claimed that the Prince's views caused a row at a dinner party after Rushdie was issued with the death sentence by Islamic clerics in 1989. Amis claims that Charles told him that he would not offer support 'if someone insults someone else's deepest convictions'. Amis remonstrated with him but all Charles did was 'take it on board', even though Rushdie is a British-Indian citizen. Fellow author Stephen King also refused to let stores in America sell his books if they refused to carry The Satanic Verses. Rushdie has spoken at the Chautauqua Institution before, which is based about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York. It is known for its summertime lecture series. Rushdie has been married four times and had a string of high-profile romances that included Padma Lakshmi, Olivia Wide, and models decades younger than him. He met his first wife, Clarissa Luard, at a pop concert in the UK in 1969, with the couple marrying in 1976 and having their son Zafar three years later. Although they divorced in 1987, they remained close friends, and Rushdie reportedly stayed by her side when she died from breast cancer at age 50 in 1999. Rushdie has been married four times, including to Elizabeth West Salman, pictured. The couple married in 1994 and two had a son, Milan, in 1999 Rushdie attributed his intellect and 'good looks' for his successful love life, which included dates with Oliva Wilde (left). The two were pictured together at the Washington Correspondents Dinner in 2008 Salman Rushdie (right) together with his fourth wife, model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshimi attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 By the time Luard passed, Rushdie had already been married twice. He tied the knot Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins, an American, in 1988 and then to editor Elizabeth West in 1997. Rushdie was with Wiggins when he faced backlash over The Satanic Verses, with Rushdie saying that he heard criticisms that his 'Jewish wife' made him write it. 'At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it,' Rushdie said. 'They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American.' Wiggins spent some time in hiding even after the couple divorced in 1993, and the following year, Rushdie married Elizabeth West, and the two had a son, Milan, in 1999. Rushdie had previously said that he and West, an author and editor, began growing apart when he wanted to move to the US and she wanted to stay in the UK and have another child. Following a miscarriage, the couple officially split in 2004. After the split from West, Rushdie immediately dove into the world of pop celebrities, marrying model turned Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi in 2004. The two had met back in 1999 at a lavish New York City party thrown by media queen Tina Brown. Lakshmi alleges that the two had an affair during the party, and that Rushdie promised to be with her once his rocky marriage to West concludes. Rushdie's 2001 novel, Fury, was dedicated to Lakshmi. At the time of the wedding, Lakshmi was 28, while Rushdie was 51. While Rushdie's previous marriages lasted more than a decade, his union with Lakshmi only lasted three years, with the novelist bemoaning her in his memoir as a 'bad investment' who overly narcissistic and ambitious. Lakshmi hit back at Rushdie in her own memoirs, calling him 'sexually needy' and insensitive to her endometriosis. How Salman Rushdie lived under the shadow of a fatwa for 30 years: British author went into hiding when Iran's spiritual leader ordered he was killed for 'blasphemous' The Satanic Verses but he was living a 'normal life' in New York before his stabbing BY JACK WRIGHT He was first forced into hiding more than 30 years ago by Iran's theocratic dictatorship after the regime branded The Satanic Verses a work of blasphemy. From ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity, to finally finding a new home in the US, British author Salman Rushdie has now been stabbed in the neck on stage in New York - the supposed beating heart of free speech and culture. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic, issued a fatwa - or religious ruling - calling on all Muslims to murder the celebrated atheist author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989. Rushdie, now 75, was forced to live under the long shadow the fatwa cast until it was finally lifted by Iran's hardline regime in 1998. But for nine years, the writer constantly between safe houses and was protected by round-the-clock armed guards. He even adopted an alias, Joseph Anton - a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers, Conrad and Chekhov. The fatwa also led to the murder of the book's Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, the targeting of its translators and publishers in Turkey, Norway and Italy, and worldwide riots and book-burnings - while The Satanic Verses itself was banned in many countries. Sir Salman Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses during a 1992 news conference in Arlington Speaking about the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: 'Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks of who the hell does he think he is? Well, from my side it felt like jail. 'There was this crude argument that I did it in some way for personal advantage, to make myself more famous or to make money. At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it. They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American. 'If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction.' Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi 'What you have to remember is that The Satanic Verses is not called Islam the Prophet, it is not called Mohammed, the country is not called Arabia - it all happens in the dream of somebody who is losing their mind.' What still shocks him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who backed the call for his assassination were ever prosecuted. 'There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their congregation, 'Tell me who in this audience would be ready to kill Rushdie?' and everyone in the audience raised their hand. And the police thought this was OK.' He says: 'Supposing I had been the Queen and an imam said to his congregation, 'Who would be ready to kill the Queen?' and everybody raised their hand. Would you think the police would not act? 'I only use the Queen as an example to dramatize this but it seems odd that when it is a novelist of foreign origin, therefore not completely British in some way, that it was allowed to happen with impunity.' Rushdie remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realized that she was lying he decided to end the relationship. 'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith. 'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have. And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. 'It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate.' In an interview three years ago, he said: 'Islam was not a thing. No one was thinking in that way. One of the things that has happened is that people in the West are more informed than they used to be'. He ruefully added: 'I was 41 back then, now I am 71. Things are fine now. We live in a world where the subject changes very fast. And this is a very old subject. There are now many other things to be frightened about - and other people to kill'. A giant of Melbourne's social scene, Lillian Frank, has died aged 92. Ms Frank was known for her hairdressing salon in Toorak, her tireless charity work and her love of a party. Her daughter, magazine publisher Jackie, announced Ms Frank had passed on Friday night. 'Last night we lost the heart and soul of our family,' Jackie said. 'She lived life to the max, without any regrets and was forever grateful.' A giant of Melbourne 's social scene, Lillian Frank, has died aged 92. Ms Frank was known for her hairdressing salon in Toorak, her charity work and her love of a party Lillian Frank pictured with Australian actor Heath Ledger at Derby Day, Melbourne, in 2001 Lillian Frank's daughter Jackie shared a moving tribute to her mother on Facebook, announcing her passing on Friday at the age of 92 Ms Frank was raised in the Burmese capital of Rangoon before her family fled the invasion of the country by Japan. After spending the war in a refugee camp in Calcutta, she and her family then went to London. During the 1950s she came to Melbourne to visit her sister and stayed, forging a path as a prominent member of Melbourne society. Ms Frank in 1985 during a fundraising event in Melbourne. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to the community in 1991 Ms Frank with her husband, restaurateur Richard Frank, who she married in 1956 had two daughters with - Jackie and Michelle She married restaurateur Richard Frank in 1956 and they had two daughters, Jackie and Michelle. One of the first hairdressers in Australia to be trained at Elizabeth Arden, Ms Frank set up her own hairdressing salon in the 1960s, becoming famous as the hair stylist for Jean Shrimpton when the model infamously wore a mini skirt at the Melbourne Spring Carnival. On June 11, 1977, Ms Frank was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her involvement with charities, including the Royal Children's Hospital and Odyssey House in Melbourne. In 1991 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to the community. Record numbers of people are having bowel cancer checks after the death of campaigner Dame Deborah James, the NHS has said. Since the amazing Bowel Babe campaigner, who inspired a nation with her podcast chronicling her struggles with the disease, a record 30,000 more people went for referrals between May and July in 2021. According to the NHS, between the months of May and July, 170,500 people referred for checks for checks for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers, which is also nearly 80,000 higher than the same period two years ago. Figures also showed referrals for bowel cancer hit an all-time high in the second week of July, shortly after Dame Deborah's death, up 60% on pre-pandemic levels. The last three months also saw almost 200,000 more visitors to the NHS website to check symptoms of the disease. She had been raising awareness about the disease until her death on June 28 at the age of 40 after a five-year battle with bowel cancer during which time she raised over seven million pounds for charity. Dame Deborah, also known by her social media handle Bowel Babe, had been raising awareness about the disease until her death on June 28 at the age of 40 According to the NHS, between the months of May and July, 170,500 people referred for checks for suspected lower gastro-intestinal cancers National cancer director Dame Cally Palmer said: 'Thanks to the brave and relentless campaigning of Dame Deborah James, bowel cancer has come to the forefront of a national conversation on catching cancer as early as possible, and the fact that we have seen record numbers of people coming forward for bowel cancer checks shows people are taking the illness seriously and speaking to their GPs about it. 'It is so important that we continue the work of Dame Deborah to raise awareness of bowel cancer and save more lives, so to anyone who has noticed symptoms, please do come forward.' Genevieve Edwards, chief executive at Bowel Cancer UK, says: 'People visiting bowelcanceruk.org.uk has never been higher, with tens of thousands more people seeking information about the symptoms of the disease since Dame Deborah James' tragic death. 'There was also a spike in people affected by bowel cancer posting on our forum, contacting our Ask the Nurse service and we know that people have visited their GP as a result of hearing her story.' Dame Deborah James told her children telling them to 'take a chance and back yourself' and asked them to experience life now instead of waiting until they were older, in a final piece of advice written in the upcoming book How To Live When You Could Be Dead In early May, Dame Deborah revealed she had stopped active treatment and was receiving end-of-life care at her parents' home in Woking, Surrey, with her husband and their two children on hand. The podcaster was diagnosed in 2016 and kept her one million Instagram followers up to date with her treatments. Her candid posts about her progress and diagnosis, including videos of her dancing her way through treatment, won praise from the public and media alike. Alongside Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland, she launched the You, Me And The Big C podcast in 2018. In the months leading up to her death, Deborah had Prince William over for tea, who made her a Dame. Living life on her own terms despite her illness, she designed Charity T-shirts a clothing line to raise millions more for her 'Bowelbabe' fund. Her husband Sebastien Bowen (pictured in 2019) has spoken about the difficulties of the last few months he spent with the former deputy headteacher, whom he married in France in 2008 The Dame also wrote and published her second book How to Live When You Should Be Dead, while suffering from cancer, detailing how developing a positive mindset was key to enabling her to cope with her diagnosis. She told her children to 'take chances and experience life now' and to marry for love in a heartbreaking final letter. 'Take a chance and back yourself. Remember to be your number one cheerleader,' she told them in a passage from her book seen by The Sun, set to be released on August 18. 'Dont leave the world and all it has to offer until retirement experience it now.' She was made a dame, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying: 'If ever an honour was richly deserved, this is it.' Deborah knew she would marry her husband after their third date, she said, telling her children she fancied Sebastien from the day they first met Dame Deborah later said she felt 'honoured and shocked' to be considered for the honour. Deborah is pictured in hospital during her final hours where smiles and holds her thumb up in a final farewell from hospital, maintaining her positive spirit until the end Her husband Sebastien Bowen has spoken about the difficulties of the last few months he spent with the former deputy headteacher, whom he married in France in 2008. Mr Bowen told the Times: 'She was making the most of every last moment. But that was her. That is how I will always remember Deborah - the ability in the worst of times to embrace life. 'More than anyone I know she loved life, even more so when it became so short and each minute counted.' He went on: 'She was so weak she couldn't do much on her own, which she found frustrating as she was naturally fiercely independent. 'She was paralysed at the end from her waist down and had to deal with the psychological battle of the reality of her new handicap. She couldn't even go to the kitchen to get food or clean or dress herself. 'I'm not going to pretend it was easy. It was a new experience for all of us and we had to find our feet, but it also brought us closer to her and to each other.' The Defence Secretary has admitted the 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan which cost the lives of hundreds of British troops ended in failure. A year after the Taliban swept back into power, Ben Wallace said he feared grieving parents would wonder: What was it all for? Monday marks the anniversary of the Islamist militants walking unopposed into Kabul, sparking a frantic fortnight that saw Western troops pack up and leave. In an exclusive interview, Mr Wallace described his feelings as everything UK troops had fought and died for crumbled before our eyes. He also revealed how visiting a war memorial made him fear families of the 457 personnel killed would think their sons and daughters gave their lives for nothing. A year after the Taliban swept back into power, Ben Wallace said he feared grieving parents would wonder: What was it all for? British service personnel, including the Royal Marine Commandos, pictured, spent 20 years battling the Taliban before withdrawing almost one year ago Mr Wallace spoke to the Daily Mail to mark the first anniversary of Operation Pitting, the UKs largest evacuation effort since the Second World War. More than 1,000 personnel were involved in a death-defying mission to rescue UK nationals and entitled locals after the Taliban swept aside Western-trained Afghan forces with embarrassing ease. Mr Wallace, a father of three, was working all hours and suffering sleepless nights after receiving death threats from animal rights extremists who thought dogs should be prioritised as part of the airlift. He was enjoying a rare opportunity to spend time with his 11-year-old son when they saw a memorial to Guardsman Michael Sweeney, 19, in Blyth, Northumberland. Mr Wallace said: It was a rare evening off and we had been working all hours. I wasnt getting to see much of my family. But my son and I went for a walk and saw Gdsm Sweeneys war memorial, which was immaculately kept. He was the only soldier from Blyth killed in Afghanistan. I looked at the picture of him and I looked at my son. Then it occurred to me this young man had died for the very event that was collapsing before our eyes. And I thought about his mother and father whod lost a teenage son, and experienced such loss. And what was it all for? I worried that was the question the families of fallen troops would ask themselves. I worried theyd think it was for nothing, when actually Afghanistan meant so much. Wed gone there for the right reasons and stayed for 20 years, wed done security, economic development, education, but wed failed. And history told us when the West left the country, it was going to go back to how it had been. We were leaving people behind, conceding the country to the Taliban... mainly because the West didnt really want to stay. And if they didnt want to stay, why did they go there at all? Asked why he felt it so personally, Mr Wallace, a former Scots Guards officer, said: Because Im a soldier. Because it is sad and the West has done what its done. We have to do our best to get people out and stand by our obligations. The Talibans resurgence in late 2020 and early 2021 had severe implications for a brave cohort of Afghans who had risked their lives to support British military and diplomatic operations in the country. The Daily Mails award-winning Betrayal of the Brave campaign led to the Government gradually doing more to help the thousands of former translators, guards and other staff resettle in the UK. But the consensus remains among campaigners that Britain moved too slowly to help. Mr Wallace said: When we started the relocation scheme they were not queuing up in their thousands, the country was stable enough. What we hadnt done then was bring many people back. But suddenly, as the fabric of the country began to fold, these people suddenly became very vulnerable. We didnt just turn up at the airport and there was a coherent plan. Given another ten days we would have got almost everyone out. Launching Operation Pitting, it was one of those times in government when you dont know the outcome of what youre intending to do. Wed done a reconnaissance visit some months beforehand but even so, when the Paras and 16 Air Assault went down there, they didnt know what theyd find. Nobody could have predicted such a rapid collapse of the Afghan government. In the aftermath we didnt know whether the Afghans were going to turn nasty. Mr Wallaces worst fears were realised on August 26 when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 US troops and at least 170 Afghans outside Kabuls Hamid Karzai airport. A year after Operation Pitting, Mr Wallace told the Mail: In terms of the British Governments response, I dont have regrets. I am proud of the Afghan relocation scheme (ARAP) it is still going and will keep going. More people are arriving here every week. We stood by our word and got those people out. On my watch, we did our very best. Apple Pay uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to enable contactless payment between a device and payment terminal. But Korea has yet to set up an NFC payment network. gettyimagesbank By Kim Bo-eun Talk of Apple Pay launching in Korea in partnership with a local credit card company is drawing interest to just what has prevented the entry of the tech giant's payment service here, since its introduction in 2014. In Asia, Apple Pay is available in mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Questions have been raised over why Korea, where iPhones account for about 20 to 30 percent of the smartphone market, has not yet launched Apple's payment service. Apple Pay uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to enable contactless payment between a mobile phone or watch and a payment terminal. Most stores here, however, are not equipped with NFC payment terminals, as they mostly use IC card terminals used to make payments with credit cards. According to media reports, talks between Apple and credit card firms did not progress as the financial companies were not willing to pay to set up the NFC payment network. There may have been less incentive for credit card companies, considering the dominance here of Samsung Pay offered by Samsung phones. Samsung Pay's adoption has been backed by the smartphone vendor's dominant position in the local market. Samsung accounted for 72 percent of the local smartphone market last year, according to data from market tracker Counterpoint Research. Samsung's share grew from 65 percent in 2020, as the company attracted users of LG Electronics' phones after LG exited the mobile phone market last year. Samsung Pay was also the most-used financial services app among Koreans in June, according to data compiled by Wiseapp, with a total of 15.27 million users. Samsung Pay was easily adopted because the contactless payment system can be used with existing IC card terminals at stores. Financial firms also had no reason not to partner with Samsung Pay as it does not require them to pay fees. Apple Pay, on the other hand, collects up to 0.15 percent from every transaction from banks and credit card firms. The fee percentage has varied by country, with the percentage for Israeli financial firms being set at 0.05 percent. Some media has reported that Apple Pay has partnered with Hyundai Card in order to offer its service here. Rail baron Mick Lynch has sparked fury by claiming that Ukrainians 'playing with Nazi imagery' provoked Russia's barbaric invasion. The general secretary of the RMT - who are planning train strikes this month - also claimed that 'there were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine' and seemed to imply this was what lay behind the war on the sovereign state by Vladimir Putin. In an interview with the New Statesman he said: 'The EU also provoked a lot of trouble in Ukraine. It was all about being pro-EU and all the rest of it,' he said, referring to the pro-EU demonstration which overthrew the Putin crony President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. 'There were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine. And while they were doing that, there were an awful lot of people [in Ukraine] playing with Nazi imagery and going back to the [Second World] war, and all that. So, it's not just that this stuff has sprung from one place.' The magazine and social media users then have claimed he was using a similar tool to Kremlin propaganda which has seen Putin apologists excuse the horrific attacks on the Ukraine people. The general secretary of the RMT Mick Lynch (pictured, last month) - who are planning train strikes this month - also claimed that 'there were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine' and seemed to imply this was what lay behind the war on the sovereign state by Vladimir Putin Since Russia's shelling and constant attacks on large populated cities in Ukraine, a a total of 5,024 Ukrainians have been killed while 12 million people have fled their homes. And social media users, including some on the left, have criticised Mr Lynch's comments in light of the incredible aggression. One user said: 'It really sucks that the UK's most impressive union is led by Putin apologists.' Another person said: 'Why do all the good union communicators have to be Putin enablers.' He also came under shelling for his views on China, which recently seemed to threaten Taiwan with hostile action. 'I don't know if what I'm told by The Telegraph and by American policy writers [about China] is true,' he said. 'We were told Saddam Hussein was the greatest threat to the Western world that there had ever been what he actually had was a very oppressive regime against his own people and a collection of pots and boilers that he'd strung together as so-called Scud missiles. 'We were told all that by the same analysts that are telling us now that China wants to commit all of this aggression against all of these people. We should stop being so belligerent towards countries.' Firefighters try to extinguish a fire after a bombing in Bakhmut, Ukraine, earlier this month Human rights activist Drew Pavlou said: 'Very sad. Personally I really like what Mick Lynch has to say about the economy and social justice. 'But he's got no clue when it comes to Russia and China. He even used this interview to dismiss the Uyghur Genocide. Why stop caring about injustice because its overseas?' The Chief Executive and cofounder of Hong Kong Watch, which monitors the conditions of human rights, freedoms and rule of law in Hong Kong also came out against Mr Lynch. Benedict Rogers said: 'Totally appalling, sickening, wrong-headed views by Mick Lynch. Mick, it was Vladimir Putin who invaded Ukraine, NOT the EU. 'We should always be humble and self-critical, but that should not mean appeasing brutal, genocidal dictators or surrendering to bullies. 'Mick Lynch should focus on getting a fair deal for railway workers & getting our trains running again, not appeasing Putin or CCP.' Children watch as workers clean up after a rocket strike on a house in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Friday According to the Telegraph the RMT and assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey have spoken out previously about their sympathies for pro-Putin separatists and signed up to Stop the War who has criticised NATO on showing 'disdain for Russian concerns' in eastern Ukraine who have been attacking the country's troops and civilians. When Mr Dempsey went in 2015, he posted a picture with Aleksey Mozgovoy, leader of the pro-Russian rebels in the Luhansk People's Republic. Another RMT regional organiser, for South Wales and South West England, Brendan Kelly also put out pro-Putin propaganda during the war and was reported. An RMT spokesman told the MailOnline: 'The RMT believes there is no justification for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has always called for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops. 'Mick Lynch not only agrees with this but is on the record as supporting the Ukrainian people's right to self determination and expressing the union's support for Ukrainian trade unionists. 'He has said that nothing that has happened in the Ukraine justifies anything Putin has done and Putin's repression is far more severe than anyone he is opposing.' Mr Lynch's comments come as there is a 24-hour walkout today by drivers' union Aslef. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Grant Shapps revealed he has been quietly working on a multi-pronged plan to crush hard-Left union barons for good. A man pulls out bricks from a crater caused by a rocket strike on a house in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine on Friday He is preparing to serve them with section 188 legal warnings within weeks to force through reforms including guardless trains. And he said legislation requiring a minimum number of trains to be run in future strikes is 'written and ready to go' for the new prime minister to pass through Parliament by autumn. Mr Shapps said: 'It won't make me at all popular with the unions, but I'm absolutely convinced passengers are on our side, they're fed up with this and they want to see the railway service running properly. 'We're going to win this... I'm afraid for the unions this is their last stand. Their days of holding passengers to ransom are numbered.' The RMT has snubbed an 8 per cent pay rise over this year and next from Network Rail, an offer Mr Shapps said was 'very good'. Network Rail has issued the union with a section 188 warning, meaning it can begin forcing through changes without its consent. But Mr Shapps said the notices will also start being served on behalf of 15 train operators serving most of England within weeks. Men who sexually harass women in public could face up to two years in prison under new government rules. The Home Office has launched a consultation on amending the 1986 public order act to add a new offence of 'public sexual harassment'. Following someone, making obscene comments or gestures, cornering someone or deliberately following someone slowly in your car are listed as possible offences. The document emerged quietly just before Parliament stopped for the summer recess, The Telegraph reported. Boris Johnson said previously that current rules were sufficient to crack down on street harassment such as wolf whistling or catcalling if properly policed. But the new consultation suggests 'others take a different view and we respect that'. Tougher action against petty harassment has been mooted along with action to increase conviction rates for more serious crimes since Ms Everard was brutally killed in March 2021. Liz Truss, the frontrunner to be the next prime minister, has previously backed a new law to tackle violence against women. It is believed Priti Patel is also in favour of adding the new offence The consultation had been promised after the horrific murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a serving Met Police officer. Her death sparked calls for tougher laws to tackle the scourge of violent misogyny in Britain. The Office for National Statistics found that half of women aged 16 to 34 had been harassed at some point in the last year. And a horrifying 38 per cent had been targeted with catcalls, unwanted sexual comments and whistles. Under the proposed law, unlike hate crime, the defendant would not have to be motivated by hostility because of the victim's sex. The document states: 'Public sexual harassment will sometimes be based on such hostility, but not always, and this is one of the reasons why the Law Commission concluded that sex should not be added to hate crime legislation, and why the Government agrees with that conclusion.' Last month, Liz Truss vowed to make wolf-whistling and cat-calling illegal if she is made Prime Minister under sweeping plans to tackle violence. Last month, Liz Truss vowed to make wolf-whistling and cat-calling illegal if she is made Prime Minister under sweeping plans to tackle violence The Tory leadership contender also outlined plans for a national domestic abuse register as she admitted all politicians needed to 'do more'. Under her plans, a standalone offence to criminalise harassment would cover 'aggressive and misogynistic behaviour', though there were no details of what exactly would be included. The register, meanwhile, would include coercive and controlling behaviour and financial abuse. The Foreign Secretary said: 'Over the last two years, our nation has been shocked by a number of high profile murders of women, many here in London. It is the responsibility of all political leaders, including us in Westminster and the Mayor of London, to do more. 'Violence against women and girls doesn't have to be inevitable. Women should be able to walk the streets without fear of harm, and perpetrators must expect to be punished. 'Through increased police training, new offences, faster processes for rape victims and our domestic abuse register we will ensure victims are protected, and crimes are prevented in the first place.' Ms Truss believes the register would break the cycle of repeat offending. Her Government would also require convicted offenders to inform the police of arrangements with new partners and their children, and failure to do so would lead to harsh penalties. As part of her crackdown, which builds on the Government's Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, the Foreign Secretary also pledged to accelerate the process for handling rape cases. She would ensure cases are able to reach investigatory standards from the start to allow quicker progress through the courts. In order to be able to respond effectively to vulnerable victims, police officers would also receive specific training. Conservative former Home Office minister Rachel Maclean said: 'Women and girls should be free to live their lives in safety and I know as prime minister Liz will deliver tougher safeguards for domestic abuse victims, including tagging for the most violent offenders.' Leaked details of negotiations with Iran suggest that the Biden administration is prepared to make significant concessions to revive the defunct nuclear deal -- even as shocking Iranian-inspired murder plots including an attack on Salman Rushdie unfold on US soil. This week, following days of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna, EU officials put forward a 'final' proposal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump pulled out of unilaterally four years ago. Excerpts of a leaked draft of the text suggest that it would blunt American sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guards and clear a path for Tehran to avoid further scrutiny of its suspected atomic sites, Politico reported on Friday evening. Though it is technically an EU proposal, European officials have worked closely with the US delegation in the negotiations, and are believed to have sign-off from Washington on the proposed terms. The proposal seemed to signal President Joe Biden's willingness to make significant concessions -- in particular in regard to the Revolutionary Guard, which the US designates as a foreign terrorist organization. Leaked details of negotiations with Iran suggest that the Biden administration could be prepared to make significant concessions to revive the defunct nuclear deal Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is seen above. Iran has already signaled a positive response to the EU proposal put forward this week, which would ease sanctions related to the Revolutionary Guard Biden's Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley tweeted furious denials that the US would change its standards for enforcing sanctions Iran has already responded to favorably to the deal, but it comes amid disturbing disturbing murder plots that appear to be inspired by Tehran. On Friday author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in New York by an apparent Iranian sympathizer, and a Revolutionary Guard member was charged this week with plotting to assassinate former US officials. Biden took office two years ago vowing to revive the defunct nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which put restrictions on Iran's nuclear programs in exchange for easing sanctions. Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and promised to negotiate a stronger agreement, but left office without meeting that goal. Following Politico's report on the terms of the new EU proposal, Biden's Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley tweeted furious denials that the US would change its standards for enforcing sanctions. 'To be clear: We have not engaged in any negotiation about changing due diligence, know-your-customer, or other U.S. sanctions compliance standards for sanctions that would remain under a mutual return to full JCPOA implementation,' he wrote. 'Any report to the contrary is flat out wrong,' Malley added. Author Salman Rushdie is taken on a stretcher to a helicopter for transport to a hospital after he was attacked during a lecture in upstate New York Iranian deputy foreign minister Reza Najafi, left, and Iranian AEOI spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi, right, leave JCPOA negotiations on August 5 The sun sets behind the Palais Coburg in Vienna, Austria where closed-door negotiations have been underway for months to revive the JCPOA However, Politico reported that the EU proposal would allow Europeans and other non-Americans to conduct business with Iranian entities engaged in 'transactions' with the Revolutionary Guard without fear of triggering US sanctions. Currently, deals of that nature would trigger US sanctions, a measure intended to punish and isolate the Revolutionary Guard. The EU proposal reads: 'Non-U.S. persons doing business with Iranian persons that are not on the [U.S. sanctions list] will not be exposed to sanctions merely as a result of those Iranian persons engaging in separate transactions involving Iranian persons on the [U.S. sanctions list] (including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), its officials, or its subsidiaries or affiliates).' A senior Iranian diplomat has already said that the EU deal 'can be acceptable if it provides assurances' on Tehran's key demands, the state news agency IRNA said on Friday. Iranian official Shahram Poursafi is accused of masterminding plots to assassinate John Bolton and Mike Pompeo IRNA quoted the unidentified Iranian diplomat as saying Tehran was reviewing the proposal. 'Proposals by the EU can be acceptable if they provide Iran with assurance on the issues of safeguards, sanctions and guarantees,' the diplomat said. The Islamic Republic has sought to obtain guarantees that no future US president would renege on the deal if it were revived, as Trump did in 2018. However, Biden cannot provide such ironclad assurances because the deal is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty. A top Shi'ite Muslim cleric, in a sermon at Friday prayers that typically echo the state line, said Tehran insisted on obtaining verifiable guarantees that US sanctions would be lifted under a revived deal, according to Iranian state TV. 'We insist on getting the necessary guarantees, the lifting of sanctions and verification, and if this is achieved, then our negotiating team will tell the people that sanctions have been lifted thanks to your resistance and power,' Kazem Seddiqi said at Friday prayers in the capital Tehran, according to state TV. Washington has said it is ready to quickly reach an agreement to restore the deal on the basis of the EU proposals. Iranian officials said they would convey their 'additional views and considerations' to the EU, which coordinates the talks, after consultations in Tehran. Prosecutors say that Shahram Poursafi offering unidentified 'criminal elements' inside the United States $300,000 to carry out the contract murder of Bolton Shahram Poursafi allegedly sent the purported hitman these images of money A senior EU official said no more changes could be made to the text, which has been under negotiation for 15 months. He said he expected a final decision from the parties within a 'very, very few weeks.' The pact, originally forged in 2015, seemed near revival in March. Under the 2015 agreement, Iran curbed its disputed uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear weapons, in return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions. But 11 months of indirect talks between Tehran and the Biden administration in Vienna were thrown into disarray chiefly over Iran's insistence that Washington remove its elite Revolutionary Guards Corps from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. On Wednesday the United States charged a Revolutionary Guards member with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to Trump, though Washington said it did not believe the charges should affect the nuclear talks with Tehran. Prosecutors say that Shahram Poursafi offering unidentified 'criminal elements' inside the United States $300,000 to carry out the contract murder. The alleged plan was likely set in retaliation for the US killing of top Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in January 2020, the department said. The DOJ said that Poursafi was also prepared to pay $1 million for a second 'job,' but did not identify the other target in the plot. Trump-era Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the second target, according to Morgan Ortagus, who served as State Department spokesperson during his tenure. A pet owner who beat his dog up until it was left 'shaking' and 'whimpering' showed a judge cute social media pictures of the animal dressed up in the hope it would be returned. One-year-old beagle puppy Cooper was seized by police from his owner Krissada Ratchasombat last month, following an incident where he repeatedly smacked his dog. Ratchasombat was arrested after a witness on the street below saw him hit Cooper. The witness claimed they saw Ratchasombat strike the dog's body with 'considerable force' at least 10 times, with the puppy whimpering in pain on each occasion. Krissada Ratchasombat (pictured, with one-year-old beagle puppy Cooper) pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after he was seen striking his dog at least 10 times last month 'With each strike the dog was yelping loud enough for the witness to hear on the other side of the street,' police said in court documents reported by The Daily Telegraph. Ratchasombat was charged with animal cruelty and pleaded guilty this week. Police said Cooper could be seen 'fearful, shaking and whimpering' when they arrived at Ratchasombat's residence. Cooper was then taken into the custody of the RSPCA. Ratchasombat said he had become angry with the dog after he found his slippers chewed up and admitted he had struck the animal. In court, Ratchasombat pleaded with the magistrate to return his dog back to him, showing photos of Copper all dressed up in social media posts. When police arrived to the apartment, Cooper (pictured) could be seen 'fearful, shaking and whimpering' Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis gave Ratchasombat (pictured, with dog Cooper) a 12 month conditional release order but recorded no conviction He said that he loved Cooper and he 'always dressed him and fed him well'. It was revealed in court that Ratchasombat had undergone anger management classes to prevent future incidents from taking place. Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis did not record a conviction against Ratchasombat but instead gave him a 12-month conditional release order and reminded him that the offence should be 'denounced'. 'These types of matters carry 12 months' jail, which is indicative of the way in which the community views the mistreatment of animal,' Magistrate Tsavdaridis said. The judge left it to Ratchasombat to convince the RSPCA to return Cooper to him. The RSPCA said they are still considering the incident, with the officer responsible currently on leave. Advertisement Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, the fourth wife of novelist Salman Rushdie, was spotted out in NYC on Friday afternoon hours after her former spouse was stabbed at a literary event by an alleged Iranian government sympathizer. Just a few hours after the stabbing, his fourth wife Padma Lakshmi was pictured out in New York City wearing a denim jumper, face mask and glasses as she stepped out in Manhattan. The two were married in 2004, but their union only lasted three years. Rushdie, 75, is on a ventilator, unable to speak and will likely lose an eye, his agent said following the attack. Rushdie was about give a talk on artistic freedom at New York's Chautauqua Institution when a man rushed to the stage and lunged at the novelist, who has lived with a bounty on his head since the late 1980s. Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi was spotted out in NYC after her ex-husband novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed at an event Lakshmi attempts to shield herself as she's seen out in New York City after her ex-husband was attacked earlier in the day The Top Chef host was spotted just a couple of hours after Rushdie was stabbed by a suspect identified by police as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the event. After hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening after an attack condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an assault on the freedom of expression. 'The news is not good,' Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email. 'Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.' Rushdie has long faced death threats for his fourth novel, 'The Satanic Verses' that some Muslims said contained blasphemous passages. It was banned in many countries with large Muslim populations upon its 1988 publication. A few months later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict, calling upon Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in the book's publication for blasphemy. Rushdie, who called his novel 'pretty mild,' went into hiding for nearly a decade. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the novel, was murdered in 1991. The Iranian government said in 1998 it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years. But Iranian leaders have since said that, while they no longer support the fatwa, it can only be rescinded by the leader who issued it - and he has since died, meaning it will remain indefinitely. He has been married four times and had a string of high-profile romances that included Lakshmi, as well as Olivia Wide, and models decades younger than him. Lakshmi is seen in NYC on Friday afternoon after ex-husband Rushdie was stabbed by an 'Iranian government sympathizer' Rushdie's fourth marriage to Lakshmi ended in 2007 after only three years. Pictured: The pair in 2006 Rushdie's fourth marriage to Lakshmi proved the most controversial when, like the others, it ended in divorce and Lakshmi, 23 years younger than him, wrote an excoriating account of their eight-year relationship. She portrayed him as an insecure and insensitive spoilt baby, requiring constant praise, feeding and attention, not to mention 'frequent sex'. The two met back in 1999 at a lavish New York City party thrown by media queen Tina Brown. Lakshmi alleges that the two had an affair, and that Rushdie promised to be with her once his rocky marriage to his third wife concluded. Rushdie's 2001 novel, Fury, was dedicated to Lakshmi. At the time of the wedding, Lakshmi was 28, while Rushdie was 51. While Rushdie's previous marriages lasted more than a decade, his union with Lakshmi only lasted three years, with the novelist bemoaning her in his memoir as a 'bad investment' who overly narcissistic and ambitious. Lakshmi hit back at Rushdie in her own memoirs, calling him 'sexually needy' and insensitive to her endometriosis. Arizona began moving in shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall near the southern Arizona farming community of Yuma on Friday, with officials saying they were acting to stop migrants after repeated, unfulfilled promises from the Biden administration to block off the area. 'Arizona has had enough,' tweeted the Republican governor of the state, Doug Ducey. 'We can't wait any longer. The Biden administration's lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty.' The Yuma sector of the border, 126 miles long, has seen an almost 300 percent increase in 'border encounters' - migrants arrested by Customs and Border Protection agents - this year, compared to the same time frame in 2021. The spike is the highest recorded by any of the nine sectors: two in California, two in Arizona, one in New Mexico and Texas, and four solely in Texas. Yuma has seen the third highest total number of 'encounters' this year - beaten only by Del Rio and the Rio Grande sectors, both in Texas. Ducey said his state had tried to convince the White House to do more, but was frustrated. Shipping containers are seen being moved into place along the U.S.-Mexico border in the Yuma sector The bright orange and yellow shipping containers are seen being moved into place on Friday 'For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border,' he continued. 'Time and time again we've stepped in to clean up their mess. 'Arizonans can't wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.' The move by Arizona comes without explicit permission on federal land, with state contractors starting to move in 60-foot-long shipping containers, stacking two of the 9-foot-tall containers on top of each other early Friday. They plan to complete the job within days, and the containers will be topped with four feet of razor wire, said Katie Ratlief, deputy chief of staff for the Republican governor, Doug Ducey. The state plans to fill three gaps in the border wall constructed during former President Donald Trump's tenure in the coming weeks, totaling 3,000 feet. Governor Doug Ducey is seen in the Yuma sector of the U.S.-Mexico border last year 'The federal government has committed to doing this, but we cannot wait for their action,' Ratlief said. John Mennell, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said the agency had just learned of Arizona's action and 'is not prepared to comment at this time.' The move is the latest pushback by a Republican-led border state to what they contend is inaction by Joe Biden on immigration. It was immediately prompted by the announcement of the end of the 'Remain in Mexico' program that was announced this week, Ducey's top lawyer, Annie Foster said. That program required asylum-seekers to return to Mexico and await a court date, although thousands of migrants who made it into the country were not returned. Arizona has been sending two to three buses of asylum seekers from Yuma to Washington over the last three months to make a political statement as the number of arriving migrants overwhelmed local resources. Migrants are seen in the Yuma sector of the border on July 11, awaiting processing A young Russian boy is seen crouching on the ground as a CBP agent walks past on June 21 in Yuma Migrants board a bus for processing on July 11 in the Yuma sector A CBP agent keeps watch on migrants on June 21, in the Yuma sector Ducey began the program in May and has said everyone on the bus trips are going voluntarily to the capital with intended final destinations in East Coast cities. Texas also is busing migrants to the East, and the mayors of New York and Washington sought federal help last month to deal with the influx. Their request brought a gleeful response from Republicans, who say the pleas are evidence the U.S. is in an immigration crisis. As of August 11, the state of Arizona had sent 1,425 asylum seekers to Washington, according to the governor's office. Ducey is using $6 million for the project out of $335 million the Legislature authorized in June to construct virtual or physical fencing along the border with Mexico. Ducey, who co-chairs the Republican Governors Association, and other Republican politicians have tapped into border security as a potent political foil in an election year. The Biden Administration announced late last month that it had authorized completion of the Trump-funded U.S.-Mexico border wall near Yuma. The area has become one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings, and they planned to fill in four wide gaps. Arizona officials said they did not know why there was a discrepancy between the three gaps they identified and the federal government's plans. Biden had pledged during his campaign to cease all future wall construction, but the administration later agreed to some barriers, citing safety. The Department of Homeland Security planned work to close four wide gaps in the wall near Yuma to better protect migrants who can slip down a slope or drown walking through a low section of the Colorado River. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized completion of the project near the Morelos Dam in July, a move officials said reflected the administration's 'priority to deploy modern, effective border measures and also improving safety and security along the Southwest Border.' Arizona points to a rising number of migrants coming into the state and accompanying drug smuggling as a major reason for their action. Agents stopped migrants more than 160,000 times from January through June in the Yuma sector - nearly quadruple from the same period last year. Despite the federal promise to fill in the gaps, Arizona officials said no action had been taken to actually close them. The federal government apparently put the project out to bid this week, but that may takes weeks or months. Foster, Ducey's top lawyer, said the governor decided to act even if the federal government later objects. 'At this point, we are closing that gap and we'll figure out the consequences as we move forward,' Foster said at a briefing for reporters. 'But bottom line is that the federal government has a duty to protect the states - that's part of the contract, that's part of the constitution. 'They failed to do that.' Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr, 42, died on Thursday after trying to breach an FBI field office The man who was killed in a police shootout after attacking an FBI field office in Ohio was a Navy veteran who once had top-secret clearance, and had been under FBI investigation for months, according to new reports. Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr, 42, died on Thursday after trying to breach the field office in Cincinnati with a nail gun and brandishing an AR-15-style rifle when police pursued and cornered him. Shiffer's posts on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform suggest that he undertook the doomed attack in revenge for the FBI's raid and search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this week. Shiffer had been an enlisted sailor who served aboard the USS Columbia attack submarine - a job that requires top-secret clearance - and also served as an infantryman in the Florida National Guard, the Wall Street Journal reported. As well, the FBI confirmed that it had been investigating Shiffer for months in connection with the US Capitol riot and another matter, but the Bureau said that it was not aware of a 'specific and credible threat'. Police are seen off Interstate 71 in Clinton County near Cincinnati, Ohio, during a standoff Thursday with Ricky Walter Shiffer Jr after he tried to attack an FBI office Shiffer had been an enlisted sailor who served aboard the USS Columbia attack submarine (seen above) - a job that requires top-secret clearance The FBI is believed to have been investigating a video that Shiffer appeared in on January 5, 2020 at a demonstration in Washington DC, and attempting to confirm whether he stormed the Capitol the following day. As well, the FBI said in a statement that it also received a tip about Shiffer in May that was unconnected to the Capitol riot, and agents opened a separate inquiry. Without specifying the nature of the second investigation, the FBI said that it had tried to interview Shiffer repeatedly but had failed to locate him. Neighbors who live near Shiffer's apartment in Columbus told the New York Times said federal agents had visited several weeks ago and asked about Shiffer, including when he usually left home for the day and returned. Further details are also emerging about Shiffer's prior military service. Soon after graduating high school in Pennsylvania, Shiffer enlisted in the Navy in 1998, and went to the Navy's submarine school in Connecticut. He served for four years aboard the USS Columbia, a nuclear-powered attack sub, as a fire-control technician, monitoring and maintaining weapons systems. All sailor serving that role, which deals with classified weapons systems aboard the Navy's most secretive vessels, must pass background checks for top secret clearance. The FBI is believed to have been investigating a video that Shiffer appeared in on January 5, 2020 at a demonstration in Washington DC, and attempting to confirm whether he stormed the Capitol the following day Shiffer's social media posts before and during Thursday's attack are seen above However, the Navy declined to verify whether Shiffer had such a clearance during or after his service, saying only that he would have had to pass the extensive background check required to hold one. Service members often retain eligibility for security clearance even years after leaving the military, even though they no longer have access to military secrets. Shiffer left the Navy in 2003 as a fire control technician, second class, with a pay grade of E-5. Schiffer also served in the Florida National Guard from 2008 to 2011, rising to a pay grade of E-4. He spent a year deployed in Iraq starting in January 2010, leaving the service shortly after his return. Federal investigators are examining social media accounts they believe are tied to Shiffer, according to a law enforcement official. At least one of the messages on Trumps Truth Social media platform appeared to have been posted after Shiffer tried to breach the FBI office. It read: 'If you dont hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I.' Another message posted on the same site this week from @rickywshifferjr included a 'call to arms' and urged people to 'be ready for combat' after the FBI search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Shiffer, sporting body armor, attempted to break into the agency's Cincinnati field office, prompting a five-hour standoff with authorities. He fled the office and was chased onto the highway before abandoning his car by a cornfield on a country road just off of Interstate 71 Authorities also are looking into whether Shiffer, a Navy veteran, had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, the official said. Shiffer was armed with a nail gun and an AR-15-style rifle when he tried to breach the visitor screening area at the FBI office Thursday, according to the official. Shiffer fled when agents confronted him. He was later spotted by a state trooper along a highway and got into a gunbattle that ended with police killing him, authorities said. The burst of violence unfolded amid FBI warnings that federal agents could face attacks following the search in Florida. The FBI is investigating what happened in Cincinnati as an act of domestic extremism, according to the law enforcement official. Shiffer is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and may have been at the Capitol that day but was not charged with any crimes in connection with the riot, the official said. Officials have warned of a rise in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI entered Trump's estate in what authorities said was part of an investigation into whether he took classified documents with him after leaving the White House. Supporters of the former president have railed against the search, accusing the FBI and the Justice Department of using the legal system as a political weapon. Law enforcement officers have killed the armed man who attacked the FBI 's field office in Cincinnati, Ohio Ricky Walter Shiffer was shot dead by police Thursday after raised a gun towards officers around 3pm, state highway patrol confirmed FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited an FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, saying, 'Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who youre upset with.' The FBI on Wednesday also warned its agents to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards are 'not visible outside FBI space,' citing an increase in social media threats against bureau personnel and offices. A now-suspended Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, shared the same profile picture as the Truth Social account and similar opinions, including a call for armed conflict in the U.S. this past spring. It included posts saying that 'elections are rigged' against conservatives and that the country faces 'tyranny.' 'I dont think its a one-off incident,' said Amy Cooter, a researcher at Middlebury College who is an expert on militias. 'Im afraid theres going to be a pocket full of people who feel compelled to act.' Courthouses, government offices and election headquarters all could be targets, she said. 'Anywhere is fair game now because these folks feel this a personal issue for them,' Cooter said. Shiffer worked as an electrician, according to one of his social media profiles. He was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the 2020 general election from Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to public records. Court records show the Ohio Department of Taxation filed suit against him in June, seeking a $553 tax lien judgment, according to court records listing him at an address in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also previously lived at several addresses in Columbus and in Omaha, Nebraska. He graduated from high school in central Pennsylvania in 1998 and enlisted in the Navy that same year, later serving on the USS Columbia submarine until 2003, according to military records. He was an infantry soldier in the Florida Army National Guard from 2008 to 2011, when he was honorably discharged. 'I know he was way into World War II and the military,' said Lori Frady, a classmate at West Perry High School in Elliottsburg, who had not seen Shiffer since graduation. 'He didnt have a lot of friends, but the friends he did have were big into history and military history.' Salman Rushdie, who was attacked Friday after decades of death threats, spent recent years basking in the social limelight as he wooed a string of younger women - despite being blasted by one of his four former wives as a spoilt baby who needed constant praise and 'frequent sex.' The acclaimed novelist, 75, stirred controversy in his profession with his novel 'The Satanic Verses,' which drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s and forced him into hiding. But once he emerged from hiding years later, he received a wave attention for his turbulent love life. Rushdie has been married and divorced four times and linked to a slew of other women in the years since. Author Salman Rushdie was attacked as he was being introduced to the stage for the CHQ 2022 event on Friday in New York state The short union between Rushdie and Lakshmi (right) ended badly, with both insulting each other in their respective memoirs The attack happened at an event in Buffalo, New York, where people rushed to assist the author after he appeared to be punched and stabbed, with the motive currently unknown FIRST WIFE: Clarissa Luard, 1976 to 1987 Rushdie's love life began with his first wife, Clarissa Luard, who he met at a pop concert in the United Kingdom in 1969. Luard, who became senior literature officer at the Arts Council of England, married Rushdie in 1976, and the couple had son Zafar three years later. Although they divorced in 1987, they remained close friends, and Rushdie reportedly stayed by her side when she died from breast cancer at age 50 in 1999. Pictured: Rushdie's first wife, Clarissa Luard and son Zafar. The two were feared to have been kidnapped or killed following a wave of protests over Rushdie's writings SECOND WIFE: Marianne Wiggins, 1988 to 1993 By the time Luard passed in 1999, Rushdie had already been married twice more. He tied the knot with American Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins in 1988, and then to editor Elizabeth West in 1997. Rushdie was with Wiggins when he faced backlash over 'The Satanic Verses,' with Rushdie saying he heard criticisms that his 'Jewish wife' made him write it. 'At its most unpleasant it was leveled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it,' Rushdie said. 'They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American.' Rushdie has previously said that he remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realized that she was lying he decided to end the relationship. 'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith. 'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have. And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. 'It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate.' Wiggins spent some time in hiding even after the couple divorced in 1993. Pictured: Rushdie with his second wife, Marianne Wiggins, who married him in 1988 Rushdie was with Wiggins when he faced backlash over 'The Satanic Verses' Wiggins (left) remained in hiding even after she divorced Rushdie THIRD WIFE: Elizabeth West - 1997 to 2004 Rushdie then married Elizabeth West in 1997, and the two had a son, Milan, in 1999. Rushdie had previously said that he and West, an author and editor, began growing apart when he wanted to move to the United States and she wanted to stay in the UK and have another child. Following a miscarriage, the couple officially split in 2004. Rushdie has been married four times, including to Elizabeth West Salman, pictured. The couple married in 1994 and two had a son, Milan, in 1999 FOURTH WIFE: Padma Lakshmi - 2004 to 2007 Following the split from West, Rushdie immediately dove into the world of pop celebrities, marrying model turned Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi in 2004. The two had met back in 1999 at a lavish New York City party thrown by media queen Tina Brown. Lakshmi alleges that the two began their affair during the party, and that Rushdie promised to be with her once his rocky marriage to West concluded. Rushdie's 2001 novel, Fury, was dedicated to Lakshmi. At the time of the wedding, Lakshmi was 28, while Rushdie was 51. While Rushdie's previous marriages lasted more than a decade, his union with Lakshmi only lasted three years, with the novelist bemoaning her in his memoir as a 'bad investment' who was overly narcissistic and ambitious. Lakshmi hit back at Rushdie in her own memoirs, calling him 'sexually needy' and insensitive to her endometriosis. In Rushdie's 2012 memoir, he claimed Lakshmi 'broke his heart.' But, he added, she was also guilty of a driving ambition 'that often obliterated feeling,' and a 'majestic narcissism' that left him unsure 'whether to bury his head in his hands or applaud.' He also criticized her 'frequent moodiness,' 'brattish 'model behavior' ' and frequent coldness toward him. And it was she, not he, Rushdie says, who made the advances in their affair after he had resolved to stay faithful to his wife. Salman Rushdie (right) together with his fourth wife, model and 'Top Chef' host Padma Lakshimi attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 Rushdie met Lakshmi (left) back in 1999 at a lavish New York City party thrown by media queen Tina Brown. Lakshmi claimed she had an affair with the still-married man Rushdie's 2001 novel, Fury, was dedicated to Lakshmi. At the time of the wedding, Lakshmi was 28, while Rushdie was 51 In Lakshmi's 'Love, Loss And What We Ate,' she portrays him as an insecure and insensitive spoilt baby, requiring constant praise, feeding and attention, not to mention 'frequent sex'. She claims the not so gallant knight of the realm was so selfish that instead of showing concern for a serious medical condition that made sexual intercourse painful for her, he dismissed her as a 'bad investment.' According to Lakshmi, the early years of their relationship had been blissful. She was 'young, star-struck and love-struck,' and Rushdie bought a house in New York where they lived together, splitting their time between Manhattan and London, where he had two children from previous marriages. Although he took her tea and toast in bed every morning, she was left in no doubt that he didn't consider theirs to be a relationship of intellectual equals. For example, despite letting her read newspaper articles he had written, usually while sitting in his lap, she said that 'anything but my gushing approval would be ignored.' Intimidated by his erudition, Lakshmi would rehearse funny stories to tell him on her way home. As Lakshmi's endometriosis became worse, with pain so severe it could leave her hunched up in bed for days, she recalls Rushdie assuming she was inventing an excuse for their lack of intimacy. Denied sex on the night of their second wedding anniversary because she said she was in such pain, he acidly commented: 'How convenient for you . . . what is it this time?' Later that night, she had to be rushed to hospital, but even then Rushdie fretted only about his own unsatisfied sexual needs, she says. As she underwent a series of surgical procedures, in desperation she asked her doctor to ring Rushdie and explain she wasn't just making excuses. The marriage continued to deteriorate and they filed for divorce in 2007, little more than three years after they had wed. And the exes that got away without a wedding ring on their finger... In the months and years following his split form Lakshmi, Rushdie was seen with several beauties, including Bollywood star Riya Sen. In 2008, Rushdie was also spotted wooing then-25-year-old Aita Ighodaro, an Oxford-educated journalist, at the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup Polo at Cowdray Park in Sussex. That same year, Rushdie attended the annual Washington Correspondents Dinner with actress Oliva Wilde as his date. He's also been linked to actress Rosario Dawson, Topaz Page-Green, a model-turned-charity campaigner, and Melissa 'Missy' Brody, a New York socialite. Rushdie attributed his intellect and 'good looks' for his successful love life, which included dates with Olivia Wilde (left). The two were pictured together at the Washington Correspondents Dinner in 2008 Brody, who reportedly went so far as to become engaged to Rushdie, bears a remarkable resemblance to Padma Lakshmi. An actress named Pia Glenn attacked him in 2009 as 'cowardly, dysfunctional and immature' after he gave her the push by email. Glenn, 30 years his junior, said Rushdie had remained obsessed with Lakshmi, and was so self-absorbed that he began most days by putting his name into Google to see what had been written about him. After charming her into bed, Rushdie showed little interest in her beyond sex and parading her in public, she said. 'If he just wanted sex, he should have gone out and paid a prostitute,' she said witheringly. The writer countered that he split up with Glenn because she was 'unstable' and 'carries around a large radioactive bucket of stress wherever she goes'. He dismissed her as a publicity-seeking wannabe. In 2012, Rushdie has tryst with Devorah Rose, a young New York aspiring socialite he had found through his penchant for flirting on Facebook and Twitter. But it all unraveled when Rushdie angrily accusing her of over-egging their connection, and Rose returning fire by deriding him as leering and infantile. For good measure, she published his stream of painfully embarrassing messages to her, such as the not-at-all Nobel-Prize-winning gem: 'You look so gorgeous and hottt! see you v soon.' Rushdie later turned up 'very emotional' at the party of a former girlfriend, the Manhattan party planner Michelle Barish, and leaving some guests embarrassed by his behavior. Two days later, he reportedly proposed to her even though she was technically still married. She turned him down. Ex-president Donald Trump's go to personal lawyer Alina Habba has continued her offensive against officials who orchestrated the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago on Monday. 'They needed a little drama, so they throw this out there. They go to the judge that had recused himself in my Hillary case a month ago,' Habba told Fox News host Jesse Watters during an appearance Friday. 'I would like to know why he recused himself in that case, but then he was able to sign this warrant. I want to know that.' Habba was referencing the fact that on June 22, magistrate Judge Bruce W. Reinhart recused himself from a lawsuit involving Trump and Hillary Clinton. The 45th president is suing Clinton and other prominent Democrats over Russia collusion allegations. Six weeks after that recusal, Judge Reinhart signed the warrant authorizing the feds to search Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. During an appearance on 'Jesse Watters Primetime,' Alina Habba described Trump's nonchalant response to Monday's FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago Judge Bruce Reinhart has come under scrutiny for his past political opinions and work as a defense attorney In his recusal, the magistrate wrote: 'The undersigned Magistrate Judge, to whom the above-styled cause has been assigned, hereby recuses himself and refers the case to the Clerk of Court for reassignment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 455.' According to the specific code: 'Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.' The judge did not specify what disqualified him from overseeing the lawsuit. Earlier this week, Habba, along with fellow Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, accused the FBI of planting evidence during Monday's raid. Habba described Trump's reaction to the raid saying: 'He's like, "Oh, it's a Monday, Alina. It's a Monday in Trump world." Honestly, nothing. He was confused as to why they were there. He had just seen them in June.' Trump's top lawyer continued: 'They had said, "Everything's fine, but could you put another lock on it? We'll be good." You know what? In my opinion, the Jan. 6 ratings the show of Jan. 6 hasn't been going so well.' Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act Earlier this week, Habba, along with fellow Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, accused the FBI of planting evidence during Monday's raid Habba said in a Fox News interview that she was 'concerned that they may have planted something. You know, at this point, who knows? I don't trust the government and that's a very frightening thing as an American' Habba said in a Fox News interview that she was 'concerned that they may have planted something. You know, at this point, who knows? I don't trust the government and that's a very frightening thing as an American.' While on her Truth Social page, Habba has made multiple attacks on Judge Reinhart. Watters joked with Habba later in the interview asking if Trump himself had packed any of the boxes that the FBI searched during the raid. Trump watched the raid live from Trump Tower in New York via the security camera feeds in his Florida home, Bobb said during an interview with the right-wing media network Real America's Voice earlier Friday. Bobb joked that the Trumps probably had a better view than she did, and she was at Mar-a-Lago when the raid took place. Habba also said in her Friday appearance: 'So explain to me, why you tell someone to put an extra lock on, leave for almost two months, get a warrant, sit for a weekend, have a cocktail and then show-up again, guns a blazing?' Not even informing the local police, which is normal course. He wasn't even there. It makes no sense.' Multiple news outlets have published articles detailing Judge Reinhart's past as a defense attorney, which included a stint working for pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and making political donations to Barack Obama. Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act, according to the newly unsealed search warrant showing the FBI retrieved 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. Former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was raided by federal agents on Monday The former president insisted Friday that everything was 'declassified' and agents 'didn't need to seize anything.' Some of the documents were marked 'top secret' and are meant to be kept in specialized government facilities, according to a copy of the warrant. The FBI would have needed to prove reasonable suspicion that Trump committed a crime in holding on to the documents - criminal statutes cited in the warrant include espionage, removal of records and obstruction of justice. Violations of the Espionage Act could include: harboring or concealing persons, gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government, or disclosure of classified information. The 11 sensitive items included miscellaneous documents labeled 'secret,' 'top secret' and 'confidential.' Agents recovered 20 boxes in total from the Florida estate, with the rest including handwritten notes, photo binders, the grant of clemency of Roger Stone and a file with information on the President of France. DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the warrant and receipts before it was unsealed by a Florida magistrate judge Friday afternoon. The warrant gave FBI agents permission to search in Trump's office and all storage areas on the premises, and states four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents were retrieved. Trump's attorneys now also claim former President Trump declassified the documents before he left office. A president has the power to declassify any document, but there is a strict federal procedure for doing so. Advertisement The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander, it has been claimed. That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia causes, including supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. According to the Council on Foreign Relation's profile on Hezbollah: 'The Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.' Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Rushdie is on a ventilator, cannot speak, and will likely lose an eye, after being stabbed up to 15 times on Friday by a suspect police have identified as a man from New Jersey 'with sympathies toward the Iranian government.' Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of 24-year-old Hadi Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage at a literary event in upstate New York. The fake driver's license that was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both, the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah One of the Hezbollah's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh. He was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008 Salman Rushdie, 75, was attacked by a Hadi Matar, pictured with Sheriff's deputies, who approached him from behind before stabbing him multiple times. The suspect was quickly pinned to the floor before being arrested The driver's license also included a reference to an address in West New York, New Jersey, less than three miles from his listed address in Fairview, New Jersey. The Algemeiner reports that a Twitter account linked to the Iranian state media, 'Iran in Arabic,' posted a photo of Matar next to a picture of Salman Rushdie with the words: 'Lebanese hero who stabbed Satan Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, in which he insulted the Prophet of guidance and mercy, the Messenger of God, Muhammad.' According to the Daily Beast, Mater moved from California to New Jersey in 2014. Matar attended the Elizabeth Learning Center in Cudahy, California, just outside of Los Angeles. A classmate of the suspect, Gabriel Sanchez, told the website that Matar was a 'very devout Muslim.' He added: 'He took it seriously and did the washing of the feet in our high school restroom.' Sanchez went on: 'The only time I ever saw him get 'heated' when it came to anything was with our AP Bio teacher at the end of the year where he wrote in his evaluation of the class that he hated how he talked about religion.' He continued: 'He was a devout Muslim and one of the few things that I remember talking to him about was kindness. That's how I remember him and why I wish this isn't him.' The bloodied Rushdie, 75, who has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since 1989, was airlifted to the hospital and his condition was updated by his agent Andrew Wylie shortly before 7 p.m. 'The news is not good,' Wylie said in a statement. 'Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.' Rushdie was attacked and stabbed multiple times, including in the neck and abdomen, as he was being introduced for the CHQ 2022 event in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, on Friday morning. Matar, who police say gained access to the grounds with a pass, managed to walk off the stage before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie. Law enforcement sources told The New York Post that an initial investigation suggests Matar is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, although he was born around nine years after the fatwa against Rushdie was first issued. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. Reese was released from a hospital on Friday afternoon, and in an emailed statement to the New York Times, called Rushdie 'one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression,' then added: 'The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations.' A Homeland Security Investigations Police officer enters the building where Salman Rushdie's alleged attacker Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey New Jersey Police officers stand guard near the building where alleged attacker Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey Residents look on as New Jersey Police officers search the building where Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey British-born Booker Prize winning author Sir Salman Rushdie (pictured in 2019) got death threats and was issued a fatwah by Iran for his 1988 novel, the Satanic Verses. He has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and was today preparing to give a lecture about America being a haven for writers in exile Rushdie's novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims in the 1980s, and at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, leading to it being banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, calling for Rushdie's death. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government-funded protection program, until he emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. He has been in the United States since 2000. The attack occurred at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts arts programs in a tranquil lakeside community 70 miles south of Buffalo. Carl LeVan, an American University politics professor attending the event, told AFP he saw the suspect run onto the stage where Rushdie was seated and 'stabbed him repeatedly and viciously.' LeVan, a Chautauqua regular, said the suspect 'was trying to stab him as many times as possible before he was subdued,' adding that he believed the man 'was trying to kill' Rushdie. 'There were gasps of horror and panic from the crowd,' the professor said. LeVan said witnessing the event had left him 'shaken,' adding he considered Chautauqua a safe place of creative freedom. 'To know that this happened here, and to see it -- it was horrific,' he said. 'What I saw today was the essence of intolerance.' People rushed to assist the author after the attack, with the attacker being restrained by witnesses. The motive for the stabbing is currently unknown Rushdie was airlifted to hospital after receiving medical assistance from those at the event near Buffalo, in Upstate New York Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries. A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson, where the event was taking place, said: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' The authors suspected attacker was pinned down by witnesses and security staff moments after the attack. Rushdie's son Zafar, 42, is aware of the incident State Trooper James O'Callaghan gave an update Friday evening following the stabbing Another witness, John Stein, told ABC that the assailant 'started stabbing on the right side of the head, of the neck. And there was blood... erupting.' Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair that he had been sitting on. Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack on Rushdie 'heartbreaking' before confirming that he is 'alive', during an unrelated press conference. She added that he is 'getting the care he needs at a local hospital', and that a state police trooper 'stood up and saved his life' after the attack. Hochul said that Rushdie had 'spent decades speaking truth to power'. One witness told the New York Times that Rushdie had been stabbed 'multiple times' and was lying in a pool of his own blood. Rita Landman offered her assistance after the incident, adding that he appeared to be alive and did not receive CPR. Landman said: 'People were saying, 'He has a pulse, he has a pulse he has a pulse.' Roger Warner of Cleveland, Ohio, was sitting on the front row when the attack took place, adding: 'He was covered with blood and there was blood running down onto the floor. 'I just saw blood all around his eyes and running down his cheek.' Rushdie's London-based son Zafar, 42, is aware of the incident. Thousands of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated as his alleged attacker was taken into custody. John Bulette, 85, who witnessed the attack said: 'There was a huge security lapse. That somebody could get that close without any intervention was frightening.' An usher at the amphitheater claims that the security at the Institution was 'lax' and that no additional measures were in place for Mr Rushdie's visit. Kyle Doershuk, 20, said: 'It's very open, it's very accessible, it's a very relaxed environment, in my opinion something like this was just waiting to happen.' A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson added: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' Rabbi Charles Savenor claims that the entire attack lasted around 20 seconds. He said: 'This guy ran on to platform and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, 'What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten.' A representative for the Iranian interests section at the embassy of Pakistan in Washington D.C. declined to comment on the attack. The embassy diplomatically represents the government of Iran in the United States. They told the New York Times 'we are not getting involved in this', before hanging up and refusing to give a name. Senator George Borrello branded the attack as 'shocking' adding that there is 'no room' for 'beliefs that demand that you kill someone who disagrees with you'. He added: 'This shocking attack on a celebrated and noted author, apparently prompted by fundamentalist extremism, has no place in America.' Rushdie was attacked on stage ahead of his speech in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, with witnesses claiming that he was 'punched and stabbed' Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair. New York State Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck Medics attended to Rushdie after the attack, with witnesses saying a man 'punched and stabbed' the author as he was announced on stage Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after being issued 'spiritual' death threat by Iran Sir Salman Rushdie is a Booker Prize-winning author and novelist. The 75-year-old was born in India, and his writing is often based around the themes of connections and migrations between Western and Eastern civilizations. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his second novel, Midnight's Children. His writing has spawned 30 book-length studies, and over 700 articles on his writing. Rushdie's writings have broadly been acclaimed to the genres of magical realism and historical fiction. He has been living in the US since 2000, and he was named a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in 2015. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, including for Midnight's Children, in 1983 for Shame, in 1988 for The Satanic Versus, in 1995 for The Moor's Last Sign, and in 2019 for Quichotte. Rushdie, 75, is an Indian-born acclaimed author and novelist Advertisement UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' Author Ian McEwan issued a statement about Rushdie, saying: 'This appalling attack on my dear friend Salman represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech. 'These are the freedoms that underpin all our rights and liberties. 'Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world. 'He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage, and he will not be deterred.' The author was knighted in 2007 in Britain 'for services to literature' by his friend, then Prime Minister Tony Blair. His last piece of writing was about an assassination attempt, serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave on Sub Stack, which appeared to focus on spies and assassinations. Rushdie has previously received death threats for his writing, with his book the Satanic Verses which supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran. He wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain with protests taking place in the UK along with book burnings. Pakistan banned the book, and he was issued a fatwa a death sentence - by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989. Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves. The fatwa, or 'spiritual opinion', followed a wave of book burnings in Britain and rioting across the Muslim world which led to the deaths of 60 people and hundreds being injured. Rushdie was put under round-the-clock security from 1989 to 2002, at the expense of the British taxpayer, when a $3million bounty was put on his head. He was forced to go into hiding for a decade with police protection, and previously said he received a 'sort of Valentines card' from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million. After the attack Rushdie, who moved to the US in 2000, was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest. The author previously complained about having 'too much' security while attending other events. He told reporters a the Prague Writer's Festival: 'To be here and to find a large security operation around me has actually felt a little embarrassing. 'I thought it was really unnecessary and kind of excessive and was certainly not arranged on my request. 'I spent a great deal of time before I came here saying that I really didn't want that. 'So I was very surprised to arrive here and discover a really quite substantial operation, because it felt like being in a time warp, that I had gone back in time several years.' Rushdie is a former president of PEN America, with their current CEO Suzanne Nossel issuing a statement which said: 'PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was reportedly stabbed multiple times while on stage speaking at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York. 'We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil. 'Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning Salman had emailed me to help with placements for Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face. Police remain on the scene outside of the Chautauqua Institution after Rushdie was flown to hospital via air ambulance on Friday afternoon Dozens of onlookers quickly rushed to the stage to try to apprehend the suspect, and help Rushdie after he was attacked in front of hundreds He was urgently taken to hospital via air ambulance, with his current condition unknown. Rushdie was reportedly stabbed ten to fifteen times, suffering knife wounds in the neck His agent, Andrew Wylie, said that the author was currently in surgery for his injuries, but did not have an update on his condition The Seventh Wave: Rushdie's last published work focused on spies and assassinations Salman Rushdie was serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave, on Sub Stack, which appeared to have a heavy focus on spies and organized killings. His latest piece of writing referenced men in 'sodden balaclavas': Episode 48 The four men in black wearing sodden balaclavas are out in the open, closing in. ANNA and FRANCIS are on the terrace of the house, holding guns. FIRST MAN (shouting) Come down, Anna, Nobody gonna hurt you. And the other individual we don't require. ANNA (shouting back) Hello, boys! Would you like a refreshing drink? (They come closer.) SECOND MAN (also shouting) Don't you crack wise now, Anna. No, we do not need no fucking drink. Maybe you didn't notice it's wet out. ANNA (still shouting) We have towels. You need to dry your hair? (to FRANCIS) They are within range now. This is too easy. We can take them all. FRANCIS I don't know, Anna. I can't do it. Credit: Sub Stack Advertisement 'Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered. He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced. 'While we do not know the origins or motives of this savage attack, all those around the world who have met words with violence or called for the same are culpable for legitimizing this an assault on a writer while he was engaged in his essential work of connecting to readers. 'Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. 'We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.' Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese for Rushdie, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature. Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan. The novel's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993, but survived the attack. In Turkey, the book's translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37. Rushdie previously wrote a 655-page fatwa memoir, which was nominated for the UK's top non- fiction award, the Samuel Johnson prize. During the fatwa he lived in permanent terror and at one point thought his ex-wife Clarissa Luard and their son Zafar, who was nine at the time, had been killed by assassins or kidnapped. In 1998 Iran's reformist president relaxed the fatwa and said it had no intention of tracking Rushdie down and killing him. Technically it still stands but is unlikely to be enforced. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. He has has two children from his four marriages - his other son is called Milan - but has been linked with many other women including Indian model Riya Sen. Prince Charles also reportedly refused to support the author during his fatwa because he thought the book was offensive to Muslims. In an article for Vanity Fair magazine, Martin Amis claimed that the Prince's views caused a row at a dinner party after Rushdie was issued with the death sentence by Islamic clerics in 1989. Amis claims that Charles told him that he would not offer support 'if someone insults someone else's deepest convictions'. Amis remonstrated with him but all Charles did was 'take it on board', even though Rushdie is a British-Indian citizen. Fellow author Stephen King also refused to let stores in America sell his books if they refused to carry The Satanic Verses. Rushdie has spoken at the Chautauqua Institution before, which is based about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York. It is known for its summertime lecture series. Rushdie has been married four times and had a string of high-profile romances that included Padma Lakshmi, Olivia Wide, and models decades younger than him. He met his first wife, Clarissa Luard, at a pop concert in the UK in 1969, with the couple marrying in 1976 and having their son Zafar three years later. Although they divorced in 1987, they remained close friends, and Rushdie reportedly stayed by her side when she died from breast cancer at age 50 in 1999. Rushdie has been married four times, including to Elizabeth West Salman, pictured. The couple married in 1994 and two had a son, Milan, in 1999 Rushdie attributed his intellect and 'good looks' for his successful love life, which included dates with Oliva Wilde (left). The two were pictured together at the Washington Correspondents Dinner in 2008 Salman Rushdie (right) together with his fourth wife, model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshimi attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 By the time Luard passed, Rushdie had already been married twice. He tied the knot Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins, an American, in 1988 and then to editor Elizabeth West in 1997. Rushdie was with Wiggins when he faced backlash over The Satanic Verses, with Rushdie saying that he heard criticisms that his 'Jewish wife' made him write it. 'At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it,' Rushdie said. 'They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American.' Wiggins spent some time in hiding even after the couple divorced in 1993, and the following year, Rushdie married Elizabeth West, and the two had a son, Milan, in 1999. Rushdie had previously said that he and West, an author and editor, began growing apart when he wanted to move to the US and she wanted to stay in the UK and have another child. Following a miscarriage, the couple officially split in 2004. After the split from West, Rushdie immediately dove into the world of pop celebrities, marrying model turned Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi in 2004. The two had met back in 1999 at a lavish New York City party thrown by media queen Tina Brown. Lakshmi alleges that the two had an affair during the party, and that Rushdie promised to be with her once his rocky marriage to West concludes. Rushdie's 2001 novel, Fury, was dedicated to Lakshmi. At the time of the wedding, Lakshmi was 28, while Rushdie was 51. While Rushdie's previous marriages lasted more than a decade, his union with Lakshmi only lasted three years, with the novelist bemoaning her in his memoir as a 'bad investment' who overly narcissistic and ambitious. Lakshmi hit back at Rushdie in her own memoirs, calling him 'sexually needy' and insensitive to her endometriosis. How Salman Rushdie lived under the shadow of a fatwa for 30 years: British author went into hiding when Iran's spiritual leader ordered he was killed for 'blasphemous' The Satanic Verses but he was living a 'normal life' in New York before his stabbing BY JACK WRIGHT He was first forced into hiding more than 30 years ago by Iran's theocratic dictatorship after the regime branded The Satanic Verses a work of blasphemy. From ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity, to finally finding a new home in the US, British author Salman Rushdie has now been stabbed in the neck on stage in New York - the supposed beating heart of free speech and culture. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic, issued a fatwa - or religious ruling - calling on all Muslims to murder the celebrated atheist author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989. Rushdie, now 75, was forced to live under the long shadow the fatwa cast until it was finally lifted by Iran's hardline regime in 1998. But for nine years, the writer constantly between safe houses and was protected by round-the-clock armed guards. He even adopted an alias, Joseph Anton - a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers, Conrad and Chekhov. The fatwa also led to the murder of the book's Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, the targeting of its translators and publishers in Turkey, Norway and Italy, and worldwide riots and book-burnings - while The Satanic Verses itself was banned in many countries. Sir Salman Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses during a 1992 news conference in Arlington Speaking about the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: 'Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks of who the hell does he think he is? Well, from my side it felt like jail. 'There was this crude argument that I did it in some way for personal advantage, to make myself more famous or to make money. At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it. They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American. 'If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction.' Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi 'What you have to remember is that The Satanic Verses is not called Islam the Prophet, it is not called Mohammed, the country is not called Arabia - it all happens in the dream of somebody who is losing their mind.' What still shocks him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who backed the call for his assassination were ever prosecuted. 'There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their congregation, 'Tell me who in this audience would be ready to kill Rushdie?' and everyone in the audience raised their hand. And the police thought this was OK.' He says: 'Supposing I had been the Queen and an imam said to his congregation, 'Who would be ready to kill the Queen?' and everybody raised their hand. Would you think the police would not act? 'I only use the Queen as an example to dramatize this but it seems odd that when it is a novelist of foreign origin, therefore not completely British in some way, that it was allowed to happen with impunity.' Rushdie remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realized that she was lying he decided to end the relationship. 'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith. 'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have. And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. 'It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate.' In an interview three years ago, he said: 'Islam was not a thing. No one was thinking in that way. One of the things that has happened is that people in the West are more informed than they used to be'. He ruefully added: 'I was 41 back then, now I am 71. Things are fine now. We live in a world where the subject changes very fast. And this is a very old subject. There are now many other things to be frightened about - and other people to kill'. This photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Aug. 12. Yonhap North Korea has lifted a face mask mandate and eased antivirus curbs as the communist state moves toward normalcy after declaring victory in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, state media reported Saturday. Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared victory in his country's emergency campaign against COVID-19, three months after the nation first reported the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a face mask mandate and other antivirus restrictions were lifted across the country, except "frontline areas and borderline cities and counties." But mask-wearing is recommended in case of respiratory disease symptoms, such as the flu, according to the KCNA. Pyongyang announced its first COVID-19 case May 12 after claiming to be coronavirus-free for over two years and implemented nationwide lockdowns. The North's daily fever tally has remained at zero since July 29 after peaking at over 392,920 on May 15 Last month, the North claimed its coronavirus outbreak originated from alien things found near the inter-Korean border, alluding to balloon-carried materials sent by North Korean defector groups in South Korea, such as anti-Pyongyang leaflets. The North's latest declaration comes just before South Korea and the United States kick off the Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise on Aug. 22 amid concerns that Pyongyang could dial up regional tensions with military provocations. (Yonhap) A Melbourne woman who claimed she injured her knee and back after she slipped on a piece of lettuce during a trip to the supermarket has lost her legal bid for compensation. Kanwaleen Bhelley, 43, claimed she suffered a whole person impairment (WPI) of more than five per cent following the ordeal at a Coles store at Wyndham Vale in May 2020. Ms Bhelley's medical reports supporting her claim that her impairment from the fall exceeded five per cent were rejected by the supermarket giant, which referred the case to a medical panel which assessed her in 2021. The panel found Ms Bhelley suffered age-related degenerative changes to her spine and sacroiliac joints associated with rehabilitation treatment of her right knee. The panel ruled her condition was stable and that she didn't meet the WPI threshold required for compensation. A Melbourne woman who slipped on lettuce at a Coles store at Wyndham Vale had her bid for compensation dismissed Ms Bhelley lodged an appeal against the decision in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging the panel made jurisdictional errors. 'In particular, she alleges that, in finding that her injuries did not satisfy the threshold level, the Panel either did not apply the Guides; mistook or misapplied the provisions of the Guides; or made a finding that was not open to it, or which was unreasonable,' court documents state. 'Mrs Bhelley submitted that, absent such error, the panel would have determined that her degree of whole person impairment resulting from her spinal injury was 5%, satisfying the significant injury threshold and in turn entitling her to claim noneconomic loss damages.' Ms Bhelley claimed her injuries from the supermarket fall in 2020 caused pain, restricted her movement and limited her attendance at concerts and her temple. Kanwaleen Bhelley claimed she suffered injuries to her back and right knee after slipping on a piece of lettuce at Coles (stock image) She also alleged she could only drive for about an hour before experiencing lower back pain and did not run in fear of causing pain to her right knee. 'She can stand for about 10 minutes before she has to stretch her back,' the panel wrote in their report. 'She can walk for about 30 minutes, (but) after about 500m she notices mild right knee pain, so stops walking to sit or stand for about 10 minutes.' 'She can traverse stairs without difficulty, using alternate stair treads for both ascending and descending, with no lower back or right knee issues.' Judge Andrea Tsalamandris acknowledged Ms Bhelley could still be suffering symptoms or complaints from the fall two years ago. But she ruled the panel had not erred in their assessment and dismissed Ms Bhelley's appeal when she handed down her judgement on Friday. 'It was open to the panel to determine that Ms Bhelley's complaints and symptoms were most appropriately categorised,' Judge Tsalamandris wrote. 'I am not satisfied that there was a jurisdictional error made by the panel, and therefore dismiss this application.' Advertisement Iran's deranged state media has today gleefully celebrated the sickening attack on Salman Rushdie, hailing the British author's suspected knifeman and branding the novellist an 'apostate' and 'heretic' whose book The Satanic Verses 'blasphemed' the Prophet Muhammad. Rushdie, 75, was stabbed up to 15 times - including once in the neck - on stage in upstate New York - more than 30 years after the theocratic dictatorship in Tehran issued a fatwa calling for the murder of the writer and anyone involved with the publication of the 1988 novel. The edict forced Sir Salman to go into hiding for a decade under an alias and round-the-clock police protection - and fuelled worldwide riots and book-burnings. Last night Iranian state media celebrated the shocking attack on Rushdie, calling him a 'depraved heretic-writer' and 'apostate author'. An apostate is the term for someone who renounces a religious belief, which in Islamic theology is punishable by death. FARS News, a regime-owned outlet, also called Sir Salman an 'apostate' and accused him of having 'insulted the Prophet of Islam (PBUH)' with the book's 'anti-religious content.' Iranian ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan, whose chief Hossein Shariatmadari is a close confidant of current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Rushdie's suspected attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, from New Jersey - who US law enforcement last night said enquiries suggested was sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. In an editorial in Saturday's edition, Shariatmadari thundered: 'Bravo to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie in New York. Let us kiss the hands of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife.' The Iranian regime has long stood by the fatwa, with Khamenei tweeting in 2019 that the fatwa 'is based on divine verses, and just like divine verses, it is solid and irrevocable.' Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left), British author Sir Salman Rushdie (right) The front pages of the August 13 edition of Iranian newspapers Vatan-e Emrooz, front, with title reading in Farsi: 'Knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie,' and Hamshahri, rear, with title: 'Attack on writer of Satanic Verses' People scan publications at a news stand in Tehran, Iran this morning after the sickening attack on Rushdie Law enforcement officers detaining Rushdie's suspected attacker Hadi Matar outside the Chautauqua Institution yesterday On stage at the lecture theatre: Sir Salman Rushdie is seen on the left at the the Chautauqua Institution Matar being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair. New York State Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries Man, 24, who stabbed Salman Rushdie had fake driver's license in name of HEZBOLLAH commander and praised Iran's Revolutionary Guard on social media The fake driver's license that was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both, the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander, it has been claimed. That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia causes, including supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. According to the Council on Foreign Relation's profile on Hezbollah: 'The Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.' Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Advertisement Conservative Iranian pundit Keyvan Saedy said on Twitter: 'This deserves congratulation: God willing, we will celebrate Salman Rushdie going to hell soon.' Hossein Saremi, a conservative social media activist, added that a 'lion' had beaten Rushdie and that the attacker was part of 'Islam's soldiers without borders.' He wrote: 'Revenge may be delayed, but it will inevitably happen'. A senior adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiating team, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, said that he will not shed a tear for the writer 'who spouts endless hatred and contempt for Muslims and Islam.' Several accounts affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards also openly boasted about the attack. One called Syria News published a post saying: 'The order was carried out at a place they never thought about. It's not important if he doesn't die; it's important that they understand the battle is not over.' Eghtesad Salem, a conservative news website, published a column saying that the attack was issuing a clear message to American officials. It stated that they would be hunted down for the assassination of Iran's top general, Qassim Suleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in January 2020. Majid Motamedi wrote: 'Carrying out the order to murder Salman Rushdie 33 years after it was issued sends a message to American officials that they must fear Iran's revenge for Gen Qassim Suleimani, until their death, even if the revenge takes 33 years.' In Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for the attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Iran's capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. 'I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam,' said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. 'This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities.' Iranian dissidents pinned the blame for the attack on the regime in Tehran and specifically its leadership. Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Fox News Digital: 'For the attempt to kill British author Salman Rushdie, there is no need for forensic evidence to know about the mastermind of this murder plot, Over three decades ago, then Supreme Leader Khomeini issued a fatwa to kill Rushdie, and senior Iranian regime officials have repeatedly endorsed it and even offered multi-million dollars bounties for his life.' Rushdie is on a ventilator and may lose an eye after he was stabbed on stage in New York state. The writer, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua some 65 miles south-west of Buffalo, when he was stabbed multiple times, sustaining nerve damage to his arm and damage to his liver, according to the New York Times. He was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police officials, before he was taken to hospital. According to the NYT Sir Salman's agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak. Mr Wylie added the news was 'not good' and the author will 'likely lose one eye'. He said the nerves in Sir Salman's arm were severed in the attack and his liver was 'stabbed and damaged'. Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: 'Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution. 'Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. 'Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy. 'Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene. 'Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery.' Photos from the Associated Press news agency showed Sir Salman lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him. The Iranian newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz carried the headline: 'Knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie' Iranian ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan, whose chief Hossein Shariatmadari is a close confidant of current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Rushdie's suspected attacker. In an editorial in Saturday's edition, Shariatmadari thundered: 'Bravo to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie in New York. Let us kiss the hands of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife' A senior adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiating team, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, said that he will not shed a tear for the writer 'who spouts endless hatred and contempt for Muslims and Islam' Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi Ayatollah Khomeini at his residence in the leafy Paris suburb of Neauphle-le Chateau during his exile Biden could EASE pressure on Iran to rescue the nuclear deal Trump killed despite Rushdie attack and assassination plots on US soil, leaked negotiations reveal Leaked details of negotiations with Iran suggest that the Biden administration could be prepared to make significant concessions to revive the defunct nuclear deal Leaked details of negotiations with Iran suggest that the Biden administration is prepared to make significant concessions to revive the defunct nuclear deal - even as shocking Iranian-inspired murder plots including an attack on Salman Rushdie unfold on US soil. This week, following days of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna, EU officials put forward a 'final' proposal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump pulled out of unilaterally four years ago. Excerpts of a leaked draft of the text suggest that it would blunt American sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guards and clear a path for Tehran to avoid further scrutiny of its suspected atomic sites, Politico reported on Friday evening. Though it is technically an EU proposal, European officials have worked closely with the US delegation in the negotiations, and are believed to have sign-off from Washington on the proposed terms. The proposal seemed to signal President Joe Biden's willingness to make significant concessions - in particular in regard to the Revolutionary Guard, which the US designates as a foreign terrorist organization. Iran has already responded to favorably to the deal, but it comes amid disturbing disturbing murder plots that appear to be inspired by Tehran. Advertisement His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous, and its publication prompted Iran's then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury. They were due to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. A video posted to Twitter by an AP reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage. New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salman's life. She added: 'He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life.' The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: 'We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today.' Its president Michael Hill said: 'What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history. 'We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems. Today now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits - hate.' Jeremy Genovese, 68, from Beachwood, Ohio, a retired academic from Cleveland State University, told the PA news agency he arrived at the amphitheatre as it was being evacuated and people were 'streaming out'. He said: 'People were in shock, many people in tears. Chautauqua has always prided itself as a place where people can engage in civil dialogue. 'The amphitheatre is a large outdoor venue where people have given lectures since the late 1800s. You need a pass to access the grounds but it is not too difficult to get in.' Sir Salman's publisher Penguin Random House said they are 'deeply shocked and appalled' by the incident. Chief executive Markus Dohle said in a statement to PA: 'We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. 'We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was 'appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend'. He added: 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: 'Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. 'All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Sir Salman was previously president of PEN America, which celebrates free expression and speech, and its chief executive Suzanne Nossel was among those reacting to the attack. She tweeted: 'PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former president and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie.' She added: 'Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.' Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named 'best of the Bookers' on the literary award's 25th anniversary. The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Jones's Diary. The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. His other works include The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker. He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours. How Salman Rushdie lived under the shadow of a fatwa for 30 years: British author went into hiding when Iran's spiritual leader ordered he was killed for 'blasphemous' The Satanic Verses but he was living a 'normal life' in New York before his stabbing He was first forced into hiding more than 30 years ago by Iran's theocratic dictatorship after the regime branded The Satanic Verses a work of blasphemy. From ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity, to finally finding a new home in the US, British author Salman Rushdie has now been stabbed in the neck on stage in New York - the supposed beating heart of free speech. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic, issued a fatwa - or religious ruling - calling on all Muslims to murder the celebrated atheist author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989. Rushdie, now 75, was forced to live under the long shadow the fatwa cast until it was finally lifted by Iran's hardline regime in 1998. But for nine years, the writer constantly moved between safe houses and was protected by round-the-clock armed guards. He even adopted an alias, Joseph Anton - a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers, Conrad and Chekhov. The fatwa also led to the murder of the book's Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, the targeting of its translators and publishers in Turkey, Norway and Italy, and worldwide riots and book-burnings - while The Satanic Verses itself was banned in many countries. Speaking about the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: 'Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks of who the hell does he think he is? Well, from my side it felt like jail. 'There was this crude argument that I did it in some way for personal advantage, to make myself more famous or to make money. At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it. They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American. 'If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction.' Sir Salman Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses during a 1992 news conference in Arlington Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi Ayatollah Khomeini at his residence in the leafy Paris suburb of Neauphle-le Chateau during his exile 'What you have to remember is that The Satanic Verses is not called Islam the Prophet, it is not called Mohammed, the country is not called Arabia - it all happens in the dream of somebody who is losing their mind.' What shocked him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who backed the call for his assassination were ever prosecuted. He said: 'There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their congregation, ''Tell me who in this audience would be ready to kill Rushdie?'' and everyone in the audience raised their hand. And the police thought this was OK. Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses in 1989 'Supposing I had been the Queen and an imam said to his congregation, ''Who would be ready to kill the Queen?'' and everybody raised their hand. Would you think the police would not act? 'I only use the Queen as an example to dramatise this but it seems odd that when it is a novelist of foreign origin, therefore not completely British in some way, that it was allowed to happen with impunity.' Rushdie remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realised that she was lying he decided to end the relationship. 'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith. 'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have. 'And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate.' In an interview three years ago, he said: 'Islam was not a thing. No one was thinking in that way. One of the things that has happened is that people in the West are more informed than they used to be'. He ruefully added: 'I was 41 back then, now I am 71. Things are fine now. We live in a world where the subject changes very fast. And this is a very old subject. There are now many other things to be frightened about - and other people to kill'. Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame, with it also later crowned the 'best of the Bookers' on the literary award's 25th anniversary. His other works include the Moor's Last Sight and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker, and he also published a memoir called Joseph Anton about the fatwa. In this file photo taken on February 26, 1989, Hezbollah militants burn an effigy of Rushdie People rushed to assist the author after the attack in New York Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature, a decision that triggered outrage in several Muslim countries, including Malaysia and Pakistan. In 2017, he risked angering Islamists again by saying he could not face reading the 'unenjoyable' Koran. Asked if Islam's central text should be edited to make the religion seem 'more humane', the author replied: 'Editing the Koran seems like a mug's game. It's not a very enjoyable book because most of it is not narrative. The big difference between the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran is that the Koran has the least narrative of them. Only about a quarter of the book is stories. A third of the book is fulminations against the unbeliever and how they will rot in hell. Another third of the book is laws, how you should behave. 'So no I wouldn't edit it because then I'd have to read it, and I don't want to do that.' Vladimir Putin's secret service agents are refusing to work in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, an alleged FSB insider has claimed. Even salaries six to eight times higher than usual are failing to persuade counter-intelligence officers to move to conquered areas, the source said. Putin urgently needs both regular and military intelligence operatives to enforce his rule in the two 'people's republics' in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk as well as Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv. But FSB agents are avoiding the postings, obtaining medical certificates from complaint doctors for themselves or family members, reports Telegram forum We Can Explain. Vladimir Putin is pictured with FSB director and close ally Alexander Bortnikov (front right) A close ally of Putin, Bortnikov has reportedly failed to entice spies to Russian-held Ukraine The lack of loyalty to Putin from the rank and file intelligence operatives mirrors a reluctance from troops to be posted to the war zone, which has resulted in the Kremlin desperately recruiting untrained prisoners and 'Dad's Army' civilians for frontline deployment. Putin's 'siloviki' secret services chiefs are even trying to woo back retired or fired agents for war zone roles. But there is little or no interest, an FSB source told the Telegram channel. They said: 'We called 200 [retired] people and only three said they would think about it. 'This is despite the promises of huge payments and benefits.' Officers have been offered around 5,000 a month to service in occupied zones, it is claimed. This is up to eight times their normal pay, and far more than payments to soldiers fighting in the war. 'Personnel departments are actively calling former employees, even those dismissed on discrediting grounds,' stated the report. Counterintelligence officials are thought to have been offered six or eight times normal pay Some officers report that they are 'exhausted' by almost six months of intensive duties with holidays cancelled during the war. Many are reportedly seeking to quit the service. The FSB - Russia's Federal Security Service and successor to the KGB - was once led by Putin. Its current head is his close ally Alexander Bortnikov. The report says there had been open dissent in the ranks, with some FSB officers sent to remote postings in eastern Siberia as demonstrative punishments intended to warn others to toe the line. 'The shortage of personnel in the special service is also confirmed by a draft decree submitted by the FSB itself,' the forum reported. 'This will allow the signing of contracts with [recruits] with only secondary education, not higher, as was required before, and with those who do not have experience of military service.' Firefighters stand atop wreckage in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where fighting continues A Met Police officer who headbutted a bar manager after he broke Covid rules has been sacked. Luke Wilson, 28, avoided jail in March after he was found guilty of assaulting the man in Be At One in Monument, London in July last year. Mr Wilson was on a night out with a group of around 20 other off-duty police officers when bar manager Johnny White challenged the group for breaking Covid restrictions by moving between tables. In a confrontation between Mr Wilson and Mr White captured on film, the Met officer headbutted the bar manager - sparking a brawl in the bar. Former Met Police officer Luke Wilson, 28, pictured leaving Westminster Magistrates Court in March after he was found guilty of assault The Met officer was convicted following a trial at Westminster Magistrates Court and sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to carry out 80 hours of community service and pay 200 in compensation and 903. On Thursday, Mr Wilson was sacked from the Metropolitan Police and barred from policing by a disciplinary hearing, The Evening Standard Reported. The hearing said: 'Police officers are rightly held to a high standard where professionalism and behavioural standards are concerned. 'Whether on or off duty they must behave in a manner befitting public service', said Chief superintendent Trevor Lawry. CCTV footage showed PC Luke Wilson headbutting bar manager Johnny White on July 2 last year after he and his group of officers were confronted over breaking Covid rules 'PC Wilson's behaviour fell far below the standards we expect from our officers and it is right that he has faced the consequences of his actions. 'The Met is driven by the values of professionalism, integrity, courage and compassion. We only want the best and will always act when our employees fall below the exemplary standards we and the public expect.' At his trial earlier this year, District Judge Briony Clarke called Mr Wilson's actions 'a moment of madness'. Defending him at the trial, Tom Bushnell told the court the assault was 'out of character' and that it 'pales' in comparison with his 'brilliant career' as a police officer. The hitman responsible for slaying underworld boss Carl Williams has dropped his appeal to overturn his conviction and end his life sentence. Supermax prisoner Matthew 'the General' Johnson brutally bashed Williams inside of a Barwon Prison ward in Victoria, striking him to death with the stem of an exercise bicycle seat in April 2010. Johnson reportedly dropped his appeal last month, with a source close to him saying he had had a 'gutful' trying to obtain relevant documents from Victoria Police and that he was 'not prepared to lie and say others were involved'. CCTV cameras caught Johnson in the act in 2010, recording him hitting Williams eight times with the seat post inside a high security unit of the prison. Security guards took 30 minutes to realise what Johnson had done. He was given a minimum of 32 years in prison over the killing, though he maintains he was innocent and acting in self defence - a claim the judge described as 'fanciful' at the time. A new photo has surfaced on brutal killer Matthew Johnson as he drops his appeal on a Supreme Court decision which saw him receive a life sentence for killing underworld boss Carl Williams Underworld figure Carl Williams (pictured) was murdered by Matthew Johnston in 2010 inside of Barwon Prison with a exercise bicycle seat post Johnson was caught beating Williams to death with the seat post on CCTV (pictured), though it took guards more than 30 minutes to find Williams Johnson had filed his appeal against the conviction in 2021. The slain baby-faced kingpin Williams had ordered the killings of three people and conspired to kill a fourth. The convicted murderer and drug trafficker was staring down life in prison, with a non-parole sentence of 35-years. However, while jailed, he assisted police with their investigations into at least ten unsolved underworld hit jobs. A Supreme Court judge found Johnson killed Williams because he knew Williams was narking to police about the killings of police informer Terence Hodson and wife Christine in 2004. Johnson, who has been in isolation since the murder, is the leader of the Prisoners of War gang in Barwon Prison. The gang has an explicit contempt for those who cooperate with police. Williams had linked himself between former cop Paul Dale and top hit-man Rodney Collins in the murders of the Hodsons in information he provided to Victoria Police. Johnson (pictured) has been a violent criminal since his youth, his criminal history includes more than 100 prior convictions for serious offences and ten previous terms of imprisonment The ageing prison murderer and gang leader Matthew Johnson (left) took a photo cradling his newborn grandson next to his daughter Tori in a sanctioned family visit years ago The pair were charged with the murders and appearing before the courts when Williams was killed. A source close to Johnson told the Herald Sun in Melbourne he'd had a 'gutful' trying to get police documents relevant to the case and Johnson had said he was 'not prepared to lie and say others were involved' in the murder of Williams to take his appeal further. He told the source: 'I did it for the reasons I did'. Johnson continues to serve 23 hours of each of his days in lockdown in Barwon Prison. Johnson is kept in a high security section of Barwon Prison (pictured), near Geelong, separated from some of Australia's most violent and dangerous inmates Carl Williams (pictured), convicted murderer and drug trafficker, was serving out a life imprisonment for ordering the murders of three people. He was assisting police when he was bludgeoned to death His criminal history includes more than 100 prior convictions for serious offences, having served ten previous terms of imprisonment. He had also notched up 76 separate incidents within prison, including multiple assaults on prisoners and prison staff, starting a fire, and possession of contraband - all prior to the murder case in 2010. A report by a Victorian Ombudsman in 2012 revealed that POW members were 'responsible for a series of violent assaults on prisoners and prison', including an assault on a prisoner who was allegedly acting as a police informant. A creed, allegedly written by Johnson, for his gang described how to solve problems in the prison with violence, including bashing, stabbing, and slashing. A photo showing piece of paper with the savage creed was posted on a social media profile linked to the ultra-violent prison gang. 'P.O.W. Prison is the jungle, and only the strong can survive ... Problems are solved with mayhem and violence ... People live and people die, We operate on an eye for an eye,' reads the note. 'Behind the concrete we fight a war, Action can erupt one step past the cell door, We bash, stab and slash,' it continues. The creed is signed off: 'Matt Johnson, The General'. Advertisement British author JK Rowling has condemned the 'horrifying' attempt on Salman Rushdie's life in upstate New York after The Satanic Verses novellist was stabbed multiple times by a suspected knifeman with alleged sympathies to Iran's theocratic regime. Reacting to the shocking attack last night, the Harry Potter writer and free speech campaigner - who has been pilloried in public by trans activists ever since she objected to the term 'people who menstruate' - tweeted: 'Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok.' Both authors are famous advocates of free speech and recently signed an open letter warning against the growth of cancel culture and 'censoriousness'. Rowling, 57, also shared tweets from journalists Stephanie Merritt and Hadley Freeman who praised Rushdie's courage after the Indian-born author, now 75, was forced to go into hiding for a decade when the dictatorship in Tehran issued a fatwa calling for his murder in 1989. Recalling an event she did with Rushdie two decades ago, Merritt said: 'God I hope Rushdie's ok. I interviewed him on stage about 20 years ago. The audience had to come in through airport-type security gates. I remember looking out at this big crowd & feeling suddenly scared: it would only take one. How much courage he must have had all this time.' And describing an interview with Rushdie last year, Guardian reporter Freeman called the author a 'truly brave, thoughtful and kind man'. She added: 'I was lucky enough to interview Salman Rushdie last year and we talked a lot about how he refuses to let the constant threats of violence against him define his life'. Horror writer Stephen King also echoed Rowling's concern, while PEN America said it was 'reeling from shock and horror' at the attack. The body's chief executive Suzanne Nossel said: 'We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil. Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered.' The attack also sent shockwaves through the political world, with Boris Johnson saying he was 'appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend', while Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was 'shocked' by the 'senseless attack'. British author JK Rowling has condemned the 'horrifying' attempt on Salman Rushdie's life in upstate New York The Harry Potter writer, 57, said on Twitter: 'Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok' Rowling also shared tweets from journalists Stephanie Merritt and Hadley Freeman who praised Rushdie's courage On stage at the lecture theatre: Sir Salman Rushdie is seen on the left at the the Chautauqua Institution Man, 24, who stabbed Salman Rushdie had fake driver's license in name of HEZBOLLAH commander and praised Iran's Revolutionary Guard on social media The fake driver's license that was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both, the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander, it has been claimed. That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia causes, including supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. According to the Council on Foreign Relation's profile on Hezbollah: 'The Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.' Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Advertisement UK Culture Minister Nadine Dorries called the attack 'horrifying', adding: 'An awful attack on a literary giant and one of the great defenders of freedom of expression.' Muslim societies on both sides of the Atlantic were quick to condemn the attack. The Muslim Council of Britain tweeted: 'Such violence is wrong and the perpetrator must be brought to justice,' while Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added: 'American Muslims, like all Americans, condemn any violence targeting anyone in our society.' Markus Dohle, chief executive of Penguin Random House, the author's publisher, said: 'We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie. We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.' Sir Salman was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police officials, before he was taken to hospital. According to the NYT Sir Salman's agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak. Mr Wylie added the news was 'not good' and the author will 'likely lose one eye'. He said the nerves in Sir Salman's arm were severed in the attack and his liver was 'stabbed and damaged'. Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: 'Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution. 'Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. 'Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy. 'Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene. 'Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery.' Photos from the Associated Press (AP) news agency showed Sir Salman lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him. His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous, and its publication prompted Iran's then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury. They were due to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. A video posted to Twitter by an AP reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage. New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salman's life. She added: 'He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life.' The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: 'We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today.' Its president Michael Hill said: 'What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history. 'We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems. Today now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits - hate.' Jeremy Genovese, 68, from Beachwood, Ohio, a retired academic from Cleveland State University, told the PA news agency he arrived at the amphitheatre as it was being evacuated and people were 'streaming out'. Matar being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair. New York State Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck Law enforcement officers detaining Rushdie's suspected attacker Hadi Matar outside the Chautauqua Institution yesterday Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries He said: 'People were in shock, many people in tears. Chautauqua has always prided itself as a place where people can engage in civil dialogue. 'The amphitheatre is a large outdoor venue where people have given lectures since the late 1800s. You need a pass to access the grounds but it is not too difficult to get in.' Sir Salman's publisher Penguin Random House said they are 'deeply shocked and appalled' by the incident. Chief executive Markus Dohle said in a statement to PA: 'We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. 'We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was 'appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend'. He added: 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: 'Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. 'All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Sir Salman was previously president of PEN America, which celebrates free expression and speech, and its chief executive Suzanne Nossel was among those reacting to the attack. She tweeted: 'PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former president and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie.' She added: 'Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.' Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named 'best of the Bookers' on the literary award's 25th anniversary. The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Jones's Diary. The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. His other works include The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker. He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours. An academic writing for the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre has argued Queen Elizabeth I may have been non-binary in an essay. In an essay on the Globe's website, trans-awareness trainer Dr Kit Heyam referred to the Virgin Queen with 'they/them' pronouns, saying: 'Elizabeth I... described themself regularly in speeches as "king", "queen" and "prince".' This comes after the Globe Theatre were ridiculed by Harry Potter author JK Rowling for portraying Joan of Arc as non-binary in their play I, Joan, which was branded 'insulting and damaging' by campaigners. The essay was published on Monday, August 8, was published in defence of the portrayal said the the common portrayal of the story as 'pragmatic gender nonconformity' in a 'patriarchal world' denies 'historical existence of trans experience'. 'Elizabeth I... described themself regularly in speeches as "king", "queen" and "prince",' Trans-awareness trainer Dr Kit Heyam argued. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth I as portrayed by Cate Blanchett in a scene from the film Golden Age directed by Shekhar Kapur Joan of Arc is one of the most famous and inspirational women in French history and a saint. New play a The Globe I, Joan (publicity picture left) has prompted some controversy Dr Heyam said the subtext 'is that Joan shouldnt be seen as part of trans history'. Elizabeth I famously rallied her troops against the Spanish Armada with the speech: 'I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too.' Leeds-based Dr Heyam, whose pronouns are they/them or he/him, compared Queen Elizabeth I to 10th-century English ruler thelfld, Lady of the Mercians, who ruled Mercia (what is now approximately the West Midlands) after the death of her husband. Trans awareness trainer Dr Heyam referred to the virgin queen with 'they/them' pronouns Dr Heyam said thelfld was 'later described as "conductingArmies, as if she had changed her sex": to take on a male-coded military role was, in some sense, for thelfld to become male.' The writer and academic Elizabeth I chose to 'strategically to emphasise their female identity or their male monarchical role at different points'. They said that Joan, like Elizabeth I, lived in a world where military leaders were almost always male and clothing was gendered and that dressing in armour and 'inhabiting that social role... while living and working among men, may not just have felt like gendered defiance: it may have had a profound impact on their sense of self'. Feminists have criticised the claim, calling it a 'regressive message' to publish. Philosopher Dr Jane Clare told the Telegraph, said it showed 'inherent gender conservatism in gender identity ideology,' that those who do ' "manly" things must be a man, and anyone who does "womanly" things must be a woman'. Dr Clare added this is why historical women in 'masculine' roles are being categorised as trans-men, non-binary or 'not-women'. 'This is a really regressive message to be sending out, especially to young women,' she concluded. 'I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too'. Pictured: The Coronation Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, c1600 The Globe Theatre, on the South Bank in London, is one of the word's most famous attractions Author of feminist book Misogynies said that women and girls can 'reject stereotypes without losing our sex' and that 'regressive ideology' is taking away female role models. Dr Heyam runs trans awareness training which are 'conversational, interactive sessions where "stupid questions" are welcome, tailored to the practical realities of your workplace'. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre said Dr Heyam's essay was a 'blog from a guest academic on our website and not representative of current work on our stages'. A man has been charged with killing two people while driving on drugs after a mother and her father were killed when a supercar ploughed into a family of five in Ramsgate. Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld died after the nightmare crash outside a multi-storey car park in Kent on Wednesday at around 9.35pm. Her father Yoram Hirshfeld, believed to be 78, also died of his injuries from the crash. A schoolgirl of primary school age also suffered serious injuries and was taken to a London hospital for treatment. A man in his 40s and a boy of primary school age also sustained minor injuries. Police have confirmed that the family were not local to the area. Nitesh Bissendary, 30, from Manston, Kent has been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He has also been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision, driving under influence of drugs and failing to provide a sample for analysis. He is due to appear at Margate Magistrates Court on Saturday August 13. Marc-Pierre Campos, 56, who owns Marc-Pierre's Kitchen, a restaurant near the crash site said the images of the incident will stay with him for the rest of his life. He said: 'There was a big loud bang and a crash and then customers and my staff went rushing down and started shouting for someone to call the emergency services. 'I called them and they asked which service do you need and I said we need all three. 'A fire brigade was needed to pull the car off the woman. And it was clear the police need to be involved too. 'That image will stay with me for the rest of my life.' Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld died after an Alfa Romeo ploughed into her family of five outside the multi-storey car park in Ramsgate, Kent Yoram Hirshfeld (pictured), believed to be 78, was also killed after being injured in the crash last night when a black Alfa Romeo crashed into the family The mother was killed alongside her father when a supercar ploughed into her Israeli family of five in Ramsgate, Kent The nightmare unfolded outside the multi-storey car park in Leopold Street on Wednesday at around 9.35pm when a black Alfa Romeo crashed into them as they stood at the side of the road Anastasiya, 42, who didn't want to give her second name, said: 'It was a big crash. A car was driving down the road while people were waiting for the bus. 'I was there just after it happened and called the ambulance and the police and they came really quickly. They arrived around 10pm. 'The police have told us the family were from Israel.' Anastasiya, who has lived in Ramsgate for five years and works nearby the crash site, said she saw the fire brigade lifting the car off a woman before medics tried to resuscitate her with CPR. She said: 'The mum was under the car and the fire brigade used a fork lift to get her out. 'They then did CPR on her but she had no chance of surviving. 'They tried but she was already dead.' A former student of Yoram Hirshfeld paid tribute to him after his death, saying he was someone who 'radiated so much kindness'. Amnon Eden, 54, from Essex, was taught mathematics at university by Mr Hirshfeld 25 years ago. He said: 'His teaching was legendary. He knew how to explain complex math at the highest order in a way that even I, not a mathematician, and dyslexic to boot, could understand.' He said he was sorry that his former professor died in 'such a tragic and unnecessary manner'. Amnon added: 'Yoram deserves an obituary for being the greatest teacher and a brilliant mathematician. 'Ive lived in five countries (Israel, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and the UK) and worked with thousands of people (but) Yoram was special.' Tributes laid next to the damaged wall after the fatal crash, where people have laid flowers and written messages to the family after the fatal car crash at Ramsgate Harbour where Cambridge physicist Noga Hirshfeld and her father, Yoram Hirshfeld, believed to be 78, were killed The scene outside a multi-storey car park in Ramsgate, where a man aged in his 80s and a woman in her 30s died after a black Alfa Romeo collided with five pedestrians on Wednesday night A man pours water on the pavement where 2 people died and a child was injured after a car crash the night before The family were understood to have been sat on a bench when the tragedy happened The twisted metal and broken brickwork gave an indication of the force of which the car had hit after it went off the road The area the car struck appears to be visible in the damaged bricks to the left of the bench A cleaning van is parked at the scene where two people died and a child injured in Ramsgate This morning an area of the street where the crash took place has been taped off. A wall opposite the entrance to a multi-storey car park has been damaged and a road sign knocked to the floor. A bench has also been removed in the wake of the accident. Mayor of Ramsgate Cllr Raushan Ara, who has a business nearby, said her heart goes out to the family. Reacting to the tragedy, she said: 'It's so sad. I was frightened last night [Wednesday] because there so many police cars and ambulances - and the fire engines were going up and down until 11pm.' Cllr Ara added that the incident reinforces the need for 'speed controls' in the town, reducing the limit to 20mph. She added: 'We have been fighting for this for many years.' A man has been arrested after two people were killed and a schoolgirl left seriously injured An Australian academic who was held hostage by the Taliban for three years returned to Afghanistan to complete his 'journey' and support the militant group. Timothy Weeks was photographed arriving in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday afternoon and hugging Khalid Zadran, a Taliban police spokesman. Mr Weeks has been an avid supporter of the Taliban since converting to Islamic faith in May 2018 while held as a hostage between August 2016 and November 2019. Upon his arrival, Mr Weeks hugged Khalid Zadran (above), a Taliban police spokesman, and announced he is there to 'celebrate the one-year anniversary of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' He converted then his name to Jibra'il Omar in line with his new faith. He claims that the new name symbolises his belief that an archangel was watching over him during his time as a hostage of the Taliban. Upon his arrival in Afghanistan, Mr Weeks told reporters his trip back to Afghanistan was part of his 'journey'. 'I first came to Afghanistan six years ago as you know, in 2016, and I came here with a dream to learn about Afghanistan. Now I'm coming again to complete my journey,' he told Afghan outlet Tolo News. 'I'm also coming to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan who I have stood behind. 'I spent three and a half years with Taliban soldiers, and I saw these people in a light that nobody else has been able to.' Timothy Weeks (above), and Australian academic who was held hostage by the Taliban from August 2016 to November 2019, returned to Kabul on Friday Upon his arrival back in Sydney after he was freed from the Taliban in exchange for three high-ranking Taliban officials, Mr Weeks (pictured with his sisters) said his time as a prisoner 'had a profound and unimaginable effect' Timothy Weeks was captured as a Taliban hostage alongside American academic Kevin King while teaching English at the American University of Afghanistan (pictured, Mr Weeks, left, and Mr King, right, in 2017 during their imprisonment) Mr Weeks was taken hostage by the Taliban in Kabul on August 9, 2016, after arriving 33 days earlier to teach English at the American University of Afghanistan. He and American academic Kevin King were released in exchange for three high-ranking Taliban officials in November, 2019. When he arrived in Sydney following his release, Mr Weeks said: 'The time I spent as hostage with the Taliban has had a profound and unimaginable effect on me. 'I struggled to find words to express just how completely this has changed me. 'At times I felt as if my death was imminent and that I would never return to see those that I loved again.' Mr Weeks, who was raised in a Christian home in the NSW town of Wagga Wagga, said the guards who held him captive inspired him to convert to Islam with their 'unfathomable, unshakable faith'. 'I thought the Taliban guards would be overjoyed but they threatened to kill me instead,' he said, speaking of his conversion. Mr Weeks has been an outspoken advocate for the Taliban since his release and converted to Islamic faith while in captivity in 2018, taking the new Islamic name Jibra'il Omar Mr Weeks claimed the Taliban are largely supported in Afghanistan, despite images of thousands of Afghans fleeing the country after the August, 2021, fall of Kabul (pictured, refugees disembarking a plane in Abu Dhabi after fleeing Kabul) Mr Weeks was an outspoken advocate for the Taliban following the fall of Kabul in August, 2021. 'While [some] flog their false narratives of 'evil', the truth on the ground speaks for itself,' he said in the week during the invasion. 'The Afghan people have spoken.' He claimed the Taliban were able to seize control of Kabul so quickly due to large local support. However, disturbing footage captured on the ground of the capital city saw civilians falling to their death trying to flee the country on planes and hiding in their homes as soldiers went from door-to-door, hardly showing the support Mr Weeks claimed. The Taliban's previous reign in the 1990s is remembered for its violent oppression of women and the nation being used as a base for al Qaeda to strike the United States on September 11, 2001. The brutal regime saw Afghan women beaten in the street and publicly executed, denied work, healthcare and education, and barred from leaving their homes without a male chaperone. On Saturday a group of women held a protest in Kabul (above) and chanted for 'bread, work and freedom' following reports of gender discrimination New images show Taliban fighters (above) firing in the air to disperse the protesting women on Saturday Taliban leaders said it will respect women's rights in its new era but information coming from people who have fled the militant group suggest otherwise. Reports show women are being denied education and employment with Afghanistan Human Rights reporter Richard Bennett saying the Taliban is making them 'invisible by excluding them almost entirely from society'. In July Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the harsh restrictions have taken a massive toll on mental health. 'Every day there is at least one or two women who commit suicide for the lack of opportunity, for the mental health, for the pressure they receive,' he said. 'The fact that girls as young as nine years old are being sold, not only because of economic pressure, but because of the fact that there is no hope for them, for their family, it is not normal.' Photos taken on Saturday show Taliban fighters firing into the air to disperse a group of women protesting in Kabul for 'bread, work and freedom'. Witch doctors are believed to be behind the barbaric killing of over 100 vultures at South Africa's best-known safari park butchering them for use in black magic potions. A buffalo was first poisoned and when vultures began to circle over it in the Kruger National Park it was not long before they flew down for a feast on the stricken beast. As the scavengers began to clean the carcass the powerful poison entered the birds' bodies then they began to collapse in droves dying in agony around the half consumed buffalo. Even a lone hyena which had moved in for its share of the kill was found dead amongst the huge pile of vultures strewn around the buffalo after wolfing the poisoned meat. The illegal trade in vulture body parts - especially heads, viciously curved beaks and talons known as 'muti' - sees them turned into potions and is threatening their existence. Rangers on patrol came across the grisly mass poisoning near the Punda Maria main gate on Thursday and rescued 20 very ill vultures near a fence bordering a local village. Witch doctors have reportedly killed more than 100 vultures (pictured) at South Africa's best-known safari park, butchering the endangered birds for use in black magic potions The Punda Maria entrance gate of Kruger National Park near where the vultures were found They were rushed in a rangers station wagon to a nearby rehabilitation centre for emergency treatment by the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Two similar poisonings happened at the Kruger last year and at the same time as the latest mass poisoning another 50 vultures were poisoned over the Botswana border at Chobe. Acting Chief Inspector of SANParks Hapiloe Sello said: 'This reprehensible act once again highlights the ever-present danger of poisoning of wildlife by unscrupulous people. 'The scene has been cordoned off for further investigation and the carcasses have been burned to ensure that there are no further poisonings and we have 20 birds still alive. 'Initial indications are that the carcasses were being harvested for their body parts and SANParks can confirm that we have referred this matter to police for full investigation. 'Rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo which appears to have been laced with poison and they found over 100 dead vultures and a hyena that fed off the carcass. Experts say the white headed vulture is critically endangered and illegal trade in body parts is putting the species at increasing risk of extinction. Pictured: vulture carcasses at the park 'Poisonings on this scale given the critical nature of vultures globally place this critically endangered species at increasing risk of extinction so we have to end it now,' she added. Traditional healers or witch-doctors believe vulture body parts can give those who take their potions clairvoyant abilities and increase their intelligence and cure terminal illnesses. They also claim the 'muti' can put those who buy it the ability to appease the ancestors and the vulture-based concoctions have even been promoted to villagers as a cure for Covid. Many highly superstitious locals also believe the vulture possesses psychic powers and that 'muti' made from vulture brains help to see the future and can even help win the lottery. A research paper published in the Journal of Raptor Research last year said: 'Vultures were acquired for use in traditional medicine by poisoning them in protected areas like KNP. 'Vultures reportedly vary in price from R300 (15) to R1500 (75) for the whole bird. Pictured: Acting Chief Inspector of SANParks Hapiloe Sello Researchers who spoke to 51 traditional healers in Mpumulanga Province alone reckon they use 800 vultures a year but that throughout the continent the figure would be far higher. With just 270,000 White Backed vultures estimated to be left the International Union for Conservation of Nature has them 'red listed' as a critically endangered species. They are very slow breeders hatching only one egg a year and with the current rate of poaching for witch-craft purposes it is estimated they may be extinct within 45 years. The savage scavengers weigh up to 9lbs, are 3.5 feet long and have a 7-foot wingspan and their eyesight is so good it is 20 times better than humans and they can see 8 times as far. Their hooked and powerful beaks can rip a kilo of meat off a dead animal and consume it within a minute and will eat until they are so full that they are often unable to take off again for hours. They soar up to 8,000 ft looking for dead or dying animals on the savannah below and a committee of vultures will wait patiently in trees for 36 hours for an animal to die. The worst case on record of vulture poisoning was in Botswana in 2019 when three elephants were poisoned and 537 vultures died after eating their deadly remains. Yasuyo Ko, center, a Japanese marriage migrant, teaches her Korean neighbors how to make "umeboshi" rice balls at a public kitchen inside a local library in Seongbuk District, Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Seongbuk District Office By Ko Dong-hwan While maintaining diplomatic ties often proves to be a complicated matter for presidents, ministers and industrial leaders of all nations, the task can be less burdensome and sometimes even joyful at a certain down-to-earth level. Such a breakthrough took place in the Jangwi-dong neighborhood of Seoul's northeastern district of Seongbuk on Friday, where Japanese and Koreans from the neighborhood gathered to make the iconic foods from their respective countries. Since 2020, members of Ong-Gi-Jong-Gi Jangdokdae, a cooking club based in Jangwi-dong, has been breaking the language barrier and the cold relationship between Korea and Japan caused by Japan's colonial occupation of Korea. The club's latest meeting at a shared kitchen inside a local library in Jangwi-dong was themed in celebration of Korea's Liberation Day, which falls on Aug. 15 and recognizes the country's liberation from the Japanese occupation forces in 1945 following Japan's defeat in World War. In Friday's meeting, four Japanese women taught their Korean counterparts how to make Japanese fermented soybean paste, better known as "miso," as well as "natto" (sticky fermented soybeans) and "umeboshi" (pickled Japanese plum or "ume") rice balls. The meeting is not just a typical cooking class it offers a rare opportunity for the locals to meet neighbors from a different country and make friends through food. Despite living in the same neighborhood, the fear of COVID-19 and the country's general atmosphere in which people keep their doors closed at all times has made it difficult for people to bump into their neighbors during their daily lives. August is a good time for miso to ferment well, not only coinciding with Korea's Liberation Day, according to Park Soo-jin, an official from Seongbuk District Office who also joined the meeting as an observer. The club's previous meeting was in March and was the right time for "gochujang," the traditional Korean pepper paste, to be fermented into large crocks stored outside called "jangdokdae," which coincidently is also a part of the club's name. In March, Korean members taught their Japanese peers how to make the hot pepper paste. The March occasion overlapped with another Korean national holiday related to Japan the March 1 Independence Movement Day. On March 1, Koreans commemorate the symbolic resistance movement by Koreans against Japanese occupation forces in 1919. To the cooking club members, those holidays were seasonal gathering opportunities for culinary fun and to strengthen their bonds rather than getting sentimental about the complicated past involving the two countries. Members of Ong-Gi-Jong-Gi Jangdokdae cooking club make "miso" (Japanese fermented soybean paste) out of soybeans under the direction of Japanese marriage migrant Yasuyo Ko, far right, Friday. Courtesy of Seongbuk District Office The club was founded by Yasuyo Ko, a Japanese woman who came to Korea after marrying a Korean national. The mother of six first organized the club with other Japanese marriage migrants in Jangwi-dong and has been serving as the club's president since then. What started out as a simple get-together of Japanese migrants in the neighborhood has developed into an initiative to create common ground for her Japanese and Korean neighbors. She first knocked on the doors of the Jangwi Community Center and asked if she and her Japanese friends could learn how to make "gochujang" and other Korean traditional fermented food. The local authority put them in touch with several local Korean women in the neighborhood who have been making fermented Korean food for decades. The authority also allowed them to use a public kitchen inside a local library. "I wanted to get connected with my Korean neighbors, but raising six children kept me from doing so, which was why I had proposed this joint cooking class idea," said Ko. "I feel grateful that I can better understand the country of my in-laws and also help my Korean friends understand my country better. I also got to learn more about my neighborhood." There are many marriage migrants in Jangwi-dong and Seokwan-dong, another neighborhood in Seongbuk District, according to one of the Korean members of the club. "But there were few chances to engage with them. Now that we are in the club, I hope Korea and Japan make stronger bonds by making healthy fermented food together that represents both countries," the Korean member said. Mr Filatiev, 33, dressed in his army uniform, was part of Russia's invading forces on February 24. But now he opposes the 'terrible war' Russia had 'no moral right' to begin Putin's soldiers had no idea they were invading Ukraine until they took return fire from Kyiv forces, an ex-paratrooper in the Russian army has revealed in an explosive new memoir. Pavel Filatiev, 33, says his elite unit was moved to the border with Ukraine after he had seen talk of a planned invasion in the world's media, but that they were sent in with no warning that they'd be facing enemy forces. His memoir also tells how he was given a rusty machine gun and an ill-fitting uniform, and that his comrades were wiped out because they were using 'our grandfathers' tactics'. He said he woke up to the sound of gunfire in the back of an army truck crossing the border at 2am on February 24, the day the invasion began. Filatiev asked: 'Are we firing at advancing Ukrainians? 'Where we were going and why wasn't clear. It was clear that a real war had begun. I found out [we had] orders to go to Kherson.' As shelling started and Ukrainian soldiers began firing at Russian vehicles, Filatiev said he realised he had invaded the neighbouring country. He added: 'It became clear that we had attacked Ukraine.' In an explosive new book, Filatiev has highlighted appalling shortcomings from ill-fitting uniforms to army medics without syringes or painkillers. Filatiev (left and right) claims 'most of the army is dissatisfied with what is happening' in Ukraine. He said President Putin is holding his nation's soldiers 'hostage' in the 'terrible war' The paratrooper was part of the original botched invasion, but soon quit on medical grounds. Russian commanders are using 'the tactics of our grandfathers', he said. In devastating extracts highlighted by independent media outlets iStories and Meduza, Pavel wrote: 'We had no moral right to attack another country, especially the people closest to us. 'When all of this started, I knew few people who believed in Nazis and, moreover, [who] wanted to fight against Ukraine. 'We didn't have hatred and we didn't think of Ukrainians as enemies. 'Most of the army is dissatisfied with what is happening there. '[They're] dissatisfied with the government and their commander, with Putin and his policies, [and] with the defence minister, who [has not served] in the army. Soldiers became ill during training as they weren't given warm clothes in sub-zero temperatures, Filatiev said. He is pictured in army gear at a Russian military base 'We have all become hostages of many forces and I believe that we got carried away. 'We started a terrible war. A war in which cities are destroyed and which leads to the deaths of children, women, and the elderly.' The lack of preparation began when he was issued an ill-fitting second hand uniform. He said: 'I refused to accept a used uniform that didn't fit, which is why my relationship with the command began to deteriorate. 'After arguing with my company commander, I went and bought myself a pea coat.' Training for the war led to many servicemen getting sick because they did not have the proper uniform. 'We went to the [training] ground for [parachute] jumping,' he said. 'At night, it was below zero and we were driving in uncovered KamAZ trucks. 'Many of the servicemen didn't have warm clothes: some hadn't received any, others refused to accept them. Ex-paratrooper Pavel also slammed the Russian army's tactics as 'those of our grandfathers' 'Within a week, about 30 servicemen from my unit were admitted to the infectious diseases unit.' All those who were ill had been on the bungled training jumps in annexed Crimea, he said. 'In mid-February, my company was at a training ground in Staryi Krym. I realised that something was definitely brewing everyone who had been discharged or fallen ill was rounded up and sent to the training ground. A wrecked Russian tank sits on display in downtown Kyiv as locals admire their soldiers' effort 'Over the next few days we went to the firing range, where I finally picked up my machine gun. 'It turned out that my machine gun had a broken belt and was just rusty. 'On the very first night of shooting, the [cartridge] jammed.' Even as Putin's regime denied it was going to war 'at some point on February 20, the order came for everyone to urgently pack up and move out. 'There was about to be a forced march to an unknown destination. 'At that point, everyone was already dirty and exhausted. 'Some had been living at the training ground for almost a montheveryone's nerves were on edge, and the atmosphere became increasingly serious and incomprehensible.' The start of the war became chaotic with his own commander not knowing what he was supposed to do. 'On February 23, the division commander arrived and, congratulating us on the holiday [Defender of the Fatherland Day], announced that as of tomorrow the daily wage would be $69 [57]. Filatiev said when war began: 'I couldn't understand: are we firing at advancing Ukrainians?' 'It was a clear sign that something serious was about to happen. '[On February 24], I woke up at 2am [in the back of a KamAZ truck]. 'The column was lined up somewhere in the wilderness, and everyone had turned off their engines and headlights. 'Rocket artillery was operating to the right and left of our column. 'I couldn't understand: are we firing at advancing Ukrainians? 'Or maybe at NATO [forces]? Or are we attacking? Who is this hellish shelling aimed at? 'The column slowly began to move. 'I heard gunfire and explosions from the direction we were going. 'We already had wounded and dead [servicemen]. 'The command had no communications. The commander didn't understand what was happening.' He told how his forces killed civilians. 'I learned that someone fired on a civilian vehicle from a BMD cannon. There was a mother and several children in the car. Only one child survived.' He revealed an army stuck in the past and far from ready for the war Putin was convinced would take control ion Ukraine in days. 'All of our training was only on paper, our technique was hopelessly outdated,' he said. 'We still have the same tactics as our grandfathers. 'Those who broke through first were destroyed. Kramatorsk resident Luiza, 74, watches on as locals repair their wrecked homes after bombing 'The guys told me that there are [only] 50 people left in their brigade. '[When] it started to get dark, the entire team hunkered down. 'It was very cold. No one had sleeping bags, the frost got into your bones. 'We didn't even need the enemy, the command had put us in such conditions homeless people live better. '[The next day] we arrived at the Kherson seaport. 'Everyone started to search the buildings for food, water, showers, and a place to sleep. 'Some began pilfering computers and everything valuable that they could find. I was no exception: I found a hat in a broken down truck and took it.' He told how 'the offices had a canteen with a kitchen and refrigerators. 'We, like savages, ate everything that was in there. 'During the night, we turned everything upside down.' Filatiev told how 'by mid-April, I had dirt in my eyes due to artillery fire and keratitis had set in. 'After five days of suffering, at which point [one] eye had already closed shut, I was evacuated. 'The paramedic who sent me to be evacuated asked me to tell the medical detachment that he didn't have syringes or painkillers.' He revealed how 'we were taken to one of the barracks that was set aside for those who had been discharged from the hospital. British GMLRS rocket launchers (pictured being tested in the UK) have been sent to Ukraine 'There were a hundred people there who had returned from the war and were coming undone after what they had experienced. 'One stuttered a lot, I saw two people with memory loss, [and] many people there drank heavily, drinking away the money they had earned.' The paratrooper said: 'I had to get treatment and buy medicines with my own money. 'For two months I tried to get treatment from the army: I went to the prosecutor's office, I went to the command, to the head of the hospital, and I wrote to the president. 'I decided to go through the military-medical board and leave [the army] for health reasons. 'The command said that I was evading service, and sent documents to the prosecutor's office to initiate a criminal case. They're using this bluff to try and send a lot of people back.' In battle he felt compromised by the army leadership. 'I can only drop my weapon and run back somewhere and become a coward or go after everyone [Ukrainians],' he said. 'Now I understand that I was used.' Putin's propaganda media, the use of draconian laws, promises of extra cash for fighters, and the use of honours and medals are locking soldiers into the war machine, he said. 'I understood that if suddenly from one of the houses if I see danger, I will shoot without thinking. 'Inattention or delay is the death of me or my comrades, doubts are dangerous. 'But at the same time, I didn't want to kill anyone. 'The death of innocent civilians has been and will be in any war, but it becomes disgusting in the soul. 'While our governments are figuring out among themselves how to live, and the military on both sides are their tool, peaceful people are dying, their habitual world is collapsing. 'When you realise this, you don't know what to do. 'Drop everything and leave then you will become a coward and a traitor. If you continue to participate in this, you will become an accomplice to the deaths and sufferings of many people.' His book in Russian is entitled 'ZOV' after the symbols painted on Putin's military vehicles. The man accused of murdering a country family over a fence boundary dispute holds sovereign citizen beliefs and was in a relationship with his stepmum, it has emerged. Darryl Valroy Young, 59, is accused of shooting his neighbours Maree and Mervyn Schwarz, as well as Maree's son Graham Tighe, at his home in the Queensland Whitsundays town of Bogie on August 4. Maree's other son, Ross Tighe, was also shot but was able to flee and raised the alarm at a neighbouring property. A sign at the front of Young's property promoting sovereign citizen ideology warns 'all men, women, persons and entities', including law enforcement, caught trespassing on his property would face a $10,000 fine. Self-proclaimed sovereign citizens hold the belief that Australia's laws do not apply to them. Young was also in a relationship with his late father's partner at the time he allegedly shot the Bogie family. A sign at the front of Young's property (above) suggests he held sovereign citizen beliefs, meaning he believed Australian laws do not apply to him Maree and Mervyn Schwarz (above) were killed alongside Marree's son Graham Tighe in a mass shooting on August 4 Police allege Young invited his neighbours to meet at the border of their two properties in the early hours of August 4 where he then allegedly shot the four family members. Maree and Mervyn Schwarz and Graham Tighe were killed at the scene but Ross Tighe, Maree's other son, managed to flee with a bullet wound to his stomach. Mr Tighe reportedly ran to a farm car with severe injuries while still under fire. The 77km-long Normanby Road, the only way to access the isolated properties, is a mobile black-spot meaning Mr Tighe was unable to call for help. Instead he was forced to drive some 40km to a neighbouring property were he could raise alarm about the shooting. Young was arrested 12 hours after the mass shooting alongside two contractors that were on his property, his son and his late father's partner. The family was reportedly is a years-long dispute with Young over border property lines before the mass shooting (pictured, Young property on Shannonvale Road in Bogie, Queensland) Normanby Road (above) is the only way to access the remote properties that were the scene of a mass shooting in early August but has no mobile reception Darryl Valroy Young (above) is accused of shooting four people, killing three, in a mass shooting in the Whitsundays town of Bogie It is understood Young began a relationship with the woman after his father passed. Young was the only person charged in relation to the alleged murder. Mr Austen, who is Mrs Schwarz's brother-in-law, told Daily Mail Australia the boundary line had been a source of tension for a long time. 'It was a fence line dispute, and it's been going for many years,' he said. 'How it happened in this day and age is beyond me. It's not America.' Mr Austen also said Graham Tighe, Maree's son, had spent as little as three-days with his newborn son before he was tragically killed. He said the baby was hospitalised in Brisbane, more than 1,000km south of Bogie, soon after his birth three weeks before the attack 'because he was crook'. Ross Tighe (right) was able to flee the scene of the attack, with a bullet wound to his stomach, and drive some 40km to raise the alarm at a neighbouring property Graham Tighe (pictured with his pregnant wife) was killed after reportedly spending just three days with his newborn son A lone set of flowers (above) on Normanby Road was left in tribute of the lives lost in the mass Bogie shooting Earlier this week it was revealed Young's 2010 gun licence renewal was rejected by police. Police said he was 'not a fit and proper person' and that the renewal of his licence was 'not considered to be in the public interest'. However, the ban was overturned by Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal after Young argued he had not broken any laws preventing him from gun ownership and that he needed a weapon for pest control on his property. Young appeared in Proserpine Magistrates Court via video link on August 8 where he was refused bail and ordered transfer from the watchhouse to Queensland correctional facility until his next scheduled appearance on November 1. A yoga teacher who filmed himself raping a two-year-old has made a string of outrageous complaints about his time in prison while launching a compensation claim. Jason Daron Mizner, 44, was sentenced to 19 years in jail in 2018 after he pleaded guilty to more than 60 child sex offences relating to a two-year-old girl, from the early 2000s, including more than 30 counts of rape and videotaping the assaults. The former Yoga teacher assaulted his partner's two-year-old girl repeatedly over three months, while also assaulting the baby of a second woman in Thailand who he also had a relationship with. After being caught in Thailand, he served 11 years of a 35-year sentence before he was deported and arrested by Australian authorities when he returned to Brisbane. Now, shocking letters have emerged detailing some of the complaints made by Mizner about his time in jail. He has launched an anti-discrimination case over his alleged treatment at Wolston Correctional Centre in Queensland, demanding compensation and an apology because he was forced to share a cell. Mizner claims cellmates flicking light switches or going to the bathroom trigger his PTSD, which comes from the decade he spent in Thai prisons. Mizner (pictured) had kept a bag of vile recordings of his abuse, names of children and plans for a child exploitation ring before his girlfriend discovered it leading to his 19 year jail sentence, he has since requested a single cell because other inmates trigger his PTSD Paedophile Jason Mizner (pictured) repeatedly raped his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter and muzzled her when she screamed for help The pervert previously argued his jail term for relentlessly raping his girlfriend's daughter was 'excessive', despite only receiving 19 years' jail time for the repeated assaults. Queensland's Sunday Mail obtained his handwritten appeals to the Queensland Human Rights Commission, with one letter telling authorities he couldn't join a shared cell for 'severe PTSD from 11 years in a Thai prison'. He complained in the letters that he had been told his needs weren't great enough for him to be placed on a Do Not Double Up list. 'I am forced to share a tiny "double bunk" cell which exposed me to noise and light disturbances as well as sleep deprivation and personal conflict,' he complained further. Mizner alleged he was being discriminated against and his human rights had been infringed. He has lodged an anti-discrimination case with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal as he alleges he's impaired by mental health illnesses including PTSD that makes it difficult for him to sleep at night. The case before the Tribunal hasn't been finalised and Mizner has won an interim order barring authorities from putting him in a shared cell until the matter is concluded. Court documents also showed Mizner wants private apologies from Queensland Corrective Services and the General Manager of the prison. Queensland Corrective Services rejects allegations of discrimination or limiting Mizners human rights, according to the Courier Mail. The warped materials tabled in Mizner's sentencing meant the judge had to take a break to ensure he received a fair sentence. During sentencing, Justice Leanne Clare said she had struggled to cope with the disturbing footage of Mizner's offences despite 30 years experience with extreme child abuse cases. 'I only watched a portion and it has been a battle to get the vision of your offending out of my head,' Judge Clare said. 'I cannot imagine the horror of it for (the girl's) mother.' The court was told Mizner, who was 31 at the time of the assaults, formed a relationship with the Australian girl's mother, before committing the offences over a number of months. While he was on a holiday in Thailand, the girl's mother found videos he had made and a range of other unrelated child exploitation material. Wolston prison (above) which also houses child killer Brett Cowan and wife killer Gerard Baden-Clay, will have to find a single cell for Mizner because he suffers PTSD from Thai jail where he served time for raping a baby Mizner stayed in Thailand, where he formed a relationship with a local woman before assaulting her young daughter and being arrested by Thai authorities. Mizner's sentencing was also delayed when a doctor preparing a psychological report for the court suffered a heart attack. That report, the defence argued, showed that a motorcycle accident when Mizner was 21 left him with a brain injury, which 'uninhibited' him. Justice Clare said it also showed he had a 'predilection for babies' and had a medium-to-high chance of re-offending if not incarcerated. 'Even a low risk of re-offending when it comes to raping babies is a substantial risk to deal with. When it's a medium-to-high risk... it's alarming,' she said. Justice Clare said Mizner showed no remorse for his heinous crimes. Do you who this man is? Let us know, email matt.powell@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement An Australian tourist was arrested after he was caught riding his moped through the ancient ruins of Pompeii, Italy. The 'barbarian', reported to be 33-years-old, was apprehended by security after travelling for about a mile around the world-famous archaeological park. The tourist claimed he didn't know that he wasn't allowed to drive through the 2,000-year-old site which was famously destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. The UNESCO world heritage site does not allow tourist vehicles, and fortunately in this case the park confirmed no parts of the ancient city were accessed or damaged. The man has since been charged with 'unauthorised access'. An Australian tourist, 33, has been charged in Italy, accused of driving his moped through the ancient city of Pompeii (pictured) The park released a statement confirming no damage was done to the world heritage site The park said in a statement: 'The route taken is a dirt road outside the ancient city walls, used by site vehicles for excavation works. 'It is safe, restored, and not accessible to the public. So there was no danger for either visitors or for the archaeological heritage at any point.' The episode lasted only 'a few minutes thanks to the efficient work by security guards and CCTV', who then held him until police arrived. The Australian man, who was dubbed a 'barbarian' by Italian media, later apologised for the incident. Authorities believe he illegally entered the site through the service entrance, used by maintenance vehicles. Earlier this year and woman and a male friend caused damage to the Spanish Steps in Rome with their rental scooters, after the woman hurled the vehicle down the steps The news comes just weeks after two American tourists caused 25,000 of damage at the Spanish Steps in Rome by throwing e-scooters down them. In June, 28-year-old woman and 29-year-old man were fined 400 (338) each after they were caught on camera 'purposely' launching a scooter down the 18th-century Trinita de Monti staircase. Rome's heritage protection body said it caused fractures to the 16th and 29th steps of the right-hand staircase. Due to the woman intentionally pushing her scooter down the stairs, a more formal complaint was filed against her for damaging the sacred stairwell - an offense punishable by up to one year in jail or a fine of at least 2,050. A Saudi Arabian man was charged earlier this year for attempting to drive his rented Maserati down the stairs, breaking off a chunk of the travertine stone. Cars have been filmed lining the road out of Enerhodar this afternoon as the town's mayor warned that Russia is set to carry out a false flag attack on nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Mayor Dmytro Orlov warned residents: 'Information has been received about further provocations by the occupiers. 'According to local testimony, shelling is again taking place.' It came as Putin ally and ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned European leaders that the continent's nuclear power stations could face 'accidents'. The thinly-veiled sabotage threat came as Western countries raised fears of a nuclear catastrophe caused by Russian forces stationed around the power station. Kyiv has accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian towns from the site in the knowledge that its forces would not return fire at one of the world's ten biggest nuclear sites. Medvedev (second from left) deliberates with Kremlin officials and Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin (second from right) on Thursday during a visit to the war-torn Donbas Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant just outside Russia-controlled Enerhodar is pictured, Aug. 4 Moscow has reportedly shelled the area, blaming Ukraine without evidence. 'They [Kyiv and its allies] say it's Russia. That's obviously 100% nonsense, even for the stupid Russophobic public,' Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel. 'They say it happens purely by chance, like 'We didn't mean to',' he added. 'What can I say? Let's not forget that the European Union also has nuclear power plants. And accidents can happen there, too.' Now serving as deputy chairman of the influential Kremlin Security Council, Medvedev was President of Russia from 2008 to 2012 while Putin was term-limited. Medvedev appointed Putin prime minister during that period. When Putin was allowed to become president once again, Medvedev stepped aside. A Russian soldier stands guard at the nuclear plant in early May. It is one of the world's biggest He took the premiership until 2020, at which point Putin nullified term limits and moved Medvedev to his current role. The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency has said the shelling of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power station, could cause a nuclear disaster, but has been unable to arrange the conditions for an inspection. Kyiv and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for the area to be demilitarized, and the Group of Seven major economies have urged Russia to return it to Ukraine. Medvedev (right) watches as Putin (left) shakes the hand of ex-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (centre) at the Kremlin in May 2018. Medvedev was president 2008 to 2012 But senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, chair of the lower house's foreign affairs committee, said the idea of returning the plant to the control of Ukrainians was 'a 'mockery from the point of view of ensuring safety.' 'And all the statements of the G7 foreign ministers in support of their demands are nothing but 'sponsorship of nuclear terrorism',' he added on his Telegram channel. Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in March after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, but the site is still being operated by its Ukrainian staff. Kyiv said the complex had been struck five times on Thursday, including near where radioactive materials are stored. Russian-appointed officials said Ukraine had shelled the plant twice, disrupting a shift change, Russia's state-owned TASS news agency said. Bill Maher has criticized the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago, saying the incident only serves as political fuel to transform Donald Trump into 'president martyr.' During Friday's episode of The Real Time, Maher took aim at the divisive raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home this week, where authorities claim the former president held onto a trove of classified documents after leaving office. Although Maher initially poked fun at the incident, he warned Democrats that the raid has only strengthened the chances of a successful Trump 2024 presidential campaign. 'His fortune was finally falling. The Big Lie was finally losing momentum,' Maher said, referencing Trump's unproven claim that the 2020 election was stolen. 'DeSantis was beating him in the polls, you know who hates this more than anybody? DeSantis,' Maher said of the popular GOP Florida governor. 'Like 'I had this in the bag and now I got to run against President Martyr."' Real Time Host Bill Maher (above) criticized the raid on Mar-a-Lago, saying that it could serve to fuel a successful Trump 2024 presidential campaign Donald Trump and his supporters have condemned the raid, calling it a political 'witch hunt' Authorities claim the former president held onto a trove of classified documents after leaving office. Maher said if the raid is found to be unjust, it would transform Trump into 'President Martyr' and easily win him the GOP's presidential primary Speaking with Fox Nation host Piers Morgan and New York City journalist Rikki Schlott, Maher claimed that the raid seemed necessary, according to claims made by the US Department of Justice. Maher and Morgan, however, said the incident has been heavily politicized, and that the FBI needed to prove raiding Mar-a-Lago was necessary by revealing the scope of what was uncovered and what the dangers were for Trump to have those documents. 'Is it going to justify this raid or is this going to be a political nightmare?' Maher asked, adding that he believes Trump may have not even known what was in the documents he had. Morgan echoed the big question, saying: 'If you take a swing this big, you do an unprecedented act, you go and raid Mar-a-Lago with over 30 FBI agents, you've got to land a big punch int terms of evidence. 'In the end, it comes down to what is in these boxes. If it turns out to be the real deal, if it turns out that Donald Trump has violated the Espionage Act, that is a serious crime and he should be held to account. 'If it doesn't turn out to be there, then there are legitimate questions, I think, from the Trump supporters about the different standards applied to Donald Trump that hasn't been applied to Hillary Clinton, to James Comey, to Hunter Biden and the others.' Speaking with Fox Nation host Piers Morgan (left) and New York City journalist Rikki Schlott (center), Maher claimed that Trump was losing favor and money, but now the raid has revitalized his base in a new wave of support for the former president Morgan echoed warnings to the FBI that the raid needs to be fully justified, and suggested it could be a political ploy by Biden to repeat his victory against Trump Trump, pictured in New York, said he was watching from Trump Tower as the FBI raided multiple rooms in his Mar-a-Lago home, in Florida. Morgan also suggested that if Trump gets the GOP nomination to run for president, then it would be what Joe Biden wanted. 'If you're Joe Biden, who would you rather face Donald Trump, who has all the baggage, who has the Jan. 6 investigation ranging a number of legal actions, all this stuff now or would you rather face a much younger, more dynamic DeSantis, who hasn't had the baggage?' Although Maher backed the decision of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying they must have had a clear reason to go forth with the raid, he echoed that the justification needs to be solid given Trump's adamant denial of any wrongdoing. 'And this is saving Trump politically because now, of course, all Republicans, what do they do,' Maher added, referencing the wave of support Trump has received in condemning the raid. Many took to social media and agreed with Maher's take on the raid, saying it's only giving Trump more attention. Many took to social media and agreed with Maher's take on the raid, saying it's only giving Trump more attention One Twitter user with the handle John wrote: The left has done more for 45 in the past 8 years, solidifying any future career in politics and it cost him nothing.' 'Bad press is still press keep it up!' Christopher Jon, another Twitter user, echoed Maher's frustration, writing: 'He was done, why Democrats weaponized the DOJ to try and put the final nail in the coffin is beyond me, classic stupidity. 'They just reloaded his ammo and gave him a rallying cry, beyond dumb.' A Twitter user by the name Mike Rexford, put it simply: 'Yep, corrupt FBI screws up yet again with Wray's Panty Raid.' A middle-aged woman has been charged over the alleged abduction of five-year-old Grace Hughes in Darwin. The girl and her mother Laura Hinks, also known as Laura Bolt, were last seen in the suburb of Berrimah in Darwin's east in the afternoon of Sunday, August 9. Police said it was after a parental visit that Ms Hinks, 34, left an address about 1pm at Hidden Valley Road, and both disappeared. Ms Hinks' last known address was in Moulden, but she no longer appeared to be living there. Northern Territory Police on Saturday said they'd charged a 50-year-old woman in connection with Grace's disappearance while they continued to search for the child and her mother. Five-year-old Grace Hughes (pictured) was on a parental visit on Sunday but has not been heard from in the two days since Police are asking the public's help to locate Grace and her mother Laura Hinks, 34, (pictured) and hold concerns for their welfare as a woman, 50, has been arrested over the disappearance The woman was arrested at a home in Anula in Darwin's northeast overnight and was charged with abducting a child under 16 and attempting to abduct a child under 16. She was remanded in custody and will face court on Monday. The woman was refusing to provide information to find the girl and her mother, Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Jon Beer said. 'Police will use all resources necessary to locate Grace,' he said. 'Ms Hinks's last known address was in Moulden (at nearby Palmerston), but she no longer appears to be living there.' Grace is described as having a fair complexion with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing a short-sleeved white dress, as well as white socks and black sneakers. Her mother has a fair complexion, a slim build and dark hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing a white and green floral-patterned ankle-length dress or skirt, with a white or cream long-sleeved shirt. Anyone with information is urged to contact police or Crime Stoppers. A sex offender died after chugging a cloudy liquid from a water bottle in a Texas court after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a child. Edward LeClair, 57, started drinking the liquid after the jury found him guilty on the first count and continued glugging as the other counts were read on August 11. He had been facing five counts of child sexual assault against one victim, which took place in 2016 according to Denton County Jail. LeClair had been waiting to hear the verdict at the 16th District Court in Denton, Texas, alongside his attorney. First Assistant Attorney Jamie Beck from the Denton County District Attorneys Office said that initially the situation had been normal. But when LeClair heard that he had been found guilty on the first count, he grabbed his bottle and chugged the cloudy liquid down as he was found guilty on the other four counts. Edward LeClair, 57, died after chugging a 'cloudy' liquid from a bottle as he was found guilty of five counts of child sexual assault LeClair had been waiting to hear the verdict at the 16th District Court in Denton, Texas, alongside his attorney when he started glugging the water Beck told WFAA: The jury comes in and takes a seat, the defendant and his counsel stand. The jury hands the verdict to the judge, which she then starts to read. It's during this process that he had a bottle of water with him at the counsel table, and he chugged it. It wasn't like he was just taking sips of water. He was literally throwing it back, so to speak. Beck explained that while those in the courtroom felt his actions were odd, they thought it was just his way of dealing with the situation. LeClair was taken back into a holding cell after the verdicts were read, before officers decided to check on him because of his strange behavior. An autopsy is set to take place to find out what the cause of death was, and investigators have taken his bottle into evidence He was found unconscious, with witnesses saying he had gone gray and was rushed to Medical City Denton where he was pronounced dead. Beck added: 'Our investigator noticed him chug the water. He told the bailiff he might want to go check on him. The bailiff did. 'He was unconscious in the holding cell. Shortly after entering the holdover cell, he started vomiting, and emergency services were called.' Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office is set to undertake an autopsy to find LeClairs cause of death. Texas rangers are also investigating the incident, and have taken the bottle into evidence. A farmer was ordered to remove a Hollywood-style sign painted on hay bales at his campsite by killjoy council officials who think it could distract drivers. Fun-loving Mark Rutherford, 47, painted 13 silage bales to spell out 'Camp Llandudno' - the name of his new pop-up campsite at his farm. But he was ordered by planning officials to remove the huge white letters on the rolling hillside because it could 'pose a threat to highways.' It comes after Mark launched the temporary new business venture at his farm in the seaside resort of Llandudno, North Wales. He insists there is public support for the sign and hoped 'common sense will prevail', but was forced to concede because he had his 'hands full here without needing a battle'. Posting on Facebook, Mr Rutherford said: 'Its a sad day, the sign is down. 'Its visual clutter they (Conwy County Borough Council) say, yet tents dotted around the fields for the month are OK!?' He continued: 'CCBC this sign wasnt a visual blot in the country side advertising pink refrigerators! It was tasteful, short term advertising for an event on the land on which it was placed. 'It benefited the local economy and it made your residents SMILE! It is OK to be a bit flexible sometimes and engage common sense!' A farmer in north Wales has been ordered to remove his Hollywood-style sign for his new campsite after the council received a complaint about the 'unauthorised advertising' Australian Mark Rutherford, 47, painted the 13 silage bales to spell out 'Camp Llandudno', but was told by an enforcement officer that it could distract drivers Posted by Mark Rutherford on Wednesday, August 10, 2022 The sign has now been removed from the hay bales as Mr Rutherford said he had his 'hands full without needing another battle' Locals and visitors posted online about the temporary sign, describing it as 'awesome' and 'fun'. Mr Rutherford said: 'There is huge demand from the public to pitch up and enjoy this lovely area we live in. 'On Friday and Saturday nights we have more than 200 people here, many going into Llandudno and Conwy during the day to spend their tourism money. Mark, who is originally from Australia, moved to the area with his family 15 years ago where he now tends to a small flock of Hardy Welsh sheep. He opened the campsite offering 60 pitches with campfires and a pizza oven on August 2 - but was ordered to remove the sign just two days later. He received a great deal of support online when he posted an update of the Camp Llandudno Facebook. 'How stupid,' said a Conwy Council worker. 'What harm is it doing? It brings people in and they will visit local areas and spend on food & drink. At least there they won't be littering the countryside and starting fires.' Camp Llandudno offering 60 pitches with campfires and a pizza oven and hosts more than 200 people on weekends The site was opened using permitted development rights which allow landowners to open temporary ventures for 28 days each year. The Welsh Government extended the scheme to 56 days last year to help businesses recover from Covid lockdowns. It is now examining whether the extended timeframe should stay permanently to help Wales make the most of the staycation boom. Mark added: 'The enforcement officer told me it could distract motorists on Pentywyn Road. But that's kind of the point of having a sign in the first place. 'I was surprised because you see temporary signs alongside roads all the time. 'Sometimes you need to have a little flexibility and show some common sense. I'm hoping to have another chat with the council and hopefully common sense will prevail.' Conwy Council said it had received a complaint about the sign before warning of enforcement action if it is not removed. A council spokesman said: 'We received a complaint about this unauthorised advertising. We're disappointed that the owner hadn't sought advice from us and instead has proceeded to display an advertisement without consent. 'As the advertisement doesn't have consent, we have informed the owner that he should remove the advertisement. 'Unauthorised advertising can be harmful to the character of the area and can also pose a threat to highways. If an advertisement is not removed then we may consider enforcement action.' As temperatures continue to soar, a rare dust devil has been filmed sweeping through a field after firefighters put out a wildfire. The freak weather phenomenon was spotted by fire crews after the grass fire in a country field in Brandon, County Durham on Thursday afternoon. County Durham & Darlington Fire and Rescue Service tweeted the footage on their account @cddfrs with the caption: 'Here's something you don't see everyday! This is a dust devil from a wildfire in Brandon this afternoon. 'Dust devils form when a pocket of hot air near the surface rises quickly through cooler air above it, forming an updraft. Some may say it is out of this whirl! #HereAllWeek.' The rare weather event usually occurs in deserts or arid landscapes where hot and dry conditions prevail- and is not often seen in Britain. In the clip, the twister kicked up debris into the air as it swept across the barren field. In the clip, the twister kicked up debris into the air as it swept across the barren field in Brandon, County Durham Firefighters filmed the clip after tackling the grass fire. The rare weather event usually occurs in deserts or arid landscapes where hot and dry conditions prevail- and is not often seen in Britain County Durham & Darlington Fire and Rescue Service tweeted the footage on their account @cddfrs with the caption: 'Here's something you don't see everyday! This is a dust devil from a wildfire in Brandon this afternoon' People were amazed by the clip, with one person describing it as 'very impressive' and others remarking on the climate emergency Responding to the clip, one person wrote: 'Well, that's another one to tick off on my 'stuff that we didn't expect to see already in 2022 #ClimateChaos bingo card'. What is a dust devil? This phenomenon is an upward spiralling, dust filled vortex of air that may vary in height from a few feet to over 1,000. They are usually several metres in diameter at the base, then narrowing for a short distance before expanding again. They mainly occur in desert and semi-arid areas, where the ground is dry and high surface temperatures produce strong updrafts. The initial rotation may be caused by irregularities in the surface. Unlike tornadoes, dust devils grow upwards from the ground, rather than down from clouds. In the stronger dust devils, a cumulous cloud can be seen at the top of the rising column of warm air. They only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base of the rising vortex, cooling the ground and cutting off its heat supply. Source: Met Office Advertisement Another added: 'Very dangerous in this context, as it can carry burning embers a long way to start new fires!' A third added: 'That's very impressive' while another added: 'Looks more like Kansas than Britain, crazy stuff.' The dust devil came as the mercury hit 33C (91F) in London today and was expected to hit 34C (93F) in a second country-wide heatwave. Other grass fires have begun to sweep the country, including an inferno which was said to be caused by a disposable barbecue in Dorset, despite firefighters warning not to use them in rural areas. Heat-related illnesses including sunburn and heat exhaustion are 'likely' among the general population, and delays to public transport are 'possible'. Harvey Bradshaw, chair of the National Drought Group, told Radio 4's Today programme that people are suffering and that there is 'real stress'. He said that over the last 12 months nearly every month we have had below average rainfall, low levels or exceptionally low levels. Labour has called on the Government to summon a meeting of the Cobra civil contingencies committee to ensure water supplies are protected amid the ongoing drought. Deputy leader Angela Rayner criticized the Government saying their inaction is creating a dust 'bowl Britain' and that there needs to be a plan to protect the water system. Pre-season rugby games are being forced to be cancelled because the surfaces are unplayable after weeks without rain. The pitches have burned out and crusted over, making them rock hard and bringing an element of risk as it increases the chances of players suffering injuries. Meanwhile summer will come to an abrupt end on Monday, as a lower-level yellow warning for thunderstorms is in for the entirety of the UK. As much as 20mm to 30mm of rainfall could be seen in an hour, meaning there is a 'small chance' of flooding in and the potential for power cuts. However the rainfall may not help alleviate drought conditions as the parched ground doesn't easily absorb water, instead it tends to run off the surface. This means the rainfall is transported quickly into streams and rivers and increases the chance of a flash flood. Suspended Chairman of the ruling People Power Party Lee Jun-seok speaks during a press conference in Seoul on Aug. 13. Newsis The suspended chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), Lee Jun-seok, again cried foul Saturday over a party leadership switch, which he claims is aimed at removing him from his position. The PPP's move to switch to an emergency leadership system is "unfair" and "nonsensical," Lee told reporters in a news conference held just a few days after the PPP amended the party charter to switch to an emergency leadership system and named five-term Rep. Joo Ho-young as the interim leader. Under the party charter, Lee is supposed to lose his status as party chairman if the emergency leadership committee is established due to an emergency, including the dissolution of the Supreme Council. Lee's party membership was suspended last month by the PPP's ethics committee over allegations of sexual bribery and a cover-up, though he has claimed he is innocent. Earlier this week, Lee said he has filed for an injunction against the PPP's leadership transition. A hearing for Lee's court action will take place next week. Lee has denounced the party for procedural errors in pushing ahead with the leadership switch. Lee's fate and political future are at risk depending on the court's decision. If the court rules in favor of Lee, his political power will be immediately restored. If not, Lee will be left with political scars amid criticism for taking legal action against his own party. On Saturday, Lee also slammed President Yoon Suk-yeol and his core associates, known as "Yoonhaekgwan," for not living up to people's expectations and losing public support. The PPP has been in turmoil since floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, one of Yoon's close confidants, inadvertently exposed text messages he exchanged with Yoon last month, in which Yoon was seen backbiting about Lee. Amid the turmoil, Yoon's approval rating has fallen below 30 percent, an unusually low figure for any South Korean president fewer than 100 days after taking office. Lee also pointed out the ruling bloc has lost its ability to find new social agenda and handle various tasks for the country's future, including discrimination and justice, since he was suspended. (Yonhap) The number of migrants landing in England after crossing the channel Channel in small boats this year has risen to over 19,000. Migrants, including young children, arrived in Dover this morning as they were picked up by the Border Force after making setting off from France. A baby and several young children were seen alongside adults being taken ashore by Border Force workers and a member of the armed forces. According to official Ministry of Defence figures, a total of 19,371 people have been intercepted at sea by Border Force so far in 2022. August alone has seen 2,972 people make the perilous journey across the 21-mile Dover Straits in 68 dinghies or other small boats. Migrants arrived in Dover this morning as they were picked up by the Border Force after making the perilous journey from France Babies and young children were seen alongside adults being taken ashore by Border Force workers and a member of the armed forces According to official Ministry of Defence figures, a total of 19,371 people have been intercepted at sea by Border Force so far in 2022 According to official Ministry of Defence figures, a total of 19,371 people have been intercepted at sea by Border Force so far in 2022 Members of the Border Force escort migrants back to Dover after they were picked up in the English Channel this morning The busiest day this year came on August 1 when 696 people were brought into Ramsgate, Kent on 14 boats - an average of 50 people per vessel. And the figures are expected to continue rising as the UK heads into another heatwave. Yesterday, Friday August 12, 402 migrants arrived in Dover, Kent. They appeared relieved to reach the UK, with one man making a heart sign with his hands while another gave a thumbs up to onlookers. Several migrants stood up and threw their arms in the air in glee as the boat approached the port, before being told to sit down by Border Force staff. A further 49 people were prevented from reaching the UK by the French coastguard. On Friday afternoon, the regional operational surveillance and rescue centre (CROSS) in Griz-Nez was made aware of a boat in difficulty in the Calais Straits. The French Navy helicopter Dauphin was tasked with locating the vessel before being relieved by a British aircraft which continued to monitor the situation. At the same time, the CROSS launched the French Navy assistance and rescue tug Abeille Normandie to pick up the 49 stranded people. They were dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer where they were taken care of by the departmental fire and rescue service and the border police. A group of 39 migrants arrived in Dover at 7.30am yesterday morning after crossing the English Channel in small boats before being picked up by the Border Force A second group of up to 100 migrants, including babies and young children, were escorted to the harbour on board Border Force cutter Hurricane at around 10am yesterday. Pictured: A member of the Army holding a baby (left) and a toddler right) who arrived at Dover with the second group of migrants yesterday 28,526 people made the treacherous journey in 2021 - compared to 8,410 who arrived in 2020, according to official government figures. A Government spokesperson said: 'The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable. 'Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws, but they risk lives and hinder our ability to help refugees who come to the UK through safe and legal routes. 'The Nationality and Borders Act will enable us to crack down on abuse of the system and the evil people smugglers, who will now be subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. 'Under our new Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, we are continuing preparations to relocate those who are making dangerous, unnecessary and illegal journeys into the UK in order for their claims to be considered and rebuild their lives.' Six teenagers who allegedly took a midnight joy-ride in a stolen luxury car before crashing it into an art gallery and trying to escape in a cab were arrested on Saturday morning. Police say the youths lost control of the boosted Audi, running it through the stone barrier and through the front of the art gallery, causing extensive damage in the northeastern Melbourne suburb of Kalorama just after 3am. By the time Victorian police officers could reach the scene, all the occupants of the car had fled the scene - except a teenage girl who police arrested near the damaged art gallery. The Kapi Art Space suffered extensive damage as a result of the crash. An allegedly stolen Audi plunged into the side of a boutique gallery (pictured) in Kalorama in Melbourne's north east after a group of youths allegedly took it for a spin in the early hours of Saturday morning Police found the teens as they allegedly tried to escape in a rideshare car from the scene at teh Kapi Gallery (pictured) The Kapi gallery (pictured) was damaged extensively in the crash which saw the luxury car wipe out on its front wall Police then received reports of a car theft on a nearby road and flocked to the street. Officers noticed a ride-sharing car passing as they converged on the reported street. The police noticed four young passengers in the car, three teenage boys and a teenage girl, and waved down the driver. They then took them into custody. The last of the six teens was rounded up by police hounds from the Dog Squad. 'The five teens are expected to be interviewed this morning, while the sixth was taken to hospital with a leg injury after being bitten by the police dog,' Victoria Police said on Saturday morning. Police urged any witnesses, and anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage or information to contact Crime Stoppers. Advertisement JK Rowling's death threat from an Iran-supporting Islamic extremist did not violate Twitter's rules after the vile troll warned 'you are next' in response to her support of stabbed author Salman Rushdie. The British author received a harrowing threat from Meer Asif Aziz, based in Karachi, who described himself on Twitter as a 'student, social activist, political activist and research activist', who made tasteless 'jokes' about how to destroy Israel and branded it a Putin-savaged Ukraine - as well as Pakistan's chief geopolitical rival India - 'terrorist states'. The Harry Potter writer and free speech campaigner - who has been pilloried by trans activists for her beliefs on gender - had expressed her horror at the sickening attempt on Rushdie's life in upstate New York when she was issued the chilling threat on Twitter. She has revealed that after reporting the vile threat to Twitter, the social media network responded decided that the extremist did not violate the rules. The email from Twitter read: 'After reviewing the available information, we determined that there were no violations of the Twitter rules in the content you reported. We appreciate your help and encourage you to reach out again in the future if you see any potential violations.' The 57-year-old posted a screenshot of the response, commenting: 'These are your guidelines, right? "Violence: You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence... "Terrorism/violent extremism: You may not threaten or promote terrorism"...' Aziz also appears to support the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who frequently rants about Israel in deranged, genocidal tweets. In one of Khamenei's posts about the 'oppressive Yazidis', for instance, Aziz responded with a heart emoji. And responding to another tweet from the Iranian dictator, Aziz gushed : 'Dear leader your struggle for Islamic world will not be wasted until we young generation are with you'. Rowling, 57, had posted last night about Rushdie's stabbing: 'Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok'. Aziz, who had described Rushdie's attacker Hadi Matar, 24, as a 'revolutionary Shia fighter', then threatened: 'Don't worry you are next'. British author JK Rowling has received a death threat on Twitter after Salman Rushdie was stabbed Meer Asif Aziz describes as a 'student, social activist, political activist and research activist' based in Karachi The Harry Potter writer said on Twitter last night: 'Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok'. She received the chilling reply: 'Don't worry you are next' The Harry Potter writer and free speech campaigner - who has been pilloried by trans activists for her beliefs on gender - had expressed her horror at the sickening attempt on Rushdie's life in upstate New York when she was issued the chilling threat on Twitter, only to receive a response from the extremist JK Rowling's death threat from an Iran-supporting Islamic extremist did not violate Twitter's rules after the vile troll warned 'you are next' in response to her support of stabbed author Salman Rushdie Twtitter sent JK Rowling an email explaining there were 'no violations of the Twitter rules in the content you reported' Hadi Matar, 24, has been charged with the attempted murder and assault of author Salman Rushdie. Pictured arriving at Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville, New York In a bid to get Aziz booted off Twitter, Rowling this afternoon posted: '@TwitterSupport any chance of some support?'. Critics have accused the social media giant of 'double standards' over which accounts it chooses to kick off the site. Twitter dramatically chose to shut down Donald Trump's account after the invasion of the US Capitol by a mob wearing MAGA caps following the 2020 election - dubbed January 6 - but still allows Khamenei to make threats against Israel. Rowling also confirmed that police are involved, telling her followers: 'To all sending supportive messages: thank you. Police are involved (were already involved on other threats).' MailOnline has contacted Twitter for comment. Rowling and horror writer Stephen King are among the authors and notable faces voicing their disbelief after Rushdie, 75, was stabbed up to 15 times - including once in the neck - in upstate New York at a lecture about free speech. The Indian-born British author, whose writing led to unprecedented death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution when the incident occurred, leaving him with an apparent stab wound to the neck. It comes as: US law enforcement charged Rushdie's attacker with attempted murder in the second degree. He has been transported to Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned later today. American officials have said that initial enquiries suggested the suspected knifeman was sympathetic to the Iranian regime; Rushdie's agent said that the author would likely lose one eye and has suffered damage to nerves in one of his arms and his liver; Iranian state media gleefully praised Sir Salman's attacker and branded the author an 'apostate' and 'heretic-writer'; Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron led condemnation of the attack, with the French President branding it an assault on liberty and saying: 'His fight is our fight'. Aziz has made tasteless 'jokes' about how to destroy Israel and branded it and Putin-savaged Ukraine - as well as Pakistan's chief geopolitical rival India - 'terrorist states'. He also appears to support the Supreme Leader of Iran, who frequently rants about Israel in genocidal tweets. In one of Khamenei's posts about the 'oppressive Yazidis', Aziz responded with a heart emoji Matar being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution On stage at the lecture theatre: Sir Salman Rushdie is seen on the left at the the Chautauqua Institution Man, 24, who stabbed Salman Rushdie had fake driver's license in name of HEZBOLLAH commander and praised Iran's Revolutionary Guard on social media The fake driver's license that was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both, the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander, it has been claimed. That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia causes, including supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. According to the Council on Foreign Relation's profile on Hezbollah: 'The Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.' Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Advertisement As he was transported to hospital by helicopter, with his condition unclear, a number of authors took to social media to speak of their shock following the 'horrific' incident. Renowned American author of horror and fantasy novels King added: 'I hope Salman Rushdie is okay.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was 'appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend'. He added: 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'Salman Rushdie has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them. 'This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on those values. The whole Labour Party is praying for his full recovery.' Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: 'I am sickened by this horrific and grotesque attack on Sir Salman Rushdie. My thoughts, and those of Londoners, are with Salman and his family and friends.' US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: 'Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. 'All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Nick Barley, director of Edinburgh International Book Festival, encouraged authors to read from Sir Salman's books at their events this year, adding: 'As we open this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, we send love and best wishes to Salman Rushdie. 'Salman visited us last in 2019 and joined us online last year. We are inspired by his courage and are thinking of him at this difficult time. This tragedy is a painful reminder of the fragility of things we hold dear and a call to action: we won't be intimidated by those who would use violence rather than words. 'As a gesture of support and solidarity we are inviting all authors appearing in the adult programme to read a sentence from one of Salman's books at the beginning of their book festival event.' Journalist and author of Empireland, Sathnam Sanghera, tweeted: 'Passage from Midnight's Children in my last ever exam. Poster of The Moor's Last Sigh had place on my (pretentious) student bedroom wall. Quote from Satanic Verses opens Empireland. 'Lots of British Asian writers wouldn't be writers without him. Pray he's well.' Sir Salman's book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous, and its publication prompted Iran's then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his execution. Muslim societies on both sides of the Atlantic were quick to condemn the attack. The Muslim Council of Britain tweeted: 'Such violence is wrong and the perpetrator must be brought to justice,' while Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, added: 'American Muslims, like all Americans, condemn any violence targeting anyone in our society.' Markus Dohle, chief executive of Penguin Random House, the author's publisher, said: 'We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie. We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.' Sir Salman was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police officials, before he was taken to hospital. According to the NYT Sir Salman's agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak. Mr Wylie added the news was 'not good' and the author will 'likely lose one eye'. He said the nerves in Sir Salman's arm were severed in the attack and his liver was 'stabbed and damaged'. Iran state media hails Salman Rushdie's attacker as 'courageous and duty-conscious man' whose hands should be kissed for 'tearing the neck of the enemy of God with a knife' The front pages of the August 13 edition of Iranian newspapers Vatan-e Emrooz, front, with title reading in Farsi: 'Knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie,' and Hamshahri, rear, with title: 'Attack on writer of Satanic Verses' Iran's deranged state media has today gleefully celebrated the sickening attack on Salman Rushdie, hailing the British author's suspected knifeman and branding the novellist an 'apostate' and 'heretic' whose book The Satanic Verses 'blasphemed' the Prophet Muhammad. Rushdie, 75, was stabbed up to 15 times - including once in the neck - on stage in upstate New York - more than 30 years after the theocratic dictatorship in Tehran issued a fatwa calling for the murder of the writer and anyone involved with the publication of the 1988 novel. The edict forced Sir Salman to go into hiding for a decade under an alias and round-the-clock police protection - and fuelled worldwide riots and book-burnings. Last night Iranian state media celebrated the shocking attack on Rushdie, calling him a 'depraved heretic-writer' and 'apostate author'. An apostate is the term for someone who renounces a religious belief, which in Islamic theology is punishable by death. FARS News, a regime-owned outlet, also called Sir Salman an 'apostate' and accused him of having 'insulted the Prophet of Islam (PBUH)' with the book's 'anti-religious content.' Iranian ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan, whose chief Hossein Shariatmadari is a close confidant of current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Rushdie's suspected attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, from New Jersey - who US law enforcement last night said enquiries suggested was sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. In an editorial in Saturday's edition, Shariatmadari thundered: 'Bravo to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie in New York. Let us kiss the hands of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife.' The Iranian regime has long stood by the fatwa, with Khamenei tweeting in 2019 that the fatwa 'is based on divine verses, and just like divine verses, it is solid and irrevocable.' Advertisement Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: 'Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution. 'Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. 'Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy. 'Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene. 'Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery.' Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury. They were due to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. A video posted to Twitter by an AP reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage. New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salman's life. She added: 'He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life.' The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: 'We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today.' Its president Michael Hill said: 'What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history. 'We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems. Today now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits - hate.' Jeremy Genovese, 68, from Beachwood, Ohio, a retired academic from Cleveland State University, told the PA news agency he arrived at the amphitheatre as it was being evacuated and people were 'streaming out'. He said: 'People were in shock, many people in tears. Chautauqua has always prided itself as a place where people can engage in civil dialogue. 'The amphitheatre is a large outdoor venue where people have given lectures since the late 1800s. You need a pass to access the grounds but it is not too difficult to get in.' Sir Salman's publisher Penguin Random House said they are 'deeply shocked and appalled' by the incident. Chief executive Markus Dohle said: 'We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. 'We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was 'appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend'. He added: 'Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.' US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: 'Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. 'All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Sir Salman was previously president of PEN America, which celebrates free expression and speech, and its chief executive Suzanne Nossel was among those reacting to the attack. She tweeted: 'PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former president and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie.' Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair. New York State Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck Law enforcement officers detaining Rushdie's suspected attacker Hadi Matar outside the Chautauqua Institution yesterday Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries She added: 'Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.' Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named 'best of the Bookers' on the literary award's 25th anniversary. The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Jones's Diary. The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. His other works include The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker. He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours. Timeline of the Rushdie Affair: How Iran's call for murder of British novellist sparked crisis that forced Sir Salman to go into hiding for a decade - February 12, 1989: At least six people are killed in the Pakistani city of Islamabad in shooting between police and gunmen in a crowd protesting against the sale of the novel in the United States. - February 14, 1989: The fatwa. Khomeini calls on all Muslims to kill Rushdie. - February 24, 1989: Twelve people are killed in Mumbai when police open fire to prevent a crowd of 10,000 protesters marching on the British High Commission. - May 27, 1989: Pro-Iranian and pro-Iraqi factions clash when some 30,000 Muslim demonstrators mass outside the British parliament. - September 14, 1989: Four bombs are planted outside bookshops in Britain owned by Penguin, publisher of 'The Satanic Verses'. - July 3, 1991: Ettore Capriolo, Italian translator of The Satanic Verses, is beaten and attacked with a knife in his Milan flat by a man who says he is Iranian. - July 12, 1991: Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi is stabbed to death in Tokyo by an attacker who flees. - September 7, 1995: After six years under police protection and living in safe houses, Rushdie appears in London in his first pre-announced public appearance since the fatwa was issued. - February 12, 1997: Eight years after it first offered a reward, the Iranian revolutionary 15th Khordad Foundation increases the bounty on Rushdie's head to $2.5 million. - September 22, 1998: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says the Rushdie affair is 'completely finished'. - September 24, 1998: Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi tells British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook at the United Nations in New York that Iran will take no action to threaten Rushdie's life, nor encourage anybody else to do so. - September 28, 1998: Iranian media say three Iranian clerics have called on Islamic followers to kill Rushdie under the fatwa. - October 4, 1998: Some 160 members of the Iranian parliament say the death decree against Rushdie remains valid.- Oct 10, 1998: A hardline Iranian student group sets a one billion rial (then $333,000) bounty on the head of Rushdie. - October 12, 1998: State-linked Iranian religious foundation raises its $2.5 million bounty by $300,000. - February 3, 1999: Mumbai-born Rushdie is granted a visa by the Indian government to visit his country of birth, triggering protests by Muslims. - June 15, 2007: Rushdie is awarded a knighthood by the Queen for services to literature, prompted diplomatic protests from Pakistan and Iran and demonstrations in Pakistan and Malaysia. - January 20, 2012: Rushdie cancels plans to attend a major literature festival in Jaipur, India, after protests from some Indian Muslim groups. - September 16, 2012: Iranian religious foundation raises its bounty for killing Rushdie to $3.3 million. - June 20, 2014: Rushdie wins annual PEN/Pinter Prize for his support for freedom of speech and what judges call his generous help to other writers. - October 13, 2015: Rushdie warns of new dangers to freedom of speech in the West amid tight security at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Iranian Ministry of Culture cancelled its national stand at the fair because of Rushdie's appearance. - February 22, 2016: Iranian state-run media outlets add $600,000 to a bounty for the killing of Rushdie. - June 1, 2022: Rushdie is made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's annual birthday honours. - August 12, 2022: Rushdie is attacked on stage at a literary event in Chautauqua, western New York state, and is flown by helicopter to a local hospital for treatment. Advertisement How Salman Rushdie lived under the shadow of a fatwa for 30 years: British author went into hiding when Iran's spiritual leader ordered he was killed for 'blasphemous' The Satanic Verses but he was living a 'normal life' in New York before his stabbing He was first forced into hiding more than 30 years ago by Iran's theocratic dictatorship after the regime branded The Satanic Verses a work of blasphemy. From ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity, to finally finding a new home in the US, British author Salman Rushdie has now been stabbed in the neck on stage in New York - the supposed beating heart of free speech. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic, issued a fatwa - or religious ruling - calling on all Muslims to murder the celebrated atheist author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989. Rushdie, now 75, was forced to live under the long shadow the fatwa cast until it was finally lifted by Iran's hardline regime in 1998. But for nine years, the writer constantly moved between safe houses and was protected by round-the-clock armed guards. He even adopted an alias, Joseph Anton - a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers, Conrad and Chekhov. The fatwa also led to the murder of the book's Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, the targeting of its translators and publishers in Turkey, Norway and Italy, and worldwide riots and book-burnings - while The Satanic Verses itself was banned in many countries. Speaking about the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: 'Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks of who the hell does he think he is? Well, from my side it felt like jail. 'There was this crude argument that I did it in some way for personal advantage, to make myself more famous or to make money. At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it. They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American. 'If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction.' Sir Salman Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses during a 1992 news conference in Arlington Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi Ayatollah Khomeini at his residence in the leafy Paris suburb of Neauphle-le Chateau during his exile 'What you have to remember is that The Satanic Verses is not called Islam the Prophet, it is not called Mohammed, the country is not called Arabia - it all happens in the dream of somebody who is losing their mind.' What shocked him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who backed the call for his assassination were ever prosecuted. He said: 'There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their congregation, ''Tell me who in this audience would be ready to kill Rushdie?'' and everyone in the audience raised their hand. And the police thought this was OK. Rushdie holding a copy of The Satanic Verses in 1989 'Supposing I had been the Queen and an imam said to his congregation, ''Who would be ready to kill the Queen?'' and everybody raised their hand. Would you think the police would not act? 'I only use the Queen as an example to dramatise this but it seems odd that when it is a novelist of foreign origin, therefore not completely British in some way, that it was allowed to happen with impunity.' Rushdie remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realised that she was lying he decided to end the relationship. 'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith. 'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have. 'And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate.' In an interview three years ago, he said: 'Islam was not a thing. No one was thinking in that way. One of the things that has happened is that people in the West are more informed than they used to be'. He ruefully added: 'I was 41 back then, now I am 71. Things are fine now. We live in a world where the subject changes very fast. And this is a very old subject. There are now many other things to be frightened about - and other people to kill'. Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame, with it also later crowned the 'best of the Bookers' on the literary award's 25th anniversary. His other works include the Moor's Last Sight and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker, and he also published a memoir called Joseph Anton about the fatwa. In this file photo taken on February 26, 1989, Hezbollah militants burn an effigy of Rushdie People rushed to assist the author after the attack in New York Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature, a decision that triggered outrage in several Muslim countries, including Malaysia and Pakistan. In 2017, he risked angering Islamists again by saying he could not face reading the 'unenjoyable' Koran. Asked if Islam's central text should be edited to make the religion seem 'more humane', the author replied: 'Editing the Koran seems like a mug's game. It's not a very enjoyable book because most of it is not narrative. The big difference between the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran is that the Koran has the least narrative of them. Only about a quarter of the book is stories. A third of the book is fulminations against the unbeliever and how they will rot in hell. Another third of the book is laws, how you should behave. 'So no I wouldn't edit it because then I'd have to read it, and I don't want to do that.' Hundreds of thoughtless drivers have frustrated attempts to tackle a massive wildfire in Dorset after they ignored signs not to park in the area and moved a fire brigade's hose so they could park their cars. A huge fire ripped through a nature reserve near a nudist beach in Dorset - 'likely' sparked by a disposable barbecue. Around 90 firefighters were scrambled to get the blaze under control, and dozens were evacuated from the area. While the devastating fire was raging near Bournemouth, firefighters discovered an unexploded Second World War bomb, making the situation even more dangerous. Firefighters tackled the flames throughout the night and were still dampening down the fire today. However, this didn't stop around 300 drivers from travelling near to the danger zone and parking their cars on a hose being used to tackle the fire. Dorset Police sent out a warning on Twitter, demanding the drivers return to their cars and move so the fire brigade could get the fire under control. The fire began around 1pm yesterday and quickly spread close to a popular beach - the area was evacuated The flames raged on the hillside at Church Knowle in Dorset as well as a large heath fire at Studland Fire crews worked through the day and night to get the fires under control and were still damping them down today The blaze seen from Sandbanks yesterday. People could see the smoke as far as 15 miles away The blaze started close to Knoll Beach and spread through the tinder dry heath on Dorset's Studland peninsula yesterday The force said: 'We have been called to reports that more than 300 cars have ignored the council's no parking signs in Ferry Road, Studland. 'The restrictions are in place because the water hose is running along the road to allow firefighters to deal with the large heath fire there. 'We've even received reports that motorists have been moving the hose so they can park. Please return and move your vehicles. 'Do not park here: the fire service is working hard to tackle this blaze. They need the public to help them, not hinder them.' Firefighters said they had discovered a used disposable barbecue in a small camp, which they believe could be the cause of the fire. A spokeswoman said: 'We found evidence of a little camp where someone had used a disposable barbecue, we can't say 100% that was the cause but when we find evidence we have to assume that's the most likely cause - fires don't just start on their own.' The fire in Dorset is thought to have been started by a disposable barbecue The large fire tore through Studland near to the millionaire's resort Sandbanks and Godlingston Heath National Nature Reserve which is next to a popular nudist spot, between Bournemouth and Swanage Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last month using barbecues in the countryside while Britain endures drought and its hottest ever weather was 'insane'. A spokesperson for the fire service said Dorset had seen a 492 per cent increase in open fires in the first 10 days of August than in the same period last year. The wildfire started near Little Sea on Dorset's Studland peninsula around 1pm yesterday and quickly spread to a busy nearby beach. Ferry services in the area were suspended yesterday but resumed this morning as the fire service scaled back its operation. The area is surrounded by holiday resorts, including a nudist beach and a 'millionaires playground' at Sandbanks. A drought has been declared in much of England and Wales, while the Met Office has issued an Amber warning for both nations. Temperatures are expected to reach 34C today and tomorrow. Temperatures are also expected to hit around the mid-twenties in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and about 30C in the north of England. The unusually dry and hot weather has made countryside fires far more likely than normal and the UK has seen a huge number of wildfires raging over the last month. The White House has slammed the attack on author Salman Rushdie, who remains on a ventilator after being stabbed multiple times at a literary event in upstate New York. Rushdie, 75, was attacked by Hadi Matar, 24, as he got onto the stage to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution. The nerves in his neck were severed in the attack, meaning that he could lose an eye, and his liver was damaged according to his agent. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, on behalf of the White House, said in a statement: Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Rushdie has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since the late 1980s, and his attacker is understood to be sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, on behalf of the White House, called the attack an 'appalling' act of violence against the Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, 75, was attacked by a Hadi Matar, pictured with Sheriff's deputies, who approached him from behind before stabbing him multiple times. The suspect was quickly pinned to the floor before being arrested People rushed to assist the author after the attack, with the attacker being restrained by witnesses. The motive for the stabbing is currently unknown New Jersey Police officers stand guard near the building where alleged attacker Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. Rushdie was issued a fatwa a death sentence - in 1989 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini after his book, the Satanic Verses, sparked and outcry with Muslims in Britain. British-born Booker Prize winning author Sir Salman Rushdie (pictured in 2019) got death threats and was issued a fatwah by Iran for his 1988 novel, the Satanic Verses. He has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and was today preparing to give a lecture about America being a haven for writers in exile The book supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran, with Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves. His agent, Andrew Wylie, gave an update on his condition, saying: 'The news is not good. 'Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.' Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage. A fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander was also found with Matar's details on. It bore the name Hassan Mughniyah which are first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. Rushdie was attacked on stage ahead of his speech in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, with witnesses claiming that he was 'punched and stabbed' Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries. A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson, where the event was taking place, said: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' The driver's license also included a reference to an address in West New York, New Jersey, less than three miles from his listed address in Fairview, New Jersey. Matar, who police say gained access to the grounds with a pass, managed to walk off the stage before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. Reese was released from a hospital on Friday afternoon and in an emailed statement to the New York Times, he called Rushdie 'one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression. 'The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations.' Advertisement The suspect accused of stabbing author Sir Salman Rushdie has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges after the attack in Chautauqua, upstate New York, on Friday. Hadi Matar, 24, has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, and was arraigned on the charges last night at Chautauqua County Jail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been remanded without bail after being moved from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown after the attack on Friday. The charges against Matar could still be upgraded if Rushdie's condition were to deteriorate any further. New footage shows the alleged attacker in the back of a state police car, with two officers in the front. Rushdie, 75, was attacked by Matar as he got onto the stage to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution. He remains on a ventilator at UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pennsylvania, with his agent confirming that the nerves in his neck were severed in the attack, meaning that he could lose an eye. The author also has a damaged liver, with a doctor at the scene describing his wounds as 'serious but recoverable'. Press were banned from the first court appearance of Matar, with Chautauqua Country Warden Matthew Stuczynski claiming that the decision was down to safety and security and good running order of the facility. Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the New York State Unified Court System, claimed that the county jail is not set up for press attendance. He added: This is a town and village court, in that county the central location happens to be the jail. It is up to the Sheriff to accommodate if he can. Hadi Matar, 24, appeared in court and was charged with attempted murder and second degree assault, after being moved from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown after the attack on Friday He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been remanded without bail after being moved from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown after the attack on Friday New footage shows the alleged attacker in the back of a state police car, with two officers in the front, transferring him to the county jail Salman Rushdie, 75, was attacked by a Hadi Matar, pictured with Sheriff's deputies, who approached him from behind before stabbing him multiple times. The suspect was quickly pinned to the floor before being arrested Rushdie remains on a ventilator at UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pennsylvania, with his agent confirming that the nerves in his neck were severed in the attack, meaning that he could lose an eye A Homeland Security Investigations Police officer enters the building where Salman Rushdie's alleged attacker Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey Matar, a sympathizer of the Iranian regime, rushed onto the stage at the literary festival in upstate New York as Rushdie was announced. British-born Booker Prize winning author Sir Salman Rushdie (pictured in 2019) got death threats and was issued a fatwah by Iran for his 1988 novel, the Satanic Verses. He has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and was preparing to give a lecture about America being a haven for writers in exile He reportedly stabbed him multiple times, before being pinned to the ground by horrified witnesses and was apprehended by a state trooper. Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, was also understood to be using a fake drivers licence in the name of Hassan Mughniyah names which are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasralla, an one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. The driver's license also included a reference to an address in West New York, New Jersey, less than three miles from his listed address in Fairview, New Jersey. Matar, who police say gained access to the grounds with a pass, managed to walk off the stage before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents, who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, and was not even born when the fatwa was issued. Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday. Since the 1980s, the IRGC have been linked to Hezbollah, offering training and funding to the primarily Lebanon-based terrorist organization. Hezbollah's logo is based on the IRGC's. Witnesses to the stabbing say that the suspect wore black clothing and a black mask during the attack on The Satanic Verses author in Buffalo on Friday The fake driver's license that was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both, the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah One of the Hezbollah's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh. He was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008 The authors suspected attacker was pinned down by witnesses and security staff moments after the attack. Rushdie's son Zafar, 42, is aware of the incident People rushed to assist the author after the attack, with the attacker being restrained by witnesses. The motive for the stabbing is currently unknown Matar, a sympathizer of the Iranian regime, rushed onto the stage at the literary festival in upstate New York as Rushdie was announced Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after being issued 'spiritual' death threat by Iran Sir Salman Rushdie is a Booker Prize-winning author and novelist. The 75-year-old was born in India, and his writing is often based around the themes of connections and migrations between Western and Eastern civilizations. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his second novel, Midnight's Children. His writing has spawned 30 book-length studies, and over 700 articles on his writing. Rushdie's writings have broadly been acclaimed to the genres of magical realism and historical fiction. He has been living in the US since 2000, and he was named a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in 2015. He has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, including for Midnight's Children, in 1983 for Shame, in 1988 for The Satanic Versus, in 1995 for The Moor's Last Sign, and in 2019 for Quichotte. Rushdie, 75, is an Indian-born acclaimed author and novelist Advertisement Rushdie was issued a fatwa a death sentence - in 1989 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini after his book, the Satanic Verses, sparked and outcry with Muslims in Britain. The book supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran, with Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves. Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage. Rushdie has previously received death threats for his writing, with his book the Satanic Verses which supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran. He wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain with protests taking place in the UK along with book burnings. Pakistan banned the book, and he was issued a fatwa a death sentence - by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989. Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves. The fatwa, or 'spiritual opinion', followed a wave of book burnings in Britain and rioting across the Muslim world which led to the deaths of 60 people and hundreds being injured. Rushdie was put under round-the-clock security from 1989 to 2002, at the expense of the British taxpayer, when a $3million bounty was put on his head. He was forced to go into hiding for a decade with police protection, and previously said he received a 'sort of Valentines card' from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million. Other's linked to the book have been attacked over the years, with Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese, being stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature. Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan. The novel's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993, but survived the attack. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said that the author had suffered severed nerves and could lose an eye. he added that his liver was also damaged State Trooper James O'Callaghan gave an update Friday evening following the stabbing Medics rushed to the scene to take the author to hospital to treat his injuries. A Chautauqua Institution spokesperson, where the event was taking place, said: 'We are dealing with an emergency situation. I can share no further details at this time.' Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan. The novel's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993, but survived the attack. In Turkey, the book's translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37. Rushdie previously wrote a 655-page fatwa memoir, which was nominated for the UK's top non- fiction award, the Samuel Johnson prize. During the fatwa he lived in permanent terror and at one point thought his ex-wife Clarissa Luard and their son Zafar, who was nine at the time, had been killed by assassins or kidnapped. In 1998 Iran's reformist president relaxed the fatwa and said it had no intention of tracking Rushdie down and killing him. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. New Jersey Police officers stand guard near the building where alleged attacker Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey Dozens of onlookers quickly rushed to the stage to try to apprehend the suspect, and help Rushdie after he was attacked in front of hundreds Blood was spattered on the wall behind where Rushdie had been attacked, with some also seen on a chair. New York State Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck Rushdie was airlifted to hospital after receiving medical assistance from those at the event near Buffalo, in Upstate New York The Seventh Wave: Rushdie's last published work focused on spies and assassinations Salman Rushdie was serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave, on Sub Stack, which appeared to have a heavy focus on spies and organized killings. His latest piece of writing referenced men in 'sodden balaclavas': Episode 48 The four men in black wearing sodden balaclavas are out in the open, closing in. ANNA and FRANCIS are on the terrace of the house, holding guns. FIRST MAN (shouting) Come down, Anna, Nobody gonna hurt you. And the other individual we don't require. ANNA (shouting back) Hello, boys! Would you like a refreshing drink? (They come closer.) SECOND MAN (also shouting) Don't you crack wise now, Anna. No, we do not need no fucking drink. Maybe you didn't notice it's wet out. ANNA (still shouting) We have towels. You need to dry your hair? (to FRANCIS) They are within range now. This is too easy. We can take them all. FRANCIS I don't know, Anna. I can't do it. Credit: Sub Stack Advertisement He has has two children from his four marriages - his other son is called Milan - but has been linked with many other women including Indian model Riya Sen. The author was knighted in 2007 in Britain 'for services to literature' by his friend, then Prime Minister Tony Blair. His last piece of writing was about an assassination attempt, serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave on Sub Stack, which appeared to focus on spies and assassinations. The White house have also condemned that attack on Rushdie, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan calling it reprehensible. In a statement he said: Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.' Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. Reese was released from a hospital on Friday afternoon and in an emailed statement to the New York Times, he called Rushdie 'one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression. 'The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations.' Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack on Rushdie 'heartbreaking' before confirming that he is 'alive', during and unrelated press conference. She added that he is 'getting the care he needs at a local hospital', and that a state police trooper 'stood up and saved his life' after the attack. One witness told the New York Times that Rushdie had been stabbed 'multiple times' and was lying in a pool of his own blood. Rita Landman offered her assistance after the incident, adding that he appeared to be alive and did not receive CPR. Landman said: 'People were saying, 'He has a pulse, he has a pulse he has a pulse.' Muslim activists beat a burning effigy of Salman Rushdie in New Delhi after the book sparked outrage Salman Rushdie (right) together with his fourth wife, model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshimi attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 Roger Warner of Cleveland, Ohio, was sitting on the front row when the attack took place, adding: 'He was covered with blood and there was blood running down onto the floor. 'I just saw blood all around his eyes and running down his cheek.' Rushdie's London-based son Zafar, 42, is aware of the incident and his father has been seen being transported by air ambulance after the attack. Thousands of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated as his alleged attacker was taken into custody. Senator George Borrello branded the attack as 'shocking' adding that there is 'no room' for 'beliefs that demand that you kill someone who disagrees with you'. He added: 'This shocking attack on a celebrated and noted author, apparently prompted by fundamentalist extremism, has no place in America.' The family of a Texas soldier who was sexually harassed and killed at a military base near Killeen in 2020 filed a lawsuit Friday seeking $35million in damages from the US government. Vanessa Guillen, 20, was murdered near the military base in 2020 by fellow soldier Aaron Robinson, then 20, who bludgeoned her with a hammer, removed her body from an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, and then dismembered her and buried her remains on April 22 of that year. Robinson died as cops moved to arrest him, with his death reported as a suicide. An investigation by military officials into the death of Guillen, who was killed by a fellow soldier at US Army base Fort Hood, found that she was also sexually harassed and that leaders failed to take appropriate action. The lawsuit describes two instances in which Guillen was harassed during her time as a soldier and Guillen's suicidal thoughts as a result of coping with the harassment, which she told family that she did not report for fear of retaliation. Guillen's family is seeking damages on the basis of sexual harassment, abuse, assault, rape, sodomy and wrongful death. 'This will be an opportunity for every victim to feel not only like they have a voice but that they can be made whole,' said Natalie Khawam, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Guillen family. Vanessa Guillen, 20, was murdered near the military base in 2020 by fellow soldier Aaron Robinson, then 20, who bludgeoned her with a hammer Robinson (pictured) then dismembered her and buried her remains on April 22 with his married lover Cecily Aguilar, 22 The lawsuit follows a decision on Thursday by a three-judge panel from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco stating that an Army colonel could proceed with a lawsuit against a former Air Force General over a sexual assault allegation. The court found that a law barring service members from seeking damages over injuries during service did not apply. Guillen was declared missing in April 2020. Her remains were found that July, when the soldier accused of killing Guillen died by suicide following a confrontation with officers. His married lover Cecily Aguilar, 22, also faces charges for allegedly helping Robinson dispose of Guillen's remains. Aguilar was charged with tampering with evidence after she told investigators that she helped her boyfriend bury her body in April of last year. 'He told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer,' investigators said. Aguilar, for her part, told authorities that Robinson 'would go into moods in which he would not be his normal self and have a "tic."' Her family (pictured: her sisters) is seeking $35million in damage over her sexually harassment, rape, and wrongful death She also allegedly told one of her fellow inmates that Robinson 'snapped, that he had an image in his head. He saw himself [kill her] and wanted to do it.' Aguilar at first claimed she was at home with Robinson the night Guillen disappeared but has since allegedly confessed to being there after Guillen's body was found. Investigators learned Robinson was the last person to speak to Guillen, despite telling police that Guillen left an arms room and he went to be with Aguilar, who backed up his claim. Investigators later discovered that Robinson's phone pinged in Belton, Texas, by a bridge near the Leon River in the early morning hours shortly after Vanessa vanished. When they went to the location, they found a burn pile, including a tough box, an item Guillen had been seen with earlier by eyewitnesses. Investigators noted that Robinson and Aguilar shared multiple phone calls the night of Guillen's disappearance, which Aguilar said was because she couldn't find her phone. On June 30, hours after investigators discovered Guillen's dismembered body, Army officials at Fort Hood detained Robinson. In April 2021 - a year after her body was found - the Army released a report about the officers who ignored Guillen's sexual harassment complaints. The fallen soldier had verbally reported it at least twice in 2019. The report took months to come, which the family's lawyer Natalie Khawam criticized. Aguilar, a civilian, has also been charged in Guillen's death as she has been accused of helping Robinson hide the body 'We knew she was being sexually harassed,' she told CBS News. 'We knew that people were lying. We knew she was falsely accounted for. We knew all of this. Why it took so many months to come out with this, I don't know.' Guillen's death and claims by her family that she was harassed and assaulted at the Texas base sparked a social media movement of former and active service members who came forward about their own experiences in the military with the hashtag #IAmVaessaGuillen. State and federal lawmakers have since passed legislation in honor of Guillen that removed some authority from commanders and gave survivors more options to report. Three migrants have today been killed and several have been seriously injured in Austria after a crammed people-smuggling van crashed crossing from Hungary. As the van was being checked at the crossing, the smuggler floored the accelerator trying to dodge the police and flee to Austria but the vehicle overturned. The van careered into a roadside ditch on the A6 Autobahn (motorway) at the Kittsee border crossing in Burgenland state, near Austria's eastern border with Hungary at around 9.30am (8.30am UK time). Emergency services at the scene this morning where at least three people were killed and several seriously injured after an accident on the A6 near the Kittsee border crossing, Austria Two men and a woman died with several others seriously injured and the alleged smuggler has been arrested After being checked at the crossing, the smuggler floored the accelerator trying to dodge the police and flee to Austria but overturned the vehicle The van had more than 20 people inside, including four children, when it crashed as the driver tried to escape police on the Austrian side of the border The van had more than 20 people inside, including four children, when it crashed as the driver tried to escape police on the Austrian side of the border. Two men and a woman died as a result of the crash, with seven others seriously injured, , according to Austrian national broadcaster ORF. The alleged smuggler, believed to be of Russian origin by police, has been arrested and is and is being questioned by police. A police spokesman said the injured people were taken to nearby hospitals, some by air ambulance. Austrian police said that five air ambulances, 15 ambulances, 13 fire engines as well as a large police operation attended the scene. The border crossing was closed for several hours for those entering Austria. Two men and a woman died as a result of the crash, with seven others seriously injured Austrian police said that five air ambulances, 15 ambulances, 13 fire engines as well as a large police operation attended the scene Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the deaths showed the brutality of the smuggling mafia The crashed van at the scene of an accident on being towed from the ditch on the A6 Autobahn A police officer at the scene while the van is being recovered from the roadside ditch The Interior Minister added that people risk their lives after being lured to Austria with false promises and said action needed to be taken against the trafficking mafia Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the deaths showed the brutality of the smuggling mafia. He said people risk their lives after being lured to Austria with false promises and said action needed to be taken against the trafficking mafia. The Ministry of the Interior announced in May that police had smashed a group believed to have smuggled tens of thousands of people, mostly Syrians, from Hungary to Austria. Two of those illegally transported across the border were found suffocated in a van last year. This recalled a grim incident in 2015 when 71 people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan suffocated in the back of an air-tight van where they had been hidden by people smugglers. The bodies, including those of three children and a baby, were discovered in Austria but they had died while still on the other side of the border with Hungary. Advertisement Uoc Van Nguyen last contacted his wife on May 7, the day of the fire. He told her he was at a mill that day. The suspected human trafficking victim has been formally identified by cops Human remains found buried under rubble at a burnt-down mill in Oldham have been identified as those of Vietnamese migrant worker Uoc Van Nguyen, Greater Manchester Police confirmed today. The 31-year-old was one of four Vietnamese men reported missing to cops on July 21 and who are suspected may have been inside Bismark House Mill on Bower Street in Oldham when it burned down on May 7. The deadly blaze took four days to be extinguished, with demolition workers only finding evidence of human remains two months after the fire. Mr Nguyen maintained regular contact with his wife until the date of the fire, at which time he said he was in a mill, police said. Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, GMP's victim identification lead, sent his condolences to Uoc's family. 'On behalf of all involved in Operation Logan, I send condolences to Uoc's wife and his loved ones,' he said. 'Specially-trained officers are in direct contact with them and to ensure they are fully updated and supported. 'Inquiries are ongoing to establish why Uoc and other, currently unidentified, individuals were in the mill during the fire. Anyone with information which may assist us should contact Greater Manchester Police or Crimestoppers, anonymously.' Left: Duong Van Nguyen, 29, told his family that he was residing in 'an abandoned house' whilst looking for work. Right: Nam Thanh Le, 21, last contacted his family on May 4 A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police yesterday named three other people believed to have been in the mill at the time of the fire, who were reported missing on July 21. Left: Cuong Van Chu, 39, arrived in the UK in June 2019. He maintained regular contact with his wife and children but they have not heard from him since May 7 The force said Cuong Van Chu, 39, arrived in the UK in June 2019 and maintained regular contact with his wife and children until May 7, but his family had not heard from him since. The force spokesman said Duong Van Nguyen, 29, had been in the UK for about a year and last contacted his family about three months ago, when he said he was living in an 'abandoned house' and looking for work. The fourth missing person was named as 21-year-old Nam Thanh Le, who arrived in the UK in January and last contacted his family on May 4 when he said he was living in a derelict house in 'Dam', believed to be Oldham, and looking for work. Specialist officers declared a major incident and began the search of the fire remains after the first set of remains were discovered by demolition workers last month. It took 96 hours for firefighters to put out the blaze on Bower Street, a built-up area with many commercial units. However they believed at the time that no one was inside the building. Specialists confirmed the recovery of remains of three victims, though they have not yet been formally identified. It took four days for firefighters to put out the blaze ripping Bismark House Mill in Oldham, Greater Manchester The first set of remains were discovered by demolition workers two weeks ago and a major incident was declared Specialist officers declared a major incident and began the search of the fire remains after the first set of remains were discovered by demolition workers two weeks ago Police said they suspect that the four nationals named 'may' have been in the building at the time but are 'keeping an open mind'. Cuong Van Chu, 39, arrived in the UK in June 2019. He maintained regular contact with his wife and children but they have not heard from him since May 7. The wife of Uoc Van Nguyen, 31, has also not heard from her husband since May 7. The couple maintained regular contact, and he said he was in a mill on that day. Duong Van Nguyen, 29, arrived in the UK approximately 12 months ago and last contacted his family approximately three months ago. He told them that he was residing in 'an abandoned house' whilst looking for work. Nam Thanh Le, 21, last contacted his family on May 4 and told them that he was residing in 'a derelict house' in 'Dam', believed to be Oldham, while looking for work. He arrived in the UK in January 2022. Teams have been searching the remnants of the mill since demolition workers discovered human remains on July 23. It took four days for firefighters to put out the blaze in Bismark House Mill on Bower Street, a built-up area with many commercial units Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, GMP's Victim Identification lead, said: 'Our thoughts remain with Cuong, Uoc, Duong and Nam's loved ones. 'Specially-trained officers have been in direct contact with them and continue to make every effort to ensure they are fully updated and supported in Vietnam, as they would be in the United Kingdom. 'We are continuing to search Bismark House Mill to ensure the recovery of all human remains and any objects of significance. 'Meanwhile, the investigation team is following several lines of enquiry relating to the fire and activities at the mill beforehand. 'Though we have reason to suspect that Cuong, Uoc, Duong and Nam may have been in the mill during the fire, we are keeping an open mind with regards to how many people were present and their whereabouts. 'I, therefore, appeal to them or anyone with information about their whereabouts before or after the fire to contact us. I stress that their safety and welfare is our number one priority.' Detective Superintendent Hughes also appealed for information about the fire and activities at the mill beforehand. A red glow can be seen coming from the building in Oldham as it burnt on May 7. Fire crews believed at the time that no one was inside the building The possibility that the remains of three people found were victims of human trafficking is among the lines of inquiry being considered by police, MailOnline understands. Another line of inquiry is whether the flames developed in an illegal cannabis factory it is speculated may have been underneath a legitimate tile warehouse, it was previously reported. Oldham councillor Aftab Hussain said yesterday: 'It's very worrying if the Vietnamese people were being kept in a mill like that. 'It does concern me that there may have been some human trafficking involved here. It needs thoroughly investigating. 'If anything illegal is found to have happened, anyone involved should be brought before the courts and punished.' Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes said: 'I speak on behalf of all involved in this operation when I say that our thoughts are with the potential family members in Vietnam. 'Specially trained officers have been in direct contact with them and continue to liaise with partner agencies to ensure they are fully updated and supported. 'At the scene, extensive search and recovery work continues to ensure any further remains are respectfully recovered. 'Any criminal offences identified as part of their investigation will be progressed immediately and appropriately. Yesterday, police found a third body in the building, where suspected human trafficking victims were being held Assistant chief fire officer for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Leon Parkes said firefighters followed correct procedures when a decision was made not to enter the mill. Pictured, police and fire crews at the scene Police have been in direct contact with the family of the victims in Vietnam, but the remains of a suspected fourth victim have not yet been found Detective Superintendent Hughes also appealed for information about the fire and activities at the mill beforehand. Pictured, police and fire crews at the scene 'Anyone with information which may assist us should contact Greater Manchester Police or Crimestoppers, anonymously.' The cause of the fire has not been revealed. Assistant chief fire officer for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Leon Parkes said firefighters followed correct procedures when a decision was made not to enter the mill, due to concerns about the fire and the building's structural stability. But he said there would be a review of the incident and how it was managed. The incident was also referred to Greater Manchester Police's Professional Standards Branch for review. Anyone with information can contact Greater Manchester Police via 101 quoting Operation Logan. Information can also be submitted in English or Vietnamese via the Major Incident Public Portal Anonymous reports can be made to independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Colorado police are under fire for not interfering in a dispute between U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert's husband and their neighbors after he reportedly threatened them and destroyed their mailbox. In a 911 call to the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, one of the Boebert's neighbors warned police that 'there's about to be some sh** going down here' as Jayson was allegedly driving into the neighbor's yard, The Denver Post reported. 'It's Lauren Boebert's jacka*** husband, Jayson. He's running over my mailbox right now,' the distressed man said. 'Stop you jacka**,' he then yelled. 'Get the f*** out of here. Come on, man. What are you doing? What did we even do wrong?' David Wheeler, head of American Muckrakers group looking to oust Boebert from Congress, has now called on the Colorado Attorney General to investigate the case and the relationship between the Boeberts and the local Sheriff's Office. 'This was clearly a serious situation as there were two 911 calls, five deputies and at least four families involved,' he said. Neighbors of U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and husband Jayson (pictured together) claim he threatened them and drove over one of their mailboxes on August 4 The neighbors claimed Jayson could be armed given the family's affinity for guns. Pictured, Congresswoman Boebert with her sons wielding semi-automatic rifles for Christmans The incident allegedly began when neighbors said they saw one of the Boeberts' sons speeding in a dune buggy down their Colorado neighborhood The Boeberts own a home in Silt, Colorado, where neighbors alleged they were terrorized by Jayson, who they described as 'irrational' and 'probably drunk' The incident began on August 4 after neighbors said they flagged down one of the Boeberts' sons when he was allegedly speeding up and down their street in a dune buggy. 'He's going like 50 miles an hour and this is a residential lane, there's kids,' the man who first called 911 said, according to the audio. 'We tried to stop him and he'd just freakin' cuss at us and just left.' Afterward, he claims Jayson got involved, allegedly confronting the neighbors and accusing them of 'taking a swing' at his son. The neighbors told dispatchers that they were afraid of what Boebert would do given the family's open affinity for guns. 'I'm sure he's loaded to the hilt,' one neighbor told a 911 dispatcher. 'Do you know who his wife is? Lauren Boebert. She's loaded. They all have guns.' 'He just got chest to chest, face to face, looking to fight.' The first man who called described Jayson as irrational and 'probably drunk,' telling police they could 'probably get him for a DUI.' Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario told the Post that once deputies arrived, everybody had 'agreed to work it out as neighbors. No charges. No further action.' Sheriffs Office spokesman Walter Stowe declined to provide any additional information. The Boeberts and their neighbors did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. Neighbors claim that Jayson accused them of 'taking a swing' at his son. The congresswoman (pictured with Jayson on a motorcycle outing) was named in the 911 calls but not in the police's records of the dispute Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said once deputies arrived, everybody had 'agreed to work it out as neighbors. No charges. No further action' The American Muckrakers group, which is looking to oust Boebert from Congress, has now called on the Colorado Attorney General to investigate the case and relationship between the Boebert family (above) and the local Sheriff's Office. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser's office confirmed that they have received the request to look into the incident. The office did not state whether or not an investigation will occur. The dispute with neighbors is not the first time Jayson has gotten in trouble with the law. Back in 2004, he pleaded guilty to 'public indecency and lewd exposure' for flashing two young women at the Fireside Lane bowling alley in Rifle, Colorado. He was sentenced to four days in jail followed by two years of probation, but, Boebert has repeatedly claimed that her husband never flashed anyone. She was dating him at the time, and she is reportedly banned from the bowling alley. Jayson's case marked the first of the couple's many brushes with the police. Back in 2004, Jayson pleaded guilty to 'public indecency and lewd exposure' for flashing two young women at the Fireside Lane bowling alley in Rifle, Colorado (pictured). Boebert, who denies he ever flashed anyone, is banned from the bowling alley 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 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 in 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. The port of Jemulpo in the early 1900s. A steam launch, possibly a river boat, can be seen in the background. Robert Neff Collection By Robert Neff In the late 19th century, before the construction of the railroad, travel between Jemulpo (modern Incheon) and Seoul was either an arduous overland journey by foot, rickshaw, palanquin or cantankerous pony all were slow and uncomfortable or by a handful of small steam-powered riverboats. One might assume the riverboats were more comfortable and quicker, but those assumptions are generally wrong. In the early 1890s, one English adventurer described somewhat amusingly his experiences of traveling on the Han River in a small steamboat. According to him, the steamboat company had two small vessels one was a small side-wheel paddleboat (possibly the 30-ton Kei-lei) and the other a screw steamer. He denounced them as "very rickety [and] wretchedly-managed craft." They sailed from Jemulpo on alternate days and returned from Seoul the following day at least they were supposed to. At 5 in the morning on June 30, the Englishman, aboard the paddleboat, began his journey from Jemulpo. Almost immediately he began to rue his choice of transportation. The boat's awning was too low for him to freely walk about and he complained about the terrible heat of summer which, judging from other accounts, wasn't that bad and he was very lucky it wasn't pouring rain. His complaints weren't limited to the weather. The "only procurable refreshments he could obtain aboard the boat were eggs (often rotten) and tea." If one was lucky, the trip from Jemulpo to Seoul (Yongsan) was supposed to take nine hours but often passengers did not enjoy this good fortune. According to our traveler, the Han River was "a broad shallow stream with many turnings usually marked by rapids." What wasn't marked were the mudflats and sandbars. "There is always danger of running on a mud flat; this happened three times during my passage, and if the boat cannot get off, there is no other course but to wait several hours perhaps till the tide rises sufficiently to set the craft again afloat." It is interesting to note that in another part of his writing, he claimed: "the paddleboat had to stop three times for repairs during the passage as the wooden cog-wheel required new cogs." The busy port of Jemulpo circa 1910-1920s. Robert Neff Collection Fortunately for them, they did not have to wait until high tide and the paddleboat was able to force itself back into deeper water but "not before a great sailing-junk ran [the paddleboat] down at the stern, causing general excitement [among the passengers] and a rush to the other end of the boat." A couple of weeks later, when he returned to Jemulpo from Seoul, our English traveler had equally if not more so harrowing experiences, but this time aboard the screw steamer. His complaints were relatively the same. Rotten eggs were still being served but this time, instead of tea, he was able to wash them down with "heated beer." Like the paddleboat, the awning on the screw steamer was too low to allow him to walk about and sitting down to relax was nearly impossible as there were only two chairs "one of (them) hopelessly broken." And, of course, groundings the screw steamer passed "a large flat-fish" and immediately turned to chase it eventually causing the vessel to ground itself. While the paddleboat had problems with its cogs (an inconvenience at worst), the screw steamer had a much more dangerous problem its boiler. "The boiler of this boat is said to be guaranteed to burst within a few weeks. Europeans on board go forward from time to time to watch the water-gauge, as it is usually prudent to suggest to the Japanese engineer the desirability of putting water into the boiler." Fortunately, the riverboat arrived in Jemulpo with "a whole skin" and he was able to write about his adventure. Others weren't so lucky. Jemulpo port circa 1908. Robert Neff Collection Isabella Bird Bishop, an English traveler writer known for her very opinionated and pull-no-punch style of writing, caustically described travel on the Han River by steamboat: "Nearly every passenger who has entrusted himself to the river has a tale to tell of the boat being deposited on a sandbank, and of futile endeavors to get off, of fretting and fuming, usually ending in hailing a passing sampan and getting up to (Mapo riverport) many hours behind time, tired, hungry, and disgusted. For the steam launches are only half powered for their work, the tides are strong, the river shallows often, and its sandbanks shift almost from tide to tide. Hence this natural highway is not much patronized by people who respect themselves " Apparently Bishop Eugene R. Hendrix and his party did not respect themselves. According to one of his companions: " after puffing away for about seven hours our little craft ran on a mud bank and our captain informed us that there was no hope of proceeding further for at least eight hours (until the next high tide). As we were looking about for some protection from the piercing wind which swept the deck a fellow passenger told us of a good road to Seoul only six miles away." Another writer continued the narrative by adding the bishop, determined to "show how Occidental pluck and energy could overcome Oriental inertia" had his party disembark from the boat at five in the evening and they set off for Seoul on foot. They soon learned that "the good road was a myth and that it was twenty miles to Seoul instead of six!" Undaunted, they stubbornly plodded on and reached Seoul at half past one in the morning a full twelve hours later than their planned arrival. As for the steamer, it arrived at Yongsan at 5 in the morning. I am not sure the foot-sore bishop proved anything other than his stubbornness. Perhaps part of the reason for the Japanese riverboat company's poor service could be attributed to a lack of competition there was no compelling reason for the company to improve because passengers had few if any, options. The company's monopoly, however, was soon challenged. Yongsan, one of the Han River ports in the early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection Ukraine has taken out a vital bridge in the Kherson region and further crippled Russian supply lines, according to officials. For several weeks, Ukraine's military has tried to lay the groundwork for a counter-offensive to reclaim southern Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region, which Russia captured in the early days of the war. It comes just weeks after the Antonovsky bridge was badly damaged and put out of action by Ukrainian rockets which blew holes in the roadway. A local Ukrainian official reported Saturday that a Ukrainian strike had damaged the last working bridge on the dam at Nova Kakhovka over the Dnieper River. 'The destruction of the road bridge of the Nova Kakhovka dam was ensured, with the result that it was taken out of operation,' the Ukrainian army's Operational Command South posted to Facebook. His claims could not be immediately verified. For several weeks, Ukraine's military has tried to lay the groundwork for a counter-offensive to reclaim southern Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region, which Russia captured in the early days of the war Russian troops patrol an area at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station, a run-of-river power plant on the Dnieper River in Kherson region, south Ukraine, in May It comes just weeks after the Antonovsky bridge (pictured) was badly damaged and put out of action by Ukrainian rockets which blew holes in the roadway 'The Russians no longer have any capability to fully turn over their equipment,' Serhii Khlan, a deputy to the Kherson Regional Council, wrote on Facebook. British military intelligence said on Saturday that the two primary road bridges giving access to the pocket of Russian occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnipro in Kherson Oblast are now probably out of use for the purposes of substantial military resupply. 'Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability,' the UK's Ministry of Defence said. 'Ground resupply for the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points,' the ministry said in an intelligence update. With their supply chain constrained, the size of any stockpiles Russia has managed to establish on the west bank is likely to be a key factor in the forces endurance, according to the update. Kherson is the only regional capital to have fallen to Putin's troops in the five-month war and is Russia's only foothold on the western bank of the Dnipro river which flows down the centre of Ukraine. A local Ukrainian official reported Saturday that a Ukrainian strike had damaged the last working bridge on the dam at Nova Kakhovka over the Dnieper River. Pictured: A Russian soldier patrols an area at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station A picture taken on July 21 shows a car moving past a crater on Kherson's Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike Recapturing it would deal a major propaganda blow to Putin's forces, and spell a possible end to its attempts to push west along the Black Sea to the port of Odesa. Russia's generals have previously said that cutting off Ukraine from the Black Sea - denying Zelensky's government access to its most-lucrative trading routes - is a key aim of their war. Seizing the city would also provide a major boost for Ukraine, proving that its army is able to attack as well as it defends. It would likely prompt renewed support from Western backers in terms of money and arms in the hopes that Ukraine would use them to re-capture all of its territory seized by Russia, which Kyiv has identified as its main war aim. Capturing Kherson would put Crimea - territory Russia annexed in 2014 and which carries huge symbolic importance for Putin's regime - within striking distance. Prosecutors have sensationally halted the Met Police's 'absurd' efforts to go after the people who attended the vigil for Sarah Everard. After a vigil organised by new campaign group Reclaim These Streets was aborted following threats of 10,000 fines, a spontaneous vigil took place at Clapham Common which brought together hundreds of protesters throughout the day - including the Duchess of Cambridge. Six protesters, including Dania Al-Obeid and Jeni Edmunds who have been publicly critical of the police, were accused of flouting Covid rules by attending the vigil but the Met were vilified by the public for their 'absurd and damaging' attempts to target these individuals. But the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) notified lawyers last week that it was to 'discontinue' police attempts to criminalise the six - who attended the March 13 vigil last year - as it was not in the public interest, The Guardian has reported. The hugely significant victory deals a humbling blow to incoming commissioner Mark Rowley, due to take charge in September, with the force insistent on prosecuting the women fighting for women's safety after Ms Everard was murdered by a serving Met officer Wayne Couzens. Ms Everard was abducted by Couzens, 49, on her way home in south London but the former disgraced officer now faces a whole-life sentence after driving the 33-year-old woman out of the capital where she was raped and murdered. The Met were heavily criticised by the public after they broke up crowds, arrested protesters and trampled on tribute flowers Couzens had pretended to be enforcing Covid rules to get Ms Everard into his vehicle. Dania Al-Obeid, who was handcuffed and arrested at the vigil, informed the Met that she would be launching legal action over the way the vigil was policed, including how she was treated. She said: 'This is a victory in its own right but it doesnt hold the Met accountable for their actions at the vigil or for their decisions to criminalise me and others for standing up and speaking out over a year later.' Abuse survivor Dania Al-Obeid was arrested and handcuffed at the March 13 vigil on Clapham Common in 2021 Jeni Edmunds was also targeted by the Met for attending the vigil and has questioned the force's abuse of power. Pictured: At Westminster Magistrates' Court, London, for a case management hearing to challenge her Covid fine she received Jeni Edmunds, who was another one of the six targeted, was happy with the decision but questioned the abuse of power that the Met used. 'That police used the same power abused to coerce Sarah Everard to her murder to arrest mourners at her vigil speaks volume,' she said. Ms Edmunds, who works at a legal charity Inquest, said she attended the vigil in response to the behaviour of Met officers towards murdered sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry as well as Sarah Reed who killed herself following a police assault. Sarah Everard, 33, was raped and killed by a serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in south London on March 3, 2021 In response to the prosecutors dropping the attempts to criminalise protesters, Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe of the Met told MailOnline: We know how important it was for people to remember Sarah Everard and voice their anger. Officers took very seriously their duty to safeguard the public during the pandemic and to balance this with the rights of individuals. 'The decision to pursue a prosecution in these circumstances is entirely a matter for the CPS.' Disgraced former Met officer Wayne Couzens was handed a life-long sentence Ms Al-Obeid, 27, from Stratford, east London, Vivien Hohmann, 20, from Clapham, Ben Wheeler, 21, from Kennington, south London, and Kevin Godin-Prior, 68, from Manchester, were all convicted behind closed doors under the Single Justice Procedure. Unrepentant Met cops justified the arrests by claiming the gathering had become an 'anti-police protest' and they felt 'distress'. Ms Al-Obeid, a marketing manager, was 'devastated' after being convicted behind closed doors as she felt she could not even fight it. She was due to face trial before the CPS U-turn after arguing that she had not been given a platform to plead not guilty - along with the others. The Met were heavily criticised for breaking up crowds and arresting protesters on Clapham Common as they trampled on flowers laid out as tributes. Pippa Woodrow, barrister for Ms Al-Obeid and Ms Edmunds, said on social media: 'As I say, Im delighted for my clients, but theres a lesson here. Protest is indispensable to our democracy and values. These cases provide an insight into what happens when we lose sight of that. Powers used to silence those we dont like can and are turned on those we do.' The barrister is hopeful that the Met will now focus its resourced towards protecting women from violence as opposed to attempting to silence those who speak up against it. More than a year on from the vigil, the high court rules that Scotland Yard had not considered the human rights of freedom of speech. It also highlighted that Covid laws had been misinterpreted at the time. But this did not stop the Met following through with their attempts to convict the six protesters. Ms Al-Obeid has raised 6,000 as she looks to take on the force and launch legal action against them - following suit of Patsy Stephenson who was famously pictured being handcuffed and held down by officers at the same vigil , although she was not one of the six that the Met came after. Patsy Stevenson also launched legal action against the Met after she was held down by two male officers at the vigil The US government has ordered its employees in Tijuana to stay out of public places, shelter in place and continue to monitor local media reports as violence continues to surge in the Mexican border city. Authorities in Mexico are investigating at least 10 vehicle fires in Tijuana, causing US agencies to air on the side of caution and lockdown its employees, according to Fox News. It cited the 'multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate' as the reasoning behind the order. 'US government employees have been instructed to shelter in place until further notice,' a representative said, according to Fox News. The violence began Thursday in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso. Los Chapos, members of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, formerly led by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, and local group Los Mexicles began feuding, leading to a riot that left two dead and 20 injured, the Times of San Diego reported. The violence then spread out of the prison and into the streets of Juarez, where gang members killed an additional nine people, most of them civilians. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero Ramirez said the national guard and police reserves are ready to be deployed if needed, according to Fox News. A truck explodes in flames as Tijuana drives to control an outbreak of violence Police have been trying to control the violence, but the city continuous to deal with multiple vehicle fires US government has ordered its employees to shelter in place amidst at least 10 vehicle fires (pictured) in Tijuana It cited the 'multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate' as the reasoning behind the order Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero Ramirez said the national guard and police reserves are ready to be deployed if needed as violence continues The ongoing violence in the city comes just months after the US announced the discovery of a tunnel from Tijuana to a San Diego warehouse. The 1,700-foot 'fully operational' tunnel is suspected to be used to smuggle drugs, such as heroin and fentanyl, into the US. The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities said. | OTRA NOCHE DE TERROR EN MEXICO: Tecate, Rosarito, Ensenada, Tijuana y Mexicali sufrieron ataques de hombres armados que quemaron unidades del transporte publico y vehiculos particulares. pic.twitter.com/O0HIBdnZpI Alerta Mundial (@AIertaMundiaI) August 13, 2022 It measures also 61 feet deep, agents with Homeland Security Investigations said in May. It was discovered near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last two decades. Agents were conducting surveillance on a 'known drug stash house' in National City, south of Downtown San Diego. A tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego was discovered in May by authorities and believed to carried drugs between the two countries It was discovered near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last two decades The tunnel is 61 feet deep and 1,700 feet long. The tunnel is in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border walls US authorities said it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what amount of drugs, if any, got through undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds of cocaine, 165 pounds of meth and 3.5 pounds of heroin in connection with the investigation. Six people, ages 31 to 55, were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents and have pleaded not guilty. The tunnel is in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border walls. One of the lawyers working for Former President Donald Trump signed a written statement in June confirming that all classified material had been returned to the government. The declaration was given to the Department of Justice on June 3 after a visit to Mar-a-Lago by top counterintelligence official Jay I. Bratt - two months before the FBI raid. Trumps Mar-a-Lago home this week was raided by the FBI after authorities claim that the former president held onto a trove of classified documents after leaving office. Four people with knowledge of the document told the New York Times that it is possible Trump and his team were not fully forthcoming with investigators about the material. He is currently under investigation for obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act, according to the newly unsealed search warrant showing the FBI retrieved 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. The former president insisted Friday that everything was 'declassified' and agents 'didn't need to seize anything.' Some of the documents were marked 'top secret' and are meant to be kept in specialized government facilities, according to a copy of the warrant. The FBI would have needed to prove reasonable suspicion that Trump committed a crime in holding on to the documents - criminal statutes cited in the warrant include espionage, removal of records and obstruction of justice. It appears that in signing the declaration that all of the documents had been removed, his lawyers sparked the DOJ's decision to conduct the search on Monday. At least one of Trump's lawyers signed a written document stating that all off the classified material had been returned to the government in June, two months before the raid in his Florida home Trump returned 15 boxes of material in January this year, with his lawyers telling the DOJ that all material had been returned to the government in June after meeting with officials Trump and his team say they do not have a copy of the affidavit and his lawyers have asked for a more detailed account of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago In an attempt to resolve the dispute, Bratt and other officials visited the Florida home and spoke with Trump and two of his lawyers - Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb. Last year it was discovered that Trump had taken dozens of documents and government material with him when he left office in January 2021. The material was supposed to have been sent to the archives under the terms of the Presidential Records Act. He then returned 15 boxes of material in January this year, which was examined and found to be classified information. That sparked the investigation with the DOJ and FBI, and Trump was advised to return any other documents that he had retained. His team then signed the declaration that all the material had been removed in June, before a raid by the FBI on Monday which found further documents. A spokesman for the former president, Taylor Budowich, said on Saturday, Just like every Democrat-fabricated witch hunt previously, the water of this unprecedented and unnecessary raid is being carried by a media willing to run with suggestive leaks, anonymous sources and no hard facts. The search warrant stated that FBI agents carried out the search to look for evidence related to the possible violations of the Espionage Act. Donald Trump and his supporters have condemned the raid on his Mar-a-Lago home, calling it a political 'witch hunt' A new report on Friday claimed some documents labeled top secret were found in a storage room near the Mar-a-Lago pool. There are two pools on the Florida estate, one near the main house and the other parallel to the ocean The same report states that some boxes of documents were also found in an office above a ballroom. Pictured above is one of the ballrooms at Mar-a-Lago Attorney General Merrick Garland's full statement on FBI's unannounced search of Mar-a-Lago The Department of Justice will speak through its court filings and its work. Just now, the Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week. That search was a premises located in Florida, belonging to the former president. The department did not make any public statements on the day of the search. The former president publicly confirmed the search that evening, as is his right. Copies of both the warrant and the FBI property receipt were provided on the day of the search to the former president's counsel, who was on site during the search. The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause. The property receipt is a document that federal law requires law enforcement agents to leave with the property owner. The Department filed the motion to make public the warrant and receipt in light of the former president's public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter. Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor. Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing. All Americans are entitled to the even-handed application of the law, the due process of law, and to the presumption of innocence. Much of our work is, by necessity, conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations. Federal law, longstanding department rules, and our ethical obligations prevent me from providing further details as to the basis of the search at this time. There are however, certain points I want you to know. First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly - where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and, to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken. Third, let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. Men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them. This is all I can say right now. More information will be made available in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. Advertisement Violations of the Espionage Act could include: harboring or concealing persons, gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government, or disclosure of classified information. The 11 sensitive items included miscellaneous documents labeled 'secret,' 'top secret' and 'confidential.' Agents recovered 20 boxes in total from the Florida estate, with the rest including handwritten notes, photo binders, the grant of clemency of Roger Stone and a file with information on the President of France. DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the warrant and receipts before it was unsealed by a Florida magistrate judge Friday afternoon. The warrant gave FBI agents permission to search in Trump's office and all storage areas on the premises, and states four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents were retrieved. Trump's attorneys now also claim former President Trump declassified the documents before he left office. A president has the power to declassify any document, but there is a strict federal procedure for doing so. Trump declared Friday afternoon that everything in his possession was declassified. He claimed agents could have had the documents 'LONG ago' if they had just asked, adding: 'Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn't need to 'seize' anything. 'They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. 'They could have had it anytime they wantedand that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.' The search and seizure warrant, signed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, allowed for a search of 'the 45 office' and 'all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by [the former president] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.' The warrant was signed on August 5, and the raid was conducted three days later on August 8. The warrant further reads that 'property to be seized' includes 'All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items illegally possessed in violation. 'Any physical documents with classification markings, along with any containers/boxes (including any other contents) in which such documents are locations, as well as any other containers/boxes that are collectively stored or found together with the aforementioned documents and containers/boxes.' The warrant then broadly allows for the seizure of any official record from Trump's presidency. Though the warrant has been released, the government does not yet have plans to release the affidavit to the warrant, which they fear could reveal much more information. Trump and his team say they do not have a copy of the affidavit and his lawyers have asked for a more detailed account of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago. According to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Trump's attorneys do have their own copies of both the warrant and the receipt for items seized in Monday's raid -- documents that are routinely provided to the target of a court-approved search. Garland said he could not reveal further details of what prompted the hunt, but sources told the Washington Post it was to do with nuclear weapons. But they did not say whether it was to do with the U.S. nuclear program or that of another nation. His team then signed the declaration that all the material had been removed in June, before a raid by the FBI on Monday which found further documents According to AG Garland, Trump's attorneys do have their own copies of both the warrant and the receipt for items seized in Monday's raid Trump has called for the release of the search warrant in the FBI raid on his Florida resort, following reports that the search was related to classified documents regarding nuclear weapons. He is pictured leaving Trump Tower on Wednesday morning Moments before Garland's brief remarks the Justice Department petitioned a judge to unseal the search warrant. He said the DOJ moved to make the search warrant public 'in light of the former president's public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter.' Garland took no questions but went out of his way to criticize the recent verbal attacks and threats against law enforcement in the wake of the 'raid.' 'Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,' the Biden official said. 'Men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. 'Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves.' His last-minute appearance comes after the former president claimed his home was 'raided' by federal agents who apparently broke a padlocked door and seized documents sought by the National Archives. A report from News Nation then claimed that agents discovered 'boxes everywhere', including some papers labeled top secrets, from two areas including a 'storage room near a pool' and his 'personal office above a ballroom'. The report did not specify the ballroom or pool where the documents were found, but did state that some of the papers had Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information - the highest level of classification. A day after the Mar-a-Lago 'raid,' FBI agents seized the cellphone of Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, one of Trump's top allies in Congress who allegedly aided his efforts to try to steal the 2020 election. But that seizure was related to another Justice Department investigation of the former president, regarding a 'fake-electors scheme' that he and his allies are accused of promoting to stay in power, according to the Washington Post. The raid on Trump's home comes months after the National Archives asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into the Republican's handling of classified records. An Indian man who last week travelled to the funeral of his brother who died from a snake bite was killed by a snake bite the following day. Govid Mishra, 22, made the 50 mile journey to Bhawanipur village in the state of Punjab in the north of the subcontinent where his 38-year-old brother's funeral was taking place. The lethal reptile snuck up and sunk its fangs into him while he slept after the funeral on Wednesday August 3, Indian news agency PTI report. Police confirmed Govid's death from snake bite the following day, just two days after the death of his older brother, Arvind Mishra, also from a snake bite. The same snake attack saw family member Chandrashekar Pandey, 22, also bitten while sleeping in the same property with Govid and remains in hospital in a critical condition. Govid Mishra, 22, died from a snake bite while he slept after attending the funeral of his brother, Arvind, 38, who also died from a snake bite in the Indian state of Punjab. PICTURED: A man performs with a copperhead snake in Malaysia Officer Radha Raman Singh said: 'Govind Mishara was killed after being bitten by a snake in his sleep. 'One of the relatives of the family, Chandrashekar Pandey, 22, who was in the same house, was also bitten by a snake.' Govind and Chandrashekar had travelled together from Ludhiana in Punjab to attend Arvind's last rites, and it will come as a bitter irony to the rest of the family that they have also been laid low by a snake. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about 5 million snakebites occur in India each year, without about half of them being piousness. Reports suggest that between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths occur each year. On top of that, snakebites cause as many as 400,000 amputations and other permanent disabilities. Many snakebites go unreported, often because victims seek treatment from non-medical sources or do not have access to health care, so the true number of bites may be much higher. The most common venomous snakes in India are vipers and cobras, but the common krait is considered the most dangerous, responsible alone for an estimated 10,000 deaths in India each year. With little fanfare, a death notice for Sylvia Bunn was placed in the pages of a Sussex newspaper. It said she had passed away on December 11, 2007, aged 87, adding: 'She will be sadly missed.' A Requiem Mass was followed by a burial at Bexhill Cemetery. No flowers were requested but it was suggested that donations could be given to the charity Help The Aged. Few people knew Sylvia, a retired dentist's widow. But it emerged that her will, written the year before her death, had given the clue to a remarkable family connection. For those in the know, her birth name linked her to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, of whom she was the forgotten aunt. Today, The Mail on Sunday can tell the fascinating life story of Sylvia. Although Camilla never met her and a spokesman at Clarence House declined to comment, it is believed the future Queen Consort is aware of Sylvia's existence. The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, has a forgotten aunt named Sylvia Bunn, the half-sister of Camilla's father Bruce Shand Camilla (pictured at Ascot Racecourse) and her spokesperson have declined to comment Sylvia was the half-sister of Camilla's father Bruce Shand, and her life was largely lived away from England, in part to cloak the sadness at having been rejected by her family. She was born in 1920, the daughter of Eton and Cambridge-educated journalist Philip Morton Shand, a serial adulterer whose life featured a string of mistresses whom he seduced in a chaotic, disorderly fashion. The incorrigible but charming womaniser was married four times: first to Margot Harrington, a secretary, who gave birth to Camilla's father Bruce in 1917, and secondly to Sylvia's mother, Agatha Alys Fabre-Tonnerre, with whom he began an affair while Margot was pregnant. It was not long before Alys, as she was known, a 25-year-old London University graduate from a distinguished French-Indian family and seven years his junior, also became pregnant. The couple escaped to Edinburgh, where they holed up at the St Andrews Hotel in preparation for a hastily arranged wedding. Two students were hauled off the street to act as witnesses, and just a fortnight after the nuptials, Alys gave birth to a girl they called Doris a name the girl grew up to dislike and which she ditched in favour of Sylvia. The newborn's half-brother, Bruce, who had been cast aside in Morton Shand's rush to consummate the latest love in his life, was barely a toddler. Attempting to throw a discreet veil of modesty over the elopement and swift birth, Morton Shand and Alys stayed in Scotland for several months until they felt it safe to return to London. But once again, the marriage was doomed to failure. The couple staggered on together for four years but then Alys, barely 30, petitioned for divorce in 1925 on the grounds of her husband's adultery. A month after the decree was granted, Morton Shand married for a third time only for that relationship to end and for him to go on and marry his fourth and final wife. Alys, whose mother had died in childbirth and whose father passed away when she was very little, had been brought up by relatives. As a young woman she understandably longed for a family and a home to call her own, but perhaps her dependency on Morton Shand, a man incapable of providing such a thing, proved her undoing. Sylvia Bunn (pictured) was born in 1920, to Philip Morton Shand, a serial adulterer whose life featured a string of mistresses whom he seduced in a chaotic, disorderly fashion While he went on to establish a name for himself as a writer on subjects such as food, wine and architecture, and befriend the future Poet Laureate John Betjeman, Alys and their daughter Sylvia were forced to rely on charitable handouts from his parents. This was possible because his mother was the heiress to a shipping industry fortune and able to bankroll her latest grandchild and ex-daughter-in-law. But the cavalier Morton Shand had no time for his children. He barely ever saw Bruce, though they were briefly reconciled before his death in 1960. He never saw Sylvia again. And so Sylvia's lonely and peripatetic life with her mother began. She had no siblings her nearest blood relative being Bruce, but she never saw him either. During her childhood years, leading up to the Second World War, Sylvia and her mother moved between flats in West London's Maida Vale. When Sylvia was 18, Alys took a job as a window dresser in a Kensington store to help pay her daughter's university fees for Sylvia had inherited her father's fierce intellect, if not his love. Eventually Alys moved to a flat in Malvern, Worcestershire. By now, Bruce had had a successful war (winning the Military Cross twice) and had married into the super-rich Cubitt family. His wife, Rosemary, was the granddaughter of Edward VII's mistress Alice Keppel. Bruce developed a career as an upmarket wine merchant with a blue-chip company called Block Grey & Block, and divided his time between Kensington and a country house near Lewes in Sussex, where he embedded himself in the local gentry by joining the South Down Hunt. In 1947, Camilla Shand was born the same year that her aunt Sylvia took up a post teaching German at a technical school in Malvern. 'Sylvia was a lively talker, very independent,' recalls France-Odile Winter, whose mother was a fellow teacher. 'She always dressed elegantly with high heels, she wore a hat and fur jacket she was lovely. Forthright, but very charming.' Philip Morton Shand (pictured) was an incorrigible but charming womaniser married four times: first to Margot Harrington who gave birth to Camilla's father Bruce in 1917, and secondly to Sylvia's mother with whom he began an affair while Margot was pregnant. Sylvia became France-Odile's godmother. It is hard to fathom why there was no romance in the life of someone quite so attractive, but Sylvia remained single. She then took another teaching job, in Munster, northern Germany, and stayed in the country to teach for the next 20 years. 'She was wedded to teaching,' explains David Boorman, a close friend in her latter days. 'Back then, teachers often remained single. That was her life.' Many of her pupils from Munster kept in touch after they left school via letters and with visits, and it is clear that Sylvia was much loved by them. By the 1970s, Alys had moved from Malvern to a flat in a converted house in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex. Bruce was living less than 30 miles away in Plumpton, but there was never any contact between the pair, nor with Sylvia. 'Sylvia never felt part of the family and she felt cut off from them isolated and forgotten,' says David Boorman's wife Wendy. 'But it wasn't something she'd talk about. She'd say 'I am part of the family' and that was that. The fact she was part of the Shand family was mentioned on numerous occasions, but she never said, 'I am Camilla's aunt.' ' At about this time, Camilla was being schooled in the ways of becoming a successful debutante. Philip Morton Shand was Camilla's grandfather and he first married Camilla's grandmother before having an affair with Sylvia's mother When Camilla married Prince Charles at Windsor in 2005 to worldwide headlines, Sylvia sat in her modest Bexhill villa and watched the proceedings on TV - she hadn't been invited How very different from her aunt Sylvia, who at the time was earnestly marking the homework of her German students and counting her pfennigs. A family friend says: 'Bruce Shand can't be accused of blanking Sylvia's side of the family. 'As the son of Philip Morton Shand, he'd also struggled with his own demons. His father ran off and his mother gave him over to his grandparents, so he was effectively orphaned. 'Imagine handling that, and coming out the polished, genial character that he was. 'Trying to make his way in the post-war world, there was no time for stray relations, even though Sylvia was almost the same age. 'Regardless, it was tough on Sylvia he had his family, she had nobody.' Accordingly, when Camilla achieved her long-held ambition of marrying cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973, Sylvia and her mother were not on the guest list of the glittering ceremony at the Guards' Chapel, Wellington Barracks, near Buckingham Palace. And by the time the secret love affair between Camilla and Prince Charles became public knowledge, Sylvia's mother had died never having reconciled with her other family. In due course, Sylvia returned to Britain from Germany to live in Bexhill. Her mother had died in the South Coast resort and there was nobody in the town she knew. Once again, she was alone. But one day, while visiting her bank, a man smiled at her courteously, shyly. She was 66, he was 77. It was an autumn romance. Her suitor was a retired dentist named Norman Bunn hardly the degree of person that her high-rolling half-brother, Bruce, now Vice Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, would be seen mixing with. Indeed, with exquisite irony, Camilla's great-aunt Violet Trefusis, the socialite and lesbian lover of the writer Vita Sackville-West, is said to have once snubbed a possible future husband on the grounds that 'all his friends are dentists'. But such snobbery would not have mattered to Sylvia. She and Norman married in November 1987, soon after her 67th birthday, and their marriage gave her profound happiness. 'And do you know,' she confided delightedly to her friend Wendy Boorman, 'he kissed me on the stairs!' Camilla and husband Charles at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Birmingham last month Camilla's family are aware that her father's four-times-married father had other children At last, the chaotic destruction wrought by her father Camilla's grandfather could be forgotten. Sylvia enjoyed ten years of married life before her husband died aged 88 in 1998. Life was far from over for her, however. With a new lease of life, she took up driving though her progress was erratic, according to David Boorman. 'Twice she drove her car through the back of the garage. As a driver, she was pretty diabolical. 'She got pulled up by the police and was made to take another test in her 70s. When the examiner asked her to do a reverse manoeuvre, she snapped, 'I don't reverse!' ' Always a devout Catholic, Sylvia regularly attended church services with her solicitor, Patrick Donaldson. And to that small coterie of friends in and around Bexhill, Sylvia seemed no more than a lively and unusual upper-class relic of a bygone age. She never talked about her Royal connections. The most she would say was that she was 'a part of' the Shand family. Friends deduced from her reticence that perhaps she was illegitimate, or for some other reason not accepted somehow. They didn't delve. (By a strange coincidence, Sylvia's mother and her ex-husband Morton Shand's first wife, Margot, lived within three miles of each other on the Sussex coast in their final years. They never met, but died within a week of each other.) When Camilla married Prince Charles at Windsor in 2005 to worldwide headlines, Sylvia sat in her modest Bexhill villa and watched the proceedings on TV. Again, she hadn't been invited. Her friend Wendy Boorman says: 'She never said 'That's my niece who's going to become the next Queen of England', but you can only imagine what her feelings were.' Clearly, Camilla's family are aware that her father's four-times-married father had other children. Camilla's son, Mail on Sunday columnist Tom Parker Bowles, has written of his family history. Describing his great-grandfather's 'less exalted home life', he said: 'After divorcing my great-grandmother in 1920, he went on to marry Alys Fabre-Tonnerre that same year (with whom he had his second child, Sylvia). 'But five years later, Alys petitioned for divorce on the grounds of his adultery.' After a short spell in a Bexhill nursing home, Sylvia, the aunt that Camilla never met, died at the age of 87. She chose not to be buried with the man she'd come to love late in life Norman Bunn wasn't Catholic but with her mother, Alys. Two forgotten women who'd been cheated of the pleasures of family life were united at the last. A Georgia murder suspect was tasered and arrested after cussing out a McDonald's manager and calling the police over cold fries after they refused to remake his food. Antoine Sims, 24, of Lawrenceville, was arrested by the Kennesaw Police on Friday after he and a McDonald's manager both called the cops after getting into an argument over cold fries. Sims, who was wearing an ankle monitor, had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failing to appear in court for a 2018 homicide. He is accused of setting a car on fire with a woman's body in it in October of that year. Bodycam footage, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shows Sims calmly approaching officers when they arrived at the McDonald's, located on Cobb Parkway. When asked why he called 911 over cold fries, he replied: 'So, basically, we went in there, and I guess something is wrong with their [internet] server, because we tried to order on the little box thing, and he said that wasn't working. 'We ordered the food, but he couldn't print out the receipt,' Sims said. 'So he said the receipt would be printed in the back, so we sat down - me and my fiancee are looking for homes around here - so I guess our order was called, but we don't even know our order number. 'So now our food is sitting there cold.' Antoine Sims, 24, of Lawrenceville, was arrested by the Kennesaw Police on Friday after he and a McDonald's manager both called the cops after getting into an argument over cold fries Sims said he never received a receipt, so he didn't know when his and his fiancee's order was called, and by the time they figured it out, the fries were 'lukewarm.' He asked the manager, who was not named, to make a fresh batch, but was only offered a refund, which he refused because it would take 'three to seven business days' to appear on his account He admitted when he tried the fries, it was 'lukewarm, but they're not hot' and that's when he asked the manager for some fresh ones. Sims then claimed the manager reached into the bag and 'touched the fries,' which made the murder suspect want fresh ones even more. 'He's already done, touched them, can I just get a fresh set?' he said. That's when Sims claimed the manager, who was not named, became confrontational and told him he could 'run his store however he wants' and offered the couple a refund. Sims said he refused the refund because it takes 'three to seven business days' to process back onto his CashApp credit card. Sims becomes visibly nervous when officer asks for his ID and said he didn't have it. When the officer goes to talk to the manager, the story changes slightly and the manager insists Sims cussed him out and claimed 'all his food's cold.' The manager said it was 'burning my hands' when he touched it. The manager claimed Sims said: 'You better give me my f**king fries, my fresh fries, mother f**ker.' Sims then reportedly 'loses it' and shoved his food and threw his drink at the manager before being asked to leave the store and is offered a refund. Sims allegedly says: 'No, you're not going to give me an f**king refund, you're going to give me my f**king food and my money back.' The manager asked to have Sims being handed a criminal trespass notice and was not allowed to come back to that McDonalds. Sims appeared visibly tense and asked officers multiple times if he was 'under arrest' He told officers he was 'scared' of them before he took off running. While police were preparing the document, they had asked dispatch to run Sims name and he allegedly became agitated by what he heard Sims had an arrest warrant out for him for a 2018 murder, where he allegedly lit a car on fire that had a dead woman in it Officers tasered him after they found him in a nearby residential parking lot. A resident called police to report a man was trying to break into his third-floor apartment 'I don't ever want him back here,' the manager tells the officer. 'The dude's obviously on probation, he has an ankle brace on.' After the officer returns to talk with Sims again, who is standing with a second officer, he informs the suspected criminal that he will not be allowed to return to the establishment because the business owner holds the rights to refuse service. 'As a business owner, he has the right to not remake your food. He is willing to do a refund,' the officer informed Sims. 'He has no problem doing a refund, but he's not going to remake your food.' He also informed Sims that the manager requested to write a criminal trespass report, which would be handed to Sims. 'We're not charging you. It's a piece of paper we're going to give you that's going to say: "Hey, you can't come back to this McDonald's." That's all.' Sims became visibly tense as they explained the process to him and asked if he was 'under arrest.' While police were preparing the paperwork, they asked dispatch to run Sims' name for a national database, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said. Sims reportedly asked to get inside his girlfriend's white vehicle multiple times. When the officer asked him to come toward the back of his girlfriend's car to use the trunk as a table to fill out the paperwork, Sims backed up, telling them he was 'afraid of y'all. I did three years, man, I'm afraid of y'all.' When the officer approached him as he backed away, Sims took off running, leading police on a pursuit. Officers eventually found him nearby residential parking lot after a resident called police to say a man was trying to break into a third-floor apartment. Police then tasered him in the back, causing Sims to scream hysterically. The manager (pictured) claimed Sims cussed him out and was confrontational over cold fries, which the manager claimed were 'burning my hand' He was taken to the hospital before being carted off to jail, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said. He was then charged with criminal trespass, hindering law enforcement, and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute after finding 31 grams of marijuana in his fiancee's car. Sims was arrested in 2019 for the 2018 murder of Adelisa Muratovic, who was shot dead. Police believe that Muratovic and her boyfriend Michael Smith and another man Deshaun Flournoy went over to Sims for an alleged drug deal when she was shot, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Police suspect the two men were trying to rob Sims before gunfire was exchanged. Sims then allegedly got into Smith's car, where Muratovic was shot in, and drove it to Lawrenceville, where he set it on fire. All three men were charged with felony murder and Sims was arrested in Wisconsin in 2019, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If you wake in the night and hear an intruder downstairs, you must assume he's armed. And he will kill you if you interfere.' The friendly police captain was answering my question about a flurry of home invasions nearby, in which a father had been shot dead, defending his family. This was Texas a few years ago, where my wife and I were new arrivals from London. We were settling in fast the Lone Star State does everything big, especially warm welcomes but there were some sizeable cultural adjustments to make, too. Guns, for example. They're part of everyday life in Texas and it's bad form to get excited about them, pro or anti, especially as a newcomer. There were more immediate dangers, such as navigating the 26-lane Katy freeway which for the first few weeks seemed by far the most likely cause of sudden death. Anyway, I thought, what's the fuss? I had encountered plenty of weapons in my 15 years' military service plus another eight years around armed Royal bodyguards. In my view, guns belonged at work, not at home, and I intended to keep it that way. Until the police captain explained about the local burglars and their notoriously quick trigger fingers. 'Are you saying I have to have a gun?' 'I'm saying you have to have a plan.' Patrick Jephson was private secretary to Princess Diana. He moved to Texas a few years ago, when he had to get to grips with America's polarising gun culture So instead of joining America's 80 million gun-owners, we make a plan. We buy special lights and locks and designate a safe room to which we will retreat in an emergency. All very reassuring. Until, a couple of months later, in the middle of the night, the burglar alarm goes off. For a few seconds, my dozy brain struggles to identify the sudden awful noise. Then, like a bucket of ice, reality hits me. Bloody hell. Certain death is inside the house and heading for the stairs Does the plan smoothly kick in? Do we calmly head for the safe room and wait for the police? Do we heck! Desperate not to die cowering in bed, I jump up and start scrabbling blindly for trousers. Meanwhile, my wife frantically tries (and fails) to remember the code word for the burglar alarm company which has promptly phoned to ask if we are OK. Are we OK? There is only one way to find out. I grab a heavy torch from my bedside table and stride manfully to the bedroom door, ready to confront the unknown. As I reach the landing, the alarm stops ringing. In the sudden silence, I strain my ears for any sound from downstairs. Nothing. On bare feet I creep down a couple of steps, fear spreading through my guts. 'I have a gun!' It helps explain US gun attitudes to realise that for many owners, this is just another retail transaction, albeit one with the seductive tech thrills of a high-end watch boutique or Apple store Joe Biden's lament at the horrific Uvalde school shooting in Texas this summer: 'I've been in this fight for a long time. I know how hard it is but I'll never give up. And if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won't give up either' I hear myself croak the words and desperately wish they were true. The torch in my hand is a joke. What am I going to do guide the invader out of the house like a cinema usherette? Luckily for me, no crack-crazed murderers lay in wait. Instead, I find a window that has slipped off its latch, triggering the alarm. Cue relief, embarrassed laughter and so back to bed, if not to sleep. I now understand that, in extremis, a handful of cold steel can be a great comfort. Torches just don't hack it. So, over the next few days, helped by a business colleague who also happens to be a retired FBI agent, I go shopping for a gun. 'Remember,' he says, 'you're not buying a gun because you hate what's outside your door but because you love what's inside.' Still, it feels strange, next to campers buying picnic stoves and anglers choosing fishing tackle, to be browsing glass-fronted cases of artfully arranged handguns. It helps explain US gun attitudes to realise that for many owners, this is just another retail transaction, albeit one with the seductive tech thrills of a high-end watch boutique or Apple store. It's undeniably a sensory experience, too: the sleek minimalism of a Glock, the satisfying heft of a Sig Sauer, the blunt utility of a Smith & Wesson ('the enclosed hammer design means it won't snag on your pocket'). From there, it's but a step to the heavy metal long guns. Wrenching myself away from the endless buffet of lethal hardware, I recognise that I am on the brink of becoming a participant in the whole, endless, unsolvable trauma of America and guns. Will I be part of the solution, or just another problem statistic? To British eyes, nothing is more baffling about my new homeland than America's love affair with firearms. Random street killings and mall shootings merge with school massacres in an apparently endless butcher's bill of national self-harm. The sleek minimalism of a Glock is undeniably a sensory experience for Patrick Jephson when choosing a gun to buy Some statistics are unambiguous: there are 400 million guns in the US an average of 1.25 per person. By contrast, in Canada it's 0.34 per person, and just 0.05 in the UK. Tellingly, almost half of America's annual toll of 45,000 gun deaths are suicides. It's big business, too. In 2021, the firearm and ammunition industry contributed 58 billion to the US economy. The right to bear arms is deeply rooted in America's revolutionary soul. And when the fight for liberty was won, the fight for the frontier took its place as the unquestioned pretext for universal gun-ownership. The Wild West, a cultural homeland for the boomer generation especially, has given way to the badlands of lawless city streets where the handgun rules. Gun-ownership is a freedom guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution a document which, along with the Declaration of Independence, has the status of sacred writ. 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.' To complicate matters, the Amendment says nothing about the type of 'arms' the citizen is entitled to bear. Its applicability to modern weapons, immeasurably more deadly than their 18th Century forebears, would have Jefferson himself scratching his head. But what, in turn, would he make of the opposite argument which, in the name of 'gun safety', would effectively disarm legal owners while leaving criminals as dangerous as ever? Ronald Reagan, who survived an assassination attempt, addressed the point directly: 'You won't get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There's only one way to get real gun control: disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up and if you don't actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time' So US Presidents and legislators must try to reconcile the 18th Century Enlightenment ideal of unrestricted individual responsibility with the modern reality of almost weekly mass-shooting outrages. Creating wise and effective laws on such a divisive issue has never proved easy given all the necessary constraints of a vociferous, polarised democracy. The great African-American social reformer Frederick Douglass neatly summed up the internal contradictions of the American system: 'A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.' Some statistics are unambiguous: there are 400 million guns in the US an average of 1.25 per person. By contrast, in Canada it's 0.34 per person, and just 0.05 in the UK That leaves Presidents to verbalise the national yearning for something better, often while fulfilling their sad task as mourner-in-chief at the latest mass killing. A recent, emotional example was Joe Biden's lament at the horrific Uvalde school shooting in Texas this summer: 'I've been in this fight for a long time. I know how hard it is but I'll never give up. And if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won't give up either.' Biden is just the latest in a string of Presidents to risk their credibility on diving into the gun-control cauldron, without much noticeable effect. Here is Barack Obama: 'My biggest frustration so far is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage. We're the only developed country on Earth where this happens.' It's hard not to conclude that firearms in America are like a religion: rational debate falls on deaf ears, no matter which side you take. As a Millennial friend grimly observed, there's a social dimension, too. 'Telling a gun-owner you don't like guns is like telling a dog-lover you don't like dogs. There's just no room for agreement.' Nor does the Amendment specify from which direction the security of the state might be threatened. The Simpsons cartoon character Krusty the Clown (an ardent gun supporter) defends his right to bear arms as essential for 'keeping the King of England out of your face'. In the America of 2022, threats are perceived on all sides. Most people have their own list of barbarians at the gate: domestic terrorists of Left and Right, unchecked migration on the southern border, criminal gangs, the urban army of homeless, anarchists, insurrectionists and that's not counting fear of the federal government itself. It's hard not to conclude that firearms in America are like a religion: rational debate falls on deaf ears, no matter which side you take There is widespread belief in the existence of a malign 'deep state', hellbent on stealthily tightening Washington's tyranny over freedom-loving citizens. Many today would echo Thomas Jefferson's robust solution for government over-reach: 'What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.' You can see why such sentiment survives and thrives when, as happened last week, the US Congress passed an act that authorises the Internal Revenue Service with its formidable criminal investigative powers to add 87,000 new staff (that's more than the entire British Army) who must be ready 'to carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force'. This on top of the IRS's reported purchase of five million rounds of ammunition. It makes HMRC seem positively cuddly. My FBI friend recommended a good pistol course. This was just common sense, not a mandatory requirement. In the state where I now live, anybody over 21 who passes a police background check can buy a handgun but responsible owners and most are pay for professional training. Unless you're a complete buckaroo, owning a deadly weapon is a deeply sobering experience. In the class with me were some of the nicest people you could hope to meet. One group was there as part of an organised church programme, a reminder that even places of worship suffer mass shootings. Talking to them helps reassure me that, for all America's grievous problems, it's a country where the good still outnumber the wicked and gun violence, like evil itself, is ultimately the work of individual human hearts. Look around the world and perhaps, like me, you'll find America is still the land of hope and opportunity its founders intended it to be. And if uninvited night-time guests come calling, at least I have the option of greeting them with something more substantial than a trembling torch. I'm still a reluctant gun-owner, at least until the next time I'm violently woken by the burglar alarm. Until then, I'll just remember the prayer written for Britain's nuclear deterrent: 'God grant the weapon never be used.' Amen to that. Patrick Jephson is a communications consultant living in the US. He was formerly Private Secretary to HRH The Princess of Wales. Across the world, there is deep disenchantment with governments, whether they are democracies marooned in political ineptitude or corrupt dictatorships that abuse their power. But in Estonia, a Baltic nation of 1.3 million people, you tend to get a different view about their governing system. Georgi Abolymov, 33, a personal trainer I met walking his dog in the capital Tallinn, is typical. I absolutely trust my government it is very hard to be a bad guy here these days, so we all trust the system. The reason for such faith is simple. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Estonia re-emerged as a free nation but was left broke and shattered. So its politicians took a big bet on technology and now this country leads the world in digital government. This might sound dull. But the system functions far more efficiently and not just for bureaucrats and politicians. It means much less stress for citizens, with one study finding it saves them the equivalent of one work day a month by making life simpler. Estonias digital revolution has seen a bonfire of red tape, with a drive to eliminate paperwork and simplify the state system. Their system offers sharp contrast to Britains creaking public services, lengthening wait times and often-impossible bureaucracy After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Estonia re-emerged as a free nation but was left broke and shattered. So its politicians took a big bet on technology and now this country leads the world in digital government Such efficiency saves the entire nation two per cent of its gross domestic product, roughly the same as it spends on security. You might say our defence expenditure is funded by our digitalised government, said former prime minister Andrus Ansip. Yet, having escaped Communist dictatorship, the system could not be further from Big Brother-style control. All personal data is owned by the citizen, use is tracked and wary of their proximity to Vladimir Putin everything gets backed up abroad. The countrys banks, media and ministries were thrown into chaos in 2007 following a furious row with Russia over relocation of a Soviet-era war memorial. People come from all over the world to study a place that was a non-existent country but now is a role model, said law professor Katrin Nyman-Metcalf. The Estonian system offers sharp contrast to Britains creaking public services, lengthening wait times and often-impossible bureaucracy something Prof Nyman-Metcalf has seen for herself while trying to sort her British mother- in-laws estate. Its taken a year to do some simple administrative things after her death, she said. Estonias digital revolution has seen a bonfire of red tape, with a drive to eliminate paperwork and simplify the state system. This allows more time for human interactions, said Carmen Raal at the e-Estonia briefing centre as she showed off the system to me. She boasted that 99 per cent of government services are accessible online except for getting married and divorced and these will be online by the end of 2024. So from birth to death in Estonia, life is tracked and data from schools to hospitals, police to planning, taxes to travel is linked in to use it more effectively. The New Estonian government poses for a group photo on July 18, with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas centre in light blue At the core is a once-only policy that insists government has the right to ask only once for any piece of data such as your address, date of birth, marital status, exam results, driving licence number, even your blood group or prescribed medicines At the core is a once-only policy that insists government has the right to ask only once for any piece of data such as your address, date of birth, marital status, exam results, driving licence number, even your blood group or prescribed medicines. The onus is on officials to retrieve information. This ensures there is no time-consuming need to fill in the same details on forms, no infuriating wait to talk to bored bureaucrats, and that it is in their interest to ensure the system runs smoothly. This transformation of government is being taken further by harnessing artificial intelligence when computers learn from previous actions and voice-recognition technology to create digital civil servants. The aim is to deliver more personalised and proactive services to remind citizens if they need to renew a passport, pay taxes, claim a benefit or take a medical test. Ott Velsberg, the governments chief data officer, says: This is about empowering citizens and providing access through voice, text or even sign language to improve customer satisfaction and ensure a better government experience for people. As a Briton, it feels strange to visit a place where government bureaucrats talk with such passion of customer satisfaction, a concept alien to our officials as they ensnare people in red tape and hide behind emails. Every new-born Estonian is given an 11-number digital identity code that includes birth date and gender, and, later, a digital signature. This code can be used for a multitude of transactions from buying tickets to signing deals and voting in elections from anywhere on earth. Citizens can access services around the clock. And even private firms such as banks, bus companies or insurers are allowed to use a system that diffuses state data instead of holding it in central silos that can be hacked or leaked. If a driver gets a speeding fine, the authorities obtain their address from the postal registry and then are obliged to destroy the information after the fine is paid. After any transaction, there is a digital footprint that can be seen by regulators or citizens checking use of their data, ensuring everyone can keep watch over possible abuse of their private information and assuaging fears of Big Brother interference. Central to this revolution of state services has been the digitisation of the health service using a system based on the one adopted by Britain during Tony Blairs disastrous 12billion bid to modernise the NHS. Perhaps we were more pragmatic, smiled Peeter Ross, a radiologist and professor of e-health. Central to this revolution of state services has been the digitisation of the health service using a system based on the one adopted by Britain during Tony Blairs disastrous 12billion bid to modernise the NHS As he showed me round his Tallinn hospital, Prof Ross proclaimed the benefits of any doctor, nurse or paramedic being able to gain instant access to medical history, tests shared fast and technology used to check automatically for prescription safety. Intriguingly, in a health system similar to the NHS, people enjoy looking up their treatment costs, which experts told me reinforces the real cost of their healthcare. All state information is backed up in a data embassy in Luxembourg. This ensures the state can function in a crisis once officials log on again with their digital signatures. According to one recent study, Estonia ranks highest in Europe for fostering democracy, yet this digitally-led transformation was driven by necessity and luck when Estonia was reborn with such dismal inheritance from Moscow. The emergent nation was run by a young generation the first prime minister was 32 when taking office in a place with a strong engineering and maths legacy at a time when the internet was arriving. The new government had to do something radical given the scarcity of resources, said Linnar Viik, one of the architects of the system. So we made a blind bet on the future. We did many things with no idea where they would lead. Viik went to the US to buy IBM computers for a country in which less than half the population had phone lines, but the tech giant told him to come back when he had 100 times more cash. So Estonia built or cobbled together its own systems while connecting almost all schools to the internet within six years of independence and introducing coding lessons at primary-age levels. This technological make-over was rooted firmly in post-Soviet ideals about human rights, mistrust of power and the importance of capitalism that led to flat taxes, low business rates and empowerment of citizens. There are, inevitably, grumbles about politicians, but could Estonia be a model for Britain? The point about technology is that it can scale up to any size, said Prof Nyman-Metcalf. You may have more people but it would help with more efficient government. The woman who narrowly escaped death after Anne Heche's car plowed into her house igniting a fire that destroyed her home and belongings gave a heartfelt message to the late actress' family and friends. Despite her own losses, Lynne Mishele expressed her sorrow on her Instagram page a few hours after it was confirmed that Heche had been taken off life support due to brain injury caused by smoke inhalation. 'The news of Anne Heche passing is devastating. Her family and her friends and her children especially really have suffered a great loss and my heart goes out for them,' she said. 'This entire situation is tragic and there really are just no words. I am sending love to everyone involved.' The previous day, Mishele thanked her supporters in a video posted on the GoFundMe page that was created on her behalf by neighbors and the owners of the house. Hi everyone, it's Lynne Mishele still recovering and trying to figure out up from down, but I did want to send a huge, huge thank you to everybody from all over the world for the overwhelming amount of love and compassion and generosity and kindness that people have shown over the past week. Lynne Mishele, who was renting the home, was luckily in a different section of the house when the crash occurred and escaped unharmed Heche's blue Mini Clubman is thought to have been moving at a very high speed at the time of the collision Firefighters pick their way through the charred debris of Lynne Mishele's house after successfully extinguishing the blaze Devastation is seen at Lynne's house after actress Anne Heche plowed 30 feet into the property driving a Mini at high speed 'With firefighters' help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone,' according to the GoFundMe Mishele's dogs, Reuben and Bree, also luckily escaped the crash unharmed 'Its obviously been the most insane, traumatic time, confusing, so eventually I will try to get back to everybody and read everybody's comments, but thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Its really truly overwhelming. You guys have really impacted my life in a very profound way, so thank you so much to everybody and I will keep you updated. Lynne went on to introduce her two cute dogs and tortoise, Marley, who's currently staying with a friend. Heres Rueben and Bree and they just want to say thank you so much for cheering them on. In less than a week, Mishele has received more than $150,000 from over three thousand donations on the GoFundMe page. Prior to the horrific crash, Mishele, who had been helping her dog heal from cancer. Jennifer Durand, the owner of the home, created the GoFundMe with her husband to support their friend and tenant who 'lost her entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items. With firefighters' help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone.' The page details how Mishele, who is referred to as a 'kind and generous person', narrowly escaped death following the horrific crash but was forced to look on as her property crumbled amid the brutal blaze. Homeowner Jennifer Durand (pictured right) stands across the street from her home looking dazed and confused after the crash Mishele can been seen trying to salvage what she could after the fire was put out An interior shot shows the Mini Clubman's airbag had blown out along with most of the decor being burnt through following the crash Pictures and video showed her looking dazed at the wheel after the first crash, with a witness capturing her with a bottle with a red top on it in her car. It is not clear what was in the container but it looked like a vodka bottle Firefighters enter the property as large clouds of smoke billow from the scene of the high speed crash Heche can be seen being removed from the scene on a stretcher and taken toward a waiting ambulance A GoFundMe page that has been set up for Lynne Mishele, pictured here on her Facebook page, has raised more than $50,000 in less than two days Mishele's neighbor. Lynne Bernstein. told People Magazine that her friend was 'extremely fortunate' to survive. She added: 'So were the dogs and her turtle.' Bernstein said Mishele was luckily in a different part of the home than where the crash occurred. She described her initial reaction to the crash, saying: 'I don't think she got what was going on. 'She said, 'What happened? What happened?'' Bernstein also said that Heche's car went 'almost all the way through' the home and 'almost immediately' burst into flames. According to her LinkedIn page, Mishele is the founder of Creative Organization, a company that helps to organize 'your home, your office and your life. We help you simplify everything!' She describes herself as an 'effective organizing professional with expertise in approaching organizing issues with a creative outlook. 'An innovative organizer that has a proven track record with establishing successful systems for each individual client.' Mishele says on her LinkedIn page she founded the company in 1993. Previously, she worked as a travel director at Citigroup and as a marketing associate for Sony Pictures. The entrepreneur is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. While on her Instagram page, Mishele regularly posts self-help videos. A few days before the accident that destroyed her home, she posted a video titled: 'Don't leave a burden for your loved ones.' In the video, she encouraged her followers not to leave things to loved ones after they die without asking them first if they want the items. This still image from video shows Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., at left, being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Salman Rushdie, center right, at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, N.Y., Aug. 12. AP-Yonhap Salman Rushdie, whose novel ''The Satanic Verses'' drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and an eye he was likely to lose. Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment. Matar was born a decade after ''The Satanic Verses'' was published. The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. The author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was arrested. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie's wounds as ''serious but recoverable.'' Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriff's deputy were assigned to Rushdie's lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million for anyone who kills him. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience. Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater. The assailant ran onto the platform ''and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, 'What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten,'' Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds. Frame grab from a video released via Twitter user @HoratioGates3 and used with permission, showing Salman Rushdie being loaded into a MedEvac helicopter after he and an interviewer were attacked while on stage at an event in Chautauqua, New York State, U.S., Aug. 12. EPA-Yonhap Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask. ''We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there's still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds'' that it wasn't, she said. Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the institution's 750-acre grounds, President Michael Hill said. The suspect's attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment. Matar's home was blocked off by authorities. The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' horror at the attack and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence. Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes, and the literary world recoiled at what Ian McEwan, a novelist and Rushdie's friend, described as ''an assault on freedom of thought and speech.'' ''Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,'' McEwan said in a statement. ''He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred.'' Dominic Raab will be condemned to the political wilderness in punishment for his vicious barbs against Liz Truss if she becomes the next Prime Minister, her allies suggest. They have described the Rishi Sunak-backers attack on her plans to cut tax as the saddest moment of the campaign, as the pair were once close. But the Deputy Prime Ministers allies hit back yesterday, saying he had seen it all before and accusing her campaign of lacking charm. As the contest enters its fourth week, the blue-on-blue attacks showed few signs of abating. The latest acrimony began after Mr Raab branded Ms Trusss tax-cutting plans as electoral suicide. The Foreign Secretary dismissed his intervention as spreading portents of doom. Dominic Raab will be condemned to the political wilderness in punishment for his vicious barbs against Liz Truss if she becomes the next Prime Minister, her allies suggest Then, rebuffing claims that Mr Sunak had stabbed Boris in the back, the deputy PM said Liz was doing lots of groundwork with her Fizz for Liz [dinners with MPs] for months. Up stepped her most outspoken ally, Nadine Dorries, who on Friday night retorted: Liz may have had drinks with MPs but she did not resign her job, walk away, furtively campaign with MPs for votes, register a website and was not campaign ready or part of a planned coup. Sunak was. You cant rewrite the facts. In a further escalation, other supporters of Ms Truss went into battle yesterday, accusing Mr Raab of being bitter over his removal from the Foreign Office following the bungled evacuation from Afghanistan. They said his attack on Ms Truss was quite sad as the pair have known each other for a long time. They both entered Parliament in 2010, contributed to a book together and have children of similar ages. One member of the Truss camp said: I know on this campaign there has been rough and tumble, but he hates her, absolutely hates her. The utter venom the hatred with which he went for her it was the saddest moment of the campaign. The latest acrimony began after Mr Raab branded Ms Trusss tax-cutting plans as electoral suicide Supporters said it was not beyond the realms of possibility that Mr Raab, 48, would have been offered a good job by Ms Truss, 47. But what he has said makes it impossible to give him one now, they added. They accused him of going over the top, adding: The guy has not just burned his bridges, hes torched the village. Mr Raabs allies hit back, saying: The charm offensive by Lizs team towards cabinet ministers theyre trying to woo seems to now be missing the charm. Dom has seen it all before and isnt for turning. If Ms Truss wins, it could spell the end of Mr Raabs political career as he is seen as vulnerable to losing his seat in Surrey to the Liberal Democrats at the next election. Other allies of Mr Sunak including former chief whip Mark Harper, and backbenchers Richard Holden and Gareth Davies are also likely to be frozen out of a Truss regime following their public pronouncements. However, former leadership contender Kemi Badenoch is expected to be in line for a chunky Cabinet portfolio should Ms Truss win. Although she hasnt formally backed either candidate, Ms Badenoch has said that the Foreign Secretary is a maverick who gets things done. Then, rebuffing claims that Mr Sunak had stabbed Boris in the back, the deputy PM said Liz was doing lots of groundwork with her Fizz for Liz [dinners with MPs] for months Ms Trusss camp suggest that the admiration is mutual and she wants to promote new talent. Ms Badenoch had a positive reception from the public during the contest and Ms Truss has said that she will give her a job should she win the race. However, it is understood that the former junior minister is unlikely to be in line for any of the main offices of state, such as Foreign Secretary or Home Secretary. The increasingly acrimonious and very public battles point to deep divides that are likely to remain in the Tory party long after it chooses its next leader. Should she be victorious, Ms Truss will come under pressure to appoint supporters of Mr Sunak in a bid to unite the fractured party. But the vicious exchanges will make peace less likely. Meanwhile, the Truss campaign was continuing to gather pace yesterday, with Welsh Secretary Robert Buckland becoming the first Cabinet minister to defect to her camp from Mr Sunaks. Aware that she is the bookies favourite to win the leadership, but not wishing to appear over-confident, Ms Truss is understood to be quietly planning for the Government she hopes to lead after September 5 so that she can get to work straight away. Jet2 has given staff an extra four days of annual leave this year for the sake of the their mental wellbeing after a summer of holiday chaos. Thousands of Britons have had much-awaited trips abroad scuppered by mass flight delays and cancellations. Jet2 which has been hit by the disruption said the extra days off could be taken at any time this year and was a show of appreciation for staff working during the challenging period. But the move is likely to raise eyebrows from passengers who have had their own holiday hopes dashed. It comes after Jet2 was slammed by pilots union Balpa in July for allegedly refusing to recognise concerns about fatigue and stress caused by roster disruption that could increase the risk of accidents. Jet2 has given staff an extra four days of annual leave this year for the sake of the their mental wellbeing after a summer of holiday chaos. Picture: file image of a Jet2 plane Jet2 is known for its package holidays to sunny destinations and Christmas markets though it also operates a fleet of around 100 aircraft. The extra leave, detailed in the companys annual report, comes as the group has also set up a SharewithSteve email account that disgruntled employees can use to send messages directly to the companys chief executive, Steve Heapy, which he personally responds to. The airline declined to say how many days leave its staff typically have, but the workplace review site Glassdoor indicates that it is usually 30. A number of job openings on the Jet2 website say the company offers 34 days of leave a year. In its annual report, the company said of the extra leave: This will allow them further time to focus on their wellbeing and is a show of our appreciation for their dedication and loyalty throughout such a challenging period. The 2 billion company refused to comment or clarify how many people would benefit from the additional holiday. Jet2 said that it was employing about 12,500 workers this summer. It ran up a loss of 389 million in the year to March which it said was fuelled in part by customers worries about the Governments previous traffic light system that banned travel to and from other countries, often at short notice, based on Covid risk. Jet2 was dubbed the most reliable UK airline last month, when it ran 100 per cent of flights, although many were delayed. Founder and executive chairman Philip Meeson has lashed out at woefully ill-prepared and poorly resourced airports, which he claims are behind much of the chaos. A recruitment crisis means there are far fewer baggage handlers, security and other airport staff than before Covid. Package holidays are becoming more and more popular with travellers who are keen to simplify the number of companies they need to claim refunds from if their plans go wrong. Mr Meeson added: The all-inclusive package is a wonderful product for challenging economic times all-in holiday cost certainty in a one click purchase perfect for those budget-conscious customers. We are set for tough times over the next year, but I have never believed in consigning ourselves to decline. I am focused on seeing our economy and country through to better days by growing the size of the pie, boosting wages, and supporting jobs to save us from the misery of recession. As Prime Minister, I will pursue a clear, consistent and truly Conservative plan to build a high-growth and more productive economy. This is key to delivering what Mail on Sunday readers want to see: more opportunity, improved public services, safer streets, job security, and better prospects for our children. I will work incredibly hard to make this happen by driving through my bold new economic agenda. Sticking with a business-as-usual approach will not be enough to turn things around. We need a new direction, which I offer. Fundamentally, my approach is about growth and investment not tax and spend. I know having spoken to hundreds of members across our country during this campaign how fed up they are with being taxed to the hilt as they struggle to make ends meet. We are set for tough times over the next year, but I have never believed in consigning ourselves to decline This is the time for decisive leadership and new ideas, not tired technocracy. I will challenge civil servants to get things done faster. I will turn the page on Gordon Brown-style economics, where taxpayers see their hard-earned money taken and some of it handed back out as benefits. Labour-lite policies risk undermining the promises we made to the British people in 2019, and would betray the huge promise of Brexit and the opportunity it offers to unleash our economy. That is why, if elected leader, I will ensure we Conservatives stay true to our core principles of low taxes, enterprise and hard work. I will lead us back on to the road of true Conservatism and put us into the fast lane of economic growth. No longer will business or profit be a dirty word, no longer will we apologise for being the Party of entrepreneurs, strivers and innovators, or shy away from taking the difficult decisions on the economy that have been holding Britain back. Lowering taxes helps people by putting more money back in their pockets. But just as importantly, it is an incredible catalytic force for free enterprise and growth over the long-term, showing that Britain is open for business and open to opportunity. I will act on tax from day one in Downing Street. In an emergency budget, I will provide immediate help with the cost of living by reversing the rise in National Insurance and suspending the green levy on energy bills. Such steps are necessary, affordable and Conservatism at its best. My government will do everything possible to help those struggling with the cost of living. There is work going on in Government on what more can be done and I will consider these proposals once in office. That is the responsible thing to do rather than commit to action without knowing all the facts and options. I will also enact a longer-term plan to really get our economy moving. I will continue what Boris Johnson started on Brexit and tear through EU red tape by the end of 2023 I will also enact a longer-term plan to really get our economy moving. I will continue what Boris Johnson started on Brexit and tear through EU red tape by the end of 2023. This includes reforms to help pension funds invest billions of pounds more in British infrastructure. I will support businesses across the country like never before, the City of London and great metro mayors like Andy Street in the West Midlands to level up our country in a Conservative way. Building a strong economy, and getting the private sector motoring right across the country, is critical to ensuring our Union doesnt just survive, but thrives. I will deliver for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. People have been let down in the devolved administrations by nationalist and Left-wing parties, which is why Im talking to members across our Union about what clear Conservative leadership can offer. I was in Cardiff earlier this month and will be in Scotland next week, meeting whisky distillers who I helped to thrive by getting tariffs suspended on their exports to the United States. I am focused on growing our economy and therefore creating jobs, creating new opportunities, and boosting wages for people across our United Kingdom I am focused on growing our economy and therefore creating jobs, creating new opportunities, and boosting wages for people across our United Kingdom. A growing economy is about more than numbers on a Treasury spreadsheet. It is about supporting real people and showing that a rising tide really does lift all ships. Ultimately, I want a country that nurtures and unleashes aspiration, an aspiration nation where people from all backgrounds and all parts can realise their dreams. That is my positive vision for the future: a Britain with a world-beating economy, that differs fundamentally from the EU, where people are able to succeed regardless of their background, that does not apologise for our values, our history or who we are, but instead looks forward to even brighter days ahead. By going for growth and staying true to our convictions, my Conservative government will deliver for the British people like never before. The 20-year-old daughter of Kim Zolciak-Biermann, Ariana, has been arrested for DUI after being involved in a minor car accident. Ariana, who is a social media influencer and reality star in her own right was caught in the early hours of Saturday morning in Forsyth County, Georgia. She faces three separate charges including misdemeanor DUI driving under the influence of alcohol, misdemeanor improper/erratic lane change and underage alcohol possession/purchase of alcohol. She has since been released on bond. Her on-and-off boyfriend, Hudson McLeroy, who is also 20, was arrested at the same time on alcohol-related charges while Ariana was in the car with him, according to TMZ. Kim Zolciak-Biermanns daughter Ariana, 20, was arrested in Forsyth County, Georgia, on Saturday for driving under the influence Her on-and-off boyfriend, Hudson McLeroy, 20, was also arrested at the time on alcohol-related charges McLeroy was booked for DUI, together with a charge of furnishing/purchasing alcohol under 21 and violating his driving permit. However, it appears that Ariana's charges may be the more serious of the pair as she was behind the wheel at the time of her arrest. 'Ariana was involved in a minor fender bender. When police arrived on scene, the investigating officer immediately initiated an investigation for DUI,' her lawyer told TMZ. 'Despite Ariana's constant invocation that she was upset and anxious from the minor accident, the officer incorrectly concluded she was impaired by alcohol. That was not the case. She wholly denies these allegations and intends to fight these charges because she is not guilty of them.' Ariana was involved in a minor fender bender and she was booked in early hours Both Ariana and Hudson McLeroy, left, were in the car at the time. Ariana was at the wheel Kim Zolciak-Biermann's daughter, Ariana, was arrested for DUI this weekend. Pictured, Ariana Biermann, left, and Kim Zolciak-Biermann right Ariana has been appearing on The Real Housewives of Atlanta since the Bravo show began in 2008 alongside her mother, Kim Zolciak-Biermann. She was just six-years-old at the time. Following the show she appeared in eight seasons of her mother's spinoff show, Don't Be Tardy. Ariana is now a social media influencer and spends her time promoting her family's line of customized product boxes which contain their favorite items. Known as The B Box, the project is a joint business between her mother eldest sister Brielle. The rest of the time, Ariana posts photos of her social life with her Instagram full of photos of food she eats, makeup she wears together with postings about various outings and travel. Donald Trump has lashed out once again over the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago that uncovered classified material, calling the court-approved search a 'hoax and scam'. 'Like all of the other Hoaxes and Scams that they've used to try and silence the voice of a vast majority of the American People, I have TRUTH on my side, and when you have TRUTH, you will ultimately be victorious,' Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his Truth Social network. Trump is under federal investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it unlawful to mishandle classified information, including sharing it with people not authorized to receive it, a search warrant made public on Friday showed. FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago earlier this week and removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret, according to the Justice Department. Trump addressed the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in a post on his Truth Social website Donald Trump has lashed out once again over the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago that uncovered classified material, calling the court-approved search a 'hoax and scam' An aerial view of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen earlier this week. The FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence Earlier on Saturday, a report claimed that Trump's attorney signed a statement in June that said all classified material held at Mar-a-Lago had been already been returned to the government. Trump's legal team gave the assurance after Jay Bratt, the Department of Justice's counterintelligence chief, visited Trump's South Florida beach club on June 3, the New York Times reported. Bratt met with two Trump lawyers to discuss the handling of classified information during the visit, the newspaper said. It appears that in signing a declaration that all classified documents had been removed from Mar-a-Lago, his lawyers sparked the DOJ's decision to conduct the search on Monday. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The former president insisted Friday that everything at Mar-a-Lago was 'declassified' and agents 'didn't need to seize anything.' Trump returned 15 boxes of material in January this year, with his lawyers telling the DOJ that all material had been returned to the government in June after meeting with officials Some of the documents were marked 'top secret' and are meant to be kept in specialized government facilities, according to a copy of the warrant. The FBI would have needed to prove reasonable suspicion that Trump committed a crime in holding on to the documents - criminal statutes cited in the warrant include espionage, removal of records and obstruction of justice. It appears that in signing the declaration that all of the documents had been removed, his lawyers sparked the DOJ's decision to conduct the search on Monday. In an attempt to resolve the dispute, Bratt and other officials visited the Florida home and spoke with Trump and two of his lawyers - Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb. Last year it was discovered that Trump had taken dozens of documents and government material with him when he left office in January 2021. The material was supposed to have been sent to the archives under the terms of the Presidential Records Act. He then returned 15 boxes of material in January this year, which was examined and found to be classified information. That sparked the investigation with the DOJ and FBI, and Trump was advised to return any other documents that he had retained. His team then signed the declaration that all the material had been removed in June, before a raid by the FBI on Monday which found further documents. A spokesman for the former president, Taylor Budowich, said on Saturday, Just like every Democrat-fabricated witch hunt previously, the water of this unprecedented and unnecessary raid is being carried by a media willing to run with suggestive leaks, anonymous sources and no hard facts. The search warrant stated that FBI agents carried out the search to look for evidence related to the possible violations of the Espionage Act. Violations of the Espionage Act could include: harboring or concealing persons, gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government, or disclosure of classified information. The 11 sensitive items included miscellaneous documents labeled 'secret,' 'top secret' and 'confidential.' Agents recovered 20 boxes in total from the Florida estate, with the rest including handwritten notes, photo binders, the grant of clemency of Roger Stone and a file with information on the President of France. DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the warrant and receipts before it was unsealed by a Florida magistrate judge Friday afternoon. The warrant gave FBI agents permission to search in Trump's office and all storage areas on the premises, and states four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents were retrieved. Trump's attorneys now also claim former President Trump declassified the documents before he left office. A president has the power to declassify any document, but there is a strict federal procedure for doing so. A member of the Secret Service is seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday, the day after the resort was searched Trump declared Friday afternoon that everything in his possession was declassified. He claimed agents could have had the documents 'LONG ago' if they had just asked, adding: 'Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn't need to 'seize' anything. 'They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. 'They could have had it anytime they wantedand that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.' The search and seizure warrant, signed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, allowed for a search of 'the 45 office' and 'all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by [the former president] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.' The warrant was signed on August 5, and the raid was conducted three days later on August 8. The warrant further reads that 'property to be seized' includes 'All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items illegally possessed in violation. 'Any physical documents with classification markings, along with any containers/boxes (including any other contents) in which such documents are locations, as well as any other containers/boxes that are collectively stored or found together with the aforementioned documents and containers/boxes.' The warrant then broadly allows for the seizure of any official record from Trump's presidency. Though the warrant has been released, the government does not yet have plans to release the affidavit used to apply for to the warrant, which they fear could reveal much more information about the ongoing investigation. Liz Truss will become Minister for the Union if she wins the leadership race as she said Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales had been let down by nationalist and Left-wing parties. Writing for The Mail on Sunday, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest said she would strengthen the historic ties between the countries. Speaking ahead of hustings against Rishi Sunak in Scotland next week, the Foreign Secretary said she would ensure the economy delivered for all parts of the country. Building a strong economy and getting the private sector motoring right across the country, is critical to ensuring our Union doesnt just survive, but thrives. I will deliver for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. People have been let down in the devolved administrations by nationalist and Left-wing parties. Liz Truss will become Minister for the Union if she wins the leadership race as she said Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales had been let down by nationalist and Left-wing parties Yesterday, she pledged to continue opening up new export markets for iconic British products, such as Scottish whisky and smoked salmon, Welsh lamb and ships in Northern Ireland. Ms Truss, who grew up in Paisley, said she considered herself a child of the Union and would seek to strengthen it. She took aim at devolved administrations the SNP in Scotland, Mark Drakeford, the Labour leader of Wales, and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. She accused them of playing political games instead of focusing on their priorities. Mark Drakefords Labour in the Senedd rely on the endorsement of nationalists and have failed to invest in key infrastructure in Wales, she said. She took aim at devolved administrations the SNP in Scotland, Mark Drakeford, the Labour leader of Wales, and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland The Foreign Secretary has previously clashed with Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after accusing her of being an attention seeker who is best ignored on independence In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein remain eager to drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and push themselves further and further away. In Scotland, instead of delivering on peoples priorities, the SNP are preoccupied with independence. They are seeking another referendum next year, when we should be focused on diverting a recession. The SNP accused her of having a total disregard for Scotland ahead of her visit. She also vowed to find a solution to the intractable issue of the Northern Ireland protocol which has long dogged Brexit talks. The Foreign Secretary has previously clashed with Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after accusing her of being an attention seeker who is best ignored on independence. It came as Tory MP and Liz Truss supporter Scott Benton posted a picture of his ballot paper on Facebook. Former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has accused Ministers of failing up to 500,000 people who do not benefit from Covid vaccination, by delaying whether to green-light a drug that could protect them. Lord Lansley, who served under David Cameron, feared cost was the reason why Ministers had not approved Evusheld for people with compromised immune systems. On Friday, the Government confirmed it would not yet buy Evusheld, made by AstraZeneca, due to questions over whether it helps protect against Omicron variants. Lord Andrew Lansley, former Health Secretary, has accused Ministers of failing up to 500,000 people with compromised immune systems by delaying whether to green-light a drug that could protect them The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) will review the drug by next April. Yesterday, the Tory peer told BBC Radio 4s Today that more than 20 countries were using Evusheld, with evidence of its effectiveness against Omicron building. He said: It is very difficult to see what the referral to Nice means other than that there is a cost issue. A mother with links to organised crime has been shot dead in a methodical, planned assassination as she got into a car in southwest Sydney. Emergency services were called to Weston Street in Revesby about 8.50pm on Saturday night amid reports of a double shooting. They found a 48-year-old woman with critical injuries. She could not be revived and died at the scene. A younger woman, aged 39, was rushed to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition but also died from her injuries. One of the women has been identified as mother Lameta Fadlallah. There were two other occupants inside the car - a 16-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man. Neither were physically injured but were left 'incredibly shaken' from the attack. All four are understood to be casual associates of one another. One of the women has been identified as mother Lameta Fadlallah A burnt out car is seen on a street in the suburb of Revesby Pictured: A burnt out car seen near the scene of a double shooting A second car was removed from the home of a woman tragically shot dead on Saturday evening NSW Police Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said the shooting was an outrage in a press conference on Sunday afternoon. 'This is an appalling attack on two women. They have lost their lives. It was a planned murder, an assassination really, and it's happened in a public street in Sydney,' he said. 'It's unacceptable by any standards. It's unprecedented really. And we are determined to get the answers for the family.' Mr Doherty said the attackers had broken an unwritten law amongst organised crime to not touch women or family. There used to be an unwritten law that you dont touch family and you dont touch women. Thats been thrown out of the window, they dont care anymore, he said. They dont discriminate if youre male or female. Every rule book has been thrown out, and that is concerning. Mr Doherty said the 48-year-old victim was known to police but said 'it appears the 39-year-old woman sitting next to her is a completely innocent party in all of this'. The 20-year-old driver of the car reportedly left the scene amid a hail of bullets, driving to nearby Weston St to escape the gunman. Police said it was too soon to confirm whether this shooting is just the latest in an ongoing gangland war, despite having all the usual hallmarks. Three burnt out cars were found in surrounding suburbs which are all now undergoing forensic examination. This unprecedented, appalling attack needs to be assessed on its own merits, Mr Doherty said. This is an organised, methodical, planned murder. That concerns us. We cant get away from the fact that thats unusual and unprecedented. Pictured: A burnt out car found near the scene of a fatal double shooting A forensic officer was seen in a car as it was towed from the home of a woman killed in a tragic double shooting Police are appealing to the public for help. 'We want to find those answers out as much as you do. It's important for us the timeline that occurred. All we can tell you is, it was an incredibly violent, horrendous crime where two women have been shot dead in a car,' Mr Doherty said. 'We should be all completely appalled that two women have lost their lives in an unprecedented attack. Whether it is organised crime links or not, that is part of the investigation were looking it. 'There's no suggestion of any links to the current conflict so we are treating this on its own merits and the motive is still unclear. We need that information.' They found a 48-year-old woman with critical injuries. She could not be revived and died at the scene A car was found burnt out in the nearby suburb of Panania but police are still working to establish whether there is a link between the two incidents. Revesby is in the heart of an ongoing gangland war in Sydney. Multiple crime scenes have been established throughout the area with the Homicide Squad and local area command working together to investigate. Any person with information, dashcam or CCTV is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A car was found burnt out in the nearby suburb of Panania but police are still working to establish whether there is a link between the two incidents A car was found burnt out in the nearby suburb of Panania but police are still working to establish whether there is a link between the two incident Emergency services were called to Weston Street in Revesby about 8.50pm on Saturday night amid reports of a double shooting A sign nailed to the front gate of a double killer's home thanked him for ridding his small town of its most despised identity. Travis Cashmore killed Warrnambool thug Kevin Knowles after mowing down his mate Benjamin Ray in his car and shooting them both dead. The sign read: 'Free. Trav! You and the Kirkstall community are now free from Kevin Knowles. RIP.' The sign nailed to Travis Cashmore's front gate shortly after the double-murder suicide Travis Cashmore's mate had been under threat by Kevin Knowles when he armed himself with a shotgun and shot him and his associate Ben Ray dead Kevin Knowles was among two shot dead in Kirkstall on July 22. He was a career criminal and suspected killer himself At the time of Knowles' death his criminal record filled more than 50 pages. Kirkstall, a small town 275km south-west of Melbourne with a population of less than 400 people, is known as a peaceful farming community north-west of Warrnambool's main drag. Warrnambool journalist Andrew Thomson, who writes for the town's local paper The Standard, had snapped the photo of the sign outside Cashmore's home before it was removed. Daily Mail Australia purchased Thomson's extraordinary image, which revealed the true contempt the town folk had for Knowles. Cashmore's body was found inside the home after he turned his gun on himself shortly after blasting the pair with a shotgun. Knowles and his acquaintance had been murdered on July 22 in broad daylight a few kilometres from Knowles own home in Kirkstall. Ray - a father of three - was run down on Scotts North Road by Cashmore's car before being shot at near point blank range with a shotgun. Thomson reported Knowles was shot in the back of the head execution style. Knowles had been hated in the local community, which he had terrorised over the past 10 years before his demise. A Warrnambool man who knew enough about Knowles had described him as 'the devil'. That man, Stephen Johnston, would be brutally beaten to death in his own home by Knowles after he took offence to being questioned about stealing a man's girlfriend while he was in jail. Knowles was never charged over the December 2016 murder of Mr Johnston, but Victorian Coroner Simon McGregor had no doubt he did it when he handed down his findings in 2019. Amanda Bourke drowned while swimming with thug Kevin Knowles. She had been the only witness to a suspected murder committed by him Amanda Bourke was the only other person who knew what Knowles had done to Stephen Johnston. She died without ever being able to give evidence against him The court heard Mr Johnston never liked Knowles and believed he 'used and abused' people. 'He refers to Mr Knowles in his diary at times as "the devil",' the coroner noted. On the night he was bashed to within an inch of his life, Mr Johnston had been drinking heavily with Knowles and his girlfriend Amanda Bourke. The court heard Mr Johnston made the deadly mistake of mentioning Knowles' 'lunch cutting' to him while binge drinking in his own backyard. The 57-year old's death was investigated by the coroner due to the fact that he appeared to have been bludgeoned to death. When police found him he was still clinging to life, but with 101 separate injuries, he died in hospital before he could tell them what had happened. A witness told police he saw Mr Johnston chase Knowles and Bourke out of his yard that night while wielding a hammer. The pair claimed they returned that morning to find Mr Johnston naked and battered on his front lawn. They took him inside for a rest and then used his credit cards to go on a Maccas run, they told police. With no CCTV, no witnesses and no real evidence to pin the murder on him, Knowles walked free. The only witness to what happened that night, his partner, would die under mysterious circumstances in January 2018 while Knowles was still under investigation. Travis Cashmore, 45, armed himself with a shotgun and blasted Knowles and his associate Benjamin Ray was run down and then shot by Travis Cashmore Cashman was found dead at a property nearby on Chamberlain Street shortly after the shooting (pictured, emergency services on Kirkstall-Koroit Road) Coroner McGregor had heard Knowles had been worried his partner would eventually dob on him. He had been shown letters from Knowles urging Ms Bourke not to be a 'dog' and squeal on him to the 'jacks'. Despite Ms Bourke being the only person who could link Knowles to Mr Johnston's murder, a coronial inquest into her death was never held. Instead, the coroner simply found Ms Bourke had agreed to go on a swim with Knowles in a notorious stretch of water halfway between Warrnambool and Port Fairy. Knowles told police she was swept away from him and drowned. A witness backed-up Knowles' claims that he had tried to help her. While Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English heard Knowles had a history of bashing Ms Bourke, the coroner found she was simply a tragic victim of the sea. Those unfortunate enough to have had a run-in with Knowles knew he was capable of murder. Word of his bloody execution was greeted with relief within the wider Warrnambool community. 'He was a standover man, woman bashing oxygen thief and that's putting it nicely,' one local posted to social media upon learning of Knowles' demise. 'Hope he seen it coming. Pity that Travis didn't plan it better. The pub literally sold out celebrating.' Travis Cashmore is believed to have taken the law into his own hands when he executed two men A witness told police she heard at least two gunshots and the sound of a vehicle speeding off shortly before the grim discovery (pictured, police vehicle on Kirkstall-Koroit Road) Emergency services on Kirkstall-Koroit Road, Kirkstall after Travis Cashmore shot dead Knowles and Ben Ray Just days after the killings, Cashmore's father Ron Cashmore told a local ABC reporter his son's concerns about Knowles had been dismissed by police. Mr Cashmore claimed his son had filmed Knowles breaching an intervention order against his mate just two days before his violent rampage. Knowles had been jailed in January after lobbing up at Cashmore's mate's house armed with a knife, the Warrnambool Standard reported. The notorious brute had visited Cashmores friends home with Mr Ray, who hid behind bushes. Mr Ray reportedly claimed to have been previously threatened by Cashmore's mate. Cashmore had been at his friends home at the time and filmed the incident, in which Knowles brandished a silver kitchen knife. 'Im going to kill you and your kids. Your days are numbers,' Knowles reportedly said. Knowles had been due to face intervention order breach charges allegedly related to the harassment of Cashmore's friend when he was killed. Knowles had also threatened to kill Cashmore, his father told the ABC. So paranoid was Cashmore he had security lights and cameras installed outside his home, which was just a kilometre down the road from Knowles. 'What he did to Travis was out of this world, you wouldn't believe it. He terrorised and harassed him,' Mr Cashmore Snr said. 'Knowles would stand in Travis's yard, he'd ask for money, he knew where he hid his keys ... Travis began to think he had cameras on him. He became paranoid.' Romelu Lukaku can still be a success in the Premier League, according to Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, who has suggested his old player needed more love at Chelsea. Conte takes his Spurs side to Stamford Bridge on Sunday but there will be no head-to-head battle between two of the world's best forwards. Harry Kane will lead the line for the visitors but Thomas Tuchel could again go with a false nine for the hosts, who have been dogged by issues in front of goal for a lengthy period of time. Antonio Conte will be looking to get one over on his old club when Spurs travel to Chelsea The Italian backed Chelsea flop Romelu Lukaku to eventually come good in the Premier League The signing of Lukaku for 97million last summer was expected to solve Chelsea's problems in attack but the Belgian struggled and is back with Inter Milan on loan. It was at San Siro under Conte's management where the former Manchester United forward showed himself to be among the best in his position on his way to helping Inter win the Serie A title in 2021 and his old boss believes the 29-year-old can still flourish in England. He said: 'I think Romelu lived two years in Milan and he was the king. The fans showed him a lot of passion and I think he's a guy who needs this. 'For this reason I think he wanted to come back in Milan, but for sure the signing was a good signing for Chelsea. Then you know very well there are players that need more time to make an impact. 'We are talking about a player who came back to Chelsea and now he is on loan at Inter for this season, but he has the potential to play in the Premier League. Conte knows Lukaku well from their title winning season together at Inter Milan in 2020-21 'I remember very well when he started to play last season, he played really well and you in the media said Lukaku is really strong. 'A lot of things can happen and drop the confidence. I know for sure he is a bit disappointed with his impact because he wanted to have another impact in England. 'But he has time. Now it's right for him to play for an important club in Italy, to try to get again confidence in himself, but we are talking about a really important and really good striker.' While Spurs have regularly seen Harry Kane, and now even Son Heung-min, hit the 20-goal mark in the Premier League, the last Chelsea player to do so was Diego Costa five years ago. It occurred in Conte's maiden campaign in England where he guided the Blues to the title. Spurs have not had to worry about goals since Harry Kane broke into their first-team An FA Cup would follow in his second and final season at Stamford Bridge before he left in acrimonious circumstances but the 53-year-old only holds fond memories of his time under Roman Abramovich. 'I spent two important years in Chelsea that I enjoyed a lot,' Conte added. 'We won the Premier League and then the FA Cup. We also lost the final in the FA Cup. It was my first experience in England and everything was new for me but I enjoy a lot that time. Yeah, I bring with me a good feeling. 'I have seen the Abramovich era has finished but this person brought the team to become one of the best clubs in the world. 'I was pleased to be part of the history of Chelsea and the Abramovich era. And at the same time to give him two trophies.' He became a household name playing 'little Aussie bleeder' Norman Gunston and Arthur in the ABC series, Mother And Son. But iconic Australian comedian Garry McDonald lives a very quiet life these days. McDonald, 73, was diagnosed with anxiety and related depression in 1993 and now leads a very private life with his actress wife Diane Craig. What ever happened to Norman Gunston? Inside the VERY private life of iconic Australian comedian Garry McDonald with his glamorous actress wife after 'little Aussie bleeder' suffered crippling depression The 73-year-old rose to fame thanks to his role in the legendary ABC comedy Aunty Jack in 1973 and his appearance in 1975 drama film Picnic At Hanging Rock. His famous character Norman Gunston was born on the ABC series, Mother And Son. He was eventually offered his own program 'The Norman Gunston show'. He's interviewed the likes of Mick Jaggar, Ray Charles, Muhammad Ali, Paul Keating and Paul McCartney on his show and throughout his career. The 73-year-old rose to fame thanks to his role in the legendary ABC comedy Aunty Jack in 1973 and his appearance in 1975 drama film Picnic At Hanging Rock. Pictured on stage during Guys And Doll Garry is famous for daubing his face with small pieces of tissue paper and his trademark comb-over hairstyle. He won the Gold Logie in 1976 for his work on The Norman Gunston Show and was also awarded the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor in 1994. After the reboot of his popular series was cancelled in 1993, Garry was diagnosed with anxiety and related depression. He told the ABC in 2015, he was 'mortified' at the show's cancellation. 'I was mortified that I was putting people out of work. But there was nothing I could do. I was a basket case,' he said. Garry became a household name playing the 'little Aussie bleeder' Norman Gunston and Arthur in the ABC series Mother And Son Garry also revealed that, once diagnosed, he began cognitive behavior therapy which 'changed his life'. A staunch supporter of mental health awareness, Garry was awarded an Order of Australia in 2003 and is also an ambassador of Beyond Blue. He returned to TV screens in 2012, playing Doctor Philip Noonan on Network Ten drama series Offspring. Garry currently lives with his wife Diane in Berry on the New South Wales south coast. The couple, who share son David and daughter Kate, met during production of Let's Get A Divorce and tied the knot in 1971. After the reboot of his popular series The Norman Gunston show was cancelled in 1993, Garry (pictured here in 2012) was diagnosed with anxiety and related depression Chris Hemsworth enjoyed a day out in Byron Bay to celebrate his 39th birthday on Friday. The Thor star headed out with his three children and wife Elsa Pataky for brunch before she went walking with friends, including Luciana Barroso. Actor Chris opted for casual cool in an all black outfit as he played the doting dad, cuddling up to his daughter India, ten. Chris Hemsworth enjoyed a day out in Byron Bay to celebrate his 39th birthday on Friday At one point, he had one of his twin boys Sasha, eight, clinging to his back in a big hug before the family's food arrived. Meanwhile, Elsa, 46, opted for white jeans and a grey jumper which she sweetly shared with son Tristan. She wore the same outfit as she went for a stroll with Matt Damon's wife Luciana, 46, and a group of friends. Hollywood hunk Matt, 51, is enjoying a relaxing family holiday with his wife in a New South Wales resort while the couple spend time with the Hemsworth family. The Thor star headed out with his three children and wife Elsa Pataky for brunch before she went walking with friends, including Luciana Barroso Actor Chris opted for casual cool in an all black outfit as he played the doting dad, cuddling up to his daughter India, ten At one point, he had one of his twin boys Sasha, eight, clinging to his back in a big hug before the family's food arrived Meanwhile, Elsa, 46, opted for white jeans and a grey jumper which she sweetly shared with son Tristan She wore the same outfit as she went for a stroll with Matt Damon's wife Luciana, 46, and a group of friends Hollywood hunk Matt, 51, is enjoying a relaxing family holiday with his wife in a New South Wales resort while the couple spend time with the Hemsworth family Chris pictured listening intently to his wife Elsa It comes as Elsa graced the internet with a photo of Chris seemingly nude in the bath with a parrot on his head on Thursday. The Spanish model and actress shared the snap to celebrate Chris' birthday. 'Happy birthday to my favourite parrot trainer, kids handler and wife tamer,' she captioned the Instagram post. It comes as Elsa graced the internet with a photo of Chris seemingly nude in the bath with a parrot on his head on Thursday The Spanish model and actress shared the snap to celebrate Chris' birthday 'Happy birthday to my favourite parrot trainer, kids handler and wife tamer,' she captioned the Instagram post The Hemsworth boys appeared to have taken their father's boisterous side as Sasha climbed over the dinner table and Tristan got inside his mother's jumper She continued, 'There's nothing you can't do. We love you to the moon and back,' before writing more in Spanish. Elsa uploaded the photo alongside two others, including one of the Thor star wrestling with their three children. The third picture was a black and white still from Thor: Love and Thunder, in which Elsa cameoed as a 'wolf woman' who was a former lover to Chris' character. She continued, 'There's nothing you can't do. We love you to the moon and back,' before writing more in Spanish Elsa uploaded the photo alongside two others, including one of the Thor star wrestling with their three children Chris and Elsa boast one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood, but some fans may not know the pair actually tied the knot just three months after going public as a couple in 2010. The actor hasn't been shy about discussing his rushed nuptials, telling Good Morning Britain in 2016 that it was a spur of the moment decision. 'It did happen quick and it just felt right, it made sense,' Chris told the show when quizzed on how fast his relationship with Elsa progressed. The third picture was a black and white still from Thor: Love and Thunder, in which Elsa cameoed as a 'wolf woman' who was a former lover to Chris' character Chris and Elsa boast one of the strongest marriages in Hollywood, but some fans may not know the pair actually tied the knot just three months after going public as a couple in 2010 The actor hasn't been shy about discussing his rushed nuptials, telling Good Morning Britain in 2016 that it was a spur of the moment decision The lovebirds started dating in early 2010, and they tied the knot in a low-key ceremony in December that year. 'There was no great plan to any of it to be honest. We were on holiday and we said, 'Why don't we get married too?' And then the next minute... There probably should have been some planning but it all worked out,' he mused. 'Honestly, we had both our families on holiday at the same time, just randomly, and we said this is a good opportunity with everyone together so we just did it.' 'It did happen quick and it just felt right, it made sense,' Chris told the show when quizzed on how fast his relationship with Elsa progressed Together with their children, they now reside in a $30million mansion in Broken Head, near the celebrity enclave of Byron Bay. Last year, Elsa revealed the surprising secret behind her enduring marriage was laughter. 'We enjoy doing the same stuff and Chris has a great sense of humour and knows how to take the sting out of things,' she told Hola! magazine . Advertisement Martha Stewart has opened her first ever restaurant in Las Vegas: The Bedford by Martha Stewart at the Paris hotel in the Nevada city. The lifestyle icon, 81, exclusively spoke to DailyMail.com in Vegas about her new venture, which was modeled after her farmhouse in Bedford, New York. The restaurant gives guests the immersive 'Martha Stewart' experience, with the impressive menu consisting of Martha's favorite recipes and French inspired cuisine. The Bedford by Martha Stewart's opening party is Friday, August 12, with the restaurant open to the public on Saturday, August 13. Welcome! Martha Stewart has opened her first ever restaurant in Las Vegas, called The Bedford at the Paris hotel in the Nevada city Martha is in good company with Nobu and Lisa Vanderpump having upscale establishments inside Paris Las Vegas too. Guests can also sip on Martha-tinis and Martha-Ritas as well as Martha's Chard, which is her very own California Chardonnay by 19 Crimes. Guests can purchase the products such as her beautiful pots and pans from the restaurant at Martha.com. 'It's a wonderful restaurant, it is an extension of my farmhouse in Bedford, New York except the space is three times bigger than my home,' Martha said. Adding: 'All of the furniture is beautifully executed and exquisite.' Grand opening! The lifestyle goddess, 81, exclusively spoke to DailyMail.com in Vegas about her new venture that was modeled by her farmhouse in Bedford, New York Stunning: The Bedford by Martha Stewart's opening party is Friday, August 12, with the restaurant open to the public on Saturday, August 13 Las Vegas hotspot: 'It's a wonderful restaurant, it is an extension of my farmhouse in Bedford, New York except the space is three times bigger than my home,' Martha said. Martha is in good company with Nobu and Lisa Vanderpump having upscale establishments inside Paris Las Vegas too The 194 seat restaurant has American food on the menu and will 'offer guests an authentic glimpse of how she lives and entertains in her own home,' according to the official website for the new eatery. Martha designed The Bedford herself and worked with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace. 'Caesars has been a dream to work with as we created The Bedford by Martha Stewart at Paris Las Vegas. Sean McBurney who oversees everything has been excellent. They take such good care to ensure everything is perfect,' Martha said. Legend: Guests can purchase the products such as her beautiful pots and pans from the restaurant at Martha.com Legend: Martha designed The Bedford herself and worked with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace Delicious: The 194 seat restaurant has American food on the menu and will 'offer guests an authentic glimpse of how she lives and entertains in her own home,' according to the official website for the new eatery Martha spoke about the exquisite menu, revealing that everything 'has been carefully selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. It's fresh and absolutely delicious.' 'The crab cake is really good - large, high, round and beautifully moist. It is my original crab cake recipe and comes from my second book Martha Stewart's Quick Cook,' the bestselling author said. 'I also highly recommend the red endive salad and the roast chicken, which is delicious with herbs under the skin,' Martha added. Incredible: Martha spoke about the exquisite menu, revealing that everything 'has been carefully selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. It's fresh and absolutely delicious' 'The vegetables are all sourced from local farmers, the steaks are from Pat Lafrieda and the caviar is from Black Diamond. Nothing but the highest quality for our guests,' she said. Martha also revealed that The Bedford also has the same coffee that she serves her guests at her own home, called Kobrick coffee, which she described as 'beautiful Italian coffee.' From the drinks menu, the icon recommended a glass of Martha's Chard or a Pomegranate Martha-Rita. Immaculate: 'The vegetables are all sourced from local farmers, the steaks are from Pat Lafrieda and the caviar is from Black Diamond. Nothing but the highest quality for our guests,' she said Attention to detail: 'The crab cake is really good - large, high, round and beautifully moist. It is my original crab cake recipe and comes from my second book Martha Stewart's Quick Cook,' the bestselling author said. 'I also highly recommend the red endive salad and the roast chicken, which is delicious with herbs under the skin,' Martha added An icon: From the drinks menu, the icon recommended a glass of Martha's Chard or a Pomegranate Martha-Rita 'I can't stress enough that the food and drinks are on par with what I serve in my own home. I love good food, fine preparation and beautiful ingredients and The Bedford incorporates all of these things along with the most beautiful restaurant to enjoy,' Martha explained. 'The American public and international tourists who visit Las Vegas want to have a good time, learn new things, see the amazing sites and have fun. My restaurant at Paris Las Vegas is another wonderful choice for them while they are visiting.' The Bedford by Martha Stewart's opening party is Friday, August 12th, with the eatery open to the public on Saturday, August 13; the restaurant is located at Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. The Sovereign's Parade concluded in traditional manner at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst yesterday, albeit in the Queen's absence. But I can reveal that the parade-ground pomp and splendour masked a deeply embarrassing chapter in Sandhurst's history. Only days ago, its Commandant, Major General Duncan Capps, felt obliged to expel no fewer than seven overseas cadets all of them from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 'The cadets' instructors got the boot too,' my man on parade tells me. 'It was because of what are described as 'disciplinary incidents'.' Capps won't have taken such decisive action lightly, not least because of the diplomatic discomfort it will cause the Foreign Office and because of the potential cost to the Treasury. I can reveal that the parade-ground pomp and splendour masked a deeply embarrassing chapter in Sandhurst's history. Only days ago, its Commandant, Major General Duncan Capps, pictured in 2020, felt obliged to expel no fewer than seven overseas cadets all of them from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Oil-rich countries pay handsomely for their links with Sandhurst; the UAE recently built a new accommodation block there, the Zayed Building, at a cost of 15 million. The expulsions come at a time of fraught relations with the UAE. The ruler of Dubai was ordered to pay a record 554 million to his former wife and their two children by a British court last December. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a horse race-loving friend of the Royal Family, will have to pay for Princess Haya's security for the rest of her life after she fled to Britain to escape him. It followed previous High Court judgments that the sheikh orchestrated the abductions of two of his daughters and used military-grade surveillance software to launch a phone-hacking operation on British soil. He has denied the findings. At Sandhurst, there can be cultural differences between Arab princelings and British officer cadets. At one point, the problem became so severe that the military police investigated allegations of 'huge bribes' BMWs and Mercedes cars, Rolexes and foreign holidays being offered to Sandhurst instructors Capps did his best to sound a warning of this last year, when, in an interview for a Middle East readership, he said: 'Regardless of background or position, officer cadets are treated the same. Monarchs are treated just like everyone else.' Some find this hard to accept. 'One of them in my intake wanted to be excused early morning stag [guard duty],' a Sandhurst alumnus tells me, 'so he went up to the company sergeant major with a bunch of 10 notes a whole wad in his hand. 'The company sergeant major took his head off. Figuratively. And put him on guard at two in the morning.' At one point, the problem became so severe that the military police investigated allegations of 'huge bribes' BMWs and Mercedes cars, Rolexes and foreign holidays being offered to Sandhurst instructors. More recently, there have, I've been told, been difficulties on 'cultural days' to London. 'You'd go up to see a play or go to a museum and it descended into chaos when alcohol was introduced to the equation,' explains another Sandhurst man. The less impressive overseas cadets were, he adds, known as 'Floppies' 'F****** lazy overseas potential enemies'. An Army spokesman declines to comment. A new baby for Tuppence and Swedish beau In the latest Downton Abbey film, A New Era, Tuppence Middleton's character, the illegitimate daughter of Queen Mary's lady-in-waiting, enjoys a blossoming romance with former chauffeur Tom Branson. In real life, she has even more exciting news. I can disclose that the Bristol-born actress, 35, who was dubbed 'TV's naughtiest woman' after stripping off in the BBC's War And Peace, has given birth to her first child. The baby's father is Swedish film director Mans Marlind, who is 18 years her senior. Here he's seen steering a pushchair as the couple went for a stroll in north London. When I disclosed her new relationship in March, Tuppence, pictured below with Downton co-star Laura Carmichael, explained: 'My partner lives in Stockholm and I travel between [the UK] and there.' I can disclose that the Bristol-born actress, 35, who was dubbed 'TV's naughtiest woman' after stripping off in the BBC's War And Peace, has given birth to her first child In the latest Downton Abbey film, A New Era, Tuppence Middleton's character, the illegitimate daughter of Queen Mary's lady-in-waiting, enjoys a blossoming romance with former chauffeur Tom Branson. In real life, she has even more exciting news Keep it to yourself, but... A highly paid, middle-aged BBC presenter shocked fellow members of the Electric House private members' club in London's Notting Hill on Thursday evening by canoodling with a woman young enough to be his daughter, while she sat with her legs wrapped around him. 'His behaviour was more suited to a teenage disco,' sniffs a blushing onlooker, unsportingly. Let's hope the highlights are not televised... How Dame Helen lost her heart to a headband Dame Helen Mirren says her sense of style has been transformed by an old-fashioned innovation. 'I've only recently discovered headbands, and have worn a few on the red carpet,' says the actress, 77, who won an Oscar for her performance as Her Majesty in The Queen. 'I always worried they looked a bit 'Sloane Ranger' so had a resistance to them, but now I think they add a lot to an outfit.' She adds: 'In 1995, I went to the Oscars the first time I was nominated and wore a hat I don't know what possessed me. I thought it was like going to an English wedding, or even Royal Ascot. I've never worn one on the red carpet since.' Here's a name of which the great man would approve: Sir Winston Churchill's great-grandson Arthur Soames has named his new daughter Clementine like the wartime leader's wife. 'To name her after my great-grandmother is wonderful,' tech firm boss Soames, 31, tells me. He's married to Chelsea schoolteacher Antonia Harington, 31, a goddaughter of Princess Diana and cousin of Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington. 'Antonia says that, whoever she married, she would have called her daughter Clementine,' he adds. 'She's the first grandchild for both sides of the family, so we've had lots of visitors.' Secret of Tess' perfect figure control panels! She is a former model who's retained her slim figure, but Tess Daly claims she needs material support to look good in the heatwave. 'There are certain things some of us want to hide or enhance,' says the Strictly Come Dancing presenter, 53, pictured on her recent holiday in Ibiza. 'I definitely want to suck things in a little around the waist which is where the control panels come in handy, as it means I can have lunch on the beach and not need to worry about my belly hanging over.' 'There are certain things some of us want to hide or enhance,' says the Strictly Come Dancing presenter, 53, pictured on her recent holiday in Ibiza Barely has the Royal Standard been raised at Balmoral to mark the Queen's arrival than Prince Andrew has joined her at the castle. I hear the Duke arrived by car on Wednesday, flunkies in tow. No doubt, his ex-wife will soon follow. Not only do he and Sarah, Duchess of York still share Royal Lodge in Windsor, but they bought an 18 million ski chalet together in 2014. This week, the woman who sold them the chalet spoke of her anger after learning Fergie had bought a 7 million Mayfair pad. Isabelle de Rouvre said she let the couple pay millions less than they owed as she believed Fergie 'didn't have a penny'. Is Emma trying to put daughter Gaia off acting? She followed in her mother's footsteps to make her TV debut in Silent Witness earlier this year, but Gaia Wise is being urged to quit showbusiness. 'I keep saying, 'I know you like acting, but, you know, perhaps running a restaurant can be as exciting', reveals her mum, Dame Emma Thompson. Gaia, 22, who is studying drama, is also said to be a talented cook. Oscar-winner Dame Emma, who's married to actor Greg Wise, adds: 'There's something very theatrical about restaurants when you get it right, you feel so happy and lucky to be in it.' She followed in her mother's footsteps to make her TV debut in Silent Witness earlier this year, but Gaia Wise is being urged to quit showbusiness Sir Sean Connery's widow, Micheline, has shown you're never too old to slip into a two-piece Well Lady Connery, you only live twice Broadcaster Emma Forbes declared last year that she wouldn't ever wear a bikini again, at the age of 55, but Sir Sean Connery's widow, Micheline, has shown you're never too old to slip into a two-piece. Lady Connery, 93, has posed for this photograph with her granddaughter Saskia, 26, in the Bahamas, where she lived with the James Bond star until he died in 2020 aged 90. At the time, Micheline, a Moroccan-French painter who was Connery's second wife, said: 'He was my life for so long and I am grateful for the wonderful life we had together. But it is not the same for me now.' Lady Connery, 93, has posed for this photograph with her granddaughter Saskia, 26, in the Bahamas, where she lived with the James Bond star until he died in 2020 aged 90 (Very) modern manners When do nude photos qualify as art? Former 'It girl' Tamara Beckwith is in a furious row with Instagram after it deleted the account of her Chelsea-based Little Black Gallery. The picture-sharing website says an image of a 'silhouette of a woman nude' breached its guidelines on 'adult sexual solicitation'. Tamara, 52, accuses Instagram of 'bullying' and 'damaging the mental health of artists', and has called on owner Mark Zuckerberg and company bigwig Sir Nick Clegg to 'overturn this decision'. Anne Heche died on Friday at age 53 after she was declared brain dead following her fiery car crash a week earlier. Shortly after her death, a brief 2017 interview that she did with Access Hollywood at the premiere of her film The Last Word recirculated, which featured her revealing how she hoped to be remembered after her death. In the clip, the actress shared that she hoped to be remembered for giving a good life to her children, Homer Laffoon, 20, and Atlas Heche Tupper, 13. Heartbreaking: After her death on Friday at 53, a 2017 Access Hollywood clip of Anne Heche resurfaced. The late actress was asked what she wanted to be remembered for at the premiere of her film The Last Word 'Since the movie is called The Last Word, and given what it's about, what do you hope people would say about you as far as last words go?' the interviewer asked her. The question seemed to take Heche aback, and she was gathered speechless as she formulated her thoughts. 'Oh Oh Lord, oh Lord' she murmured. 'Hopefully that I made my children happy.' As the interviewer tried to talk over her, Heche added that she hoped she 'gave them a life that they love.' She played a supporting role in The Last Word, which starred Shirley MacLaine and Amanda Seyfried in the lead roles. MacLaine played a woman planning for her imminent death, while Seyfried starred as a writer who helped her write her own obituary. Looking out for them: 'Hopefully that I made my children happy,' she replied. As the interviewer tried to talk over her, Heche added that she hoped she 'gave them a life that they love' Somber: She played a supporting role in The Last Word (pictured). Shirley MacLaine playys a woman planning for her imminent death, while Amanda Seyfried stars as a writer who helps her write her own obituary Family: Heche shared her son Homer, 20, with her ex-husband Coleman 'Coley' Laffoon, whom she was married to from 20012009. She also shared Atlas, 13, with actor James Tupper; seen in 2012 with her former partner Tupper, Atlas (in her arms) and Homer (front center) After her death, Anne's oldest son Homer shared a moving statement in her memory. 'My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness. 'Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom. Over those six days, thousands of friends, family, and fans made their hearts known to me,' he continued. 'I am grateful for their love, as I am for the support of my Dad, Coley, and my stepmom Alexi who continue to be my rock during this time. Rest In Peace Mom, I love you, Homer.' Saying goodbye: 'Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom,' said her son Homer in a statement; pictured in November 2021 Heche shared her oldest son Homer with her ex-husband Coleman 'Coley' Laffoon, whom she was married to from 2001 until their 2009 divorce. She reportedly ended her three-year relationship with Ellen DeGeneres to be with the cameraman. She shared her younger son Atlas with the Canadian actor James Tupper, whom she got close to when they starred together on her ABC series Men In Trees. She reportedly left her husband for her costar, but the two actors broke up in 2018. More recently, Heche began dating her Hung costar Thomas Jane. 'She was crazy in love with him,' a friend told DailyMail.com exclusively. 'After so many failed relationships she thought she finally found her person the guy who would be in her life forever. 'And when they couldnt make it work, she started falling apart,' they continued. 'Anne has always had demons and in the end, when they couldnt make it work, she started falling apart and she turned to the things that took her out of her funk before bad things. Downward spiral: Anne began dating her former Hung costar Thomas Jane in 2019, but after their breakup, 'She started falling apart,' a friend exclusively told DailyMail.com; seen in 2019 in Hollywood Horrific: Heche was in a devastating August 5 car crash. She was trapped in her car after crashing into the side of a home, which was quickly engulfed in flames Heche was in a devastating car accident on August 5 in Los Angeles' Mar Vista neighborhood. After she first crashed her Mini Cooper into an apartment complex garage, she took off before crashing again, this time into the side of a home. The crash caused a massive fire that engulfed the home and her car while she was trapped within. Heche, who was hospitalized at the Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, suffered sever burns that would have required surgery. A statement released Thursday on behalf of her family and friends revealed that she had suffered a 'severe anoxic brain injury,' which was caused by her brain being deprived of oxygen for an extended time. Heche had been in a coma since the crash, and she was declared brain dead on Friday. However, though she was legally dead, her body was being kept on life support in hopes of identifying candidates to receive her organs, per her wishes. He previously fell out with his twin and lost his sister, his mum and his millions. Ands after signing up for Strictly, Matt Goss has spoken about the toll it all took on his mental health and how he 'camouflaged' his grief. The Bros star, 53, said of the 'complicated' relationship with his bandmate and brother: 'I would do anything for Luke. If we both feel a little bit wobbly or vulnerable, we're there for each other certainly. 'I've been through so much bloody loss but I've camouflaged my grief': Bros star Matt Goss fell out with his twin and lost his sister, his mum and his millions... Now, as he signs up for Strictly, he tells of the toll it all took 'But we know each other so well we know exactly where each other's buttons are,' says Matt. 'I can honestly say I never want to p*** Luke off, but I have a way of being able to and he has a way of being able to with me.' Indeed. Anyone who's seen their brilliant documentary about their years together in one of the most successful British boy bands of all time, Bros: After The Screaming Stops, knows only too well how easily those buttons are pushed. For those who haven't, let's just say if the film, which won the National Film Awards best documentary in 2018, had been released when Brosmania first gripped the country in the late 1980s, there would have been more bleeps to cover the swearing than actual music. Duo: Matt and his brother Luke were part of 1980s pop group Bros until Luke quit the band [pictured: Matt (left) and (Luke) in 1989] So much so, you couldn't help but worry for their blood pressure as Matt, the band's frontman, and Luke, the drummer, went head-to-head. And now? Matt is 53 with less hair but a sense of self that's enormously attractive. He's also extremely approachable and seems, I tell him, wondrously at ease. 'For the first time in my life I believe I have people around me who really genuinely care,' he says. 'For me there's been a guilt that comes along with my happiness sometimes because I want to make sure that everyone has that same level of happiness. 'If you've seen the film, you'll see Luke said I was chosen or something like that. For me, I was just going out doing my job, working the crowd. 'When you're front of the stage you've got to do that and I'd love my brother smashing away behind me 100 per cent. 'The drummer is the backbone of a band but as a frontman you've got to grab the crowd by the throat. 'I felt I had to apologise for being the frontman for the past three decades. Those days are over.' Little more than a week ago, Matt returned home to London for good after more than a quarter of a century in the States where, during his 11-year sell-out residency in Las Vegas, his success on The Strip was compared to that of Frank Sinatra. Next month, he will compete in Strictly Come Dancing which, he says, 'will force me into a place that's not my comfort zone. I'd win Baftas, play the O2, do great, great promotions, then go back into this kind of reclusive place. Doting mum: Matt, pictured with his mother Carol Goss in 2013 in London. He said: 'She really was my best friend. We spoke three times a day on FaceTime' 'It doesn't matter how close you are to somebody, you can't expect them to be as connected to the show as you are every single night. 'You find yourself in your own thoughts a lot. It almost goes beyond loneliness. After the music stops and the crowd with it, there's a quiet silence that becomes quite deafening. 'I would say it's quite a violent silence. I want to live more. I want to be happier. I want to laugh.' He has a relatively new girlfriend jewellery designer Chantal Brown, whom he began dating earlier this year and who is 'sensitive, kind and makes me laugh' a new management team and new rules. 'I'm not going to be anyone's punching bag,' he says. 'I've learnt to set boundaries. If there's an argument, for example, I'll let the argument be. I will not always be the one who will call back or try to find an immediate resolution.' Does he mean his brother? Matt chooses his words carefully. 'Me and my brother could not be more different. We are different in the way we are, the way we dress, the music we listen to. 'Luke's more of a rocker kind of guy. I like George Michael, love Amy Winehouse, love soul. 'Yes, we're identical twins but we don't even really look exactly the same any more. Family: The Bros star, 53, (left) said of the 'complicated' relationship with his bandmate and brother: 'I would do anything for Luke (right). If we both feel a little bit wobbly or vulnerable, we're there for each other certainly' (pictured in 2016) 'As a twin, when you're younger, you pine for your own identity. I can give you an absurd example I broke my wrist when I was a kid. When I went to school I was asked: "Did Luke break his wrist as well?" 'I think there is definitely sediment [in our relationship] from the past. Sometimes the sediment is at the bottom of the bottle and the water is beautifully clear, then there's a little shake and that sediment muddies the water again. 'Maybe there's been a sense of like . . . I still don't quite know, if I'm honest. I've just been doing my thing. He's been doing his thing.' Luke's 'thing' is embarking upon a new music career after two decades as an actor. An 'energised' Matt wants to do, well, pretty much everything really. As well as Strictly, he has plans for a Matt Goss lifestyle brand because 'all the beautiful stuff is so outrageous you need to take out a mortgage. That baffles me,' he says. He is also releasing a new single, Are You Ready, and is 'dabbling in movies' as 'Luke doing music allows me to. [Before] I guess I'd wanted to respect his real estate. I am at a point now that I think we each have our own identity.' The other day, he tells me, he received a video from his brother, who happened to move house in Los Angeles (after separating from his wife, Shirley, whom he married in 1994) the day before Matt packed up and left Las Vegas. 'We both had a hard time knowing we were not going to be in the same country for the first time in many, many years, but me leaving the States has definitely softened the edges [of our relationship]. 'I feel there's a tenderness that's starting to creep into us. 'He sent me a video the other day. It was very loving and that meant so much to me. He just wanted to tell me how he was feeling. 'It was very, very open and very honest. I respond to that. 'I love Luke but I am now daring to be a little bit more selfish and think of my own life, my own heart and my own relationships, because I honestly have burnt myself out making sure that my family is OK. I need to say: "It's my time." Matt is 11 minutes younger than his twin brother but is the one who, he says, 'people who know me will say: "Oh, Matt will get it done." He nursed his beloved mum Carol in her final months of cancer in 2014, cared for his stepfather Tony for four years after her death and, all the time, kept going on stage and 'bending the audience in half'. 'I've been doing that for five or six years with the band and 27 years without them. I will bend any room in half, any stadium, any arena. I've completely camouflaged my grief with work. 'But I worry worry about the people I love because I've been through so much bloody loss.' Indeed. Matt lost his sister Carolyn who was killed by a drunk driver when he was 20 and Bros was at its peak. He then lost the band when Luke decided to quit a few years later, lost 'millions' after 'trusting the wrong people' and then lost his bodyguard who died of a brain tumour. 'When I left, it all kind of hit at once. I lost millions of dollars and then my bodyguard died so it was all one after the other. Looking good: Matt is 53 with less hair but a sense of self that's enormously attractive. He's also extremely approachable and seems, I tell him, wondrously at ease (pictured in 2013) 'It was a live-or-die moment, I can promise you that. It was give up or get up and keep getting up. 'You get up. When mum passed away, Tony, my stepfather, wasn't well. I gave mum my word that I would take care of him, so he came to live with me for four years. 'I wouldn't say I was his care-giver entirely but there was certainly a role. It was a big responsibility. 'He still lives in one of my homes in the UK. It was me that made sure he was OK. It wasn't my two other brothers [Luke and his stepbrother Adam]. 'I think I wouldn't have said it two years ago, but I'm proud that I take care of people and step up.' He takes a deep breath. Matt doesn't want to weep but you know he carries these losses with him. You sense he's bottled up a lot in those Las Vegas years. 'When I was packing my home in America it was an eight-week move,' he says. 'I let go of some of mum's clothing and some pictures stuff I knew she didn't particularly like. 'When I actually put them in the bin it was a physical experience for me. 'She really was my best friend. We spoke three times a day on FaceTime. I made her laugh. I'd be on FaceTime [without the video camera on] and say: "Can't show you me right now, mum." 'She'd say: "Why not?" I'd say: "I'm just too handsome." She'd say: "OK, I'm ready for it." I'd put the video on and she'd say: "Oh my God, you could have warned me a little bit more!" Throwback: 'I can honestly say I never want to p*** Luke off, but I have a way of being able to and he has a way of being able to with me' (pictured in 1990) His eyes dance at these memories and then he falls sad. You want to put your arms around him. 'Before my mother passed, she felt very thirsty. We wanted to hydrate her but the IV ruptured her stomach. 'She screamed at the top of her lungs and vomited blood on me. My dear mother's blood went all over me. 'Then the morphine had to be kicked in. She was the most elegant, shy, graceful, kind human being and that was one of her last memories. 'Within 12 hours of that [she'd been taken to hospital], my brother and I both had our hands on my mum's chest and she took her last breath. 'So Luke's all I've got left. He's my twin. Outside of that my dad lives in France. I love my dad but he's not necessarily somebody that's there for me if the s*** hits the fan. 'It's not that I don't love him, but my family has never made me feel they're necessarily proud or interested [in his career]. 'Luke is my only family so after losing so much there's a fear, because if anything happened to my brother . . . I don't know. 'How would I cope with any more loss? Sometimes people think you have this kind of unicorn life, but I go through just the same things as everyone else and then you have to go back on stage. 'I'd lose myself in my audience. But those days are over, which is why I feel so blessed to have the people I have around me. 'Without them I would not be doing Strictly, I would not be in Britain, I would not be home.' Matt Goss's new single, Are You Ready, produced in association with Lewisham Records and Orbital Digital, is out now. Kim Kardashian has finally given fans a full office tour of her SKKN by Kim headquarters in a new YouTube video shared on Friday. The 41-year-old businesswoman and billionaire toured the 40,000 square foot office space, which include a massive kitchen and amphitheater room. Her chic workspace decorated by Tommy Clements and Waldo Fernandez with pieces designed by Michele Lamy from Rick Owens. Wow: Kim Kardashian has finally given fans a full office tour of her SKKN by Kim headquarters in a new YouTube video shared on Friday The video kicked off with Kim getting out of her car inside the actual office - parking her car in the tile floor garage. Kim looked incredible in light wash jeans with a Balenciaga fitted shirt and her platinum blonde tresses in loose waves. 'Hey guys. Welcome to the SKKN by Kim office. I'm so excited. No one has actually really seen my whole office so I'm going to give you guys a tour,' the stunner said as she got out of her car. 'So my whole office was decorated by my decorators Tommy and Waldo but we had Michelle from Rick Owens. She did all the furniture and helped me come up with. Just everything that I would possibly need and love for this big space.' Star: The 41-year-old businesswoman and billionaire toured the 40,000 square foot office space, which include a massive kitchen and screening room Lucury: The video kicked off with Kim getting out of her car inside the actual office - parking her car in the tile floor garage Looking good: Kim looked incredible in light wash jeans with a Balenciaga fitted shirt and her platinum blonde tresses in loose waves Warm welcome: Kim seen at the start of the office tour after she parked inside her garage Kim kicked off the tour with one of her favorite things in the office - her amphitheater room. 'One of my favorite things in the office. Basically our little amphitheater room and this came about because the space was so huge in here.' Adding: 'I think it's like 40,000 square feet and I really love the high ceilings but I wanted a cozy area, not only for when the kids come and they can hang out and watch movies but also have to show presentations or just look at something on a bigger scale. I wanted to be able to come in and just honestly chill,' Kim said. She went and sat on a bed on the higher level on seating in the amphitheater room and said that she's seen a Rick Owens bed and asked Michelle how she have one for her office. Minimalist: 'So my whole office was decorated by my decorators Tommy and Waldo but we had Michelle from Rick Owens. She did all the furniture and helped me come up with. Just everything that I would possibly need and love for this big space' Lucky: 'One of my favorite things in the office. Basically our little amphitheater room and this came about because the space was so huge in here' Nice touch: Adding: 'I think it's like 40,000 square feet and I really love the high ceilings but I wanted a cozy area, not only for when the kids come and they can hang out and watch movies but also have to show presentations or just look at something on a bigger scale. I wanted to be able to come in and just honestly chill,' Kim said Custom: She went and sat on a bed on the higher level on seating in the amphitheater room and said that she's seen a Rick Owens bed and asked Michelle how she have one for her office Kim then went on to the kitchen, revealing that she loves an open floorspace, specifically an open kitchen work space and seeing people at lunchtime talking and hanging out. 'I wanted to build a kitchen where I can have events. This is probably one of the most used rooms. This big kitchen. We have all our Vanessa Beecroft art everywhere. It's all Vanessa who really was so pivotal with Skims and doing our first campaigns and she's just amazing I work with her all the time,' she said as she walked through the kitchen. 'If you guys are furniture people because I've really gotten into furniture lately. These Donald Judd tables are really amazing and totally blend with the seats and they're so easy we have so many people coming and eating all the time. The kitchen is amazing I'm super organized.' Adding: 'I'm sure you guys always want what's in our fridges at the office full of drinks. Haven't cooked here yet but we've catered here and we've set this all like a big buffet,' she added. Spot: Kim then went on to the kitchen, revealing that she loves an open floorspace, specifically an open kitchen work space and seeing people at lunchtime talking and hanging out Fancy: 'I wanted to build a kitchen where I can have events. This is probably one of the most used rooms. This big kitchen. We have all our Vanessa Beecroft art everywhere. It's all Vanessa who really was so pivotal with Skims and doing our first campaigns and she's just amazing I work with her all the time,' she said as she walked through the kitchen Simple design: If you guys are furniture people because I've really gotten into furniture lately. These Donald Judd tables are really amazing and totally blend with the seats and they're so easy we have so many people coming and eating all the time. The kitchen is amazing I'm super organized' Space: The back area had a long island, perfect for buffets Details: Adding: 'I'm sure you guys always want what's in our fridges at the office full of drinks. Haven't cooked here yet but we've catered here and we've set this all like a big buffet,' she added Closer look: The fridge had one clear door that revealed all the beverages She revealed her mom Kris Jenner got her a Marilyn Monroe book for her office after she wore Marilyn's dress at the Met Gala in May. Kim next went to her glam room, which calls her 'model glam room' because they do a lot of photoshoots at the office space. The massive glam room had Skims robes, things for tailoring and multiple seats for the models. She also showed the photo studio in the office. Kim has her own private glam room for herself she called it 'calm and quiet'. and she revealed she likes to watch TV in there on her couch. She has her own luxury shower in her private glam room. Wow: Kim next went to her glam room, which calls her 'model glam room' because they do a lot of photoshoots at the office space Employee: Her front desk person, named Mandy, seen She reveals the chair in her shower is sometimes used while she is in the shower, revealing that her friend and publicist Tracy Romulus comes and sits there to discuss business as she showers. Her showroom came next, with half of featuring Skims items and her SKKN items on display. Kim wanted to see all the packaging of her items, as well as Skims robes available there; other Skims items include swimwear and loungewear, which she said is always in stock at her showroom. She joked that there is 24 hours security so no one can come take any stock from her showroom. Rest area: There were multiple areas with couches to rest Here it is: Her showroom came next, with half of featuring Skims items and her SKKN items on display More: All of her products for SKKN and Skims were in her showroom Products: She joked that she has 24 hour security for her offices, so no one can come take anything from the showroom She showed off her Rick Owens alabaster bench, revealing she has the matching bed at home. The SKKN offices has two benches as well as an alabaster table. Kim showed off her waiting room too, which featured all of her magazine covers - something which she said she saw Kris Jenner do as well as sister Kylie Jenner. Immaculate: She showed off her Rick Owens alabaster bench, revealing she has the matching bed at home Pretty: The SKKN offices has two benches as well as an alabaster table Neutral: The offices also had a large white couch and chairs Success: She had two magazine walls in 40,000 square foot office space in California Reveal: She said she had a magazine wall on each floor of her office Nice set up: The models for SKKN and Skims get glammed in the glam room From Kris! Kim revealed she was inspired to have all her magazine covers from mom Kris Jenner, who did the same for Kylie Jenner's home as well The conference room has automatic lights also has a Rick Owens table with luxury chairs she had bleached to match the aesthetic of the room. She moved on to level two of the offices to show off level two; upstairs in her second conference room features a wall of all of her magazine covers framed. She headed over to her personal office, located down the hall; she previously shared an Instagram stories on the office. Kim showed all of her packaging for SKKN made in real stone for display in her office; she said she likes 'to see what I envisioned it first and get as close to that.' Kendall Jenner gifted her a box for her office that featured cards of sweet notes; one said: 'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is love and to be loved in return.' Here we go: She moved on to level two of the offices to show off level two Neat: Upstairs in her second conference room featured a wall of all of her magazine covers framed Business: The conference room upstairs had automatic lights Pictured: The supply room for her products seen next upstairs Kim's office: Kim showed all of her packaging for SKKN made in real stone for display in her office Explaining: She said she likes 'to see what I envisioned it first and get as close to that' Cute: Kendall Jenner gifted her a box for her office that featured cards of sweet notes; one said: 'The greatest thing you'll ever learn is love and to be loved in return'' She has multiple offices near hers for her employees, noting that they all look the same. She peeked into her product room, which she also called a supply room; there is a small kitchen as well. Kim said most employees work from home on Fridays. View: Kim's office seen with pictures of packaging inspiration Hers: Kim has her own private glam room for herself she called it 'calm and quiet'. and she revealed she likes to watch TV in there on her couch There was a second wall in the main hall of her framed magazine covers, and pointed out of her first magazine cover she had ever been on, which was K9 Dog. She said she borrowed either Khloe Kardashian or Nicole Richie's dog for the cover; she had begged the magazine to put her on the cover and they did. Kim headed downstairs to the studio, before adding that people who come to her office tell her it reminds her of her home. The mother of four went back to her car to conclude the tour. Nice: There was a second wall in the main hall of her framed magazine covers, and pointed out of her first magazine cover she had ever been on, which was K9 Dog Closer look: She said she borrowed either Khloe Kardashian or Nicole Richie's dog for the cover; she had begged the magazine to put her on the cover and they did Business mentality: She reveals the chair in her shower is sometimes used while she is in the shower, revealing that her friend and publicist Tracy Romulus comes and sits there to discuss business as she showers Hilarious: She shared the story while sitting on the chair in the shower room Pictures: Kim headed downstairs to the studio, before adding that people who come to her office tell her it reminds her of her home Interesting: She shared that they do a lot of the photoshoots at SKKN headquarters Details: The photo studio pictured New upload: Kim Kardashian shared a video on her Instagram story earlier on Friday of herself showing off her toned abs in a black bikini top and pants Two friends: The star tagged her close friend, Lala, who was also in the short clip Party time: The two pals were in the Bahamas to celebrate Kylie's birthday Blowing a kiss: Kim sent a kiss to the camera as she filmed a short self video with her BFF in the background Supporting her sister: The TV personality appeared to be enjoying her time in the Bahamas to ring in her sister's birthday Lauren Goodger was seen in public for the first time on Thursday following an alleged attack which led to the arrest of her boyfriend Charles Drury on the day of their baby's funeral. The former TOWIE star, 35, was spotted with a serious black eye in pictures shared by The Sun - a week after the attack. She appeared sombre as she pushed her one-year-old daughter Larose along in a pram while running errands in Essex. Awful: Lauren Goodger has been seen in public for the first time following an alleged attack which left her with a 'fractured eye socket' (pictured in a previous Instagram post) Onlookers told The Sun Lauren was trying to get back to normal life after suffering from a 'fractured eye socket'. One said: 'She's a working mum and life has to continue. You could see her black eye very clearly.' MailOnline has contacted Lauren's representatives for comment. Incident: The former TOWIE star, 35, was spotted with a serious black eye in pictures shared by The Sun - a week after the attack which led to the arrest of her boyfriend Charles Drury on the day of their baby's funeral A close friend of Lauren's, Lauryn Goodman, has admitted she is brought to tears every time she looked at the star's face after the incident. Lauryn, 31, told how Lauren has been through the 'roughest, darkest ride in secret' as she shared a message of support to her pal on Instagram. Lauren's daughter Lorena died on July 8 after being born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and she was laid to rest on August 3. Charles, who has denied attacking Lauren, was arrested in the hours after the funeral on Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and has since been bailed. Speaking out: A close friend of Lauren's, Lauryn Goodman, has admitted she is brought to tears every time she looked at the star's face after the assault Candid: Lauryn, 31, told how Lauren has been through the 'roughest, darkest ride in secret' as she shared a message of support to her pal on Instagram Lauren's sister Nicola shared a snap of Lauren's daughter Larose and said: 'This gorgeous little girl doesn't even know how lucky she is to have such a strong amazing mum! As long as you have each other you'll both be fine.' Lauryn, 31, reshared the post and detailed her friend's horrendous injuries on her Instagram Stories on Monday evening. She said: 'Couldn't have said this better myself. Seen a few things as well and I'd like to say there are NEVER 2 sides to a story when my friend's face looks how it does. She is unrecognisable. 'Brings me to tears every time I look at her. No amount of lies you tell will ever hide the truth now. Please if anyone ever finds themselves in this situation never think staying quiet or hiding is best. 'Always confide and reach out to people. Better days will come and you aren't trapped. Promise. Be strong for your little ones.' Attack: Charles (pictured right), who has denied attacking Lauren, was arrested in the hours after the funeral on Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and has since been bailed In a separate post, Lauryn spoke about how people are 'quick to judge' Lauren, but described her as 'one of the kindest hearted people I've ever met'. She wrote: 'You have a genuine soul and would never ever wish bad on anyone. I wish I could take the pain away for. 'Larose is so lucky to have such a strong woman mum.' Lauryn continued: 'I wish people knew YOU, you are SO funny, genuine, beautiful inside and out and have been through the roughest, darkest, ride in secret. 'This is one of the problems with the celeb world and social media. Everyone is so quick to judge every little thing. You're a real one and trust me things will get better.' Hiding: Lauren is reportedly staying with a friend following the alledged attack in Upminster (Charles pictured with Larose) Lauren had to go to hospital for serious facial injuries and was interviewed by police. She had just attended her daughter's funeral with her family and was allegedlty attacked later that night. Police were called at 00.37am on Thursday to reports of an altercation and Charles was arrested on suspicion of assault. He was released on bail in the early hours of Friday morning, according to police. Lauren was taken to hospital by her friend after the incident for medical check-ups and has since been awaiting her X-Ray results. 'Lauren is absolutely terrified. This has shaken her badly,' a source told The Sun on Sunday. 'She suffered some nasty injuries and fears she has suffered a broken eye socket.' Horrendous: Lauren posted an image on her Instagram after her daughter's birth in which she holds the newborn's hand Charles denies attacking Lauren, telling the Sun: 'There's a completely different side to stuff.' A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Friday night: 'Police were called at 00.37 hrs on Thursday, August 4 to reports of an altercation. 'Officers attended. At the scene a woman, aged 30s, was found with facial injuries. 'A man was arrested on suspicion of assault. He was taken to an east London police station and subsequently bailed pending further inquiries. Inquiries continue.' Lauren and Charles met in October 2020 and announced they were expecting a child together three months after going public with their relationship. She had teased she was dating someone new before the identity of Charles, a builder and former lover of Katie Price, came to light. The couple have a one-year-old daughter Larose together. In January, she revealed she was expecting her second child. History: Lauren and Charles' romance first came to light in October 2020, they announced they were expecting their first child together just three months after going public The alleged assault happened just hours after Lauren attended the funeral of her baby daughter Lorena. Doctors tried in vain to save the 9lb baby but she was born with two knots in her umbilical cord which was tied around her neck. After she died, her traumatised mother spent hours saying goodbye to her. The heartbroken star also later revealed she still 'has a bit of a bump' which sometimes tricks her into thinking her baby girl was 'still there'. She said: 'It's weird. My body feels like it's unsettled, like it's missing a newborn.' Details: The incident happened only hours after a private funeral for baby Lorena (Lauren is pictured with Charles in an Instagram story Lauren posted an Instagram message telling how much she loved her daughter, who died minutes after being born on July 8, saying: 'I carried you, I felt you grow. Longed for the day we'd meet. Dreamed of your future. Not only did I know you, I fell in love with you.' Lauren's waters broke on July 6 and Tamzin, her NHS midwife, came to her house to take her blood pressure and listen to the baby's heartbeat. The TV personality was planning a second home birth with no drugs as she had with older daughter Larose, who was born in a 'perfect', 'amazing' and 'smooth' home birth last year. Midwife Tamzin told Lauren 'everything was where it should be' and she waited for her contractions to start at home. Charles took Larose to stay with family so Lauren could rest and she chilled out and went to sleep. Awful: Doctors tried in vain to save the 9lb baby but she was born with two knots in her umbilical cord which was tied around her neck (Lauren and Charles pictured March 2022) The following morning, July 7, midwife Tamzin came around again to check the baby's heartbeat and movement, as well as Lauren's blood pressure and temperature. Once again, both mother and baby were normal, and Lauren didn't have any 'pain or signs of labour'. On the morning of July 8 there were still no signs of contractions, so Charles brought Larose back and Lauren breastfed her because the stimulation can bring on contractions, which worked. Lauren's contractions began and she called her midwife to tell her Lorena was coming. Tamzin came over immediately to check the heartbeat, but was devastatingly unable to find it, despite locating a 'really strong heartbeat' just hours before. She told Lauren she was 'really worried' and called an ambulance. Lauren, 'in agony' at this point, was blue-lighted to hospital, and was 'stood up screaming' throughout the journey. By the time she had arrived at hospital, Lorena's head was crowning, which Lauren said was the 'most traumatic experience I've ever been through in my life'. She and Charles were taken inside the hospital and shown to a private room, where Lauren gave birth to Lorena just two hours after her contractions had started. Lauren immediately knew there was a problem because there was no cry from Lorena and a team of doctors rushed into the room. Lorena was born with two big knots in her umbilical cord and with the cord tied around her neck, causing life-threatening problems. Doctors desperately fought to save Lorena, performing chest compressions and giving her adrenaline for eight minutes while trying in vain to resuscitate her. The medical team were sadly unsuccessful and told Lauren and Charles there was nothing more they could do. Lauren was already at 'rock bottom', as just five days before her child died on July 8, her ex-boyfriend Jake McLean, 33, died in a car accident in Bodrum, Turkey. Mclean, who she dated from 2012 until 2016 and reportedly secretly reconciled with until 2020, died last month when he 'lost control' of the vehicle in Turkey. After the accident she shared a heartbreaking series of lyrics to her Instagram Stories. Lauren's post featured a black backdrop while the song's lyrics gradually appeared on the screen. The lyrics were: 'Search your heart, search your soul. When you find me there, you'll search no more.' Downton Abbey star Tuppence Middleton has given birth to her first child. The actress, 35, who played the illegitimate daughter of Queen Mary's lady-in-waiting in the latest film A New Era, has welcomed a baby with Swedish film director Mans Marlind, who is 18 years her senior. The couple's relationship was first revealed back in March, with Tuppence unveiling her pregnancy while she attended the Downton premiere a month later. Baby news! Downton Abbey star Tuppence Middleton, 35, has given birth to her first child with Swedish film director Mans Marlind, 53, as they were seen with a pushchair in London Tuppence and Mans were seen steering a pushchair as they went for a stroll in north London. In April, Tuppence attended the New Era premiere with Mans, but declined to confirm that he is her partner. Richard Eden revealed in his column for the Daily Mail that Tuppence had a Swedish beau - with fans desperate to find out his identity. Mother-to-be: The 35-year-old actress kept her pregnancy under wraps until the Downton Abbey: A New Era premiere in April When asked, she simply explained: 'My partner lives in Stockholm and I travel between [the UK] and there.' During the evening, an expectant Tuppence proudly cupped her stomach as she wowed in a gorgeous black Valentino dress from the Pre Fall 22 Promenade collection. While her companion looked suave in a black suit, paired with a matching waistcoat and patterned tie. It seems their relationship is strictly platonic, as It was revealed last week that Mans and Tuppence are set to join forces on a new project adapted from a Finnish book. According to literary agent Elina Ahlback, the pair have acquired the film and TV rights for the 2000 novel Troll, a Love Story (original title Tammi in Finnish). Tuppence, who previously starred in Mans' international series Shadowplay, is set to direct. Mans told Nordisk Film & TV Fond: 'We have been looking for something to do together for quite some time now and then suddenly Johanna's wonderful book came to mind. Notorious for keeping her private life out of the limelight, the actress was previously in a relationship with figurative painter Robert Fry from 2016 to 2019 - with her relationship history since then remaining unknown. Sabrina Frederick and her wife Lili were absolutely over the moon as they introduced their 'tiny dancer' to the world on Friday. The AFLW star, 25, gathered photos of their blessed day as she gently cradled her newborn daughter swaddled in a striped blanket. She uploaded the black and white pictures to Instagram with the caption: 'Our tiny dancer made her way into the world on the 9th of August 2022, at 3:06am.' Sabrina Frederick, 25, (left) and her wife Lili (right) were absolutely over the moon as they introduced their 'tiny dancer' to the world on Friday 'Mum and baby are doing really well. We can't wait to watch you take on the world, Florence Elton Frederick,' she continued. Among the snaps included was a photo of Sabrina and Lili's (nee Cadee-Matthews) hands wrapped around Florence's and one of their baby's tiny ear. The last picture in the reel showed a half-moon decoration with the bubs beautiful name transcribed in an elegant script surrounded by stars. The AFLW star gathered photos of their blessed day as she gently cradled her newborn daughter (pictured) swaddled in a striped blanket In June, Sabrina shared a sweet tribute to her partner alongside a new photo of the couple. '35 weeks and we can't be more excited,' she began. 'I have been in such awe throughout this journey watching my wife take it all in her stride handling the ups and the downs like a boss. Not long now.' Among the snaps included was a photo of Sabrina and Lili's (nee Cadee-Matthews) hands wrapped around Florence's and one of their baby's tiny ear The last picture in the reel showed a half-moon decoration with the bubs beautiful name transcribed in an elegant script surrounded by stars In November of last year, Sabrina and Lili held a combined engagement, hen party and baby announcement. They married that December. Photos taken outside showed Sabrina and school teacher Lili holding hands as they walked through what appeared to have been a park. Standing under a rotunda, Sabrina leaned in close to Lili, resting her forehead against the side of her head. In November of last year, Sabrina and Lili held a combined engagement, hen party and baby announcement Another photo showed Sabrina leaning forward to plant a sweet kiss on Lili's belly. Sabrina publicly announced the couple were expecting their first child in a post on Instagram in January. 'I am so excited to announce Lil and I will be welcoming our first little bundle of joy to our family late July (or when she is ready),' she wrote. The SAS Australia star then added: 'The Frederick family is growing and we couldn't be more grateful. Can't wait to hold our tiny dancer in our arms.' Homegrown Hollywood star Joel Edgerton has opened up about the importance of family and the birth of his twins with partner Christine Centenera. The notoriously private 48-year-old Star Wars fan favourite says he wants to bring his children up in Australia, despite the demands of a jet-set career as a major actor. In a candid interview in Saturday's Herald-Sun, the Obi-Wan star revealed that he came close to turning down a part in the new blockbuster Thirteen Lives for the sake of his young family. Homegrown Hollywood fave Joel Edgerton has opened up on the birth of his twins with partner Christine Centenera and says he wants to bring his kids up 'Aussie' Based on the 2018 Thai cave rescue, the Amazon Prime movie was filmed in Queensland last year when Christine was expecting. Joel told the film's famed Hollywood director Ron Howard that he would only do the part if he could have time off to be with his partner for the birth. Complicating the situation were pandemic travel restrictions which he said made things 'tricky'. 'It was supposed to be: shoot the movie, month off, welcome babies. And they, as twins do, came incredibly early.' In a candid interview in Saturday's Herald-Sun, the Obi-Wan star revealed that he came close to turning down a part in the new blockbuster Thirteen Lives for the sake of his young family. Pictured: Joel Edgerton and Christine Centenera in July 18, 2022 in London, England Joel was able to have a week off to welcome his children, who were born in May, 2021. Joel plays rescue diver and anesthetist Dr. Richard Harry' Harris in Thirteen Lives, the latest in a long line of high-profile roles that have kept away from his home base in Australia. He recently completed a role in George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat, which was filmed in London. He has also appeared in Disney+ series Obi Wan Kenobi. Joel told the film's famed Hollywood director Ron Howard that he would only do the part of rescue diver and anaesthetist Dr. Richard Harry' Harris if he could have time off to be with his partner for the birth of his twins. Pictured: A scene from Thirteen Lives But now, Joel says he is thinking more about trying to plan projects to made in Australia - where his parents are based. He said he misses Australia when he's out of town. 'I would definitely like to be in Australia more, shooting there more, and I really want my kids to sort of sound a bit like us,' he explained. 'You know what, it's not about an accent, it's about an identity, and I'd love for them to have an Australian identity.' Christina currently works as the fashion director for Vogue Australia and as a designer for her own line, Wardrobe NYC. The couple debuted their relationship at GQ Australia's Men of the Year Awards in Sydney in November 2018. Joel rose to fame as an actor on the hit series The Secret Life of Us, twenty years ago. Since then he has notched up credits as writer, producer and director, including the US made thriller The Gift from 2015. Elsa Pataky was announced on Friday as the official Magic Millions Global Ambassador for show jumping, cementing her love for horse riding. The Interceptor star, 46, will be attending next year's Pacific Fair Magic Millions Polo & Show Jumping on Queensland's Gold Coast, donning her new title. 'Show jumping is one of my greatest passions and getting that phone call from Katie Page [Magic Millions co-owner] was just a dream come true for me,' she told the auction house. Elsa Pataky, 46, (pictured) was announced on Friday as the official Magic Millions Global Ambassador for show jumping, cementing her love for horse riding She continued: 'Horse people are passionate. I love the energy, and having a way to express and share that with other people who feel the same way at Magic Millions is something I am so looking forward to, and I cannot wait to see it all come together in January.' Katie sang her praises of the Spanish actress and model, saying she was 'perfect' for the ambassador title. The Magic Millions auction house is best known for its annual Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January. The Interceptor star will be attending next year's Pacific Fair Magic Millions Polo & Show Jumping on Queensland's Gold Coast, donning her new title Katie sang her praises of the Spanish actress and model, saying she was 'perfect' for the ambassador title. (Pictured with daughter India, 10) However, it also hosts a horse race which is restricted to two-year-old Thoroughbreds bought at one of their auctions. Elsa has often been open about her passion for horses and the equestrian sphere. In August last year, it was revealed she and her husband of 11 years, Chris Hemsworth, had submitted plans to build a second 'Westfield-style' home near their existing Byron Bay mega-mansion. The A-list couple also came under fire after building a large stable complex on their existing property, knocking the top off a hill to create an enormous horse ring. 'Apparently his mates call it 'El Caballo Blanco' - named after a large equine Andalusian theme park that operated in western Sydney in the '70s, '80s and '90s,' a source told Daily Mail Australia that month. In August last year, it was revealed she and her husband of 11 years, Chris Hemsworth, 39, (right) had submitted plans to build a second 'Westfield-style' home near their existing Byron Bay mega-mansion Elsa spoke about her love of horse riding in an interview with Australian Women's Health in March last year, and said it had kept her sane during lockdown. 'When we were in lockdown, I could still ride, so it was [all about] my family, my husband and my horses,' she told the publication. 'It's such a passion, kind of like meditation for me. I think it's important for your mind to have something you enjoy - a hobby that's just for you and your time.' Lily Rose Depp showcased her phenomenal figure in a lacy hot pink lingerie set as she promoted her upcoming HBO series, slated to hit screens in late 2022, on Friday. While in character as Jocelyn, a rising pop star who is seduced by a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult (The Weeknd), the 23-year-old model perfected the art of the hair flip as she sauntered toward the camera in nothing but her underwear. 'Jocelyn @theidol ,' the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis captioned the shot, which her costar The Weeknd, born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, also reposted. Sexy as ever: Lily Rose Depp showcased her phenomenal figure in a lacy hot pink lingerie set as she promoted her upcoming HBO series, which also stars the late Anne Heche Her sexy undergarment displayed her incredibly lean physique as well as a serious amount of underboob. The series, co-created with Euphoria's Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim, is also said to have cast the late Anne Heche, whose role is currently unspecified, per Variety. A this time, it is unknown if the Emmy Award-winning star, 53, was able to finish filming her part ahead of her passing on Friday following her fiery car crash into a Los Angeles home last week. Latest project: While in character as Jocelyn, a rising pop star who is seduced by a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult (The Weeknd), the 23-year-old model perfected the art of the hair flip as she sauntered toward the camera in nothing but her underwear The actress had been hospitalized at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital north of Los Angeles after a horror crash on August 5 and was being kept alive on life support for doctors to harvest her organs. The actress suffered extreme smoke inhalation from the fire. Yesterday, her representative said: 'At this time, Anne is in extreme critical condition. She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention. 'She is in a coma and has not regained consciousness since shortly after the accident.' The series, co-created with Euphoria's Sam Levinson and Reza Fahim, is also said to have cast the late Anne Heche, whose role is currently unspecified; seen in March 2022 Before plowing her car into a home at 1766 South Walgrove Avenue, Heche first crashed her car into an apartment building in Los Angeles on Friday morning around 11:00 am, she fled that scene and continued driving on the same block before crashing into another home. Heche first crashed her Mini on a garage block, before racing away, plowing through a hedge and ending up fully submerged in Mishele's home on 1766 South Walgrove Avenue. Authorities eventually determined that Heche had no alcohol in her system, but was high on cocaine at the time of the accident, according to TMZ. Hours before her horrifying crash, Heche slurred her way through a podcast, saying that she was downing vodka and wine after having 'a very bad day.' Today, her family has chosen to turn off life support after doctors officially declared the actress brain dead. They kept her alive on a ventilator, to determine if her organs were health enough for donation. 'It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable,' the statement said. Olivia Newton-John's lifelong friend of almost 60 years Susan George has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late actress. The iconic Grease star died peacefully at the age of 73 at her home in southern California on Monday, surrounded by her family and friends. And reflecting on her memories of Olivia, fellow actress Susan, 72, told how she felt 'privileged to have known her', while she also recalled their last conversation together. Best friends: Olivia Newton-John's lifelong friend of almost 60 years Susan George (R) has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late actress (pictured together in 2009) Having grown up amid the glitz and glam of Hollywood, away from the camera the two women cemented their friendship as they bonded over their love of nature and horses. Writing for The Mirror, Susan recalled the pair meeting as teens and growing a lifelong friendship, remarking that the film star 'filled my heart and head with pride.' Detailing Olivia's rise to fame thanks to her role as Sandy in Grease, Susan said: 'I was with her through the making, and at the premiere in London and when our stretch limo was mobbed, she was staggered and playfully humbled by all the amazing attention. Did she ever know how beautiful she was? No, never, and that was part of her magic.' Rest in peace: The iconic Grease star died peacefully at the age of 73 at her home in southern California on Monday, surrounded by her family and friends She went on to say that while Olivia enjoyed the swanky premieres, parties and lunches that fame brought, the Australian beauty felt happiest when she was surrounded by horses, calling Susan's stud farm her 'sanctuary'. The TV star went on to remember several funny moments they shared throughout the years, including a hilarious moment that she struggled to control Olivia's Shetland ponies - the Grease star filmed and Susan still has the 'precious video'. She added that despite the pair living far apart, they were 'always there for one other' no matter what, through the 'good times and bad'. Honour: reflecting on her memories of Olivia, fellow actress Susan, 72, told how she felt 'privileged to have known her', while she also recalled their last conversation together Bond: Having grown up amid the glitz and glam of Hollywood, away from the camera the two women cemented their friendship as they bonded over their love of nature and horses Speaking of when Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Susan told how Olivia had a 'sort of acceptance', adding that the star 'knew' that she could use her battle as a 'platform to help others', and had 'no seed of doubt' that she'd survive it. Indeed Olivia did go on to survive, having battled the disease twice more before finally succumbing to it earlier this month. Detailing their last phone call, Susan said: 'We spoke a few weeks ago and had the longest talk about times past and present, laughed a lot and I worried that it might have been too tiring, but she insisted not. 'She seemed to have things she wanted to get out and share and I will always treasure what was devastatingly to be our last conversation.' Way back when: Susan recalled the pair meeting as teens and growing a lifelong friendship, remarking that the film star 'filled my heart and head with pride' (pictured in 1980) Strong: Speaking of when Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Susan told how Olivia had a 'sort of acceptance', adding that the star 'knew' that she could use her battle as a 'platform to help others', and had 'no seed of doubt' that she'd survive it The Straw Dogs star concluded her tribute with touching words about her dearest friend, describing her as 'talented', 'loving', 'generously spirited' and 'beautiful like no other', who always put others before herself. She shared: 'For me, I just feel privileged to have known her as a friend, loved her and been a part of it all. Her light for one tiny moment may have been dimmed but is now shining somewhere brighter than ever.' Olivia died peacefully surrounded by family and friends after a brave and extraordinarily public decades-long battle with cancer. Memory: Detailing their last phone call, Susan said: 'We spoke a few weeks ago and had the longest talk about times past and present, laughed a lot and I worried that it might have been too tiring, but she insisted not' Lovely: The Straw Dogs star concluded her tribute with touching words about her dearest friend, describing her as 'talented', 'loving', 'generously spirited' and 'beautiful like no other' Her husband John Easterling announced her death on her Facebook page. 'Dame Olivia Newton-John (73) passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. 'We ask that everyone please respect the family's privacy during this very difficult time. Tragic: The Grease star died peacefully aged 73 at her home in southern California on Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends after a brave and extraordinarily public decades-long battle with cancer (Pictured Olivia and husband John Easterling) 'Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer. 'Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer,' he said. He also said Olivia and her family requested donations to be made to her charity, the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, in her memory instead of flowers. The foundation funds research into plant-based medicine and holistic treatments for cancer. Charity: Easterling has said Olivia and her family requested donations to be made to her charity, the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, in her memory instead of flowers Olivia, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and twice before in 1992 and 2013, has spent years lobbying the Australian government to approve the use of medicinal cannabis for cancer patients. Easterling grew medicinal cannabis for Olivia on their ranch in the U.S to 'help with her symptoms'. Olivia is survived by her 36-year-old daughter, Chloe Lattanzi. The actress famously beat breast cancer twice but was diagnosed again in 2017. She spent the last few years at home, campaigning for animals' rights and raising money for her charity online. Idris Elba has revealed the hilarious moment his steamy shower romp with his wife Sabrina was brought to an abrupt end by a rogue bat. The actor, 49, who is set to star in the upcoming film Beast, shared the amusing anecdote from his time shooting in South Africa, admitting he is 'horrified' by the animal. Idris, who married Sabrina in 2019, also admitted his never been able to live down his reaction to seeing the bat, and his wife still 'makes fun of him to this day.' Amusing: Idris Elba has revealed the hilarious moment his steamy shower romp with his wife Sabrina was brought to an abrupt end by a rogue bat (pictured in May) Speaking in an interview with Men's Journal, Idris said: 'I was shooting in Limpopo. My wife was there and we were going to have some fun in the shower. 'Some morning romance, you know? She got in, then I followed her and closed the door. But then I looked down and clinging for life to the inside shower door handle was this bat. 'A tiny, wet bat. I hate bats. It was freaky as f***. I jumped out of the shower so fast. My wife makes fun of me about it to this day ''You left me in the shower with a bat!'' Wings up! The actor shared the amusing anecdote from his time shooting in South Africa, and admitted he is 'horrified' by the animal (stock image) Idris went onto reveal that he first developed a fear of bats while he was in Australia in 2019. The Luther star has been in the midst of promoting his survival film Beast which pits a widowed husband, on a trip to South Africa with his daughters, against a huge rogue lion who is tracking them. However the actor, has since revealed that the lion was created using special effects and during filming there was a stand-in stuntman wearing a big foam mask, and it proved challenging for him to recreate the same level of fear. Idris told The Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff: 'I haven't done a movie where I'm imagining and fighting with something that is not really there, in such close proximity. Role: Idris is set to star in Beast, a survival story which pits a widowed husband, on a trip to South Africa with his daughters, against a huge rogue lion who is tracking them 'I've fought in other movies with swords and weapons and against things that aren't there. 'But how fearful can you be when you've got a guy in a grey suit and a big floppy head trying to beat you? So that was a skill set that I had to learn.' He added: 'I don't like to watch films that I'm in. Funny: The lion was created using special effects and during filming there was a stand-in stuntman wearing a big foam mask 'I typically go to a premiere, watch the first ten minutes and then leave. But for some reason, I stayed... which was torture! 'However, I was just fascinated about how we achieved the ferociousness of this lion.' Elba plays a man who brings his two daughters to Africa, where he first met his late wife, when their lives are turned upside down. 'It's about a family that go back to a small village in West Africa to mourn the death of a loved one, my ex-wife and my childrens' mother,' he explained on The Tonight Show this week. Plot: 'It's about a family that go back to a small village in West Africa to mourn the death of a loved one, my ex-wife and my childrens' mother,' he explained on The Tonight Show this week 'Basically, they find themselves cornered by a rogue lion who has been sort of broken from their pride by poachers,' Elba continued. He added the movie is, 'basically a survival story,' adding his character and his daughters, 'are having a tough time dealing with the death of their mum, so it's really about the beast coming for them, the beast of mourning, the beast of family ties and how that all comes together 'We based that lion in the movie on a lion that's been extinct for a long time, it's called a Barbary lion,' he said. 'It was a huge lion, much bigger than the average lion, so for the film we just amplified the fact that this was really big,' Elba added. They also shared a laugh over the stuntman Owen who was dressed in a makeshift 'tiger' suit, which Fallon joked was the 'scariest thing I've seen in my life.' Beast will be in cinemas from August 26. Olivia Newton-John revealed in her autobiography the devastating details of her first cancer diagnosis and why she kept it from her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. The beloved Aussie icon, who died on Monday aged 73, penned a memoir in 2017 and opened up about her battle with cancer which started in 1992. In it, she said she'd found a lump during a self-examination of her breasts and pushed her doctor to run several tests which came back negative - until the final one. Olivia Newton-John (pictured) revealed in her autobiography the devastating details of her first cancer diagnosis and why she kept it from her daughter Chloe Lattanzi On July 3, 1992, Olivia's husband at the time, Matt Lattanzi, now 63, was contacted by her doctor as the pair changed flights in Seattle. Dr. Phillips said he wished to see Olivia in person, alluding to the bad news, but Matt kept the possible diagnosis a secret from her as it was already a day of heartache. Olivia's father, Brinley, had been very ill with liver cancer when he died on July 3. The beloved Aussie icon, who died on Monday aged 73, penned a memoir in 2017 and opened up about her battle with cancer which started in 1992. Olivia is pictured performing in 1992 She had visited him on his sickbed only days before but had to leave for Los Angeles to attend rehearsals for her world tour. 'I told him I'd be back soon but all night long on that plane ride home I cried and cried,' Olivia wrote in her book. 'In my heart, I knew I would never see my father again and I was right.' She went on to reveal in her memoir, Don't Stop Believing, the moment her daughter Chloe Lattanzi, 36, found out her mother had breast cancer at the age of six. On July 3, 1992, Olivia's husband at the time, Matt Lattanzi, 63, was contacted by her doctor as the pair changed flights in Seattle. . Phillips said he wished to see Olivia in person, alluding to the bad news, but Matt kept the possible diagnosis a secret as it was already a hard day for her The young girl had 'lost her best friend Colette to cancer', so Olivia chose to keep the diagnosis a secret from her at first, despite having announced it publicly. Unfortunately, on Chloe's first day back at school in Australia, she found out the devastating news from her peers. Olivia wrote: 'When I picked Chloe up after her very first day, she was crying. '"Mummy, Mummy! One of my friends said you have cancer. Is it true?" I held her, told her it was true, but that now I was better and the cancer was gone.' She went on to reveal the moment her daughter Chloe Newton-John, 36, (right) found out her mother had breast cancer at age six from her friends at school. The young girl had 'lost her best friend Colette to cancer', so Olivia chose to keep the diagnosis a secret from her at first The Grease star went on to say her little girl had been crushed by the omission, telling her mother, 'I would have taken care of you.' She believed it was the start of the 'trust issues' Chloe struggled with later in life. Olivia died peacefully in her home in Southern California on Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends. It came after a brave and extraordinarily public decades-long battle with cancer in which she was diagnosed three times in 1992, 2013 and, for a final time, in 2017. Patrick Schwarzenegger and his longtime girlfriend Abby Champion are spending some alone time together in New York City. And like most tourists, they headed out for a long walk across the Big Apple's many neighborhoods, which included Soho in Downtown Manhattan, known for its many artists' lofts and art galleries. During their travels in the trendy neighborhood, that also attracts people with its variety of shops, stores and upscale boutiques, the couple made a pitstop to buy a fruit smoothie. Scroll down to videos The big city: Patrick Schwarzenegger, 28, and longtime girlfriend Abby Champion, 25, are enjoying some alone time together in New York City this week Schwarzenegger, 28, stepped out looking casual-cool in baggy, peach-colored dress pants that he matched with a white tank top and white and yellow sneakers. He also had his dark brown hair cut short, off his face, in a slightly messy look. With the temperature hovering in the mid-80s degrees Fahrenheit, the son of screen legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, sipped on the cold drink as they continued on towards uptown. Find their way: The couple, who have been an item since 2016, stopped to figure which way to go while in the Soho neighborhood of Downtown Manhattan Cooling off: Dressed in baggy, peach-colored trousers and a white tank top, The Terminal List actor stopped to buy a fruit smoothie Chivalry's not dead: The son of screen legend Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist Maria Shriver showed he's a team player and shared his smoothie with his lady, who kept it casual in blue denim shorts and a black t-shirt Showing he's a team player, The Terminal List actor shared the drink with his lady, who dressed for comfort and the heat in blue denim shorts and a black t-shirt. Knowing they would be putting in the miles during their sight-seeing stroll, she also wore white running sneakers, and had her blonde tresses styled long and flowing to about the middle of het back with a center part. The duo would eventually make their way uptown to Times Square, where Schwarzenegger got the idea to manifest his face and likeness on a billboard, via creative visualization. Gams on parade: The model showed off her legs in blue denim shorts that were paired with a black t-shirt and white sneakers New shades: At one point, the pair both bought new stylish sunglasses Back at ya: The Moxie actor gave a nod and a wink to the admiring photographer 'Alright, I'm manifesting it right now,' the Los Angeles native began in a selfie video, adding, 'In one year, maybe two years actually, in one to two years I will have some sort of billboard in Times Square... manifesting.' Some four hours later, Schwarzenegger took back to his Instagram page and posted a cute video of the couple having a debate over who bought the 'coolest' new sunglasses during their walk. 'Alright, we got new glasses,' he said while looking straight into the camera. 'Who's cooler?' he asked as he moved the camera over enough to show his ladylove walking close behind in her new sunglasses. 'Manifesting': The duo would eventually make their way uptown to Times Square, where Schwarzenegger got the idea to manifest his face and likeness on a billboard, via creative visualization Creative visualization: The Moxie star played the role of optimist and send out the word to the universe that he will grace a billboard in Times Square within two years Promise: 'Alright, I'm manifesting it right now,' the Los Angeles native began in a selfie video, adding, 'In one to two years I will have some sort of billboard in Times Square... manifesting' 'Show them off,' he said to Champion, who proceeded to walk closer to the camera and strike a mock-model pose. 'Ha, mines cooler,' he added, along with a few hearty laughs. Wanting to get in the last word, Champion moved closer to the camera again and declared, her sunglasses are cooler: 'Actually though, it's mine.' Schwarzenegger and Champion have been an item since 2016. Debate: Four hours later, Schwarzenegger took back to Instagram and posted a cute video of the couple having a debate over who bought the 'coolest' new sunglasses during their walk Sunglasses debate: : 'Who's cooler?' the actor asked as he moved the camera over enough to show his ladylove walking close behind with her new glasses on Debate over: After declaring he was 'cooler', Champion got the last word and announced she looked 'cooler' in her new shades The actor also shared a photo of himself laying in his hotel room bed when he announced his arrival in New York City on his Instagram page Advertisement Martha Stewart celebrated the grand opening of her new restaurant The Bedford by Martha Stewart at Paris Las Vegas Hotel on Friday night. DailyMail.com was inside the party to witness the lifestyle goddess getting surprised by pal Snoop Dogg, who came to support her in her new venture. The pals sipped on her own wine - called Martha's Chard - at her event, which also included an appearance by Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, who is a self-proclaimed Martha Stewart super fan. Lifestyle legend: Martha Stewart celebrated the grand opening of her new restaurant The Bedford by Martha Stewart at Paris Las Vegas Hotel on Friday night Martha shared the special moment with Snoop on her Instagram Friday night, captioning it: 'The grand opening isn't complete without a surprise appearance from @snoopdogg.' The best-selling author, 81, also personally thanked every staff member at her restaurant for their hard work and dedication in bringing her vision to life. Martha, who looked incredible in a yellow feathered gown dress, chatted with Snoop and Ellen at the party while guests enjoyed some of the star's most beloved dishes. There were huge shrimp towers, as well as caviar, crab cakes, burgers and salads to enjoy at the opening party featuring an enormous dessert buffet with a wide array of the icon's favorites. Friends: DailyMail.com was inside the party to witness the lifestyle goddess getting surprised by pal Snoop Dogg, who came to support her in her new venture Glamour: The pals sipped on her own wine - called Martha's Chard - at her event, which also included an appearance by Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, who is a self-proclaimed Martha Stewart super fan; Martha pictured with Ellen and Snoop Dogg Ceremony: Martha at the ribbon cutting ceremony with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace standing next to her in a brown blazer Guests sipped on Martha-Ritas and Martha-tinis, as well as Lemon Drops and Martha's Chard. Martha was also seen cutting the ribbon for the restaurant with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace. Ellen and Snoop mingled and snapped selfies with guests at the party, as well as enjoying conversation with Martha. Attendees were shocked at how much the restaurant resembled Martha's Bedford, New York estate; The Bedford restaurant was modeled after her farmhouse. American billionaire and businesswoman Elaine Wynn was at the bash, as well as President/CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery David Zaslav, EVP, Executive Director of Design for Martha Stewart Living Kevin Sharkey and famed photographer Douglas Friedman. Celebration: Martha seen posing near some of the exquisite dishes at her party Grand opening: Martha with her staff at The Bedford Chatting: Martha seen having a conversation with Snoop Dogg and Ellen at her grand opening party Special moment: The best-selling author, 81, also personally thanked every staff member at her restaurant for their hard work and dedication in bringing her vision to life Star power: Ellen Pompeo dazzled in a patterned blouse and trousers for the event, opting for wavy tresses Glamorous: The Grey's Anatomy star looked lovely in a crystal accented set Amazing memories: Martha shared the special moment with Snoop on her Instagram Friday night, captioning it: 'The grand opening isn't complete without a surprise appearance from @snoopdogg' Here goes! Martha was also seen cutting the ribbon for the restaurant with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace; Martha and Sean, pictured in the center left, seen during the ribbon cutting ceremony Incredible: Martha, who looked incredible in a yellow feathered gown dress, chatted with Snoop and Ellen at the party while guests enjoyed some of the star's favorite dishes The icon's restaurant The Bedford is located at the Paris hotel Las Vegas. Prior to the bash, the lifestyle icon exclusively spoke to DailyMail.com in Vegas about her new venture, which was modeled after her farmhouse in Bedford, New York. The restaurant gives guests the immersive 'Martha Stewart' experience, with the impressive menu consisting of Martha's favorite recipes and French inspired cuisine. Iconic: Martha, who looked incredible in a yellow feathered gown dress, chatted with Snoop and Ellen at the party while guests enjoyed some of the star's favorite dishes Delicious: Guests sipped on Martha-Ritas and Martha-tinis, as well as Lemon Drops and Martha's Chard Incredible! There were huge shrimp towers, as well as caviar, crab cakes, burgers and salads to enjoy at the opening party featuring an enormous dessert buffet with a wide array of the icon's favorites Welcome! Martha Stewart has opened her first ever restaurant in Las Vegas, called The Bedford at the Paris hotel in the Nevada city Martha is in good company with Nobu and Lisa Vanderpump having upscale establishments inside Paris Las Vegas too. Guests can also sip on Martha-tinis and Martha-Ritas as well as Martha's Chard, which is her very own California Chardonnay by 19 Crimes at the restaurant. Products used in the restaurant such as Martha's beautiful pots and pans can be purchased at Martha.com. 'It's a wonderful restaurant, it is an extension of my farmhouse in Bedford, New York except the space is three times bigger than my home,' Martha said. Adding: 'All of the furniture is beautifully executed and exquisite.' Grand opening! Earlier in the day, the lifestyle goddess, 81, exclusively spoke to DailyMail.com in Vegas about her new venture that was modeled by her farmhouse in Bedford, New York Stunning: The Bedford by Martha Stewart's opening party was Friday, August 12, with the restaurant open to the public on Saturday, August 13 Las Vegas hotspot: 'It's a wonderful restaurant, it is an extension of my farmhouse in Bedford, New York except the space is three times bigger than my home,' Martha said. Martha is in good company with Nobu and Lisa Vanderpump having upscale establishments inside Paris Las Vegas too The 194 seat restaurant has American food on the menu and will 'offer guests an authentic glimpse of how she lives and entertains in her own home,' according to the official website for the new eatery. Martha designed The Bedford herself and worked with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace. 'Caesars has been a dream to work with as we created The Bedford by Martha Stewart at Paris Las Vegas. Sean McBurney who oversees everything has been excellent. They take such good care to ensure everything is perfect,' Martha said. Legend: Guests can purchase the products such as her beautiful pots and pans from the restaurant at Martha.com Legend: Martha designed The Bedford herself and worked with Sean McBurney of Caesars Palace Delicious: The 194 seat restaurant has American food on the menu and will 'offer guests an authentic glimpse of how she lives and entertains in her own home,' according to the official website for the new eatery Martha spoke about the exquisite menu, revealing that everything 'has been carefully selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. It's fresh and absolutely delicious.' 'The crab cake is really good - large, high, round and beautifully moist. It is my original crab cake recipe and comes from my second book Martha Stewart's Quick Cook,' the bestselling author said. 'I also highly recommend the red endive salad and the roast chicken, which is delicious with herbs under the skin,' Martha added. Incredible: Martha spoke about the exquisite menu, revealing that everything 'has been carefully selected to appeal to a wide variety of tastes. It's fresh and absolutely delicious' 'The vegetables are all sourced from local farmers, the steaks are from Pat Lafrieda and the caviar is from Black Diamond. Nothing but the highest quality for our guests,' she said. Martha also revealed that The Bedford also has the same coffee that she serves her guests at her own home, called Kobrick coffee, which she described as 'beautiful Italian coffee.' From the drinks menu, the icon recommended a glass of Martha's Chard or a Pomegranate Martha-Rita. Immaculate: 'The vegetables are all sourced from local farmers, the steaks are from Pat Lafrieda and the caviar is from Black Diamond. Nothing but the highest quality for our guests,' she said Attention to detail: 'The crab cake is really good - large, high, round and beautifully moist. It is my original crab cake recipe and comes from my second book Martha Stewart's Quick Cook,' the bestselling author said. 'I also highly recommend the red endive salad and the roast chicken, which is delicious with herbs under the skin,' Martha added An icon: From the drinks menu, the icon recommended a glass of Martha's Chard or a Pomegranate Martha-Rita 'I can't stress enough that the food and drinks are on par with what I serve in my own home. I love good food, fine preparation and beautiful ingredients and The Bedford incorporates all of these things along with the most beautiful restaurant to enjoy,' Martha explained. 'The American public and international tourists who visit Las Vegas want to have a good time, learn new things, see the amazing sites and have fun. My restaurant at Paris Las Vegas is another wonderful choice for them while they are visiting.' The Bedford by Martha Stewart's opening party took place on Friday, August 12th, with the eatery open to the public on Saturday, August 13; the restaurant is located at Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. He's the Today show host who turned 48 this week. And on Saturday, Karl Stefanovic was spotted out shopping in Sydney on his birthday weekend. The TV star was sporting his trademark personalised Ugg boots as he picked up some breakfast for his family and some beer for himself. Today anchor Karl Stefanovic was seen out shopping on Saturday morning in his trademark personalised Ugg the day after celebrating his 48th birthday and he looked ready to continue celebrations through the weekend After a visit to the bakery, the Gold logie winner dropped off the food and made a quick alcohol run to the bottle shop. The Channel Nine anchor looked bright and cheerful in a low-key outfit of baggy white shorts and black T-shirt as he picked up the food. He topped off the casual ensemble with his grey-with-red-trim Ugg boots. The foot wear come personalised with a large 'K' featured on the right boot, and a matching 'S' for the left. The Channel Nine anchor looked bright and cheerful in a low-key outfit of baggy white shorts and black T-shirt as he picked up breakfast from the bakery for his family Karl kept himself on the go Saturday morning Accessorising with a large pair of blue-tinted sunglasses with white rims, Karl left his short-cropped hair product free. Karl returned to his car after stopping at the bottle shop looking ready to continue birthday celebrations into the weekend. The star carried a large box of XXXX beer, a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka and some wine, which he packed away safely, before he drove home. Accessorising with a large pair of blue-tinted sunglasses with white rims, Karl left his short-cropped hair product free Karl returned to his car after stopping at the bottle shop with wine, beer and vodka and looking ready to continue birthday celebrations into the weekend Karl met his wife Jasmine in late 2016, after he split from Cassandra Thorburn, to whom he was married for 21 years. The Channel Nine star proposed to the former model in February 2018 with a $100,000 engagement ring. The newlyweds welcomed their first child, Harper, on May 1, 2020, at Sydney's North Shore Private Hospital. Karl is already a father to sons Jackson, 20, and River, 12, and daughter Ava, 16, who he shares with ex-wife Cassandra Thorburn. Alyssa Scott continues to mourn the loss of her and Nick Cannon's son Zen by sharing about how much her life has changed in the year since he went to the hospital for brain surgery. On Friday, the model took to Instagram and recalled the harrowing events that played out on August 12, 2021. 'I can't believe it's been a year since what I thought would be a quick doctor visit turned into a 5 day hospital stay,' Scott wrote over a picture of their baby boy wrapped up in a blue blanket. One year later: Alyssa Scott continues to mourn the loss of her and Nick Cannon's son Zen by sharing about how much her life has changed in the year since he went to the hospital for brain surgery A mother's anguish: Scott chronicled the day she brought in her son for what she 'thought would be a quick doctor visit but turned into a five day hospital stay' and brain surgery Scott went on to share how things were changing at a fast pace that frightful day, and that it soon turned into an emergency situation. 'We showed up at 9 and by 11:30 Zen was having brain surgery at 8 weeks old,' she continued. Zen later died of a brain tumor on December 5 at just five-months-old. 'I will never be the same. My body feels it. I've been on the verge of tears the last few days. Trying to keep a forward momentum. I miss my boy.' Heartbreaking: Zen was just eight-weeks-old when he was brought in for a doctor's visit for what they thought was just a sinus problem; Cannon is pictured with his late son Birthday tribute: Back in June, Scott paid tribute to her baby boy by sharing a video of Zen on Instagram on what would have been his first birthday Back in June, Scott paid tribute to her baby boy by sharing a video of Zen on Instagram on what would have been his first birthday. 'Happy heavenly birthday Zen. At the root of all the emotions I have today there is insurmountable love. she began in the caption of the clip that begins with proud mother cradling her son as a newborn. 'I always try my best to remain positive but right now I can't help but cry out 'it's not suppose to be like this'. In my mind I can see him smashing his cake and crawling around, tugging at my legs. But the reality is I will be the one to blow out his first candle. I will be wishing he was still here with us. GO REST HIGH.' Cannon would repost Scott's tribute, adding in the caption: 'The loving, nurturing, irrefrangible, and strength-filled Amazing Mother [Alyssa] said it way better than I could ever.' Family matters: The birthday tribute to Zen featured a series of shots of the young boy, including one where his older sister was showing him some love Gorgeous: Zen looked like a healthy and happy boy in the Instagram clip Scenic: Scott cradled her son in her arms while walking along the beach in the birthday video As part of his birthday tribute, Scott and Cannon reunited for a lighting ceremony that served as a reminder of their angel, and to announce the launch of a charity in his name. 'Zen's birth has now transformed into 'Zen's Light'. We are proud to announce his new foundation that will help so many others in this world,' they captioned a photo taken at the event. 'Zen's Light mission is to foster global excellence in hope, grief-care, and pediatric healthcare for families and children in need. They concluded the post by thanking everyone who attended the inaugural event, 'specifically the Children's Hospital of Orange County and our other beautiful partners. Can't wait for next year where our Lighting Gala will continue grow to help find a cure for pediatric Cancer, further research and help console more families during difficult times.' New charity: In June, Cannon and Scott reunited for a lighting ceremony that served as a reminder of their angel, and to announce the launch of a charity in his name: 'Zen's Light' Cannon revealed that he and Scott had thought Zen was having sinus issues, so they took him in for that doctor's visit. It turned out he was suffering from a condition called hydrocephalus, which is an abnormal buildup of fluid in the ventricles (cavities) deep within the brain, according to the National InstituteOf Neurological Disorders And Stroke. He was also diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his head, so he was rushed in for surgery. Zen made it out of surgery but his health began to deteriorate around Thanksgiving, and ultimately he passed away on December 5. Parent's worst nightmare: Scott revealed that she and Canon knew 'Zen's time on earth would be limited' in a previous Instagram post 'We knew since August that Zen's time on this earth would be limited. We knew he would not make it to see 6 months,' Scott previous shared in an Instagram post. 'I am eternally grateful he was in the arms of the people who loved him most.' Scott also has a four-year-old daughter daughter named Zeela. In addition to Zen, Cannon is also the proud father to 11-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan with ex-wife Mariah Carey, Golden 'Sagon' and Powerful Queen with Brittany Bell, and twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with Abby De La Rosa. He most recently welcomed his eighth child, Legendary Love, with Bre Tiesi on June 28. Jazmine Nichol has revealed she is now stable after developing sepsis. The Love Island star, 21, took to her Instagram Stories on Friday where she posted an update on her terrifying health scare, admitting she was 'feeling lucky to be alive' after previously telling fans she'd been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. The nightclub manager - who shot to fame as a Casa Amor bombshell - revealed that she was 'vomiting uncontrollably' and turned 'blue/grey' and as sepsis developed within minutes after she was rushed to A&E needing emergency surgery. Earlier this week, Jazmine shared a snap of herself hooked up to a drip while lying on a hospital bed and revealed that she'd undergone an operation after becoming 'really unwell' with - what was at that time - a mystery illness. Stable: Love Island bombshell Jazmine Nichol, 21, has revealed she is stable after developing sepsis as she took to her Instagram Stories on Friday to post an update on her health scare Jazmine wrote: 'I'd like to firstly thank everyone for their concern over my health this past week and let everyone know what's happened. 'I became unwell in the early hours of Tuesday morning and was taken into hospital later that day. Whilst waiting to be seen my condition deteriorated rapidly to what I now know is sepsis. 'Had it not been for the quick thinking and action of a staff member who noticed how unwell I had become things could have been very different. 'Within minutes I had turned a blue/grey colour and was vomiting uncontrollably. My blood pressure was 70/30. It was at this point that the doctors informed my family that I was seriously unwell. Terrifying: The nightclub manager revealed that she was 'vomiting uncontrollably' and turned 'blue/grey' and as sepsis developed within minutes after she was rushed to A&E Grateful: Jazmine admitted she was 'feeling lucky to be alive' after previously telling fans she'd been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery Overnight star: Jazmine shot to fame as a Casa Amor bombshell in the most recent series 'I was fortunate to have the most amazing care and was quickly hooked up to IVs containing antibiotics and fluids. Blood results showed that I had developed Sepsis - so rapidly it happened in a matter of minutes. On a second post, the reality star continued: 'Sepsis is a rare but serious complication of an infection. Without treatment sepsis causes multiple organ failures and death. 'We believe this happened because I had ignored an infection whilst away from home last week and as a result needed emergency surgery in the early hours of Wednesday morning once my condition had stabilised.' 'I want to thank our amazing NHS for the quick action and excellent care. I still have a long recovery ahead and will be taking some much needed rest, but I am feeling incredibly lucky to still be alive right now.' Jazmine then shared a link for her followers to find out more about sepsis. Oh no! It comes days after Jazmine revealed that she'd been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, after becoming 'really unwell' with - what was at the time - a mystery illness TV star: The reality star took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday night where she revealed that she had undergone an operation Jazmine's updated comes days after the Casa Amor beauty revealed that she'd been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, after becoming 'really unwell' with - what was at the time - a mystery illness Alongside a concerning photograph of herself hooked up to a drip, she wrote: 'Update for you all. I've taken really unwell so I'll be off my phone and not shooting any content for a while till I've recovered from surgery. I'm in good hands though.' MailOnline has contacted Jazmine Nichol's representatives for comment. The reality star was last spotted enjoying a day out at PrettyLittleThing's We Are FSTVL at Damyns Hall Aerodrome in Essex on Sunday. Jazmine looked happy and healthy as she posed in a skimpy green bikini top and matching mini skirt. What are the key symptoms of sepsis? The 'silent killer' that can cause death in minutes Sepsis, known as the silent killer, strikes when an infection such as blood poisoning sparks a violent immune response in which the body attacks its own organs. It is a potentially life-threatening condition, triggered by an infection or injury. Around 245,000 people develop sepsis in the UK each year and 52,000 die, according to the UK Sepsis Trust. Instead of attacking the invading bug, the body turns on itself, shutting down vital organs. If caught early enough, it's easily treated with intravenous antibiotics and fluids, but these must be given as soon as sepsis is suspected - it strikes with frightening speed and, for every hour of delay, a patient's chance of dying increases 8 per cent. Sepsis is a leading cause of avoidable death killing 44,000 people each year The early symptoms of sepsis can be easily confused with more mild conditions, meaning it can be difficult to diagnose. A high temperature (fever), chills and shivering, a fast heartbeat and rapid breathing are also indicators. A patient can rapidly deteriorate if sepsis is missed early on, so quick diagnosis and treatment is vital yet this rarely happens. In the early stages, sepsis can be mistaken for a chest infection, flu or upset stomach. It is most common and dangerous in older adults, pregnant women, children younger than one, people with chronic conditions or those who have weakened immune systems. The six signs of something potentially deadly can be identified by the acronym 'SEPSIS': Slurred speech or confusion Extreme shivering or muscle pain Passing no urine in a day Severe breathlessness Skin that's mottled or discoloured Anyone who develops any of these symptoms should seek medical help urgently and ask doctors: 'Could this be sepsis?' Advertisement Having fun: The reality star was last spotted enjoying a day out at PrettyLittleThing's We Are FSTVL at Damyns Hall Aerodrome in Essex on Sunday Last month, Jazmine slammed Love Island bosses for failing to 'show her on screen'. After leaving the Spanish villa, she told her social media followers: 'Hi guys, it's Jaz, I'm back. Just want to say a huge thank you for all of the love and support I've seen so far. 'I'm so overwhelmed with all the lovely messages I've seen and the funny memes!' She continued: 'I'm excited for all of you to see my personality that was not shown on screen and the Jaz that the villa saw, this is only the start.' Love Islander: Jazmine entered Love Island as one of the six Casa Amor bombshells Bombshell! Following her stint, Jazmine shockingly revealed she shared a connection with Andrew Le Page which wasn't aired on the show Jazmine entered the show alongside EastEnders extra Summer Bowte, 22, who had her eyes on Dami; graphic designer and ring girl Coco Lodge, 27, who was hoping to steal Andrew Le Paige from Tasha. As always, the Islanders had to coupled up in order to secure their place in the villa, with those who stayed single finding themselves dumped from the island. And following her stint in Love Island, Jazmine shockingly revealed she shared a connection with Andrew Le Page which wasn't aired on the show. The nightclub manager claimed that Andrew was interested in her but it wasn't shown during the one-hour long episodes. Appearing on a podcast after being dumped from the island, Jazmine told how Andrew called her the 'girl of his dreams' and they enjoyed a day of flirting, as she declared: 'I thought I was coming out with a boyfriend'. Dame Emma Thompson has hilariously revealed she's been subtly trying to put her daughter Gaia off acting. The Love Actually star, 63, who shares the drama student, 22, with fellow thespian Greg Wise, 56, joked she's been dropping hints that her offspring could 'run a restaurant' instead. She told the Daily Mail's Eden Confidential: 'I keep saying, "I know you like acting, but, you know, perhaps running a restaurant can be as exciting."' 'I keep saying running a restaurant can be as exciting!' Emma Thompson (pictured in June 2022) has hilariously revealed she's been trying to put her daughter Gaia Wise, 22, off acting Emma added of the talented cook: 'There's something very theatrical about restaurants when you get it right, you feel so happy and lucky to be in it.' Despite other ideas from the Oscar winner, Gaia followed in her mother's footsteps as she made her TV debut in the latest series of BBC drama Silent Witness. With her sweet smile and cropped dark hair, Dame Emma's daughter looked every inch the mini-me. In the series Gaia plays university student Jo Reynolds whose mother, the controversial health secretary, is assassinated sparking the interest of forensic pathologists. Other ideas: The Love Actually star, 63, (left) joked she's been dropping hints that her offspring (right) could 'run a restaurant' instead (pictured in 2021) Earlier this year, Gaia revealed to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden that she's prepared to follow her mother's example and disrobe on screen. Dame Emma recently bared all in her latest film Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. Gaia said: 'If it's professionally prepared, and you've got the right kind of protection around you, then that's absolutely fine.' It comes after Gaia detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention. Career: Despite other ideas from the Oscar winner, Gaia followed in her mother's footsteps as she made her TV debut in the latest series of BBC drama Silent Witness (pictured in July 2022) The aspiring actress developed anorexia aged 16 which left her so thin she was unable to even sit on a chair without it being painful. She was later admitted to rehab in 2017. She spoke out about her illness for the first time with The Sun on Sunday, saying 'Anorexia makes you really good at gaslighting people, making it sound like they're insane. 'My parents would say, 'Gaia, we heard you working out at 3am.' And I'd say, 'No you didn't, it was just the house moving. I was asleep.'' Anorexia is a serious mental illness where a person restricts their food intake, which often causes them to be severely underweight. Many also exercise excessively. Twins: Dame Emma 's daughter looked every inch the mini-me (Emma in TV comedy series There's Nothing To Worry About in 1982 and Gaia in Silent Witness Gaia spoke of how Greg, Emma, and her family, including brother Tindy, 36, and best friend gathered together for an intervention, with Gaia agreeing to a three-month rehab stint after Greg said: 'I don't know where my child is any more.' Adding that it was a 'kick in the teeth' she added: 'I had to listen to the people I loved most in the world who, at the time, I'd really forgotten about, tell me what I was doing.' She said: 'That's when I said I'd go to rehab. I went on December 29, 2017, and stayed for three months. Since then I've had a lot of therapy and I'll always be grateful for that, because it saved my life.' Multi-millionaire Joey Essex is rich enough to retire at 32 - after stockpiling enough cash to put his feet up. But despite having millions in the bank, the Essex-born star has stressed he is not ready to give up work yet. When asked if he was able to retire, he told the Sun: 'I guess I could, but I feel like it depends how much you enjoy your job. Wow! Multi-millionaire Joey Essex is rich enough to retire at 32 - after stockpiling enough cash to put his feet up (pictured June 2022) 'I quite enjoy my job, so it's never really about the money, it's always about keeping myself busy and just being happy. 'I'm only 32 the best is yet to come.' Joey's fortune comes after he starred in The Only Way is Essex from 2011 until 2013 and used the fame that came with it to become a stalwart of reality TV. Still working: But despite having millions in the bank, the Essex-born star has stressed he is not ready to give up work yet He finished fourth place in the 2013 series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here and won the second season of The Jump a year later. Joey, who is famed for his occasionally dopey responses, also fronted a series named Educating Joey Essex - in which he learned about various topics. After being a perennial guest on Celebs Go Dating in recent years, Joey has also appeared on Celebrity Ex on the Beach, Celebrity MasterChef and appeared on 2022 series of the Australian I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Stolen: Joey was robbed of designer accessories worth more than 8,000, including a 1,900 grey Maison Goyard bag, after his Essex home was ransacked by thieves earlier this year Joey's ventures branch beyond appearances on television with investment in several products - including his signature 'Fusey' brand of aftershaves and hair care products. The revelation of his riches comes despite being robbed robbed of designer accessories amounting to more than 8,000 in January. Joey was left 'horrified and shaken,' after discovering his 3 million Essex home had been ransacked by thieves, and said he was desperate to be reunited with his belongings. Among other items, thieves stole a black Fendi rucksack worth about 4,500, which he could be seen sporting in a snap shared on Instagram. Joey has also lost a mustard Louis Vuitton weekend bag worth 2,500, and a 1,900 grey Maison Goyard cross-body bag. A source in January close to Joey told MailOnline that the star is still searching for other items that have been taken. They said: 'Some of the items are very distinctive and Joey hopes will help identify those responsible.' Lauren Goodger hid her black eye in the first picture she has shared to social media since being 'attacked' on the day of her baby's funeral. The TOWIE star, 35, took to her Instagram Stories on Friday where she unveiled her new, balayage hair makeover, and told fans she was practising some 'self love' and focusing on 'slowly getting back to normal life.' It comes after Lauren was seen in public for the first time with a serious black eye on Thursday, following the alleged attack which led to the arrest of her boyfriend Charles Drury. Hiding the injury: Lauren Goodger, 31, hid her black eye in the first picture she has shared to social media since being 'attacked' on the day of her baby's funeral As well as uploading her own glossy shot, Lauren re-posted a photograph of her new look from her hairdresser's Instagram account. She added: 'Today was the first day out for some self love. One step at a time to going back slowly to normal life. Small steps. Hashtag self love.' The hair makeover comes after Lauren's outing on Thursday, when she appeared sombre while pushing her one-year-old daughter Larose along in a pram while running errands in Essex. Onlookers said Lauren was trying to get back to normal life after suffering from a 'fractured eye socket' with one saying: 'She's a working mum and life has to continue. You could see her black eye very clearly.' MailOnline has contacted Lauren's representatives for comment. Incident: The TOWIE star was spotted with a serious black eye in pictures shared by The Sun - a week after the attack which led to the arrest of her boyfriend Charles Drury Before and after: As well as uploading her own glossy shot, Lauren re-posted a photograph of her glorious new look from her hairdresser's Instagram account Awful: On Thursday, Lauren was seen in public for the first time following an alleged attack which left her with a 'fractured eye socket' (pictured in a previous Instagram post) A close friend of Lauren's, Lauryn Goodman, has admitted she is brought to tears every time she looked at the star's face after the incident. Lauryn, 31, told how Lauren has been through the 'roughest, darkest ride in secret' as she shared a message of support to her pal on Instagram. Lauren's daughter Lorena died on July 8 after being born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and she was laid to rest on August 3. Charles, who has denied attacking Lauren, was arrested in the hours after the funeral on Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and has since been bailed. Speaking out: A close friend of Lauren's, Lauryn Goodman, 31, has admitted she is brought to tears every time she looked at the star's face after the assault Candid: Lauryn told how Lauren has been through the 'roughest, darkest ride in secret' as she shared a message of support to her pal on Instagram Lauren's sister Nicola shared a snap of Lauren's daughter Larose and said: 'This gorgeous little girl doesn't even know how lucky she is to have such a strong amazing mum! As long as you have each other you'll both be fine.' Lauryn reshared the post and detailed her friend's horrendous injuries on her Instagram Stories on Monday evening. She said: 'Couldn't have said this better myself. Seen a few things as well and I'd like to say there are NEVER 2 sides to a story when my friend's face looks how it does. She is unrecognisable. 'Brings me to tears every time I look at her. No amount of lies you tell will ever hide the truth now. Please if anyone ever finds themselves in this situation never think staying quiet or hiding is best. 'Always confide and reach out to people. Better days will come and you aren't trapped. Promise. Be strong for your little ones.' Attack: Charles (pictured right), who has denied attacking Lauren, was arrested in the hours after the funeral on Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and has since been bailed In a separate post, Lauryn spoke about how people are 'quick to judge' Lauren, but described her as 'one of the kindest hearted people I've ever met'. She wrote: 'You have a genuine soul and would never ever wish bad on anyone. I wish I could take the pain away for. 'Larose is so lucky to have such a strong woman mum.' Lauryn continued: 'I wish people knew YOU, you are SO funny, genuine, beautiful inside and out and have been through the roughest, darkest, ride in secret. 'This is one of the problems with the celeb world and social media. Everyone is so quick to judge every little thing. You're a real one and trust me things will get better.' Hiding: Lauren is reportedly staying with a friend following the alledged attack in Upminster (Charles pictured with Larose) Lauren had to go to hospital for serious facial injuries and was interviewed by police. She had just attended her daughter's funeral with her family and was allegedlty attacked later that night. Police were called at 00.37am on Thursday to reports of an altercation and Charles was arrested on suspicion of assault. He was released on bail in the early hours of Friday morning, according to police. Lauren was taken to hospital by her friend after the incident for medical check-ups and has since been awaiting her X-Ray results. 'Lauren is absolutely terrified. This has shaken her badly,' a source told The Sun on Sunday. 'She suffered some nasty injuries and fears she has suffered a broken eye socket.' Horrendous: Lauren posted an image on her Instagram after her daughter's birth in which she holds the newborn's hand Charles denies attacking Lauren, telling the Sun: 'There's a completely different side to stuff.' A Metropolitan Police spokesman said on Friday night: 'Police were called at 00.37 hrs on Thursday, August 4 to reports of an altercation. 'Officers attended. At the scene a woman, aged 30s, was found with facial injuries. 'A man was arrested on suspicion of assault. He was taken to an east London police station and subsequently bailed pending further inquiries. Inquiries continue.' Lauren and Charles met in October 2020 and announced they were expecting a child together three months after going public with their relationship. She had teased she was dating someone new before the identity of Charles, a builder and former lover of Katie Price, came to light. The couple have a one-year-old daughter Larose together. In January, she revealed she was expecting her second child. History: Lauren and Charles' romance first came to light in October 2020, they announced they were expecting their first child together just three months after going public The alleged assault happened just hours after Lauren attended the funeral of her baby daughter Lorena. Doctors tried in vain to save the 9lb baby but she was born with two knots in her umbilical cord which was tied around her neck. After she died, her traumatised mother spent hours saying goodbye to her. The heartbroken star also later revealed she still 'has a bit of a bump' which sometimes tricks her into thinking her baby girl was 'still there'. She said: 'It's weird. My body feels like it's unsettled, like it's missing a newborn.' Details: The incident happened only hours after a private funeral for baby Lorena (Lauren is pictured with Charles in an Instagram story Lauren posted an Instagram message telling how much she loved her daughter, who died minutes after being born on July 8, saying: 'I carried you, I felt you grow. Longed for the day we'd meet. Dreamed of your future. Not only did I know you, I fell in love with you.' Lauren's waters broke on July 6 and Tamzin, her NHS midwife, came to her house to take her blood pressure and listen to the baby's heartbeat. The TV personality was planning a second home birth with no drugs as she had with older daughter Larose, who was born in a 'perfect', 'amazing' and 'smooth' home birth last year. Midwife Tamzin told Lauren 'everything was where it should be' and she waited for her contractions to start at home. Charles took Larose to stay with family so Lauren could rest and she chilled out and went to sleep. Awful: Doctors tried in vain to save the 9lb baby but she was born with two knots in her umbilical cord which was tied around her neck (Lauren and Charles pictured March 2022) The following morning, July 7, midwife Tamzin came around again to check the baby's heartbeat and movement, as well as Lauren's blood pressure and temperature. Once again, both mother and baby were normal, and Lauren didn't have any 'pain or signs of labour'. On the morning of July 8 there were still no signs of contractions, so Charles brought Larose back and Lauren breastfed her because the stimulation can bring on contractions, which worked. Lauren's contractions began and she called her midwife to tell her Lorena was coming. Tamzin came over immediately to check the heartbeat, but was devastatingly unable to find it, despite locating a 'really strong heartbeat' just hours before. She told Lauren she was 'really worried' and called an ambulance. Lauren, 'in agony' at this point, was blue-lighted to hospital, and was 'stood up screaming' throughout the journey. By the time she had arrived at hospital, Lorena's head was crowning, which Lauren said was the 'most traumatic experience I've ever been through in my life'. She and Charles were taken inside the hospital and shown to a private room, where Lauren gave birth to Lorena just two hours after her contractions had started. Lauren immediately knew there was a problem because there was no cry from Lorena and a team of doctors rushed into the room. Lorena was born with two big knots in her umbilical cord and with the cord tied around her neck, causing life-threatening problems. Doctors desperately fought to save Lorena, performing chest compressions and giving her adrenaline for eight minutes while trying in vain to resuscitate her. The medical team were sadly unsuccessful and told Lauren and Charles there was nothing more they could do. Lauren was already at 'rock bottom', as just five days before her child died on July 8, her ex-boyfriend Jake McLean, 33, died in a car accident in Bodrum, Turkey. Mclean, who she dated from 2012 until 2016 and reportedly secretly reconciled with until 2020, died last month when he 'lost control' of the vehicle in Turkey. After the accident she shared a heartbreaking series of lyrics to her Instagram Stories. Lauren's post featured a black backdrop while the song's lyrics gradually appeared on the screen. The lyrics were: 'Search your heart, search your soul. When you find me there, you'll search no more.' Olympian Jana Pittman says she felt like 'the black sheep' after becoming the first person in her family to get divorced, but admits she's 'proud' to be a single mother. The SAS Australia finalist, 39, who has six children, also revealed that she plans to enlist in the army. Speaking to Daily Telegraph, she explained: 'In my parents' generation, they fought and they made up because divorce was taboo. I was the first person to be divorced in my entire network and I was ashamed of that.' Olympian Jana Pittman says she felt like 'the black sheep' after becoming the first person in her family to get divorced, but admits she's 'proud' to be a single mother. Pictured with her ex-husband Chris Rawlinson in 2007 But the twice-married, four-time Olympic gold medallist said she's 'very proud' she put herself through medical school 'as a solo parent on no income'. Pittman is mother to son Cornelius, 15, whom she shares with her first husband, British Olympian Chris Rawlinson. She also has daughters Emily, seven, and Jemima, five, who she conceived via donors, and Charles, one, and four-month-old twins Willow and Quinlan, who she welcomed with second husband Paul Gatward. The mother-of-six recently revealed that she's in the process of enlisting and is excited to follow in the footsteps of other family members who have served. 'I am halfway through that application, but I had the twins, so it has been delayed,' said Jana, following the birth of Willow and Quinlan in October. Pittman is mother to son Cornelius, 15, whom she shares with her first husband. She also has daughters Emily, seven, and Jemima, five, who she conceived via donors, one-year-old son Charles and four-month-old twins Willow and Quinlan Pittman already has an impressive career behind her including winning medals at the Commonwealth Games, becoming a qualified doctor and starring in the gruelling military-style reality show SAS Australia. She's also the first woman, and the second Australian athlete in history, to compete in both the summer and winter Olympic Games for relay and bobsleigh. But her decision to join the military has been primarily influenced by her family as her brother, grandfather, brother-in-law and father-in-law are all veterans. 'My brother was an ex-Afghan veteran, my grandfather was in the army and my husband's brother is in the army, as is his father. Also my grandparents were Dutch and went through (Nazi occupation in) World War II,' she said. 'So we have seen first hand how the war can impact them when they come home. I have grown up with a lot of respect for veterans.' The mother-of-six, 39, is in the process of enlisting and is excited to follow in the footsteps of other family members who have served Pittman's brother Ryan was involved in the military for 'several years' and did tours in Afghanistan. It was her brother's experience in the army that made Pittman want to become involved and promote the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay. The Legacy Centenary Torch Relay is a six-month campaign that acknowledges veterans and families of veterans. The torch for next year's campaign will travel over 50,000 kilometres through 100 locations including France, the UK and Australia. It will be carried by approximately 1,500 torch bearers. Pittman was on season two of SAS Australia and was one of just five recruits - and the only woman - to make it to the very end of the gruelling course. She was ultimately eliminated by the directing staff, with NRL star Sam Burgess being the only recruit who passed. Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti will star in their own reality show, they both announced during an appearance on the Big Breakfast revival on Saturday. The Love Island winners, both 27, revealed they will be filmed by ITV2 cameras as they embark on road trips together of their native countries, Turkey and Italy. Soap actress Ekin-Su joked that the pair would be 'fighting and cooking' for audiences, claiming the programme will be a 'blend of two cultures'. 'It will be all real... fighting, cooking!' Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti will star in their own reality show, they announced on Saturday's Big Breakfast revival Italian Stallion Davide said on the morning programme: 'I can tell this. We are going on a road trip to Italy and Turkey so one week in Italy, one week in Turkey. We are going to be on ITV2 so it's going to be like our own programme.' Ekin-Su added: 'It will be all real, fighting, I'll be cooking for him, he'll be cooking for me. It will be two cultures.' Davide concluded: 'We'll be meeting family, it's going to be nice,' before presenter AJ Odudu told them: 'You're going on the trip and we get to go with you!' Elsewhere, the Manchester resident almost let blab that he would be moving in with his girlfriend, although she quickly shushed him. Exciting: The Love Island winners, both 27, revealed they will be filmed by ITV2 cameras as they embark on road trips together of their native countries, Turkey and Italy 'You can't ask that yet,' she awkwardly told Denise Van Outen, before adding, 'Maybe soon.' Only the day before, Ekin-Su posted a video of herself with and Davide at an Indian wedding to Instagram, adding that they got invited and thought, 'Why not?' It comes after MailOnline revealed the Turkish soap star has signed the biggest clothing deal in the show's history with brand Oh Polly. She was 'inundated with offers' by multiple retailers following her landslide win with boyfriend Davide but wanted to 'follow her heart' in signing with a company that believes in her. A source said the ITV2 champion, who won the 50,000 cash prize after garnering 63.7 per cent of the public vote, is 'ecstatic' and having 'the week of her dreams.' Shtum! Elsewhere, the Manchester resident almost let blab that he would be moving in with his girlfriend, although she quickly shushed him (pictured with Denise Van Outen, centre) An insider close to Ekin-Su revealed: 'Ekin has met with countless brands this week, but she knew that Oh Polly was the perfect fit for her, and the feeling was mutual. 'She's signed an enormous deal worth over a million and now she can't wait to start collaborating with the brand and working on her first ever collection. 'Prior to Love Island, Ekin dreamed of one day making a name for herself, she will never forget this feeling of being in demand and admired by her legions of fans.' Ekin left the Love Island villa not only as the show's winner but with the biggest following, as 2.6million viewers hurried to back the former Turkish soap star. Having fun! Only the day before, Ekin-Su posted a video of herself with and Davide at an Indian wedding to Instagram, adding that they got invited and thought, 'Why not? Talented: David appeared to be in his element as he busted a move and a group of friends at the celebration dazzled in their colourful dresses MailOnline contacted Ekin's representative for comment at the time. Ekin won Love Island earlier this month with Italian stallion boyfriend Davide after they bonded over food and viewers became hooked on their tempestuous romance. Despite a few setbacks, including Ekin crawling along the terrace floor to keep her kissing former Islander Jay Younger secret, the pair ended up saying te amo, love you in Italian, by the end of the series. Sources have revealed to MailOnline that Davide has also been meeting multiple brands this week, as the couple are predicted to become one of the most successful winners in Love Island history. The pair made their first live TV appearance since leaving the villa on Loose Women this week and spoke to the panel about their future plans together. Ekin said: 'Winning the show has bought us a lot closer. We are planning to move in together maybe September-October time.' Davide added: 'We were like magnets. We were attracted to each other so whenever even if we had an argument we would still go back together, have a laugh together, spend time in the evening together.' When asked about potential clothing deals and being in demand, Ekin commented: 'We've got to be selective of the right path.' The Big Breakfast will air Saturdays at 10am on Channel 4 and All 4. Wow! It comes after MailOnline revealed the Turkish soap star has signed the biggest clothing deal in the show's history with brand Oh Polly Lads night out: Davide enjoyed a night out with his friends later on Saturday, at BLVD Bar in Manchester She's the blonde beauty from the Gold Coast who shot to fame on Married At First Sight's ninth season this year. But Samantha Moitzi has now ditched her long blonde locks for fiery red hair instead. Taking to Instagram, the 27-year-old told her thousands of followers that she'd visited the Rhi-Style Hair Salon in Queensland to overhaul her style. Married At First Sight's Samantha Moitzi is known for her blonde hair (pictured), but the reality star has now overhauled her look 'They say blondes have more fun, but what do they say about red heads?' she wrote. 'Thank you to @rhistyle_hair for letting me convince you to finally live my copper fantasy - and dont come at me for the TikTok filter - felt cute and I started the video with it so had to finish with it'. The clip showed her starting with blonde hair before transforming to a copper hue while sporting a full face of makeup and a white top. The 27-year-old unveiled her fiery red hair in a video shared to Instagram and TikTok this week It comes after the brand manager debuted her new boyfriend on Instagram. While she didn't disclose the name of her heavily tattooed new beau, she looked incredibly happy as the cute couple posed for photos while doing the Byron Bay Lighthouse walk. Samantha wrapped her arms around her handsome new man in one selfie taken in the sunshine. The clip showed her starting with blonde hair before transforming to a copper hue while sporting a full face of makeup and a white top The reality star said she had finally found a 'genuine connection' with someone who wants the 'same things' when she replied to a nasty comment from a fan who wrote 'POV: downgrade in partner'. Samantha and her TV groom Al Perkins parted on good terms during a Married At First Sight commitment ceremony after realising they were better off friends. During an interview with the Today show the day after their split, the exes agreed they'd ended things properly after deciding to stay in the experiment for one more week, and Al said he'd learned a lot about himself - specifically how he needs to be more mature when it comes to relationships. Sam said she'd finally found a 'genuine connection' with someone who wants the 'same things' when she replied to a nasty comment from a fan who wrote 'POV: downgrade in partner' Karl Stefanovic said he couldn't believe things didn't work out for the genetically-blessed pair, then asked Samantha if her husband was perhaps a bit 'up himself'. Instead of shutting down the suggestion straight away, the fashion brand manager hesitated for a few seconds - which Al interpreted as her agreeing with Karl. 'Ahhh... no...!' she said after a pause, as the guests and hosts burst into laughter. Samantha eventually conceded she'd 'asked for someone confident', which she certainly got in Al, before nodding awkwardly until Al ended the silence. 'And that's it!' he laughed, clearly not taking offence. Samantha added that Al 'means well' and is a kind person at heart, even if they weren't a good match romantically. Kylie Jenner put on a busty display in a new throwback album she posted to Instagram of her recent trip to the Bahamas. The sizzling makeup mogul traveled to the Bahamas this month to celebrate her 25th birthday with some of her nearest and dearest. She included a picture of herself holding hands with her four-year-old daughter Stormi as they strolled along a harbor together. Sizzling bombshell: Kylie Jenner put on a busty display in a new throwback album she posted to Instagram of her recent trip to the Bahamas In her new album Kylie set pulses racing by encasing her curves in a skintight nude dress that threw her ample endowments into relief. Letting her luxurious black hair tumble freely over her shoulders, she accentuated her screen siren features with makeup. Kylie warded off the summertime Caribbean rays with a pair of sleek sunglasses and lent the ensemble a dash of glitz with fashionably mismatched earrings. She celebrated her birthday on a yacht with a group that included her sisters Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian. Hand in hand: She included a picture of herself holding hands with her four-year-old daughter Stormi as they strolled along a harbor together The birthday girl's best pal Stassie Karanikolaou and family friend La La Anthony were also part of the swank affair. Kylie's daughter was on hand, along with Kim Kardashian's little girl Chicago, who was born just a couple of weeks before Stormi. Also in attendance was Karadshian-Jenner matriarch Kris Jenner, who gifted Kylie a rare $100,000 three-tone Hermes Birkin bag. Kris fired up her Instagram over the weekend to post a gushing birthday tribute to Domenico Dolce, one half of Dolce & Gabbana. Warm words: Kris fired up her Instagram over the weekend to post a gushing birthday tribute to Domenico Dolce, one half of Dolce & Gabbana Party time: 'Happy birthday to fabulous amazing Domenico!!!! You are such an incredible friend, partner, brother, uncle, and in my heart truly my brother!!!!' Kris rhapsodized 'Happy birthday to fabulous amazing Domenico!!!! You are such an incredible friend, partner, brother, uncle, and in my heart truly my brother!!!!' Kris rhapsodized. 'You are the most creative, smart, loving, caring, compassionate, and generous man and I am beyond blessed to call you my dear friend.' She closed out her effusive caption: 'Thank you for all of the love you show us always!!!! I love you beyond measure.' When Kourtney Kardashian held a lavish wedding to Travis Barker in Italy this May, members of her family were frequently seen wearing Dolce & Gabbana over the course of the multi-day extravaganza of functions. Kylie shares Stormi, as well as an infant son whose name she has not publicly disclosed, with her rapper boyfriend Travis Scott, who was also at the yacht party. Travis is in the midst of a comeback after a deadly stampede claimed 10 lives at his Astroworld festival performance last year. Simu Liu enjoyed a night on the town in Los Angeles this Friday with his stunning girlfriend Jade Bender. The Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings heartthrob showed off his toned arms in a clinging polo shirt and left the top button tantalizingly undone. During his latest outing, the 33-year-old was seen holding hands with his paramour as they stepped out in West Hollywood for dinner. Off they go: Simu Liu enjoyed a night on the town in Los Angeles this Friday with his leggy girlfriend Jade Bender Simu, who was born in China but raised in Canada, flashed his megawatt smile as he pounded the pavement with Jade. Jade, who is also an actress and has featured in such films as the Netflix release Senior Year, flashed her taut midriff in a crop top. She warded off the nighttime chill by throwing an open flannel shirt over the ensemble and slung on a sleek white handbag. Simu and Jade appeared to have coordinated outfits, matching each other in fashionably faded jeans and white sneakers. On the town: The Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings heartthrob showed off his toned arms in a clinging polo shirt and left the top button tantalizingly undone Aglow: During his latest outing, the 33-year-old was seen holding hands with his paramour as they stepped out in West Hollywood for dinner The duo provoked a swirl of romance rumors when they were spotted out together in June before going red carpet official at the ESPY Awards in July. Although they have remained tight-lipped in public about their romance, they have not shied away from appearing together at events. At the start of this month Jade and Simu were a smoldering presence on the red carpet for the premiere of the new Brad Pitt movie Bullet Train. Revealed: The duo provoked a swirl of romance rumors when they were spotted out together in June before going red carpet official at the ESPY Awards in July (pictured) Simu became an international star last year with the release of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By last December it emerged that a sequel is percolating, reuniting Simu with Destin Daniel Cretton who wrote and directed the first film. Simu is also part of the cast of the upcoming Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as Ken. Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig is directing Barbie, which she co-wrote with her husband and fellow acclaimed filmmaker Noah Baumbach. The summer season will soon draw to a close and already the 'ultra-mini' handbag is just so over. Autumn is bringing us the mega bag handbags so vast that a chihuahua would get lost inside. In fact, a golden Labrador would be more appropriate for this season's new yellow 1,000 VAARA bowling bag, one of many ultra-large handbags trickling their way on to Bond Street. Others are made by Fendi and Alexander McQueen, with most costing around 2,000. Charlotte Griffiths proves autumn is bringing us the mega bag handbags so vast that a chihuahua would get lost inside Some high street versions are beginning to appear, too. Cos makes a 59 polyester mega bag (a leather version goes for 250), while Spanish label Bimba y Lola is selling its XXL Mango shopper bag for 93 and it has been flying off the buckling rails. The creamy calf leather VAARA took my fancy as Julia Hall, a former Victoria Beckham couturier, is the brands new lead designer. VAARA owner Tatiana Korsakova, tells me: 'I really wanted to create a multi-tasking handbag that was elegant and could take you from school run to supper in style.' Charlotte Griffiths experiences carrying a 1000 bag from Vaara Studios but Elizabeth Needham prefers her shoulder bag With those words ringing in my ears, I snapped one up and took it for a spin to the local supermarket. The first sign of trouble came when it failed to fit in my trolley. When I had eventually wedged it in, there was no space left for a box of eggs, let alone a pack of loo rolls. Ditching the groceries, I decided to pop down the high street for some retail therapy. On the plus side there was plenty of room for purchases but it was less convenient when I nipped into the department store loos and failed to fit into a cubicle. I snuck into the disabled space instead, as it was the only one that was big enough. Next, it was time to reapply my lippy. But the VAARA had swallowed my make-up bag and then my entire arm when I leaned in to fish it out. Charlotte peers inside the designer bag for her belongings which are all in separate compartments I feared the worst for my keys. There are compartments (it is a real handbag, after all) so I made a note to keep a chart of what's where next time. Finally, it was time for the school run. My three-year-old asked if I was like Mary Poppins, while my two-year-old tried to climb in it so she could be carried home. Later, I called my favourite fashion expert Jo Elvin to ask whether I really am on-trend. Naturally, she was already using an XXL bag. 'Someone picked up mine and asked me if I had a body in there because it was so heavy,' she says. 'Because it fits so much, you're in danger of making it the same weight as you. 'A lot of women like big handbags. There's a security in having everything in there.' I returned to the office to type up my thoughts. Sadly we have revolving doors, so I got trapped. Still, at least the leather is soft. Advertisement Sex And The City actor Willie Garson's estate has sold his bungalow for a whopping $1.9 million, nearly a year after his tragic death at the age of just 57. Garson, who was beloved by fans of the sitcom for his performance as Carrie Bradshaw's best gay friend Stanford Blatch, succumbed to pancreatic cancer at home last September. Now his home in the Valley Village area of the San Fernando Valley has finally sold, a month after it went on the market with an asking price of $1.695, TMZ reports. Bought and sold: Sex And The City actor Willie Garson's estate has sold his bungalow for a whopping $1.9 million, nearly a year after his tragic death at the age of just 57 Dearly departed: Garson, who was beloved by fans of the sitcom for his performance as Carrie Bradshaw's best gay friend Stanford Blatch, succumbed to pancreatic cancer at home last September Bryan Adams of Sotheby's International Realty handled the listing of the Spanish style property, which was built in 1920 on a lot sprawling over 10,250 square feet. Willie bought the bungalow in 2005, the year after the original run of Sex And The City concluded, and forked over slightly over $1 million, according to Architectural Digest. His home features a living room with a vaulted ceiling that matches the sleek hardwood floors and the bookshelves installed in a nook in the white walls. The living room, which also has a wood-burning fireplace, connects to a dining room with walls painted in an eye-popping shade of rose pink. Marked up: Now his home in the Valley Village area of the San Fernando Valley has finally sold, a month after it went on the market with an asking price of $1.695, TMZ reports Gorgeous: His home features a living room with a vaulted ceiling that matches the sleek hardwood floors and the bookshelves installed in a nook in the white walls Terrific: The living room, which also has a wood-burning fireplace, connects to a dining room with walls painted in an eye-popping shade of rose pink Living well: Willie, who is survived by a son called Nathan whom he adopted in 2009 when the little boy was seven, had a house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms Willie, who is survived by a son called Nathan whom he adopted in 2009 when the little boy was seven, had a house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The master bedroom's ensuite featured a marble countertop and a luxuriously appointed steam shower, as well as an attractive wood-framed mirror framed by two throwback chic wall lamps. During his life Willie also got to enjoy the pleasures of a sitting room with, in a classic California flourish, a ceiling fan whose wicker spokes were made to look like large leaves. Elegant: The master bedroom's ensuite featured a marble countertop and a luxuriously appointed steam shower, as well as an attractive wood-framed mirror framed by two throwback chic wall lamps Coastal: During his life Willie also got to enjoy the pleasures of a sitting room with, in a classic California flourish, a ceiling fan whose wicker spokes were made to look like large leaves Sunny: That room has been built in what used to be a detached garage, and features French sliding doors that allow for easy access to the spacious backyard That room has been built in what used to be a detached garage, and features French sliding doors that allow for easy access to the spacious backyard. A small swimming pool sits in the middle of a vast expanse of grass, largely shaded by a varied collection of trees including but not limited to sycamore and oak. Over at one end of the backyard, there is a small brick pathway with an elegant, ornately designed stone fountain set in the middle of it and surrounded by foliage. Pretty as a picture: A small swimming pool sits in the middle of a vast expanse of grass, largely shaded by a varied collection of trees including but not limited to sycamore and oak There it is: Over at one end of the backyard, there is a small brick pathway with an elegant, ornately designed stone fountain set in the middle of it and surrounded by foliage Details: Bryan Adams of Sotheby's International Realty handled the listing of the Spanish style property, which was built in 1920 on a lot sprawling over 10,250 square feet Willie, who in real life was heterosexual, had filmed three episodes of the Sex And The City revival show And Just Like That... last year before he died of pancreatic cancer in September. Fans of the series were left in shock, and it then emerged that even the cast had been unaware of his illness until it became impossible to conceal - apart from Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays the lead role Carrie Bradshaw. Cynthia Nixon, one of the other main principal cast members, told Deadline that Sarah 'was the only one that knew he was sick when we were filming until things became undeniable and then we were told.' Kyle Sandilands has given insight into his first few days of becoming a father. The Sydney radio king, 51, welcomed baby Otto with partner Tegan Kynaston, 36, at Sydney's Prince of Wales Private Hospital, on Thursday. Kyle told this week's The Sunday Telegraph, Otto has already won his heart and he can't stop 'staring' at him. Kyle Sandilands has revealed his emotion at becoming a new father after welcoming son Otto with fiancee Tegan Kynaston 'We just look at him the entire time, like a couple of goons, just staring at him and then we look at each other and smile,' Kyle told the publication. 'And then we [himself and Tegan] have a little tear.' Kyle also said Otto is 'very quiet' and 'feeding well' with new mother, Tegan. The radio star said while previously babies have been 'a little too much for him', he feels his natural parenting instincts have kicked in. 'We just look at him the entire time, like a couple of goons, just staring at him and then we look at each other and smile,' Kyle told The Sunday Telegraph. Pictured: Kyle and newborn son Otto 'When I've held other friends' babies, I've hated it when they have that floppy neck and it's all a bit much for me but him, it was different,' he said. 'That natural thing may have kicked in.' Kyle revealed he has been congratulated by the Prime Minister as well as old premiers. He also said he was happy Covid restrictions had allowed himself and Tegan to have some alone time with Otto. 'When I've held other friends' babies I've hated it when they have that floppy neck and it's all a bit much for me but him, it was different,' Kyle added Kyle and Tegan welcomed Otto on Thursday morning. His co-host Jackie O Henderson announced the happy news on-air and Kyle's manager Bruno Bouchet told Daily Mail Australia: 'Little Otto was born this morning. Mum and bub both doing well.' 'Kyle's beyond excited. Kyle will be back on tomorrow's radio show to chat all things Otto,' he added. Jackie, who is Otto's godmother, shed tears of joy as she declared: 'Otto has been born!' Kyle assured fans that new mother Tegan (pictured) is also doing well Kyle later gave a rather graphic update about the birth, telling 'Intern' Peter Deppeler live in the hospital car park: 'Otto's born, Otto's fabulous. I cut the cord, I didn't realise it was like tough calamari and blood spurted out. Dressed in blue scrubs, the elated new father said: 'I was the first person to touch him, he sh*t himself, poo was oozing out.' Deppeler also recorded a comedic video of Kyle indulging in a cooler bag full of snacks in the hospital. 'The baby's feeding. Then I thought, well if you're eating, I will too,' he declared. While the KIIS FM team weren't able to broadcast from the birthing suite, they did contribute a personal touch to Tegan's and Kyle's big day by creating a baby-themed playlist for them to play while she gave birth. She's no stranger to a flesh-flashing display. And Jessica Alves paraded her incredible curves once again on Saturday as she stepped out in Mayfair. The Brazilian TV personality, 39, slipped into a bold cobalt blue dress that was sheer to show off her ample assets. Looking good: Jessica Alves paraded her incredible curves once again on Saturday as she stepped out in Mayfair The outfit was encrusted in pearls and diamonds and boasted a daringly high slit to highlight her long legs. Like a true fashionista, she matched her accessories to her ensemble - sporting bright blue high heels and toting a coordinating handbag. Her platinum blonde tresses were styled in neat voluminous curls and tumbled down her shoulders. She added a shimmery eyeshadow and plenty of bronzer to enhance the results of her recent cosmetic surgery - that she gifted herself for her birthday. Daring: The Brazilian TV personality, 39, slipped into a bold cobalt blue dress that was sheer to show off her ample assets Leggy display: The outfit was encrusted in pearls and diamonds and boasted a daringly high slit to highlight her long legs Fashion forward: Like a true fashionista, she matched her accessories to her ensemble - sporting bright blue high heels and toting a coordinating handbag The outing comes as Jessica showed off the results of her latest surgery - another face lift which she underwent in Azerbaijan in July to get 'Bella Hadid eyes' - as she made an appearance on This Morning. She sported painful looking red bruises under her eyes arriving at the TV studios earlier in the day before covering them with makeup. Speaking to Vernon Kay and Rochelle Humes on This Morning, she explained that despite her current look not being the 'most natural' it was her 'end goal'. Stunning: Her platinum blonde tresses were styled in neat voluminous curls and tumbled down her shoulders Flawless: She added a shimmery eyeshadow and plenty of bronzer to enhance the results of her recent cosmetic surgery - that she gifted herself for her birthday She said: 'After so many surgeries I have achieved this appearance. I admit it is not the most natural look. But this is the final look, this was the end goal, it has been a very long journey and I couldn't be any happier. 'I feel 95% happy. When I look in the mirror I thank God for my surgeons, for my family, for the doctors.' The former Celebrity Big Brother housemate, who has spent more than 900,000 on more than 90 surgeries over the years, jetted to the city of Baku to meet plastic surgeon Dr. Mubariz Mammadli, 35, to undergo body contouring liposuction with Bodytite and an endoscopy mid-facelift. 'End goal': The outing comes as Jessica showed off the results of her latest surgery - another face lift which she underwent in Azerbaijan in July to get ' Bella Hadid eyes New look: She said: 'After so many surgeries I have achieved this appearance. I admit it is not the most natural look. But this is the final look, this was the end goal' Jessica took to her Instagram Stories at the time to share an image of the after effects of her facelift and exclusively told MailOnline: 'I have had over 90 plastic surgeries in the past 20 years and most people see me as plastic surgery-addicted. 'But the reality is that I am a biological male who is now a female, therefore surgeries were required for me to be the person that I am today. 'I am very strong and determined and I do whatever it takes to make me happy. There is no better feeling to me than getting up in the morning and looking at the mirror, and seeing this woman that I became with the help of forward thinking and innovative surgeons around the world.' Jessica added: 'I am turning 39 next week so I gifted my self a body contouring lipo with Bodytite and an endoscopy mid-facelift. Dr. Mubariz performed the innovative procedure that will keep my face fresh and looking the same for At least 15 years.' The Mali mission is one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operations and also one of its most dangerous The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, is to resume contingent rotations from Monday under fresh approval procedures, the Malian foreign minister and a UN spokeswoman have said. "MINUSMA agreed to the new procedures and communicated them to all countries contributing troops. There will be no exception," Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said Saturday, after the Sahel state suspended the rotations last month over "national security" reasons. The peacekeeping force's spokeswoman Myriam Dessables confirmed the news and said: "Rotations are to resume from Monday." The announcement came after Germany said Friday it had stopped reconnaissance operations and helicopter transport flights in Mali until further notice after Bamako denied flyover rights to MINUSMA. Those rights were refused despite assurances to the contrary from the Malian Defence Minister Sadio Camara in a call with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht Thursday, the German defence ministry spokesman said. Diop said the various contingents previously had to seek approval directly from the Malian authorities. But now "all requests must go via MINUSMA, who will then pass them on to the foreign ministry", the minister said. The July 14 suspension of rotations came four days after Mali arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers it later described as "mercenaries" intent on toppling the country's military-led government. Ivory Coast said the troops had been sent to provide backup to MINUSMA. The peacekeeping mission acknowledged there had been "dysfunctions" in deploying the Ivorian troops. Former MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado was expelled from the country for publishing what the authorities deemed "unacceptable" information on Twitter following the arrest. MINUSMA -- the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali -- was launched in 2013 to help one of the world's poorest countries cope with a bloody jihadist campaign. It is one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operations, with 17,609 troops, police, civilians and volunteers deployed as of April, according to the mission's website. Mali has been ruled by a military junta since 2020. Mali The junta has turned away from France and toward Russia in its fight against the jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. France is pulling out the last of its military equipment from the country. On Saturday, residents in the southeastern Menaka region said Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) jihadists had attacked the Assaylal district, "killing seven civilians and taking with off their cattle". It comes after a suspected jihadist attack in the town of Tessit, near the borders with Niger and Burkina Faso, killed 42 Malian soldiers on Sunday last week. The army blamed ISGS. Nacogdoches, TX (75965) Today Isolated thunderstorms this morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High around 85F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. Le gouvernement le 12 aout 2022 a donne son accord pour la signature dun accord de principe entre l Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius et le Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Economic Development Board (EDB) Mauritius and the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran. The Memorandum of Understanding would consolidate EDBs market development and diversification strategies and help to collaborate, inter alia, in the following areas: (a) investment promotion in export-oriented manufacturing, light engineering, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, freeport and logistics, ICT, construction, hospitality, education and film industry, amongst others; (b) trade promotion with focus on exploring the Islamic Republic of Iran as a potential export market for made in Mauritius products such as textile and apparel, special sugars, processed foods, medical devices and jewellery, amongst others; and (c) encouraging Iranian companies to use Mauritius for manufacture of consumer goods for exports and benefit from preferential market access, mainly to Southern and Eastern Africa. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires Antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections while most infections among children during monsoon are viral, opine many doctors. (Photo: Representational/Pixabay) Hyderabad: Doctors have raised concerns about children being given antibiotics by their parents without even consulting doctors. Antibiotics are effective only against bacterial infections while most infections among children during monsoon are viral, opine many doctors. They lamented the general habit among up to 80 per cent of parents of giving their children antibiotics whenever they fall sick. This self-medication could be detrimental to the health of children, they said. Paediatrician Dr. Shivaranjani Santosh says currently, viral infections like herpangina, hand foot and mouth disease, dengue, flu, Covid, viral diarrhoea and vomiting account for more than 90 per cent of infections among children, while bacterial infections are at 10 per cent. For throat pain, they give their kids Azithral and Oflomac for loose motions. This can cause side effects like diarrhoea and vomiting and can even kill useful gut bacteria, she said. Dr. Santosh said that specific antiviral medicines are meant only for certain infections like severe flu and chickenpox. Consultant paediatrician at Apollo Cradle, Kondapur, Dr. Avash Pani too has been getting many cases where parents have administered antibiotics for viral infections without consulting a doctor. This is a very serious problem and its scale is rising. In fact, when I dont prescribe antibiotics, parents request me to do so, he said. Dr Pani said that India has been grappling with people developing resistance to antibodies due to their indiscriminate use. Some other common medicines which parents are administering to their kids without consultations are Azee, Zifi, Taxim, Augmentin, Clampkid, Clavam, Copedem, Monocef and Oflox OZ. They have advised all parents to consult a doctor for the sake of their children. Police said that the nurse alleged that Dr Sandeep Bharadwaj, a resident of Narayanguda, had proposed marriage to her, following which they started becoming close. (Representational Image/ DC) Hyderabad: A woman working as a nurse approached the Narayanguda police, alleging that a doctor who works with her had raped her multiple times after promising to marry her. Police said that the nurse alleged that Dr Sandeep Bharadwaj, a resident of Narayanguda, had proposed marriage to her, following which they started becoming close. After sexually assaulting her several times, when she asked him about their marriage he started avoiding her and threatened her and told her to stay away, said the police. Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin launched the commercial sale of Neythal Uppu, the State government own brand of iodized salt in both granular and fine power forms, in the open market, besides announcing an annual relief of Rs 5,000 for salt pan workers. Since salt pan workers normally suffer during the months of October to December every year due to non-production of salt, the government has come up with the scheme to pay them an assistance of Rs 5,000 to enable them tide over the financial crisis they face due to lack of work. Launching the scheme that would benefit thousands of salt pan workers at the Secretariat on Friday, Stalin handed over cheques for the assistance to five beneficiaries. HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday urged the state government release Rs. 4,000 crore, which were interest arrears that had to be paid to women in self-help groups (SHGs) under Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA)as a Raksha Bandhan gesture. In a letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Sanjay said that on a day when women across the country celebrate the festival, those in SHGs belonging to DWCRA have been in distress for eight years in the absence of financial support from the state government. The BJP leader said that there were 3,99,120 women SHGs under Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and 1,81,225 members under Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA). Though the state government has claimed to have earmarked Rs. 3,000 crore towards payment of interest to women groups in 2021-22, it has not released the same. Similarly, in the financial year 2022-23, the government allotted Rs. 1,250 crore but so far, not a rupee was released, he said. If these women groups do not pay interest, they are under pressure from banks. It is because of the indifferent attitude of the state government that banks are declaring the self-help groups as defaulters, he said. HYDERABAD: BJP senior leader Gudur Narayana Reddy on Friday advised Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to do some self-introspection about his governance rather than blaming the Centre for every issue that the state is facing. In a media statement, the BJP leader said several burning issues were not discussed in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, which was held after a long gap. Except for taking decisions on some subjects, the Cabinet failed to address the issues like inundation of pump houses in Kaleshwaram, filling up of 82,000 vacancies in government departments, issues in Dharani, damage to crops and houses due to unprecedented floods, viral fevers, rising cases of Covid, construction of 2BHK houses and others were ignored, the BJP leader said. He said the Chief Minister had taken a decision on reducing the age limit for Aasara pensions keeping the byelection to be held in Munugode in view, and dubbed it as an election stunt. He said none of the ministers had dared to raise the issues being faced by the people in the Cabinet meeting. The Chief Minister did not admonish the officials responsible for the flooding of the Kaleshwaram pump houses. Probably he might have to admonish himself, the BJP leader said sarcastically. In the recent Parliament session, he said, rather than focusing on the issues of the state, the TRS MPs joined hands with the Opposition and wasted valuable time. HYDERABAD: TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday met party leader Kancharla Krishna Reddy, elder brother of TRS Nalgonda MLA Kancharla Bhupal Reddy, to discuss Munugode related issues. Krishna Reddy is believed to have staked claim for the seat. Serious dissidence has been brewing in the TRS over the possible candidature of Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy for the Munugode bypoll, even as the name of Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy has also been making the rounds. It is learnt that the Chief Minister summoned Krishna Reddy to Pragathi Bhavan and spent more than two hours discussing with him the situation in Munugode. Minister from Nalgonda district G. Jagadish Reddy was given the responsibility to fix the dissidence but it is learnt that if it is not nipped in the bud, then internal rivalries within party leaders could harm the TRS prospects. During his meeting with the Chief Minister, Krishna Reddy requested that he could be considered as a possible TRS candidate from Munugode, said our sources. Rao is learnt to have advised the Nalgonda TRS leaders to stay calm and be united to take on the Opposition parties. Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that he has been working hard to unite the Opposition parties ahead of the 2024 elections. He also dismissed speculations that he may be projected as the Prime Ministers face for the upcoming general elections. "I am saying this with folded hands that I have no such desire. I have been getting lots of phone calls and I assure them that I am working hard to unite all Opposition parties. It will be good if they come and work together," Mr Kumar said on the sidelines of an event in Patna. Ever since he formed an alliance government with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar, speculations about him being projected as the Prime Ministers face by the Opposition parties have been gaining ground. A section in the Opposition, including his party leaders, has been saying that "no leader in the country has an image like Nitish Kumar and he can be made the PMs face in 2024." The debate over Mr Kumar being projected as the PM's face was triggered after he threw a challenge to the BJP by saying that "it needs to worry about its prospects in 2024." He had also used the occasion to urge the Opposition parties to unite against the BJP-led NDA. Mr Kumar ended his ties with the BJP-led NDA on Tuesday and announced his alliance with the RJD and the Congress. His decision to quit the NDA was termed a "betrayal" by the BJP. After the split, the BJP leaders unleashed a series of allegations against him. The chief minister, however, called the allegations levelled by the BJP "bogus" and "baseless". "Those who speak against me may get some benefits in their party. I dont worry about these things at all. I will continue to work for everyone," Mr Kumar said. He also spoke about the promises made by deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav regarding providing 10 lakh jobs in Bihar. He said that the state government will make all efforts to provide "as many jobs as possible" in Bihar. During the 2020 Assembly elections campaign, Mr Yadav had promised to provide 10 lakh jobs to the people of Bihar if voted to power. After taking oath as deputy CM on Wednesday Mr Yadav said, "He is committed to creating job opportunities for youths and the matter was discussed during the first Cabinet meeting after taking oath on Wednesday." Mr Kumar also reacted strongly when asked whether there was fear of ED or CBI being used against the new ruling alliance. He said, "I have no such fears. Those who are in the habit of misusing powers will face the public soon." When he was asked about his reactions to the BJP raising questions over Mr Yadav getting Z+ security cover, Mr Kumar said, "They shouldnt object to it. He is the deputy CM." Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Tomorrow Independent India would be 75 years old. If the British would not have partitioned India it would have been a civilisational continuum from Teknaf on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border to Torkham on the Pakistan Afghanistan border. A true subcontinent and not a truncated one. Would it have been a sustainable entity with two heavy provinces Bengal in the East and Punjab in the West crowned of by the wild lands of the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, given that India before Partition was envisaged as a nation with strong states but a weak Centre? Would an un-partitioned India have survived the centrifugal tendencies that a constitutionally weak Centre would have brought along with it? Would Partition or balkanisation inevitably have happened if not in 1947 but at a point in time not too distant into the future just as East Pakistan seceded from West Pakistan in 1971 after a horrific genocide unleashed by the latters army and its militias? These and many other similar questions that now lie buried in the undulating wasteland of time are interrogatories that should agitate the collective mind space of a diverse array of scholars across various fields. For in their answers may lie the key that could still integrate the South Asian landmass, ignite and unleash the collective potential of two billion restless souls filled with ions of creative energy. This brings us to a related question. Did India really need to be partitioned? Are Hindus and Muslims really separate people and nations who can not live together as scholars and leaders across the religious divide opined and articulated in the six decades leading up to the Partition of India? Did the sharp inflection points between the Hindus and Muslims as a consequence of over 70 invasions by Muslim invaders between AD 1000 and AD 1700 finally find expression when a more cunning but religiously different imperialist the firangi became Indias overlord especially after the failure of the Mutiny of 1857 or the first war of Independence? For the narrative that commenced in 1888 with Sir Syeds articulation in Meerut was finally wrapped up by Savarkar at Nagpur in 1943. It provided the intellectual and ideological ballast for the two-nation theory that came to part fruition in 1947. It would be instructive to visit what many of these eminences had opined ad nauseam. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan stated on March 14, 1888, Meerut, now, suppose that all English, and the whole English army, were to leave India, taking with them all their cannon and their splendid weapons and everything, then who would be rulers of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances two nations the Mahomedans and the Hindus could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. Bhai Parmanand, a prominent Hindu Mahasabha leader, declared in 1908-09, The territory beyond Sind should be united with Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province into a great Musalman kingdom. The Hindus of the region should come away, while at the same time Mussalman in the rest of India should go and settle in this territory. Lala Lajpat Rai, the great nationalist, wrote in the Tribune on December 14, 1924, Under my scheme the Muslims will have four Muslim States: (1) The Pathan Province or the North-West Frontier; (2) Western Punjab (3) Sindh and (4) Eastern Bengal. If there are compact Muslim communities in any other part of India, sufficiently large to form a province, they should be similarly constituted. But it should be distinctly understood that this is not a united India. It means a clear partition of India into a Muslim India and a non-Muslim India. Sir Muhammad Iqbals 1930 presidential address to the 25th Session of the All-India Muslim League Allahabad, December 29, 1930, Personally, I would go farther than the demands embodied in it. I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West In his presidential address to the 19th Session of Hindu Mahasabha at Karanavati in 1937, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar articulated, The so-called communal questions are but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of a cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and the Moslems. When time is ripe you can solve them; but you cannot suppress them by merely refusing recognition of them. It is safer to diagnose and treat deep-seated disease than to ignore it. Let us bravely face unpleasant facts as they are. India cannot be assumed today to be a Unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main; the Hindus and the Moslems, in India. The Lahore Resolution March 23, 1940, underscored: Resolved that it is the considered view of this session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic principle, namely, that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority, as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of India, should be grouped to constitute Independent States in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign. Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his Presidential Address to the Muslim League in 1940 at Lahore stated: The Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literature[s]. They neither intermarry nor interdine together, and indeed they belong to two different civilisations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Finally, Savarkar on August 15, 1943, declared at a press conference in Nagpur on August 15, 1943, I have no quarrel with Mr Jinnahs two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves and it is a historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations. Two hundred million Muslims have now lived cheek by jowl with Hindus and other communities for 75 years. It should be reason enough to bury the Frankenstein of this noxious legacy ten fathoms deep. Why are we trying to validate the logic of Partition in India seven-and-a-half decades later? Would this not turn Indias Amrit Kaal next 25 years leading up to the Independence centenary into a Vish Kaal? Think! At least one Pakistani soldier was killed and two others injured after a vehicle of security forces hit a roadside landmine in the countrys restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday. The incident happened in Makakand division of KPK province on Saturday morning during a military movement. One soldier was killed and two others injured in the landmine attack on Saturday in KPK province, said a source who knew about the incident. The injured were immediately shifted to hospital and admitted. The security forces rushed to the site and cordoned off the entire area and started search operation. Military convoys often come under attack in the restive Northwest region of Pakistan. In July this year, at least eight Pakistani soldiers were injured when a suicide bomber rammed his bike on a military convoy in the country's restive North Waziristan, a district in KPK province in the countrys Northwestern region. Sri Lanka's government granted permission on Saturday for a controversial Chinese research vessel to visit the island despite neighbouring India's concerns that it could spy on its military installations, officials said. The Yuan Wang 5 is described as a research and survey vessel by international shipping and analytics sites, but according to Indian media it is a dual-use spy ship. New Delhi is suspicious of Beijing's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean and influence in Sri Lanka, seeing both as being firmly within its sphere of influence. The Yuan Wang 5 was originally due to call at Sri Lanka's Chinese-run Hambantota port on August 11, only for Colombo to ask Beijing to indefinitely defer the visit following India's objections. Read | Dragon moves in close to southern India But Sri Lanka's harbour master, Nirmal P Silva, said he had received foreign ministry clearance for the ship to call at Hambantota from August 16 to 22. "The diplomatic clearance was received by me today. We will work with the local agent appointed by the vessel to ensure logistics at the port," Silva told AFP. Foreign ministry sources confirmed that Colombo had renewed permission for the visit, which had initially been granted on July 12, a day before former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled following months of protests over the country's worst-ever economic crisis. Rajapaksa -- whose brother Mahinda borrowed heavily from China while president from 2005 to 2015 -- resigned after escaping to Singapore. Tens of thousands of protesters overran his palace and home in Colombo after accusing him of mismanagement in an economic crisis that has led to acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines. Port officials said the Chinese vessel was about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south-east of Sri Lanka on Friday night and was heading slowly towards the Hambantota deep sea port. Sri Lanka leased the port to China for 99 years for $1.12 billion, less than the $1.4 billion Sri Lanka paid a Chinese company to build it. According to Indian reports, the Yuan Wang 5 could be employed for space and satellite tracking, and has specific uses in intercontinental ballistic missile launches. The Indian government has expressed concern that the ship could spy on its activities, and had lodged a complaint with Colombo. New Delhi's foreign ministry has said it will closely monitor "any bearing on India's security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them". As the Har Ghar Tiranga is set to mark the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Independence, the national tricolour will flutter across India. But, on the outskirts of Dimapur in Nagaland, the leaders and the cadres of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) will hoist a different flag on Sunday a day before the Independence Day will be celebrated in the rest of the country. The Naga national flag the NSCN (IM) leaders will hoist has a Star of Bethlehem and a red-yellow-green rainbow on an azure background. They will commemorate the "Declaration of Independence" of Nagaland by the Naga National Council on August 14, 1947, hours before Jawaharlal Nehru had delivered his Tryst with Destiny speech ushering in an independent India. It has been 25 years since the Government of India signed a ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (IM) on August 1, 1997, but a final solution to end the seven decades-long Naga insurgency has remained elusive. The rebels, lodged at the Camp Hebron in Dimapur, havent yet given up on their core demands one of them being the recognition of the national flag of the Nagas and the other being a separate constitution for the community. Also Read | 'Peace wont come unless Naga issue is resolved' Manipur, where the Meitei groups too had declared Independence on August 14 in 1947, too will have a shutdown on Monday, as the rebel groups stuck to the annual ritual of calling upon people to boycott the Independence Day celebrations. As India celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, its northeastern region surrounded by China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh remains troubled by myriad unresolved conflicts, which has given birth to many armed insurgencies. The Ulfa-Independent and the NSCN (KYA), two insurgent groups active in Assam and Nagaland respectively, too have issued similar calls to boycott the Independence Day. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on January 1 this year announced that the era of "tribal insurgency" in the state was over. His announcement followed signing of the "final agreements" between the government and the all four factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) as well as the Karbi and Dimasa insurgent groups over the past couple of years. The NDFB had run a reign of terror in and around the Bodo-majority areas of Assam for nearly four decades. More than 2,000 insurgents have laid down their weapons in Assam in 2020 and 2021. Also Read | 'Create jobs to stop youths from taking up arms' But, even after signing of the new accords with Bodo and Karbi groups, the old demands for a separate state of Bodoland as well as an autonomous state for the Karbis under Article 244A of the Constitution have not died down yet. Thus the possibility of another phase of violent movement in the two regions in Assam cannot be ruled out. Hurdles for peace in NE A major problem in the process to resolve the conflicts is the birth of the new militant groups from the same region or community after one enters a ceasefire pact, starts dialogue or signs an agreement with the government. Talks with the Ulfa group led by its chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, and general secretary, Anup Chetia, have been underway since 2011. But another faction led by Paresh Baruah (Ulfa-Independent) is still out of the peace-process and continuing its armed insurgency with the demand for a "sovereign Assam. The outfit continues to use territories of neighbouring Myanmar as its hideouts. Paresh Baruah group is the last hurdle in establishing peace (in Assam), Sarma had said. So, beyond keeping the insurgency at a low-intensity level, the peace processes did not lead to permanent resolution of the conflicts, with the only exception being the Mizo insurgency, which ended after the 1986 accord between the government and the Mizo National Front. Another major hurdle before the government while signing an accord is the demand over the same territory by two rebel groups. The Kamtapur Liberation Organisation, another insurgent group active in Assam and North Bengal, stepped up demand for Kamatapur state comprising some areas in Bodoland region and in Bengal soon after the Centre signed a new agreement with the Bodo groups in 2020. Pallab Bhattacharyya, a retired IPS officer, said the resentment among certain ethnic communities about lack of development continues to fuel insurgency. The mantra of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikash and Sabka Viswash has not reached certain communities, like the Morans and the Muttucks of Assam, who are the sheet anchor of the ULFA. Economic progress of all the communities in the real sense of the term is the only remedy for this," he said. Though the insurgency related incidents in the region in 2020 was the lowest in two decades, the situation in Manipur and Nagaland was still a concern. Apart from the demands for flag and the constitution, what also came in the way of a final settlement to end the Naga insurgency was the NSCN (IM)s insistence for "unification" of all Naga-inhabited areas in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, in addition to those in Nagaland. This is strongly opposed by the militant groups and civil society organisations of the states adjoining Nagaland. The NNPG, the forum of seven other Naga rebel groups, with which the Centre signed another preliminary agreement in 2017, however, is ready to sign the final agreement immediately. "The delay is nothing but due to the power struggle between the NSCN-IM and the NNPGs. The flag and the constitution is just an excuse, Kahuto Chisi Sumi, convenor of Concerned People of Nagaland, a civil society organisation, told DH. They did not talk about the flag and Constitution earlier. Main problem in Nagaland now is corruption. Most of the rebels and officers are getting share of the development funds released by the Centre for Nagaland. But the condition of the ordinary Naga people in the remote villages has remained the same. On how to deal with the birth of new factions after an agreement, Bhattacharyya suggested, "If a memorandum of settlement is to be signed with the majority faction, the fringe elements should be treated as extremist and dealt with accordingly without any future prospect of negotiation." Home Minister Amit Shah last year said that all conflicts in the northeastern region would be resolved by 2024. But, going by the precedents and the current scenario in the region, this too appears to be a promise, which the government may find difficult to deliver on. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he had decided against JD(U) joining the government at the Centre, after the BJP's refusal to his demand for four ministerial berths in 2019. He also asserted that the induction of his former close aide RCP Singh last year did not have his consent. Also read | Have no such thoughts: Nitish Kumar denies PM aspirations again "I had said in 2019 that we should get at least four berths. We had 16 MPs, they had just one more from Bihar. Agreeing to anything less than that would have sent a bad message in Bihar from where they had inducted five people. They refused so we did not join, Kumar said. Asked about BJP leaders' contention that his consent was sought before the induction of Singh, the CM said "it is untrue. He (RCP) was the national president and I did not approve of the development. A reason why I made him step down from the top party post six months later, Kumar told reporters. A man was arrested here for allegedly hoisting Pakistan's national flag at his house, police said on Saturday. Additional Superintendent of Police Ritesh Kumar Singh, "The flag was hoisted at a house in Vedupar Mustaquil village under the Tariya Sujan police station area of the district on Friday around 11 am." He added that the flag was removed as soon as police got information about it. "The arrested accused is Salman (21). A case has been registered against Salman and his aunt Shahnaz (22), who made the flag. Apart from this, Imrans cousin Imran will be booked under the Juvenile Justice Act for helping Salman in hoisting the flag," he added. Fire is sacred in every religion. In Hinduism, Agni, the god of fire, is called to take earthly offerings heavenwards. In the Ramayana, Sita comes out unscathed from a test by fire proving her fidelity and chastity to Lord Rama. Parsis worship at the Fire Temple. In the Old Testament, Yahweh appears as fire on different occasions - a burning bush to Moses. The Quran mentions fire frequently. Fire is destructive and transformative. Being forged in fire is transformative. Fires human value is so pronounced that it is part of the vocabulary of many languages. Being forged in fire is not just a metallurgical process, it is a strong hint of the foundation of an individuals character. The English idiom trial by fire, and its Hindi equivalent Agni Pariksha provides a visual of a difficult time. These figures of speech dont just paint a picture of adversity, they suggest an opportunity to learn, reflect, and therefore promise metamorphosis. Countries have been through such processes. The US and its constitution were forged in British colonialism and the revolutionary war. Later, the civil war and then the civil rights movement freed African Americans and gave them constitutional guarantees. India was born in the conflagration of Partition. Its kindling were centuries of British rule, and prior to that of warring monarchies. Modern India has gone through many an Agni Pariksha. Wars with Pakistan and China, terrorist attacks and insurgency; the nationwide civil unrest and subsequent declaration of Emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to quell it; religious riots and massacres. The Congress and other parties bringing down democratically elected national and state governments by buying out politicians allegiance; the Congress misusing democratic and constitutionally protected administrative institutions for political gain. Other than the wars, nothing else resulted in a stronger nation. One could describe these as our leaders playing with fire, which means to do something that could cause you trouble later, as per Cambridge Dictionary. Being a democracy, troubles were caused for both leader and country. With the BJP government blaming everything on the Congress, it is natural to assume they would have learned from their predecessor hauling the country through fire. In the last eight years, India has had ominous skirmishes with Pakistan and China; unrest continues in various parts of India; NCRB data indicates cases registered under hate speech has increased four-fold between 2015 and 2020; BJP politicians have been recorded baying for the blood of minorities; even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used dogwhistles against Indian Muslims; and the schadenfreude and prejudice of many journalists cannot be missed. Constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission kowtowing to the BJP has been reported on; the independence of the judiciary has been brought under a cloud; the BJP has found ways to force opposition politicians to switch allegiance to them, mostly recently in Maharashtra. India being labelled an electoral autocracy indicates that these recent forays into the fire may not have been positively transformative. But Indias tryst with pyromania is not just political, constitutional, and administrative. Since 2014, the BJP has taken many decisions that have led citizens into fiery tests demonetisation, faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the bid to expand the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) beyond Assam, Modis sudden announcement of the lockdown in 2020, and the now-repealed farm laws. These decisions have scorched the country and her people, metaphorically and literally. The youth protesting against Agnipath is the latest in this litany of officially sanctioned fire-walks. The economic cost and the number of dead from these are immediate fallouts of India being dragged through fire. The outcomes of such incidents are neither time-bound nor independent of each other. To live embers, new ones are added. To the consequences of demonetisation were added the socio-economic disruption from the CAA, farm laws and the sudden lockdown. Similarly, many Indians, refuse to acknowledge the repercussions of the territorial ambitions of Hindu kings of the past but view only the Mughal era as a blot on the subcontinents history. To this is added the pain of Partition for which Muslims, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are blamed, leading to increased political and religious animosity. Fire sacrifices are performed to beget boons from the gods. What boon has India received from these forced fiery tests? From whom and for whom? I am reminded of when the going gets tough, the tough get going -- Billy Oceans hit, and Nietzsches aphorism What doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Maybe one day, India will receive a boon from these trials by fire -- the ability to recognise the limits to toughness no matter what the going is or what threat to life one survives. Until then, lets recognise that boons such as Independence and our Constitution come by rarely and out of great sacrifices. (The writer is a freelance journalist) One year after the Taliban stormed to power in Afghanistan, it failed and indeed refused, to transform itself into a responsible and inclusive government. Not only does the regime continue to be all-male, Pashtun and hardline in composition but also it has persisted in denying women and girls basic rights, including access to education and healthcare. When it captured power, rights activists had feared that the regime would seek to take revenge against officials and supporters of the erstwhile Ashraf Ghani government. The Talibans actions over the past year have proved them right; there has been no let-up in the execution of former political, police and military officials. Taliban governance has been disastrous; on every social and health indicator without exception, Afghanistans performance has slid over the past year. Over 95 per cent of Afghans do not get enough food to eat, with that figure rising to 100 per cent in female-headed households, the UN says. While decades of drought and civil war have contributed to the situation, it is the Taliban that must bear primary responsibility. Several countries, including India, are supplying millions of tons of food and other aid for the Afghan people, but what happens to the aid material is determined by the Talibans stubborn refusal to give up misogyny and medieval mindsets. If the regime were to heed the appeals to provide inclusive governance, more aid would flow in to address Afghans food crisis. It is the Talibans determination to perpetuate various forms of violence, overt as well as structural and cultural, that has fuelled the Afghan peoples suffering over the past year. Although the number of governments engaging the regime has grown over the past year, diplomatic recognition remains elusive. The Talibans continuing ties with jihadist and terror outfits, which were laid bare by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiris residence in Kabul, will make such recognition more difficult. The Taliban has only itself to blame. While the regime has tightened its grip over the Afghan people, its control over territory is not complete. The Islamic State-Khorasan Province has expanded its influence from eastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan to districts bordering Central Asian countries. Resistance to Taliban rule from Afghanistans religious and ethnic minority groups to has not subsided. The Taliban has been touting the lull in fighting since they captured power as the first period of peace in Afghanistan in decades. Indeed, the incessant fighting that had come to characterise the country has ended. Yet the calm on the street is uneasy, even eerie. It has been achieved through pacification. And pacification is not peace. A deadly viral disease afflicting cattle is sweeping across several states in India, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, and Gujarat, and has left thousands of cattle dead in its wake. Known as Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), the viral infection has left farmers with financial losses, courtesy of dead cattle, and has also taken a toll on milk output. While the Centre has announced plans to launch a mass vaccination drive to inoculate cattle against the virus, the initiative is yet to be realised and the current non-availability of vaccines has left many farmers high and dry. In light of the spread of LSD, we take a look at its origins, symptoms, and treatment. What is lumpy skin disease? According to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), LSD is caused by a virus called the Capripoxvirus that is transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects that feed on blood. While LSD has long been endemic in most African countries, it has spread rapidly through southwest Europe, the Middle-East, and west and central Asia since 2012. Asia, in particular, has reported several outbreaks of LSD since 2019, according to a report by The Indian Express. Symptoms: Infected cattle or bovine creatures exhibit visible symptoms and, as the name suggests, develop thick nodules on the skin, which are often accompanied by debilitating fever and lower milk production, especially among bovines. Also Read | Explained: New zootonic virus Langya detected in China The disease is also fatal. According to the World Organisation of Animal Health (WOAH), a fatality of one to five per cent is usual in cases of LSD. Prevention and treatment: According to WOAH, successful control and eradication of the disease requires early detectionfollowed by a rapid and widespread vaccination campaign. Experts have also suggested sanitising cattle sheds and the use of insecticides to eliminate vectors of the disease. Isolation of infected cattle from the rest of the herd is also recommended to restrict the spread of the disease. Can lumpy skin disease affect humans? Unlike the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19, the Capripoxvirus responsible for causing LSD is not zoonotic, meaning it does not jump from animals to humans. That being said, scientists are still concerned about the possibility. Due to its recent spread in unnatural hosts, there are growing concerns about its zoonotic implication, although confirmatory evidences of human infection are lacking, said the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in a statement. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Priyank Kharge on Friday alleged that to get a government job in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state, men have to bribe while young women have to sleep with someone. He made the accusation at a press meet, and said that government jobs in Karnataka were being sold. If young women want government jobs, they should sleep with someone. Men have to bribe someone to become a government employee. It has become the government of illegal activities. A minister resigned after a sex-for-job scandal came to light, he said. At present, recruitment was underway to fill 1,492 vacancies in the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), including that of assistant and junior engineer (electric), and civil engineer. A candidate who wrote the examination by using a smart watch was arrested in Gokak. If a candidate sends a question paper by using smart devices, it amounts to leak, he stated. Also read: Karnataka Cabinet approves new Employment Policy 2022-25 According to Kharge, his sources told him about a deal that was made for 600 posts; he said his party suspected it likely to be a Rs 300-crore scandal. The ex-minister demanded that a judicial investigation be ordered into it or that a special investigation team be constituted. He also said the government must set up a fast-track court to track the scandals reported in recruitment of police sub-inspectors, second divisional assistant and other posts. Where should the poor and the brilliant candidates go if there are scams taking place in all recruitment examinations? Middlemen know nothing would happen to them even if any scam comes to light. The government is playing with the lives of three lakh candidates who applied for various posts in the KPTCL, he said. Kharge alleged that candidates were upset with the 40 per cent commission government, which turned Vidhana Soudha into business soudha. Congress to distribute flags The former minister accused the BJP of using patriotism for business. He said that flag rules were changed without it being brought to the nation's notice, and a provision was also made to use polyester flags to make way for Reliance group to get maximum profit. Government officials have been made as salesmen of national flags, he said. He said that flags were being distributed by forcibly deducting parts of salaries of railway staff. Though no one was asked, the state government gave concession in tax for the movie Kashmir Files, he said, and asked why the flags were not being distributed free of cost. According to him, a government official called and appealed to him to buy 20,000 flags but he refused. He told the meet that instead of polyester flags, his party would distribute 10,000 khadi national flags in Kalaburagi. Other notable state Congress leaders present at the press meet were Shivananda Martur, Subhash Rathod, and district congress committee president Jagadev Guttedar. A protest is to be held in Belfast on Saturday over a PSNI application to redact some information in police files to be used during the inquest into the death of schoolboy Noah Donohoe. The protest is being organised by the Donohoe family, and will take place at Belfast City Hall at 1pm. It comes after Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shailesh Vara signed off on a request by the PSNI for public interest immunity (PII) in relation to three police files. Earlier in the week, the law firm representing the Donohoe family expressed grave concerns over Mr Varas actions, claiming that the move appeared to exacerbate rather than allay deeply held concerns. Northern Ireland first minister designate and Sinn Fein Stormont leader Michelle ONeill said Mr Varas decision was totally unacceptable, and that the use of a PII in Noahs case was wholly inappropriate. She called on the PII application to be withdrawn. Noah, a 14-year-old pupil at St Malachys College in Belfast, was found dead in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he went missing. His mother Fiona is hoping to secure answers to some of the questions surrounding his death through the inquest process. Speaking ahead of the protest, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said the Donohoe family deserve to know the full facts. The Secretary of State and the PSNI have thus far resisted calls to withdraw this PII, so it is imperative that the public support Saturdays demonstration to help force their hand, he said. I have previously written to the PSNI Chief Constable to express my concern over the police use of a PII in this case. This type of certificate, usually used to protect informers, is preventing a grieving family from knowing the truth about their loved ones death. This is unacceptable and deeply immoral. The application to redact sensitive materials, being made by the PSNI through the PII process, needs to be supported by a certificate signed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland or another Northern Ireland Office minister. It emerged at the end of July that Mr Vara had signed the PII certificate, which was met with criticism by the Donohoe family. The decision on whether to approve the application now rests with the coroner in the inquest, Joe McCrisken. The inquest into Noahs death is scheduled to begin on November 28 and to run for three weeks. Items have been seized by police after images on social media showed a UVF flag and Parachute Regiment flag for sale at a stall in Derry. Police reported that a report was made about the incident, and said that they were investigating whether a criminal offence had been committed. Police later said a number of items had been seized at the stall on Glendermott Road, at the junction of Clooney Terrace/Limavady Road. Earlier on Saturday, images posted to social media appeared to show flags from the Parachute Regiment and UVF for sale at the stall, prompting criticism. Responding to one of the images, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said This is disgusting. Derry City and Strabane area commander Chief Superintendent Ryan Henderson said: This afternoon we received a report in relation to flags, including the Parachute Regiment flag, and other items that were being sold from a stall on Glendermott Road, located at the junction of Clooney Terrace/Limavady Road in the city. We understand the sensitivities around flags and emblems, and the difficulties and challenges these can cause. Inquires are continuing, police said. It seems that VLC media player has actually been banned in India since February of this year. In a surprising turn of events, India Today reported that the media player will still work for users whove downloaded the player but newer users might have problems acquiring a new version of the software. There has been no reason given for the ban, as the government nor VLC have made any official statements. The official VLC player Twitter account did reply to India Today and stated that the ban had indeed started on 13 February this year. Since the 13 of February, according to our stats. VideoLAN (@videolan) August 12, 2022 VLC Player banned in India since February 2022 Excuses such as a hacking scam and such have already hit the web but there seems to be no logical explanation of why the ban took place. Security experts stated that a Chinese-based hacking software was bundled with the player but there are no official endorsements of this theory. In any case, if that were true then VLC player should have been banned in a lot of countries other than India but there seems to be no real news on that front. The Indian government has also banned TikTok, Streamable, BGMI and many more. As mentioned above, if youve already downloaded the software, it should still continue to work on your system. But, for users looking to download the player, youll be directed to a page that says its been banned as per an order from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the IT Act of 2000. For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in Washington, Aug 13 (IANS) The US space agency has asked university students to design a metal production pipeline on the Moon -- from extracting metal from lunar minerals to creating structures and tools. The ability to extract metal and build needed infrastructure on the Moon advances the Artemis Programme goal of a sustained human presence on the lunar surface, NASA said in a statement. "Here at home, forging metal has long been a key part of building our homes and infrastructure, and the same holds true as we work towards a sustained presence on the Moon," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). "This challenge gives students the opportunity to help develop the future technology that will help us find, process, and manufacture with metal on the lunar surface," Werkheiser added. The 2023 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge invites university students to tackle some of the most critical needs facing space exploration and help create the mission capabilities that could make new discoveries possible. Student teams will develop innovative ways to extract and convert metals from minerals found on the Moon, such as ilmenite and anorthite, to enable metal manufacturing on the Moon. The NASA-funded challenge provides development awards of up to $180,000 to up to eight selected teams to build and demonstrate their concept designs and share the results of their research and testing at the culminating forum in November 2023. The availability of derived metals on the Moon would allow infrastructure needed for a lunar base -- including pipes, power cables, landing pads, transport rails, and pressure vessels to contain volatiles like fuel -- to be made locally using additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. "NASA is already thinking about supporting longer-term missions to the Moon. This BIG Idea Challenge theme links university teams to the push toward sustained human presence on the Moon and on other planets," said Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, Space Grant project manager in NASA's Office of STEM Engagement. (Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited) For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Temperatures could go above 30C in parts of Ireland this weekend, as forecasters issued a thunderstorm warning for the whole island to come into effect on Sunday. A Status Yellow hot weather warning is in place across Ireland and remains in effect until 6am on Monday, and a Status Yellow thunderstorm warning has now been issued from 3pm on Sunday until 3am on Monday. Forecaster Met Eireann has said it will be very warm or hot on Saturday and Sunday with maximum temperatures ranging between 27 to 30C, but added they could be higher locally. Temperatures may not be as high in coastal areas due to sea breezes, particularly in the northwest of the country. It will also be warm overnight with minimum temperatures around 15C. The Department of Agricultures Orange Forest Fire Warning, issued in response to weather patterns and expected level of risk, also remains in effect until noon on Tuesday. We have an Orange Fire Warning in place for another few days. The video below is terrifying. Well done to all involved for their quick thinking to minimise damage. With fields a hive of activity, please keep an eye out for your neighbours. Early intervention is crucial. https://t.co/b9Ix0Qzgp6 Charlie McConalogue (@McConalogue) August 13, 2022 Ireland and the UK have been experiencing high temperatures and hot conditions this summer as part of a series of rolling heatwaves across Europe. There has been no significant rainfall for almost two months in Western, Central and Southern Europe, leading to droughts and wildfires breaking out across the continent. During the first day of Irelands current three-day temperature warning, the hottest ever August temperature was provisionally recorded at a Carlow weather station, where temperatures reached 31.7C. In July, Ireland recorded its hottest temperature in more than a century after parts of Dublin reached 33C. The interim chief medical officer Professor Breda Smyth warned that people should take care when out enjoying the exceptionally warm weather. This includes staying out of direct sunlight for prolonged periods as much as possible, especially between the hours of 11am to 3pm when UV is strongest, staying hydrated throughout the day and regularly applying sunscreen with a high SPF. Possible impacts of exposure to high temperatures are heat stress, especially for the more vulnerable of the population; high Solar UV index and a risk of water related incidents as people go swimming in the heat. Irish Water has also warned that measures have been taken at 37 of its 750 water supplies across the country to ensure taps keep flowing amid increased demand, and said there are a small number of locations where overnight restrictions are in place for customers. In Northern Ireland, a Yellow thunderstorm warning is due to come into effect three hours earlier than initially forecast from 9am on Sunday until midnight. The Met Office said: While some places stay dry, hit-and-miss thunderstorms will develop Sunday and Sunday night, and may bring disruption in places. Drogheda Institute of Further Education (DIFE) is partnering with Accounting Technicians Ireland (ATI), Irelands leading body for Accounting Technicians, to offer the ATI Professional Diploma on a part-time, evening basis at our Drogheda college campus. The programme provides graduates with an internationally recognised qualification and in-demand financial and accounting skills to apply to a range of roles in various sectors, ensuring excellent routes to employment. Accounting technicians are qualified accounting professionals that work at all levels of finance and are widely employed throughout the public sector, industry and commerce, and in private accountancy practices. ATI qualifications, which can be obtained in as little as two years, are recognised as one of the fastest pathways to a fulfilling and rewarding professional accounting career. Davy Mc Donnell, Principal of DIFE has welcomed the new collaboration with ATI highlighting the development as another exciting collaboration for DIFE and great opportunity for employers in the region to upskill members of their team. He continued to invite both employers and employees to consider the programme for career development as it is a specialised technician qualification that enhances employment opportunities and offers progression to further studies and professional accounting programmes. The ATI Diploma is conferred on the completion of two years of study and 2 years of work experience with 10 modules to complete in total eight academic modules and two work practice modules across the two-year programme. In-classroom tutorials take place on a Monday and Tuesday evening from 6.30pm 9.30pm and are supported by additional online lectures scheduled throughout the year. On completion of the programme, graduates are conferred with the ATI Diploma for Accounting Technicians and invited to become a Full Member of the Institute (MIATI). The part-time Professional Diploma is open to school and college leavers, mature students and people working in business, industry or small practices. The programme is scheduled to commence in late September and for further information prospective participants can visit: www.louthnightclasses.ie or get in touch with their programme coordinator: Maeve Coleman via email: MColeman.DFE@lmetb.ie or difenightschool@lmetb.ie HOUSING Amenities minister Daniel Garwe yesterday said government had budgeted to build less than 250 houses this year, indirectly admitting to selling the public a dummy when it pledged 300 000 annually in the 2018 election campaigns. Our target for houses directly built by the ministry in 2022 is 232 houses. These are the housing projects that will be directly implemented by the ministry and the breakdown is as follows Marondera 64, DZ 48, Binga 37, Senga 64, Lupane 19, Garwe told NewsDay Weekender. In the 2018 election manifesto, Zanu PF had announced an ambitious project to construct 1,5 million housing units by 2023, translating to 300 000 houses per year, or 25 000 a month, 6 250 a week or 822 houses a day. If the plan was successful, over 1,2 million houses would have been constructed to date. According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency statistics released on Wednesday, Zimbabwe is facing a housing crisis that has left nearly half of its urban population of almost 5,7 million people living in rented accommodations. The national housing backlog stands at over two million. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga even promised to build swimming pools for people living in Mbare flats just before the 2018 elections. To date, not a single pool has been built. Garwe added: However, the ministrys role in housing delivery is facilitating the construction of houses and pushing for the densification model in line with the housing policy by all players including private players, individuals, the banking sector, etc. That is how the Ministry will reach its targeted 225 000 housing units by 2025. In the 2019 Infrastructure Investment Plan drafted by the Finance and Economic Development ministry, government announced that it would invest US$264 million in residential housing construction. Government announced it would devise a financing strategy to provide low-cost serviced land for housing development in partnership with the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe and the Urban Development Corporation. Nothing has come out from the plan. As the country heads to 2023 elections, political commentators warned the electorate to be wary of political parties that announce unrealistic promises. Zanu PF has a tendency of making fake promises to the voters. Remember, in 2013 they promised 2,2 million jobs and nothing came out. Political parties should stop taking the electorate for a ride. This is one reason that is creating voter apathy, said political commentator Farai Gwenhure. Citizens Coalition for Change spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere mocked governments ambitious housing ambitions. Zanu PF promised to build 1,5 million houses by 2023. Now, government says it seeks to build 220 000 houses and flats by 2025. What has become of the remaining 1,25 million houses we were promised? Mahere said. Newsday CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa says President Emmerson Mnangagwas government is banning rallies by his party because it is sensing defeat in next years elections. Police refused to sanction yet another rally by Chamisa, which was scheduled for Chipinge yesterday claiming that CCC supporters attacked Zanu PF members when they celebrated the partys victory in the March 26 by-elections in the district. Zanu PFs Masvingo provincial executive was last night frantically trying to stop a CCC rally to be addressed by Chamisa at Mucheke Stadium, saying the law prohibits holding of political meetings at the venue. The CCC leader yesterday said the move by the police showed that Mnangagwa and Zanu PF were running scared ahead of the elections as the opposition party was gaining momentum across the country. The CCC is the next government and our colleagues in Zanu PF are running scared, and so afraid, Chamisa said. They have resorted to desperate tactics and measures to shut us out, particularly in the countryside. They have been banning our meetings. Our rallies have been banned and they are not happy to see us visible in the communities. Despite the bans, people are supporting us. We are not new to the bans, but these bans are occasioned by fear, and the phobia they have for the juggernaut called the CCC. The yellow movement has taken the whole country by storm. They cant manage it. We are beyond that. Chamisa added: Our offices and headquarters are in the minds and convictions of Zimbabweans. We are indomitable. We are unconquerable. They can try all sorts of tactics, but those tactics wont help them. CCC interim spokesperson Fadzai Mahere said the banning of the Chipinge rally also brought into sharp focus biased policing in favour of the ruling Zanu PF party amid concerns over the shrinking democratic space. This unconstitutional, paranoid conduct confirms that Zanu PF is afraid of our visibility in communities like Chipinge so theyre abusing institutions to silence us, Mahere said. Police recently banned CCC rallies scheduled for Gokwe, Marondera, Glen Norah and Binga. We remain steadfast and will certainly host the rally but at a later date. We are not shaken, Mahere said. Zanu PF continues its streak of disrupting our meetings and violating our right to assemble. Analysts expressed concern over the shrinking democratic space a few months before the 2023 polls. The ban will give credence to claims that the state is shrinking democratic space in Zimbabwe. In a normal democracy, parties are free to carry out campaigns, political analyst Methuseli Moyo told The Standard. Another political analyst Kudakwashe Munemo said police were selectively applying the law given the fact that Zanu PF was allowed to meet without any restrictions. Political space is increasingly shrinking ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections; more technical reasons shall continue to be used to selectively bar the freedom of assembly given that the ruling partys processes are ongoing, Munemo said. It reflects that they are considered a huge threat to the current establishment and may have to devise counter strategies in order to carry out their activities. Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi yesterday denied charges that the law enforcement agency was targeting CCC by disrupting its events and rallies. Normally issues to do with notifications go to the officer commanding district and when they sanction or not sanction these rallies they are not mandated to tell us so, Nyathi said. Its not automatic that once they want to have a rally or demonstration, it will be sanctioned. On Friday, police banned a planned prayer rally in Harare to protest the weaponisation of the law against human rights work organised by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiCZ). The CiCZ wanted to petition Parliament and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission over the shrinking democratic space after the rally. In an urgent High Court chamber application challenging the ban, the CiCZ cited officer commanding Harare Central District, one Chief Superintendent Moyo as the respondent. It said the ban infringed on its rights that are guaranteed in the constitution of Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa is eyeing a second full term in next years elections where he is set to face Chamisa, whom he narrowly beat in the disputed 2018 elections. An Afrobarometer survey in June showed that 33% of respondents said they would vote for Chamisa against 30% for the Zanu PF leader. Standard Over 65,000 of supplies has been sent from Cork to help repair and maintain the Ukrainians gas system, some of which has been badly damaged in recent months by the Russian invasion. Gas Networks Ireland donated the vital supplies after being contacted by the Ukrainian system operator for support. Gas Networks Ireland worked with the Ukrainian authorities and the European Commission to establish the specific needs - before filling a large truck with essential supplies, including mobile generators, drills, saws, large storage containers and 20 one thousand litre water containers. The supplies arrived in recent days, after embarking on a journey from Gas Network Irelands headquarters in Cork. Speaking about the project, which took several months to coordinate, Gas Networks Ireland Logistics Manager, Ken McCarthy, said the national utility was eager to help support a safe and secure supply of gas to the people of Ukraine. We have been deeply saddened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and so we are delighted to be able to provide some support in this way, Mr McCarthy said. We have worked closely with the Ukrainian Transmission System Operator (TSO) to establish their needs there and to source the supplies which are most valuable. As a business, it is important for Gas Networks Ireland to support our Ukrainian counterpart through this challenging time and we will continue to work closely with the TSO there to ensure we do our best to support their energy sector. Our sub-contractors have also expressed an interest in providing supplies, so we are working with them towards another shipment. Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraines Head of Business Development, Anton Lazarevych thanked Gas Networks Ireland for their support. We are very grateful for the support of Gas Networks Ireland in such challenging times for Ukraine and GTSOU, Mr Lazarevych said. Gas Networks Ireland is also preparing to donate more than 5,000 to the Irish Red Cross to further support their Ukrainian appeal, committing a donation of 2 for every customer survey completed this year to date. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun... William Shakespeare, Richard III IT has to be one of the most quoted - and misinterpreted - of all Shakespeares sonnets. Barely a year goes by these days without the media referring to a looming winter of discontent - whether it be a planned slew of strikes by public sector unions, or a miserable time ahead for fans of Manchester United. But the Bard wasnt looking to the future when he wrote it, he was actually referring to a previous era of discontent in England, and the fact his brother, Edward, had now become king and restored joy and sunshine to the land. However, the way the opening line of Richard II reads, and the scene it sets, are full of foreboding. In truth, as Shakespeare knew, a winter of discontent was also on its way, when Richard III, a disfigured, malign presence, plotted against his brother and seized the throne for himself. A similar sense of foreboding for the winter ahead has descended on Ireland and across Europe in recent times. Can you sense it? Even as we basked in an unlikely August heatwave this week, I cant have been alone in feeling pangs of anxiety about the coming season. Discontent indeed... ****** The coming winter threatens to be a very difficult time for all, on a number of fronts. Well start with the known knowns. Weve already begun to feel the pain of rocketing energy prices, and, barring an unlikely resolution to the war in Ukraine, these will remain at record high levels for the winter ahead. As soon as the nights draw in and the chill air arrives, millions of us who get our energy from oil, gas, and electricity will have expensive choices to make: When to put on the heat, and for how long? At what temperature? Or shall I just put on an extra layer and save a small fortune? The bills will be monstrous, and if we have an especially cold winter, the resulting drain on finances will be felt deeply across the land. Other known knowns: That the price of many other items will continue to rise in tandem with the energy increases, from petrol and diesel in your car, to food and groceries, that cup of coffee, the fast food meal... even (or should that be especially?) candles and logs. In a bid to check this spiralling inflation, interest rates are almost certain to go up too, forcing up mortgage payments for anyone not on a fixed rate. These are all almost certain to happen in the winter of 2022/23, and indeed perhaps continue into the spring and summer of next year. Then we have the known unknowns, which could well turn a winter crisis into a full-blown catastrophe for many households. These include the fear of power outages in Ireland and across Europe, or the rationing of energy, as pressure grows on supplies. If that happens, if something so basic and taken-for-granted as the power in our homes, the heating and lighting, are taken away from us or reduced - meaning no TV or broadband, as well as essentials like light and heat - the misery and unrest would be off the scale. Am I scare-mongering? No. I do hope I am proved wrong, but the news this week on our preparedness as a nation for a winter energy shortfall does not bode well. None other than ex-managing director of ESB International, Don Moore, stated that Ireland is bottom of the class in Europe in terms of preparation for a gas crisis this winter. He told RTEs Morning Ireland that other countries in Europe are busily filling their gas storage during the summer to even out the peak demand in the winter. Ireland could be doing this too, using the Kinsale gas field as a store. Er, bad news, folks. Ireland decided not to exercise that option, Mr Moore stated, adding: Ireland, the country at the end of the European gas grid, is the least prepared for a gas crisis this winter. Words to send a chill down the spine, even in these near-30C dog days of August. The ongoing energy crisis is sure to fuel discontent in the cold months ahead - and that will put huge pressure on the Government. I have written here before about how Micheal Martin has been an unlucky Taoiseach, spending a decade waiting in the wings for the top job, then being handed it during a time of unprecedented national crisis in a pandemic. Well, he may well be feeling a bit luckier in mid-December when he hands the crown to Leo Varadkar just as the shortest days arrive and the colder climes set in. If households are getting battered by sky-high energy bills and rising costs, and then the lights go out... well, those are the kinds of nightmare scenarios that can bring down not just a Taoiseach, but an entire government. It wont just be the big two parties that suffer either. The Greens leader Eamon Ryan is in charge of our energy needs, and few will be in the mood to hear lectures on burning peat or harming the climate when another power outage strikes. If I were a betting man, I would be sorely tempted by the current odds of 3-1 against an election taking place next year. The one chink of light for Leo, and for us billpayers and householders, is that the government can alleviate a lot of the pain with their budget next month. Buoyed by a record tax surplus of 5 billion in the seven months to July, they have the war chest that may just see us through the winter crises. But they need to use it wisely and well. So far, the government have provided householders with just 200 off our spring bills - a figure that was reduced further because - laughably - it was subject to VAT. Although that was handy at the time, the ever-rising price of energy and the expensive winter months will require an awful lot more to be doled out to alleviate the pain that is coming. This is a bail-out that will require vast sums of money - but failure to shield consumers from the energy fall-out could easily cause the government to crumble. The heat was on this week, and we all enjoyed our season in the sun, but the heat will really be on us all, and our politicians, in the cold months ahead. Forget about Shakespeare, the quote that comes to mind now when I think of the coming season is from an altogether more modern literature genre, Game of Thrones. Winter is coming... Up to 1 billion is expected to be allocated in the upcoming Budget in a series of once-off measures to help tackle the cost of living crisis. A double child allowance payment is being considered for December, while another energy credit could be issued, to help households deal with spiralling electricity costs. The 1 billion, part of the Government's "Cost of Living Budget", will go towards once off payments separate from the 6.7 billion already allocated to Budget 2023. The Irish Times reports that while the exact size of the once-off measures have not been agreed upon yet, the extra subsidies are expected to kick in this year, rather than the following year as traditionally. Bilateral meetings at ministerial level on Budget 2023 will accelerate in early September, with both the cost-of-living package and the wider budget expected to be nailed down ahead of the budget at the end of the month. Cultural conservatives are trying to make the 2022 midterm elections about education in general, and the (phantom) issue of parental rights specifically. As someone who has been involved in education at various levels for the past 40+ years, Ive not seen any evidence of a widespread lack of parents abilities to guide and influence their childrens schooling. To be sure, there will always be instances of parents disagreeing with a teachers decision about a students grade, or a punishment for a students misbehavior. But poll after poll shows that a vast majority of citizens believe the public schools that their children attend are doing a good or very good job, and are satisfied overall with the public schools in their community. But lets pretend for a moment that conservatives are correct, people across the country are suddenly outraged at whats happening in the public schools, and angry that their rights as parents are being usurped: How would we design schools that defended and supported parents rights to guide their childrens learning? Wed make sure that those schools were governed by people from our own community, preferably elected to those positions by voters. Wed be wary of schools that were run by for-profit corporations, or managed by appointed boards full of personssome from outside of our communitieswho were friends or family members of the leaders of those schools, or business partners of those leaders. Wed want those schools to hold regular, open meetings, during which citizens could address the board with concerns or questions. Wed be leery of schools whose meetings were sporadic, or unannounced, or closed to the public. Wed want the teachers in those schools to be highly-qualified and fully-certified professionals, holding at least a bachelors degree and certification from the state, and provided with ongoing professional development opportunities to support and refine the art and craft of teaching. Wed be suspicious of schools that hired lightly-prepared instructors with inadequate preparation, and a minimal commitment to the profession that led to a transitory school work force. Wed want the curriculum in those schools to be rich and comprehensive, including music, art, foreign languages, and physical education, and to comprise an accurate representation of our countrys history, including the darker parts of our nations past. We wouldnt accept a narrow, barren approach to learning that focused obsessively on job training or workforce development, and wed be distrustful of a curriculum that cherry-picked content in an effort to gloss over or whitewash our history, or present only one point of view. Wed want those schools to be open to any child and fully-funded by the public. Wed be distrustful of schools that required entrance exams or lotteries for admission, or charged tuition so prohibitive it functioned as an exclusionary factor in limiting who could attend, resulting in a population of students segregated by family income, race, or ethnicity. Wed want our children to be exposed to a wide range of ideas, books, and other forms of literature and expression, including content that might prove challenging or uncomfortable. Wed be alarmed at attempts to restrict the diversity of materials available to our children based on the preferences or opinions of others, or particular belief systems to which some members of the community may not adhere. Wed want those schools to be safe, and welcoming, and inclusive for all children and adults who work and learn in them, with adequate staffing from school nurses, mental health counselors, and other student support personnel. Wed be mistrustful of schools that didnt take reasonable precautions to protect both children and adults during public health emergencies, or didnt treat all members of the school community with dignity and respect, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sex, or any other identifying characteristic. As we reflect on what our ideal schools might look like and how theyd be structured, it seems clear that those advocating most vociferouslyand loudlyfor parental rights are doing so dishonestly. What they claim to be interested in is already readily available to them in our system of traditional public schools: schools that are governed by and responsible to the public, staffed by qualified professionals, offering rich learning experiences, safe and open to all. What these parental rights activists want is not to determine what books their children are exposed tothey want the right to decide what books other peoples kids get to read. They want to impose their own narrow point of view on the entire public school system, transforming a public good into a regressive, insular environment that advances an extreme belief system on all of us. They dont want parental rightsthey just want the right to parent everyones kids. And that should terrify us all. This article analyses the issue of extending minimum support price coverage to major food crops. Given the utility of public procurement and buffer stocks during the previous crises, MSP procurement may be continued for rice and wheat but a shift to direct payments is needed for non-staple crops. There were mainly three concerns voiced by the farmers during their prolonged protest over a year, which ultimately led to the repeal of the farm laws that were enacted in 2020. These concerns mainly related to (i) continuance of the minimum support price (MSP)procurement system, (ii) legalising MSP, and (iii) vulnerability of small and marginal farmers vis-a-vis the large private players. All these three issues are interlinked. Anxiety among the farmers, mainly of Punjab and Haryana, over the continuance of the MSP and procurement has led to the demand for legalising the MSP. This demand is also rooted in the third concern of providing some form of insurance to small and marginal farmers who are more vulnerable vis-a-vis the private buyers. We will attempt to analyse each of these issues, assess the implications, and identify the alternatives, if any. MSP Procurement System The concern about the continuance of the MSP procurement system is widespread in Punjab and Haryana because this system has been the lifeline for these states for a long time. The dependence of farmers in these states on the MSP procurement system is far greater than the farmers in any other state. Nearly 88% of the paddy production in Punjab and Haryana in 201718 and 201819 has been absorbed through public procurement (Table 1, p 13). In contrast, the other major states where procurement occurs, such as Andhra Pradesh (AP), Telangana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh (UP), only 47% of the rice production is procured by public agencies. In the case of wheat, this difference is even wider. In the major wheat-producing statesMadhya Pradesh (MP) and UPonly a quarter (23%) of the production is procured by public agencies; while in Punjab and Haryana, this percentage is 70%. This clearly shows the heavy dependence of Punjab and Haryana farmers on MSP and the public procurement system. Thus, any disruption to the system, real or perceived, is bound to cause serious concern. What is missed in this scenario is that while the farmers of Punjab and Haryana need public procurement to continue, the government needs it too for a different reason, which is the obligation under the public distribution system (PDS) and the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. Support under the NFSA is a legal and a rights-based entitlement. There are nearly 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries and an additional eight crore migrants who need to be supported through the PDS. The government needs an uninterrupted supply of grain, particularly from these two states, to maintain the PDS. In the last three years, nearly 40% of the total paddy production in the country (45 million tonnes) and 32% of wheat production (34 million tonnes) has been procured by public agencies to supply to the PDS (Foodgrains Bulletin, October 2020, DoF&PD, GOI). The government needs to continue the public procurement system since it cannot hope to secure such huge quantities of supplies from the open market. It will lead to a sharp spike in the prices, and there is also a possibility of large-scale hoarding by the private sector. Thus, the government has hardly any option but to continue this system, particularly its procurement from these two states in the foreseeable future. Punjab and Haryana have been central to the government procurement plans for a long time. Nearly 34% of the rice and 62% of the wheat procured in the last three years has been from these two states (Table 2, p 13). Although the COVID-19 situation has improved and the migrant crisis somewhat abated, the obligations under the NFSA will continue. Thus, the fears that the MSP procurement system in Punjab and Haryana is under threat appear to be largely unfounded. This brings us to the second concern of the farmers, which is legalising the MSP. As cities and regions around the world are getting incorporated into the globalisation and urbanisation processes, they simultaneously exhibit characteristics that are more diverse and complex due to the relations of their local and regional bases. It holds for many Indian cities, which are restructuring themselves under the process of urbanisation, but with their unique regionalcultural aspects or dimensions. In recent years, Indian cities and their neighbourhoods have been constantly changing under the guise of urban development. The rapid growth of a city and its built-up areas lead to the continuous absorption of surrounding villages and agricultural lands. As a result, these surrounding villages, which are known as peri-urban areas, show structural and functional changes over a period of time. An understanding of the links between the city and its peri-urban areas is important in the evolution of urban areas. Urbanisation, only in terms of its growth or planning, is not enough, but imbibing the experiences of these peri-urban areas is equally important to acknowledge the ongoing ruralurban transformation in India. Such ruralurban transformation has led to many positive changes together with frequent disasters. While events like floods, earthquakes, cyclones, and tsunamis are generally identified as natural events, their impact on human society makes people come together to shape their environments. The capacity of human systems to deal with such events depends on a variety of factors that include the nature of public institutions, ideological positions, quality of human resources, and the available technology within specific social systems at a given point in time. In addition, the geomorphological characteristics of areas affected by such events add to variations in the coping abilities of people across these areas. However, despite a similar magnitude even within a small area, differentials in the impact of a hazardous phenomenon also vary across groups by way of their locations, in terms of access, and negotiable entitlements in society. Therefore, an understanding of the causes and impacts of such disasters call for an analysis within different sociopolitical systems in terms of a temporal and spatial perspective. And within this context, such disasters simultaneously become natural as well as human. Vadodara City: Flooding Vadodara, formerly known as Baroda, is the third largest city in Gujarat after Ahmedabad and Surat. As per the Census of 2011, Vadodaras population was almost 18.22 lakh. The city is situated on the banks of Vishwamitri river, in central Gujarat. The Vishwamitri frequently dries up in the summer, leaving only a small stream of water. An important industrial, cultural, and educational hub of western India, the city houses several institutions of national and regional importance while its major industries include petrochemicals, engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and information and technology services.1 If one looks at the history of Vadodara city, the period of 18751939 was considered as the golden period and an era of progress and achievements in all fields under the enigmatic rule of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. It is one of the first planned cities under the town planner and sociologist Patrick Geddes. History of Floods in Vadodara Although there have been many floods in the city like the one in 1878 with 1,956 millimetre (mm) of rain or the 1917 floods with 1,753 mm of rain, the most lethal one came in 1927 with about 2,286 mm of rain. In the last week of July 1927, Vadodara witnessed the highest recorded levels of rainfallabout 2,286 mmas opposed to the normal annual rain of 890 mm. It poured constantly for four days such that the water levels of Vishwamitri river rose high and its water touched the bottom of the Kala Ghoda statue. In folk consciousness, it is known as Ghodapur (floods that touched the horse statue). The flood disrupted essential services such as the railway and power supply and submerged the ground floor of many houses as well as the Shree Sayaji General Hospital. A lot of damage was also sustained by the Sayaji Baug Zoo as the animals drowned and died in their cages.2 Vadodara gets rainfall from the south-west monsoon winds (JuneSeptember). The weather is generally cloudy with frequent spells of rainfall. The annual rainfall (between 1981 and 2020) analysis gives the following results as shown in Figure 1 (Shah et al 2021). Figure 1 shows 10 years (1981, 1983, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006, 2013, and 2019) that recorded more than 1,200 mm rain. Between 2015 and 2020, the rainfall had crossed above 5,000 mm. Less than half of the average annual rain fall (less than 500 mm) was recorded in 1986, 1987, 1999, 2000, and 2002. In 2006, 2013, and 2019, Vadodara had a very high rainfall. The number of rain days are decreasing with time. The years 2016, 2017, and 2018 also recorded less than half of the average annual rainfall (less than 500 mm). The year 2019 was an unusual one for rainfall as Vadodara received 2,492.5 mm of precipitation and had broken the highest rainfall record of 1971 (2,160.60 mm). Table 1 shows rainy days and rainfall/precipitation (in mm) from 2016 to 2019. Ajwa Reservoir and Vishwamitri River Originating from Pavagadh in the Panchmahal district of Gujarat, the Vishwamitri flows mainly through the west of Vadodara. After the confluence of two other tributaries, namely Dhadhar and Khanpur, into it, Vishwamitri merges into the Gulf of Khambhat. This river system includes the Ajwa lake near Ajwa, and the Dev Dam on the Dhadhar branch. As it flows through Vadodara, the river receives the citys sewage and effluents from the nearby industries. Vishwamitri is home to crocodiles, which is one of the endangered reptile species in India, legally protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Despite heavy pollution load and large human disturbances, the presence of the crocodiles in large numbers indicates the unique ecological significance of this river. However, rapid growth in population, industrialisation, and urbanisation has degraded the river to such an extent that like many urban rivers, the Vishwamitri is now considered as Gattar Ganga, which means a drain. Ajwa Reservoir This reservoir is an earthen dam built in the early 20th century by the then ruler of Vadodara, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. Its main aim was to provide drinking water to its residents. Although the population of Vadodara at that time was a mere 1,00,000, it was the rulers vision to build a reservoir five times larger. This reservoir is about five kilometre (km) long and can provide water to roughly 5,00,000 people residing in the eastern parts of the city. It can store water to a height of 213 feet above the sea level. The floor of the reservoir is around 196 feet. The dam is connected to Vishwamitri, and in the event of a flood, the excess water is dispatched to the river. The Ajwa reservoir has 62 gates and a canal of the Sardar Sarovar Dam feeds water into the reservoir. The Pratappura Sarovar or the Pratapsinh Tank also built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III was mainly to supply water to the Ajwa reservoir. There are seven gates of which three are connected to Vishwamitri. Relationship with Vishwamitri River Over the years, the Vishwamitri river system has suffered due to urbanisation and industrialisation. Despite having multiple dams on the river system, it faces flooding and thus suffers floodplain encroachment and storm-water outfalls. Neglect in maintaining the river system and the release of sewage waters, industrial effluents, and other sources of pollution have led to the deterioration of the river system. According to a study commissioned by the Amrut Sitaram Pradhan (ASP) Foundation,3 the major causes of the degradation are improper sewage management, increased impervious surface, and deforestation throughout the watershed, encroachment within the floodplain, lack of concern for ecological processes, invasive species, open dumping of solid waste, and lack of sensitivity for historical context in development. Like many urban rivers, Vishwamitri exhibits symptoms of the urban stream syndrome, 4 a condition defined by challenges, such as floodplain encroachment, poor water quality, habitat degradation, increase of tolerant species, and bank erosion (Walsh et al 2005: 706). Before reaching Vadodara, much of the water from Pavagadh passes through the Ajwa lake; during every monsoon season, the water from the Ajwa dam overflows from the Ajwa lake and makes its way towards Vadodara, destabilising the banks adjacent to the dam and flushing sediments downstream. The situation turns menacing when heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of Ajwa reservoir necessitates the opening of the spillway gates to release water. When the Vishwamitri river overflows, it results in floods in large areas of Vadodara, and the release of water from the Ajwa reservoir causes havoc in the city. Due to intense sedimentation, the water-storing capacity of Ajwa reservoir has decreased drastically. Land use changes in the upper watershed areas of the Vishwamitri river have altered the hydrologic functions of the watershed as a whole. For example, the conversion of forestland for agriculture in the upper watershed has decreased groundwater recharge, as there are fewer large trees and plants that do not have deep roots in the soil to promote infiltration of rainwater. The heavy seasonal rainfall and reduced forest cover increase erosion along the course of the river above the Ajwa reservoir, leading to sedimentation within it that reduces its capacity for storing run-off and drinking water. In addition, mining operations near Pavagadh, increased urbanisation in the upper watershed, and the high-velocity pulse of water overflowing from Ajwa reservoir during the monsoons contribute to the substandard quality of water and flooding in Vadodara. As any city expands, there is a loss of agricultural land and land degradation takes place in the villages at the peri-urban areas of urban development. Simultaneously, there is also the inflow of city life that is adopted eagerly by the people of these same peri-urban areas. They are no longer rural but are also not completely urban. They are, however, in the process of becoming urban centres. The proximity of villages to the city core as well as time and space determine the level of the process. Major issues emerging out of this urban transformation are (i) collusion among the local politicians, municipal corporation officials, land mafias, and land developers; (ii) introduction of town planning schemes influenced by the powerful local politicians and bureaucrats and not based on the needs of the area; (iii) intentional delay in the process of non-agriculture permission, encroachment, and illegal construction either on government land or on private land; (iv) residential areas planned only after the village entered into the city limit; (v) unplanned industrial and commercial areas, environmental degradation; (vi) dumping garbage in the river and natural drains; and (vii) poor air and water quality. The 2019 floods in Vadodara reminds of the urban governance decisions having time and again sanctioned dumping within and the encroachment of river floodplains, resulting in the disappearance of several wetlands and water systems associated with the river. As a result of the destruction of several of these natural sponges and the reduction in the river flood-carrying capacity, the city has become prone to flooding. Floodwaters inundating the low-lying parts of the city have resulted not only in despair for the people living in these areas but also created situations of humananimal conflict, as they endanger the habitat for crocodiles within the river as well as in Sayaji Baug Zoo. Vadodara has also witnessed major devastating floods of varying intensity in 1941, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1983, 1994, 1996, 2005, and the recent floods of 2019. Frequent occurrence of flooding in Vadodara due to the river has caused untold adversities and problems to the citizens of the city for days that have stretched to a week. The middle and poor classes are the worst-affected by flooding. Small traders and big businesses in low-lying areas also suffer heavy losses due to floodwaters entering in their business premises. Technical Solutions Gopal Shah (Shah and Lobo 2021), an eminent town planner based in Vadodara, has suggested the following: looking at the carrying capacity of the Vishwamitri, an additional 150 cubic metre per second (cumec) water is required to be managed so that floods can be averted in Vadodara. A reservoir has been proposed at Kotambi on government land having a mean sea level (MSL) of 45 metres. Unfortunately, the rate of water percolation in the soil is very low due to the black cotton soil. The water table in Kotambi area is around 30 to 40 metres deep. The land, which is around 212 acres, is barren and owned by the government. If the reservoir is made 10 metres deeper at Kotambi, it could store and provide water throughout the year to Vadodara (37.18 metres MSL), which could be around five million litres per day (MLD) through the process of gravity. Additional water from the reservoir can be bypassed to the Mini river through a canal section measuring 15 metres 4 metres deep at 2.5 cumec velocity. The water from the reservoir, which is at 45 metre MSL, can be easily diverted to Mini river, which is at 33.2 metre MSL. The benefits of this solution according to Shah are: (i) flooding in Vadodara can be easily averted; (ii) bypass channel will be able to take water more than 150 cumec to the Mini river; (iii) Vadodara will get 5 MLD of water throughout the year as also a new water source; and (iv) Vadodara will not develop and grow towards the proposed channel in the next 50 years. Kushang Shah (Shah and Lobo 2021), a hydrologist, suggests urban storm water management application by interlinking the city lakes. During the rule of the Gaekwads, the lakes of the old city had a proper network of storm drains that facilitated the rainwater to drain into these lakes which acted as a channel as most of the lakes were interconnected. Unfortunately, these lake interlinks have now been encroached upon or filled with sewage and garbage. Because of unplanned urbanisation, much of the landscape around the lakes have been encroached upon and covered with impervious surfaces. Hence, the sponges of the urban areas of the past era have turned into hazards now. There are 24 lakes scattered within the city. Among them, 21 major ones face issues of overflowing in the monsoons, causing serious inundation in the nearby areas. Restoring interlinkages between these lakes will provide relief from constant floods. In this way, the lakes can act as storage reservoirs, which would diminish the effects of flooding and waterlogging, thereby reducing the chances of lakes drying up during summer. Urban Flooding in India India has suffered urban flooding for decades but sufficient attention was not given to specific efforts to deal with it. In the past, any strategy on flood-related disaster management largely focused on riverine floods affecting large rural areas. Urban flooding is significantly different from rural floods. Urbanisation itself leads to developing catchments in the event of high-intensity rainfall. Hence, a higher run-off takes place leading to flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes up to six times. Consequently, flooding occurs quickly due to faster flow times, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Urban areas are usually centres of economic activities with vital infrastructure that need to be protected at all timesday or night. In most cities, damage to vital infrastructure has a bearing at the local and wider levels. These areas are also densely populated and people living in such vulnerable areas, both rich and poor, suffer because of flooding. This has always resulted in the loss of life, damage to property, and disruptions in transport and power, thus bringing life to a grinding halt, causing untold misery, and hardships. Even the secondary effects of possible epidemics and exposure to infection takes a further toll in terms of loss of livelihood, human suffering, and, in extreme cases, even loss of life. Therefore, the management of urban flooding has to be accorded top priority. The increasing trend of urban flooding is a universal phenomenon and poses a great challenge to urban planners the world over. Problems associated with urban floods range from relatively localised incidents to major incidents, resulting in cities being inundated from a few hours to several days. Therefore, the impact can also be widespread, including temporary relocation of people, damage to civic amenities, deterioration of water quality, and the risk of epidemics (Ge 2019). There has been an increasing trend of urban flood disasters in India over the past several years whereby major cities have been severely affected. The most notable among these are Hyderabad in 2000, Ahmedabad in 2001, Delhi in 2002 and 2003, Chennai in 2004, Mumbai in 2005, Surat in 2006, Kolkata in 2007, Jamshedpur in 2008, Delhi in 2009, Guwahati and Delhi in 2010, and Vadodara in 2014 and 2019. Devastating floods occurred in Kerala in 2018 and 2020 and Chennai in 2015, causing untold damages. Back in the 2000s, Delhis Swaminarayan Akshardham temple complex and the Commonwealth Games Village (CWG) were built right on the Yamunas floodplain. The secondary runway of the Chennai International Airport was also built right over the Adyar river. Most of the airport was constructed on the riverine floodplains, leading to massive flooding during the 2015 Chennai floods. Even recent developments, such as Andhra Pradeshs Amaravati Sustainable Capital City Development Project, had major areas proposed to be built on the floodplains of the Krishna river. Patna received focused attention precisely on account of it being the capital of Bihar. While Patna has received disproportionate attention, many other cities and towns in Bihar went under water and stayed in that condition for several days (Singh and Upmanyu 2019). In any city, low-lying regionssmall drains, railway lines, roads, and highways where squatter settlements spring upare the areas that are most prone to flooding. Built without permission from the local authorities and with makeshift materials, many people lose their residence in the recurring floods, and this loss never gets accounted for. This is typically the case in Delhis YamunaPushta area, the same floodplain region where Swaminarayan Akshardham and the CWG have been built. The slum areas surrounding them are flooded almost every year. After intense rainfall, the suburban and low-lying areas of Mumbai near the Mithi river remain waterlogged without services, appropriate shelter, potable water, or food. This area, which includes one of the largest slums in the worldDharavi, has about 70% slum and pavement dwellers (Singh and Upmanyu 2019). One does not realise yet that the vulnerability of the poor to the changing climate is profound in the cities. Floodwater circulates untreated solid waste matter around squatter settlements that leads to outbreaks of malaria, dengue, and diarrhoea for a much longer time than the monsoon season. A lack of discernment in development adds to the vulnerability of the poor. During the 2015 Chennai floods, some of the worst-affected areas were slum resettlement tenements constructed by the government on floodplains or lake catchment areas at Semmancheri, Perumbakkam, and Ezhil Nagar. These areas faced severe flooding, causing some deaths and remained inhabitable for many days afterwards (Ge 2019). While the above reasons are at a macro level and cannot be laid at the doors of the state or city administration, cities around country must take their fair share of the blame (Jha 2019). These relate both to urban planning and urban governance. On the planning side, cities are guilty of undermining at least four vital elementsneglecting storm water drains, filling up water-carrying small drains, reducing and concreting open space, and piling up both built and demographic density. On the governance side, cities are guilty of ignoring the unauthorised construction, failing to prevent encroachments, especially on waterbodies, and overlooking the maintenance and upkeep of the citys overall drainage infrastructure. Storm water drains, generally built at the edge of roads, are designed to drain excess water from impermeable surfaces such as footpaths, streets, and roofs and empty this water into a larger water system. Most cities in India do not have storm water drains; some have them in select localities and still others have poor interconnection between the drains. Above all, almost all the urban storm water drains over time get clogged with mud and material whose utility rate, as a consequence, gets reduced to near zero. Another recent practice in cities is to cover the water drains by laying concrete drain pipes and building roads above them. Mounting city traffic congestion is sought to be relieved by this dodgy shortcut, but it seriously hampers the capacity of drains as well as their maintenance. Furthermore, open spaces are unnecessarily made impermeable in the city for the water to seep in. All this happens, primarily, on account of demographic pressure that generates the need for more living space, and also, the mounting traffic snarls create demand for more space. More open spaces of the cities thereby get converted into built-up spaces. Conclusions In conclusion, one can easily say that overburdened drainage and frenzied and unregulated construction with no regard for the natural topography and hydro-geomorphology all make urban floods a man-made disaster in many cities and towns in India. Based on these current practices in urban areas, many cities like Delhi, Chennai, Amaravati, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Patna, and Vadodara face frequent flooding. Of course, one cannot ignore the wider climate changes contributing to the floods in India and elsewhere. Notes 1 https://irtpms.in/site/about-vadodara/. 2 https://historyofvadodara.in/the-floods/. 3 https://seas.umich.edu/masters-projects/vishwamitri-river-and-its-reign-2017, retrieved on 5 November 2019. 4 The urban stream syndrome describes the consistently observed ecological degradation of streams draining to urban land, including flashier flows, elevated concentrations of nutrients and contaminants, altered channel morphology and stability, and reduced biodiversity, all of which are noticeable in the Vishwamitri River (Walsh et al 2005). References Ge, Krupa (2019): Rivers Remember: Chennairains and the Shocking Truth of a Manmade Flood, Chennai: Context. Jha, Ramanath (2019): Indian Cities and Floods, Observer Research Foundation, 22 October, viewed on 16 September 2020, https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/indian-cities-and-floods-56915/. Shah, Gopal (2021): Water Discharge Management from Ajwa Reservoir, Integrated Urban Flood Management: A Case Study of Vadodara Floods 2019, Shah Jayesh and Lancy Lobo (eds), Vadodara: Centre for Culture and Development, pp 13035. Shah, Jayesh and Lancy Lobo (eds) (2021): Integrated Urban Flood Management: A Case Study of Vadodara Floods 2019, Vadodara: Centre for Culture and Development. Shah, N V, Y S Patel and P D Bhangaonkar (2021): Assessing Impact of Climate Change on Rainfall Patterns of Vadodara District, Gujarat, India, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1714 012046, doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1714/1/012046. Shah, Kushang (2021): Urban Storm Water Management Application: Interlinking of City Lakes, Integrated Urban Flood Management: A Case Study of Vadodara Floods 2019, Shah Jayesh and Lancy Lobo (eds), Vadodara: Centre for Culture and Development, pp 13667. Singh, Mitashi and Varnika Upmanyu (2019): Urban Flooding: The Case of Drowning Cities and Rising Vulnerability, Down to Earth, 11 October, viewed on 5 November 2019, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/natural-disasters/urban-flooding-the-case-of-drowning-cities-and-rising-vulnerability-67203 . The ASEANIndia Trade in Goods Agreement (also known as AITIGA), implemented in January 2010, is entering into its 11th year and the time is ripe to review and recast it in light of the new world order pulled open by the pandemic. This article provides the broad contours around which the review of ASEANIndia free trade agreement may focus. Indias Act East Policy (AEP) is centred around its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN and India have strengthened efforts in the fight against the pandemic and have bolstered their commitments towards challenging issues in the region (ASEAN Secretariat 2021). India and ASEAN have witnessed exemplary cooperation in various areas and with the 18th annual summit held in 2021. Trade and investment are important areas in ASEANIndia economic cooperation whereas the ASEANIndia Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) has been at the core of deliberations consistently for over a decade now. As the AITIGA completes a decade of governing trade between ASEAN and India, trade ministers from both sides have discussed the need for a review. The motive of the exercise would be to recast the free trade agreement (FTA) more suitably for businesses in terms of user-friendliness, simplicity and trade facilitation. The review exercise was agreed upon by the trade ministers of the 10 ASEAN member states (AMS) and India at the 17th ASEANIndia Economic Ministers Consultations, convened on 30 August 2020 (ASEAN Secretariat 2020a). The growth in ASEANIndia economic ties comes from the enhanced trade and investment flows following the signing and implementation of the AITIGA. Before the pandemic struck in 2019, merchandise trade and investment flows between ASEAN and India stood at $97 billion and $2 billion, respectively, making India the sixth largest trade partner of ASEAN and its eighth largest foreign direct investment source (ASEAN Secretariat 2020a). Post the implementation of the AITIGA in January 2010, merchandise trade between ASEAN and India has shown an upward movement, with exports growing at a compounded rate of 2.08% during 2010 to 2020, and imports at 4.5% (Table 1). Albeit, during the same period, imports have shown stronger growth, especially from AMS like Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Illustrated in Figure 1 (p 23), Indias consistently running trade deficit with ASEAN has remained a point of concern. Apart from the burgeoning trade deficit, several issues, such as rules of origin, non-tariff measures (NTMs), among others, have remained unresolved. Growing trade anomalies therefore have led India to seek a review of the AITIGA. This was also captured by Ravi (2020), who, for example, argued for a comprehensive review of the ASEANIndia Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA). Identifying the Contours Table 2 (p 23) provides substantial evidence on the potential of trade between ASEAN and India. With the AITIGA touching its 11th year of commencement, it can be seen that the number of products traded between AMS and India have increased tremendously. In the pre-FTA period, the number of products exported between India and Brunei Darussalam have registered the largest climb. A similar increase in the products exported is visible with AMS such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Vietnam. However, with the rich and more prosperous member states like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, the increase in products exported has only remained modest. That being said, it is important to shine light on the changes in trade of the negative list items. The imports of items placed in Indias exclusion list have gone down from $23.74 billion in 201011 to $18.79 billion in 202021. However, for certain parts and components of the transport and vehicle equipment sector, the imports have risen. For instance, Indias import of brakes and servo brakes and other vehicle equipment climbed sharply between 201011 and 202021. Many of such items are used as parts and components of global or regional value chain items. Given such a trend, the review of the AIFTA must closely inspect the exclusion list bearing in mind the rise in demand of several items of the exclusion list. The ASEAN countries, such as Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia and others have also witnessed an increase in import of exclusion list items from India. Thus, it becomes imperative for both India and ASEAN to revisit the items marked under the exclusion list and give it a thorough review on the basis of soaring demand and the use of exclusion list items as inputs in the production chains. India has put 11% of the goods traded with ASEAN under the exclusion list putting those goods out of the purview of any tariff reduction/elimination. About 1,297 tariff lines are placed under the exclusion list. The ASEAN collectively has classified around 9,000 tariff lines to its exclusion criteria from any tariff reduction/elimination. The country-wise break-up is presented in Table 3. Albeit, there are strong signs of an increase in trade of the exclusion list goods as well. In light of the exclusion list adopted by the ASEAN countries, it is important to strike a balance between market access granted by India and ASEAN to each other. It goes without saying that the percentage of commodities traded covered under the duty reduction by ASEAN does not match with those offered by India. Commodities traded covered under the duty negative list only represent 80% of currently traded items vis-a-vis 95% covered by Indias commitment. In light of these issues, the scope of the review exercise of the AITIGA must revisit several areas, which is key to the optimum utilisation of the FTA from the Indian side; and some of them are discussed briefly as follows: Tariff reduction and elimination: Products put under the sensitive and exclusion lists are subjected to an annual review. Both India and ASEAN need to follow a calibrated approach in tackling the tariff barriers. Several of the Indian industries are in a nascent stage and need to be protected from an influx of cheap and more sophisticated foreign products. For instance, domestic industries such as plantation crops, textiles, vegetable oils, fisheries and marine products, and spices have been identified as vulnerable to foreign competition. About 52% of the exclusion list items by India in the AIFTA cover agricultural and marine products within the harmonised system (HS) codes 01 to 24. This has been done considering the sensitivity of these products to foreign competition. Thus, the right approach towards tariff liberalisation must take into account the industry vulnerabilities to foreign competition without going into the protectionist terrain with which international trade has grappled with over the last few years. Non-tariff measures: The NTMs issue requires scrutiny in order to balance the market access conditions in both the trade partners. Over time, the NTMs have increased in number and have given rise to asymmetries in trade. For instance, the ASEAN countries have increasingly imposed NTMs on exports of agriculture products, textiles, base metals and electrical and machinery equipment (AIC 2019). This has rendered 60% of Indias exports to ASEAN countries costly and less competitive. For India and ASEAN to make the AIFTA more user-friendly and simpler and to actualise higher trade, the rationalisation and streamlining of NTMs is vital. The NTMs become an impediment to trade when it gives rise to the following: (i) it contains overly strict regulations and complex requirements relating to non-tariff barriersa subset of NTMs; and (ii) it creates bureaucratic procedures that take too long to follow. Two of the most widely used NTMs are sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and technical barriers to trade (TBT) whose streamlining is important to realise the full potential of the AIFTA. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures: SPS measures concern the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations (WTO Secretariat 1998). However, an increasing number of SPS measures have become an irritant in the smooth flow of trade between India and ASEAN. It has hampered the region in harnessing their full potential of value chains as well. Both ASEAN and India have witnessed an increase in the imposition of SPS measures on each others exports. These measures impede market access for trading partners. For instance, Indian exporters of agricultural commodities to ASEAN face a number of SPS measures, and similar is true for ASEAN commodities exported to India. Further, testing and certification requirements inhibit the growth of trade. As much as 50% of the NTMs imposed by ASEAN are SPS measures. The quality certification and testing requirements mostly hurt the medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs). Technical barriers to trade: TBT measures aim to ensure that technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures are non-discriminatory and do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Indian automobile manufacturers and exporters face technical barriers in exporting to ASEAN countries. Additional taxes on automobile products make it hard for Indian exporters to access and sustain several ASEAN markets such as Singapore where technical regulations are strict. Needless to say, the technical barriers to trade inhibit the growth of value chains between countries as most of the value chains are prominent in industries such as automobiles. An increase/prevalence of technical barriers in the automotive sector could hurt the value chain potential of ASEANIndia, which is already battered following the COVID-19 pandemic. Rules of origin: The rules of origin (RoO) has become a hotbed of all curtailment related to procurement and production. Indian exporters face strict RoO and compliance issues with ASEAN countries vis-a-vis ASEAN countries facing India. Of late, cases of RoO circumvention have also come to light wherein a third country was availing duty concession on exports due to negligence. For ASEAN exporters to claim preferential treatment under the AITIGA, submission of certificate of origin is required with evidence of local production or addition of minimum 35% plus change of tariff subheading (CTSH), whereas under the ASEANChina FTA, the requirement is 40%. Loose ends in the RoO have given undue advantage to third countries/non-preferential countries to avail duty-free trade flow. Thus, the review exercise must bring a standard operating procedure (SOP) on RoO in order to check third-party circumvention and trade deflection. It is also important for realising the true potential of ASEANIndia value chains. The requirement of 35% of local value addition in claiming preferential treatment has been tedious for both ASEAN and India as for most of the manufacturing goods, the imported content from third countries is huge, thus making it problematic for both Indias exports to ASEAN and vice versa to seek preferential treatment. Trade facilitation: The harmonisation of customs procedures must be reflected as an imperative point in the AITIGA review exercise. AMS and India need to recalibrate for simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures, technical regulations, standards and SPS measures, in administrative fees and charges, transparency of laws, regulations and administrative rulings, risk management system and digitalisation in trade procedures. ASEAN and India must pan out detailed provisions with respect to paperless trade. For instance, the ASEANAustraliaNew Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) inked among ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand goes specifically into information and communication technology (ICT) and e-commerce usage. However, similar intent is not displayed in the AIFTA. Measures related to the electronic exchange of SPS certificates, electronic/automated systems, electronic submission of customs declaration, internet availability to customs and other trade bodies at border crossings also need to be streamlined for paperless trade between ASEAN and India. Noted in De (2021), ASEAN customs transit system (ACTS) offers strong catalytic power not only to facilitate trade between ASEAN and India but also improve the competitiveness. To a great extent, ACTS may help India reach every ASEAN neighbours overland with a single vehicle, a single transit, a single bank guarantee and a single customs declaration. At the same time, this transit is not achievable through trilateral highway motor vehicle agreement or the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Trade remedies: The local and domestic industries face the threat of competition from cheap goods entering the country under preferential access. Both India and ASEAN are involved in thwarting the increase in imports of items from industries such as steel, aluminium, gems and jewellery, and so on, in order to protect the domestic industries. India has received applications of enquiry in connection with ASEAN imports of plain medium-density fibre board originating in or exported from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia and flat rolled products of stainless steel, copper and copper alloy flat rolled products, domestic solar module, tyres, etc. Similarly, several ASEAN countries like Indonesia have lately slapped an exorbitant anti-dumping duty of 52.7% on sorbitol sugar exports from India. These measures, on the one hand, support the domestic industries but on the other curtail bilateral trade. The review of the AITIGA must bring symmetries in seeking trade remedies by ASEAN countries as well as India. Economic and technical cooperation: ASEAN and India have recently concluded the 18th annual summit and underscored the need for energised economic and technical cooperation in the region. Capacity-building exercises have been an important spoke in ASEANIndia partnership. The offer of 1,000 PhD scholarships by various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in India has given a huge impetus to increasing proximity between ASEAN and India. Similar initiative in the education sector would fructify the partnership to a heightened level. Cooperation in the areas of physical and digital infrastructure is required to elevate the partnership. The COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the fourth industrial revolution and has increased the need for artificial intelligence, internet of things, etc. In the area of physical connectivity, the completion and extension of the trilateral highway to Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam are critical for Indias trade with ASEAN to become meaningful. There is a need to also conclude the negotiation of the ASEANIndia air transport and maritime transport agreement. Conclusions The AIFTA has governed merchandise trade between ASEAN and India for over a decade now. Time is ripe for ASEAN and India to take steps to resume, negotiate and complete the review process. The changing landscape of the global economy and promulgation of global value chains provide the opportunity to seek a review of the FTA. There is an increased need to iron out the differences in tariff and non-tariff measures, root out the anomalies and rework the RoO requirements, exclusion and sensitive list items, among others. The pandemic has reinvigorated the vitality of digital technologies, and thus emphasis should be given to expediting paperless trade, electronic certificates of origin, etc. References AIC (2019): Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs): Evidence from ASEANIndia Trade, ASEANIndia Centre, New Delhi. AICRIS (2021): ASEAN-India Development and Cooperation Report 2021, ASEANIndia Centre at RIS, New Delhi. ASEAN Secretariat (2020a): ASEANIndia Economic RelationsASEAN, viewed on 14 December 2021. (2020b): ASEAN-Media-Release-17th-AEM-India_FIN-1.pdf, viewed on 14 December 2021. (2021): 70.-Final-Chairmans-Statement-of-the-18th-ASEAN-India-Summit, pdf, viewed on 14 December 2021. De, Prabir (2021): ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS): Implications for ASEAN-India Trade, AIC Commentary # 13, AIC at RIS, New Delhi, http://aic.ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Basic%20page%20files/AIC%20commentary%20No%2013%20January%202021-min.pdf. Ravi, N (2020): A Decade and More of the India-ASEAN FTA, AIC Commentary # 1, AIC at RIS, New Delhi, http://aic.ris.org.in/sites/default/files/Basic%20page%20files/AIC%20Commentary%201_Jan2020.pdf. WTO Secretariat (1998): Understanding the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, WTO,viewed on 14 December 2021. The spontaneous joy and enthusiasm among the Bodo people, notwithstanding the recent Bodo Peace Accord signed on 27 January 2020, needs to be interrogated in the context of fractured identity of Bodos and a perennial trend of demographic challenge that the history of the area is embedded in. Moreover, the changing contours of electoral politics in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Partys rise in the north-east (referred here as the rising tide of saffron) need examination. It is pertinent to argue that the accord, under the pretext of fulfilling their demands, may herald an unprecedented shift in the electoral politics and identity assertions of the Bodos. Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modis claim about the third Bodo Peace Accord (27 January 2020) as the final solution to the Bodo Statehood problem (Balachandran 2020), the accord needs to be deliberated for the changes it has brought and the challenges it may elicit. This is the most recent among the three accords that the Bodo leaders have signed with the central government.1 To a considerable extent, the accord of 20202 carries a holistic approach, further consolidating the autonomy for the Bodos and institutionalising their identity on a wider scale. This recent accord proposes Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in place of Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) of 2003. It proposes for modification in the territorial structure of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). It does so by including contiguous Bodo villages of BTAD into its territory and excluding the non-Bodo villages from its jurisdiction. On the other hand, provision for a development council has also been made for the Bodos living outside the BTR. The accord promises to augment powers of the BTC, address issues relating to Bodos residing outside BTAD, promote and protect the political, social, cultural and ethnic identities of Bodos, legally secure land rights of tribal and ensure accelerated developments of the tribal areas (MoS 2020). The accord of 2020 is expected to be the foundation for a sustainable resolution to the Bodoland statehood movement (Sharma 2020). The nature of the accord vis-a-vis the sociocultural, political, economic, and educational demands brings much joy and enthusiasm among the Bodos. However, the accord also needs to be studied in context of the demographic challenge3 that Bodoland is embedded in. Moreover, the changing contours of electoral politics in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) rise in the north-east in its own right need examination. The accord, under the pretext of fulfilling their demands, may herald an unprecedented shift in the electoral politics and identity assertions of the Bodos. Bodoland and the Legacy of a Demographic Challenge Udayon Misra once remarked, just as the Bodo middle class is today fighting its non-tribal Assamese counterpart for its rightful share of jobs, the time will soon come in the new tribal homeland when the Rabhas, the Mishings, and the other tribal groups would be at loggerheads with the comparatively advanced Bodos (Misra 1989: 1147). Needless to say, this fear has appeared real in the context of Bodoland. The history of Bodoland is testimony to the demographic challenge evident in the Bodo and non-Bodo identity narratives often resulting in large-scale communal conflict and ethnic violence in the pre- and post-BTC era. The Memorandum of Settlement (MoS 2003) in the second accord laid the structural blueprint4 for hegemonic peace by converting a demographic minority into a political and electoral majority in Bodoland (Mahanta 2013: 53). In the semblance of structural norms, the interest of the Bodos had been advanced at the cost of the non-Bodos (this includes Koch Rajbanshis, Muslims, Bengalis, Santhals, Oraons and the others). To that end, the second accord failed to perceive the concern for fairness, justice and representation (Mahanta 2013: 49). Indeed, the MoS (2003) and the arrangements of BTC unravel the limits and problems of a territorial autonomy when it leverages a minority group as a political majority over many minorities (Bhattacharyya et al 2017). Unfortunately, none of the non-Bodo organisations and their leaders have been consulted before signing the recent Bodo peace cccord. The Oboro Surakha Samity,5 under the leadership of Brajen Mahanta, showed their discontentment, including a call for reviewing the peace accord (Zaman 2020) and ensuring security and overall develpoment of people across all sections of the population. Naba Sarania (the incumbent independent member of Parliament of Kokrajhar) and the other non-Bodo groups have also been vocal against the arbitrary arrangement of the accord and the continuity of an unjust structural regime. The state governments assurance of negotiating with the non-Bodo groups notwithstanding, its modus operandi, for reconciling the demographic challenge of the conflict between the Bodos and the non-Bodos will be an interesting aspect to study.6 Fractured Identity in Bodoland Since its inception, the BTC has been essentially characterised by fractured identity. It is commonplace to see the Bodo and non-Bodo identity differences occupying space in academic discourse and media reporting; however, the presence of intra-group differences amongst the Bodos is another important issue that needs deliberation. The signing of the latest accord by different Bodo groups is a conspicuous indication of the inherent fragmentation of the community. It is worth mentioning that the MoS (2020) was signed between the government and the four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and United Bodo Peoples Organisation (UBPO). Further, the presence of four factions of NDFB, namely the Ranjan Daimary faction, Progressive faction, NDFB Dhiren Boro faction and Saoraigwra faction reflects the absence of unanimity in terms of their identity articulation and assertion. The Bodo identity movement witnessed similar differences of ideology and opinion since the 1990s. The first Bodo Accord (1993) was signed by the ABSU and Bodo Peoples Action Committee (BPAC) with the Indian government, which created the Bodo Autonomous Council (BAC). However, the accord had been denounced by the Bodo Security Force (later renamed as NDFB). Later, the intra-group divisions of the Bodos entered into a violent phase after the formation of the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT)7 in 1996. The BLT frequently came into direct conflict with the NDFB. As such, by the second half of 1990s, the ideological differences emerging within the Bodos took a violent turn, often resulting in fratricidal violence and killing. To that end, the continuity of intra-group differences might also be understood from the fact that the NDFB continued to carry out its armed struggle even after the coming of the BTC, created as part of the MoS (2003), signed between the BLT, Government of India and Government of Assam. This reflects that the Bodoland statehood movement has been marked by the communitys internal fragmentation. The intra-group divisions are detrimental to the political assertion of the Bodos in the long run. Sharp electoral polarisation of the Bodo population in the post-2020 accord era might be an indication of the continued fragmented identity of the Bodos. While cases of intra-community fratricidal violence are reported in various local media, such differences cannot deny the possibility of lost regional and ethnic aspirations, in the context of emerging national aspirations, as reflected in electoral politcs in recent times. Bodoland and the Rising Tide of Saffron It is pertinent to argue that in the wake of the recent accord, the electoral dividend of Bodos identity stands at the crossroads. On the one hand, the accord consolidates the autonomy of the Bodos and institutionalises their identity on a wider scale. However, from an electoral point of view, it may just be insinuating an unprecedented shift rooted in the consolidation of the BJP in the north-east or what we may call as the rising tide of saffron. The BJP dominant system (Mehta 2016) is an atypical formula based on case-specific electoral smart work with an evident trend of success even in politically extreme territories. Unlike the other parts of the country, in the north-east, the BJP initiated a political trend of co-option of ethno-regionalism and indigeneity in the post-2014 general election period (Sharma et al 2019). The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs (RSS) role in the BJPs rise in the region notwithstanding, the party could well realise the inherent limitations of pursuing the Hindu nationalist agenda for political consolidation in a deeply diverse state. This realisation pushed the BJP towards adopting a bottom-up approach so that it could both project for itself an image of an insider party as well as a party that could accommodate regional and ethnic aspirations (Sharma et al 2019: 75). The BJP has crafted a new social coalition as well as electoral alliance along the ethnic axis in Assam based principally upon the precedence of regional subtext (Tripathi et al 2018). The BJPs electoral coalition with the BPF (parliamentary election 2014 and 2019 and assembly election 2016) is, to say the least, a clear indication of this bottom-up approach and this has helped them make inroads to the tribal areas and portray them as the insider party (Sharma et al 2019). In the present context, the BJP seems to have covered a substantial support base in Bodoland, both direct as well as indirect. By virtue of their electoral alliance along the ethnic axis with the BPF, they have managed to make inroads in the electoral pockets of the BPF support base. On the other hand, the BJP was also seen working diligently to render itself as the political alternative to the BPF by the non-Bodo voters. Naba Saranias victory as an independent candidate in the last two parliamentary elections is a clear indication of consolidation of non-Bodo votes. Taking cue from this, the BJP seems to have projected itself as the electoral remedy for the structural fallacy of the equation of numerical minority turning into electoral majority in Bodoland. In view of its long-term agenda, just before the assembly election 2021, the BJP made a shift by excluding the BPF from its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) component in Assam while at the same time, including United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL) as one of its partners. The said arrangement was in sync with the BJPs agenda of ensuring success in the Assam assembly election of 2021. The outcomes of the BTC election, 2020 and Assam assembly election, 2021 are indicative of a political shift occurring in the area in the wake of the BTR accord of 2020. Ever since the first BTC election, the BPF has enjoyed unimpeded electoral victory in the BTC and state assembly elections. Hagrama Mahilary, the erstwhile BTC chief, has accumulated substantial political capital to the extent of projecting himself as the most undisputed and overbearing personality of Bodoland politics. The party has been a constant coalition partner in the state government, suitably exploring avenues for periodic partnership with the Congress and the BJP as per its electoral convenience. Although the BPF was a part of the BJP-led coalition government in the state since 2016, the emerging differences and political bitterness between the parties made way for the BPFs exit from the NDA and contest elections on its own. As shown in Table 1, in the BTC election, 2020, the incumbent BPF won 17 seats out of the 37 that it contested, three less than its previous tally of 20. The BJP won nine out of 26 that it contested, eight more than its previous tally of one. On the other hand, the UPPL in its first attempt won 12 seats out of 40 that it contested. In an interesting move, the BJP allied with the UPPL and GSP to form the council declaring Promod Boro, a former student leader and youth icon, as the new BTC chief executive member (CEM). Even though the BPF emerged as the single largest party, the governor did not give it a call to form the government and as such Promod Boro took oath as the CEM. The development was challenged by the BPF in the Gauhati High Court. The court ordered a composite floor test in BTC by 26 December 2020. The test was held on 24 December 2020 and Promod Boro won it securing legitimacy of the NDA coalition in the council. On the other hand, the Assam assembly election of 2021 firmly indicates the emergence of the UPPL in Bodoland, also, simultaneously insinuating the BJPs deep consolidation and steady rise in the area. Out of the 13 assembly constituencies in the BTR, the NDA bagged nine that has helped the coalition to secure majority in the states legislative assembly, having a total strength of 1268 and form government. From among the NDA coalition, the UPPL, contesting its first assembly election, won seven seats marking a new phase of electoral politics in the region. Meanwhile, the BJP strengthened its electoral lot in the region by winning two important constituencies for the first time. Significantly, after its exit from the NDA, the BPFs electoral tally came down to three from its previous tally of 12 that shows the partys sharp electoral decline. Promod Boros entry into Bodoland politics and his increasing stature is an important aspect of studying the changing discourse of electoral politics in the region. His stature as a former student leader as well as a youth icon makes him a competent rival to Hagrama Mahilary. His entry into the UPPL further consolidates the partys electoral fate and thus puts the BPF into electoral hardship. The emergence of Promod Boro and UPPL might be understood as a response to anti-incumbency of the Mahilary-led BPF as well as the BJPs strategy of capitalising on the fractured identity of the Bodos. In the BTC election, the BPF managed to win 17 seats; however, it failed to emerge as the ruling party and the electoral polarisation between the BPF and UPPL seems to have cost the party. The BJPs decision to go with the UPPL came as a jolt to the BPF. To that end, the party was further dumped by the NDA at the assembly level politics too. The BPF chief has frankly attributed his partys loss to the polarisation of its traditional identity support base and urged all the Bodo ethnic parties to come together to form a strong electoral force in the region. Conclusions Even though the BJPs electoral tally does not match the magnitude of its efforts during the election (particularly that of the BTC election), the outcome still is a win-win situation for the party. While the party increased its seats from one to nine in the BTC election, it won two constituencies from Bodoland region in the assembly election too. First of all, the party has challenged the dominance of the BPF and Hagrama Mahilary by making alliance with the UPPL and projecting Promod Boro as CEM; second, it has increased its electoral tally across both territorial council and state assembly elections in the Bodoland region, thereby pushing its agenda of making further inroads in the region; and third, it has triggered a process of electoral polarisation among the Bodos that might change the course of identity politics of the Bodos in near future. For the BJP, to render itself as a larger force and kingmaker in the BTC election was perhaps the greatest dividend that the party would be looking forward to consolidate on from here. On the other hand, the BJP largely benefited from the coalition with the UPPL, as the party was contesting the election against the backdrop of statewide anti-CAA (Citizenship [Amendment] Act) protest. To that end, the BJPs steady rise in the electoral politics of Bodoland is likely to have a massive impact on identity politics in the region as well as the electoral discourse in the state. Notes 1 The first accord was signed with the Bodos in 1993 that led to the formation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC) with provision of limited political power. The second accord was signed with the erstwhile the Bodo militant group named the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) in 2003 that created the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) comprising Kokrajar, Chirang, Baksa, and Udalguri districts of Assam. The third accord signed in 2020 has provided for the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) with more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers. 2 In the presence of home minister of India, Amit Shah, the accord was signed by Lawrence Islary (General Secretary, ABSU), Pramod Boro (President, ABSU), Ranjan Daimary (NDFB), Gobinda Basumatary (NDFB), B Saoraigwra (NDFB), Dhiren Boro (NDFB), Mihineswar Basumatary (President, UBPO), Kumar Sanjay Krishna (Chief Secretary, Government of Assam), Satyendra Garg (Joint Secretary, [NE], MHA) and witnessed by Hagrama Mohilary (CEM, BTC), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Cabinet Minister, Assam) and Sarbananda Sonowal (CM, Assam). 3 The demographic challenge in BTAD seems to be a by-product of a failed structural solution. This has resulted in subsequent fragmentation of the population on identity grounds, becoming a dominant discourse of mundane politics in the BTC. It is argued that the structural provisions of MoS (2003) created the ground for converting the Bodo population into a political and electoral majority, at the cost of the non-Bodo population, which constitutes about 70% of the total population in the area. To that end, the area has also witnessed large-scale violence at different point in time. See Goswami (2012); Mahanta (2013). 4 With a modification in para 2(1) of the sixth schedule, the total strength of the BTC was fixed at 46, out of which six members were to be nominated. Out of the 40 seats where elections are held, 30 seats were reserved for Scheduled Tribe population, five seats for non-Scheduled Tribe population and five seats open for all communities. It is argued that even in the non-ST seats, the demographic dominance of the Bodos make it a win in all weather case for Bodo candidates. 5 There are many non-Bodo organisations within BTAD, including Obodo Suraksha Samiti (OSS), Sanmilita Janagostiya Aikkya Mancha (SJA), All Bodo Muslim Students Union (ABMSU), and All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU). In the last parliamentary elections, many of these organisations came in support of the independent candidate Naba Sarania. 6 It may be noted that the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) that represents the concern of the non-Bodos, primarily led by Naba Sarania became a part of the council joining hands with the BJP and UPPL after the recent election. 7 The BLT (also known as the Bodo Liberation Tiger Force or BLTF) was founded on 18 June 1996, under the leadership of Prem Singh Brahma with the objectives to create a separate state of Bodoland on the north bank of Brahmaputra and an autonomous district council on the South bank. Hagrama Mohilary was the chairman-cum-commander-in-chief of BLT. It started operating in the areas of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari and Darrang districts of Assam frequently resorting to violence. The BLT came into ceasefire in 1999 and subsequent to its negotiation with the government, renounced violence on 6 December 2003, marking an end to seven years of insurgency. 8 The total number of seats won by the NDA in the 2021 assembly election is 76 (including the by-election win in Gossaigaon Constituency). While the BJP won 60 seats, its ally AGP won nine and UPPL bagged seven seats. References Balachandran, Vappala (2020): Is It Too Early to Celebrate the New Bodo Accord? Outlook, 15 May. Bhattacharyya, Harihar, Kham Khan Suan Hausing and Jhumpa Mukherjee (2017): Indian Federalism at the Crossroads: Limits of the Territorial Management of Ethnic Conflict, Indian Review, Vol 16, No 1, pp 14978. Goswami, Namrata (2012): Violence in the Bodo Areas: Deciphering the Causes, IDSA Comment, New Delhi: IDSA, https://idsa.in/idsacomments/ViolenceintheBodoAreas_Namrata Goswami_090912 . Mahanta, Nani Gopal (2013): Politics of Space and Violence in Bodoland, Economic & Political Weekly, June, Vol 48, No 23, pp 4958. Mehta, Pratap Bhanu (2016): A BJP-Dominant System, Indian Express, 11 February 2017, https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ bjp-assam-electionssarbananda-sonowal-tarun-gogoi-kerala-elections-2809631. Misra, Udayon (1989): Bodo Stir: Complex Issues Unattainable Demands, Economic & Political Weekly, May, pp 114649. MoS (2003): Memorandum of Settlement on Bodo Territorial Council, New Delhi, http://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/IN_030210_MemorandumSettlementBodolandTerritorialCouncil.pdf . (2020): Memorandum of Settlement, New Delhi. Sharma, Chandan Kumar (2020): Bodo Accord: Will It Bring a Closure to the Tangled Bodo Question? ETV Bharat, 7 February, https://www.etvbharat.com/english/national/bharat/bharat-news/bodo-accord-will-it-bring-a-closure-to-the-tangled-bodo-question/na20200206082840138 . Sharma Dhruba Pratim, Tarun Gogoi and Vikas Tripathi (2019): Religion, Ethnicity and Politics: Understanding the BJPs Rise in Assam, Politics and Religion in India, Narender Kumar (ed), London and New York: Routledge, pp 6483. Tripathi Vikash, Tamasha Das and Sandhya Goswami (2018): National Narrative and Regional Subtext: Understanding the Rise of BJP in Assam, Studies in Indian Politics, Vol 6, No 1, pp 111. Zaman, Rokibuz (2020): Non-Bodo Bandh Off, Telegraph, 7 February. Those who urge the wholesale privatisation of public sector banks do not seem to have given adequate thought to the mechanics of bank privatisation in India. Given the present regulatory regime for private bank ownership in India, there are formidable obstacles to privatising even what is regarded as an obvious candidate for privatisationthe IDBI Bank. The challenges in privatising several PSBs must not be understated. Bank privatisation is in the air again. The Union Budget for 202122 had mentioned plans to privatise two public sector banks (PSBs). There has been no movement in that direction so far. The privatisation of PSBs will require amendments to the Bank Nationalisation Act. There has been talk of placing a bill before Parliament for the purpose but this has not happened. Now, we are told that the proposal to privatise the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) Bank has been revived. For historical reasons, the IDBI Bank is classified as a private bank despite the government and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) together owning the overwhelming share of the banks equity. The government now proposes to hand over a controlling equity interest to a private buyer or buyers. The attempt to privatise PSBs received a boost from academic quarters recently. In a paper presented at a recent conference, Poonam Gupta, director general, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), and Arvind Panagariya, professor, Columbia University, have argued that all PSBs except the State Bank of India (SBI) may be privatised (Gupta and Panagariya 2022). To begin with, we will show that two key assertions made in the paper that constitute the essence of the argument for privatisation are open to question. (In the process, we will be reiterating some points made earlier in this column of 12 December 2020.) We will then argue that those who urge the privatisation of PSBs do not seem to have thought through the mechanics of the process. The assertions are below. (i) In India, banks have done a generally poor job of lending, resulting in frequent defaults on repayments, and consequently episodes of large accumulations of non-performing assets (NPAs). In turn, the government has had to repeatedly deploy massive volumes of taxpayer money to recapitalise the banks to jumpstart stalled lending and pre-empt financial crises. True, India has had recurring bouts of banking crises. True also that the government has had to bail out banks in trouble. The key question for policy is: Are banking crises unique to India and is India worse off than other economies in this respect? Not at all. An International Monetary Fund (IMF) study has documented 140 episodes of banking crises during 19702011. The median cost of recapitalising banks was 6.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The cumulative cost of bank recapitalisation in India would be no more than 5% of GDP in the entire post-reform period of 19912022. The notion that the privatisation of PSBs will mean that the exchequer is no longer burdened with the cost of bank recapitalisation is misplaced. (ii) Private banks have exhibited superior performance, especially in recent years, across a number of indicators, such as the wage bill as a percentage of the total assets, profits as a percentage of the total assets, and return on equity. There is a trend towards convergence in performance of PSBs and private sector banks from 199495 to 200809. Thereafter, PSBs under-perform private banks until the recent period. The convergence happened despite the fact that PSBs faced legacy issues whereas the new private banks started off on a clean slate. Rigorous academic studies have borne out this fact (Mohan 2014). Two points are worth making. First, comparisons between PSBs and private banks are distorted by the fact that the comparisons do not eliminate survivorship bias. The PSB sample includes more private banks that have failed (25) and have got merged with PSBs than the number of private banks that failed (11) and were merged with other private banks (Ghosh and Kumar 2022). Second, the paper does not examine what factors caused PSB performance to deteriorate post 200809 and whether the deterioration can be ascribed to managerial inefficiency. The divergence in performance between PSBs and private banks happened after the global financial crisis (GFC) of 200708 and became glaring only post 201112. In 2010, the gross NPAs/gross advances ratio were 2.3% at PSBs and 3% at private banks. By March 2020, the position had changed dramatically: the respective numbers were 11.3% and 4.2%. The boom in lending before the GFC was the result of lending to infrastructure (power and telecom) and related sectors, namely, mining, iron and steel, textiles, and aviation. These five sectors accounted for 29% of all advances at PSBs and 14% of advances at private banks. The suggestion that such lending reflects poor underwriting skills at PSBs has been emphatically refuted by the Economic Survey of 201617. The survey noted, the vast bulk of the problem has been caused by unexpected changes in the economic environment: timetables, exchange rates, and growth rate assumptions going wrong. Let us now turn to the mechanics of privatisation. Whoever says that government should divest itself of ownership in PSBs must specify to which private hands they would like control to pass. The IDBI Banks travails in finding a suitor for itself highlight the issues involved. The government sought to dilute its stake in the IDBI Bank to below 51% and to find a strategic partner instead from the budget of 201617 onwards. It did not have much luck. In January 2019, the LIC increased its shareholding to 51% so that the IDBI Bank became a subsidiary of LIC. The government shareholding was 45% and it has remained that way. In 2020, the LICs shareholding dropped to 49%. Thus, the government and LIC together hold 94% of equity in the IDBI Bank. The decision to privatise IDBI Bank was announced in February 2021 in the finance ministers budget speech. Who are the potential buyers? A well-run private bank in India would be an ideal candidate. Alas, today no private bank has the capability or the willingness to acquire IDBI Bank. None of the four private bank leaders need IDBI Banks branch network, which is typically an attraction for the buyer of a bank. Nor would they want to be saddled with the legacy issues at IDBI Bank or its public sector culture. Besides, each of the four private bank leaders is wrestling with its own issues. HDFC Bank has its hands full dealing with the issues arising out of its proposed merger with HDFC. ICICI Bank, the best-performing private bank at the moment, has only recently managed to take its performance to a higher level. Kotak Bank and Axis Bank are both under investor pressure to improve performance on various counts. Corporate houses have the deep pockets to acquire banks such as IDBI Bank but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not willing to let them into banking as yet. Foreign banks wanting to enter India would be interested in a ready-made branch network. However, several leading banks in the West have been retreating from emerging markets, including India, ever since capital requirements for banks became more onerous. Moreover, the RBI will treat foreign banks on par with domestic banks only if they enter through the subsidiary route, not as branches of the parent. The minimum capital requirement for foreign bank subsidiaries is `500 crore. At least 50% of the board members have to be Indian nationals and one-third of the board must comprise independent directors. Foreign banks do not to seem to have an appetite for entering India in the face of such stringent norms. That leaves financial institutions, such as private equity firms, as potential acquirers. RBI norms limit their shareholding in an Indian bank to 15%, although it reserves the right to allow a higher limit in particular cases. There are reports that during roadshows held for the IDBI Bank abroad, foreign institutions balked at the idea of investing in the bank unless they were assured of a controlling stake. The reports also say that, following discussions with the government, the RBI is willing to allow a single foreign institutional investor an equity stake of up to 40%. This may not suffice either. Given that the government and LIC together have a stake of 94% in IDBI Bank, only a stake of 51% would give foreign institutional investors a sense of control. Even then, they may not be willing to live with a significant government shareholding or government presence on the board of directors. The government, for its part, seems unwilling to divest all its stake at one go. That in itself could prove a major stumbling block. The RBI also requires investors to bring down their equity stake in a bank to 26% within a specified time frame. Will it grant an exemption to investors in the IDBI Bank? The level of private shareholding is not the only ticklish issue. The current low valuation of the IDBI Bank poses problems for the government. Even if the IDBI Bank is sold at a premium to the current valuation, the government will be exposed to accusations of having got the timing wrong. The IDBI Bank, like many PSBs, sits on land and building which will have to be separately valued from the business. (At Air India, land and building were moved out to a special purpose vehicle to head off controversy.) Unions are steadfastly opposed and are much stronger than at public sector undertakings (PSUs). PSB privatisation is not the same as privatisation of non-financial enterprises or PSUs. Privatising banks is fraught with issues of financial stability. As our analysis shows, the devil in bank privatisation is truly in the detailto what extent the RBI would be willing to dilute its carefully framed norms for private ownership in banks, norms that are intended to ensure financial stability? Privatisation of the IDBI Bank, which is regarded as an obvious case for privatisation, is dragging out for that reason. The challenges in extending privatisation to the whole set of PSBs (with the exception of SBI) can be well imagined. References Ghosh, S K and Ashish Kumar (2022): Things That Should Remind Us of Dangers of Reckless Privatisation, Economic Times, 19 July. Gupta, Poonam and Arvind Panagariya (2022): Privatization of Public Sector Banks in India: Why, How and How Far?, India Policy Forum, 1213 July, National Council of Applied Economic Research, https://www.cenfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/16584779191658477663Paper-2-IPF-2022-PoonamGuptaandArvindPanagariya.pdf. Mohan, T T Ram (2014): Banks: Financing the Future, Oxford Handbook of the Indian Economy in the 21st Century, Ashima Goyal (ed), New Delhi: OUP, May. . In August 2020, after the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi case, a foundation-laying ceremony or a bhoomi pujan was organised for the Ram Mandir. This performative-cum-devotional gesture was perceived differently by different sections of the society. While some considered this to be detrimental towards the secular values of the Constitution, others seemed to be appreciative of this step. The response in defence of this move claimed that the attendance of government officials in religious ceremonies should be understood as them exercising their constitutional right of freedom of religion in their individual capacity as citizens. This is largely a liberal understanding of rights and freedom that was resorted to by the government to paint the act in secular shades. Taking up this particular performative gesture as the reference for this discussion, we employ the lens of moral injury that is essential to the notion of minority empowerment in order to refute this response. Two things are noted here: first, presiding over a religious ceremony in a secular nation is not in itself a problematic act. This has been a frequent practice in India that boasts of a secular fabric according equal respect to all faiths and maintaining a principled distance from all religions. The first President of India had accepted an invitation to inaugurate the Somnath temple, though the then Prime Minister had certain disagreements with the acceptance of this invitation by the President. However, prima facie, there were no constitutional violations in such acceptances of invites associated with religious events. Second, in response to the critics of this solemn attendance, it was stated that the Prime Minister in the capacity of a citizen of the country can attend the functions related to his faith and belief. However, certain sections of the population were visibly offended. While many perceived this as a humiliation of sorts, for others, the attendance by the Prime Minister was symbolically reflective of the overarching character that the Indian state had assumed over a period of time in the guise of secular governance. This was a moment that clearly could not be challenged through law and the juridical language of secular governance. Further, there was no secular provision that could be employed by liberal sensibilities to make sense of this moral injury or to gauge the degree of this intangible hurt. Now the question arises: When there is no constitutional violation in this performative gesture and when it subscribes to the cultural ethos of the nation, what justifies the kind of anger that was expressed by a section of the population, and where does the question of moral injury feature in the entire debate? India as a postcolonial nation was born in the aftermath of a partition that was engineered through communal sentiments which resulted in mass killings, rapes, and numerous incidents of torture and brutality. However, since then, the Indian state has been flaunting its secular credentials that were met by resistance from certain sections. In this exhaustive trajectory marked intermittently by violence and communal clashes, the state had managed to govern through the secular fabric and liberal values, relegating such elements out of the institutions. In doing so, the job of violent engineering on the lines of religion was outsourced to the section of the population that subscribed to the exclusionary ideology that views the nation as belonging to the religious majority. Thus, the right-wing forces have proven adept at being able to advance their ideological agendas in and through the values of secular governance, equality, and tolerance. On the contrary, whatever the case, Muslims for ages have resorted to the constitutional vocabulary to affirm their belongingness to the nation, reiterating their constitutional guarantees as citizens of the largest democracy in the world. This grew into a default response each time the minorities were asked to prove their nationalism and dutifulness to the nation. The Muslims obliged, relying on the liberalsecular oaths and pronouncements to respond to the communal attacks. In law, even as the minority community is reckoned as equal citizens, this structural configuration of secular governance neglects the power inequalities that have produced the very category of minority through privileging majoritarian norms. These norms, however, remain clouded from view by political secularisms claims to neutrality and minority empowerment in India. The manner in which questions around the relationship between state and religion have figured in the last few years, has been taken as the ebb of secular governance, if not its outright collapse. However, secularism had enabled the same in the first place and such events, far from indicating a collapse of the secularist framework, suggest a certain crisis within the practice of Indian secularism. The redressal of the same, however, seems difficult to materialise within the secularist framework that enabled the injury in the first place. As Saba Mahmood would put it, secular governance actually hinges upon a particular conception of religiosity (for example, as a private and individual experience), distinct patterns of political belonging (for example, as a national minority), and specific configurations of gender relationships (for example, organised around the model of the nuclear family). This mode of secular governance had not only failed to check the tendency of religious majoritarianism but also acted as an enabler of the same, given the inability to anticipate or translate this sense of potential hurt, humiliation, and injury inflicted upon the religious minorities of the country. This observation becomes clearer with the fallout of secular governance, as it attempted to steer clear of the diverse religious claims by confusing economic claims with religious identitarian claims and vice versa in order to escape the obligation of the welfare state in the name of minority empowerment. Minority empowerment through secular governance views the minority question insofar as it structures political subjectivities and interfaith relationships wherein secularism is also a constitutive element of the processes of religious polarisation that have intensified in recent decades. At this juncture then, scrutinising the framework of secular governance helps one to understand it as a global project that seeks to ensure civic equality among citizens by appointing the nation state as the arbiter of religious difference wherein rather than alleviating religious tensions and inequalities, secularism actually exacerbates them. Aishwarya Bhattacharya, Sana Shah New Delhi . The letter titled Plight of the Handloom Industry by Ashish Kumar Meher (EPW, 23 July 2022) is important and timely. At the beginning of the 19th century, craftspersons in England protested the introduction of machines fearing that their craftspersonship would become redundant and be replaced by machines. The incident is reckoned as the Luddite revolt. Since then, machinic production has been endangering manual occupations such as handloom. The plight of the handloom weavers (Tanti in Bengali) was eloquently depicted in a folk-rhyme written by Rabindranath Tagore that every Bengali child has grown up learning, starting from the 20th centuryTantir bari benger basha, Cola banger chha; Khai-dai gaan-gai, Taire naire na (The house of the weaver, turned into the house of frogs; Eating, singing happily ever, The tadpoles of croaking frogs). The rhyme tells that with the introduction and adoption of the power loom, handloom had become obsolete. The weavers had abandoned the occupation. Devoid of handloom, their workshop had become the breeding place of frogs. In July 2022, I had visited a place named Inathnagar under the Somaspur gram panchayat of Dhaniakhali block in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. There are still many handloom weavers engaged in the weaving of saris with great efforts amid an unfavourable socio-economic and policy environment. Besides the cousins and the kith and kin, the 87-year-old father of my senior colleague is still doing his best in the creation of handloom saris. The assistance of a family member, usually a woman, is essential to run the handloom operations. It seems handloom is built on an indigenous technology (an instrumental design that reduces the uncertainty in causeeffect relationship) with delicate and complicated connections and arrangements that require patience and coordination of mind, hands, and legs combined with experience, ingenuity, practice, and dexterity. Handlooms and handicrafts are still doing their best to survive the competition in the rural areas of the North East, including West Bengal and many other places in India. Instead of letting the technique, knowledge, and skill of handloom weavers become extinct with the time in utter negligence, it would be wise to transfer the technology to the next generations through appropriate policy and institutional arrangements by the government and industries as a part of their corporate social responsibility. Samares Kumar Das Peren Mirch Masalas invocation of M K Gandhi celebrates independence from an external colonial state while also manufacturing consent for the modernising initiatives undertaken by the postcolonial state. Movies, as historical texts, are products of material conditions and are therefore ideologically embedded. During the 1970s, a novel artistic movement emerged in India, which envisioned art beyond the confining contours of formulaic plots and garish songs that had hitherto dominated mainstream cinema. The New Cinema trend swerved the cinematic gaze to social structures of caste, class, and gender. Constitutive of this trend, Ketan Mehtas Mirch Masala (1987) is a Hindi film that explores the social relations that characterised colonial India. The movie etches out the challenges that working women must contend with through its protagonist Sonbai (Smita Patil), who escapes into the factory that she and other women in the village work at when the Subedar attempts to acquire her at all costs. United by their experiences of marginalisation, the women collectively vanquish the advances of the Subedar. Akin to other New Cinema films, Mirch Masala was state-funded and this was an important material consideration that had a bearing on the imagination of the India it constructs. As the Nehruvian states developmental project was a dominant feature during the 1970s in creating a colonial past, Mirch Masala also legitimises the postcolonial present by criticising not only the feudal system but also marginalising a pivotal figure associated with championing the villageM K Gandhi. While it remained imperative to remember Gandhi as the film was released in the 40th anniversary of independence, it was important to not reproduce his imagination of the decentralised village as the backbone of the nation. Thus, the Gandhian character Masterji is not the protagonist of the movie; Gandhis vision of the village as the vanguard of development had to remain in the shadows of history. However, aspects of the Gandhian thought that concur with the postcolonial states ideology are allowed to flourish in the narrative. For instance, when Masterji opposes being tied down, the film alludes to how India refused to be bound by the chains of colonisation. Mirch Masala represents a subaltern historiography where hegemonic depictions of women in the nationalist movement are contested. For instance, the film shuns the metaphor of Bharat Mata (Mother India), venerated by Gandhi, instead depicting women as agentic rather than as submissive mothers whose honour must be protected by marshalling the nation. The allegory of the nation as a mother was confined to upper-caste, upper-class women. Sonbai, who is lower caste, working class, childless, and living without a husband to curtail her sexual autonomy, can never be reified as Bharat Mata. Mirch Masala counters dominant historiography through its portrayal of women and Muslims who occupy the margins of conventional historiographic narratives of the independence movement as a singular revolutionary force. Abu Miya, in fending off the soldiers of the colonial overlordthe Subedarproclaims that his duty as a guard necessitates that he protect not only the property but also labouring bodies. By rewriting history such that social relationsrather than economic imperativesare accorded centrality, the movie challenges the rhetoric of the nationalist movement. It counters the Swadeshi movement whose principal aim remained the nationalisation of capital, rather than an effort to reconstitute social relations. Further, when Abu Miya defies the Seths orders, insisting that he will not be complicit in the oppression and instead lends his solidarity to the working women, he effectively disputes the differentiating tendency inherent to the anti-colonial movement. That is, he counters the nationalist movement that opposed the British rule but which was predicated on the oppression of Muslims and women who were not viewed as legitimate stakeholders of the struggle. Thus, Mirch Masala represents a counter-history where those voices erased from official records come to ring with resounding zeal. Drawing from womens struggles that predominated the 1970s, Ketan Mehta reproduces the centrality of the means of food production in enabling the mobilisation of labouring women. In highlighting the significance of the instruments of production, Mehta also delineates how the interests of proletariat women are distinct because of the dual burden of housework and factory work that they must bear. For instance, when the women are locked up in the factory, one of them wryly notes how this accords them respite from domestic chores. Thus, women who straddle the public and private spheres are not only compelled to face unequal division of labour within the home but also confront extraction of their surplus labour on the factory floor. The distinct experiences of proletariat women imply that their resistance is not confined to the private sphere, as their struggles are also interlocked with the exploitative feudal system. When the women lament how the Subedar steals all their belongings, with one of them wryly enquiring if the Subedar has taxed even laughter, it becomes evident that proletarian womens oppression is also grounded in concrete material conditions and therefore their resistance is directed at the extractive colonial system at large. Foregrounding a Marxist as opposed to a Gandhian approach, Mehta frames the womens resistance as influenced by production relations where they use commodities that have their own accumulated labour value as symbols of struggle. That is, the bright red of the chilli powder and the sickle brandished by Sonbai, which are symbols of communist resistance, are the primary instruments of the womens dissent. In the beginning of the film, a woman remarks that the vivid red of the chillies indicates that they will make an acerbic masala. Thus, the colour red symbolises and foreshadows the emergence of a revolutionary consciousness. When the objects and instruments of their labour are no longer separated from them, the women cease experiencing alienation, instead gaining the strength to organise against sexual and material exploitation through their collective labour power. Mirch Masala is remarkable in its ideological clarity and is unflinching in its critique of colonial and patriarchal exploitation. The historical moment in which Mirch Masala was released enabled a radical reconstruction of a colonial past shorn from an uncritical embrace of Gandhism. By retrieving voices that fall through the cracks of state history, Mirch Masala evocatively portrays the experiences of rural women without succumbing to the trap of pigeonholing them as victims who require the protection of either the state or the men in their community. The uniqueness of Mirch Masala thus lies in how it places women as the custodians of history and hence as the architects of revolutionary change. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen some Asian countries employ sophisticated mass-surveillance technologiesnormally employed to gather intelligence for domestic security purposesto contain the spread of infection in their populations. There has also been an intrusion of military and allied national security actors into the traditionally civilian domain of public health, in the form of disease surveillance. These emerging developments in the pandemic response provide a pretext for a limited historical review, beginning from World War II to the present, centred on the intersection between infectious disease surveillance and control, national security, and military in the Western world. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been the single most disruptive event, unprecedented in its impact on almost every major domain, from public health to the economy and environment, since World War II. A global phenomenon of this scale is viewed as a harbinger of epochal change in numerous domains, and spawns countless speculations and apprehensions about the not-so-distant future, that is, the post-pandemic era. From the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments employed digital real-time remote surveillance technologies as part of the spectrum of emergency measures employed in outbreak control in their respective populations. A concern was that deployment of these new sophisticated mass-surveillance tools, often provisionally sanctioned under extraordinary legal powers, would continue indefinitely, even after the pandemic was brought under control (Harari 2020). The technologies, meant for contact tracing and location-tracking, included smartphone apps using bluetooth and the global positioning system (GPS), quick response (QR) codes, facial-recognition software and others. With the help of data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning, government agencies could constantly monitor movements of persons known or suspected to have contracted the virus. This was done in order to ensure strict compliance with isolation or quarantine protocols, as well as to identify potential contacts and, in the long run, establish virus transmission chains and identify emerging hotspots. Aided by a favourable legal regime and highly wired society, some governments, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China, and Israel, were getting access to digital footprints of their citizens through smartphone apps and credit/debit card transaction records. In Russia, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with facial-recognition software were being used. The Israeli government had granted its domestic security agencythe Shin Betunrestricted access to a vast pool of geolocation data of millions of Israeli cellphone users. These confidential data, usually gathered from cellphone providers for counterterrorism measures, were repurposed for outbreak control efforts (Silverstein 2020). In the West, both the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) health departments signed expensive contracts with Palantir, a secretive big-data analytics firm from Silicon Valley that had earlier collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other US national security agencies, and infamously assisted the immigration department under the Donald Trump administration in the separation of migrant families and arrests of undocumented migrants (Howden et al 2021). The US governments, both federal and state, also began a similar dialogue with Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition start-up that provided software to law enforcement agencies, like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to track down criminals. Google, Apple and other big tech firms have lately ventured into creating similar tracking software (Calvo et al 2020). A few emerging, and also overlapping, trends can be discerned from these new developments. First, is the temporary repurposing of many surveillance technologies originally designed and employed for intelligence gathering, for outbreak control. Second, is the growing role of military or security agencies in the realm of disease surveillance. The traditional role of military in large and significant infectious disease outbreaks is of immediate response, as in the case of other major natural disasters, and is limited to mainly helping in logistics, building temporary infrastructures like field hospitals and isolation centres, enforcing curfews and lockdowns, transporting vaccines, and medicines, maintaining food and other essential supply chains, etc. During the COVID-19 pandemic, excessive use and reliance on armed forces for immediate outbreak response in some countries like the Philippines, South Africa, and Sri Lanka has attracted considerable criticism (Metheven 2020). However, in this paper, the traditional military response to epidemics is not the issue of concern. Instead, the focus is on the increasing role and responsibility shared by military, security or law enforcement agencies in the long-term aspects of infectious disease control, including surveillance and research. It is to be underlined that these aspects belong to the public health domain, traditionally entrusted with appropriate civilian agencies in normal times. An almost commonsensical explanation is that these new developments are mostly limited to East Asian countries, having nominal democratic or semi-authoritarian regimes with scant regard for civil rights and, hence, are fundamentally incompatible with the existing liberal democratic culture and legal regimes in Western countries (Alon et al 2020). In this paper, we will attempt to dismantle this stereotypical binary of democratic Westauthoritarian East in accounting for the increasing role of military or security agencies in disease surveillance for outbreak control. Instead, it can serve as a starting point to embark on a historical review on the intersection between infectious disease surveillance, national security and military in the US, as a prototype of the Western world, from the post-World War II era to the present. Drawing from a range of secondary empirical sources like articles in research journals and periodicals, news reports, key official reports and others, it can be argued that: first, certain infectious diseases have become deeply associated with national security interests in the Western world in the decades following the Cold War; and second, despite being a traditional concern of public health agencies, surveillance and other components of infectious disease control witnessed an increasing involvement of military and allied security actors in recent decades. The military engagement with infectious diseases in Western countries also broadened in scope, from health protection of their own forces to that of the general population, in coordination with public health institutions. Post-war Shaping of Epidemiological Surveillance In the initial years following World War II, the establishment of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) programme played a central role in shaping epidemiologic or public health surveillance of infectious diseases in the US and many other countries in its present professional and institutional form.1 These developments, in their nascent stages, were embedded, to an extent, in national security interests in the context of an emergent Cold War. In 1942, the CDC was established as a wartime exigent organisation, then called the Office of Malaria Control in War Areaswith its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia in south-eastern USwith the objective to control malaria around military installations in southern states, where mosquitoes were abundant. Although malaria and typhus were largely controlled with the end of World War II, the agency was continued with the aim to carry on control efforts as well as to prevent the spread of new infectious diseases, expected to be brought by American troops returning from foreign tropical countries. In 1946, the organisation changed to a permanent federal agency, the forerunner of todays CDC, aimed to assist the US in the control of every type of infectious diseases (Foege 1981). A prominent epidemiologist in the CDC, Alexander Langmuir, was trying to establish a formal training programme to train interested physicians in field epidemiology, but the proposal initially failed to attract governmental funding (Hamilton 2006). Beginning in June 1950, the Korean War was the first large-scale conflict between two superpowers since the advent of the Cold War, in which mutual suspicions and accusations regarding the use of biological weapons were high. The clandestine biological weapons programme of the US, established in 1943 during World War II, was in its upswing. Langmuir (1980: 472) later remarked: The CDC was born at the beginning of the atomic age, an age when intense controversy raged among physicians, epidemiologists, and the military over biological warfare. The subject was so shrouded in secrecy that it could not be discussed in an open scientific fashion. Sensing a new insecurity in the political and military establishment regarding the biological warfare threat from the Soviet Bloc, Langmuir invoked national security to boost his earlier training proposal to now develop a mobile team of competent epidemiologists that would aid the FBI and the military by early detection of any such covert biological attacks. Expectedly, the US Congress accepted the proposal and the EIS was created. Langmuir admitted to have deliberately selected the word intelligence to describe the new programme, reflecting the underlying wartime utilitarian tone, which was explicit. He stated: if an enemy chooses to use biological warfare against us, he will expect to produce epidemics. Epidemiology is, therefore, basically involved in defense against biological warfare. (Langmuir and Andrews 1952: 235) Cold War: Military and Infectious Diseases A few years into the Cold War, the anticipated biological warfare threat from the Soviet Union was largely eclipsed by the threat of nuclear weapons. The EIS quickly shifted its attention to infectious diseases of public health concern and made some spectacular achievements, such as in polio surveillance in later years. In 1965, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally established its epidemiological surveillance unit for communicable diseases. As domestic protests escalated against the Vietnam War, US President Richard Nixon, in 1969, terminated the offensive biological weapons programme and dismantled the army biological warfare laboratories in Fort Detrick, Maryland. In 1972, he eventually signed the Biological Weapons Convention, a multilateral biological disarmament treaty (Tucker 2002). During the Cold War, the engagement of US military to the domain of infectious disease was largely limited to health protection of military forces. It was long-recognised that infectious disease outbreaks contribute most to fatalities incurred on the battlefield and can decisively influence the course of military operations. During World War II, armed forces on both sides witnessed overwhelming fatalities due to influenza and typhus epidemics. From the dawn of the 20th century, beginning with the historic successes of the army commissions on yellow fever (in Cuba) and anaemia (in Puerto Rico), the US military had established and maintained a wide network of overseas laboratories, mostly in tropical and subtropical countries, for research on locally endemic infectious diseases, which were seen as potential threats to the success of its overseas military operations and the health of the deployed troops. The major focus was on developing and testing new diagnostic tests, vaccines, antimicrobials, vector control measures, etc. The host countries provided an ideal setting to study these diseases in their natural milieu and clinical trials were also conducted on the local population. However, surveillance for infectious diseases remained nominal throughout this period. Collaboration with host countries at scientific and administrative levels also served a variety of diplomatic and strategic interests of the US. In World War II and the ensuing Cold War, as overseas military deployments of the US steadily grew in numbers, more overseas laboratories and their detachments were establishedin Guam (1944), Taiwan (1955), Thailand (1959), Indonesia (1970), Brazil (1973), Kenya (1974), Manila (1979), Peru (1983), and others (Gambel and Hibbs 1996). In the closing decades of the 20th century, more overseas labs were shut down than opened, for various reasons, including shortage of funds and changing strategic needs. In the late 1970s, the US Department of Defense (DoD) even considered closing, or handing over to civilian agencies, all of its overseas military research laboratories. However, after the Cold War ended, the relationship of the US military with infectious diseases underwent a profound transition (Russell et al 2011). New Security Threats and Civil Biodefence With nuclear threat receding with the end of the Cold War, non-traditional threats to national security began to receive more attention in the West. From being simply regarded as public health problems, certain infectious disease outbreaks, whether natural or man-made, were increasingly assumed to have ramifications that could unsettle societal, economic, and political stability. In international politics, an issue is said to be securitised when it is presented as an existential threat requiring emergency measures and justifying actions outside the normal bounds of political procedure (Buzan et al 1998: 2324). Traditionally, such existential threats to a state are of military nature, but from the early 1990s, infectious diseases began rising in ranks of the national security agenda of developed countries, from the realm of low to high politics. Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: In the three decades following World War II, newly developed antibiotics drastically reduced deaths from hitherto deadly bacterial diseases, and the initiation of mass vaccination programmes produced spectacular results in the control of smallpox, polio, measles, and other childhood diseases in developed countries. However, the optimism of the late 1970s was soon dimmed by the emergence of new infectious diseases like HIV, and global resurgence of old ones like malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, and dengue, often in more virulent and drug-resistant forms, with the sluggish development of new antibiotics. From an historic low in 1980, the death rate from infectious diseases in the US began to steadily rise once again. The most alarming of all, HIV/AIDS, discovered in 198182, was later found to originate in sub-Saharan Africa. Highly lethal new viral diseases, poorly understood and difficult to treat, erupted in other parts of the world like Ebola virus (1976, Zaire) and Nipah virus (1998, Malayasia). In 1999, the West Nile virus was introduced in the US, resulting in a large and dramatic outbreak in New York. In 1997, the first known instance of human infections from the highly virulent avian influenza or bird flu strain (H5N1) were reported in Hong Kong. In 2003, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) spread to Canada within just one month of its outbreak in China. This succession of unforeseen events sounded alarm bells within the administrative and security establishments of Western countries, to the presumed threat of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) to their national security (Davies 2008; Heymann 2003). The increased interconnectedness between developed and developing countries in this globalised worldparticularly through air transportation between metropolises, resulting from an explosive rise in international travel, trade and immigrationhas added to the sense of vulnerability of the former to infectious disease outbreaks. In the 1990s, a number of successive official reports in the US reflected the growing recognition of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases as a significant threat to the nation (IOM 1992; CDC 1994; CISET 1995). One such influential report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM 1992) strongly recommended strengthening the US role in global surveillance, highlighted the importance of the already existing overseas military laboratories, suggested continued financial support to them, and also warned against their decline. In January 2000, an annual CIA report underlined global infectious diseases as a non-traditional threat to US national security (NIC 2000). Additionally, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), at the initiative of the US, held an entire session exclusively on a health issue, that is, the impact of HIV/AIDS on peace and security in Africa (Waal 2014). Both initiatives were a first in the respective histories of these security organisations. Bioterrorism: With the end of the Cold War, a few third world countries like Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, and North Koreareferred to as rogue statesand some transnational non-state terrorist entities like Al-Qaeda, were projected by security experts in Washington as emerging international threats to US national security. Unlike a nuclear superpower like the erstwhile Soviet Union, these new sets of actors were more likely to indulge in asymmetrical warfare, employing unconventional weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) like chemical and biological weapons (CBW) that require lower input cost and technology and are far easier to produce and disseminate than conventional oneshence, often described as the poor mans atomic bomb. The etymological shift in denoting the security threat, from an NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) threat in the Cold War era to a CBRN (chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear) threat in the 1990s, reflected the shift in perception and realignment of priorities. The revelation of the erstwhile Soviet Unions huge biological weapons programme raised the fear that the bioweapons cache might, through former Soviet scientists, end up in the possession of new rogue states and non-state actors (Wright 2004). In 1995, Iraq admitted its small biological weapons programme operating since the 1980s. An influential report by the US Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) called for a sweeping expansion of biological defence to protect the entire civilian population, deemed vulnerable to bioterrorist attacks. It reflected a definitive shift in priority group for biodefencefrom military to civilian. Prior to this, the conventional form of biodefence was exclusively concerned with protecting the troops from infectious diseases on the battlefield (OTA 1992). By the end of the 1990s, the possibility of some impending biological doom seemed increasingly real to some influential sections, reinforced by regular and often dramatic portrayals in newspapers, popular television shows and fiction: The image of a cloud of anthrax killing millions, repeatedly promoted to the public by prominent scientists and senior members of the administration gained the same kind of symbolic strength as the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. (Wright 2006: 100) The twin threats of EIDs and bioterrorism converged to elevate the status of certain infectious disease to an issue of natural security, which called for a common strategy to combat them. It was determined that strengthening the national and global surveillance efforts would serve a dual purpose against both natural and military dimensions of these infectious diseases (Wright 2006; Heymann 2003). The Expanding Role of the Military Throughout modern history, the military has been seen as the traditional agent of national security. Any threat to national security often calls for a key role of the armed forces as part of the response and mitigation efforts. The growing trend in developed countries to regard certain infectious diseases as potential security threats, in turn, provided legitimacy to the increasing role of traditional security actors like militaries in the context of infectious disease outbreaks (Watterson and Kamradt-Scott 2016; Youde 2008). From the mid-1990s, the role of the military and the scope of biological defence considerably broadened, from the traditional concern of exclusively protecting the health of service persons to now protecting the health of the civilian population from the threat of infectious disease, either natural or man-made; this was termed as a major policy shift by Wright (2006: 65). According to Fidler (2011: 119): The lines demarcating military and civilian realms began to blur, creating the need to integrate civilian and military efforts against pathogenic threats. The years that followed also witnessed an unprecedented collaboration between federal public health agencies in the US, namely the CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with military and domestic security or law enforcement agencies, like the FBI (Waal 2014; Butler et al 2002). Militarisation of Infectious Disease Surveillance In 1997, under the directive of the then US President Bill Clinton, the DoD established a global surveillance network for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, named the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS) (White House 1996). The goal was to improve surveillance and outbreak response to emerging pathogens worldwide through overseas military medical research laboratories located in partner countries. Davies (2008: 299) remarked: Their location in the DoD, as opposed to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or Center for Disease Control (CDC) demonstrates how seriously the United States views the response to infectious disease as a key national security strategy. In 1999, the US military also developed a global web-based syndromic surveillance named ESSENCE (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics), which incessantly evaluates digital health data from diverse non-traditional sources around the world, and can detect any emerging outbreaks, often within few hours instead of days. To strengthen the domestic surveillance, the FBI and the US Army partnered with the CDC and established the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) in 1999a multilevel network connecting state or federal laboratories with military ones (Morris et al 2003). The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) secretary publicly declared in the same year that it was the first time in American history in which the public health system has been integrated directly into the national security system (Wright 2004). Intensifying Domestic Biosurveillance In 2001, anthrax attacks in the US through spore-laden mails ostensibly validated the long-held apprehensions of the security establishment. The George W Bush administration promptly responded by launching an array of ambitious and expensive civil biodefence initiatives, ranging from developing new vaccines and drugs against common biological agents (Project Bioshield) and creating emergency medical reserves for potential bioterrorist attacks (Strategic National Stockpile), to intensifying domestic biosurveillance, among others.2 In 2003, the newly founded US DHSlaunched to prevent future terrorist attacks like that of 11 September 2001deployed the BioWatch programme along with the FBI. As per this programme, the existing network of environmental sensors in major US cities was modified to also act as biological sensors, to detect early mass release of any lethal pathogens into urban air. Wright (2004: 58) remarked: Bush promises Americans a vast bio-umbrella intended to shield them from deadly bio-aggression in the same way that President Ronald Reagan promised that his Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) would shield them from nuclear missiles. Cooper (2006) referred to this event as the biological turn in the war on terror. War Disease to National Security Threat In modern history, influenza has been so deeply and devastatingly associated with war that its surveillance merits a separate discussion altogether. During armed conflicts, influenza outbreaks, within a very short time, incapacitated entire regiments, affected troop readiness, overwhelmed medical facilities, and disrupted military operations and logisticshence, it is aptly called a war disease. Unprecedented death and devastation was inflicted on the armed forces around the world in the final stages of World War I by the 1918 influenza pandemic (Spanish flu). When another global war began, the still-fresh memories of the pandemic hastened the US army to establish a board for influenza control in 1941. It eventually became the tri-service Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB) in 1949, having separate commissions for influenza and other infectious diseases of military significance (Canas et al 2000). With concern about an influenza outbreak looming in war-ravaged Europe with displaced populations and destroyed infrastructure, the WHO established the Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN)later renamed the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) in 1952. Its main task was to identify and share the commonly circulating virus strains so that effective vaccines can be developed. The relatively low virulence and fatalities of the next two pandemicsin 1957 and 1968steadily diminished the overall threat perception of an influenza pandemic in Western countries. After World War II, the turn towards nuclear weapons and consequent reduction in the role of conventional forces on the ground, along with regular vaccination campaigns of armed forces, greatly undermined the threat of influenza on military and conflict outcomes. While the WHOs GISN expanded its role in the 1957 and 1968 pandemics, the same period witnessed a steady withdrawal of the military from global influenza surveillance and control initiatives. Many such US military-led programmes were decommissioned; for instance, the AFEB was disbanded in 1972 (Watterson and Kamradt-Scott 2016). In 1976, the US Air Force, once again, began a laboratory-based influenza surveillance programme called Project Gargle, primarily oriented towards protecting armed forces from influenza outbreaks (Canas et al 2000). However, the scenario rapidly changed in the 1990s. In 1996, a dramatic and unusually contagious outbreak of human influenza, by a novel virus strain isolated from China, occurred aboard a US Navy ship, severely incapacitating crew members and temporarily grounding the ship, despite more than 95% of the crew being vaccinated (Earhart et al 2001). The following year, in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed the first known human outbreak of a highly virulent avian influenza or bird flu strain (HPAI A[H5N1]), which normally infects wild birds and domestic poultry. The outbreak, though small, was marked by an extremely high mortality rate (>30%), far exceeding that of common human influenza. These two alarming events underscored an urgent need for strengthening global influenza surveillance to rapidly identify newly emerging viral strains. In response, the US Air Force initiated the Global, Laboratory-based, Influenza Surveillance Program in 1997, as part of the GEIS, to improve, coordinate, and integrate influenza surveillance efforts. It was an expanded version of the earlier Project Gargle, built on existing networks of overseas laboratories, and operating in concert with the existing influenza surveillance programmes of the CDC and WHO (Canas et al 2000). In 2003, the Asian bird flu strain re-emerged and spread widely through regular outbreaks among poultry and wild birds in Asia, Africa, and even Europe. Though the spillover to humans has been small and sporadic, the virus was deemed to have pandemic potential. The following few years witnessed the securitisation of avian influenza reaching its pinnacle. In 2007, the WHO released the World Health Report A Safer Future that identified the influenza pandemic as the most feared security threat (Elbe 2010; Watterson and Kamradt-Scott 2016). The US military influenza surveillance system underwent significant global expansion between 2005 and 2008 in response to the growing apprehension of an impending pandemic. In this period, the number of countries routinely submitting specimens almost tripled (from 24 to 72), with many from South East Asianoted for its regular contribution to global influenza strain circulation. WHO and Global Surveillance Network From 2000 onwards, Western countries increasingly delegated their responsibilities of infectious disease control to the WHO, which emerged as the foremost international authority on global health security and surveillance (Davies 2008). In 2000, the WHO established the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), a global network of different partner institutions and agencies to integrate information and bringing international coordination of response to infectious disease outbreaks anywhere in the world. The GOARN continued to be funded, largely and primarily by Western countries, like the US, the UK, Canada, countries of the European Union (EU) and Australia. In 1995, the World Health Assembly recommended that major changes be made in the International Health Regulations (IHR), first adopted in 1969, in light of the emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and increased international trade and travel. Particularly following the 2003 SARS outbreak, the IHR was significantly revised in 2005 to conform to the new standards of global surveillance. Now, any illness or medical condition, irrespective of origin or source, that presents or could present significant harm to humans should be notified by the national governments to the WHO from the earlier mandatory notification of only three diseasesplague, cholera, and yellow fever (WHO 2016: 1). The US military surveillance networks, like the DoD-GEIS, function as key members in the GOARN, actively supporting and complementing the WHO in its coordination of global surveillance efforts on infectious diseases. Indeed, from the late 1990s, the WHO has advocated for the integration of existing national military laboratory networks of different countries into its global surveillance network (DAmelio and Heymann 1998). Similarly, the US military also shares close operational relation with the WHO in global influenza surveillanceits overseas laboratories act as crucial and often the only source of information on circulating virus strains to the WHOs GISRS. Its global influenza surveillance programme, in fact, often projected itself as an ideal and effective model for emulation by the WHO (Chretien et al 2006; Kelley 2009). Civilian Biodefence Interestingly, several key elements of civilian biodefence initiatives undertaken by successive US governments were found to be conveniently aligned with the financial interests of pharmaceutical giants as well as biotechnology start-ups. Some of the most vocal advocates of civilian defence against bioterrorism in the 1990s were renowned and influential biological scientists like Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, Frank Young and others, who served as scientific advisories to the Clinton administration at different official levels. Interestingly, they also maintained formal ties, as directors, trustees, board members or scientific advisers, with many biotechnology and pharmaceutical start-ups of that period. Some of them, like Elusys Therapeutics, subsequently made huge profits from biodefence-related research contracts with different government agencies, to develop drugs and vaccines (Wright 2004; Cooper 2006). In fact, as federal spending on civilian biodefence skyrocketed from 1999 to 2004 in order to fund expensive research programmes like Project Bioshield, it allowed for the growth of a new industry of nascent biopharmaceutical start-ups. In 2005, they formed a corporate lobbying group, the Alliance for Biosecurity, to influence biodefence-related federal policies and legislations and secure generous government funding for biodefence research. In 2004, when the securitisation of avian influenza was picking up, the WHO explicitly recommended that countries stockpile antivirals in advance, given their limited availability. It triggered many governments around the world to panic-buy and stockpile millions of doses of the two anti-influenza drugs (neuraminidase inhibitors)Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (Relenza)whose clinical efficacies were yet to be established. A developing country like India, where deaths from tuberculosis far exceeded that of influenza, also jumped on the global bandwagon and increased its Tamiflu stock by almost 10 times. Later, it was revealed that three scientists who drafted the WHO guidelines on influenza pandemic preparedness were also long-time paid consultants of two pharmaceutical giants, Roche and GSK, which manufacture these two anti-influenza drugs and, expectedly, made huge profits from the massive stockpiling (Cohen and Carter 2010). In comparison with anticipated bird flu (H5H1) pandemic, the swine flu (H1N1) pandemic in 200910 was similar to the usual seasonal influenza and the number of deaths fell far short of WHO predictions. This resulted in an unnecessary and colossal waste of public expenditure, as stockpiled drugs, bought with already constrained national health budgets, lay unused in warehouses around the world. Similarly, the US Strategic National Stockpile ran out of its reserves during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an acute shortage of protective masks, ventilators and other critical medical necessities, because the allocated budget for last 10 years was mostly spent on buying and storing anthrax vaccines from a single biopharmaceutical firmEmergent Biosolutionsto prepare against future bioterrorist attacks (Hamby and Stolberg 2021). Discussion Two distinct emerging trends can be discerned, more conspicuously in the decades following the Cold War: first, the growing securitisation of certain infectious diseases; and second, the growing militarisation of surveillance and other aspects of public health and infectious diseases. Last but not least are underlying financial interests of the biopharmaceutical industry influencing these developments. Though running the risk of being conflated, these trends have their own independent and contingent historical trajectories, which may not always have direct and immediate relation to one another. However, in the long run, they often appear to get entangled to varying extents. In fact, the 201415 Ebola epidemic in West Africa can provide a recent classic example of how the securitisation of a disease and militarisation of public health response can go hand in hand. In September 2014, the UNSC held a discussion on the Ebola epidemic in West Africaonly the second one held on a disease (first being HIV/AIDS in 2000)and declared it as a threat to international peace and security. Subsequently, more than 5,000 military personnel from Western countriesthe US, the UK, Canada and others, were deployed to West Africa as part of the international Ebola response (Benton 2017). The question of how big a threat of infectious diseases pose to national security can be raised. Securitisation of infectious diseases has attracted a lot of scholarly and policy attention over the last two decades. Many advocated that securitisation of certain public health issues has proved instrumental in elevating a particular public health issue to the top of the national, political and administrative agenda, imparting it greater importance and attention, and thereby drawing more resources than traditional non-security issues (Youde 2008). However, many scholars failed to establish, from historical precedents, a substantial empirical link between modern epidemics and national security, thus questioning the conceptual premise underpinning securitisation of infectious diseases. For example, the 1918 influenza pandemic killed millions of people around the world within an extraordinarily short duration, far greater than contemporary World War I, but even in such turbulent circumstances, had minimal disruption on political stability anywhere. Similarly, the full-blown HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s and 1990s did not precipitate any societal crisis or state collapse, not even in badly affected weak states of the poor African countries (Waal 2014). Another concern has been about the long-term consequences of securitisation on both national and global public health. Securitisation of diseases inadvertently influences and misleads the prioritisation of public health issues. It suppresses real and urgent public health concerns and diverts attention and limited resources to national security agendas. While the much-dreaded avian influenza pandemic never actually arrived, bioterrorist attacks have historically been very rare, and ensuing casualties, very few (Headley 2018). The grossly skewed distribution of resources resulting from the undue fixation on a narrow but improbable set of infectious disease threats like anthrax and plague (as biological agents) or avian influenza (as EIDs) while ignoring more prevalent infectious diseases, can have deleterious effects on overall public health in the long term (Youde 2008). This has been aptly described as public health in reverse (Cohen et al 1999). Securitisation can deepen historic distrust and divisions between first-world and third-world countries, and act as impediment to international health cooperation in the realm of global public health (Youde 2008). In its efforts to develop a strong global surveillance networkGOARN/GISNthe WHO has been criticised for prioritising the interests of Western countries by protecting them from these outbreaks. In fact, the WHO, a supposedly neutral international actor, helped in imparting a global character to the specific concerns and agendas of developed countries and transposing them to developing countries that have very different public health needs and concerns (Davies 2008). For example, in 2006, at the height of the avian influenza pandemic scare, the Indonesian government decided to stop further sharing its bird flu virus samples with the WHO after it found out that the samples, already shared unsuspectingly, were being indirectly passed on to biopharmaceutical firms in Western countries. This was to assist them in developing vaccines meant for use in their own countries, as the same were too costly for developing countries (Elbe 2010). Concluding Remarks To conclude, it is the fear of such diseasesplagues from poorer places (for example, cholera) or new exotic diseases from the tropics (such as Ebola)reaching their population rather than preventing these outbreaks per se that underlies the recent efforts of Western countries in securitising infectious diseases (Youde 2008). Recent efforts towards civilian biodefence by Western countries are thought to be largely driven by a bunker mentality, supposedly to protect and safeguard their citadel from either bioterrorist attacks from rogue states or emerging infections from developing countries (Sidel et al 2002). It is akin to: They bring us disease. We have to be on guard against them (Youde 2008: 164). How, then, does military involvement strengthen infectious disease outbreak response and control? In the long and illustrious history of military medicine, the knowledge gained through military research in public health to protect the health of service persons, both during war and peacetime, have given rise to spillover benefits for the health of the general population, as has happened in malaria and yellow fever research (Fidler 2011). In the short term, the heavily militarised response, encompassing public health logistics for two recent epidemics, that is, the Ebola virus in West Africa (2014) and Zika virus in Brazil (2015), and the especially large-scale involvement of foreign militaries in the former, have raised several concerns (Snyder 2016; Benton 2017). The sine qua non of military objectives, that is, safeguarding the security interest of the state (rather than improving the health of population), the entrenched command and control in military organisation, and association of coercion and violence with military operations, makes it difficult to separate military logics from military logistics. Unlike public health groups, communities are seen as subjects meant for control, with minimal non-hierarchical engagement. Infected families are stigmatised and coercive measures are employed to enforce quarantine in slums. Foreign militaries often view local populations as hostile reservoirs of exotic diseases and, hence, a threat to their health. All these raise mutual suspicion and resentment, destroy public trust and hamper community involvement, which is vital to the long-term success of any public health intervention. In this context, there have been suggestions to restrict the role of armed forces in infectious disease outbreaks to humanitarian relief measures like logistics under civilian supervision, and not involve them in surveillance, forecasting, containment of epidemics, and other related public health interventions (Waal 2014; Benton 2017). In the long term, the deepening collaboration between traditional public health agencies and military, security or law enforcement agencies, inadvertently compromises the independence of the former through undue influence of the latter on the basic scientific research (Sidel et al 2002). There is a long and documented history of dubious transparency, lack of public accountability and breach of ethical standards on the part of the US military in its engagement with infectious diseases. For example, it was uncovered much later that numerous clandestine experiments were conducted by the US military on unsuspecting American populations using biological agents during the heyday of the biological weapons programme in the early Cold War years (Bentley 2019). As Waal (2014) eloquently states: Medicine in khaki is not only inefficient, it is bad practice. Notes 1 In epidemiology, successive definitions of epidemiologic surveillance or public health surveillance, aimed at early detection of infectious or other communicable diseases, were laid down by Langmuir (in 1963), WHA (in 1968), CDC (in 1988 and in 2001), Thacker and Berkelman (in 1988) and the WHO (in 2012). To study their conceptual evolution, see Choi (2012). 2 Biosurveillance is an expanded version of surveillance, meant to detect any threat, infectious, toxic, metabolic, or otherwise, whether of intentional or natural origin, in human and animal populations, food, water, agriculture, and the environment. 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Choi, Bernard C K (2012): The Past, Present, and Future of Public Health Surveillance, Scientifica, Vol 6, 875253, pp 126. Chretien, J P, J C Gaydos, J L Malon and D L Blazes (2006): Global Network Could Avert Pandemics, Nature, Vol 440, No 7080, pp 2526. Cohen, Deborah and Philip Carter (2010): WHO and the Pandemic Flu Conspiracies, BMJ, Vol 340 (c2912). Cohen, Hillel W, Robert M Gould and Victor W Sidel (1999): Bioterrorism Initiatives: Public Health in Reverse? American Journal of Public Health, Vol 89, No 11, pp 162931. CISET (1995): Infectious Disease: A Global Health Threat, Working Group on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, Committee on International Science, Engineering and Technology, U S National Science and Technology Council. Cooper, Melinda (2006): Pre-empting Emergence: The Biological Turn in the War on Terror, Theory, Culture & Society, Vol 23, No 4, pp 11335. DAmelio, Raffaele and David L Heymann (1998): Can the Military Contribute to Global Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases? Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 4, No 4, pp 70405. Davies, Sara E (2008): Securitizing Infectious Disease, International Affairs, Vol 84, No 2, pp 295313. Earhart, K C, C Beadle, L K Miller, M W Pruss, G C Gray, E K Ledbetter and M R Wallace (2001): Outbreak of Influenza in Highly Vaccinated Crew of US Navy Ship, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 7, No 3, pp 46365. Elbe, Stefan (2010): Haggling over Viruses: The Downside Risks of Securitizing Infectious Disease, Health Policy and Planning, Vol 25, pp 47685. Fidler, David P (2011): Military Forces, Global Health and the International Health Regulations (2005), Articles by Maurer Faculty, No 1298. Foege, William H (1981): Centers for Disease Control, Journal of Public Health Policy, Vol 2, No 1, pp 818. 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Langmuir, Alexander D and Justin M Andrews (1952): Biological Warfare Defense: The Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Communicable Disease Center, American Journal of Public Health Nations Health, Vol 42, No 3, pp 23538. Morris, Stephen, Richard Kellogg, Sam Perry et al (2003): Detecting Bio-Threat Agents: The Laboratory Response Network, American Society for Microbiology (ASM NEWS), Vol 69, No 9, pp 43337. Metheven, Andrew (2020): Militarising the Pandemic: How States Around the World Chose Militarised Responses, War Resisters International, 21 August, https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2020/militarising-pandemic-how-states-around-world-chose-militarised-responses. NIC (2000): The Global Infectious Disase Threat and Its Implications for the United States, National Intelligence Council, NIE 99-17D, Washington, DC, pp 160. OTA (1992): Technology Against Terrorism: Structuring Security, Office of Technology Assessment, January, US Congress, Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. 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Wright, Susan (2004): Taking Biodefense Too Far, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol 60, No 6, pp 5866. (2006): Terrorists and Biological Weapons: Forging the Linkage in the Clinton Administration, Politics and the Life Sciences, Vol 25, Nos 12, pp 57115. Youde, Jeremy (2008): Whos Afraid of a Chicken? Securitization and Avian Flu, Democracy and Security, Vol 4, No 2, pp 14869. The relationship between the Gaud Saraswat Brahmins and the Portuguese state has not drawn much scholarly attention. This paper examines the transformation of the numerically marginal, yet most highly placed GSBs in the Portuguese Goa. It focuses on the amicable and conflictive strategies of the community with the Portuguese imperial agents, the colonisers of Portuguese origin and the Goan Catholics. It studies internal contradictions, the caste networks and institutions in the context of competitive conditions in the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. These processes, the paper suggests, are critical in understanding the cultural and political prospects of the scribal communities; they help trace a complex history of language practices, the kind of influence their position and skills enabled, and the formation of a Hindu polity. The study of the impact of Portuguese colonialism has often been mired in debates of forced conversions to Catholicism. While this so-called domination model highlights the workings of colonial power, it invisibilises the dominance of local social groups. Only recently have scholars started paying attention to the role of Goans at the local level who sought connections with the Portuguese for their own interests (Bastos 2001; Pinto 2007; Xavier 2008). However, these works are more concerned about Catholic Goans. Historians have been slow to realise the importance of the contradictions and tensions among the indigenous societies and the complexities of the cultural matrix within which they operated. While the earlier scholarship had focused on Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSBs) as a monolithic community, recent studies show how this caste fashioned itself (Conlon 1977; OHanlon and Minkowski 2008).1 Yet, we know little about the entanglements between the GSB and the Portuguese power structures. What did this relationship entail in the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century?2 This paper seeks to understand the profound political transformation and the ascendancy of the new GSB middle class, outlining the resources they employed to support their careers and aspirations. These practices and processes offer us new ways to understand the sociocultural changes in which a pan-Indian Hindu identity was forged and caste divisions were papered over, through cultural mechanisms. A New Public Life The caste configurations: The traditional caste order of the GSBs comprised the Shenvisthe traditional eliteand a number of other jatis that were recognised through their geographic locations: Bardezkars, Bhanavlikars, Pednekars, Kudaldeshkars and Sasthikars. Apart from regional divisions, there were sectarian divisions, such as those between Shaivites and Vaishnavites, with their allegiance to a swami and a matha. Physical mixing, such as inter-dining and intermarriage, was prohibited between the two sects. While Shenvis and Kudaldeskars were Shaivites, the other jatis were Vaishnavites. The Shenvis were unusual in a number of ways. Unlike the other GSB jatis, their description was not derived from place names and they commanded more exclusive possession of scribal and literary skills. They represented themselves as the 96 originalthe best of all the Brahmin communities who were brought to the Konkan region by Lord Parshuram (Kudva 1972: 276). With the establishment of regional states in the early modern period, Shenvis were able to pursue new conditions of service and had navigated unexpected opportunities for personal advancement in the military, diplomatic and political fields. Moreover, they prospered in a variety of ways, from holding important offices to privileged land tenures, commerce to revenue farming, engagement with local financial as well as political networks, interests in banking, interstate culture of diplomacy, and through their expertise as tutors and educators. Their association with regional states took them to every part of the subcontinent. Consolidating their portfolios of titles, they appear frequently in the inscriptional records in the early modern period (the Portuguese sources and the British ethnographic and census records) to such an extent that Shenvi was seen as a caste name. The traditional GSB elite, whose power lay predominantly in scribal skills, landed property and control of capital, were directly associated with the Portuguese administration.3 At times they financed the administration, guaranteeing loans by standing security, and acquired considerable material advantages in exchange, including decorations and titles of European nobility. Their relationship with the Portuguese imperial agents and colonisers of Portuguese origin, including high officials, Luso-descendentes4 and Goan Catholic elites, was complexsometimes amicable, and at other times, conflictive (Pissurlencar 1952; Pearson 1973; Souza 1975; Scammell 1988; Kamat 1999; Xavier and Zupanov 2015). The early voting rights: Purushottam Shenvi Kenkre (181274) exerted power at all levels of the government, both in Goa and in Portugal, in the 19th century. Kenkre, in the words of ethnographer Lopes Mendes (1886: 171), was a capitalist and a friend of the Europeans. Although the GSB elite could vote and contest the parliamentary elections since 1836, the contest for power between the native Catholics, and GSB elites led to some difficulty and confusion in exercising the right to vote (Pais 2017: 194). Soon thereafter, in the 1840s, Kenkre was a member of the commission constituted to look into the voting rights of Hindus. He is credited for acquiring voting rights for the Hindus by investing his personal resources and sending memoranda to the king of Portugal (Satsang 1906, Vol 5, No 4). In 1851, the government appointed a temple commission headed by Kenkre to recommend measures for the control and better administration of the temples, after frequent complaints of maladministration, financial abuse and frauds on temple properties (Boletim 1851). It is perhaps important to note that the promulgation of a law governing the temples in 1858, and its subsequent amendments in 1866 and 1886, transformed the important village temples into the caste monopoly of the GSB families (Boletim, 6 June 1851; Regulamento 1866; Regulamentos de mazanias 1886). Equally important was Kenkres financial contribution to the government, made during the Rane revolt of 1852 (Kudva 1972: 232). In 1853, the government rewarded him with the title of Cavalier, and later Baron and Viscount (Satsang 1906; Mendes 1886: 171; Kudva 1972: 232). The administrative power: At the time of the Portuguese acquisition of the neighbouring territories from 1740 to 1788, termed as the Novas Conquistas (New Conquests), critiques of the prior rule changed the policy of the colonial state towards the Hindus, particularly towards the dominant social groups. The Portuguese Goa, comprising Old Conquests, was scarcely forested till the mid-18th century. This changed with the New Conquests as the territory acquired had vast expanses of forests. These newly acquired areas were inhospitable and sparsely populated, recognised for infectious diseases and rudimentary medical facilities (Goatma, 10 May 1886). This discouraged the Portuguese administrative elite, as well as native Catholics, from taking up administrative positions in these provinces. However, the colonial state, expanding its administrative network to this region, had to maintain local power holdersthe traditional GSB elitewho functioned as the arbiters of the economic, religious, and social life of the New Conquests. They were responsible for installing a whole new administration (Xavier 1845). New government offices and institutions such as administrators of conselhos (province), courts and municipalities were established. This territorial expansion of the Portuguese in Goa allowed people mobility within GoaOld Conquests to New Conquests and the other way around. With the setting up of a constitutional monarchy in 1821, a system of political representation was introduced in Portuguese Goa. In this period, between 1834 and 1910, there were as many as 43 parliamentary elections in Portugal (Wheeler 1978: 26). Goans had a right to elect their representatives to the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon. However, suffrage was restricted to some men, based on annual income, taxation and literacy in Portuguese (Pais 2017: 4448). From the early 16th century, the colonial state pursued a series of institutional and legislative means to regulate the sphere of Hindu social relations and ritual practice. However, in 1774, it guaranteed the New Conquests populated by Hindus a policy of non-interference in their religion and withdrew from the adjudication of caste and religious disputes. The state insisted that these matters would be adjudicated by the Hindus themselves based on Hindu customs and usages (Xavier 1861: 1). In 1824, efforts were made towards the codification of Hindu customs and usages in the New Conquests, if required, caste by caste (Xavier 1840: 7377). In 1844, customs and usages of Hindus were guaranteed. In 1853, through Codigo dos Usos e Costumes Habitantes das Novas-Conquistas (Code of Customs and Usages of Habitants from New Conquests), a Hindu tradition based on shastra was defined for all Hindus of the New Conquests, making it the basis of colonial legislation (Xavier 1861). In 1880, the revised code was extended to all Hindus in Goa (Boletim 1881). Another development that consolidated the power of the GSBs was the introduction of Devanagiri fonts from Bombay for the government press in 1853. This not only established Marathi as the language of official documentation, but also as the medium for official communication (Pinto 2007: 99100). It led to the setting up of local Marathi printing presses. The rise of the GSB middle class: Since the 19th century, with growing opportunities for various kinds of secular employment, the interaction among the GSB jatis underwent a remarkable change (Conlon 1977). In part, this may be explained with the rise of a new GSB middle class that expressed itself in many distinctive ways. At first, they attacked sectarian differences of the GSB jatis. Not all GSBs were eliteswhile most of them appear to have been poor, it is their corporate caste identity that made it possible for them to exploit new opportunities. Along with this was the empowering effect of a new and expanded public life. The latter included new employment opportunities, electoral politics and new institutions, such as municipalities, political associations, and private Marathi schools. The increasing transactions in Marathi, compacting identity on the claims around the Marathi language and migration of individuals were a part of these developments. The new public life was also intimately related to a simultaneous revival and reorganisation of the Hindu cultural and religious life. These changes offered new sources of wealth and power to the GSBs, eroding the bonds of traditional patronclient relationships and replacing them with a new GSB middle class that competed for jobs, began holding policy-making positions within the administration, participated in electoral politics, and increasingly sought to turn the colonial state to its own uses. By the end of the 19th century, the influence of the traditional GSB elite weakened compared to an emerging GSB middle class. While the local dominance of the traditional elite continued, the primary characteristic of the emergent middle class was the prestige and power acquired through education, and not wealth. This furthered the growth of the professional classes and brought them in direct association with the administration. The elite, once the defenders of orthodoxy and against the unification of the GSB sub-castes,5 were displaced by a new class of individuals. Public Institutions Pen, paper, and power: Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the colonial state in Goa had already produced a dominant GSB elite who spoke Portuguese or Marathi, and through whom it administered its territory (Pinto 2007: 86). After the New Conquests, they sought to employ individuals with literacy skills in Marathi and Portuguese. By the end of the 18th century, the traditional elites dominated the colonial administration in the New Conquests. The colonial state formalised their feudal privileges and transformed their land-revenue assignments into their personal property (Dias 2004: 18393). With the expansion of administrative control over the New Conquests in the 19th century, the importance of the skills of paper management and accountancy was boosted. These new arrangements that were aimed at creating a social base for the Portuguese rule profoundly altered the social order by throwing open employment opportunities for Hindus. The growing demand for education in Marathi led to the establishment of a public Marathi school at Panjim in 1843 by the governor general Joaquim Mourao Garces Palha, a Luso-descendente (Boletim 1843). The Luso-descendentes were a vital elite at least the mid-19th century. Although they rarely occupied important positions in administration, they had formalised their power through regular high appointments in the Portuguese army. In 1871, the disbanding of the Portuguese army in Goa affected the status of the Luso-descendentes in the colonial social order. They were forced to compete with native Catholics (Brahmin and Chardo-Kshatriya), the secondary elite, in elections, and to secure administrative positions. At this point in time, an exemplary collaboration developed between the political life of Luso-descendentes and the cultural life of the traditonal GSB elite. The spread of Marathi language: In the early 1870s, Thomas de Aquino Mourao Garcez Palha, a leading Luso-descendente and the second Baron of Cumbarjua, brought a Marathi printing press from Bombay to Goa. He was the first to patronise the Marathi print culture. As an education inspector, he further supported Marathi schools by printing Methodo de Leitura da Lingua Maratha (Method of Reading Marathi), a textbook for Marathi-Portuguese schools, and Ramavijayaa Marathi edition of Ramayana (Dexassudharanetxo 1877). One of his major contributions was the setting up of four Marathi public schools (Satsang, November 1904). These initiatives considerably improved his position among the Hindus. He contested elections to the Portuguese Parliament from constituencies in Goa and was elected in 1879 and 1887 (Pais 2017: 170). The traditional GSB elites even hosted parties and celebrations, expressing their admiration for him (Jornal das Novas Conquistas 1883). By the mid-19th century, government policies had transformed Marathi as a language that eased administration and as the spoken and official language of the New Conquests (Pinto 2007: 101). The demand for Marathi schools, over domestic or home tutoring, in the elite GSB households was driven by newly opened avenues for economic growth for Hindus in Goa and British India (Gomontoc 1890). However, the Portuguese government, apart from offering Marathi as a subject at a few government schools in the Old Conquests, was not interested in setting up public Marathi schools. By the early 20th century, there were merely seven state-run Marathi schools. However, the Catholic profile of government schools in the Old Conquests drove the Hindu population away into the New Conquests (Lobo 2017: 79). At the end of the 19th century, periodicals published by the GSBs campaigned for setting up government Marathi schools in the New Conquests. They highlighted the significance of Marathi schools in enabling the rise of a professional classdoctors, advocates and government officialsamong the Hindus in British India. Voluntary financial support from the traditional GSB elite was particularly important, given that it was against the government policy to give financial support to Marathi schools in Goa. However, frustrated by the lack of funds, the GSBs, who were involved in widening their sphere of action and influence, contributed to set up a Marathi library at Panjim and managed to get financial assistance from Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III on his visit to Goa in 1886 (Goatma, 3 May 1886). Gaekwads substantial financial contribution resulted in brisk activities, and although the library functioned for just two years, its members later established the Hindu Pustakalaya (library) and a Hindu Club at Panjim (Goatma, 18 June 1890). The credit for starting private primary Marathi schools go to the individual efforts of Ramchandra Dattaji Azrekar, from British India (Goa Pancha 1891). At the end of the 19th century, as the number of private Marathi schools and libraries were increasing, they were finally recognised by the government. With education as an important site in the construction of statesociety relations, the link between Marathi schools and the avenues for mobility was vital in the making of the GSB middle class. While family connections were still critical to secure a government service, increasing demands to consider education for public employment forced the colonial state to appoint candidates through written examinations, which in turn demanded a formal education. For the new GSB middle class, something as simple as a pen and paper guaranteed proximity to the colonial administration. Aware of the networks of political patronage and power, in the 1870s, they demanded that the appointment of indispensable officials, such as clerks and regidors (on which the traditional GSB elite had a considerable hold), be based on a written examination.6 The space of caste and education: The period since the 1880s saw a major turning point in the life of the Hindus, and its characterisation as a renaissance captures the enthusiasm of the emerging Marathi-educated elite (Sardesai 1994: 56). Private Marathi education in Goa had important features. The Marathi schools were not secular schools in the contemporary sense, rather they were narrowly caste and community based. The government did not accept any responsibility for education in these schools and everything was left to the schools preferences. Thus, they became institutions to facilitate a corporate GSB identity through the daily normalisation of caste culture in schools. While the appointed teachers were from the neighbouring territories of British India, soon members of these school associations themselves began to shape the school programme, structuring it in ways that would have most appeal to their cultural contexts. The syllabus and textbooks on Goa were inclined to the cultural world of the GSBs, and the examinations were often conducted by the editors of Goan Marathi periodicals (Goatma 1885). With the appearance of textbooks in Marathi followed significant developments in the realm of the cultural identity of the GSBs. A textbook like Goa Prantatil Todkyat Mahiti (An Introduction to Goa), one of the first published works in Marathi on Goas geography, written by Tatyaji Sitaram Patkar (1890), a GSB by caste and a teacher at a private Marathi school in Margao, was oriented towards the achievements of the community. It introduced into the school curriculum the account of Lord Parshuram and his settlement of Brahmins in Goa, which was central to the claim of a GSB identity. Second, these schools were allowed to charge an admission deposit and monthly fee to maintain the schools (Gomontoc, 1 March 1891). However, this private funding would block the entry of others who could not afford. The associational forms (sabha versus club): When the GSB middle class was increasing its presence in public life, the traditional GSB elites saw themselves as the legitimate spokespersons of their society and looked for a continued flow of benefits from the colonial state. In 1888, drawing inspiration from the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870)recognised as the main regional association to speak on the matters of local governance in the Deccanefforts were made to set up a similar organisation in Goa. It was called the Goa Hindu Sarvajanik Sabha (Goatma, 3 December 1888). The dominance of a strong traditional GSB elite, mainly the big landed families, was striking. The sabha, founded in 1890, believed that they would succeed only by defending the orthodoxy (Gomontoc, July 1890). However, their monopoly was soon challenged by the emerging middle class. While the sabha lasted just about a few months, in 1902, efforts were made to set up a Hindu club at Panjim by Purushottam Vaman Shirgaonkar, a doctor from British India (Satsang 1902). Shirgaonkars father was an Ayurvedic practitioner and an agent of the British India Steam Navigation Company at Vengurla, and his mother was from Goa (Sardesai 1950: 6). Shirgaonkar came to Panjim in 1894 to practice medicine (NavaJivana 1920). Fields such as law and medicine were dominated by Goan Catholics till the early 20th century. This was largely due to their greater willingness to travel, and due to the preferential treatment they received from the state. At that time, Shirgaonkar was the second Hindu doctor, after Sakharam Lad from Bardez, to have a degree in Western medicine (NavaJivana 1920). In addition, he was the only doctor from Panjim whom the Hindus could approach for a death certificatea mandatory document for legal cremation. The Hindu Club was established in 1904 (Satsang, August 1904). While the sabha was founded on a premise of shared material interests of the traditional GSB elite, the club reflected the views of an emerging GSB middle class. Most members of the club were professional men and supported the unification of the GSB caste. The clubs main concern was to fight for the rights of the Hindus, chiefly through influencing the government policies on education and public employment (Chittakarshan 1906). Moreover, the club emerged as a prominent location to discuss the nationalist movements in British India (Sardesai 1950: 28). It explicitly addressed the Hindus, asking them to demand rights similar to the Hindus in British India. Though the clubs politics were narrowly constructed, an attempt was made to give it a representative character by the term Hindu. The club closed at the end of 1910. Portuguese Republic and Competitive Politics Expanding the electorate: The revolution of 5 October 1910 ended the constitutional monarchy and established the first Portuguese republic (191026). The Hindus in Goa celebrated the coming of the republic as a progressive and increasingly democratic regime (Noronha 1923). The republic was more acceptable to the GSB middle class than to the traditional GSB elite. It adopted a much broader programme of universal suffrage, however, falling short both in terms of women and the lower castes. Existing income-based qualifications were done away with. Men over 21 years of age who could read and write Portuguese and paid an income tax to the state were conferred the voting rights (Prabhat 1911; Codigo Eleitoral 1913). The expansion of the electorate beyond a narrow traditional GSB elite widened the arena of competitive politics. The republican governments commitment towards administrative decentralisation endowed more power to the electorate. The republic continued with the voting rights of Goans to the Portuguese Parliament in the distant metropolis, and it extended political representation to local institutions. In addition, the imperial government followed a policy of devolution of power at the local level. All six municipalities in the New Conquests entered formal politicsthey were to elect their government, unlike the earlier practice of nominating persons from the traditional GSB elite. Likewise, the republics commitment to autonomy forced the metropolitan government to set up an advisory council known as Conselho do Governo (Legislative Council) in 1918, consisting of nine government-nominated officials and 10 elected representatives of the people, with the governor as its president. Later, the military dictatorship (192633) and Salazars New State (193361), reduced the strength of the council to 105 nominated and five elected legislators, consisting of three legislators for the Old Conquests, one for the New Conquests and one for Daman and Diu (Boletim 1926; Bharat, 9 October 1930). The legislative council was seen as the most important institution, right next to the governor and administrators. All laws enacted in Goa, including legislations concerning religious life of the Hindus, were first discussed in the legislative council. Changes to the existing laws on communidades (village communities) and temples could be accomplished only through the council. The community thus secured not just legislative powers, but a means to strengthen their position by negotiating with the colonial state. This inaugurated the second phase of the diffusion of electoral-type polity among the Hindus in Goa and advanced the ascendency of a GSB middle class, both politically and culturally. Another feature of the republic is the secularisation of public life. Catholicism ceased to be the religion of the state and religious freedom was guaranteed. All the titles of nobility were abolished. The republic provided an opportunity for the Hindus, particularly the GSB middle class, to have an increasing share of power in the governing framework. In contrast to the earlier regimes, the aspirations of the GSB middle class for government employment were prominently accommodated. By the 1930s, the administration was seen as a monopoly of the GSBs (Saldanha 1952). It generated a demographic consciousness to demand rights and unleashed a quest for Hindu identity. Unifying the community: Until the 1910s, electoral politics was restricted to a relatively few big landlords. The republic was the first engine for the politics of representation among the Hindus. The compulsions of electoral competition profoundly influenced the way in which the traditional GSB elites and the GSB middle classes were inducted into democratic politics. The increased electoral participation of the GSB middle class and the efforts for a unified representation blurred the variety of identities among the GSBs. On the other hand, it enabled their capacity to forge alliances with the dominant elite, both Hindu and Catholic. A striking feature of the autonomy and subsequent governments in Goa was the rise in public employment with increasing salaries, thereby leading to deficit budgets and high taxation (Cunha 1961: 1622). Unlike the earlier periods, Portuguese India seemed more attractive than British India for public employment. Aware of these larger benefits, it was becoming clear to them that they could draw benefits by forging unity at two levelsfirst, within the GSB community, and later, across the Hindu communities. This expansion of varying degrees of caste and religious consciousness paralleled the widening competitive politics. In the early 20th century, the influence of nationalist politics in British India transformed the nature of the politics of the Hindu elite (Lobo 2014). It resulted in a shift towards more fundamental issues like the demand for equal citizenship rights for Hindus, just as those enjoyed by the Catholic subjects. These demands also included religious freedom, voting rights through education in Marathi and a greater representation for Hindus in public offices and the legislative council. Reconfiguring Power Gomantakiya TilakP V Shirgaonkar: In these circumstances, Shirgaonkar emerged as the central figure for a number of reasons. Apart from his well-known family background, he was popular for practising Western medicine. When plague hit Panjim in early 1900, he helped people and started the Bhajani Saptah, a festival for the good health, at Mahalaxmi temple (Sardesai 1950: 30). He was involved with private Marathi education, the Hindu Club and journalism. At a time when the periodical O Opiniao Hindu was opposing the unification of the GSB caste, he established a weekly journalPrabhat (A New Dawn)in 1911. It strove to consolidate a GSB identity and, later, a Hindu identity. Transgressing elitist barriers that restricted the politics of the traditional GSB elites, Shirgaonkar called upon the Hindus to make a united effort to acquire political rights. He demanded a greater share for Hindus in administration and actively participated in the municipal elections. Shirgaonkars activism represented and articulated the interests of the GSB middle classa political project that required a radically different sociopolitical vision and reworking of politics. In 1911, the first public meeting of the GSBs was held at the Mahalaxmi temple, Panjim. An exceptional feature of this meeting was the coming together of two opposing factions. The traditional elite, largely comprising of Shenvis, considered themselves the core of their caste and were opposed to a larger caste unity. On the other hand were the new middle class, who stood for the unification of caste, claiming a common cultural identity. Shirgaonkar emphasised the strength of the Hindu vote and underlined the need to establish a political association for the Hindus (Opiniao Hindu 1911). One of the primary focuses of Shirgaonkars efforts was to challenge the politics of the traditional GSB elite played out in the shadows of the Luso-descendentes. In this period, given the tenuous hold of the Luso-descendentes, Shirgaonkar strove to fill this void by the recently gained political status of the GSB middle class. Efforts were made to transform Shenvi to an honorific title, a mark of clerical and scholarly pursuits and not a caste name (Valaulikar 1945: 141266). The term Shenvi was secularised when placed in a new context of its formationwealth, power and education. It was emphasised that they are members of the same family with a common cultural heritage and need to have the interests of the community at heart. Despite being Western-educated, Shirgaonkar had the ability to function in the world of the colonial elite and of the masses. As a result, he was able to appeal to their religious and cultural sensibilities. His greatest attraction seems to have been the ability to create a sense of a natural Hindu community. Until his death in 1916, Shirgaonkar educated the public about the newly politicised circumstance through his writings in the periodicals, and emerged as Goas first Hindu leader to adopt the strategy of mass politics. This distinguished Shirgaonkar is now called the Gomantakiya Tilak for his efforts to draw the masses into politics and to undercut the system of alliances between the traditional GSB elite and the Luso-descendentes (Nava-Jivana 1920). The Pragatic Sangh (1920): The other major player that attempted to change the rules of politics was an association that called itself progressivethe Pragatic Sangh, founded in 1920. The foundation of the sangh was the outcome of the unification movement of the GSB caste (Bharat, 10 February 1921). The idea was to exploit aspirations and interests of the caste through a Hindu identity and to draw support from government officials and influential native Catholic elites. This was done in the name of a progressive ideology, invoking liberal, secular and modern attitudes. Unlike earlier short-lived political associations, the sangh was seen as emblematic of the Hindu life and spawned associations that proliferated over the next decades. Since its inception, the sangh modelled itself on the Indian National Congress. The organisation held the annual sessions in December, had an executive committee with a president, vice presidents, secretaries, treasurers, members, an advisory committee, a working committee, and the conselho committees. As such, there was a separate committee for Goan Hindus living in British Bombay. By this time, Portuguese was the first language among a section of the Catholic elite, many of whom published their works in Portuguese and held clerical jobs. However, the majority of Hindus in the New Conquests refused to support primary schools in Portuguese and insisted that Marathi be taught at the primary level, even when the government had threatened that they would be overlooked for public employment. This development restricted the voting rights of the Hindus as the qualifying criteria was the Portuguese language. To remedy this situation, the sanghs principal demand was to include more Hindus in the legislative council by making Marathi a qualifying language for voting rights. It demanded a greater share for Hindus in public employment. The political activity of the sangh had distinct formsthe metropolitan and the local. Notably, the sangh did not put up a single candidate to contest the parliamentary election, though it actively supported the Catholic candidates. It was more content voting as a block, and becoming a larger force in influencing elections. The GSBs supported Jose Miguel Lamartine Prazeres da Costa in all the parliamentary elections from 191115 to 1918. They saw the politics of Costa as primarily directed towards them. He found special support for promoting education and minimising the costs of the local government. The latter was managed by stopping government grants to the church and shifting the cost of quelling recent Rane uprisings on the metropolitan government (Bharat 1913). In 1913, his birthday was celebrated as a major public event by the GSB elite, a first of its kind in Goa. Shift in the politics: After 1920, the sangh charted a different course. Costa, facing a tumultuous decade of politics, had used political power to establish local monopolies in the government, thereby eliminating the troublesome competition between the GSB middle class and the native Catholic elite (Bharat, 6 October 1921). In the 1922 parliamentary election, the sangh supported Indalencio Froilano de Melo, a doctor, recently appointed as the director of the Medical School of Goa, who endorsed the growing demand for equal voting rights through Marathi. Yet, Costa won, though with reduced marginsan outcome that the sangh credited to itself (Prachi Prabha 1922). In 1925, the sangh supported Melo again, putting an end to Costas unprecedented 14 years in office (Prachi Prabha, 19 November 1925). A very different picture emerges when one looks at the politics of the sangh and the elections to the legislative council. Although they were designed to secure representation of certain special interests, a great deal was at stake in these elections. A representation in the legislative council gave a group, or an individual, the opportunity for legislating policy in all fields, which had hitherto been the preserve of the government. Apart from a demonstrating popular support, these elections were an arena to represent certain political and cultural interests. The sangh had an overwhelming sense that the government would certainly deliver with the consolidation of Hindus. While the sanghs entire politics was driven by the ideal of progress for Hindus, in practice, a closer analysis reveals how narrowly their politics was constructed. Caste character of the sangh: The composition of the sangh reflected the strength of the GSBs. Although its membership was open to all Hindus, in actuality, a member was required to pay a fee and to have the important qualification of being a kulin (cultured). The tendency for political preferences determined by GSB cultural considerations were already apparent in the formation of the sangh committees (Bharat, 31 December 1942). Throughout its 12 years of existence, the sangh neither fielded, nor supported, a non-Brahmin candidate. But more was involved here than politics. Its cultural significance can be understood through the life of Bhaskar Pratap Rau Sardesai. In 1912, Sardesai was appointed as a member of the Junta Geral de Provincia, a state-appointed body wherein each municipal council had to recommend three names out of which the government would select one. When the sangh was founded, he was one of its secretaries. He was elected as a substitute candidate to the legislative council in 1926, and a year later, he headed a government commission set up to recommend changes to the code of customs and usages of the Hindus. Against this backdrop, in 1928, Sardesai was appointed as the administrator of Pernema position that was usually reserved for Catholics (Boletim 1928). He was nominated by the government to the legislative council in 1939. What is more, through these different positions, he defended the cultural symbols of the GSB, such as temples that merited state protection against the rising claims made by the marginal communities. In 1933, the Regulamento das Mazanias (a law governing temples) replaced the earlier one of 1886. This new law had clauses pertaining to the separation of land from temple service. It stated that temple servants who did not want to render services for the temple could retain their land by paying rent. However, opposition by the GSBs, led by Sardesai in the legislative council, forced the government to remove the clauses. The composition of the legislative council was such that its members could manipulate their role in order to protect the vested interests. Cultural Politics of Carving a Hindu Identity The republican government could dispense patronage far beyond the means of the traditional GSB elite. It is no coincidence that the period marked as the resurgence of the Hindus was also the time when the GSBs were the most aggressively asserting their cultural dominance. This cultural dimension of public life had important features. Apart from the new caste unity and Marathi education, the growth of Marathi journalism helped the GSBs to forge common interests and make a claim to be representatives of public opinion. In the early years of colonial modernity, its bulwarkthe modern institutionswere growing close to the dominant caste geography. Through the control over print culture, intellectual discourse, public opinion, literary, and aesthetic culture, the members of this establishment who were entrenched in newly institutionalised positions as editors, journalists, writers and teachers had an excessive influence over intellectual life and could successfully pursue a cultural agenda. While defending their interests, the middle class was drawn towards a Hindu identity. From 1910 onwards, they derived the political legitimacy through a wide presence in the government and professional services, and from the religious identity. The revival of a Hindu identity in Goa had reached a turning point and was the most pronounced in two dimensions. On the one hand, attempts were made to achieve a demographic majority. By the 1920s, this process was accelerated through the launch of shuddhi of the tribal Catholic Gaudas to Hinduism (Shirsagar 1930).7 The GSB middle class seized such a homecoming to make a demographic shift in favour of the Hindus, and to bestow their largesse conspicuously, which made them a significant source of patronage. Similarly, the question of the place of untouchables, who were loosely attached to the Hindu society, now acquired a new importance as it had demographic concerns at the heart of it. At the same time, there had been an active reshaping of the Hindu identity that was repeatedly shown as the principal identity. This was accomplished at two levels: one, by redefining the relationship of the GSB with the Shankaracharya of KarveerSankeshwar matha and the Maratha king Shivaji, and two, by providing new symbols and institutions. Strategic symbols: Since the 19th century, the Shankaracharya of KarveerSankeshwar matha was the chief religious authority for all Hindus, except the GSBs in Goa. While the Shankaracharya styled himself as a jagadguru (teacher of the world) and was seen as higher in hierarchy in relation to the GSB swamis, the GSBs saw him as an outsider without any legitimate religious authority over Goa (Valaulikar 1945: 13234). There were occasions when they had contested his adjudications in conflicts that crossed caste lines. But in the 20th century, the GSB middle class, in their efforts to consolidate Hindu identity, redefined their relationship with the Shankaracharya. The question of reform in the position of Hindu communities, and the strength of the Hindus, acquired a new urgency. While the GSB had made attempts to launch shuddhi of the Catholic Gaudes since the early 1920s, they succeeded only in 1928 when the Shankaracharya sanctioned the move (Shirsagar 1930: 95). In the same way, efforts were made to reach out to the untouchables by invoking the Shankaracharya (Bharat, 12 December 1929). The GSBs had a profoundly ambivalent relationship with King Shivaji. The difficulty was even more pronounced as, on the one hand, they had served different Maratha rulers, but on the other, also financed the Portuguese defence of Goa during the Maratha invasions (Maxwell 1995: 12829). Some of the prominent GSBs such as K T Telang (1900: 288) had made some adverse observations on the Kshatriya status of the king. In 1921, they were opposed to the fundraising by the non-Brahmins of Goa for a Shivaji statue in Pune whose foundation stone was to be laid by the Prince of Wales (Bharat, 8 December 1921). As they were accused of caste politics, they responded by celebrating King Shivajis birth anniversary in their institutions. Hereafter, Maratha history was incorporated as a consistent theme at all levelsschools, literary associations, public lectures and anniversary celebrations. The community adapted Shivaji to their own ideological and rhetorical patterns, promoting him as a ruler who placed Hindu unity above caste and holding him up as a symbol of resistance to foreign domination. Apart from this strategic stress on cultural heritage, dramas centred on the life of Shivaji were exploited to garner funds needed to support various institutions. In other words, a part of their impact was derived by the symbolic appropriation of Shivaji. Defining values: Through their various institutions, the GSBs projected Hindu life as the cultural foundation for national life. This period spawned a number of separate social, educational, religious and literary associations through which the community could consolidate its position as intermediaries between the people and the government. In theory, these were completely separate organisations, but in practice, their interests and actions were aligned. A prominent feature of the increasing number of institutions was the interlocking memberships of the GSB middle class. These institutions have been a source of patronage and a site to promote more explicit cultural goals of the caste. The community also conveyed a sense of natural cohesion of the Hindu society by foregrounding religious symbols such as the cow, the Bhagavad Gita and public performances of Satyanarayan pooja. Though the claim to represent a broader Hindu interest was belied by the distinctively upper-caste bias, these institutions gave a wide public exposure to the idea of Hindu progress and drew a large section of the Hindu population into an active support base. Conclusions The analysis of the colonial sociocultural and political transformation of GSBs reveals a number of processes through which the community consolidated its power and position. The expansion of the Portuguese administrative network into the New Conquests opened up many opportunities for the community. The ascendancy of the GSB middle class, their attentiveness to numerical strengthusing the idea of a Hindu majority to demand political rights and serve their quest for a religious identity, thus papering over the differences of caste was key to this transformation. These interventions by the GSBs in the name of Hindus became a way of promoting their own claim to a place in the administration. Indeed, a Hindu identity was crucial and was invoked repeatedly whenever the caste felt threatened about their powers and privileges. Their cultural politics enabled them to build a demographically dominant Hindu community in Goa, in which reconversion played a key role. Through the fusion of economic and political concerns, the community used their newly earned privileges to telling effect. In particular, investments in Marathi schools as well as founding of associations like the Goa Hindu Sarvajanik Sabha, the Hindu Club, and the Pragatic Sangh were important to the emergence of the GSB middle class in Goan imperial and local politics and life. This enabled them to articulate caste interests in an organised manner, and to set a cultural and political agenda. Through their hold over Marathi educational and literary associations, they dominated the intellectual life in Goa, and effectively utilised them to transmit changing social and cultural values. These spaces were, in fact, crucial in channelling people into a politics of a Hindu identity and, at the same time, were a domain where caste and religious identities were constructed and contested. Notes 1 Historically, there is no reference to the caste called GSB. The late 19th and early 20th centuries was the time when several jatis through a unification process consolidated into a single caste called the GSB. For details see Colon (1977); Parobo (2015: 2134). 2 For recent discussions on the scribal communities and historical change in India, see the special issues of Indian Economic and Social History Review, 2010, Vol 47, No 4 and 2020, Vol 57, No 4. 3 This was prominent during the absolutist monarchy (15101820) and the constitutional monarchy (18211910). 4 Luso-descendentes were Eurasian descendants of Portuguese born in India and regarded themselves as nobility of the local society (Correa 1920). From the 16th to the late 19th centuries they were appointed to high positions in the administration and in the military establishment of Portuguese India (Ayalla 1888). 5 One of the earliest efforts to unite the GSB was made in the early 18th century. In fact, Konkanakyan, a text claimed to have been written by an anonymous GSB in 1721, was directed towards uniting the GSB (Wagle 1909). 6 Regidores were the lowest-level administrative functionary, but they were not paid by the government. They performed a range of services and were allowed to charge a fee. They issued certificates of births, deaths, residence, character, literacy, certified voters, kept a close watch on village life, including its produce, and played an important role in the arbitration of matters of local importance (Dexassudharanetxo, 10 October 1877, Ribandar, Goa). 7 Since the mid-19th century, the Goan Catholics were migrating outside Goa in increasing numbers. 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How do two sexual cells fuse to become one? Uncontrolled cell fusion is lethal, so plants and animals use special proteins called fusogens to control when and where this process takes place. Notably, even simple single-cell organisms can exchange genetic material, but how they connect with each other for doing so remains unclear. With the aim of finding answers, an international, interdisciplinary team of scientists, led by Karolinska Institutet, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, CONICET in Argentina, Universidad de la Republica and Institut Pasteur in Uruguay, and University of Lausanne in Switzerland joined forces. They have now shown that bacteria-like cells believed to have originated more than 3 billion years ago, called Archaea, can contain a protein (Fusexin 1 or Fsx1) that resembles a type of fusogens (HAP2) previously identified in viruses, plants and invertebrate animals. Gamete fusion has fascinated mankind for more than 150 years. The finding that HAP2-like proteins are also used to fuse the membrane of enveloped viruses (such as zika, dengue and rubella) with host cells opened the question of whether this key molecule originated in a virus and was then repurposed for gamete fusion in plants and animals, or the other way around. The discovery that ancient creatures like Archaea can also contain an HAP2-like protein now raises a third intriguing possibility, whereby Fusexin1 is the ancestral molecule from which viral, plant and animal fusogens derived. The researchers teamed up with scientists at the ESRF and the AI company DeepMind. We combined computational evolutionary biology, AlphaFold-based protein modeling, X-ray crystallography at the ESRF and functional studies to show that archaeal protein Fsx1 is a fusogen, explains Luca Jovine, who led the structural biology part of the study. This is because Fsx1, despite lack of significant sequence identity, is structurally similar to the previously identified HAP2 fusogens, and because the protein is able to promote cell-cell fusion when expressed in other cell types. With Luca Jovine we have a long-standing collaboration in structural biology since a long time ago. Today, with the combination of X-ray crystallography and artificial intelligence, we are living the next revolution, opening the doors to new discoveries and a brighter future for structural biology, explains Daniele de Sanctis, scientist at the ESRF and co-author of the study. The next step will be to find out what Fsx1 proteins are doing in nature: do they fuse archaeal cells, like their plant and animal HAP2 counterparts fuse gametes, to promote a sex-like DNA exchange? In parallel, the team will try to chart the evolutionary history connecting Fsx1 and HAP2, in order to establish firmly what their origin is. We hope that all this knowledge will help to understand how cells evolved from apparently simple forms sharing discrete pieces of DNA to todays complex life forms undergoing sexual reproduction, concludes Jovine. Reference: Moi, D., et al. Nat Commun 13, 3880 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31564-1 Meet Plymouth's Mia Odeh, Author of 'Mia's Odyssey' at the PARC, September 15 @ 6:15pm, MC'd by WJR'sVanessa Denha Garmo and co-author Mike Ball Plymouth, MIMia Odeh, author of Mia's Odyssey will conduct a 'book talk' at the PARC of Plymouth on Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 6:15pm. Odeh will discuss her life and her book in a relaxed Q & A format. WJR's Vanessa Denha Garmo will emcee the event with co-author Mike Ball. There is no charge. Books for purchase and signing will be available. (PARC is located at 650 Church Street, Plymouth, MI) Written with Mike Ball, Mia Odeh revisits her life story, beginning in Palestine at age sixteen, where she was forced into an arranged marriage. After being brought to the United States, Mia realizes that her marriage is not only unwanted, it is unsafe, as she experiences routine sexual and physical assault. Mia's Odyssey shines an unflinching light on the horrors of domestic abuse and reveals how a survivor with enough determination can find the resources to forge a path to freedom. "Though not for the faint of heart, Mia's Odyssey is life-affirming and shows the reader that love can conquer even in the worst situations. This book will inspire any woman trapped in seemingly hopeless circumstances, and give hope for an independent life. It will stay with you long after you've finished reading and warm your heart with its promising ending. Highly recommended."John Kelly, Detroit Free Press, 5-stars "You know, sometimes you have to get a little distance from something before you can really see it," says Mia. "From the time I was sixteen years my husband surrounded me like a putrid fog, permeating every minute of every day and completely blocking the sun from entering my life. When my husband left us behind in Arizona and moved to Michigan for work I began to see him as he really was, nothing more than a small, evil, isolated creature. I made it my goal to keep my children pure, to keep them from ever becoming like their father." "One night, I told my husband that something he had said was unfair. As soon as the words left my mouth I knew I'd made a mistake," recalls Mia. "This made him believe I was becoming independent, like American women, and he made plans to send me and the children back overseas. Suddenly, I knew that I could not take my children back to that place, where all my choices would be gone. All of their choices would be gone. That place where my daughters would grow up to become slaves to their husbands. That place where my boys would be taught to believe that they deserved to have wives who were nothing more than slaves. I knew that, for the first time in my life, I had to fight back." "Heartbreaking and rich with hope, Mia's Odyssey reveals the resilience of the human spirit in the midst of the darkest situations. This story draws attention to issues of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence, and shows the critical role neighbors, police, and safe houses can play in helping women and children to escape such desperate situations." Jessica Tofino, Educator and Writer, 5-stars "It has taken me a long time, a lot of hard work, and help from others to achieve stability for myself and my children. A few years after leaving my husband, a nice family came to our aid, providing a home for us for five years. These wonderful people made us all feel like we had found a family at last," says Mia. "Eventually I found a mentor who took an interest in my future and the future of my family. With his guidance and encouragement, I wrote myself a set of personal and professional goals. Now I've made quite a bit of progress toward these goals, soon finishing a degree in criminal justice, finding a good job, and even purchasing my own home. My kids are now all grown or growing up, and accomplishing big goals of their own. What greater accomplishment could any mother hope for?" "Mia's Odyssey is a compelling, uplifting book that can be difficult to emotionally digest it is also rewarding because her will to survive is strong, her ability to bend but not break is admirable, her love for the children more powerful than the abuser's muscles." Brad Butler, Author, 5-stars "To this day I still struggle with insecurity, afraid that the life I have now is too good to be true. After thirty years of abuse and uncertainty, I can't help wondering when this bubble will burst," shares Mia. Then I look around me and realize that I really have emerged from that long nightmare to become the woman that God meant me to be. I will always be grateful to the people who stepped up to help me at key times during all those difficult years. I hope that telling my life story in this book can help others in need find the courage to fight back and escape whatever situation they might be in." Mia's Odyssey: Taking Back My Soul is a story of a woman's journey through the depths of hell and back, a testament to the human spirit and triumph of willpower despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Despite the difficult subject matter, this story ultimately transcends these experiences to offer courage and hope to any reader. "Mia's Odyssey is a story about a mother's life of courage, resilience, and determination with which she creates a new life for herself and her children. This is an uplifting book about moving past abuse. Mia focuses on pushing through the stages of trauma from an abusive relationship and creating a meaningful life." Kurt Tyszkiewicz, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools "We are proud to have supported Mia Odeh as she exhibited determination, perseverance, and courage through her experience within an abusive relationship. Our police department values our role in supporting anyone coping with traumatic events by ensuring they are safe and providing resources to empower them toward a positive outcome." Chad Baugh, Police Chief, Canton, MI "I've been fortunate enough to call Mia a constituent and even more fortunate to call her a friend. Her story is one of courage and overcoming the odds. This book is must-read." Matt Koleszar, Michigan State Representative Mia's Odyssey: Taking Back My Soul, ISBN: 979-8-9864056-0-5, ASIN: B0B46V571M, $3.99 Kindle, $14,95 paperback, 232 pages, Simon Publishing Ventures, June 2022. Available at the author's website https://MiasOdyssey.com or on Amazon. Watch the book trailer here: https://bit.ly/MiasOdysseyBookTrailer About Mia Odeh: Mia Odeh was born in Palestine, became a child bride at age 16, and was brought to Phoenix, Arizona by her husband. She endured years of abuse, bore five children, and was forced to move from Arizona to Qatar, back to Arizona, and eventually to Michigan. Despite the cruelties she suffered, Mia never stopped dreaming of a different life for herself and her children. After fleeing her abusive marriage, with the help of neighbors and police, Mia and her children found a new beginning. This came with many ups and downs, including a time of being homeless with five kids and pregnant with her sixth. With relentless tenacity, Mia worked hard to gain stability for her family, working low paying jobs and moving frequently. Eventually, with the generosity of a family that gave them a place to live, Mia was able to find some more solid footing. She is now completing a degree in criminal justice, holds a job in senior management, and has purchased her own home. From the depths of abuse, Mia and her children have risen to achieve amazing levels of success. Media Contact: For a review copy of Mia's Odyssey: Taking Back My Soul or to arrange an interview with Mia Odeh, contact Scott Lorenz of Westwind Communications Book Marketing at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Reach Lorenz on Twitter @abookpublicist This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Conservation Society of San Antonio is preparing to nominate the building occupied by the Institute of Texan Cultures one of the few structures remaining from the 1968 Worlds Fair as a state and national historic landmark. Im sure you cant name me another building in San Antonio that looks like it, said Vincent Michael, executive director of the Conservation Society. Wed like to preserve it. The midcentury modern structure, which looks like an inverted pyramid, was designed by Houston architectural firm Caudill, Rowlett and Scott and constructed as the Texas Pavilion for HemisFair. The societys effort comes as the University of Texas at San Antonio is weighing several options for the institutes future, which include moving it or renovating the building thats long housed it. Michael said the Conservation Society has wanted to nominate the building to the National Register of Historic Places for some time but that the move makes sense now as UTSA is focusing on the future of the institute. We just wanted to focus on the building, he said. On ExpressNews.com: Change the trajectory: Panel recommends moving, updating UTSAs Institute of Texan Cultures The National Register includes more than 96,000 properties. Listing is the first step for eligibility for federal tax credits and grant programs for renovations, according to its website. Michael said the designation would put no additional restrictions on renovations unless tax credits were used. The national listing also would allow the institutes designation as a State Antiquities Landmark. The Conservation Society, which works to preserve city and state history, has hired archaeologist and historian Nesta Anderson to conduct research and documentation for the buildings nomination to the State Historical Commission and the National Register. Cultural significance Along with its unique architectural features, Michael said, the 182,000-square-foot building at 801 E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd. is culturally significant and not only for its place in the Worlds Fair. For decades, the Institute of Texan Cultures has showcased the diverse cultural heritage of the states residents and has long hosted students and events such as the Texas Folklife Festival. And Hemisfair, as the site of the Worlds Fair is known, launched San Antonios tourism sector. Most Worlds Fair buildings are temporary, but this one was designed to be permanent, Michael said. They had the unique idea of this history of cultural diversity that extends beyond the city. The institute was and is a statewide institution. But it has deteriorated, with exhibits some describe as shopworn and its funding and staffing cut. Concerns also have been raised about the buildings maintenance needs and the sites lack of easy access to downtown attractions such as the Convention Center. On ExpressNews.com: UTSAs Institute of Texan Cultures at HemisFair Park is a neglected treasure In 2017, the University of Texas System asked developers to submit proposals to lease the property and build a mixed-use project there. Its plan was to move the institute. That decision lacked a robust community engagement and review process and was highly controversial, the authors of one report about the institutes future wrote. The plans were scrapped. Last year, UTSA launched what it calls a Centennial 2068 campaign aimed at figuring out what the next 50 years of the institute should look like. 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. Getting input, planning A report released in June by a steering committee includes three scenarios for the institute: moving it to another location at Hemisfair, moving it to another part of the city or keeping it where it is and rehabilitating the Texas Pavilion building. UTSA asked the public to weigh in on the options via a survey, which closed last month. On ExpressNews.com: UTSA wants you to weigh in on three possible options for the Institute of Texan Cultures The university is examining the feasibility of those options and said it hired firms to evaluate environmental and property conditions and to conduct an archaeological investigation. We welcome the Conservation Societys perspective on the pavilion, appreciate our earlier conversations with them, and look forward to continued engagement as we work through our evaluative process, UTSA spokesperson Joe Izbrand said. In the future, the Conservation Society also wants to nominate another vestige of Hemisfair to the National Register: the John H. Wood U.S. Courthouse. The midcentury building was originally the Confluence Theatre and was used as a courthouse beginning in the 1970s. Its condition has deteriorated, and a new courthouse at West Nueva and South Santa Rosa was built last year. madison.iszler@express-news.net Dear Cathy, When I let my 11-year-old long-haired Chihuahua/papillon mix outside to do his business, he will lie in the sun on hot stone until I pick him up and bring him inside. I can't leave him out for any length of time in this heat for fear of his having a heatstroke. What makes a dog want to get so hot and not come in where it is cool? Carol Dear Carol, Dogs and cats love to sunbathe and often will search for patches of sunlight in the house to nap on. As they age, though, they actually may seek more warmth to get relief for stiff and achy joints. While my 12-year-old dog, Buster, has always loved to sunbathe, he has wanted to be outside more in his senior years. Your dog is likely doing the same thing, which I know seems odd with our summer temperatures. More Animals Matter: Should you get a rabies shot for a feral cat bite? The good news is most dogs and cats know when they have had enough sun and will ask to be let back inside the house. But please keep a watchful eye on your senior dog. Puppies, sick pets and senior pets are much more susceptible to heatstroke than healthy adult dogs. You can sit outside with him, and when you get uncomfortable, it can be a sign for you both to go back into the house. If he insists on staying outside, check on him every 15 minutes and provide cool water and a shady place if he changes his mind. Dear Cathy, The vet who took care of our parrot retired. Would you be able to give me the names of vets who specialize in exotic birds? We have raised him since he was very young. He is now in his 30s and has an extensive vocabulary. I know they have a long life span. He's OK but has needed a vet's care in the past (nail trims, respiratory problems, etc.). I enjoy your column every week. Norma Dear Norma, I'm glad you're lining up a vet for his future health care needs. I can't make specific doctor recommendations, but I can help you find an avian veterinarian. The best way to do that is to visit the Association of Avian Veterinarians website (aav.org) and search for an avian veterinarian in San Antonio. You can plug in your address and decide how many miles from your location you want to travel for care. If you have problems finding a doctor, you can contact the association directly. More animals matter: Keep pets ID info up to date Veterinarians with primary dog and cat practices who also care for birds also will include the word "avian" on their website. An online search using the keywords "avian vet near me" should also show area vets who can take care of your bird. Please let me know if you have any problems finding one. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Federal investigators are probing the Southern Baptist Convention over its handling of sexual abuse following the publication of an explosive report that found top officials had for two decades silenced abuse survivors and fought reforms out of fears of lawsuits, leaders of the nations second-largest faith group said on Friday. In a statement, the SBCs top leadership body, the Executive Committee, confirmed that the Department of Justice is looking into multiple Southern Baptist entities. The statement was signed by all of the leaders of the SBCs seminaries and main entities. They said they will cooperate fully with the criminal investigation and continue to grieve and lament past mistakes. Leaders also noted that the faith group has taken numerous steps towards rectifying the abuse problem in the wake of a 2019 investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. Individually and collectively, each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation, the SBCs Nashville-based Executive Committee said in a statement. The Executive Committee received a federal subpoena from the Justice Department, but no individuals have yet been subpoenaed. Justice Department officials couldnt be reached for comment. Albert Mohler, the longtime president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, told the Chronicle Friday afternoon that he was awaiting specifics of the inquiry, but like other leaders vowed that his school would cooperate with law enforcement. I don't know anything specific about the investigation other than what's been relayed to me by the Executive Committees counsel, Mohler said in an interview before the investigation was made public. But as far as we are concerned, we believe in the rule of law. We respect law enforcement and we will be fully cooperative with federal authorities. The federal investigation introduces an unprecedented level of scrutiny on the 47,000-church coalition. The SBC is the world's largest Baptist group. ABUSE OF FAITH: 20 years, 700 victims: Sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms The SBCs handling of abuse has been in the public spotlight since 2019, when the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News published the first of an ongoing series, Abuse of Faith, that found hundreds of church leaders and volunteers had been convicted of sex crimes. They left behind at least 700 victims, nearly all of them children. The newspapers reporting prompted Southern Baptist church members to request a third-party review last year of the SBCs Executive Committees handling of abuse reports dating back to 2000. FALLOUT: As ex-Southern Baptist figure alleges criminal conspiracy, prominent leader defends abuse response SBC church representatives also demanded that the Executive Committee grant the firm, Guidepost Solutions, unprecedented access to confidential, attorney-client records for its review. Guidepost spokesman Montieth Illingworth declined to say Friday whether the firm had been subpoenaed or answer other questions about the federal investigation. Per the firms agreement with the SBC, Guidepost is required to alert Southern Baptist officials when it receives law enforcement requests for documents. Guidepost shall notify the SBC of any effort ... either by subpoena or otherwise to gain access to information, documents, materials, or work product, or information of any kind in the possession of Guidepost that has been generated, obtained, or learned as a result of the work performed by Guidepost, the agreement says. FROM MAY: Bombshell 400-page report finds Southern Baptist leaders routinely silenced sexual abuse survivors In May, Guidepost revealed that a handful of longtime Southern Baptist leaders and attorneys had mishandled sexual abuse complaints, disparaged victims and rejected proposed reforms that could have protected children from predators. Among the revelations was that a longtime SBC lawyer, August Augie Boto, had secretly maintained a list of accused sexual abusers in Southern Baptist churches. The Chronicle identified 75 ministers on the list who had worked in Texas churches. SURVIVORS SPEAK: Christa Brown spent decades warning Southern Baptists about abuse. Recent revelations brought her no joy. Meanwhile, Boto said a public version of such a database wasnt feasible and dismissed efforts by advocates to create one as a backgrounding tool for churches to weed out problematic employees and volunteers. Guidepost also uncovered sexual assault allegations against a former SBC president, Johnny Hunt, that allegedly occurred just after he left office because of term limits in 2010. Hunt has admitted to an impropriety, but maintains it was consensual. He resigned from a top leadership position at an SBC entity ahead of the Guidepost report, and numerous SBC organizations have since cut ties with him. RELATED: Explosive report alleged sex abuse by SBC leader Johnny Hunt. His accuser still waits for justice. Response to the Guidepost report was swift. One former SBC official, prominent evangelical leader Russell Moore, called it the Southern Baptist apocalypse and said the findings amounted to a criminal conspiracy. As fallout from the report continued this summer, SBC church representatives overwhelmingly approved safeguards at their June meeting, including a database of accused ministers that churches could consult when making hiring decisions. The SBC also elected new leaders that have been particularly outspoken on the need for abuse reforms, including Texas pastor Bart Barber, who vowed to turn the SBCs 47,000 churches into places where predators were hunted. robert.downen@chron.com john.tedesco@chron.com Texas youth prison system urgently needs money to crawl out of its growing crisis, in which children are at times locked in cells 23 hours a day and nearly half of detained youth have been on suicide watch, the agencys director has told lawmakers. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department currently under federal investigation for an alleged pattern of abuse and mistreatment is severely understaffed, with agency officials saying last month it is nearing systemic collapse. After the Texas Tribune reported on dire conditions inside the states five youth prisons, the Texas House Juvenile Justice and Family Issues Committee called a legislative hearing last week to look for possible solutions. I think we can all agree this is cruel and unusual, said state Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, citing reports of children using water bottles as makeshift toilets while stuck in their cells and routinely hurting themselves to get attention from staff. Is there anything between now and next (legislative) session thats going to solve this? Talarico and 33 other House Democrats sent Gov. Greg Abbott a letter last week asking him to bring lawmakers together immediately in a special legislative session to address the emergency. Abbotts office did not respond to questions about the letter. TJJD sounded the alarm last month, when interim director Shandra Carter stopped accepting newly sentenced kids from county detention centers. The agency cant guarantee the safety of the fewer than 600 youth already in its care, she said, because it cant keep people on the job. Last year, the turnover rate for detention officers hit more than 70 percent, and most new hires quit within six months. More than 160 children were waiting to be transferred from also understaffed county detention centers to the states five juvenile prisons, Carter told the committee at the hearing. For many children, the wait, which in some cases has been as long as three months, means more time in lockup since they are unable to begin and complete required programming. At the rate that I am recruiting and retaining staff, that waitlist will continue to grow, Carter said. With what we have in front of us, I think a further increase would help us stabilize quicker and absorb that waitlist. Last month, TJJD was able to make permanent an emergency 15 percent raise for officers by postponing reentry programs and using savings from unfilled positions. Carter said the new pay, bringing starting salaries up to $41,700, has shown promise, with more people applying for jobs. She said money isnt the only solution to the departments chronic problems, but it is the necessary first step. Our exit interviews are really clear. Its overwhelmingly pay and difficulty of the work is the reason that people are leaving, and this prevents us from stabilizing, Carter told lawmakers. I cant even guarantee theyre going to get a bathroom break on their shift. A spokesperson for Abbott, who alone can call lawmakers to the Texas Capitol outside of regular legislative sessions every two years, has said he will support TJJDs request to increase salaries next session. The legislative session begins in January, and any budget decisions would largely not take effect until next September. Talarico said more immediate action is needed. In his letter to Abbott, he said a special legislative session must include measures to close failed facilities and restore and increase funding for anti-violence and rehabilitation programs. He also called for increasing salaries, prioritizing diverting children from incarceration and providing alternatives for children in suicidal crises or with other mental health emergencies. Waiting until the next session is a death sentence for incarcerated children, the letter read. Juvenile justice advocates have long urged closing state prisons and instead putting necessary mental health and rehabilitative resources into local communities. Others have proposed building smaller facilities closer to urban centers, which have larger labor pools than the rural areas where most prisons are located. For state Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who has long worked in juvenile justice, frustration with the states juvenile justice system comes from getting the same answers and dealing with the same issues again and again and again, and there never seems to be any resolution. TJJD has been plagued by sexual abuse and mistreatment scandals for more than a decade. In recent years, counties have shifted more toward keeping children closer to home and sending fewer to the state prisons, shrinking the population from thousands to fewer than 600. But the ones left often are the most difficult to manage because of violent behavior, severe mental health needs or both. Aside from funding, Wu is pushing for sending even fewer kids to state facilities. A juvenile must have been found to have committed a felony to go to TJJD, but Wu said many smaller counties still send children to state prisons for low-level, nonviolent felonies. While the majority of new admissions to TJJD last year were for violent offenses, 10 percent were for unauthorized use of a vehicle or possession of a controlled substance, according to data from Texas Appleseed, a social justice advocacy organization. Maybe we should talk about not sending state jail felonies to TJJD, he said in the hearing. It seems like joyriding in a car seems like a bad offense to be sent to a state prison. Disclosure: Texas Appleseed has been a financial supporter of the Texas Tribune. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A witness to the grisly hacking death of a San Antonio woman in 2020 testified Friday at the murder trial of Rafael Castillo that she helped clean up the scene because the defendant said hed kill me and my son if she didnt. Castillo is accused of killing Nicole Perry, 31, on Nov. 19, 2020. Her hands were chopped off with a machete, her head was struck with an ax, and her body was dumped along W.W. White Road near Higdon Road. Perrys hands were never found. Testifying for the state, Vanessa Marie Vargas, now an inmate at the Bexar County Jail for violating probation, told the jury she was very uncomfortable because she feared for her life. She cried, covered her face with handcuffed hands, and averted her gaze from Castillo, 27, during her testimony. Witnesses testified this week that Castillo was annoyed with Perry, told her to shut up and killed her when she didnt. Vargas admitted she was a methamphetamine user under questioning by prosecutor Jennifer McDaniel. She said she was one of nearly a dozen transients who used drugs together and periodically stayed in a backyard structure behind a home in the 300 block of West Harlan Avenue on the South Side. Vargas said she had just finished cooking beans and biscuits in the main house for the people who lived on the property and walked into the backyard structure to see Perry tied up, bound at the hands and feet. She said Castillo, who she called Rafa, and the man who lived in the small building, Robert Martinez, known as Gizmo, were there, along with Randall Fulghum, Perrys fiance. Castillo was jumping and enjoying himself when he started to kill Nicole, Vargas said, as she covered her face with her hands and cried. He started by cutting off her hands with a big machete, and he sat on her head. Vargas said she thought Perry was already dead following the hacking. She was on the floor in a fetal position, she said. He ended up putting an ax in her skull. I saw it all. On ExpressNews.com: A sound I will never forget: Fiance describes hacking death Vargas said she began to scream and jump up and down at what she had just witnessed. I was beyond scared, I had never seen nothing like that in my life, she said. Vargas said Castillo told her to help Fulghum clean it up, or hed kill me and my son. I was in a room with three men I didnt know she said. I would have done anything that they told me to do. Vargas said she and Fulghum used everything absorbent that we could to pick up the blood, adding, There was blood everywhere. She said they had to fold Perrys body to force it into two blue, plastic rectangular totes. Vargas took off the T-shirt she was wearing so the could finish picking up the blood, she said. She and Fulghum then placed the bins through a hole in the wall, Vargas said, which served as an entrance to a small room where Martinez later testified he kept his machete, ax and other tools. In his cross-examination, defense attorney Matt Allen asked Vargas if prosecutors made any promises to her for her testimony. She said no. The Docket: Local crime and courtroom news, delivered to your inbox weekly Online court records indicate Vargas has a criminal record that dates back to 2007 that includes offenses such as DWI, criminal mischief, drug possession, evading arrest, and endangering a child, in addition to a 2019 probation violation involving a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. Allen challenged some of Vargas testimony, referring to inconsistencies in video interviews with deputies that have not yet been shown in court, but she remained firm on what she had witnessed, and said she did what Castillo told her to do out of fear. Questioned again by McDaniel, she reiterated her fear. I dont know this man (Castillo), I dont know his connections, that alone puts fear in me, she said. The trial resumes Tuesday in the 290th District Court, Judge Jennifer Pena presiding. If convicted, Castillo faces up to life in prison. ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 Most striking in Alex Jones defamation trial this month wasnt his sweaty acknowledgment of the truth about Sandy Hook, but how one of his victims could respond to him with compassion. Yes, under oath, and the pressure of financial judgment, Jones said the Sandy Hook massacre was 100 percent real. In the sense that, at long last, a person who perpetuated a painful lie publicly recognized a hard truth, there is a certain measure of value in these words. And yet these few words mean next to nothing because the harms of Jones many other words are so enduring. Yes, Jones acknowledged the obvious the nations most deadly school shooting happened. But left unaddressed, something no financial judgment can remedy, is the depth of pain and torment he caused in denying this reality, calling Sandy Hook a hoax, as his followers antagonized and hounded the grieving families. The sky is blue. The sun rises in the east. Sandy Hook was 100 percent real. And Alex Jones spews conspiracies. If we have learned anything from Jones, who is based in Austin, it is that words matter. They have the power of creation In the beginning was the word, John 1:1 and used for the wrong reasons, words have the power to create immense pain, suffering and confusion. They have the power to divide and degrade. They also have the power to reveal, heal, uplift and unite. This brings us to the words of Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse was one of 20 children and six teachers murdered on Dec. 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lewis and Jesses father, Neil Heslin, successfully sued Jones for defamation in Austin, and her framing of Jones merits far more reflection than any of his deadening utterances made in court or outside of it. I dont think that he has a lot of love in his life. I dont think hes a very happy person, Lewis told John Moritz, of Hearst Newspapers. I know that hurt people hurt people, and the amount of hurt that hes caused, I think is reflective of the amount of pain that hes in, and I just felt a tremendous amount of compassion well up in me and I was fighting back tears. What an incredible statement. What power. Never have I associated love and compassion with Jones or anyone with his platform, Infowars. And yet here is a grieving mother, a person who has suffered a loss that can never be adequately described with words, deploying such empowering language. She had compassion for him. Because her words frame Jones with the lens of humanity and empathy that he denied the victims of Sandy Hook, they are part gift and part punishment. My son existed, she testified. Yes, Jesse existed. He was six. He was murdered at school. His last actions, telling other students to run, likely helped save nine of his classmates. After the shooting, Jesses father held his son in his arms. It is impossible to think about Jesse and the other victims in Newtown without thinking of Uvalde and the nations second-deadliest school shooting. There are so many connections. The children. The teachers. Texas. The failure to reduce gun violence in the 10 years between Dec. 14, 2012 and May 24, 2022. In Lewis statement, My son existed, can be heard echoes of Matthew McConaugheys speech following the Uvalde massacre. The parents in Uvalde, they want their childrens dreams to live on, he said. That they want their childrens dreams to continue to accomplish something after they are gone. They want to make their loss of life matter. How do we do this? At the most basic level, it means acknowledging that a tragedy has happened. My son existed. This is the power of the shrines that blossomed outside Robb Elementary Square and Uvaldes Town Square. But this alone is not enough. To fully acknowledge the lives we have lost due to gun violence, and the pain their loved ones bear, requires acknowledging how those lives were lost. To frame gun violence solely in terms of enhancing school security, or improving access to mental health care; to talk about everything but the gun used to murder, is to offer an incomplete view of tragedy and not fully accept suffering. In its own way, much like laughing about gun violence at a political town hall, it is a denial of humanity. It should not fall to the survivors of gun violence to assert and confirm that their loved ones existed or that a mass shooting happened, just as it should not fall to the survivors of gun violence to lead the effort for change and reform. That responsibility should fall to everyone else. It is our job to say to Scarlett Lewis: Your son existed. It is our responsibility to say to the families of Uvalde and Newtown: The lives of your children and loved ones mattered. And then to take those words, so powerful, and create a world in their image. jbrodesky@express-news.net When your intent to interrupt, mock and ridicule someone backfires, and you become the mocked and ridiculed, neither you nor your defenders can complain about your treatment or tsk tsk because someone used bad words and called you a bad name. When you laugh during the recounting of a murderous mass shooting, no verbal response can come close to being as grotesque as what you found funny. Since his 2018 campaign for the U.S. Senate, Beto ORourke is known for his propensity for profanity. Some think its refreshing and real because it reflects his passion. Some find it off-putting and juvenile. Others consider it calculated and part of his stump speech. But on Wednesday evening during a town hall in Mineral Wells, ORourke, the Democratic nominee for governor, let loose an epithet that has gone viral for its morally outraged spontaneity. Supporters of Gov. Greg Abbott, identified by their T-shirts, who appeared to not be disruptive, just standing and listening, were in the back of the room where ORourke was speaking. When ORourke talked about Uvalde and the AR-15-style gun used to murder 19 children and two teachers, a male Abbott supporter is heard laughing loud enough as if he wanted to be heard. In mid-sentence, ORourke, turned toward the man, pointed, and said, It may be funny to you MF, but its not funny to me, OK! His supporters jumped to their feet with raucous cheers and applause. It may have been the most exquisitely, indignant use of MF ever used in American politics. Not gratuitous or planned, but a human reaction to the inhumane action of someone laughing about the murders of children and their teachers. This is the second time in less than three months that ORourke, Uvalde, and profanity have intersected. On the day after the shooting, as Abbott was speaking at a press conference, ORourke stood up from the audience to confront him: The time to stop this was after Sante Fe High School. The time to stop this was after El Paso. The time to stop the next shooting is right now and you are doing nothing, he said. You are all doing nothing. You said this is not predictable, this is totally predictable. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled at ORourke, I cant believe youre a sick son of a b - - - that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue. ORourkes supporters didnt like him being called an S.O.B., but given the emotions, the mayors response and language was understandable. In retrospect, given the incompetent and corrupt handling of Uvalde by state leaders and law enforcement agencies, ORourke was more correct than he could have known. Cruelty and the degradation of people you disagree with crosses ideological and party lines. Laughing at the death of children, reveling in anyones pain, isnt a reflection of a persons party and politics, but of their character and the person they choose to be. Yet such laughing isnt surprising at a time when a bombastic profiteer such as Alex Jones has convinced millions of Americans that another school shooting in which children and teachers were murdered, Sandy Hook, is a hoax. There are millions of Texans who think about May 24, Robb Elementary, and the children and women of Uvalde who died there. When we think of them, its not mirth or merriment that we feel or laughing we want to do. Theres some clutching of pearls by people with misplaced priorities who have the vapors because ORourke said a naughty world. The true profanity of the moment was a man laughing about dead children and teachers and the ultimate profanity is how they died. Maybe you dont want your children hearing a famous politician saying a bad word. But think of the families whod give anything to have their children be alive to hear those words and to have two teachers be alive to tell them not to repeat them. Anyone upset with ORourkes authentic response to callousness should aim their outrage at those who enable weapons of war to be aimed and discharged at 19 babies and two teachers. Dont cry over a 12-letter profanity spoken. Weep, dont laugh, over 21 lives stolen. cary.clack@express-news.net The stairs of the Montana Capitol in Helena, Montana (Photo by Eric Seidle for the Daily Montanan). The State of Montana has dumped nearly all of its assets tied to Russian interests, some $14 million, Board of Investments Executive Director Dan Villa told lawmakers this week. In March, Gov. Greg Gianforte called for Montana to divest from assets in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Now, just $35,000 remains in Russia because of the governments restrictions on rubles, Villa said. We began exiting the Russian holdings when we could, not because of any, what Ill call governance or policy reasons, but because Russia is uninvestable as a country at this point, Villa said. Its been removed from the indices. He offered the update Thursday to the State Administration and Veterans Affairs Interim Committee in response to a question from Rep. Kelly Kortum, D-Bozeman. In a call after the meeting, Kortum said he had asked about the divestment in May and Villa had said progress was slow, but Kortum didnt receive numbers at the time. When I heard the numbers (Thursday), I was pretty thrilled with them, Kortum said. In March, many state government and industry leaders in the U.S. announced plans to pull investments from Russia shortly after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, but not all succeeded. For example, California lawmakers tried to pull pension funds out of Russia, but the Sacramento Bee reported late last month that pensions were thorny to sell, all those holdings in Russia remained, and values had plummeted. In a March 2 memo, Montanas Republican governor formally requested state agencies withdraw any investments aiding Russias invasion of Ukraine and its vicious war machine. The memo noted the state had identified some $15 million tied to Russia and had already started to divest: Montana stands with Ukraine. In other updates to the committee Thursday, Villa also noted the state has been able to expand opportunities for how local governments use bonds. He said the change came about after a couple of years of work to remove private activity restrictions on nontaxable bonds, and he offered one example of the result. Previously, we wouldnt have been able to help local governments or school districts build housing, but at our last board meeting, were now financing the construction of teacher houses in West Yellowstone, Villa said. He noted returns were down in fiscal year 2022 for three of the states four investment pools, but he also noted markets have generally been down, with the S&P 500 dropping 12.39 percent the same year. At the same time, Villa said the states strategy to diversify helps curb losses. It really speaks to why diversification is necessary within a pool of this size, Villa said. Some folks may be interested in more or less equity exposure, but when youre getting about 23 percent, nearly 24 percent return on your real estate portfolio, that helps smooth some of your losses that will inevitably happen in up and down cycles within the domestic equity and international equity markets. The post Montana pulled $14M of investments tied to Russian interests appeared first on Daily Montanan. Cambodias international trade rose to $32.82 billion between January and July this year, a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 21.3 per cent. Cambodia exported $13.78 billion worth of goods during the durationup by 30.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. The United States is the biggest market, accounting for 43 per cent of the total exports. Garment, footwear and travel goods shared almost half of the total commodity exports, followed by non-garment products and agricultural products. Cambodia's international trade rose to $32.82 billion between January and July this year, a year-on-year (YoY) rise of 21.3 per cent. Cambodia exported $13.78 billion worth of goods during the durationup by 30.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. The United States is the biggest market, accounting for 43 per cent of the total exports. The latest report of the general department of customs and excise shows the countrys total imports rose by 15.4 per cent during the same period to $19.05 billion. Exports to the United States worth $5.69 billion posted a 47.3 per cent YoY increase. The rise in exports to the United States is remarkable considering the still-pending renewal of the generalised system of preferences, a newspaper report in the country noted. Vietnam and China ranked second and third, importing $1.32 billion and $701 million worth of products from Cambodia respectively, it said. China was the largest trading partner of Cambodia, followed by the United States, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. Bilateral trade volume between the two countries was valued at $6.97 billion in the first seven months of 2022, up by 15.6 per cent YoY. Trade with China accounted for 21 per cent of Cambodias total trade volume of $32.8 billion between January and July. The report attributed the spurt in production and trade to the resumption of socio-economic activities, trade pacts such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and bilateral free trade agreement with China. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Bangladesh-based National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has sought the formation of a new wage board for readymade garment (RMG) workers in the face of rising living costs. The garments sector in Bangladesh is its largest export-oriented industry, according to the NGWF. The last time the minimum wage for apparel sector workers was set by the government was four years ago. Bangladesh-based National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has sought the formation of a new wage board for RMG workers in the face of rising living costs. The garments sector in Bangladesh is its largest export-oriented industry, according to the NGWF. The last time the minimum wage for apparel sector workers was set by the government was four years ago. The NGWF, which was founded in 1984, has 87 registered factory unions and is viewed as one of the four major federations of garment workers' unions in Bangladesh. Bangladesh-based National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has sought the formation of a new wage board for RMG workers in the face of rising living costs. The garments sector in Bangladesh is its largest export-oriented industry, according to the NGWF. The last time the minimum wage for apparel sector workers was set by the government was four years ago. Owing to the rapid increase in the prices of essential goods, house rent, and other living expenses, raising the wages of RMG workers has become an urgent matter, so that they are able to meet their basic needs, said the NGWF in a press release. Bangladesh-based National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has sought the formation of a new wage board for RMG workers in the face of rising living costs. The garments sector in Bangladesh is its largest export-oriented industry, according to the NGWF. The last time the minimum wage for apparel sector workers was set by the government was four years ago. In November 2018, a gazette notification was issued which fixed the minimum monthly wage of RMG factory workers at Tk 8,000. The rate fixed at that time for around four million workers was 51 per cent more than Tk 5,300, the wage set on December 1, 2013. Bangladesh-based National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) has sought the formation of a new wage board for RMG workers in the face of rising living costs. The garments sector in Bangladesh is its largest export-oriented industry, according to the NGWF. The last time the minimum wage for apparel sector workers was set by the government was four years ago. Besides different basic pays and house rents, Tk 600 medical allowance, Tk 350 for conveyance, and Tk 900 food allowance were included in the minimum wages. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 12, 2022 / Core One Labs Inc. (CSE:COOL), (OTCQB:CLABF), (Frankfurt:LD6, WKN:A3CSSU) (the "Company" or "Core One") is pleased to announce that scientists at its wholly-owned subsidiary Awakened Biosciences Inc. ("Awakened") have successfully produced a precursor that can be efficiently converted into psilocin, the psychoactive ingredient of psilocybin, with further conversion into commercially viable psilocybin by Core One's wholly owned Vocan Biotechnologies Inc. ("Vocan"). Under the leadership of Awakened's Chief Researcher, Dr. Tony Durst, who is also Emeritus Professor at the University of Ottawa, Awakened has produced more than 200 grams of the precursor; a compound that does not fall under the umbrella of Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). Awakened's precursor will be shipped to Vocan's laboratories in Victoria, where scientists, operating under a CDSA licensed Dealer's Lab, will use their processes to turn this into psilocybin. Core One's team of scientists anticipate that the production methods employed will yield a high purity psilocybin product. The successful production of this precursor by Awakened, presents many opportunities for Core One, including the potential for sooner than anticipated distribution of a commercially viable psilocybin API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) product. Commercially viable psilocybin API could lead to revenue generation in the near term. Additionally, the collaboration between Awakened and Vocan, can streamline the production process, to allow Vocan to focus on ramping up production of psilocybin. "Vocan's breakthrough achievement to produce low cost psilocybin is being advanced further through this partnership with Awakened. The roughly $20.8 million invested in Vocan and its research, at both its Victoria based laboratory and the University of British Columbia, has resulted in Core One Labs becoming a leader in cost effective psychedelic compounds production. " stated Joel Shacker, Core One CEO. About Core One Labs Inc. Core One Labs is a life sciences biotechnology research and development company focused on bringing psychedelic medicines to market through the development and production of psychedelic compounds, the advancement of psychedelic assisted treatments, and the integration of novel delivery systems technology. The Company has a multi-faceted business approach and incorporates several complementary lines of businesses and units in establishing itself as an industry leader in the rapidly growing and emerging psychedelics market space. Core One, through its wholly owned subsidiary Vocan Biotechnologies Inc., has developed and filed for patent protection of a proprietary psilocybin production system using engineered bacteria. It is also the holder of 4 provisional patents for the development of psychedelic-based pharmaceutical formulations targeting neurological and mental health disorders, under its 100% owned subsidiary Akome Biotech Ltd., and 3 provisional patents under its other 100% owned subsidiary, Awakened Biosciences Inc., for additional synthetic technologies for psilocybin and psilocin production methods. In addition to the development of psychedelics and psychedelic compounds, Core One holds an interest in four medical clinics which maintain a combined database of more than 275,000 patients. Through its clinics the Company intends to integrate a roll out of its intellectual property related to psychedelic technologies and participate in the advancement of psychedelic-based treatments for mental health disorders. Core One Labs Inc. Joel Shacker Chief Executive Officer FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: info@core1labs.com 1-866-347-5058 Cautionary Disclaimer Statement: The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. 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. 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 the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with strict regulatory regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. In addition, psilocybin is currently a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (Canada) and it is a criminal offence to possess substances under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (Canada) without a prescription or authorization. Health Canada has not approved psilocybin as a drug for any indication. Core One does not have any direct or indirect involvement with illegal selling, production, or distribution of psychedelic substances in jurisdictions in which it operates. While Core One believes psychedelic substances can be used to treat certain medical conditions, it does not advocate for the legalization of psychedelics substances for recreational use. Core One does not deal with psychedelic substances, except within laboratory and clinical trial settings conducted within approved regulatory frameworks. SOURCE: Core One Labs Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/711998/Core-One-Labs-Subsidiaries-Successfully-Produce-Psilocin-Precursor-for-Production-to-Psilocybin SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 12, 2022, said that repetitive, mechanical, and dull work had left us no time to take care of our family and real life. Collaborative robots came into being to solve this issue, allowing robots and workers to work together to improve efficiency. However, this is only the first step. Han's Robot is developing intelligent collaborative robots that do not require secondary development which users can buy and use according to their needs and costs. Han's Robot is invested and established by Han's Laser, the world's leading industrial laser processing and automation solution provider. It has attracted over 500 top global talents from 25 countries and regions. The core technology R&D team has accumulated more than ten years of industrial experience and mastered the core key technologies of intelligent robots. The product has the advantages of intelligent perception, zero-code programming, zero-sliding when power is off, etc. In addition, the repeat positioning accuracy is as low as 0.02mm, making the collaborative robot more intelligent, friendly, and safe. At present, Han's Robot has completed nearly RMB 800 million in A round to B+ round of financing. With the continuous support of investors, the company's application scenarios cover loading and unloading, welding, palletizing and grinding, etc., and are widely applied in 3C, machining, automotive, medical, and other industries. The company has conducted in-depth cooperation with world-class companies such as Hitachi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, etc. In the future, Wang Guangneng, general manager of Han's Robot, said that the company would continue to increase investment in research and development. Han's Robotwill continue to promote the application of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and sensing technology in the field of robotics and strive to build a new era of intelligent collaborative robots. About Han's Robot Han's Robot is a national high-tech enterprise dedicated to developing, promoting, and applying intelligent robots in industry, healthcare, logistics, services, etc. For more information about Han's Robot, please visit: Website: https://www.hansrobot.net/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hansrobot Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shenzhenhansrobot Media Contact Company Name: Shenzhen Han's Robot Co., Ltd. Address: Nanshan District 518102 Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Telephone: 400-852-9898 Email: hansrobot_international@hanslaser.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d02e9241-2a9e-42f5-9401-44ba134f0c7c Reusables.com, a Vancouver, BC, Canada-based zero-waste packaging platform, raised $100k in seed funding. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), an independent federal foundation that funds Canadian companies developing new climate technologies, made the investment. The company intends to use the funds to scale its IoT-enabled technology platform and help more food business transition towards a circular economy for packaging. Led by Jason Hawkins, CEO and Co-Founder, Reusables provides a tech-enabled platform for zero-waste packaging and has built a large pipeline of opportunities with food retailers and packaging distributors throughout North America. The company is backed by Ryan Holmes and Manny Padda through LOI Venture and is currently raising a seed round to expand its network in the U.S. and Canada. Reusables was also recently accepted into the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) for climate-tech companies looking to expand into the U.S. and raise capital. FinSMEs 13/08/2022 On July 12, 2022 local time, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was visiting Malaysia upon invitation, in Kuala Lumpur. Wang Yi first conveyed Chinese leaders' cordial greetings to Prime Minister Ismail, and said that China and Malaysia enjoy a traditional friendship spanning over a thousand years and are strategic partners of mutually beneficial cooperation. China-Malaysia relations have withstood the test of changes in the international landscape and respective domestic situations, and maintained a sound and steady momentum of development, bringing important well-being to the two countries and two peoples, and making positive contributions to peace and prosperity in the region and the world at large. China is ready to take the opportunity of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries next year, as well as the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia the year after next, to determine new directions, set new goals, plan new priorities and open new chapters for the development of bilateral relations in the next stage. It's important to strengthen all-round cooperation between the two sides in connectivity, digital economy, green development and agriculture, among others. China encourages and renders support to Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Malaysia, with a view to helping Malaysia accelerate its industrialization. Wang Yi said, China has always viewed China-Malaysia relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, supported Malaysia in playing an important role in regional and international affairs, and appreciated Malaysia's attendance at the High-level Dialogue on Global Development as an important representative of developing countries and emerging markets, as well as Malaysia's positive contributions to building consensus on global development. In the face of the intertwined changes and turbulence in the international situation, China is ready to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with Malaysia to inject more stability into today's world. Wang Yi said, the vision of a "World Family" put forward by Mr. Prime Minister and a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by President Xi Jinping share similar concepts and same goals. China is ready to strengthen synergy with Malaysia, and go hand in hand in the direction of building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, so as to inject new connotations into the friendship between the two countries in accordance with the trend of the times, and contribute the strengths of China and Malaysia to the progress of humanity. Ismail asked Wang Yi to convey his cordial greetings to Chinese leaders, and thanked China for providing invaluable support for Malaysia in fighting the pandemic. He said, Malaysia-China relations are of vital importance, and bilateral friendship dates back to ancient times. Malaysia was the first ASEAN country to establish diplomatic relations with China, with pragmatic cooperation between the two countries yielding fruitful results and major projects progressing smoothly. Malaysia has high expectations for the future of bilateral relations, and stands ready to deepen connectivity and bilateral cooperation in various fields, and explore a way to actively participate in the Pan-Asia railway network cooperation. More Chinese enterprises are welcome to invest in Malaysia and carry out cooperation in 5G and other high-tech fields, so as to help Malaysia achieve innovative, inclusive and sustainable development. Ismail said, Malaysia attaches great importance to the important initiatives recently put forward by President Xi Jinping, and appreciates the Chinese side's efforts to contribute China's proposals to global governance. The Malaysian side is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China in multilateral affairs, work in concert to address pressing global challenges such as food security, jointly maintain peace and stability, and champion fairness and justice. The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern. Politics AP FBI seized top secret documents in Trump estate search WASHINGTON The FBI recovered top secret and even more sensitive documents from former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the sudden, unprecedented search this week. A property receipt unsealed by the court shows FBI agents took 11 sets of classified records from the estate during a search on Monday. The seized records include some marked not only top secret but also sensitive compartmented information, a special category meant to protect the nations most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause exceptionally grave damage to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about information the documents might contain. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. The other statutes address the concealment, mutilation or removal of records and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations. The property receipt also shows federal agents collected other potential presidential records, including the order pardoning Trump ally Roger Stone, a leatherbound box of documents, and information about the President of France. A binder of photos, a handwritten note, miscellaneous secret documents and miscellaneous confidential documents were also seized in the search. Trumps attorney, Christina Bobb, who was present at Mar-a-Lago when the agents conducted the search, signed two property receipts one that was two pages long and another that is a single page. In a statement earlier Friday, Trump claimed that the documents seized by agents were all declassified, and argued that he would have turned them over if the Justice Department had asked. While incumbent presidents generally have the power to declassify information, that authority lapses as soon as they leave office and it was not clear if the documents in question have ever been declassified. And even an incumbents powers to declassify may be limited regarding secrets dealing with nuclear weapons programs, covert operations and operatives, and some data shared with allies. Trump kept possession of the documents despite multiple requests from agencies, including the National Archives, to turn over presidential records in accordance with federal law. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Monday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trumps home earlier this year. The Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department moved forward with the warrant simply as a means to retrieve the records or as part of a wider criminal investigation or attempt to prosecute the former president. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information, with both criminal and civil penalties, as well as presidential records. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the same judge who signed off on the search warrant, unsealed the warrant and property receipt Friday at the request of the Justice Department after Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was substantial public interest in this matter, and Trump said he backed the warrants immediate release. The Justice Department told the judge Friday afternoon that Trumps lawyers did not object to the proposal to make it public. In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, Not only will I not oppose the release of documents ... I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents. The Justice Departments request was striking because such warrants traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation. But the department appeared to recognize that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for bitter verbal attacks by Trump and his allies, and felt that the public was entitled to the FBIs side about what prompted Mondays action at the former presidents home. The publics clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing, said a motion filed in federal court in Florida on Thursday. The information was released as( Trump prepares for another run for the White House. During his 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information. To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed. Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given that standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of ones home. In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. FBI and Justice Department policy cautions against discussing ongoing investigations, both to protect the integrity of the inquiries and to avoid unfairly maligning someone who is being scrutinized but winds up ultimately not being charged. Thats especially true in the case of search warrants, where supporting court papers are routinely kept secret as the investigation proceeds. In this case, though, Garland cited the fact that Trump himself had provided the first public confirmation of the FBI search, as is his right. The Justice Department, in its new filing, also said that disclosing information about it now would not harm the courts functions. The Justice Department under Garland has been leery of public statements about politically charged investigations, or of confirming to what extent it might be investigating Trump as part of a broader probe into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The department has tried to avoid being seen as injecting itself into presidential politics, as happened in 2016 when then-FBI Director James Comey made an unusual public statement announcing that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges against Clinton regarding her handling of email and when he spoke up again just over a week before the election to notify Congress that the probe was being effectively reopened because of the discovery of new emails. The attorney general also condemned verbal attacks on FBI and Justice Department personnel over the search. Some Republican allies of Trump have called for the FBI to be defunded. Large numbers of Trump supporters have called for the warrant to be released hoping they it will show that Trump was unfairly targeted. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked, Garland said of federal law enforcement agents, calling them dedicated, patriotic public servants. Earlier Thursday, an armed man wearing body armor tried to breach a security screening area at an FBI field office in Ohio, then fled and was later killed after a standoff with law enforcement. A law enforcement official briefed on the matter identified the man as Ricky Shiffer and said he is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol and may have been there on the day it took place. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) A fear of attacks that had rippled through Muslim communities nationwide after the fatal shootings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque gave way to shock and sadness when it turned out the suspect in the killings is one of their own. Muhammad Syed, 51, was arrested late Monday after a traffic stop more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from his Albuquerque home. The Afghan immigrant denied any connection to the crimes that shook the city and its small Muslim community. In court documents, in fact, he told police that he was so unnerved by the slayings that he was driving to Houston to find a new home for his family, which includes six children. But investigators said they have ample evidence to prove his guilt, though they have yet to uncover the motive for the ambush-style killings, the first of which was in November and then three between July 26 and last Friday. According to the criminal complaint, police determined that bullet casings found in Syeds vehicle matched the caliber of the weapons believed to have been used in two of the killings and that casings found at the crime scenes were linked to guns found at Syeds home and in his vehicle. Of the more than 200 tips police received, it was one from the Muslim community that led them to the Syed family, authorities said, noting that Syed knew the victims and an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings. The news of Syed's arrest stunned Muslims in Albuquerque. I wanted a little closure for the community, as we saw it going out of hand and people were really panicking. But, Ill be honest with you, I was shocked, said Samia Assed, a community organizer and member of the Islamic Center of New Mexico. She said she did not want these heinous crimes to be in any way, in any capacity used to divide a community. Salim Ansari, president of the Afghan Society of New Mexico, said he felt relief at the news that an arrest had been made. But he was especially taken back because he knew Syed through social gatherings and was dumbfounded to learn the accusations against him and that court documents showed three domestic violence cases against the man. We never knew," he said. Ansari said he first met Syed and the family when he was invited into their home in 2020 to tell them about the local Afghan community and the group that he heads. The couple ended up joining the society as members. As recently as last month, Syed and his family brought food and joined a potluck gathering, Ansari said. I dont know what happened, he said. On Wednesday, Syed made his first court appearance during a virtual arraignment. He was shackled and in a jumpsuit that said HIGH RISK on the back. His case was transferred to state District Court, where a judge will consider a motion by prosecutors to keep him detained without bond pending trial. He is a very dangerous person, and the only way to protect the community is to hold the defendant in custody, prosecutors said in court documents. Syed, through an interpreter, asked for permission to speak, but his attorney asked that the court not take any statements from him. He was not asked to enter a plea. Syed has lived in the United States for about five years. When interviewed by detectives, Syed said he had been with the special forces in Afghanistan and fought against the Taliban, according to a criminal complaint filed late Tuesday. Police said they were about to search Syeds Albuquerque home on Monday when they saw him drive away in a Volkswagen Jetta that investigators believe was used in at least one of the slayings. In the complaint, authorities said a 9mm handgun was seized from his vehicle, and they found an AK-47-style rifle and a pistol of the same caliber at the family home while serving a search warrant. Syed bought the rifle and his son Shaheen Syed purchased the pistol at a local gun shop. On Wednesday, Shaheen Syed was charged by federal prosecutors with providing a false Florida address when he bought two rifles last year. He has denied any role in the killings and has not been charged in connection with them. He and another brother were interviewed by police on Monday. The first of the four people fatally shot was Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, an immigrant from from Afghanistan. Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old man from Pakistan, was killed last Friday. His death came just days after those of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, who were also from Pakistan and members of the same mosque. Ehsan Chahalmi, the brother-in-law of Naeem Hussain, said he was a generous, kind, giving, forgiving and loving soul that has been taken away from us forever. Investigators consider Syed to be the primary suspect in the deaths of Naeem Hussain and Ahmadi but have not yet filed charges in those cases. Albuquerque police said Wednesday that as long as the suspect is detained, homicide detectives will not rush the case. Police say they are looking at a number of possible motives. When asked at a news conference Tuesday if Muhammad Syed, a Sunni Muslim, was angry that his daughter married a Shiite Muslim, Deputy Police Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock did not respond directly. He said motives are still being explored fully to understand what they are. CNN interviewed Syeds daughter shortly before the announcement of his arrest. She said her husband was friends with two of the men who were killed. She also acknowledged her father initially was upset about her 2018 marriage but recently had been more accepting. My father is not a person who can kill somebody, the woman told CNN, which did not disclose her identity to protect her safety. My father has always talked about peace. Thats why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting. In 2017, a boyfriend of Syeds daughter reported to police that Syed, his wife and one of their sons had pulled him out of a car, punching and kicking him before driving away, according to court documents. The boyfriend, who was found with a bloody nose, scratches and bruises, told police that he was attacked because they did not want her in a relationship with him. Syed was arrested in May 2018 after a fight with his wife turned violent, court documents said. Prosecutors said both cases were later dismissed after the victims declined to press charges. Syed also was arrested in 2020 after he was accused of refusing to pull over for police after running a traffic light, but that case was eventually dismissed, court documents said. Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen OToole said the crimes Syed is suspected of carrying out fit the definition of a serial killer even though Albuquerque police have not classified him as such. She said serial killers often have red flags like domestic violence or sexual assaults in their past that precede the killings. People dont wake up one morning and just become a serial killer, she said. We would go back and we would look at other crimes that were occurring in the area before the serial murders occurred. Because theres periods of time where they have to practice being violent. And that practice can begin at home. OToole said motives for the four killings may have varied from victim to victim. OToole said she would want to know what prompted three killings in quick succession eight months after the first. This behavior that were seeing in this case is cold-blooded, pre-meditated, and it involves hunting behavior actually hunting human beings which is probably as cold as it can get, she said. Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Fam from Winter Park, Florida. Associated Press writer Robert Jablon in Los Angeles and researchers Rhonda Shafner and Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report. ATLANTA, Aug. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monarch Private Capital, a nationally recognized ESG investment firm that develops, finances and manages a diversified portfolio of projects that generate both federal and state tax credits, is pleased to welcome Marsha Harrington to the team as its new Director of Renewable Energy Business Development. Harrington oversees the firms renewable energy division acquiring renewable energy projects and managing the underwriting team. She reports to Brent Barringer, Partner & Managing Director of LIHTC & Renewables at Monarch. Harringtons experience in solar energy tax equity and comprehensive knowledge of the industry will enhance Monarchs ability to provide quality service to its investors while supporting its mission to create a sustainable future. Harrington most recently served as a Director at Cornerstone Financial Advisors, using her expertise to advise lenders, tax and cash equity investors, and sponsors/developers in renewable energy transactions. Prior to this role, she was the Assistant V.P. of Business Development in Renewable Energy Investment Syndications at U.S. Bancorp, where she developed and managed relationships with external investors who partnered with U.S. Bank on solar energy investment tax credit funds. Harrington also has experience in fund management and tax equity compliance, previously managing multiple solar energy investment funds for NRG Energy, along with cash/tax equity investors and back-leverage lenders. Were so pleased to have Marsha join our team of tax credit experts, said Barringer. Her extensive experience in solar financing and established network within the industry will allow her to apply a multifaceted approach to the ongoing and robust growth of our renewable energy division. Monarch has facilitated 1.6 GW of clean power capacity since entering the renewable energy sector in 2012. Public support of the environmental movement continues to increase dramatically, with clean energy production at its forefront. The addition of Harrington will enable Monarch to keep pace with the resulting rise in demand for ESG tax equity investment opportunities in renewable energy, helping further the firms ESG goals and those of its clients. It is such an exciting time to be in the renewable energy space, said Harrington. I look forward to working with Monarchs passionate and dedicated team of clean power champions as we continue to accelerate U.S. renewable energy development, and on the heels of promising new legislation to incentivize investment and a growing, intensifying concern for the sustainability of our planet. Harrington received an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and holds a BS in Chemistry from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. For more information on Monarch Private Capital and ESG tax equity investing, please contact Brent Barringer by emailing bbarringer@monarchprivate.com. About Monarch Private Capital Monarch Private Capital manages ESG funds that positively impact communities by creating clean power, jobs and homes. The funds provide predictable returns through the generation of federal and state tax credits. The Company offers innovative tax credit equity investments for affordable housing, historic rehabilitations, renewable energy, film and other qualified projects. Monarch Private Capital has long-term relationships with institutional and individual investors, developers and lenders that participate in these types of federal and state programs. Headquartered in Atlanta, Monarch has offices and professionals located throughout the U.S. Dubai, UAE, Aug. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Institutional investments in cryptocurrencies are rapidly increasing despite the current adverse bearish pattern that has dominated the global crypto markets in the last months. The past few weeks have seen fairly consistent trading volumes for Encryptus, a transparent and licensed platform for institutional crypto assets. It is on this premise that Encryptus announces its strategic partnership with the renowned record labelAzadi Records. The alliance will result in the exploration of the NFT ecosystem and the development of innovative use cases, which will give holders exclusive access to premium content, limited edition merchandise, VIP tour tickets and more. Several financial firms, including Fidelity, are maintaining a long-term perspective and even deciding to increase their investments in and operations surrounding cryptocurrencies. These Institutions are using various strategies to invest in cryptocurrencies, from adding them to their balance sheets to expanding their brand activities into the metaverse. NFT is also one of the sectors that institutional investors are continuing to have a lot of faith in after the 2020 NFT boom, especially with the numerous upcoming NFT-specific applications in the metaverse. Moreso, Shantnoo Saxsena, Encryptus Founder and CEO states; During the current bearish market, institutional support behind crypto remains strong, and Encryptus is glad to be playing an important role in institutional crypto adoption. It certainly doesnt hurt that this institutional interest in the crypto market is also working to excite existing investors who were contemplating hastily pulling out of the market. Considering how valuable NFTs have become, it is no surprise that Encryptus partnered with Azadi Records, an independent record label keen on providing South Asian artists with a platform to freely express themselves for this extraordinary quest into the world of non-fungible tokens. Shantnoo further adds, Our recent partnership with Azadi Records aims to create a use case for the NFT ecosystem in India in a more compliant manner. Our primary focus is compliance and respect for the law of the land. Nayaab.World NFTs and their utilities will unlock new avenues for artist-fans engagement, building a deeper relationship between them. Mo Joshi and Uday Kapur, founders of Azadi Records. Notably, Seedhe Maut is an artist affiliated with Azadi Records who is launching its own NFT with a tour across the country, in association with Encryptus and LBank. This partnership between Encryptus and Azadi Records makes it one of the first Indian music labels to integrate blockchain technology into their operations and also includes the NFT-centric Nayaab.world. About Azadi Records Azadi Records is an independent record label changing the culture in the South Asian Music industry while providing a platform for music that questions, subverts, and engages with socio-political issues of our time. Established in 2017, the label has released records that have cut across languages, themes, and regions with one vision intact: never to be silenced. About Encryptus Encryptus started out as a crypto advisory company in London back in 2020, and since then got approvals from a couple of countries for buying and selling crypto assets. Encryptus is operated by an experienced team of experts who thoroughly understand the risks, compliances, and opportunities in the crypto space. We have made it our mission to empower licensed financial services companies in crypto adoption! Follow us on Medium, Twitter and LinkedIn! Disclaimer : There is no offer to sell, no solicitation of an offer to buy, and no recommendation of any security or any other product or service in this article. This is not an investment advice. Please do you own research. Contact Details : Company Name : Encryptus Contact name : Abhinav Email : partners@encryptus.io Location : Dubai, UAE Newsroom: socials.submitmypressrelease.com ROAD TOWN, Virgin Islands (British), Aug. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BullPerks lands the number two position on CryptoRank.io as one of the leading launchpads in the industry according to data from Aug. 12, 2022. BullPerks has raised over $5 million in funding and launched 43 Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs). Among the top 10 best crypto launchpads on CryptoRank.io's list, BullPerks ranks second in terms of the current ROI. It is also among a few top launchpads that support nearly all popular public blockchains, including Binance Smart Chain, Solana, Cardano, Polygon, and more. BullPerks has established itself as one of the most outstanding launchpads in the crypto industry with continued support from a community of prominent investors worldwide. CryptoRank is a reputable platform that provides crowdsourced and professionally curated research, price analysis, and crypto market-moving news. Within less than a year of launch, being highlighted by CryptoRank as one of the top launchpads is an honor for BullPerks, who are excited for what will come next. CryptoRank.io uses the ratio of the current and ATH ROI of all conducted IDOs to accumulate the list of the best crypto launchpads. Therefore, it only features IDO platforms with a proven record of successful projects and high returns. How BullPerks Stands Out From The Rest Even as a bear market looms over the economy, BullPerks continues to present itself as a reliable crypto investment platform offering its users only the most top-quality deals. BullPerks stands out from other crypto launchpads with its unique adaptive tier-based system aimed to democratize investments, offering users a relatively easy way to participate in deals. The launchpad currently implements a 6-tier system, in which the number of $BLP tokens users locked on the platform defines their tier. Since day one, BullPerks has been dedicated to prioritizing the needs of the community, which has helped earn the project the reputation of being one of the fairest and most community-dedicated crypto launchpads. Now more than ever, the company is dedicated to protecting its projects and investors by performing rigorous due diligence on all projects, implementing its new self-regulation policy creating the safest possible conditions for IDO launch. BullPerks' dedication to its community allows only the highest-quality projects to enter its ecosystem, minimizing risk and maximizing ROI for investors. About BullPerks BullPerks is the fairest and most community-dedicated decentralized VC and multichain launchpad. Unleashing the power of the blockchain and a decentralized venture fundraising model, BullPerks offers tremendous opportunities to everyone willing to invest in the best crypto projects on equal terms with VCs. The platform is fully oriented toward the community and provides low entry and access to early-stage projects for users. Contact: Dana Kachan Head of Marketing at BullPerks info@bullperks.com Visit us on social media: Twitter YouTube Telegram Official Announcements Telegram Official Chat Medium Facebook LinkedIn Related Images Image 1: BullPerks Is Among Top Launchpads In The Industry BullPerks Ranks As One of The Top Launchpads Per Current and All-Time High Returns on Investments on CryptoRank.io This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment The dream of hosting Formula 1 Grands Prix and MotoGP at Finland's KymiRing has been shattered in recent months. The owners of the newly built circuit have gone bankrupt and are now suffering the same fate as two other Scandinavian circuit owners. Where did it go wrong? Article continues under ad In the summer of 2020, the first MotoGP race should have been held at the KymiRing. That plan could not go ahead due to construction problems: just two months before the event the paddock, access roads and the ambulance lane had not been asphalted. For that reason Dorna decided together with the FIM and IRTA to cancel the first Finnish Grand Prix in forty years. Also the following years the event could not take place due to lack of funds. No Finnish GP for the time being In 2023 the race would finally debut on the MotoGP calendar. The circuit would have had to meet all the required construction measures by 20 September this year, but it didn't happen. The owners of the circuit have gone bankrupt and it looks like the event will never take place again. This also means an end to the Formula 1 dream of the KymiRing. The circuit was not yet homologated by the FIA for car racing due to an error in securing the tyre stacks, but it would have loved to host F1 races in the future. In the meantime, it has become clear that the owners of the circuit are in considerable financial difficulties. The construction companies Maanrakennus Pekka Rautiainen ky and Macra oy have filed for bankruptcy against the KymiRing and would claim amounts of several tons, but the financial difficulties of the circuit are much bigger than that. According to the Finnish Iltalehti the total debt amounts to around 25 million, which has also caused problems for the business partner Lahti Events, which was to organise the event. The circuit owners have reportedly applied for debt restructuring to avoid bankruptcy. The KymiRing is not the first failed project in Scandinavia. Copenhagen, for example, had the same wish, but it fell victim to the financial and organisational efforts involved. Also in Anderstorp (Sweden), funding and geographical location were the main reasons why a similar project failed. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) recently signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Chengdu Municipal Government. The two parties will carry out all-round cooperation in the fields of battery swap operation, research and development, comprehensive utilization of resources, manufacturing of key battery materials, new energy and energy storage. In addition, cooperation agreements were signed between Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and the government of Xinjin District, between Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology Ltd. (CAES) and Chengdu Communications Investment Group Corporation Limited, and between CATL Yongfu New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Chengdu Environment Group. In terms of battery swap cooperation, the two parties will actively promote the research, development and application of battery swap technologies. Based on the mode of battery-vehicle separation, CAESs modular battery swap solution will solve the three major problems of facing the electric vehicle industry, namely, the range anxiety, the inconvenience of refueling and the high total cost of ownership. It aims to provide users in Chengdu with convenient and reliable mobile power solutions and services. In addition, CATL will gather relevant industrial resources to actively promote the transformation and upgrading of Chengdu's automobile industry. With regard to research and development, CATL plans to set up its Southwest China Operation Headquarters and Chengdu Research Institute. Supported by its technological advantages in EV battery manufacturing, battery swapping, zero carbon operation and energy storage, CATL will conduct innovative technology research, product and scenario development and project incubation in the above mentioned areas. As for comprehensive utilization of resources, based on CATLs technological strengths in intelligent BESS charging stations, the two parties are committed to building Chengdu Changan Venous Industry Park into a zero-carbon demonstration park and promoting it to the whole country. The signing of the agreements marks the full launch of strategic cooperation between CATL and Chengdu, which is also an important step of CATLs development of the industry chain in Sichuan Province. In the future, CATL will give full play to its comprehensive advantages, promote the green and low-carbon industries in Chengdu, and help Chengdu grow into an important base of innovation for the high-quality development of the lithium-ion battery industry of China and a demonstration city of interconnected battery swap solution in China. GREENWICH Taking a step toward joining other Connecticut municipalities, the Board of Selectmen unanimously recommended that Greenwich opt out of a state law governing accessory apartment units. The opt-out now needs to be approved by the Representative Town Meeting, and Town Director of Planning and Zoning Katie DeLuca said it will be on the RTMs agenda for its Sept. 18 meeting. By voting at Thursdays meeting to opt out, Board of Selectmen members said the town should rely on its existing rules that govern how much parking is allowed at accessory apartments. An accessory apartment is a separate apartment unit on the same lot as a bigger dwelling such as a house. The matter went before the Board of Selectmen two weeks ago, with First Selectman Fred Camillo saying he was ready to vote. But Selectwoman Lauren Rabin and Selectperson Janet Stone-McGuigan, said they preferred to wait two weeks to hear public feedback. I have not heard anything to disabuse me of my position and change my mind, Camillo said. Stone-McGuigan said she was approached by a number of residents and said feedback is always welcome. Like Fred I have not heard anything to change my support of the opt-out, she said. I do want to note that the opt-out is really consistent with our carefully crafted Plan of Conservation and Development and, in fact, I think it better promotes diversity and supports our vulnerable populations. But Stone-McGuigan said she had received that young graduates in town might be overlooked in the policy. They might find it hard to find or afford entry-level housing in Greenwich, she said. Rabin said she had heard the same thing from young graduates moving back in Greenwich and getting their first jobs who dont want to necessarily live under the same roof as their parents. She said this was something to think about. Camillo said he realized that housing is expensive in Greenwich. A lot of people who are teachers or firemen or policemen, after a couple of years, might not be eligible for these types of dwellings and units, he said. At some point they get married and want some space for their families so they go where its a little cheaper. Thats been the trend for the last 25 years or so. More people are going up the line. Wed love to keep them here. Growing up I remember all the cops and firemen lived in town. That was before real estate took off. All Connecticut municipalities can opt out of Connecticut Public Act 21-29, which sets regulations for accessory apartments. Under the state law, there can be no more than one parking space for each studio or one-bedroom dwelling unit and no more than two spaces for two- or more bedroom units. Greenwichs regulations require more parking than that before a unit it permitted. Additionally, the state law says that accessory apartments cannot be counted as part of a towns affordable housing stock. However, the towns regulations say they can be as long as the apartments are occupied by residents who are seniors, have disabilities or meet the economic definitions for affordable housing. The law has been in effect since Jan. 1, 2021, but municipalities have until Jan. 1, 2023, to opt out. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com The Oppo Reno8 series was launched in China in May and made its global debut last month, and the next market it's heading to is the Philippines. Oppo will introduce the Reno8 series in the Philippines on September 1, and while the Chinese brand hasn't revealed how many Reno8 series smartphones it will launch in the Philippines, it has confirmed that Reno8 is one of the phones launching in the Southeast Asian country. The Oppo Reno8 is powered by the Dimensity 1300 SoC, runs Android 12-based ColorOS 12.1 out of the box, and has two memory options - 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB. It's built around a 6.4" FullHD+ 90Hz AMOLED screen with a punch hole for the 32MP selfie camera and a fingerprint reader underneath for biometric authentication. Around back, we get a 50MP primary camera, joined by an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro unit. The smartphone packs a 4,500 mAh battery with 80W wired charging and also supports reverse wired charging, allowing you to juice up other devices with Reno8. Oppo Reno8 The rest of the highlights of the Oppo Reno8 include a USB-C port, NFC, and 5G support. You can read our Oppo Reno8 detailed written review to learn more about it. Other smartphones in the Reno8 lineup include the Reno8 Lite, Reno8 Z, and the Reno8 Pro, which is a version of the Reno8 Pro+ sold in China (the Chinese Reno8 Pro has different specs). You can read our global Reno8 Pro's review here and head this way to check the detailed specs of the Reno8 Lite, Reno8 Z, and Chinese Reno8 Pro. Source | Via Federated States of Micronesia Vice President Yosiwo Palikkun George, who was earlier reported as hospitalized with COVID-19, has died at the age of 81, according to a press release from Richard Clark, spokesperson for the FSM president. Vice President George exemplified, in his personal and professional life, the FSMs foreign policy of being a friend to all and an enemy to none, and extending to all peoples and nations peace, friendship, cooperation, and love in our common humanity, a statement in the press release said. The announcement, released on Aug. 14, did not indicate when he died. FSM President David W. Panuelo will be proclaiming a national mourning period in Georges honor, the release said. George, 81, became ill from the virus shortly after the community outbreak began on July 19. He was first reported hospitalized on July 24, and had been in and out of the hospital since then. Born in Kosrae on July 24, 1941, George graduated from the University of Hawaii under a scholarship with a bachelors degree in mathematics in 1969. His early public service included working as an engineer with the Transportation Authority, a classroom teacher at Kolonia Elementary School, and as Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Social Security manager in Saipan. He also had served as director of the FSMs Department of Social Services, chief justice of Kosraes Supreme Court, FSMs ambassador to the United Nations, and FSMs ambassador to the United States. His political career included serving as the first lieutenant governor of Kosrae from 1979-1980, followed by two terms as Kosrae governor from 1983-1991, and then as a senator in the FSM Congress. He had served two terms as vice president, most recently under Panuelo as president until his death. A U.S. research ship has been able to map the ocean floor and survey coral reefs in the Marianas to help conservation agencies, divers and mariners navigate the islands waters and protect undersea habitats. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, held a free outreach event Saturday at the War in the Pacific Asan Beach Park. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assisted in hosting the event. With the help of the vessel Rainier, NOAA has been able to collect data in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam since April, and will finish their mission in about two weeks. Rainier is currently docked in Apra Harbor. Goal A critical goal of the mission is to make boating and diving safer by updating nautical charts using the latest sonar equipment to identify what is on the ocean floor. This is done by using multibeam echo sounders that measure the oceans depth and provide a detailed image of the seafloor. The sounders analyze the time it takes for sound waves to travel from a boat to the seafloor and back. They also show images of underwater mountains, ship wreckage, reefs and other formations along the islands coasts. Alice Beittel, a NOAA junior officer on the Rainier, said the full processed results of their data should be available in about a year. Things that are critical for safe navigation we submit right away and work with the Coast Guard to publish updates to the charts so anything major that is a danger is released before the survey is even completed, said Beittel. She said the NOAA Office of Coast Survey has nautical charts available to download for free on their website for commercial and private vessels. Starfish Another important part of the research is monitoring coral reefs and recording fish and habitat data. A new issue the team discovered on this trip is an outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish in the waters of Pagan Island in the CNMI, said Bernardo Vargas Angel, a coral ecologist for the NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Sciences Division. The starfish eat coral, and when there is overpopulation they can seriously damage a reef. Vargas Angel said a possible cause for the starfishes overpopulation could be sediment runoff from the land that brings nutrients into the ocean. He said the research they collect is given to agency partners in the territories such as the Guam Department of Agriculture and National Park Service. We are not the ones to decide whats to be done. We give the information and our interpretation of the data and depending on the local needs and policies, local managers take this information and implement actions, said Vargas Angel. If mariners, divers or other interested members of the public have questions or would like to request information on the project, send an email to coastsurveycommunications@noaa.gov. The Sea Grant program at the University of Guam is celebrating its new status as a Sea Grant Institute. Today there is a rising tide at the University of Guam, Austin Shelton, director of the Center for Island Sustainability and UOG Sea Grant, said during a ceremony Thursday. For decades now we have been one of the youngest and smallest Sea Grant programs in the national network of 34 programs. We have really grown and matured into an effective program, and as our reviewers who taught us over these years, we meet the standards of excellence required of all Sea Grant programs throughout the nation. We have now reached that level, he added. The National Sea Grant College Program works to create and maintain a healthy coastal environment and economy. The universities partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help citizens better understand, conserve and utilize Americas coastal resources. As an institutional program, UOG Sea Grant will be able to increase its contributions to the national Sea Grant network and enhance the practical use and conservation of Guams marine and coastal resources, according to a news release from the program. Pennock Johnathan Pennock, director of the National Sea Grant College Program, attended Thursdays ceremony. The advancement of the program over the last few years has been just amazing, the leadership, the partnerships, Pennock said. In his previous announcement about UOGs achievement, he said the program earned institutional status by demonstrating excellence in research, education and public service dedicated to the environmentally responsible management and development of Guams marine and coastal resources. University of Guam Sea Grant has already brought amazing things to the broader network that the National Sea Grant College Program is, and thats only going to advance moving forward, Pennock added Thursday. Build a connection In the UOG Sea Grant plan, one of the focus areas is building the connection between the program and the community. We really try to emphasize our partnerships with organizations in the broader community and so Sea Grant is a really great example, said Thomas W. Krise, president of UOG. Haiti - FLASH : Results of the single baccalaureate (2021-2022) for 2 departments The Ministry of National Education has made available the results of the single baccalaureate exams for the 2021-2022 academic year for 2 North-East Department and Grand'Anse. The Minister of National Education informs that the marks will be available by seat, by series, by school and for each subject. According to the Minister, 2022 graduates will soon be able to withdraw their transcripts until the legalized diploma on https://menfp.gouv.ht For the moment only the information below is available Results by department : North-East: 3,633 participants, 2,555 admitted. Success rate 70.33%; GrandAnse: 3,195 participants, 1,609 admitted. Success rate 50.36%; Results per seat : North-East : 1- Fort-Liberte: 503 participants, 361 admitted. Success rate: 71.77% 2- Mombin-Crochu: 151 participants 145 admitted. Success rate: 96.03% 3- Ouanaminthe: 1,910 participants 1,210 admitted. Success rate: 63.35% 4- Terrier-Rouge: 378 participants 286 admitted. Success rate: 75.66% 5- Trou-du-Nord: 691 participants 553 admitted. Success rate: 80.03% GrandAnse : 1- Baumont: 388 participants, 184 admitted. Success rate: 47.42% 2- Dame-Marie: 669 participants, 467 admitted. Success rate: 69.81% 3- Jeremie: 1,942 participants, 863 admitted. Success rate: 44.44% 4- Moron: 196 participants, 95 admitted, 101 not admitted, Success rate: 48.47% Figures provided by the National Bureau of State Examinations (BUNEXE). See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37377-haiti-flash-results-of-the-single-baccalaureate-2021-2022-for-1-department.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Complaints : Illegal dispossession and appropriation of private property and State property. The Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT) informs that it has received multiple denunciations from public institutions and individuals, relating to illegal dispossession of private property and the private domain of the State. The Ministry is all the more concerned by these complaints which also relate to the illegal appropriation by ill-intentioned individuals of various materials belonging to State Institutions and especially the fact that Interim Agents are indexed in some of the complaints reported. Therefore, the MICT a Notice sent last week to the Interim Executive Agents (AEI) in office reminding them that they are no longer privileged managers of land assets in the private domain of the State. As this management is the prerogative of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI), the AEIs only have the prerogative to ensure the proper functioning of the process of managing these assets. In addition, the Ministry takes the opportunity to request from its agents and representatives of the Executive that are the Delegates, Vice-Delegates, as well as the various Associations of local elected officials (Mayors, Casec, Asec, City Delegates), the greatest vigilance in the face of these bad practices. They are also invited to report to the Ministry, all suspicious or flagrant cases, so that administrative decisions as of right are taken against the culprits and in particular Agents who would have been complicit or guilty of such misdeeds. Similarly, the Ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities asks victims to file formal complaints before the trial court concerned and to notify the Departmental Delegation or the Vice-Delegation of the district in question. Finally, the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities, in this opinion, indicated that such excesses will in no case be tolerated. It encourages the Interim Executive Agents to preserve their integrity, to protect and defend as well as possible, the interests of the population that expects them, fair practices and sound administration. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Men fire on the crowd, heavy toll Friday August 12, 2022, in Tabarre 49, heavily armed men of the Gang led by the formidable Vitelhomme Innocent, aboard a "Zo reken" vehicle opened fire on motorcyclists and small merchants at the "Ed One" Crossroad. The partial toll is heavy, at least 4 dead and several injured Money transfer to the poor On August 10, as part of the social appeasement program implemented by the Government of the Republic, the Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) continued its money transfer operation to the poorest households living in the metropolitan area. No less than 956 beneficiaries each received, via the Mon Cash application, 3,105 gourdes. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37344-haiti-news-zapping.html Taiwan trains Haitian rice seed inspectors Seed inspection is a very important part of producing high quality rice seed to control the quality to maintain the purity and cleanliness of the variety. Taiwan Technical Mission verifies seed purity for local rice seed production by training excellent lab inspectors and testing seed moisture content, density, physical purity, variety purity and germination rate of seeds. La Gonave : thousands of trees planted As part of the implementation of the project Strengthening resilience to climate change in vulnerable coastal communities in Gonave, more than 15,000 forest trees have already been planted by residents of Nan Poline, Nan Ferdinant and Belfrecher. The objective of the project is to plant more than 60,000 trees on the island as well as 60,000 mangroves. Soon this planting activity will be carried out in the localities of Anse-a-Galets such as Nan Tache, Nan Ferdon and Brabrile. Taiwan launches Food Security Enhancement Project Wen-Jiann Ku the Ambassador of Taiwan (Republic of China), together with Bredy Charlot Minister of Agriculture launched the "Project to Strengthen Food Security and Improve Post-Earthquake Living Conditions of August 14, 2021" funded by the Taiwan Foundation for Disaster Relief (TFDR), which is helping to mentor more rice producer groups and revive agricultural production in disaster areas. Consulate closures The Consulates of Haiti in Paris, Orlando and Montreal inform the general public and the Haitian community in particular that their doors will be closed on Monday, August 15, 2022, on the occasion of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, a public holiday in Haiti. Consular services will resume at regular hours on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. HL/ HaitiLibre By Dean Weingarten. Jun 9, 2022 On April 5, 2022, the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Network Open published a study attempting to find a reduction in firearms fatal and non-fatal injuries associated with the very aggressive implementation of a "Red Flag" law, also known as a gun violence restraining order or GVRO, in San Diego County, California. The results surprised and appear to have shocked them. No statistical association existed, although the data was the most comprehensive to date, and the study was designed to find such an association. No such association existed. The study was funded by various contributions from philanthropic and government sources. Dr. Garen Wintemute is the most well-known of the authors. It appears most of the analysis was done by Dr. Veronica A. Pear. Author Contributions: Dr Pear had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. It is clear the authors expected to find a statistically significant drop in fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries, both from assault and self-harm. If there were an association, this study had the best chance to find it. From the abstract: Key Points Question Has implementation of the gun violence restraining order law, beginning in 2016, been associated with a reduction in firearm assault or firearm self-harm in San Diego County, California? Findings In this cross-sectional study, the gun violence restraining order law was not significantly associated with a reduction in firearm violence of any kind during its first 4 years of implementation, 2016 to 2019. Meaning These results suggest that gun violence restraining order implementation did not reduce population-level rates of firearm violence in San Diego County, but future studies should investigate whether there were individual-level benefits to those directly affected. This correspondent applauds Dr. Pear and her associates for publishing this null result. It shows integrity on their part. ..... LIGHTNING EDITORIAL: Opp House winddown calls for strict oversight The Opportunity House, led by a president-chairman of questionable management ability and a board made up of two allies, has now voted to dissolve itself. While its tempting to say good riddance to this ongoing farce, theres way too much at stake to stand idly by as the winddown plays out. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million could be generated by the sale of the assets, mainly the 19,800-square-foot building on two acres of prime commercial property the Opp House has occupied since 1982. (The property is valued on the tax books at $1,897,800.) Fortunately, the Community Foundation of Henderson County has acted on behalf of the public to protect the rights of the community and in particular the governing leaders, volunteers and paying members who built the senior center from its inception in 1958. That is the first thing to remember when authorities monitor how the proceeds from liquidating the assets are disbursed: Henderson County residents conceived, created, built and sustained the Opp House for decades before the current leaders steered it into the ditch. Any cash from the sale of the building ought to directly benefit the people of Henderson County. Again, thanks in part to the Community Foundation, there is a legal process in place to monitor the sale, track the cash and ensure that no mischief channels the money into the pockets of Opp House insiders and their associates. After the Opp House board voted to dissolve, the case landed once again in the courtroom of Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Peter Knight. Knight has presided over the case since the Community Foundation first filed a lawsuit in December 2018 asking the court to determine whether the Opportunity House was still operating as a nonprofit agency. Now on its third lawyer, the Opportunity House has spent three and a half years avoiding a trial. The dominoes began to fall in March, when Knight denied the Opportunity Houses second motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In June, the board voted to dissolve. In July, Henderson Countys tax administrator revoked the Opp Houses nonprofit status and initiated the process of collecting five years of back taxes, bolstering the foundations assertion that the former senior center is no longer operating as a nonprofit. On July 22, Knight appointed a receiver to guide the winddown of the agency and disbursement of its assets. It's encouraging that the judge has acted quickly and decisively. Absent so far is any evidence that the states attorney general, Josh Stein, will ensure that the public interest is protected as the case winds down. Stein has been a sleepy constable on the beat up to now; he ought to treat the winddown as a five-alarm fire. Along with Judge Knight, he should ensure, too, that the last chapter unfolds in openness and transparency. The Community Foundations Board of Directors, its president, McCray Benson, and its attorney, Steve Grabenstein, have identified bad outcomes to watch for, starting with the Opp Houses vindictive board directive that would convey cash from sale of the real property to an Asheville housing agency that has no presence in Henderson County. First and foremost, we have asked that the receiver and the Court ensure that the proceeds from the sale of OHs property be disbursed to non-profits in Henderson County, Grabenstein told the Lightning. The attorney emphasizes that the foundation has never asked for nor does it seek now to own the property or receive the proceeds from a sale. There are plenty of viable non-profits in Henderson County which would benefit from a portion of the proceeds from the sale of OHs assets, he said. Second, we are asking that the creditors claims from OH insiders be closely scrutinized and analyzed by the receiver, the AG and the Court. This last point cannot be underscored enough, and thats where the four monitors should laser-focus their sights. Although the phrase has been hijacked by Make Trump Rich Again Inc., its appropriate to rehabilitate it here. Stop the steal ought to be Job No. 1 for Judge Knight, attorney Grabenstein, receiver John Noor and Attorney General Stein. Hospitals currently use weight-based sensors or cameras installed in the room to monitor patients for bed sores, although both have limitations. Now, tiny smart bed sensors embedded in hospital mattresses could put an end to painful and potentially life-threatening pressure sores, thanks to a new technology. Scientists at the University of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia) have designed minute optical fiber sensors, which can be attached to the upper surface of a mattress to monitor movement and record heart and respiratory rates. The unobtrusive sensors can detect when a hospital patient turns over, leaves a bed, or just remains motionless, picking up their breathing. Nurses can therefore be remotely alerted if a patient has not moved within a couple of hours, prompting them to adjust the patients position. Unlike the sensors that many people wear on their wrists to monitor physical activity and physiological signs, the optical fiber sensors are embedded in the same space as a person, but not on them physically. The optical fiber sensors are sensitive enough to record heart and respiration rates and can detect whether a person is in the bed, even if they remain stationary for long periods. The technology could significantly relieve the burden on hospital staff having to constantly monitor patients for pressure sores, according to the scientists. Existing weight-based hospital sensors cannot predict when a patient leaves the bed until their feet touch the floor, leaving little time for nursing staff to respond in the event of a fall. Also, there are privacy issues with camera-based technology, said lead researcher Dr. Stephen Warren-Smith. Respiration rates are often the first sign that a patient is deteriorating. This normally requires devices to be attached to the patient, either on the chest, as a mask on the face, or ventilator. These can be restrictive and sometimes inappropriate in an aged care setting. Monitoring vital signs continuously, unobtrusively and cheaply via the mattress-embedded sensors is a far better solution for both patient and nurse, added Dr. Warren-Smith. Related Links: University of South Australia Kinder Morgan has bought more landfill gas-to-power assets, expanding the companys renewable natural gas footprint. The Houston pipeline giant on Thursday said it closed on the acquisition of North American Natural Resources and affiliate companies North American Biofuels and North American-Central. The $135 million deal includes seven facilities in Michigan and Kentucky that use natural gas from landfills to generate electricity. Four of the seven facilities will be converted to renewable natural gas facilities at a cost of about $175 million, the company said, adding that it plans to announce a final investment decision on those projects soon. The facilities are expected to generate about 2 billion cubic feet per year of RNG as early as 2024. On HoustonChronicle.com: Kinder Morgan buys landfill assets in expansion of RNG footprint Kinder Morgan said it is positioning itself to be a leader in RNG, a fuel sourced from waste that can be used in place of fossil fuels. RNG is gaining traction as energy companies search for business opportunities in line with a transition from traditional oil and gas. Last month, the company bought gas rights and equipment at three landfills, including an RNG facility in Arlington, which it bought from Atlanta-based Mas CanAm for $355 million. Last year, it bought Kinetrex Energy for $310 million. The Arlington facility is expected to produce 1.4 billion cubic feet of RNG in 2023 and could grow significantly over the next decade, the company said. Kinder Morgan also is developing three Indiana landfills it acquired from Kinetrex that are expected to come online this year, bringing its RNG production in Indiana to more than 4 billion cubic feet. All told, the company expects to reach an annual RNG production capacity of 7.7 billion cubic feet per year. By comparison, according to the Energy Information Administration, Texas households consumed about 7.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas in May 2022. We are excited to continue KMIs commitment to growing our RNG business through the acquisition of (North American Natural Resources) facilities and expertise, said Anthony Ashley, Kinder Morgans energy transition ventures president. We believe this further positions us as a leader in the RNG marketplace and look forward to expanding our RNG footprint to benefit the customers, businesses and communities we serve. amanda.drane@chron.com (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (THE CONVERSATION) Documents sought by the U.S. Justice Department from former President Donald Trump may contain material related to what The New York Times described as some of the most highly classified programs run by the United States. The Washington Post reported that classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought during a search of Trumps Florida home on Aug. 8, 2022. Classified information is the kind of material that the U.S. government or an agency deems sensitive enough to national security that access to it must be controlled and restricted. There are several degrees of classification. Documents related to nuclear weapons will have different classification levels depending on the sensitivity of the information contained. Documents containing information related to nuclear weapons design or their location would be highly classified. Other information may still be highly classified but deemed not as sensitive. For example, in 2010 President Barack Obama declassified the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile. In general, classified documents must be handled in a way that protects the integrity and confidentiality of the information they contain. This includes securing documents in a safe or other authorized storage container when the documents are not being used by staff. If staff needs to move them from one place to another, they must follow security protocols to do so. Though classified information can be taken off the premises in the course of official duties, taking classified documents home is prohibited by executive order. Clearance and classification Before coming to academia, I worked for many years as an analyst at both the State Department and the Department of Defense. I held a top-secret clearance, frequently worked with classified information and participated in classified meetings. For example, I dealt with information related to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation. Handling written classified information is generally straightforward. Documents are marked indicating classification levels. Tens of thousands of people working for the U.S. government both directly and as contractors have security clearances allowing access to classified information. Many people with security clearances never handle classified material but need to be cleared so they can be present when classified information is discussed. But not all of classified details describe covert operations or identities of spies. Many are rather mundane. A former colleague of mine who was a retired CIA analyst used to tell his students he would never knowingly, but almost certainly would inadvertently, share a tidbit of classified information in the classroom. It is difficult to remember many smaller details that are sensitive. Dealing with large amounts of classified information over a career increases the possibility of accidentally sharing a small nugget. Sharing classified information knowingly, or revealing information one should know is sensitive, is a different matter. Heres how the system of classification works. Classification levels and content The U.S. government uses three levels of classification to designate how sensitive certain information is: confidential, secret and top secret. The lowest level, confidential, designates information whose release could damage U.S. national security. The designation secret refers to information whose disclosure could cause serious damage to U.S. national security. The designation top secret means disclosure of the document could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. At the top-secret level, some information is compartmented. That means only certain people who have a top-secret security clearance may view it to reduce the risk of any revelations. Just because someone has a clearance at a level that matches a document doesnt mean the person has a need to access it. This is often used for the most highly sensitive information, such as that pertaining to sources and methods that is, how and from where intelligence is collected. Several other designations indicate restricted access within the top-secret and secret designations. The Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information is a designation given to classified material related to the design and operation of nuclear weapons. This designation would be in addition to a secret or top-secret designation, but is not a level of classification. For example, a person with a top-secret clearance working on counterinsurgency issues would not have Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information access. It is common for written documents to contain information that is classified at different levels, and some information that isnt even classified. Individual paragraphs are marked to indicate the level of classification. For example, a documents title might be preceded with the marker U, indicating the title and existence of the document are unclassified. Within a document, paragraphs might carry the markers S for secret, C for confidential or TS for top secret. The highest classification of any portion of the document determines its overall classification. This approach allows for the easy identification and removal of classified portions of a document so that less sensitive sections can be shared in unclassified settings. A sitting president can access any classified material. Who decides? Executive Order 13256, issued by Obama, spells out who specifically may classify information. Authority to take certain information say, the existence of a weapons program and classify it top secret is given only to specific individuals, including the president and vice president and certain agency heads. Procedures for declassification of materials are complicated. However, the president has ultimate declassification authority and may declassify anything at any time, subject to certain provisions of the Atomic Energy Act. Deciding what information is classified is subjective. Some things clearly need to be kept secret, like the identity of covert operatives or battle plans. Other issues are not so obvious. Should the mere fact that the secretary of state had a conversation with a counterpart be classified? Different agencies disagree about questions like this all the time. Mishandling classified information, especially if it is accidental, is usually handled as an administrative matter. However, more serious violations can incur criminal charges and penalties. Federal law (18 U.S. Code 1924) states that anyone who knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both. This story is an updated version of an article that was originally published on May 16, 2017. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/heres-how-government-documents-are-classified-to-keep-sensitive-information-safe-188687. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year brought Christel Reyna back to a dark time in her life, she said, when at 19 years old she became pregnant from a rape. Without abortion access, the now 50-year-old California woman doesnt know whether she would be alive to share her story. Having Planned Parenthood available to me to go in and talk to them and help me come to my own decision, that was important to my survival, she said. The recent wave of state legislation cutting back nearly 50 years of abortion rights was top of mind for Reyna and hundreds of people who on Saturday attended the 2022 Womens Convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The weekend-long event recalled the 1977 National Womens Conference in Houston, which came at a pivotal time for the womens rights movement. The years leading up to that conference saw the passage of Title IX, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs, and Supreme Court wins that granted access to birth control for unmarried women and abortion. Because of the overturning of Roe, I think this particular convention has fired up the passion and the advocacy and activism of many feminists and allies who really want to make sure they are educated and ready to do whatever is necessary to fight back against this, said Christian Nunes, president of the D.C.-based National Organization for Women. While the Roe decision served as an energizing force throughout the convention, feminist groups spoke to a variety of topics, including wage equality, healthcare, childcare infrastructure and political representation. For many, the issues were deeply connected. Maggie Carter, a leader of the Starbucks Workers United campaign, said abortion benefits have become a key issue in the nationwide effort to unionize the coffee chain stores. Starbucks has offered to pay travel expenses for those who dont have easy access to abortion, but the company said it could not guarantee the benefits for unionized stores, according to the Seattle Times. Starbucks is leveraging abortion benefits for union activity, so that's a huge reason why I'm here, she said. And why I think it's really important that we all stand up and fight these companies who say they want to give us abortion benefits but don't actually do anything to help us in this fight. The event also reflected the evolution of the modern feminist movement, said Nunes, with a major focus on how inequality affects people of color, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community. Imari Reynolds attended the convention with Hoochies of Houston, an activist group dedicated to the empowerment of Black people and protection of Black women. Abortion access has become a central issue for the group, as Reynolds noted maternal mortality and morbidity rates already are disproportionately high among Black women. All of these (laws) always come back to Black women being at the bottom of the totem pole, she said. Nunes group was among several convention sponsors, including Womens March, Black Feminist Future, Planned Parenthood and the National Womens Law Center. The event featured a keynote address from Roxane Gay, a bestselling author, professor and social commentator, as well as special appearances from musician Brittney Spencer and TV celebrities Jeannie Mai Jenkins and Torry DeVitto. For Christy Reynolds, a 30-year-old activist from Austin, the event provided a jolt of hope after a disheartening few months following the Roe decision. A sense of urgency permeated the crowd. I can see everybody else is kind of going through the same thing, she said. Its just been really powerful. Reyna, the California woman, continues to share her story and find other women who have been through similar situations. The convention added fuel to the fire for me to go out there and continue to speak out for the rights of women, she said. julian.gill@chron.com It used to be that Becky Calzada, library coordinator for Leander Independent School District, would receive an occasional call from a parent concerned about a book their child was reading or curious about a specific title. Sometimes, Calzada would explain how to formally challenge the books inclusion in the library system. More often, shed add a note to the childs file about the parents wishes. The good old days of 2019. Right now, theres a concerted effort to restrict certain topics, restrict certain lived experiences, Calzada said. And that is a problem, because were an educational institution. Public schools across Texas and the country have been under fire from conservative politicians, activists and parents, accused of teaching critical race theory and indoctrinating students with anti-American ideologies. Footage of heated school board meetings in which parents demand more say in their childrens education and challenge books dealing with race and LGTBQ+ subjects and characters are pervasive on social media. Librarians have borne the brunt of those battles at a time when their ranks continue to dwindle. The number of full-time librarians in Texas schools has decreased by 361, or nearly 8 percent, over the last decade while the number of children enrolled in the states public schools has grown by almost half a million. The decrease, which mirrors a national trend, concerns education and literacy advocates, who say school librarians perform crucial roles by supplementing classroom curriculum with interactive programs and nurturing spaces that let students develop a passion for learning. The prevailing trend is, once librarians are gone, they are gone for good, said Keith Curry Lance, a library consultant in the Denver area who is among a group of researchers looking at the national decline of school libraries. School systems in Texas reported 4,743 full-time library jobs for the 2011-12 school year. By the 2021-22 school year, that number had shrunk to 4,382. The result is one librarian per 1,239 students last year, compared to one per 1,054 students a decade ago. Texas does not require librarians on school campuses. Lance and his fellow researchers found that 10 states and the District of Columbia mandate school librarians and enforce the requirement. An additional 16 states have a legal requirement for librarians but do not enforce it. Texas, among 24 states with no mandate, has recommended staffing levels for librarians but the states administrative code stops short of requiring them. The American Association of School Librarians recommends at least one librarian at all school campuses. The impact that it has on students is phenomenal, said Jennisen Lucas, the groups former president and a school librarian in Cody, Wyoming. The library provides a place where they can do true independent choice reading. She added that studies show student choice has a big impact on the kind of reading students do and how well they do at reading. More Education news: Parents doing what they can to keep school costs down In the past five years, San Antonios largest school district, Northside ISD, has grown to about 106,000 students and opened five new schools. The district added four librarians during that period, bringing the total to 114. At North East ISD, whose enrollment held steady at about 60,000 students over the same time frame, the number of librarians has remained at 67. Houston ISD, with 195,000 students on 276 campuses, had just 58 librarians on staff as of last December. That was down from nearly 250 about 25 years ago, when the district had four fewer schools. Superintendent Millard House II wants every school to have a librarian or a media specialist. Hiring is a challenge, however. HISD has 758 openings for certified teachers listed, 20 for counselors and five for librarians. Battling book challenges: In Fredericksburg, a celebration of books amid attempts to ban some of them from city schools Of particular concern to librarians are attempts by parents and politicians to limit the subjects or political viewpoints to which students can be exposed. Last fall, state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, put out a list of nearly 850 books and asked every district in the state to check their shelves for those titles. Most of the books on the list were about race and LGBTQ+ matters and characters. Gov. Greg Abbott inflamed the rhetoric around schools and libraries by directing the Texas Education Agency to investigate any criminal activity in public schools involving the availability of pornographic material that serves no educational purpose. The messaging is political, not educational, librarians say. Students that are marginalized already are getting the message from districts and from the governor that they dont belong, said Carolyn Foote, a retired public school librarian in Travis County and co-founder of an anti-censorship group called FReadom Fighters. This effort really is politicized, and it really isnt about supporting our students education, because what kids need right now is adults getting along and adults having a clear eye toward mission number one, which is helping kids get back on track after the pandemic, she said. The political turmoil is having an effect on librarians, some of whom could recall only a handful of book challenges over their entire careers until recently. What were once civil conversations about the appropriateness of certain books have become ugly confrontations, they say. On ExpressNews.com: After Uvalde, will Texas lawmakers push for a school discipline crackdown? A North Texas school librarian, who asked to remain anonymous, said they and their colleagues beefed up security at their homes and lock down their social media accounts because of concerns about being harassed or assaulted. The librarian described a jarring change in public attitudes: It seems like only yesterday that educators were lauded for their efforts to teach during the pandemic and, later, for helping students catch up on learning when in-person instruction resumed. We went from being the heroes last year, the librarian said, to being the villains this year. To retired librarian Dorcas Hand, the energy spent vilifying educators and trying to ban books could have been put to better use. I just wish we could turn this around, Hand said. Its so discouraging that were spending so much time and energy on the negative side of things, and we could be putting the money, the time and the energy into bringing up enthusiastic readers who think about what theyre reading and consequently think about the world they live in and how to make it better. Thats what we need: Kids growing up who are thinkers and want a better world. Staff writer Danya Perez contributed to this report. alejandro.serrano@chron.com Regarding So Big Oil profits first from fossil fuels, and then from fixing the damage? (Aug. 9): Id like to address Tom Osborne and all climate alarmists to some facts. While Tom and many activists would like to destroy the petroleum industry for the sake of saving our planet, it would be at their own peril. Possibly Tom hasnt realized how much petroleum-based products go into manufacturing an electric vehicle or wind turbines? Possibly he doesnt realize where most electricity comes from or where components of batteries are mined? A little research by this Texan can educate this California man about why he should not be so quick to demonize and eliminate the fossil industry because, in doing so, the so-called clean energy could not exist. For example: according to American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, wind turbine blades use 900 pounds of (you guessed it) petrochemical-based products and solar panels are also constructed from petrochemical-based products. So these insidious (as Tom describes) corporations have actually evolved to accommodate the clean energy sector, contributing to the betterment of our society, with an impact of over 10 million jobs, including both direct and indirect employment, according to a 2021 study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute.Without the petroleum industry, clean energy would be left in the dark. Barbara Goodson, Kingwood Regarding Permian provides a gusher of profits as Oxy, Pioneer join oils bonanza, (Aug. 4): It seems highly fashionable to condemn oil and gas companies these days as greedy giants with obscene profits. The petroleum industry is no less so than other industries. Under the current administration, the so-called green energies are the ones being highly subsidized amid hysteria about climate change. The modern petroleum industry has a long, 100-plus-year history of serving mankind. In the early 1900s it fueled the Industrial Revolution that gave us automobiles and steel. Fossil fuels were very instrumental in winning World War II by powering thousands of airplanes, tanks and the other machinery of war. After the war, the industry continued its utility by developing plastics and fertilizers. And today, lets not forget all the jet planes flying around the world. Yes, the fossil fuel industry has earned its place in a modern world, and will be with us for many years to come. Lets be thankful that the petroleum industry gathers the capital and expertise to produce this valuable resource so that all of us may enjoy our current lifestyle and prosperity. With current demands for energy there is room for other sources of energy as well, but let these other sources earn their own way without the current subsidies. Jack Gibbs, Hempstead Regarding Climate concerns, (Aug. 9): I read the Jim Robertson letter expressing concern about an offshore wind farm operation in the event of a Category 5 hurricane. He poses valid questions but there are answers. As a former project manager in the heavy industrial engineering and construction sector, Im sure both of these concerns have been considered at this point of the project development. My understanding is the structural design will consider Category 5 hurricanes the turbines will likely go offline and the blades might fold up to enable them to survive hurricane winds. The loss in power generation can be made up in at least two different ways, the first being standby gas generators. We will have natural gas power generation for decades to come in our transition to clean energy. The second simple way to make up for lost power generation of offshore wind turbines is something Texas should have done already but hasnt: tie our Texas grid to at least one other grid instead of keeping it isolated. A grid tie would allow us to roll needed power from other parts of our country that are not experiencing bad weather or overloads. Wearing my other hat as an ocean advocate, scuba diver and underwater photographer, I support clean energy production from offshore wind platforms as long as their proposed location is thoroughly vetted by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement for marine environment concerns and any historical shipwrecks. One in particular, the USS Hatteras, about 20 miles off of Galveston, should never be disturbed (see the front page of the Houston Chronicle from January 11, 2013). Jesse Cancelmo, Houston Regarding Electric vehicles still too costly for many, (Aug. 9): Mr. Ewing provided an excellent overview of the economic factors that limit conversion to electric vehicles for the majority of the U.S. population. In the short term, only the wealthy will be able to afford an EV purchase, even with the credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The U.S. needs an EV for the middle class. The EV should be safe and affordable (costing less than $20,000) with reliable range on a single charge (300 miles). Style, comfort and capacity may require compromise. Who can step up and provide this Model-T EV? Perhaps an oil company? Michael D. Cockman, Richmond Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. ExtraSpecialTeas to Hold Annual Concert Aug. 19 GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. The ExtraSpecialTeas singers will be holding their annual concert at the Gazebo behind City Hall, across the street from the Mahaiwe Theater, from 5:30 to 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19. Every Monday throughout the year, our ExtraSpecial singers practice their favorite songs to perform for the community, under the dedicated guidance of Allen Timmons. ExtraSpecialTeas (EST) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Our vocational day program is supported in part by the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, grants from foundations, and contributions from committed donors. The community teahouses are open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and serve hot, iced and bubble teas, and gluten-free treats made by the participants and staff. Visit us at both locations: 2 Elm Street, Great Barrington AND 226 Pleasant Street, Housatonic (where we are also serving breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea). Veteran Spotlight: Dr. Charles Parton NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass. Dr. Charles Parton served his country in World War II as a 2nd class pharmacist's mate for nearly four years. At 97 years of age, his memory is still sharp as a tack. He went to naval training in Newport, R.I., and remembered "being the last group to go through there. It was great. I learned all the usual stuff, including the difference between and boat and a ship." Dr. Parton's first assignment would keep him in Newport at the U.S. Naval Hospital, where he was involved in special technician training related to electrocardiograms, or ECGs. "The head of Columbia Presbyterian would come once a week to work with me," he recalled. "Most patients we got were extensive burn victims ... The burned victims really got to me. We had one fella, burned real bad and every time you had to change his dressing you had to move him and the sheets would become all tangled and he'd be in excruciating pain. "I developed a method where the sheets wouldn't get tangled and caused him less pain. I took it to the head nurse and she told me to just do my job and forget about it." Then he laughed, "years later they made a patent out of it." His assignments also included missions on sea tugs, rescuing downed planes in the water. What were the holidays like? "Never had time to think of them," he said. "We worked and they just came and went." He shared a couple of memories, including how tricky it had been to rescue an injured seaman by pulling him up with a wire. "Another time off the coast of Nantucket, we had a mission to locate a German submarine. We dropped a bunch of charges below, but couldn't find it," he remembered. While based on the island of Helo in Hawaii, he shared the devastation of what a tidal wave can do. "I got up to get my coffee and go on duty for the day and the officer said, 'you better hang around, we got hit last night with a tidal wave.' It was kind of scary. It flooded most of the island and the carnage was awful," Parton said. "We pulled 22 bodies from all kinds of places." What was his feeling when he found out the war was over? "There was an empty period of confusion ... we knew the first [atomic] bomb worked but we didn't know if the Japanese were going to surrender on all fronts," he said. "We were happy it was over I was glad it was over. It felt good to be safe again." Thoughts on service to his country? "I honestly didn't think about it as serving my country. The guys in Guadalcanal took a terrible beating, never forgot that. I wanted to go in and fight the Japanese," he said proudly. After the war, he studied to become a doctor and trained as a pediatric surgeon at several facilities including New York Hospital and the University of Virginia, graduating from Cornell Medical School. He and his wife, Teena, a Searles High graduate, lived in the eastern part of the state for many years before coming back to the Berkshires. Dr. Charles Parton, thank you for your service to our great country. Wayne Soares is the host of the popular, new veterans cooking show, "The Mess Hall" and entertains our troops around the globe. He is also the host and producer of the Vietnam veterans documentary "Silent Dignity The Chapter That Never Ends," which will hold its international premiere Saturday, Oct. 29, at Proprietors Lodge in Pittsfield. Mount Greylock Gets Final Tab for School Building Project WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The final bill to Williamstown and Lanesborough for the construction project at Mount Greylock Regional School came in at $33 million, according to a final audit presented to the School Committee on Thursday evening. The Massachusetts School Building Authority gave the district its final audit on July 28. Superintendent Jason McCandless told the committee that the final cost of the renovation/addition project at the middle/high school is $64,693,600, just more than $44,000 less than the budget approved back in 2016. But the MSBA's contribution is about $1.5 million lower than the maximum grant projected by the state agency at the outset of the project. McCandless, who joined the district well after the school opened in September 2018, said he discussed the final numbers with Lanesborough's Stephen Wentworth and Williamstown's Hugh Daley, who served on the finance subcommittee of the School Building Committee that oversaw the project. They were not surprised that the state share of the final project was a little lower than hoped for at the outset. "In conversation with Hugh and Steve, that was all things the School Building Committee understood," McCandless said. "There were certain things added to the project, certain things the MSBA doesn't pay for as a rule. "We came in right where we said we were going to come in." The local share the portion borne directly by taxpayers in member towns Lanesborough and Williamstown of $32,950,109 was on the low end of a $4 million range of costs presented to taxpayers in the leadup to a bond vote authorizing the project. Estimates at the time of the vote put the local share from $31.5 million to $35.5 million. The final bill of $33 million fell below the mid-range estimate of $33.5 million. Now that the district knows the actual cost of the building project, it can take the step of securing the final "cleanup bond" to cover its costs, McCandless told the School Committee. The MSBA share ended up being $31,743,49, just more than 49 percent of the cost of the project. The MSBA is funded by a penny of the commonwealth's 6.25-cent sales tax, or 16 percent of the state's sales tax receipts. McCandless used the audit report as an opportunity to thank the voters of each member town, who approved the project and the taxpayers who continue to pay the bond. He also singled out, among others, his predecessors Rose Ellis and Kim Grady, the School Committee and School Building Committee members who shepherded the project and the staff and students of Mount Greylock who both contributed to the design process and lived through the construction period. "Building a new school is among the most optimistic, hopeful and future-focused investments communities can make," McCandless said. "[The school] serves as a shining example of what good things can grow from a community-wide effort, and even a statewide effort as the MSBA is a vital partner to every community in the commonwealth through this process." District officials reviewed and signed off on the MSBA's audit earlier this month, McCandless said. The remaining administrative step is a ratification by the MSBA Board of Directors at its late-August meeting. In other business on Thursday night, the School Committee approved a $250,000 contract with CHA, the designer selected by a committee designated to choose an architect for the planned track and multi-sport grass field at Mount Greylock. "[$250,000] is slightly above the 10 percent [of project cost] we were looking for, but it includes some add alternate that will give us a broad sense of some of the items we may not be able to fit into this project but may be able to do down the road," Carrie Greene told her colleagues. "It's good value for that dollar amount." The School Committee, with just four members in attendance, had a somewhat brief agenda for the late summer meeting. Greene, Christina Conry, Ursula Maloy and Steven Miller did approve a couple of policy changes on second reads one addressing sexual harassment against employees and another on field trips for students. McCandless notified the committee that he likely will give the go-ahead for Lanesborough Elementary School to create a second section for its second grade for the coming school year. He explained that the class size stood at 19 back in March on the cusp for where he would consider creating two classrooms. The School Council at the time had advocated for that step, but the administration held back with the understanding that it would reconsider the step during the summer. Currently, the grade has 22 pupils enrolled for September. "When I look through the makeup in terms of 504 plans and [individualized education plans] and when I look and see we have a waiting list of five or six students who would like to school choice into that grade it's a section where it might serve everyone better to add a teacher," McCandless said. 1. Laal Singh Chaddha Actor Aamir Khan Joins Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign Ahead Of Independence Day The campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav encourages netizens to bring the tricolour home and hoist it to mark India's 75th Independence Day. Reportedly, a day after the release of Laal Singh Chaddha, Dangal actor Aamir Khan was seen standing on his balcony with his daughter Ira Khan on Friday evening. The national flag was also spotted being placed near the railing of the balcony. web screen grab 2. Case Filed Against Influencer Bobby Kataria Over Video Showing Him Drinking Liquor On Road Coming to the latest Bobby's latest controversy, which is the viral video from Dehradun, Bobby Kataria is seen drinking liquor and snacking in the middle of the road while sitting on a chair. Moreover, the background song used in the controversial video of Bobby Kataria says, "Road apne baap ki (the road belongs to my father)." Instagram 3. 'Can't Even Kiss Her A Farewell', Toronto Filmmaker Booked For Kaali Poster On Grandma's Death Calling her grandmother Rajeswari "a binding force for the family" Manimekalai said in her Facebook post that said, "I don't understand why I am alive when I can't even kiss her a farewell. "I am stuck in Toronto because I am a criminal according to the Indian Government that has booked me in nine FIRs and issued a look out circular to arrest me in the airport itself - all for a film poster. Three days ago, Avva has told my amma that, I would win all the cases. web screen grab 4. 'Raju Srivastava's Health Is Stable', Comedian's Family Urges People To Not Fall For Rumours "Dear all, Raju Srivastava Ji's condition is stable. We are praying for his speedy recovery. The doctors are treating him and are doing their best. Thanks to all the well-wishers for their continued love and support. Please ignore any rumour/fake news being circulated. Please pray for him," the official statement issued by Raju Srivastava's family read. web screen grab 5. 1,300 'Laal Singh Chaddha' Shows Reduced By Exhibitors Due To Empty Theatres On Friday: Report Amid the calls to boycott both films on social media for bizarre reasons, this is another setback for the producers of these films. The two movies fell short of making a combined opening day total of Rs. 20 crores and miserably failed to woo the audience despite the Raksha Bandhan holiday. The Hindi film industry is reportedly shocked by the opening day performance of both films, leading to confusion. Instagram/AamirKhanUniverse (For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.) American actress Anne Heche has died. The 53-year-old actress has been legally declared dead but is currently on life support for a possible organ donation, according to her representative. Anne Heche has been announced brain dead and was in coma for a week after her car crashed into a house in Los Angeles in US on August 5. web screen grab From Ellen DeGeneres, who dated the actress in the 1990s to Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, many celebrities took to social media to pay their tributes to Six Days Seven Nights star Anne Heche. " My heart goes out to Anne Heche's children, family, friends, and everyone who grieves. It was an honour to have known you and worked by your side. You were a lovely person and an incredible actress. You will always have a special place in my heart," Priyanka Chopra wrote in an emotional note on her Instagram account. web screen grab Anne Heche and Priyanka Chopra worked worked together in the series 'Quantico'. Remembering the late actress, Ellen DeGeneres, tweeted, "This is a sad day. I'm sending Anne's children, family and friends all of my love." Even James, who shared a 13-year-old son Atlas Heche Tupper with Anne, paid his tribute to the late actress. This is a sad day. I'm sending Anne's children, family and friends all of my love. Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) August 12, 2022 Meanwhile, reports suggest that Anne Heche was under the influence of cocaine when her car crashed. Due to this many even criticized people who had prayed for her recovery. | Anne Heche has tragically passed away at the age of 53 after a devastating car accident. Our hearts are with her loved ones at this difficult time, keep them in your prayers. Rest easy Anne you will be deeply missed in our #OneChicago Family. pic.twitter.com/Z0aHFDp8mI One Chicago Updates (@onechicagonews) August 12, 2022 Instead of praying for Anne Heche, who drove drunk, crashed into a garage, took off and drove 90MPH in a residential area, crashing into a house & setting it ablaze, hows about you donate to the woman whose home was completely destroyed & lost everythinghttps://t.co/hbuyzoKBkO Blair (@heatblair) August 7, 2022 With her demise, Anne Heche leaves behind her 20-year-old son, Homer Laffoon, whom she shared with Coleman Laffoon, her ex-husband. (For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.) Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj is the first Indian woman envoy to the United Nations and it's a proud moment for all of us. Kamboj presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday as she took charge as India's Permanent Representative to the UN at the world body's headquarters in New York. She has succeeded T S Tirumurti as the Indian ambassador to the UN. Her message to the 'girls out there' In a tweet, she said it was a privilege to be the first Indian woman to be given the honour to hold this position. She also slipped in a note for the girls: "To the girls out there, we all can make it!" Today,have presented my credentials to the Secretary General of the United Nations @antonioguterres as Permanent Representative/Ambassador to the @UN. A privilege to be the first Indian woman to be given the honour to hold this position To the girls out there,we all can make it! pic.twitter.com/i1D7Qof2tc Ruchira Kamboj (@RuchiraKamboj) August 2, 2022 Her diplomatic journey: A timeline Kamboj, a 1987-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, was serving as India's envoy to Bhutan and was also the first female Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Bhutan. She was the All India women's topper of the 1987 Civil Services batch and the topper of the 1987 Foreign Service batch. She began her diplomatic journey in Paris, France where she was posted as the Third Secretary in the Indian Embassy to France from 1989-1991. From Paris, she returned to Delhi where she worked as under secretary in the Europe West Division of the Ministry of External Affairs from 199196. From 1996-1999, she served in Mauritius as First Secretary (Economic and Commercial) and Head of Chancery at the Indian High Commission in Port Louis. Kamboj had also previously served as a Counsellor at India's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York from 2002-2005. Instagram From 2006-2009, she was India's Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa which position involved close liaison with the Parliament of South Africa. In this period, she also steered the visits of the President of India to Cape Town in 2008 and the visit of the President of the Congress Party to Cape Town in 2007, which visit was accorded the status of a State Visit by the Government of South Africa. From 2011-2014, she was India's Chief of Protocol, the first and only lady so far in government to have held this position. In May 2014, she was also called in on special assignment to direct the swearing in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In December 2016, she steered India to victory when Yoga was declared as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the 24 member intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Ruchira Kamboj/Instagram In July 2017, she led the effort to inscribe Ahmedabad as India's first World Heritage City, which was accomplished with the full support of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO. From Feb 2019- June 2022, she served as the Indian Ambassador to the Bhutan. She joins the group of women Ambassadors India's tenure at the Council will end in December this year when the country will also preside as President of the powerful UN organ for the month. She joins the group of women Ambassadors at the Council including US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, UK Permanent Representative (PR) Ambassador Barbara Woodward, Norway's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Mona Juul, UAE's Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh. Instagram Ruchira Kamboj is married to businessman Diwakar Kamboj and has one daughter. Her late father was an Officer in the Indian Army and her mother is a writer-professor (retired) of Sanskrit from the University of Delhi. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. The Odisha government will distribute 'free kits' containing condoms and contraceptive pills to newly-married couples in the state. A central government's initiative, Mission Parivar Vikas, is aimed at motivating couples to adopt proper family planning. Called 'Nayi Pahal' or 'Nabadampati' kit, it will be distributed by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers and will also carry brochures, guidelines and other important literature on the importance of safe sex, family planning and spacing out births. Unsplash Contents of the 'wedding kit' The wedding kit will contain a booklet on methods and benefits of family planning, a marriage registration form, condoms, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs), and emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs). This apart, the special gift pack will also contain a home pregnancy testing kit along with a bride grooming materials, including towels, handkerchief, comb, bindi, nail cutter, and mirror among others. The ASHAs will visit the houses where the wedding is taking place and gift the kit. They, besides briefing the newlyweds about the spacing and limiting methods, will also keep a close watch on the benefit of the kit. They will get incentives, Dr Panigrahy added as quoted by The New Indian Express. Representational Image/ Unsplash Aim of the initiative Health and family welfare director Bijay Panigrahi said the state government will distribute the kit to strengthen the family planning programme in the state. The health department will create awareness among the newlyweds regarding the family planning programme through the scheme, he said, adding, the scheme would be implemented in both rural and urban areas of the state. First state to launch initiative According to State Mission Director of NHM Shalini Pandit, Odisha is the first State to launch the initiative despite having a low total fertility rate (TFR). The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime. The TFR of Odisha is 1.8 against the national average of two, reported The New Indian Express. Representational Image/ Unsplash Apart from the contact details of ASHA, ANM, and local health workers, the wedding kit may have a congratulatory message for marriage from the Chief Minister, sources said. The scheme would be rolled out in the state in September this year, sources said. For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News. Cover Image Attribute: The building housing the state-owned oil corporation, the National Oil Corporation (NOC) , is seen in Tripoli, Libya February 22, 2016. / Source: Ismail Zitouny, Reuters The majority of Libya's oil fields have recently begun production again, which has prompted the country's state-owned oil corporation, the National Oil Corporation (NOC), to announce an ambitious plan to expand oil production to 2 million barrels per day (bpd). In a statement that the NOC released, the Chairman, Farhat bin Qadara, noted that "a medium-term plan will be outlined to achieve this goal, which will extend from three to five years and that will see the participation of several companies with their projects." After a three months decline, Libya's daily oil output climbed to 1.025 million bpd in July 2022. At the beginning of this year, the country's daily production was 1.3 million bpd; however, in April, demonstrators from all over Libya began to blockade several vital ports and oil fields, which decreased output to approximately 0.5 million bpd by July. During the year 2021, Libya's daily crude oil production rate was close to 1.2 million bpd. However, at the end of December 2021, armed militants cut crude oil production by an estimated 0.4 million bpd. Since the beginning of Libya's first civil war in 2011, the armed conflict and political instability in the country have caused the country's crude oil production to fluctuate continuously. Following the elections in Libya in 2014, the country was left with a divided administration, with two major rival parties assuming control of distinct regions. The Government of National Accord (GNA), recognized internationally, administers the western area of Libya, while the Libyan National Army (LNA) governs the country's eastern region. Between 2014 and 2020, the GNA, the LNA, and various local militias utilized oil exports as a form of political leverage and caused disruptions to Libya's oil output. In October 2020, the GNA and the LNA reached a ceasefire agreement, which freed up limitations on oil production and exports. As a result, the preliminary predictions for real GDP growth for 2021 increased by 70 percent. Revenues collected from the sale of crude oil are essential to Libya's economy. According to the Central Bank of Libya, oil income made up an anticipated 98% of Libya's total government revenues in 2021. According to Libya Economic Monitor (Spring 2021) , a report from the World Bank, real GDP growth dropped by 31% in 2020 as a result of political conflicts between factions in the eastern and western regions; the oil export port blockades and pipeline shut-ins; and, to a lesser degree, the economic slowdown during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, at the end of the year 2021, Libya had the largest proved oil reserves in Africa, totaling 48 billion barrels and accounting for 39% of the total reserves on the African continent. Furthermore, according to Oil and Gas Journal, Libya was one of the countries that rated among the top 10 for their proved oil reserves. Despite the country's vast oil reserves, capital investments in Libya's oil and natural gas industries have been limited due to the country's ongoing political unrest and attacks by militias on energy infrastructure. Since 2011, these difficulties have also hampered the country's efforts to explore and develop its reserve holdings. In addition, even though Libya is a member of OPEC, the agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries in April 2020 exempts Libya from the production cutbacks that are part of the deal. Anne Heche remains on life support to see if she is a potential match for organ donation, her representative has confirmed. The US actress is classified as legally dead according to California law after suffering a severe anoxic brain injury in a car crash last Friday. The 53-year-old was taken to hospital following the crash in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. The 53-year-old was taken to hospital following the crash in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles (Tony Di Maio/PA) A representative of the actress told the PA news agency: While Anne is legally dead according to California law, her heart is still beating, and she has not been taken off life support so that One Legacy (a national organ recovery organisation) can see if she is a match for organ donation. Following the update on her medical status, a statement on behalf of Heches family and friends said: Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend. Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact. Her family had previously said it had long been her choice to donate her organs. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) previously confirmed to PA that the crash was being investigated as a felony driving-under-the-influence (DUI) traffic collision. An LAPD spokesman said preliminary blood tests had revealed the presence of drugs in Heches system, but added that additional testing was required to rule out any substances that were administered in the hospital. On Friday, a statement shared with PA on behalf of her family said the actress was not expected to survive the incident. Her family previously said it had long been her choice to donate her organs (Ian West/PA) We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Annes recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital, the statement read. Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive, it added. Heche is the former partner of US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres the pair began dating in 1997 before separating in 2000 and is known for films including Donnie Brasco, Cedar Rapids and the 1998 Psycho remake. Pictures and video footage obtained by US media outlet TMZ following the incident showed Ms Heche driving a blue Mini Cooper, which was later pictured severely damaged at the scene. The vehicle struck a two-storey home and erupted in heavy fire, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). Fifty-nine firefighters took 65 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the flames within the heavily damaged structure, according to an LAFD report. Heche sustained a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention, a spokeswoman for the actress previously confirmed to PA. Ireland first official August heatwave for nearly two decades will continue for one more day today, but heavy downpours are expected to replace the blistering sunshine in parts of the country on Sunday, as a thunderstorm warning takes effect. A status yellow high-temperature warning for all of Ireland will be in place from until 6am on Monday. In general, Sunday is another hot day with the mercury likely to hit 25C to 30C by the mid-afternoon, though it is not expected to be quite so hot in the north and northwest. This will begin dry and sunny in most parts of the country, but there may be a few showers in northern areas, some of which could become heavy. Hot and humid today with hazy sunshine Highs of 24 to 30C Isolated showers or thunderstorms will develop through the day, increasing from late afternoon with spot flooding, intense lightning, and a chance of hail. pic.twitter.com/4Ey2XPuqYv Met Eireann (@MetEireann) August 14, 2022 However, through the course of the afternoon and evening, Met Eireann is forecasting scattered heavy and thundery showers across the country some of these with hail. Slow-moving downpours are possible, causing spot flooding. The forecaster says some places will remain dry, but "hit and miss" thunderstorm activity with hail and heavy downpours could lead to spot flooding in some areas. A status yellow thunderstorm warning for the whole country begins at 3pm on Sunday and will last until 3am on Monday mornng. Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather says despite the expected rain, we'll have more fine weather before the end of the summer. A couple sits on a bench in Rosscarbery on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Andy Gibson. "A heatwave is five days over 25C, so many stations have now hit that status and some more will hit that status tomorrow," Mr O'Reilly said. "Heatwaves are unusual in Ireland; we often see short spells of heat but we haven't seen one in a couple of years. "It is an unusual event in Ireland but hopefully we might see some more fine settled weather just before the summer ends." The Department of Agricultures Orange Forest Fire Warning, issued in response to weather patterns and expected level of risk," remains in effect until noon on Tuesday. New all-time August high temperature set Yesterday saw Ireland's all-time maximum temperature record for August broken. The temperature in Oak Park, Co Carlow reached 31.7C yesterday afternoon, surpassing previous records set by both Ballybrittas, Co Laois in 1975, and by Oak Park itself in 1995. Below are the maximum temperatures recorded at our synoptic stations today Two stations recorded max temps over 30C today, with Oak Park reaching 31.7C and provisionally beating the previous August record of 31.5C which was set in 1995 at the same weather station https://t.co/aEMgW47us8 pic.twitter.com/gYTeguPcQo Met Eireann (@MetEireann) August 12, 2022 More water restrictions likely Ireland has been experiencing high temperatures and hot conditions this summer as part of a series of rolling heatwaves across Europe. There has been no significant rainfall for almost two months in Western, Central and Southern Europe, leading to droughts and wildfires breaking out across the continent. Amid the soaring temperatures, almost 40 water supplies across the country are at risk of drought and another 60 are being monitored, with Irish Water implementing measures to ensure taps keep flowing. Some 37 supplies nationwide have needed action to keep water flowing in taps, Irish Water said. In most cases, there is still no impact on customers but there are a small number of locations where overnight restrictions are in place. These include parts of West Cork, Kerry, and Galway, it said. Medical advice Tourists and locals at Owenahincha Beach on Friday. Picture: Andy Gibson. The interim chief medical officer Professor Breda Smyth warned that people should take care when out enjoying the exceptionally warm weather. This includes staying out of direct sunlight for prolonged periods as much as possible, especially between the hours of 11am to 3pm when UV is strongest, staying hydrated throughout the day and regularly applying sunscreen with a high SPF. Possible impacts of exposure to high temperatures are heat stress, especially for the more vulnerable of the population; high Solar UV index and a risk of water related incidents as people go swimming in the heat. - additional reporting from PA Unwieldy planning processes are blocking Irelands transition to cleaner energy with unnecessary delays putting our energy security and economy under grave threat, the Government has been warned. John Mullins, executive chairman of Amarenco, a solar photovoltaic energy company, and former chief executive of Bord Gais, said Ireland is the most difficult out of 15 countries the company operates in to get permission for a solar energy project. Were active in 15 countries and were based out of Cork, and the Irish planning system gives us the most difficulties, Mr Mullins said. In other European countries, as a response to the Russian gas crisis, theyre actually accelerating and bypassing previous legislation, putting in new legislation because theyre very much afraid this winter that Putin is going to turn off the gas and therell be rolling blackouts. John Mullins, executive chairman of Amarenco, said that the company is active in 15 countries but the Irish planning system gives us the most difficulties. Picture Denis Minihane. We need to look and see how we can fast-forward the consenting process in planning exactly the same way as we have done it for strategic housing for example. The minister for energy in Portugal has told all the municipalities that they must allow up to 2% of their land to be covered in solar PVs [photovoltaic panels] and they cant object to it. Other countries are doing similar things. Here, anybody can object and there are no repercussions. 1.27% of electricity generated in Ireland was renewable on Wednesday, while gas generated almost 70% of output according to Eirgrid. On Thursday, the share of renewables increased to 4.91% and gas grew to 72.85%. Coal generated 14.8%. Mr Mullins said that increasing Irelands energy generation from renewables was important, but so was securing a sufficient gas supply now while more renewables are built. Without increasing domestic gas production, Ireland was too reliant on imports from or through Britain which could cripple the country if it was rationed or cut off. Rolling blackouts would have enormous confidence impacts in Ireland in terms of an economic place to set up shop, Mr Mullins said. This is a real threat and the Government needs to take it seriously. Worst-case scenario Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard said Ireland must generate its own gas as a transition fuel. In Ireland, we are in an energy emergency and we need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario the lights going out, Mr Lombard said. Just this week we have seen two amber warnings from Eirgrid. Those amber alerts are in summer when the sun is shining and when the demand on electricity to heat freezing homes is not there. Over two-thirds of our gas supplies comes from one place in Britain Moffat. This over-reliance on Brexit Britain is akin to Europes reliance on Russian gas. One strike and that location and Ireland is in the dark. Renewable developments are welcome but right now a supply of gas is paramount. We have Inishkea gas field next to Corrib in Mayo and Barryroe off West Cork. It is urgent that we focus on supply of homegrown energy rather than continuing to focus on imported fuels from all parts of the world. The US runs the worlds largest carceral system. Guilty or not, the state is an expert in locking people up. Plenty of people in prison are innocent of any crime and many have even been executed for crimes they didnt commit. A new book, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System tells the story of some of these wrongful executions, as well as the tawdry ascent and eventual take down of bogus sciences like bite marks and blood spatter analysis, which have now been thoroughly debunked. The book is an ideal and strangely enjoyable way to consider what is untrue about true crime. The author, Chris Fabricant, is a former public defender and now the Innocence Projects director of strategic litigation. His perspective on the entire criminal justice system is a rare and fascinating one. We spoke this week, and I began by asking him why he wrote this book. Chris Fabricant: You know, I wanted to correct the narrative around forensic sciences that has been perpetuated in popular culture from the time of Quincy [a 1970s' TV drama about an LA county medical examiner] all the way through contemporary CSI-type shows that take forensic sciences as infallible. And it was really important to tell our clients stories about the cost and the impact of junk science in the legal system. Maeve Higgins: And who do you want to read this? Chris Fabricant: A mainstream audience, not lawyers, not law students, not judges, but jurors; people that are observers and are interested in the criminal legal system but don't really have insight. My clients stories are so incredible that they tell the story that needs to be told, without getting deep in the weeds on science. Maeve Higgins: On the storytelling thing your book made me think so much about how stories are important, like your clients' stories are important to understand for the sake of justice. But the destructive power of stories came through too. Chris Fabricant: You know, I write a lot about cognitive biases and the way that storytelling plays into our biases to complete narratives that connect dots that may or may not actually connect. There is a scene in the book where I talk about one of the hearings to determine whether or not bite mark evidence is scientifically valid and therefore admissible. And you could see how the junk scientists just tell stories throughout the hearing to the judge and how persuasive stories are even in something where really we should only be talking about science and the storytelling should not be part of it. That can be very corrupting to the truth-seeking process that a criminal trial is, but it can also be revelatory to an otherwise disinterested audience Maeve Higgins: There is a boom in true crime media that is making people study forensics more what are your thoughts about that? Chris Fabricant: You know, it's funny, I was just at my wife's family reunion in Minnesota. Huge family, and there were a handful of young college students that were there and some were interested in a career in forensic sciences. I asked one young woman why and she talked about her inherent fascination that comes from watching shows like Law and Order and CSI. I wanted to encourage her to pursue any passion that she may have, you know, but I really wanted her to understand that this is not a voyeuristic endeavour. This is the human rights struggle of our generation. Maeve Higgins: What do you mean? 'Junk Science and the American Criminal' by Chris Fabricant. Chris Fabricant: In our system now, there are those who believe that incarcerating 2.3 million people, as we do here at any given time in the United States, is an appropriate response to crime. And there are those that link mass incarceration to slavery, to Jim Crow, in a straight line. And that's really the dividing line. So, if you're going to be involved as a forensic scientist, like some of these shows depict, you have to understand that it's nothing like that at all. You're not going to be in a squeaky clean white lab coat in some high-tech crime lab. You're going to be in what amounts to a strip mall, doing massive caseloads, with massive backlogs on DNA testing and fingerprint testing, and firearms testing. Beyond that and this is one of the fundamental problems with forensics not just here, but elsewhere is that it's often just an arm of law enforcement. If you're going to be working in a crime lab, you are going to be part of a system that is driving towards convictions and guilty pleas. It's not an apolitical job. It should be, but given our system, it isn't Maeve Higgins: Its interesting to me that science is supposed to always be changing and growing. But with law, there's a precedent that gets set and it has to stay that way, does that mean science and law are fundamentally in conflict with each other? Chris Fabricant: It's a central tension in our justice system that when a judge is considering a challenge to the introduction of purportedly scientific evidence, the court is very unlikely to consult the scientific literature to make that decision. The court is very likely to rely on legal precedent, and legal precedent almost never changes. But if we're going to use scientific evidence, and we use it more and more all the time, we have to accept the fact that what we believe today, tomorrow might be false. And if that happens, then we have to be willing to go back and correct the record and correct miscarriages of justice. I'm trying to prevent those from happening in the first instance, but a lot of what I do is what I was doing in Georgia yesterday. Georgia conviction The day before we spoke, Mr.Fabricant was at a hearing for one of his clients in Georgia. Jimmy Rogers was convicted of the rape and murder of his neighbour in 1980 after prosecutors used bitemarks, hair comparisons, and a poor-quality latent fingerprint as evidence. Chris Fabricant: My client was put on death row by junk science. But its just so hard to un-ring the guilty verdict bell once it's been rung. The entire legacy of junk science is so hard to undo. I got a call last week from a lawyer about a new case where they're going to try to take a mould of her client's teeth to use and make it a bite mark case. Maeve Higgins: But isnt it well known now that bite marks are total junk science? Chris Fabricant: Yes they have been debunked, but they're still admissible everywhere you go. And when prosecutors have a tough case, they're going to go the junk science. I have three clients on death row right now, all put there by junk science, That's what keeps me up at night. Salman Rushdie has forfeited his home, freedom, marriage and peace of mind due to his controversial writings. The 75-year-old Indian-born British author, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was stabbed on stage in New York state on Friday, with his condition in hospital unclear. The incident is not the first time his life has come under threat. Irans former ruler Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced him to death in February 1989 for the blasphemous The Satanic Verses, which parodied the Korans account of the prophecies of Mohammed, founder of Islam. Inextricably trapped within the net of his own written words and with a million-dollar bounty on his head, Salman Rushdie came to symbolise the freedom of the writer and the fragility of the profession in an age of prisoners of conscience. The book generated fury and division, stirring up emotive, complicated questions about religion and racial harmony, law, politics and diplomacy, literary freedom and ethics. A rally in Londons Park Lane against the publication of Salman Rushdies controversial book The Satanic Verses in 1989 (PA) Few men have had to bear such vilification and menace as the self-described mischievous iconoclast, whose critics fanned violence across the Muslim world and, in Britain, book-burning and arson. Mr Rushdie espoused peace and progress by liberation from fixed ideas but, in challenging Koranic tradition, the literary lion became Islams public enemy number one. Under Islamic law, he was found guilty of creating fasad or public disorder in a land under divine sovereignty. The ayatollahs justification for his death sentence, or fatwa, was the riots and a dozen deaths in India and Pakistan that followed newspaper condemnation of the book, published in 1988. The Satanic Verses was banned in 45 Islamic countries, with hundreds of British Muslims endorsing the death sentence. The author was regularly moved from house to house by round-the-clock Special Branch officers in an attempt to keep one step ahead of would-be assassins with 56 moves in the first three months alone. Mr Rushdie and independent India were born within weeks of each other in 1947. His Muslim grandfather had built a fortune manufacturing leather cloth, but Indias independence led to the creation of a separate Muslim state in Pakistan. Mr Rushdies was the wrong religion in the wrong country. Sir Salman Rushdie (Julien Behal/PA) Brought up a nominal Muslim, he never received an Islamic education, going instead to Rugby when he was 13. Like his father, he went to Kings College, Cambridge, where he read history and appeared as a tiny bulb in The Footlights along with Clive James and Germaine Greer. The young graduate dabbled in fringe theatre before moving into advertising. He dreamed up the naughty but nice slogan for fresh cream and the bubble delectabubble pun for Aero chocolate. He began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnights Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981 and brought him worldwide fame. Shame, based around the intricacies of Pakistani politics, followed two years later, confirming his reputation as the founder of a new genre, Anglo-Indian magic realism, with his own school of stylistic imitators. His 11-year marriage to Clarissa Luard, with whom he had a son, Zafar, ended in divorce in 1987. Aged 41, he was the darling of London and New Yorks literary establishment, hunted only by international publishers, when Viking Penguin paid a 500,000 advance for his next book, The Satanic Verses. Sir Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses (Adam Butler/PA) The novel is a parable of contemporary Britain and India and the conflict of good and evil, represented by two survivors from a jumbo jet blown up at 30,000ft who find themselves changing, one into the Angel Gabriel and the other into the Devil. On February 14 1989, the BBC telephoned his Islington home with a message that Ayatollah Khomeini had sentenced him, and all those knowingly involved in the publication, to death. He locked and shuttered his house, went to writer Bruce Chatwins memorial service, then vanished from the world with his second wife, American writer Marianne Wiggins. After five months together in exile, Ms Wiggins walked out, unable to stand the strict security. Penguin received repeated threats to staff and spent 2 million a year on security for its premises after shops were burned in Chelsea and York. In March 1989, two men hunting Rushdie and travelling on forged Moroccan passports were stopped at Santander in Spain en route to Plymouth. Five months later, a man blew himself up in a Paddington hotel room while making a bomb with military plastic explosive. A note to a French newspaper the next day said he died preparing an attack on the apostate SR. The Satanic Verses (PA) On Christmas Eve in 1990, the author announced that he regretted writing The Satanic Verses, promised to stop publication of the paperback, and said he had embraced Islam statements he later said he wished he had never made. Appeasement failed. Iran responded by renewing the death sentence and doubling the reward for his murder. In September 1998 that threat appeared to lessen significantly when Iran distanced itself decisively from the fatwa and the accompanying bounty. Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi told then-foreign secretary Robin Cook in New York that his government had no intention of harming Mr Rushdie and that his government did not support the bounty put up by an Iranian charitable foundation. Mr Rushdie, by then 51, acknowledged there was still a degree of threat. However he stressed he had no regrets about the book, adding: Theres not a chance in hell of the book being withdrawn. We have not fought this battle for freedom of speech to give in at the last moment. Sir Salman Rushdie and his former wife Elizabeth in 2008 (Johnny Green/PA) Hailing his newfound freedom, he took the opportunity to express his gratitude to his wife, Elizabeth, whom he described as a heroine. He told how Elizabeth, whom he had recently married, had shared with him eight and a quarter years of the nine and a half years of the ordeal. He said: Without her, I would not have survived this. They had a son named Milan, who was born in 1997. In 2000 Mr Rushdie moved to Manhattan in New York, and four years later he divorced Elizabeth and married his fourth and final wife Padma Lakshmi, an Indian-American actress and model, with whom he stayed until July 2007. His return to public life saw him publish novels such as Fury, The Moors Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker. He also appeared in the 2001 hit film Bridget Joness Diary. Sir Salman Rushdie after receiving his knighthood from the Queen in 2008 (John Stillwell/PA) He was knighted in 2008 for his services to literature, an honour he was thrilled and humbled to receive. However, the announcement sparked outrage in some Islamic countries, leading to widespread protests. In 2022 he was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queens Birthday Honours. He said it was a great surprise and delight, describing the privilege of being included in such illustrious company. Later in the year, as he was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, he was attacked by a man who stormed the stage. Mr Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was transported to hospital by helicopter where his condition remained unclear, state police said. Photos from the Associated Press news agency showed him lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him. Junta Watch Junta Watch: Fuel Crisis Bites; Vigilante Groups Set Up, and More Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing visits the Agricultural Research Department in Naypyitaw on June 14, 2022. Min Aung Hlaing doing his best to worsen fuel crisis With the country facing serious fuel shortages, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told a meeting of his regime on Monday to reduce imports of oil and petroleum products, as the country has to spend billions of US dollars annually on imported fuel. The junta chief, who has been hit by a financial crisis, called for systematic regulation of oil refineries in Myanmar, hoping that his regime can spend fewer US dollars on fuel imports, as Myanmar is heavily reliant on imported gasoline and diesel. Min Aung Hlaing visited the site of a disused oil refinery in Yangons Thanlyin Township in April last year with plans to revive it to help solve the countrys fuel crisis. But more than one year after the junta chiefs visit to the site, there is still no sign that the refinery will be back in operation in the near future. At the meeting, however, Min Aung Hlaing did not offer any short-term solutions to the countrys ongoing fuel crisis. Currently, fuel prices have reached a record high of over 2,000 kyats per liter. The crisis looks set to worsen, and prices will only go up further if the regime cuts imports. Junta forms vigilante groups, citing public security Deputy junta chief Soe Win reiterated the regimes plan to form public security groups to restore order, at a regime meeting on Wednesday, in a reflection of how hard the regime has been hit by combat fatalities and desertions. Over the past 18 months, the regime has been struggling to prop up its administration with war veterans, Pyu Saw Htee militias and police. Now, it is forming so-called public security groups that include Pyu Saw Htee members, war veterans, military informants and junta-appointed administrators. Such groups are being formed across Myanmar, including in resistance strongholds like Sagaing and Magwe. Apart from financing, the regime also provides military training and arms to them. The fact that the regime is forming such groups in urban wards in Mandalay and Magwe, not just in remote towns, shows its desperation. While daily clashes with resistance forces and ethnic armed organizations inflict casualties on the regime, military informants are also targeted by the resistance forces. The parallel National Unity Government has warned that it would treat those involved in public security groups as enemy targets. Junta institutes increasingly unpopular A while ago, the Myanmar military loosened the age limit for those applying to be cadets at its academies, as the number of young people opting to attend the institutes has plunged. Apparently, the move has not been successful. After repeatedly announcing that it would not consider applications received later than Aug. 5, the military has extended the deadline for applications to Aug. 19. It extended the deadline twice last year, and has done so twice this year as well. It is not clear if the extended deadline has resulted in any more applications, but it is obvious that the regime was forced to make the move due to a lack of interest. The junta claimed it extended the deadline at the request of the public. But it is fooling no one. Not many will want to join an institution that is now loathed across the country. And for those that dont care about that, the very real prospect of being killed may well discourage them. To make matters worse, Min Aung Hlaings soldiers are sacrificing life and limb daily for the sake of their power-hungry boss in clashes with resistance forces and some key ethnic armed organizations including the Karen National Union (KNU). With an army overwhelmed by desertions and fatalities, Min Aung Hlaings days ahead will not be as rosy as he expected. The KNU said in a report earlier this week that junta forces suffered 386 fatalities and hundreds more injuries in clashes in areas under the ethnic armed organizations control in Karen State, parts of Mon State and Bago Region in July. To fill the gap, Min Aung Hlaing has been forced to use police, war veterans, ethnic militias and pro-junta thugs known as Pyu Saw Htee. War veterans are paid daily wages and Pyu Saw Htee members are also reportedly paid to fight in battles. Apparently, this is still not enough. The regime has rushed to form so-called public security groups to reboot its administrative mechanism. Junta to export rice as many go hungry As soaring rice prices continue to take a toll on Myanmar people, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told a meeting of his regime on Wednesday he plans to export rice and mung beans. The regime will bear all the costs to grow paddy and mung beans, and farmers will receive reasonable pay, said Min Aung Hlaing, without further explaining how much exactly farmers will earn for their elbow grease. Obviously, his plan is not intended to boost domestic food security, but to earn foreign currency. To make his scheme attractive to growers, Min Aung Hlaing preached the benefits of his plan, saying growers need not worry about the problem of money to buy inputs, and can earn easy money at harvest, which will contribute to their socio-economic life. But there could be one disadvantagegrowers may get themselves into trouble if they fail to meet the regimes per acre yield target. Min Aung Hlaings plan reminds Myanmar people of a similar failed scheme of late military dictator Ne Win to grow certain industrial crops. Myanmars rice exports plunged as Ne Wins scheme failed. Min Aung Hlaing is now following in the footsteps of Ne Win. Whats more, Min Aung Hlaings plan is out of touch with reality as many farmers have been displaced by junta raids and arson attacks in Sagaing and Magwe regions, where paddy and mung beans are mainly grown. Any farmer that plans to make the junta their business partners should be prepared to be charged and imprisoned if they cant hand over the harvest on time. Floridas 5th graders took the 2022 statewide science exam to measure understanding of the states science standards, but the results were stagnant to dismal. Only 48 percent of 5th graders passed the exam, based on a score of 3 or higher. The Florida Department of Education considers that satisfactorymay need additional support for the next grade/course. The good news? The 48 percent was an increase from 47 percent in 2021, according to state data. But the bad news? Between 2012 to 2019, state science results for 5th graders ranged from 51 to 55 percent, depending on the school year. Then the COVID pandemic hit, statewide testing in 2019-20 was canceled, and there was no data for 2020. Whats more, in 2022, only 23 percent of the 5th graders were considered proficient or higher, with scores of 4 or 5. That means some 5th graders struggling in science are headed into middle schools, where science courses can get harder. Overall, 211,739 5th graders took the exam in 2022, covering questions about the nature of science, earth and space science, physical science and life science. For example, in earth and space, 5th graders should recognize that a galaxy consists of gas, dust, and many stars, including any objects orbiting the stars. The students should explain that stars can be different; some are smaller, some are larger, and some appear brighter than others; all except the Sun are so far away that they look like points of light, according to science testing items from the Florida Department of Education. In physical science, the 5th graders should be able to compare and contrast the basic properties of solids, liquids, and gases, such as mass, volume, color, texture, and temperature. In three districts, only 23, 26 and 27 percent of 5th graders earned passing scores. The top district was Nassau, in northeast Florida, where 70 percent of the 5th graders passed the state science exam. Portions of this story appeared on the website of the Florida Phoenix, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to coverage of state government and politics from Tallahassee. You can visit them by clicking here. The Australian Federal Court has fined Google $60 million for misleading consumers about collection and use of personal data on Android phones between January 2017 and December 2018. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission initiated court action over the issue in October 2019. The court found that Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd, which together make up Google, had breached Australian consumer law. The company was found to have misrepresented the fact that the only setting in an Android system that could affect data collection was "location history". However, another setting, "web and app activity" could also enabled data slurping by the system. The ACCC estimated that 1.3 million users had been affected by this data collection under false pretenses. Google fixed the issue by December 2018. This significant penalty imposed by the court... sends a strong message to digital platforms and other businesses, large and small, that they must not mislead consumers about how their data is being collected and used, ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement. Google, one of the worlds largest companies, was able to keep the location data collected through the 'Web & App Activity' setting and that retained data could be used by Google to target ads to some consumers, even if those consumers had the 'Location History' setting turned off. Personal location data is sensitive and important to some consumers, and some of the users who saw the representations may have made different choices about the collection, storage and use of their location data if the misleading representations had not been made by Google. Home > 2022 > Pakistan - India: Release prisoners on completion of jail term, (...) Joint statement by organisations Release prisoners on completion of jail term, decriminalise inadvertent border crossings, especially for fisherfolk and minors [July 31, 2022] Kalu Vira, a fisherman from India incarcerated in Pakistan died at a hospital in Karachi on 6 July 2022. He had completed his jail term in December 2021, and his nationality had been verified. After his passing, it took over 10 days for the Pakistan authorities to inform the Indian High Commission about the death. As of 26 July, Kalu Viras mortal remains are yet to be repatriated. Meanwhile his family members came to learn of the tragedy through other means and are desperately awaiting the return of his mortal remains. This is not the first time a fisherman has died while incarcerated on the other side. It typically takes well over a month to repatriate mortal remains of an Indian or a Pakistani who dies while incarcerated in the other country. The repatriation is carried out through Wagah border although most such incarcerations are in the southern coastal areas. Nano Ram, another Indian fisherman, completed his jail sentence in Pakistan on 16 January 2019. He died at a cardiovascular hospital in Karachi on 3 February 2022. His remains were repatriated on 4 April 2022. Amir Hamza, a Bengali migrant fisherman from Karachi arrested by the Indian Coast Guards in 2017 died of Covid-19 in India in June 2021. It took the authorities three months to repatriate his body to Pakistan. He, too, had completed his prison sentence but was kept languishing in custody. Had Kalu, Manu and Hamza been repatriated promptly after having completed their sentences they might have been alive today. We note that Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi fisherfolk arrested by India and vice versa also face similar issues. In some cases, border patrol personnel on the other side have shot dead fisherfolk caught transgressing the unmarked maritime border. This happens between Pakistan and India, and also between Bangladesh and India. Currently, Pakistan holds 632 Indian fishermen in Landhi Jail, Karachi, while India holds 95 Pakistani fishermen in prisons in Gujarat. All were arrested for inadvertently crossing the maritime boundary. Additionally, several minors who inadvertently crossed the border across the Line of Control in the disputed area of Kashmir, are lodged in reformatory centres on the other side. In some cases, they are repatriated within days, once their identities are verified and contact is made with families across the border. Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi fisherfolk arrested by India and vice versa also face similar issues. In the case of Sri Lanka and India, there are generally fairly fast repatriations, sometimes within weeks of arrest, including boats being returned.. We call on the governments of the region to immediately take following steps: 1. Release and repatriate prisoners of each others country as soon as they have completed their prison sentences, particularly aged prisoners, women prisoners and civilian prisoners with minor offences.. 2. Revive the Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners and allow medical teams of the other country to periodically visit and conduct inspections. 3. Allow communication between prisoners and their relatives, including the option of online communication. 4. Allow those jailed or who die in Sindh and Gujarat to be repatriated through the sea route or Khokhrapar border rather than having to travel 1000 km up-country to Wagah-Atari border, and down again to their homes. 5. Decriminialise inadvertent border crossings. All countries of the region must institute measures to ameliorate the plight of the incarcerated in their custody, particularly cross-border prisoners. This will also help build confidence and trust between the two countries and improve overall neighbourly relations in the Southasian region. Statement initiated by the Southasia Peace Action Network, Sapan, endorsed by the following organisations: Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. Two soldiers died in a clash with Shining Path guerrillas, whose leader was seriously injured, Peru's defense ministry said Saturday. Authorities said the military and police on Thursday began an operation against Shining Path in the east of Peru. They "reached a series of terrorist camps and the main position of Victor Quispe Palomino, comrade 'Jose'," the group's leader. Many members of Shining Path were killed in clashes on Friday while Quise was seriously injured, the ministry said in a statement. Authorities also captured "weapons, communications devices, equipment, laptops, lots of literature and documents." Last month a soldier was killed in an attack by Shining Path members in the region of Junin, which is known for its coca leaf plantations and where the last remnants of the Shining Path are hiding out. Soldiers have been patrolling the region for more than two decades and there in January 2021 they killed the group's second in command, Jorge Quispe Palomino. Almost all of Shining Path's leaders have been either killed or jailed but the group can still count on around 350 members. Shining Path emerged as a communist guerrilla group in 1980. Some 69,000 people died over the next two decades in the group's battles with the armed forces, according to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has strongly condemned last Sunday's terrorist attack against the Malian Armed Forces in Tessit, Ansongo region, which resulted in a high number of casualties and loss of life Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The acting head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Raisedon Zenenga, has urged Libya's political leaders on the occasion of International Youth Day "to put in place practical mechanisms to involve young people in the decision-making process If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here 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. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The FBI's unsealed search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., is photographed Friday, Aug. 12. Prime Loyalty is offering Derm.com and Braces.com as game changing digital assets. These domain names present a rare opportunity for company CEOs or Chief Marketing Officers to raise their corporation to the next level of success. Derm.com and Braces.com are ultra-rare, one-word, category-defining domain names which are still unbranded. Each has seen only very limited previous use by a private practice dermatologist and a private practice orthodontist. Clearly underutilized and underdeveloped, each of these powerful internet properties, along with the right corporate strategy, can now be leveraged and scaled worldwide. Derm.com and Braces.com are ideal domain names for capturing the Dermatology and Orthodontic/Aligner consumer markets. One-word exact match names enable a corporations brand to achieve the ideal digital footprint. Once sold, these two yet to be developed domains will probably never be available again. Easy to pronounce, easy to spell, and easy to remember, the 4 letter Derm.com brand is short and simple. It nevertheless represents the entire broad field of skin care and dermatology. Derm is also a universal term clearly understood in many languages. It ensures easy and effective corporate branding and advertising worldwide. Likewise, for targeting consumers seeking a more beautiful smile, the simple and easy to remember Braces.com brand may be the most credible and referable online destination for information on aligners, braces, and all things orthodontic. Jeff Garbutt of Prime Loyalty reports that, Although we have seen some people searching for aligners, the keyword aligners is nevertheless only searched for approximately 8,100 times a month as opposed to 246K times a month for braces. Therefore, it seems that ultimately consumers in the market for orthodontic products and services, including aligners, are also still largely using the search term braces. The demand for aesthetic skin care AND beautiful orthodontic smiles continues to grow, but so does the market competition. Derm.com and Braces.com easily empower a company to develop a competitive marketing edge. These two domain assets are being sold separately, but the pair may also be offered together as one package. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global dermatology drug market size was $36.82 billion in 2019 and derm pharmaceuticals are projected to reach $63.99 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 12.9% during the forecast period. The orthodontic market is expected to grow from $5.38 billion in 2021 to $16.36 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 17.2% between 2021 and 2028. As per UberSuggest web statistics, the keyword derm is searched 450,000 times a month in the U.S. with advertisers paying $3.59 CPC. For a 12-month period, that equates to $19,386,000 annually that the keyword derm is producing in advertising fees. Braces has an average of 246,000 searches a month in the U.S. and advertisers are paying approximately $15.14 CPC in advertising fees. That equates to approximately $44,693,280 ANNUALLY in advertising fees for the keyword braces. As noted earlier by domain broker Jeff Garbutt, it seems that ultimately consumers in the market for orthodontic products and services, including aligners, are also still largely using the search term braces. Finally, many specific metrics are used to valuate a domain including: Age, Word Length, Ease of Spelling, SEO, Search Volume, Keyword CPC, Universality/Memorability, and Industry Type. These two assets check all the boxes. Short, meaningful one-word .com domain names ideally position a business in terms of branding, marketing, SEO, email security, and trust in todays ever expanding digital space. They drive sales and customer acquisitions, decrease marketing costs, enhance corporate brand awareness, accelerate growth, and enable any company to be more easily remembered, located, and referenced. Prime Loyalty is offering Derm.com and Braces.com as game changing digital assets. These domain names present a rare opportunity for company CEOs or Chief Marketing Officers to raise their corporation to the next level of success. About Prime Loyalty: Prime Loyalty is a full-service domain brokerage specializing in acquiring and selling domain name assets, domain consulting, and branding. Jeff Garbutt of Prime Loyalty states, Our company is built on relationships, loyalty, and expertise. We have been in the domain business for over 20 years, and we value professional judgement. We always put our clients interest first. Our domain brokers pride themselves on a commitment to excellence. We are dedicated to upholding our founding principles E.T.H.I.C.S. Experience, Transparency, Honesty, Integrity, Confidentiality, and Service. For more visit our Linkedin Page at: Domain Brokers at Prime Loyalty or Connect with us at: Linkedin | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Washington Post. A teacher takes the body temperature of a schoolgirl to help curb the spread of the coronavirus before entering Kim Song Ju Primary School in Central District in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 13, 2021. AP-Yonhap North Korea on Saturday reported no new fever cases for the first time since it abruptly admitted to its first domestic COVID-19 outbreak and placed its 26 million people under more draconian restrictions in May. There have been widespread outside doubts about the accuracy of North Korean statistics as its reported fatalities are too low and its daily fever cases have been plummeting too fast recently. Some experts say North Korea has likely manipulated the scale of illness and deaths to help leader Kim Jong-un maintain absolute control amid mounting economic difficulties. The North's state emergency anti-epidemic center said via state media it had found zero fever patients in the latest 24-hour period. It said its total caseload was about 4.8 million and that about 99.99% of them have fully recovered. The country's death count remains at 74, a mortality rate of 0.0016% that would be the world's lowest if true. Despite the claimed zero cases, it is unclear whether and how soon North Korea would formally declare victory over COVID-19 and lift pandemic-related curbs because experts say it could face a viral resurgence later this year like many other countries. Recently, North Korea's state media has repeatedly said it's intensifying and upgrading its anti-epidemic systems to guard against coronavirus subvariants and other diseases like monkeypox that are occurring in other countries. ''The organizational power and unity unique to the society of (North Korea) is fully displayed in the struggle to bring forward a victory in the emergency anti-epidemic campaign by fully executing the anti-epidemic policies of the party and the state,'' the official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. North Korea's claimed zero cases could still have symbolic significance in its efforts to establish Kim's image as a leader who has controlled the outbreak much faster than other countries. Kim would need such credentials to garner greater public support to surmount economic hardships caused by pandemic-related border closings, U.N. sanctions and his own mismanagement, observers say. ''In North Korea, public healthcare and politics can't be separated from each other, and that aspect has been revealed again in its COVID-19 outbreak,'' said Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea. ''Since they began with manipulated data, they're now putting an end to the outbreak with manipulated data.'' The zero cases have been widely expected as North Korea's daily fever caseload has been nosediving in recent days _ there were three reported cases on Friday and 11 on Thursday _ from a peak of about 400,000 a day in May. The country, which lacks test kits, has identified only a fraction of its 4.8 million fever patients as confirmed COVID-19 cases. Many outside experts earlier worried the North's outbreak would have devastating consequences because most of its people are believed to be unvaccinated and about 40% are reportedly undernourished. But now, activists and defectors with contacts in North Korea say they haven't heard about anything like a humanitarian disaster happening in North Korea. In an indication of an easing outbreak, North Korea last week held massive no-mask public events in its capital, Pyongyang, where thousands of aged Korean War veterans and others gathered from across the country to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 war. During an anniversary ceremony, Kim hugged and exchanged handshakes with some veterans before he took group photos with other participants. No one wore masks, according to state media photos. Shin Young-jeon, a professor of preventive medicine at Seoul's Hanyang University, said North Korea would know that zero cases doesn't mean it has no COVID-19 patients because there are likely asymptomatic cases. He said North Korea won't likely announce it has officially overcome the pandemic anytime soon because of worries about a resurgence. ''North Korea's state media has already used expressions like it's winning its anti-virus fight. The only other expression they can use now is declaring the coronavirus has been completely eliminated from its territory,'' Shin said. ''But if new cases emerge again, North Korea would lose its face.'' In this photo published on June 28, by the North Korean government, North Korean employees disinfect a facility at an underground store in Pyongyang, North Korea. AP-Yonhap The only route for North Korea's fresh viral spread from abroad is likely China, its main ally which shares a long, porous border with the country, and North Korea would likely find it difficult to announce victory over the pandemic until China does so, said Lee Yo Han, a professor at Ajou University Graduate School of Public Health in South Korea. The North Korea-China border has been largely shut for more than 2 years, except for a few months when it reopened earlier this year. Some observers say the North's elevated pandemic response has provided Kim with a tool to boost his authoritarian rule amid public complaints over long-running restrictions. They say North Korea could report a small number of fever cases again in the coming days. Foreign experts struggle to assess the true number of fatalities in North Korea with authority. They note the North's shortage of test kits would also make it virtually impossible for the country to determine whether aged people or others with underlying diseases died of COVID-19 or something else. Shin, the university professor, stood by his earlier study that predicted North Korea would likely suffer 100,000-150,000 deaths. He said he used South Korean data showing its mortality rate of unvaccinated people for the omicron variant, whose outbreak North Korea admitted in May, was 0.6%. Other experts say the North's fatalities would be several thousand at the maximum. They said bigger death tolls must have been detected by North Korea monitoring groups. (AP) Japan's industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Saturday became the first member of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet to visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine for war dead in Tokyo, Kyodo news agency reported. "I resolved to do my utmost for the peace and development of Japan, while thinking of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe," Nishimura told reporters, according to Kyodo. Nishimura belongs to the party faction that was led by Abe, who was gunned down at a campaign rally last month. Kishida tapped Nishimura to head the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday. Yasukuni is seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japanese former military aggression because it honours, among some 2.5 million war dead, 14 Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal. South Korea expressed "deep disappointment and regret" at Nishimura's visit. The shrine "glorifies Japan's past war of aggression and enshrines war criminals," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Abe visited in December 2013, shortly after taking office but refrained for the rest of his tenure to avoid angering China and South Korea. (Reuters) Welcome Guest! You Are Here: A report that came across the police radio on Friday afternoon about a man with a gun in Delavan by Wendys put a lot of rumors in motion. Delavan Police released the police report Friday afternoon at the request of the Lake Geneva Regional News to help clear up what happened. According to the police report, on Friday afternoon at approximately 1:45 p.m. Delavan police received a report of a shot fired from a long gun in the Wendys parking lot off Highway 50 at 1265 E. Geneva St. Upon officer arrival, the officer made contact with two men age 76 and 78in the parking lot on the south side of the restaurant. The two men were asked if they had heard a gunshot and the man who was outside the vehicle stated that they had just fired an air rifle. In speaking with the 76-year-old man further he stated that he had purchased the air rifle on his way to Wisconsin from Illinois. He said he had been showing his friend the rifle and his friend dry fired the rifle, which emitted a sound from the air pressure created by air rifles. The officer was shown the rifle, which was cased at the time and lying in the back seat. The rifle was inspected and verified to be an air rifle. The man who owned the gun said they had entered the Wendys with the rifle and were immediately asked to leave. The man said he complied, exited the restaurant and cased the rifle and placed it in his vehicle. In speaking with the two, the two said they did not realize the disturbance the incident created. The two were spoken to about the appropriate place and time to be showing a friend a new rifle. Both men stated they understood that based on the place and current events that this was not appropriate. Both men were warned for their disturbance and released. Both men were allowed back in Wendys. The initial caller was not present when the officer arrived. The caller was a Door Dash driver who observed the incident while driving past. The restaurant manager at Wendys said that both men were regular at the restaurant and the restaurant employees did not have any issues with them. The manager said she saw the gun owner bring in the rifle and told him to put it in his car or he could not stay inside the restaurant. He complied without incident. The restaurant manager said she never heard a shot and she was only aware of the reported shot from a Facebook post. FOND DU LAC A Wisconsin judge committed a man accused of targeting a motorcyclist in a fatal crash because of the victim's race to life in a mental institution Thursday. Daniel Navarro, a 27-year-old Mexican American from Fond du Lac, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree intentional homicide as a hate crime in the July 3, 2020 crash that killed Phillip Thiessen, who was white, in Fond du Lac County. He was also convicted of first-degree recklessly endangering safety as a hate crime. Navarro pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The convictions triggered a second phase of his trial in which the jury was tasked with determining his mental state at the time of the crash, a key finding that helped determine whether he should face prison time or be institutionalized. Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said the jury heard two doctors testify Thursday that Navarro suffered from paranoid delusions and schizophrenia. Judge Andrew Christenson committed him to the state Department of Health Services' institutional care for life. Navarro's attorney, Jeffrey William Jensen, said the jury made the right call but there's no cause for celebration in what he described as an extremely sad case. An innocent man is dead, Jensen said. And if (Navarro) had gotten help maybe he wouldn't have ruined his life. Thiessen, 55, was a retired special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and a former police officer. Prosecutors say Navarro struck his motorcycle head-on in the town of Taycheedah near Fond du Lac, about 67 miles north of Milwaukee. Authorities said Navarro didnt know Thiessen. Navarro told investigators he had been harassed by co-workers and neighbors, and poisoned, drugged and verbally attacked by white people because of his race, officials said. During an interview at the sheriffs office, Navarro said he wanted to go to prison for the rest of his life so he could be free from his neighbors, who he could hear making racist comments through the walls of his house, according to a criminal complaint. Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 13 (ANI/NewsVoir): As India commemorates 75 years of Independence with a grand celebration of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', APAR Industries Limited is proud to be a significant contributor and building block to the power sector of India. From the very first day of inception, the founder and company have firmly stood by the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and making India as an export powerhouse. Commenting on the occasion Chaitanya N Desai, Managing Director of APAR Industries said, "Since 1958 APAR has been relentlessly contributing to the power sector by manufacturing and supplying quality conductors to enhance transmission and distribution of electricity in India. APAR started with humble beginnings 11 years after independence by Shri Dharmsinh Dadubhai Desai a visionary entrepreneur, freedom fighter, and servant of the nation. He envisioned significant growth in the power sector for the betterment of the nation and thus embarked on the journey to build APAR Industries." Also Read | Arsenal vs Leicester City, Premier League 2022-23 Free Live Streaming Online & Match Time in India: How To Watch EPL Match Live Telecast on TV & Football Score Updates in IST?. Dharmsinh's belief of contributing to the country has been deep-rooted and was passed on to the 2nd generation to Dr Narendra Desai who joined APAR in 1964. He ventured into the manufacturing of transformer oil business which is one of the most critical components in a power generation, transmission and distribution system by supporting a transformer function at an optimum condition. He served the country and APAR until his last breath. Today with the reins of the company in the hands of the 3rd generation, they have further diversified and expanded the business, serving different verticals which include speciality cables, lubricants, speciality automotive and polymers. With the new entrance of the 4th generation, the Millennials are taking the company to international markets with the support of digital and strategic initiatives. Also Read | Independence Day 2022: When And Where To Watch PM Narendra Modi's August 15 Speech From Red Fort. Marked by significant milestones and reforms throughout the journey of 64 years, the company has brought India numerous recognitions on a global platform in each and every vertical the company is present in. APAR is recognised for developing, innovating and manufacturing many first-in-India products and technologies, which were predominantly imported. In the search of creating an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the company has grown to become the world's largest aluminium and alloy conductor manufacturer, the 3rd largest transformer oil manufacturer and offers the largest range of speciality and renewable cables. Consistent growth in these diversified verticals has propelled the company to become a billion-dollar conglomerate with a strong presence in over 140 countries. Sharing his vision Kushal N Desai, Chairman and Managing Director of the company said, "With our moto of delivering Tomorrow's Solutions Today, we are focused on serving and powering various Business, Industries and Government institutions. With our range of cutting-edge house wires (APAR Anushakti), batteries (ARKOS) and auto-lubricants (Eni), we are further expanding the horizon and bringing innovative solutions to every consumer. These products are custom made for powering every Indian and every house with exceptional quality products and services launched for the 1st time in the country." He further added, "APAR is beyond grateful for the opportunity to serve the nation. We have always placed equal importance on ESG and CSR, modestly contributing to raise the Indian flag across the globe as a carbon neutral and self-reliant country." Some of APAR's achievements in its businesses are: Conductors - One of the 1st to successfully test 765KV and 800KV conductors in India - Developed aluminium CTC, aluminium PICC and aluminium enamel PICC in India - 1st Indian company to develop, manufacture and supply indigenous copper-silver contract wire and flexible dropper wire for fast trains as per R.D.S.O specifications - Delivered 100+ Turnkey solutions, installed 10,000+ conductor KM & covered 3,000+ circuit KM Cables Solutions - India's 1st manufacturer to create guidance optical fibre wires for defence torpedoes - Developed speciality cables for a towed array sonar system to support the Indian Navy - A trusted partner serving all major naval shipyards and private shipyards in India- 1st Indian manufacturer to create tether cables for airborne surveillance system for DRDO - Establishing India's largest E-beam facility - Introducing advanced E-beam technology in the house-wire segment - Among the top 3 Indian cable solutions suppliers to the US market Speciality Oils - Developed and launched the world's best eco-friendly, natural ester-based transformer oil - 60 per cent of the market share in power transformer oil (TO) and 40 per cent in distribution TO in India - Set up a speciality oil factory in Sharjah to expand the export footprint Lubricants - Among the top 10 lubricant players in India - Licensing agreement with Eni (world-renowned Italian lubricant brand), to manufacture and offer the best quality auto and industrial lubricants to the Indian market - Facilitating green transitions by upgrading the product baskets to provide Adblue and BS-VI compliant lubricants - Consistently offering advanced solutions for stakeholders through the Lubricant brands - Eni, POWEROIL and ARKOS Founded in 1958, APAR Industries Limited is a diversified billion-dollar conglomerate with a strong presence in over 140 countries. As the largest aluminium and alloy conductor manufacturer and the 3rd largest transformer oil manufacturer, the company enjoys a leadership position in the global markets. APAR also offers over 350 grades of speciality oils, the largest range of speciality cables, lubricants, speciality automotive and polymers. Backed by innovative products and seamless service the company has become a trusted brand among major transformer OEMs, power utilities, EPC majors, automotive OEMs and telecommunication companies globally. The company is poised to continuously develop new products and solutions for its customers, equipped with technologically advanced R&D centres, 8 manufacturing locations in India and 1 in Sharjah (UAE), to deliver tomorrow's solutions today. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 13 (ANI/PNN): In a big step towards scaling up the fight against diabetes, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), South East Asia, launched the Beat Prediabetes initiative for India in Mumbai on Friday on the eve of 75 years of Indian independence. Prediabetes is a serious health condition where blood sugar levels are higher than usual but not high enough yet to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB), one of the largest community-based epidemiological studies encompassing 15 Indian states, the overall prevalence of prediabetes is 10.3 per cent. It can lead to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Recent evidence suggests that eye, kidney, and nerve complications may also occur at the pre-diabetic stage. Prediabetes is also a severe health hazard because it is an asymptomatic condition; hence, most people do not realise they have it. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Releases E-Books of Saraswathi Rajamani The Forgotten Spy to Commemorate 75-Years of Independence Day. Preventing prediabetes is the key to controlling Type 2 diabetes, which is one of the leading causes of death globally. In India, almost 7.7crore people have been formally diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, and experts say it can become the next pandemic if not controlled. To bring forth the need for greater awareness on its management and a call for early action, Dr Shashank Joshi, Chair of IDF South East Asia, said, "Acting Early at Prediabetes or "early Diabetes" is important to win the war against type 2 diabetes. With Lifestyle modification and approved medications in high-risk individuals, Prediabetes provides an opportunity to prevent the progression or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Also Read | Delhi: Chinese Manjha Slits Throat of a 34-Year-Old Man on His Way To Celebrate Rakhi; Dies. The logo of prediabetes was unveiled at the event by Dr Joshi in the presence of Prof Andrew Boulton, President, IDF and the Presidents of Diabetes Organisations in India; Prof Vasanth Kumar, President RSSDI, Prof Anil Bhoraskar, President, Diabetes Association of India, Dr Banshi Saboo of Diabetes India and Dr A K Das of Indian Academy of Diabetes. The symbolic communication of the logo is that prediabetes provides a window of opportunity for preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 Diabetes and its complications. "The launch of the logo is to make more people aware of prediabetes and to start looking at it as a preventable condition. We are confident that the launch of the initiative will lead to greater awareness about prediabetes and help more people successfully reverse it. We also call upon the medical fraternity to join hands with us in the fight to beat diabetes by beating prediabetes," said Prof. Andrew Boulton, President of IDF. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of over 230 national diabetes associations in 170 countries and territories. It represents the interests of the growing number of people with diabetes and those at risk. The IDF South-East Asia (SEA) Region comprises seven countries, viz. India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan and the Maldives and represents 11 diabetes organizations. It is estimated that 90 million adults in the age group of 20 to 79 are living with diabetes in South East Asia. 46 million adults living with diabetes in IDF SEA Region are undiagnosed, while 47 million adults have Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT), which places them at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN) (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, Aug 13 (PTI) Eleven Opposition parties, including the Congress, on Saturday resolved to fight against what they called the misuse of electronic voting machines, money power and the media by the BJP-led government at the Centre, claiming it poses the "gravest challenge" to democracy in India. The 11 parties are the Congress, CPIM, SP, BSP, CPI, NCP, TRS, RJD, RLD, Welfare Party and the Swaraj India. Also Read | Maharashtra Shocker: Third Gender Person Raped by 2 Men in Jalna. Three resolutions were passed at a conference attended by these parties here. At the conference, they discussed and deliberated at length the challenge of 3Ms -- machine, money and media -- faced by India's electoral democracy and unanimously passed the resolutions on them. Also Read | Independence Day 2022: President Droupadi Murmu To Address the Nation on Eve of I-Day. The first resolution was on EVM and VVPAT counting in which they said that it is recognised that purely EVM-based voting and counting does not comply with "democracy principles" which require that each voter should be able to verify that his or her vote is cast-as-intended; recorded-as-cast and counted-as-recorded. They claimed electronic voting machines (EVMs) cannot be assumed to be tamper-proof. "The voting process should be redesigned to be software and hardware independent in order to be verifiable or auditable. The VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) system should be re-designed to be fully voter-verified. A voter should be able to get the VVPAT slip and cast it in a chip-free ballot box for the vote to be valid and counted, the resolution stated. In the second resolution, the parties stated how massive money power and the criminal muscle-power created thereof is destroying the very integrity of India's elections. "Candidates expenses have a ceiling but political party spending does not have any ceiling The fast-rising economic oligarchy in the country threatening India as a welfare state is the direct fallout of this extreme criminal and money power in elections which is the fountainhead of all corruption in the country, they said. The parties claimed that the government, using the Money Bill route to bypass Rajya Sabha, introduced the electoral bond scheme that has increased opaqueness and consolidated the role of big money in electoral politics. The electoral bond scheme in its current form must be immediately discontinued. The third resolution was on how India's mediascape has undergone a major transformation with the exponential growth in the use of the internet across the world and also in India. "Unfortunately, communication technologies and media platforms are creating polarization through the circulation of disinformation and hate- filled text posts and tweets. Despite guidelines and codes, ECI (Election Commission of India) has not seemed to be taking cognizance of the many violations in the past elections. ECI failed to curb fake news online before and during these elections, the resolution said. "Procrastination, silence, and inaction characterised ECI's responses even to serious violations of Model Code of Conduct and media code. We urge the ECI to take strong and effective actions against the offenders whosoever they may be, according to the resolution. All 11 political parties extended their support to the resolutions. Congress leader Digvijay Singh said he did not trust EVMs as people couldn't be sure where their vote went and due to electoral bonds, people did not know where money was going and by unchecked use of money, the BJP was controlling the media and in fact even funding the spread of fake news. He alleged that in many states the BJP was using money power and various agencies, including Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the income tax department, to lure legislators and make governments fall and install its own. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said electoral bonds were smuggled in through the Money Bill route. He said despite multiple legal challenges to it, including one that he filed, the Supreme Court had not decided the matter even though more than three years had passed. He said the time has come for all political parties to join hands and start a Jan Andolan (mass movement) to save democracy. Singh was quoted in a statement as saying that the way the Election Commission is functioning it has become like the Executive Council rather than an independent constitutional body. CPI leader D Raja said the CPI was in full agreement with the resolutions and had in fact adopted similar resolutions at their recent national party congress. RLD leader Mairajuddin Ahmed said the role of big money and criminalisation of politics have completely skewed the electoral field. He said today there is open misuse of even bureaucracy. "Selling tickets for money, using criminal elements to intimidate voters is well known and documented and needs to be countered. Such conclaves should be organised at every district in the country, he said. NCP leader Jitendra Awad said the fight to save democracy has to be on the streets. "EVMs can be manipulated everyone knows - but where will you go for justice? The Supreme Court, the institutions are all compromised. Therefore we have to go to the court of people. Everyone saw how the BJP brought down the Maharashtra government by buying so many MLAs that they stole the whole party itself, but how do we raise a voice when no one is listening. We have to fight much more strongly and take everything to people. He said fascism is at its peak, according to the statement. TRS leader Suresh Reddy, BSP leader Danish Ali, Ghanshyam Tiwari of the SP, Ilyas of the Welfare Party and Yogendra Yadav of the Swaraj India supported the resolutions. Civil rights activist Aruna Roy spoke on how the issues emerging from the conference can be taken forward. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], August 13 (ANI): The alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Mohd Nadeem, who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police on Friday, was in touch with Pakistani operatives since 2018 who intended to use him for carrying out attacks at several locations in the state. According to Additional Director General (ADG) Prashant Kumar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist apprehended from Saharanpur district planned to carry out terrorist acts at numerous locations in Uttar Pradesh. Also Read | Delhi Gymkhana Club Members 'Shocked' & 'Disturbed' Over Centre's Nominated Committee GC Resolution. The arrest came just days before the Independence Day. "The ATS nabbed Mohd Nadeem from Saharanpur who had links with JeM. He was planning to conduct terrorist activities in many places in UP. He was connected with Pakistani handlers via online platforms," ADG Kumar said. Also Read | SSC Recruitment 2022: Registration Process Begins for Junior Engineer Posts At ssc.nic.in; Here's How to Apply. The ADG added that Nadeem first got in touch with a JeM member in Pakistan in 2018. "It was in 2018 that he came into online contact with Hakimullah, a member of JeM in Pakistan, who introduced him to another member, Saifullah. He created virtual IDs from India and sent them to Pak handlers so he may hide his digital footprint," Kumar claimed. "Saifullah gave him a manual to make IEDs. He was also trained for lone-wolf attacks by knife. Nadeem identified targets for the same. He was in contact with several handlers on the Pak-Afghan border, they encouraged him to conduct anti-India activities here," he said. During interrogation, Nadeem said that he has been in touch with various terrorists of Jaish-e-Muhammad and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan since 2018 via WhatsApp, Telegram, IMO, Facebook Messenger, Club House etc. He has got training in creating virtual phone numbers from terror organisations. A Pakistani named Saifullah was training him to carry out a 'Fidayeen' attack on government buildings or police forces. Nadeem was asked to travel to Pakistan for special training. The Anti Terrorist squad of UP Police had earlier claimed that the arrested terrorist had plans to kill suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her alleged remarks on Prophet, which erupted in a huge controversy and violence all across the nation. (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/Khajuraho, Aug 13 (PTI) The tricolour will be unfurled at 130 archaeological sites in the country under the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign, Union minister G Kishan Reddy said on Saturday. Also Read | 'ATF Price Fall Would Benefit Aviation Sector', Says Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Also Read | India's First Digital Lok Adalat Registers Over 69 Lakh Cases Across Rajasthan, Maharashtra. He was in Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district to participate in a Tiranga Yatra and other events. "The tricolour will be unfurled at 130 archaeological sites across the country including Khajuraho," said the Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Development of the North Eastern Region. Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign being held under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav from August 13 to 15 to encourage people to bring the tricolour home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. Reddy said concerted efforts will be made for the development of Khajuraho, a major tourist attraction. Speaking at a seminar, the Union minister said India is a rising economy which is projected to reach USD 5 trillion by 2025. "India is the country where the highest amount of foodgrain was distributed free during the coronavirus-induced pandemic," he said. MP BJP president VD Sharma and several other leaders participated in these programmes. Reddy also inaugurated various facilities for tourists and pilgrims developed at Khajuraho's group of ancient temples in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Indian Oil Corporation. These facilities will provide modern amenities for tourists which will help boost tourism, 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) Saran, August 13: A total of five people have died in Bhualpur village in Bihar's Saran district in suspicious circumstances and it is suspected that they had consumed spurious liquor, an official said on Saturday. "It is being said that these persons died after consuming alcohol however it is not yet confirmed if they actually drank it," Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Marhaura Saran, Yogendra Kumar said on Saturday. The incident took place on August 11. According to the SDM, three people were admitted to the hospital as they were reported sick, while the bodies of two among the five deceased were sent for postmortem at the Saran hospital. The deceased have been identified as Allauddin Khan, Kameshwar Mahato, Rohit Kumar Singh, Rajendra Ram, and Ram Laik Mahato. Bihar Hooch Tragedy: Eleven Die, 12 Fall Ill After Consuming Spurious Liquor in Saran; Five Held, SHO Suspended. Around 10-12 people were arrested on Friday night after the police personnel raided the premises of the Marhaura area. Earlier on August 5, eight people were reported died and several others fell ill after consuming spurious liquor in Chhapra in the Saran district. People fell critically ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor and lost their eyesight. The incident was reported from Bhatha village under the Maker police station area in Saran. Following the incident, the Saran District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police met the victims at Sadar hospital. The officials also collected information from the villagers and the families as part of their investigation. Saran DM said that victims were being treated at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and a team of doctors and paramedical staff had been dispatched to the village to ascertain the cause of deaths. The superintendent of the hospital Dr I S Thakur had said that the villagers were tested through a breath analyzer and at least 35 others were sent to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Despite a liquor ban in the state since April 2016, several such incidents have been reported in the past. Earlier on August 2, two people died after consuming spurious liquor at Panapur police station. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): The Central government has reinstated controversial IAS officer Shah Faesal and appointed him as Deputy Secretary in the Tourism Ministry. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in its order issued two days ago appointed Faesal in the Union Tourism Ministry, a senior DoPT official told ANI. Also Read | VLC Media Player Banned by Indian Govt; Website And VLC Download Link Blocked in India. The Centre's move comes four months after it accepted Faesal's application for withdrawing his resignation and reinstated him in the service in April. Faesal, a 2010 batch IAS topper of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre, now AGMUT, had resigned from the services in January 2019 and joined politics, which he later quit in August 2020. Also Read | Bengaluru Shocker: Karnataka Police Launch Manhunt To Nab Tamil Nadu Industrialist Who Raped Techie at Luxury Hotel Room On Pretext of Business Meeting. Faesal floated the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM) party soon after submitting his resignation. He was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act immediately after the abrogation of special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, after his release, the doctor-turned-bureaucrat gave up politics and started dropping hints of his willingness to rejoin government service. His resignation had not been accepted. On 27 April, Faesal, taking to Twitter, expressed that his idealism had let him down. "8 months of my life (Jan 2019-Aug 2019) created so much baggage that I was almost finished. While chasing a chimera, I lost almost everything that I had built over the years. Job. Friends. Reputation. Public goodwill. But I never lost hope. My idealism had let me down," he had tweeted. The eight months he mentioned in his tweet was the period after his resignation, which he spent launching his party. Faesal is the first UPSC topper from Jammu and Kashmir. He came into the limelight for the first time after topping the Civil Service Exam. (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, Aug 13 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday asked the Congress to "reprimand" its Karnataka leader Priyank Kharge for his "demeaning" remarks suggesting that women in the state have to give sexual favours for getting jobs. If a woman from Karnataka wants a job, she will have to get on to the couch and men can land a job only by paying a bribe, Kharge, the son of Congress stalwart Mallikarjun Kharge, had alleged hitting out at the BJP dispensation in Karnataka. Also Read | UPSC Recruitment 2022: Vacancies Notified For Deputy Director And Other Posts At upsconline.nic.in; Check Details Here. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed Priyank Kharge for the "absolutely appalling statement demeaning to women". The National Commission for Women should question him, he said. Also Read | Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Releases E-Books of Saraswathi Rajamani The Forgotten Spy to Commemorate 75-Years of Independence Day. Noting that the Congress is headed by a woman leader, he said Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should reprimand him for making such an "abhorrent" remark. The BJP government in Karnataka has become a "Lancha-Mancha Sarkara" (bribe and couch government), Kharge, a former state minister, had said in Kannada at a press conference on Friday. He was referring to Ramesh Jarkiholi's resignation as Water Resources Minister over his alleged involvement in a sex-for-job scandal. Another BJP MLA K S Eshwarappresigned as minister after a civil contractor died by suicide alleging that the former had demanded 40 per cent commission for execution of public work. In this government, you have to shell out money to get a government job. In the past, two ministers of this government have resigned, Kharge said. The state BJP also hit back at Kharge, saying he should first look inside his party. The stories of the colourful nightlife of the Congress leaders are not mere hearsay. There are many secret CDs available, it tweeted. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. New Delhi [India] August 13 (ANI): Delhi Police on Saturday, apprehended a 17-year-old boy, who in his attempt to emulate a character in a Bollywood flick become involved in theft and snatchings, police said. According to police officials, they had received multiple complaints of theft and snatching from Karol Bagh and adjoining areas. Teams of policemen began to look into these cases which, they claimed, were solved with the arrest of the juvenile. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. "With the apprehension of one juvenile involved in theft, auto lifting and snatching, aged 17 years, the staff of Police Station Karol Bagh, Central Distt has worked out 12 cases of auto theft and snatching and recovered 6 Scooties and one mobile phone," said Shweta Chauhan, District Commission of Police (DCP). The police started searching and tracing the accused person with the help of CCTVs. The team searched and analysed around 200 CCTV Cameras of the Central district, where the continuous incident of auto theft and snatching were reported. After analysing the CCTV Cameras it was found that a young boy aged about 17-19 years is involved in said incidents. Also Read | Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai Takes Part in 'Har Ghar Tiranga' Event in Pune, Hails PM Narendra Modi. Most of the incidents appeared to occur between 4 to 6 AM (early morning). Therefore, the said team in civil clothes laid the trap on 12 continuous nights in the area to apprehend the offender. Thereafter, various local and human bases intelligence was developed by the dedicated teams," said DCP Chauhan. On August 12, the police succeeded in apprehending the accused. The accused was trapped while he was trying to flee on a stolen Scooty from the area. The offender was apprehended, and a stolen mobile phone was also recovered from his possession. The accused's interrogation revealed that he wanted to be a super thief as shown a Bollywood flick. "A Total 6 Scooties and one stolen mobile phone were recovered and total '12 Cases' of Police Station Karol Bagh and Police Station Anand Parbat have worked out. During counselling and interrogation, he apprised that he wants to become a "Super-chor" like Bunty, as he was inspired by the Bollywood movie - Oye Lucky - Lucky Oye," informed Shweta Chauhan. (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, Aug 13 (PTI) A 38-year-old man wanted in the Jahangirpuri violence case was arrested in northwest Delhi on Saturday, police said. Sheikh Sikandar, a resident of Jahangirpuri, was absconding since the violence in April and a cash reward of Rs 25,000 was declared on his arrest, a police official said. Also Read | 150 Jawans of Railway Protection Force Completed a Motorcycle Journey of One Lakh Km by Latest Tweet by DD News. Police on Saturday got information about the presence of a person in the Jahangirpuri area who is suspected to be involved in the violence. A trap was laid and Sikander was nabbed, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said. Sikandar is also named in a murder case registered at the Jahangirpuri police station earlier, the DCP said. Also Read | Bihar Cabinet Expansion: Congress Likely To Hold Meeting With CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on August 16. Clashes broke out between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in Jahangirpuri in the national capital on April 16, leaving eight police personnel and a local injured. According to the police, there was pelting of stones and arson during the clashes and some vehicles were also torched. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Amethi (UP), Aug 13 (PTI) Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said India was locked behind bars of Emergency by "some people for their selfishness" and everyone needs to remember this. She said this during an address at the Manishi Mahila Mahavidyalaya here while on a visit to her parliamentary constituency. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. "We remember the day when ordinary India was put behind bars of Emergency, therefore we all need to be alert. "It is time for everyone to remember that some people had divided the country for their own selfishness. There could not have been a more unfortunate time, such people wanted that India should always remain under the British and if it does not remain under the British, then India should remain weak," Irani claimed. Also Read | Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai Takes Part in 'Har Ghar Tiranga' Event in Pune, Hails PM Narendra Modi. She also said every citizen of the country should have the right to hoist the tricolour at his or her home. Every son of the country is no less than Bhagat Singh and every daughter no less than Rani Laxmibai on the subject of respecting and protecting the tricolour, she said. Irani also offered floral tributes at a statue of B R Ambedkar and flagged off a motorcycle tricolour yatra from Ramlila Maidan and joined it by driving a scooty. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, Aug 13 (PTI) Four men were arrested for allegedly looting gold from a man who landed in Mumbai from Dubai by posing as police personnel, an official said on Saturday. Also Read | Assam Shocker: Woman Gang-Raped by 4 Men Including 3 Minors in Morigaon Outskirts; 1 Arrested. The incident occurred on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road last month when Ashaq Jidda was headed towards Meera Road in an auto rickshaw after landing from Dubai, the police official said. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. Three men came on two motorcycles and stopped the auto rickshaw claiming they are police officials. Under the guise of checking, they took away 400-gram gold from Jidda. They asked him to come to a police station but fled the spot, the official said. The victim narrated the incident to his colleague and lodged a First Information Report. Police tracked down three accused with the help of CCTV grabs and arrested them from Navi Mumbai and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). Another accused, believed to be the mastermind of the crime, was nabbed from Bhatkal in Karnataka. They are arrested as Sadiq Ali Sayyad (45), Kaleem Shaikh (25), Irfan Shaikh (39), and Khalil Shah (29). Police recovered 300 grams of stolen gold worth Rs 15 lakh from their possession. Further investigation is underway, the official added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bengaluru, Aug 13 (PTI) As the debate over freebies heat up, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the aim of the Modi government is to empower everyone through saturation of the existing welfare schemes as every Indian citizen deserves access to basic facilities. "Every Indian citizen deserves to have access to basic facilities without getting beholden to anybody. Our approach is one of empowerment through saturation of existing schemes rather than that of entitlement," she said at an event here. Also Read | India's First Digital Lok Adalat Registers Over 69 Lakh Cases Across Rajasthan, Maharashtra. Saturation of the welfare scheme means that all entitled beneficiaries get the facilities. "If you have reached all of them who are eligible for something then you have achieved saturation...there have been so many attempts to make the lives of the poor better in the last 75 years," she said at the release of the 100th edition of Economic Newsletter of BJP Karnataka here. Also Read | Maharashtra Shocker: Third Gender Person Raped by 2 Men in Jalna. "The difference between all the garibi hataos (slogans) of the world and now...the approach to development that Prime Minister Narendra Modi employs, even as he brings in schemes that benefit the needy people, is by the principle of saturation so that they cover everybody eligible," she said. Garibi Hatao was the slogan of the Congress under the leadership of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the 1971 election campaign. The Finance Minister's statement assumes significance as political parties are sparring over freebies. The opposition parties led by AAP called for a referendum on spending taxpayers' money on healthcare and education. Earlier this week, Sitharaman attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for giving a "perverse twist" to the debate on freebies, saying the AAP leader putting education and health in that category is an attempt to create fear in the minds of the poor. "No Indian government has ever denied them since Independence. So, classifying education and health as freebies, Kejriwal is trying to bring in a sense of worry and fear in the minds of the poor," she had said. Joining the debate DMK leader and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday said that expenditure incurred by the government on education and healthcare cannot be construed as freebies. In an apparent reference to Modi, Stalin said, "some people have now newly emerged with the advice there should be no freebies. We are not bothered about that. If I talk more, it will become politics. So I don't want to talk more about this." The Prime Minister has in recent days hit out at the competitive populism of extending 'rewaris' (freebies) which are not just a wastage of taxpayers' money but also an economic disaster that could hamper India's drive to become atmanirbhar (self-reliant). His comments were seen directed at parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which have in the run-up to the assembly elections in states like Punjab and more recently Gujarat promised free electricity and water, among others. Sitharaman also pointed out that the government is ensuring that those who've cheated the banks and have gone away are being pursued relentlessly, that their properties are auctioned and money is given back to the banks in a continuous manner. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence kicked off today. The campaign initiated as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,' to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of independence will run till August 15. Also Read | Independence Day 2022: Delhi Police Deploy Measures To Prevent Kites, Drones, Other Objects Near Red Fort Area. The Central government has urged people to hoist or display the tricolour in their homes from August 13 to 15 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence. A citizen, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist or display the National Flag on all days and occasions. There is no restriction on the timing of flag display. Also Read | Haryana Horror: Man Suffocates His One-Year-Old Baby With Pillow in Faridabad. The government has amended the Flag Code of India to allow the tricolour to be displayed in the open and on individual houses or buildings day and night. The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December last year allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about the tricolour. Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark Supreme Court judgement of January 23, 2004, that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and PM Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, Naveen Jindal has urged every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens of the country to use 'tiranga' as their profile picture on social media accounts between August 2 and August 15. On Wednesday, PM Modi said the Indian national flag does not contain only three colours in itself but is a reflection of the pride of our past, our commitment to the present and our dreams of the future. Addressing a Tiranga Rally in Surat via video conferencing, PM Modi recalled that in a few days' time, India is completing 75 years of its independence and said that all of us are preparing for this historic Independence Day as the Tricolour is hoisted in every corner of the country. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that the Tiranga Yatras being held across the country are a reflection of the power and devotion of the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan. "From August 13 to 15, the Tricolour will be hoisted in every house of India. People from every section of society, every caste and creed are spontaneously joining with only one identity. This is the identity of the conscientious citizen of India," he 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) Shimla, Aug 13 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh Assembly approved a bill on Saturday to make the state's 2019 anti-conversion law more stringent by forbidding a convert from availing ''any benefit" of parents' religion or caste and enhancing the maximum punishment to 10 years imprisonment. Passed by a voice vote, the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2022, also bans "mass conversion" - described as two or more people converting at the same time - through force or allurement . Also Read | Bihar Cabinet Expansion: Congress Likely To Hold Meeting With CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on August 16. The bill proposes to increase the punishment for illegal conversions to a maximum of 10 years from seven years. The BJP government introduced the bill on Friday for amending the Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2019, which came into force barely 18 months ago. Also Read | UPSC Recruitment 2022: Vacancies Notified For Deputy Director And Other Posts At upsconline.nic.in; Check Details Here. Objecting to certain provisions, Congress legislator Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and CPI (M) legislator Rakesh Singha demanded that the bill be sent to a select committee for examination. The bill will become law after the assent of the governor. Congress legislator Sukhu had reservations about the provisions that barred a convert from taking any benefit of his parent religion or caste, but the government insisted that it is in line with the Constitution. The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, says no person who professes a religion different from Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. The Congress legislator from Kinnaur, Jagat Singh Negi, said that even if the government makes the Act stringent, the conversion "will not stop until the mentality is changed. He claimed that depriving scheduled castes who convert to other religions of the benefit of reservation was against the spirit of the Constitution. CPI (M) legislator Rakesh Singha also demanded that the bill be referred to a select committee as the matter is under judicial scrutiny. Replying to the objections, Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Bhardwaj said that the rights of the tribal people will not change. He said under the bill, a self-declaration is required that the converted person will not take any benefit of his parents' religion. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur stated that followers of some religions are focussing on tribal areas of the hill state to convert Scheduled Castes and his party was more conscious than others about protecting the rights of the SC community, The 2019 anti-conversion bill was notified only on December 21, 2020, 15 months after it was passed in the state assembly. It had replaced the 2006 law brought by the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government. The words and to the effect that he shall not take any benefit of his parent religion or caste after conversion" have been inserted after the words "fraudulent means"in section 7 (1) of the Principal Act. It stipulates that the complaints made under the Act will be investigated by a police officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector. The offences will now be tried by a sessions court. The bill seeks to amend sections 2,4,7 and 13 and insert section 8A in the 2019 Act. The maximum punishment under the bill is 10 years, up from seven in the 2019 Act and three in the old Himachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2006. The current law says no person or organisation violating its provisions will be allowed to accept a donation or contribution of any kind from within or outside the country. The ruling BJP has been a vocal supporter of anti-conversion laws and many party-ruled states have introduced similar measures. The 2019 Act prohibits conversion by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement, marriage or any fraudulent means. Any marriage for the sole purpose of conversion is declared "null and void"under Section 5 of the Act. This and many other provisions remain unchanged in the proposed amendment to the law, introduced in the House just months before the state goes to the polls. The Himachal Pradesh law requires that anyone seeking to convert will give a month's notice to the district magistrate that they are changing their religion on their own. The provision in the 2019 Act figured in the 2006 law as well and was challenged in court. The priest who performs a conversion ceremony will also give a month's notice. Those reconverting to their parent religion are exempted from this provision. Chief Minister Thakur had said the 2019 Act did not have a provision to curb mass conversion. "Therefore, a provision to this effect is being made. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Jaipur, Aug 13 (PTI) Rajasthan Art and Culture Minister BD Kalla on Saturday urged the Central government to implement the recommendations of Sanskrit Commission set up by the United Progressive Alliance government. He was addressing a programme at Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy here. Also Read | Maharashtra Govt Clears Ex-NCB Chief Sameer Wankhede of Fake Caste Certificate Charge. "Vedas are science, not books and the world can be benefited by the use of the knowledge contained in it," the minister said. He described the Vedas as an invaluable heritage of world literature, adding, "The welfare of the world can be achieved by using the knowledge contained in it. The Veda is not a book, it is a science." Also Read | Passenger From Bangkok Held at Chennai Airport With Live Animals, Including a Monkey, Pythons and King Snakes (Watch Video). Kalla said Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, presents one of the greatest examples of secularism. "The Sanskrit language is the lifeblood of Indian culture. The Centre should implement the recommendations of the Sanskrit Commission set up by the Manmohan Singh government," 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) Bikaner (Rajasthan) [India], August 13 (ANI): The fourth edition of the India, Oman joint military exercise 'Al Najah', which included professional interaction and establishment of joint command and control structures has concluded. The 13-day long joint drill was conducted at Mahajan Field Firing Range in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in which 60 personnel from the Sultan of Oman Parachute Regiment and troops from the 18 Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Indian Army participated. The exercise began on August 1. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. "The 4th Edition of India-Oman joint military Exercise ExAlNajah culminated after an intense Validation Exercise. This resulted in better understanding and enhancing inter-operability between both Armies," Indian Army said in a tweet. An Army official said that the exercise provided an ideal platform for the two armies to share their experiences. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Police in Action After CM Yogi Adityanath, PIL Activist Devendra Tiwari Receive Death Threat. "The exercise provided an ideal platform for the personnel of both the armies to share their experiences and develop a mutual understanding of each other's approach towards modern-day challenges of terrorism and regional security," said Brigadier Jitesh said. The scope of the exercise included professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills and procedures, the establishment of joint command and control structures and the elimination of terrorist threats. The joint exercise focused on counter-terrorism operations, regional security operations and peacekeeping operations under the United Nations charter apart from organising joint physical training schedules, tactical drills, techniques and procedures. A comprehensive training programme to culminate in a 48-hour-long validation exercise involving the establishment of joint mobile vehicle check posts, joint cordon and search operations followed by joint room intervention drills in a built-up area was worked out during the drills. The previous edition of Ex AL NAJAH IV was organised at Muscat between 12 and 25 March- 2019. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Srinagar, Aug 13 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Saturday launched 75 homestays in rural areas to commemorate the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' in the 75th year of Independence. These homestays are owned by self-help group members of Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission (JKRLM) in partnership with OYO Group under project 'Crown of Incredible India'. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. The Lt Governor said the country's leading travel tech company OYO Group in collaboration with JKRLM would build 200 more homestays by December 2022 to boost rural livelihood in Jammu Kashmir. He said in a short span of time, self-help groups have emerged as a powerful tool for women empowerment and socio-economic transformation in Jammu Kashmir. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Police in Action After CM Yogi Adityanath, PIL Activist Devendra Tiwari Receive Death Threat. Under the banner of UMEED programme, JKRLM is empowering the rural women entrepreneurs. The Mission is also providing national market to the local products. The launch of these homestays will prove to be a milestone in the pursuit of social equality, social justice and social security, he added. The partnership with OYO and the launch of the Tourist Village Network, in which 'Mission Youth' has selected 75 such villages under both the Jammu, and Kashmir divisions, known for their unique landscape, cultural diversity and heritage value will go a long way in expanding the tourism ecosystem to rural areas of the Union Territory, Sinha said. The homestays have all basic room amenities, great views, and provide an opportunity for travellers to experience beautiful rural landscapes and nature in its truest form, a statement said. Identified on the parameters of scenic beauty, landscape, cultural diversity and heritage, the 75 homestays are located at Udhampur, Poonch, Doda, Kathua and Kishtwar districts of Jammu and Anantnag, Baramulla, Bandipora and Srinagar districts of Kashmir valley. Commenting on the developments, Founder of OYO, Ritesh Agarwal, said the company was honoured to be a part of the Crown of Incredible India'' project which was inaugurated by the Lt Governor in February. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) By Trend The Ministry of Agriculture appealed to farmers in connection with signing the contracts to stimulate grain production in accordance with the decree of the head of the state dated 19 July 2022 'On a number of measures to increase the level of self-sufficiency in food wheat', Trend reports. In connection with the resolution of issues arising from the decree, the identification of potential farms capable of producing food wheat has begun. The heads of farms with an area of more than 50 hectares, where irrigation systems of the pivot type are installed or are planned to be installed, can contact the ministry to conclude a contract. Those wishing to join this program, provided they meet the necessary requirements, must fill out the appropriate questionnaire and send it to the email address [email protected] Contact: consultant of the Department of land use control of the Ministry of Agriculture Sima Mammadova. Email: [email protected] Phone: (077) 299 23 63 Palghar, August 13: A 65-year-old man from Jawhar in Palghar district of Maharashtra fell from the roof of his house while trying to hoist the tricolour on Saturday and died during treatment, police said. Police said Laxman Shinde, a resident of Rajewadi in Jawhar, fell from the roof of his house at 8 AM while trying to hoist the national flag under the special three-day campaign, the police said. Har Ghar Tiranga: National Flags Are Being Made From Khadi in Mumbai As Demand for Flags Increases (See Pics). He sustained serious injuries after the fall and was rushed to a hospital in Jawhar. He was later shifted to a hospital at Nashik where he succumbed to his injuries, the police said. A case of accidental death was registered. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bhopal, Aug 13 (PTI) The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,52,071 on Saturday with the detection of 85 cases, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,763, a health official said. Also Read | 'ATF Price Fall Would Benefit Aviation Sector', Says Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, was 2.8 per cent, he added. Also Read | India's First Digital Lok Adalat Registers Over 69 Lakh Cases Across Rajasthan, Maharashtra. The recovery count increased by 236 to touch 10,40,356, leaving the state with 952 active cases, the official informed. With 2,967 samples examined during the day, the number of coronavirus tests in MP went up to 2,98,03,399, he added. A government release said 12,66,62,922 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 67,433 on Saturday. Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 10,52,071 , new cases 85, death toll 10,763, recoveries 10,40,356, active cases 952 number of tests so far 2,98,03,399. (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, Aug 13 (PTI) The number of ministerial berths the Congress would get in Bihar's 'Mahagathbandhan' government has been decided after talks with alliance partners and the oath-taking is likely to take place on August 16, AICC Bihar in-charge Bhakta Charan Das said on Saturday. He, however, refused to divulge the number of ministerial berths the Congress would be getting and said it would be "respectable" and according to the party's strength in the House. Also Read | Passenger From Bangkok Held at Chennai Airport With Live Animals, Including a Monkey, Pythons and King Snakes. Asked about the number of ministerial berths, Das told PTI, "It has been finalised. The numbers would be as per our strength in the House. We have not yet finalized the names." "We are a big party and many have joined us. Keeping in mind everything, it (the number) will be respectable," he said. Also Read | Har Ghar Tiranga: PM Narendra Modi Urges People To Share Photos With Tiranga To Mark Independence Day 2022 Celebrations. Asked about when the Bihar Cabinet expansion would take place, he said the oath-taking is likely to happen on August 16. He also said he spoke with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and would meet him in Patna also if the need arises. The Congress leader asserted that "major exercise" for finalising ministerial berths has been completed. Das had met Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad here on Friday for the first time after the formation of the new government in Bihar and held discussions with him. He had said Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday and had a discussion with her on the cabinet expansion. Earlier, Congress sources had indicated that the party was likely to get four ministerial berths in the new government in Bihar. The cabinet, which at present comprises only Chief Minister Kumar and Yadav as his deputy, is due for expansion early next week. Kumar and Yadav had taken oath on Wednesday, a day after the JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD, the Congress and some other parties to form the Mahagathbandhan' government. (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, August 13: President Droupadi Murmu will deliver her maiden address to the nation on Sunday on the eve of the 76th Independence Day, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement. The president's address will be broadcast from 7 PM on the entire national network of All India Radio (AIR) and telecast over all channels of Doordarshan in Hindi followed by the English version. Happy Independence Day 2022 Greetings and Tiranga Profile Pictures: Send Patriotic Wishes, WhatsApp Messages, Telegram Quotes & SMS on the National Festival of India. "Broadcast of the address in Hindi and English on Doordarshan will be followed by broadcast in regional languages by regional channels of Doordarshan. AIR will broadcast regional language versions at 9.30 PM on its respective regional networks," the statement said. Murmu, 64, a Santhal tribal hailing from Odisha, took oath as the 15th president on July 25. She is the youngest and first tribal to hold the top constitutional post. She is the first president to be born after independence. Watch Live Streaming: (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Gujarat government on a plea filed by self-styled godman Asaram Bapu seeking bail on the ground that he is above 80 years of age and his deteriorating health. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar sought a response from the State of Gujarat and posted the case for hearing on September 7. Also Read | VLC Media Player Banned by Indian Govt; Website And VLC Download Link Blocked in India. "Issue notice returnable on 7th September 2022," the bench stated in its order passed on August 10. Asaram is facing charges of rape and illegal confinement after one of his former devotees from Gujarat accused him of sexual exploitation. Also Read | Bengaluru Shocker: Karnataka Police Launch Manhunt To Nab Tamil Nadu Industrialist Who Raped Techie at Luxury Hotel Room On Pretext of Business Meeting. In her complaint, she had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assault between 2001 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram in Motera, Ahmedabad. Asaram filed an appeal in the apex court against Gujarat High Court's December 10, 2021 order rejecting his bail plea in the rape case. He sought bail contending there is no sign of the trial reaching conclusion.In 2018, Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Rajasthan for raping a minor at his ashram. Two Surat-based sisters, who lived in Asaram's ashram in the Motera area of Ahmedabad between 1997 and 2006, lodged had separate complaints against him and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement, among other charges. A Surat court on April 26, 2019, convicted Narayan Sai under the Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 323 (assault), 506-2 (criminal intimidation), and 120-B (conspiracy) and sentenced him to life imprisonment. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Chennai, Aug 13 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government has flagged its concern over the proposal of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to construct reservoirs across Kosasthalaiyar river, saying it would affect Chennai's drinking water prospects. Also Read | Maulana Shahbuddin Razvi of Tanzeem Ul Ulema Islam #Bariely Has Contradicted #AIMIM Latest Tweet by IANS India. In a letter to his Andhra counterpart Jagan Mohan Reddy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said, "it is learnt" that the government of Andhra Pradesh has approved the construction of two reservoirs across the river, near Mukkalakandigai and Katharapalli villages in Chittoor district. Also Read | Bihar Cabinet Expansion: Congress Likely To Hold Meeting With CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on August 16. "This step has caused great anguish among the people living in areas in and around Chennai, who depend on the river for drinking water and to a small extent for irrigation," he said. The letter was released to the media on Saturday. The Kosasthalaiyar river basin and the river were inter-State in nature. The river basin covers a total area of 3,727 sq km of which 877 sq km lies in Andhra Pradesh and the rest in Tamil Nadu. The Poondi reservoir in the State was constructed across the river, which is a vital source of drinking water supply to the Chennai Metropolitan Area. "Any such construction of new reservoirs across the river, its tributaries or sub-tributaries will affect the inflows into Poondi reservoir. This will seriously affect the drinking water supply to Chennai city and the water supply in the upper reaches. In addition, it will also impact irrigation in that area, thereby affecting the livelihood of the farmers." "Being an inter-State river, the upper riparian State cannot plan or give approval or construct any new structure across Kosasthalaiyar without the consent of the lower riparian State. Hence, it is disappointing that such a step has been taken, which will have a significant adverse impact on our State, especially on Chennai and its northern suburbs," Stalin told Reddy in the letter. He 'strongly' urged the Andhra Chief Minister to instruct the authorities concerned not to go ahead with the above project and also not to take up any new ones in the Kosasthalaiyar river basin area in Andhra Pradesh. "Considering the sensitivity of the issue, I request your immediate personal intervention," Stalin added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India], August 13 (ANI): The Uttarakhand Police on Saturday informed that District Panchayat member Hakam Singh Rawat has been detained by the special task force (STF) in the Uttarakhand Subordinate Selection Commission (UKSSSC) exam paper leak case. SSP of STF Uttarakhand Ajay Singh told ANI, "Hakam Singh has been detained by the STF from Arakot on the Himachal border for questioning." Also Read | Assam Shocker: Woman Gang-Raped by 4 Men Including 3 Minors in Morigaon Outskirts; 1 Arrested. The STF led by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Singh is investigating the case. Hakam Singh was caught from the Mori area near the Himachal Pradesh border. Also Read | Delhi Shocker: Minor Girl Kidnapped, Raped in the National Capital; Accused Arrested. The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Uttarkashi Arpan Yaduvanshi said, "The District Panchayat member Hakam Singh Rawat has been detained for questioning. The STF is interrogating Hakam Singh in the paper leak case." The Zilla Panchayat member was stopped at Arakot Chowki. Hakam Singh returned to the country from abroad on August 7. A Special Task Force (STF) had been constituted to investigate alleged irregularities, according to sources. The Dehradun Police had registered a case against unidentified persons in the case of alleged rigging in the graduation level recruitment examination. Earlier, Uttarakhand Police arrested Gaurav Chauhan, Additional Private Secretary working in Public Works and Forest Department of state Secretariat in connection with the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission paper leak case. After the registration of the case, the Police Headquarters (PHQ) handed over the investigation of the matter to the STF. The probe was ordered by state director general of police Ashok Kumar on the directions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The UKSSSC conducted a written exam on December 4 and 5 last year (2021). This was the biggest examination of the commission for 854 posts, in which 13 categories of posts of different departments were to be filled. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Islamabad, Aug 13 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that the country cannot develop only if it makes economic progress. Addressing the nation on television and radio on the eve of the 75th independence day of the country, Sharif said that Pakistan needs to get out of the ongoing economic turmoil that it is witnessing. Also Read | China Calls for India To Reiterate Its Support for One-China Policy Amid Crisis in Taiwan Strait. As opposition leader, I had offered the charter of economy to the (then) government; as Prime Minister I once again repeat the offer, he said, adding that the country cannot make progress without economic progress. During his address, Sharif also paid tribute to the leaders of the Pakistan movement and congratulated millions of Pakistani living all over the world on the Independence Day. Also Read | US Shooting: Police Officers in Texas Fatally Shoot Man Who Pointed Rifle at Them. He highlighted the economic crisis along with the emotional crisis faced by the nation due to the existing political tensions in the country. He blamed the previous government for the current economic mess but vowed to bring stability. Sharif also accused the Imran Khan government of harming the China Pakistan Economic Corridor by suspending it. Sharif also said that the previous government left a USD 48 billion deficit and it also failed to ink any long term energy agreements when the prices of petroleum were low. He announced plans to launch solar energy projects to end reliance on the expensive oil imports. Political instability in Pakistan, depleting foreign reserves, delay in the IMF's loan disbursement, and rupee devaluation have had a hard-hitting impact on the economy of the cash-strapped country which has sought financial assistance on an emergency basis from the global lender. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Arlington (US), Aug 14 (AP) Two people remained in critical condition on Saturday among the more than a dozen who were injured after a vehicle crashed into a northern Virginia pub and restaurant, according to authorities. The crash at the Ireland's Four Courts establishment in Arlington, which happened early Friday evening, also caused a fire that was quickly extinguished, media outlets reported. Also Read | China Calls for India To Reiterate Its Support for One-China Policy Amid Crisis in Taiwan Strait. Authorities said nine people in all were taken to hospitals, including the two in critical condition, while six others were treated at the scene and released, according to the Arlington County Police Department. Arlington police said a preliminary review shows the vehicle's driver was working as a rideshare driver and had a passenger at the time of the crash. They said the driver ran off busy Wilson Boulevard, about 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) from the District of Columbia line, and into the restaurant. The driver and passenger were among those taken to hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, a police news release said. Also Read | US Shooting: Police Officers in Texas Fatally Shoot Man Who Pointed Rifle at Them. Mary Reilly, who works at the pub, said she was in the back of the building when "we all heard a bang, an explosion, so I just turned around and I saw all the debris coming towards the back of the pub." About 30 patrons and staff members were in the pub at the time, and as "pure panic broke out," Reilly said, people rushed out the back. Law enforcement officers at the scene evacuated people and provided emergency care. "Undoubtedly, the decisive actions of the arriving officers to run directly into the building and remove patrons saved lives," Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said. While the building remained structurally sound, it cannot be immediately reoccupied, the news release 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) New York, Aug 13 (PTI) Salman Rushdie was on a ventilator with damaged liver and may lose an eye after the Mumbai-born controversial author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man at a speaking event in New York state, sending shockwaves across the literary world which condemned the incident as an attack on freedom of expression. "The news is not good," the 75-year-old writer's agent, Andrew Wylie said after a profusely bleeding Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue in Western New York on Friday to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania and underwent surgery for several hours. Also Read | Afghanistan: 2 Civilians Wounded in an Explosion in Western Kabul; Probe Underway. Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar on stage while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," Wylie told The New York Times. Also Read | Continents of Earth Created by Giant Meteorite Impacts During First Billion Years of Planet's History: Research. Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his novel "Midnight's Children", is still unable to speak, he said. The suspect was from Fairview, New Jersey, State Police Troop Commander Major Eugene J Staniszewski said in a Friday evening news conference. Police are working with the FBI and local authorities to determine the motive. A preliminary review of Matar's social media accounts by law enforcement showed him to be sympathetic to Shia extremism and the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a law enforcement person with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. Authorities are also working to obtain search warrants for several items found at the scene, including a backpack and electronic devices, Staniszewski said. Replying to a question about the attacker's nationality, Staniszewski said, "I don't know yet." Authorities believe the suspect was alone but are investigating "to make sure that was the case," Staniszewski said, adding that authorities will determine "appropriate charges" as the investigation continues. Rushdie's fourth book The Satanic Verses in 1988 forced him into hiding for nine years. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused Rushdie of blasphemy over the book and in 1989 issued a fatwa against him, calling for his death. Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. Rushdie was stabbed as he was on the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, a not-for-profit community on Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state. Staniszewski said Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. Rushdie was about to speak at the special Chautauqua Lecture Series event exploring the theme of "More than Shelter" for a "discussion on the United States as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression". He was joined by Henry Reese, co-founder of the Pittsburgh nonprofit City of Asylum, the largest residency programme in the world for writers living in exile under the threat of persecution. Staniszewski said at approximately 10:47 am local time, Rushdie and Reese (73) had just arrived on stage at the Chautauqua Institution for the event. "Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped onto the stage and attacked Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen." Staniszewski said several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground. A trooper with the New York State Police, who was at the institution, took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy. Reese was transported via ambulance to a local hospital, treated for facial injuries and subsequently released, authorities said. "We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time," Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House tweeted. US National Security Advisor Jake Sulliving denounced the appalling attack and said members of the Biden-Harris administration were praying for his speedy recovery. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the attack "horrific," saying she has directed state police to "further assist however needed in the investigation." "Here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who has been out there, unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him through his entire adult life," Hochul said. A leading literary organisation expressed shock and horror at the brutal, premeditated attack on Rushdie. PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil, she said. Cautauqua Institution president Michael Hill said the organisation is holding Rushdie and Reese as well as their families "close in prayer at this hour". "What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history..." "Today, we are called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits. Hate," Hill said. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], August 13 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday referred to international condemnation of the attack on renowned author Salman Rushdie and said the world has noticed and reacted to the incident. "I also read about it. This is something that the whole world has noticed and the whole world has reacted to such an attack," Jaishankar told the media here. Also Read | Afghanistan: 2 Civilians Wounded in an Explosion in Western Kabul; Probe Underway. He was responding to a query on the attack on Rushdie. France, the United Kingdom and the United States are among the countries that have condemned the attack. Also Read | Continents of Earth Created by Giant Meteorite Impacts During First Billion Years of Planet's History: Research. France President Emmanuel Macron said Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. Macron said Rushdie's "fight is our fight" and "now more than ever, we stand by his side". "For 33 years, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. He has just been the victim of a cowardly attack by the forces of hatred and barbarism. His fight is our fight; it is universal. Now more than ever, we stand by his side," Macron said in a tweet. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Rushdie was attacked while exercising a right that should always be defended. "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay," he said in a tweet. Rushdie is currently on a ventilator and is likely to lose an eye after he underwent surgery following an attack at a literary event in New York state. Rushdie, who had received death threats from Iran for his late eighties book 'The Satanic Verses', was "stabbed" at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen onstage at a lecture in western New York state on Friday morning. Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, sent an update on his condition shortly before 7 pm on Friday, saying the author was on a ventilator and cannot speak. "The news is not good," he said adding "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged." Earlier, New York State Police identified the suspect, who attacked Salman Rushdie, as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey while the motive behind the act is still unknown. The White House on Saturday termed the attack on Salman Rushdie as "appalling" and said that the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Administration is praying for a speedy recovery of the renowned author. In a statement, National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. "This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris administration are praying for his speedy recovery." "We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing," NSA Sullivan said. US Senator Chuck Schumer said the attack is shocking and appalling. "It is an attack on freedom of speech and thought, which are two bedrock values of our country and of the Chautauqua Institution. I hope Rushdie quickly and fully recovers and the perpetrator experiences full accountability and justice," he said in a tweet. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Mumbai, August 13: The Maharashtra government on Saturday cleared the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) former Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, who was accused of submitting an alleged fake caste certificate for a government job. The government order came after the Mumbai District Caste Scrutiny Committee probed the issue for nearly seven months and gave the clean chit to the IRS officer, currently posted in Chennai. The panel has concluded that Wankhede is not a Muslim by birth and he belongs to the Mahar community which is a Scheduled Caste. Sameer Wankhede Caste Row: Caste Panel Gives Clean Chit to Ex-NCB Officer, Says 'He is from SC Community Not Muslim'. Former Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik - currently in custody - had first raked up the issue, along with other activists like Ashok Kamble, Manoj Sansare, and Sanjay Kambale. According to the official order, it has not been proved that Wankhede and his father Dnyandev Wankhede had renounced Hinduism to convert to Islam and they both belonged to the Mahar 37 Scheduled Caste, and rejected all the complaints filed against them in the matter. Soon afterwards, Wankhede tweeted - "Satyameva Jayate" - signifying 'victory of truth', and said he and his family had undergone a lot of trauma due to the matter. Lawyer for Ashok Kamble, advocate Nitin Satpute said that Wankhede's caste issue is already under challenge in the Bombay High Court in a writ petition filed last year. "We had not much expectations from the Caste Scrutiny Committee, have faith in the high court," he said. "We shall now modify our petition in view of the latest order... It is not final and we shall request the high court to order a full probe into the matter," Satpute added. According to the order, signed by DCCVC Mumbai President Anita Meshram, secretary Sunita Mate and member Salima Tadvi, "non applicant Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede is not a Muslim by birth. It is not proved and the non-applicant and his father Dnyandev Wankhede renounced Hinduism and duly converted to Islam". Wankhede had shot into the limelight in 2020 after the probe into the drugs cases arising out of the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in which several film personalities were targeted. In October 2021 he carried out the sensational arrest of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, after a raid on an alleged drug party aboard a cruise ship, though Aryan later got a clean chit from the NCB. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2022 07:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Noida Police on Saturday arrested a woman for thrashing an e-rickshaw driver in full public view, a video of which has gone viral on social media. Authorities accuse Ukrainian of selling humanitarian aid. According to the General Prosecutors Office, the suspect allegedly brought from abroad military ammunition and cars marked as humanitarian aid for Ukraines army. Instead of sending it to the army, he sold it. The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 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.) MEXICO CITY He admitted being a salaried killer for a drug cartel, the kind of assassin who preferred slashing his victims throats. On Tuesday, after serving three years behind bars, he was released from a Mexican detention center and was on his way to the United States where he would soon live as a free man. Or, rather, a free boy. The killer, Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known to Mexican crime reporters as El Ponchis, is 17 years old. He was 11 when he killed his first victim, and he was 14 when he was arrested, in December 2010, at the Cuernavaca airport, along with luggage containing two handguns and packets of cocaine. Back then, Jimenezs tender age transformed him into a media phenomenon, one that shocked Mexico, and the world, into recognizing the extent to which the countrys brutal drug war was consuming its young. And now it is one of the reasons why Jimenez who claims to have killed four people at an age before most kids get their learners permit to drive will soon be mingling with the residents of San Antonio. Under the laws at the time in the Mexican state of Morelos, where he was prosecuted, Jimenez could be sentenced to a maximum of only three years of incarceration because he was a minor. A judge ordered him released Tuesday, a few days before his three years were up. Advertisement And because he is a U.S. citizen, born in San Diego, he has every right to return to his home country. Apparently hes paid his debt for whatever crimes he was convicted of [in Mexico], and Im not aware of any charges the U.S., federal or state, has against him, Michelle Lee, an FBI special agent based in San Antonio, said Tuesday. The situation with him is really no different than any other U.S. national who commits a crime, completes their sentence and is released. Jimenez, who had lived, and killed, in Jiutepec, a town near the popular resort city of Cuernavaca, was on a plane headed to San Antonio, where he has family, Jorge Vicente Messeguer Guillen, the Morelos government secretary, said in a TV interview. Once in San Antonio, Messeguer said, Jimenez would be sent to what he referred to as a support center but would not be locked up. Graco Ramirez, the Morelos governor, said in a separate TV interview that Jimenezs rehabilitation in the Mexican penal system had been notable. He also said that Jimenez had to leave Mexico because his life might be in danger. U.S. State Department officials would not elaborate on what Jimenezs living arrangements would be when he arrived in Texas. Nor did they clarify what Messeguer meant by a support center. We are aware of Edgar Lugos upcoming release by the Mexican authorities following completion of his sentence, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said in a statement Tuesday. We are closely coordinating with our Mexican counterparts and appropriate authorities in the United States regarding Edgar Lugos release. Due to privacy considerations, we do not publicly discuss details of matters involving U.S. citizens, he said. Jimenezs case is far from unique. In February, a 13-year-old boy was arrested in the state of Zacatecas along with a group of gunmen. The boy, identified as Armando, confessed to participating in at least 10 slayings. He was freed because the state criminal code does not prosecute minors younger than 14. A month later, the boy and his mother were found slain along with four other people. In 2011, a 15-year-old who went by the name Erick was arrested and said he worked for the same group that Jimenez did, participating with other teenagers in kidnappings and drug dealing. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. Similar cases have come to light in the states of Jalisco, Tabasco and Veracruz, but probably represent only a small fraction of the total: Studies by the National Autonomous University of Mexico have estimated that a million youths are at risk of being recruited by the cartels. Jimenezs release is likely to rekindle the debate about the justice systems treatment of minors who commit serious crimes. In 2005, the Mexican Constitution mandated the creation of separate justice systems at the state and federal levels for offenders younger than 18. More recently, there has been a push to take a harsher stance, exacerbated in part by the drug cartels habit of drawing from the countrys vast pool of poverty-stricken, poorly educated children to form their ranks. In March, Morelos lawmakers increased the maximum sanction for children who commit serious crimes so that a suspect like Jimenez would serve five years, not three, behind bars, a change that came about as a result of his case. In July, the state of Veracruz went further, raising the maximum penalty for 14- to 16-year-olds from four years to 10 years of incarceration, with 16- to 18-year-olds now facing the possibility of 15 years. Such changes have concerned some childrens rights groups, but the clamor is not likely to die down. Javier Lozano, a senator with the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, sent a series of Twitter messages on Tuesday asking Mexicans to consider lowering the minimum age for trying children as adults. The liberation of Ponchis speaks of a perverse system in which under the pretext of being a minor, one can be an assassin, but not a criminal, he wrote. After his arrest, Jimenez claimed that he had killed at the behest of a man who was a suspected cartel enforcer who threatened to kill the boy if he did not follow orders. He said that his employer, the Beltran Leyva cartel, paid him $200 a week, and that he was stoned on marijuana when he committed the crimes. He was, in many ways, a perfect drug-war recruit: destitute and from a broken family. In the 1990s, child welfare officials removed Jimenez and five siblings from their parents custody in San Diego. In a 2010 interview with The Times, Edgars father, David Jimenez, said that he and his wife had been known to fight violently. Edgars grandmother was appointed legal guardian and brought the children to Mexico. But she died in 2004, and Edgar dropped out of school in the third grade. Im not defending him, Messeguer said. But his circumstances caused him to be a victim as well. richard.fausset@latimes.com Fausset is a Times staff writer. Sanchez is a news assistant in The Times Mexico City bureau. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston contributed to this report. Vanessa Bryant has an additional woe on Friday after a witness testified how a fire captain shared Kobe Bryant's crash photo, in the aftermath of the fatal helicopter crash. According to TMZ, the witness was identified as Luella Weireter, a wife of an LAPD Fire captain, sharing what she saw during an award show three weeks after the tragedy happened. Weireter said she saw a group of people, including another fire captain, look at the photos during the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California's Golden Mike Awards, WTAE reported. Many firefighters reportedly attended the media event that is known to honor the fire department and public information officers for their work in informing the public about wildfires. Weireter, who insisted she did not look at Kobe Bryant's crash photo, overheard another man saying that he saw Kobe's burnt-up body when he was about to eat. The witness also shared that she drove to a county fire station in Malibu and filed an official complaint. She also noted that she was called by LA County Fire chief to follow up. After Weireter shared the details, Vanessa Bryant was spotted rocking back and forth, crying, with her head in her hands. Weireiter is the cousin of Keri Altobelli, who also died in the helicopter crash, along with her husband John and daughter Alyssa. READ NEXT: Kobe Bryant's Wife Vanessa Bryant Wins Important Legal Fight in Crash Photos Case as Los Angeles County Loses Bid to Avoid a Trial Photos Like Kobe Bryant Crash Photo, Common Among Law Enforcement - Ex-LAPD Officer On Friday, an expert witness hired by Vanessa Bryant's legal team, ex-LAPD Officer Adam Bercovici, testified that seeing photos like the Kobe Bryant crash photo is not uncommon. Bercovici noted that he and other cops saw the body of Nicole Brown Simpson dead body after her June 1994 murder. The former LAPD officer noted that illicit photos of human remains, also called "death books," are common among law enforcement. Despite sharing the human remains of individuals being a pain to the relatives, the former LAPD officer shared that there is not enough movement to end the said practice. Kobe Bryant Crash Photo Trial Vanessa Bryant is seeking legal action against the sheriff's office and the fire department of Los Angeles County after one of the deputies showed photos of Kobe Bryant's decapitated body to several bar patrons in Norwalk. Whistleblower Luis Li, who was at the Baja California Bar & Grill at the time, alleged that Deputy Joey Cruz from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office showed the photos of the crash site. He claimed that the photos disturbed him so much, prompting him to file a complaint to the county's sheriff's office. On Thursday afternoon, bartender Victor Gutierrez testified in court, describing photos taken at the scene of the crash. The bartender described what he saw in the photos shown by the Los Angeles County Sherriff's deputy. Vanessa Bryant cried and stood up, prompting her lawyer to ask the judge permission for Kobe Bryant's widow to leave the courtroom. Kobe Bryant's crash photo trial is expected to last about two weeks. The suit filed in 2020 seeks undisclosed damages and claims civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress, and violations of privacy. READ NEXT: Brittney Griner Case: Russia Confirms Prisoner Swap Talks With U.S. After Joe Biden Calls for Release of WNBA Star This article is owned by Latin Post. Written By: Joshua Summers WATCH: Trial Begins Over Kobe Bryant Crash Photos - From NBCLA The Bahamas is located in the Atlantic off the eastern coast of Florida and is roughly parallel to Cuba. The nation consists of around 700 islands and cays, with some 2,400 reefs and rock formations. Around 85 percent of the population in the Bahamas are of African ancestry, while the remaining percentage is of European descent. Asian ancestry also makes up a small portion of the population, according to Every Culture. The Bahamas has also seen racial mixing in their population. Refugees from Haiti also make up 20 to 25 percent of the people. The primary and official language in the Bahamas is English, which varies from "Standard English" to "Bahamian English." Haitian immigrants also speak French Creole. About 80 percent of the people in the Bahamas are Protestant, while 20 percent are Roman Catholic. READ NEXT: Cuba: 5 Traditional Cuban Dishes You Must Try When You Visit the Caribbean Island The Bahamas: Culture and Tradition The name of the country Bahamas was rooted in Lucayan Taino derivation, with some historians believing it was from the Spanish word "baja mar," which means "shallow water." According to Britannica, the mixture of European and African heritages in the Bahamas was brought about by the slave trade history on the island. Aside from European and African heritages, the Bahamas has been influenced by people of the Caribbean and the Americas. Folk customs include the collective savings association called "asue," a strong tradition of storytelling, and the use of bush medicine. Junkanoo is the most popular group activity and festival celebration. Bahamians work for months creating costumes, rehearsing dances, and practicing music routines to prepare for Junkanoo. A recognizing material in Junkanoo is an empty conch shell, a drum made from calfskin, and cowbells fashioned to serve the purpose of an instrument. These materials have defined Junkanoo music for years, the Bahamas reported. The largest Junkanoo celebration usually takes place on Bay Street in downtown Nassau. Meanwhile, Bahamian folklore has stories about a three-toed, human-faced creature called the chick Harley and obia, a creature believed to be sent by witches to kidnap young girls in villages. The Bahamas History Christopher Columbus made landfall on the island in 1492. It was believed that he landed in Gunahani, which Columbus renamed San Salvador. Others believe that Columbus' site of landfall was Samana Cay or Cat Island. British then started to take an interest in the nation in 1629. The new constitution came into force in 1964, and the country was brought to the verge of complete self-government after constitutional advances in 1969. The name "Commonwealth of the Bahama Islands" was adopted in 1969. However, the official name became "The Commonwealth of The Bahamas" in 1973. In the 1980s, the country faced several issues, including alleged collusion with drug traffickers by government members. In addition, the periodic arrival of waves of legal and illegal immigrants from Haiti had also put a strain on the social and economic resources of the Bahamas. READ MORE: Travel in Brazil Amid Pandemic: Here Are Things You Should Be Aware of Before Visiting the Latin American Country This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: The Islands of The Bahamas - From QCPTV The search warrant from the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida was finally unsealed, revealing plenty of cases against the former president. The warrant cited three crimes that Trump is being investigated for, all of which can be considered felonies. According to the documents acquired by the Associated Press, these investigations include violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and the criminal handling of government records. CNN reported that the inclusion of these crimes indicates that the Justice Department has probable cause to investigate them as part of their evidence gathering. Politico reported that Espionage Act is not just about spying but also the refusal to return national security documents upon request. If found guilty, Donald Trump may be imprisoned and face fines. Receipt of Items Seized From Mar-a-Lago Home in Florida Also Released. What Did Donald Trump Try To Keep? The FBI had taken several documents from the Mar-a-Lago home in their search. With the unsealing of the warrant, authorities also revealed the receipt of the items removed from the Trump estate. These include several classified documents, including one set of documents labeled "top secret/SCI." The documents belong to the highest classification of documents considered the most sensitive. Also recovered from the Mar-a-Lago home were four sets of "top secret" documents, three sets of "secret" documents, and three sets of "confidential" documents. Donald Trump argued that he had already declassified those documents. However, legal and national security experts argued that his declassification arguments will not hold up. The FBI also took several other non-confidential documents, which may be for the investigation regarding Donald Trump's criminal handling of government records. These include a document about pardoning ally Roger Stone and some material about the "President of France." READ NEXT: Donald Trump Fires Back at FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid Controversy: 'Nuclear Weapons Issue Is a Hoax' Florida Judge Getting Threats From Donald Trump Supporters For Signing Warrant Records show that U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart was the one who signed the search warrant at 12:12 p.m. last Friday. It led to the FBI agents executing the warrants on Monday, but Donald Trump was in New York. The judge found probable cause in the three investigations against the former president. However, the judge is now facing threats for his actions from Trump supporters. Forums dedicated to Trump have featured threats to people involved in the investigation, such as the judge, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the FBI. According to CNN, one user posted "kill all feds" in one of the pro-Trump forums, while others encouraged people to reveal the address of the judge's home. Another user wrote: "This is the piece of sh*t judge who approved FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago... I see a rope around his neck." This was the same forum where Donald Trump supporters also discussed attacking police officers during the weeks leading up to the January 6 Capitol insurrection. According to CNN, several users in the forum were also convicted as Capitol rioters. READ MORE: Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Raid: FBI Director Fires Back at 'Deplorable' Threats After Controversial Trump Search This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Unsealed Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant Cites 3 Criminal Laws - From CNN OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney was seen in video footage hitting and attacking his boyfriend, Christian "Toby" Obumseli, before his murder. According to People, the minute-long footage released by southern Florida prosecutors was shot inside an elevator in their luxury Miami high-rise apartment. It was shown to reporters during Thursday's press conference about the OnlyFans model's arrest in Hawaii. In the February 21 footage, the couple was seen entering the elevator, and before the door closes, Clenney starts aggressively attacking Obumseli. The 27-year-old man was punched several times in the head, face, back, and arms by the 26-year-old social media influencer. Christian Obumseli tried to shield himself from the blows and push Courtney Clenney away from him but did not try to hit the OnlyFans model in his defense. READ NEXT: OnlyFans Model Courtney Clenney Arrested in Hawaii Months After Stabbing Boyfriend in Their Florida Apartment OnlyFans Model Courtney Clenney Seen in Video Footage Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathie Fernandez Rundle said Courtney Clenney was aggressively attacking Christian Obumseli, WFLA News reported. Rundle had described Obumseli as a victim of domestic violence. The state attorney said the couple had been in an "extremely tempestuous and combative relationship" since November 2020. She added that the violent and "toxic" relationship between Clenney and Obumseli did not have to end with the man's murder as a victim of domestic violence. Clenney was also seen occasionally in the footage yanking Obumseli's hair. They continued to fight until the elevator doors opened, with Obumseli being the first one to leave. The OnlyFans model tried to hit her boyfriend again as she followed him out of the elevator. Police were called to the couple's apartment on April 3 after she stabbed her boyfriend in the chest. Staff and residents of the One Paraiso building in Miami where they lived had reported multiple domestic disturbance complaints about the couple. Rundle noted that the police had responded to several domestic disturbance complaints about the two. The building's management had even moved to evict the couple. OnlyFans Model and Boyfriend's Murder Courtney Clenney called 911 herself after the stabbing incident and reported to police that her boyfriend had been stabbed, according to Newsweek. Clenney's phone records showed that she called her mother twice in the span of 10 minutes and dialed 911 a minute after hanging up for the second time. Christian Obumseli was brought to a local hospital, where he died from a stab wound to the chest. The OnlyFans model was arrested in Hawaii on Wednesday. She will be extradited back to Florida for trial. Clenney was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon for the April 3 stabbing of Obumseli in their apartment building. Clenney's lawyer, Frank Prieto, said he was completely shocked regarding his client's arrest, especially since they were cooperating with the probe, and offered to surrender the OnlyFans model voluntarily if she was charged. Her lawyers claimed the killing was "justified" since she acted in self-defense. Prieto said they look forward to clearing Clenney's name in court. Clenney claimed that Obumseli pushed her and threw her to the floor, which prompted her to grab a kitchen knife and throw it at him from about 10 feet away. However, an autopsy report revealed that Obumseli's stab wound was from a "forceful downward thrust," and was not caused by Clenney throwing a knife from that distance. The autopsy report also revealed that the blade went three inches into Obumseli's body and pierced a major artery. READ MORE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Ignores U.S. Pres. Joe Biden's Request for National Guard Troops at State of the Union This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: OnlyFans Model Attacks Boyfriend in Elevator Months Before He Is Killed - From FOX 4 Dallas Fort Worth A Donald Trump supporter wearing body armor with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday. Authorities said Ricky W. Shiffer of Columbus, Ohio was killed after a vehicle chase and hours-long standoff with law enforcement. The incident started when the 42-year-old suspect shot the FBI's Cincinnati field office with his nail gun. He then tried to escape, but Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers responded and found the attacker at an interstate rest stop. They tried to stop the suspect, but he fled, resulting in a car chase. Shots were fired from the car and into the intercepting state troopers. The suspect then tried engaging his pursuers, leading to a brief exchange of fire between the two sides. Shiffer tried using his vehicle as cover during a standoff that lasted for several hours. According to CNN, law enforcement tried negotiating with the suspect, but negotiations broke down. Officers attempted to take the suspect using less lethal tactics in subduing him, but he raised his firearm, which prompted the law enforcement officers to fire at him, shooting him dead. Donald Trump Supporter Attacked FBI Field Office in Ohio Ricky W. Shiffer was found to be a Donald Trump supporter who was angry with the FBI for investigating former President Donald Trump. According to Democracy Now!, Shiffer is also a member of the far-right Proud Boys movement. Shiffer's attack on the FBI field office came days after the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida for sensitive documents he kept after leaving office. The search angered many on the right, with many right-wing internet sites calling for violence. The attack happened on August 11, the fifth anniversary of the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Donald Trump-supporting white supremacists and Neo-Nazis rallied and chanted white supremacist and racist slogans. READ NEXT: Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant Released, Trump May Have Violated Espionage Act, Committed Felonies Suspect in FBI Field Office Attack in Ohio Called For Violence in Truth Social The FBI is now combing the internet for the suspect's social media activities. It was found that Ricky W. Shiffer tried to access the FBI field office because he detailed his attempts in a post on Truth Social, the social media platform founded by Donald Trump. The post stated, "If you don't hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the FBI, and it'll mean either I was taken off the internet, the FBI got me, or they sent the regular cops." According to NBC News, the post was written at 9:29 a.m. ET., shortly after Shiffer tried attacking the FBI field office. In another post, Shiffer also hoped there will be a "call to arms," and he encouraged people to go and get guns and to get ready for combat. He also urged people to kill FBI agents who tried to break up groups rallying at Mar-a-Lago to protect Donald Trump. His social media posts on Truth Social also indicated that he was present during the January 6 Capitol insurrection and connected to the Proud Boys. The FBI is currently investigating the incident. READ MORE: Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Raid: FBI Director Fires Back at 'Deplorable' Threats After Controversial Trump Search This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Suspect Killed After Trying to Breach FBI Field Office - From CBS News Ellen DeGeneres sent a short but heartfelt message to the family of her ex, Anne Heche, who was declared legally dead on Friday. The 64-year-old talk show host tweeted a message of comfort to Anne's family as news broke that the 53-year-old actress had died. "This is a sad day. I'm sending Anne's children, family, and friends all of my love," Ellen wrote. This is a sad day. I'm sending Anne's children, family and friends all of my love. Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) August 12, 2022 Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche dated from 1997 to 2000. Their relationship was a barrier breaker for the LGBTQ community in the mainstream media. However, Anne admitted that her relationship with the talk show host hurt her career. Others who paid tribute to the actress included James Tupper, her former partner and the father of her 13-year-old son, Atlas Heche Tupper, who posted a close-up photo of the actress with the caption: "I love you forever." Anne Heche's other son is Homer Laffoon, 20. READ NEXT: Kobe Bryant Crash Photo Trial: Witness Reveals How Fire Captain Shared 'Kobe's Burnt-Up Body' Anne Heche's Son Breaks Silence After Death of Their Mom Homer Laffoon broke his silence after the death of their mother. In a statement, Homer said he and his brother Atlas lost their mother "after six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings." "I am left with a deep, wordless sadness. Hopefully, my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom," Homer noted. Homer also said he was grateful to the "thousands of friends, family, and fans," who sympathized with them and "made their hearts known to me." He noted that his father, Coley, and stepmom Alexi were his "rock" during this time. "Rest In Peace Mom, I love you," Homer concluded. In a separate statement on Thursday night, Anne's family said they lost a "bright light." The family described the actress as a "kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend." "Anne will be deeply missed, but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy," the family said. Anne Heche Death Anne Heche crashed into a two-story home in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 5 while the owner was in the backyard. Authorities said the collision caused a "heavy fire" that burned the actress badly. Anne remained stable following the accident, but her health deteriorated after a few days. A spokesperson for Anne said she fell into a coma and suffered a "significant pulmonary injury" that required mechanical ventilation. The spokesperson added that Anne's burns required "surgical intervention." On Thursday night, the spokesperson said the actress suffered a "severe anoxic brain injury" and was "not expected to survive." On Friday afternoon, representatives for Anne confirmed that she was brain dead. Under California law, the actress' condition is considered legally dead. Earlier in the day, it was announced that Heche would be taken off of life support. Her heartbeat was reportedly being maintained, so they had time to determine if she was a match for organ donation. The actress' family noted that it has "long been" the actress' choice to donate her organs. Anne Heche rose to popularity in the early 1990s when she played twins on the soap opera "Another World." Her first major role was playing Johnny Depp's girlfriend in the gangster drama "Donnie Brasco" in 1997. READ MORE: Khloe Kardashian, Ex-Cheater Boyfriend Tristan Thompson Finally Reached an Agreement Regarding Custody of Their Second Baby This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Joshua Summers WATCH: Anne Heche Declared' Brain Dead' a Week After Mar Vista Crash - From KTLA 5 Author Salman Rushdie was attacked and stabbed 15 times while doing a lecture in western New York on Friday. The controversial Indian-born British-American novelist was stabbed by a man with a knife who climbed on the stage of the Chautauqua Institution before he began assaulting him. According to the Associated Press, Rushdie was due to discuss the importance of persecuted writers having a place to work. However, the attack disrupted the event, leaving the 75-year-old author in critical condition. Salman Rushdie Health Update After He Was Stabbed in New York According to authorities, Salman Rushdie is in pretty bad shape. The author's attacker stabbed him 15 times, including in the neck and the abdomen. According to AP, Rushdie was seated and being introduced when his attacker climbed onstage and started assaulting him in front of hundreds of people. Witness John Stein told ABC that he saw blood splattering while the suspect stabbed Rushdie on the right side of his head and neck. Stein said there was blood on the floor, the wall behind where the author was attacked, and the chair he was sitting on. The bloodied Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital following the attack. His agent, Andrew Wylie, provided an update on the author on Friday night. Wylie said Rushdie will likely lose one eye, and the nerves in his arm were severed. He added that the author's liver was also damaged. The agent further noted that Rushdie is currently on a ventilator and cannot speak. The Daily Mail reported that Rushdie's son, Zafar, 42, who lives in London, was already aware of the incident. The attack drew a response from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said the attack was heartbreaking. In an unrelated press conference, Hochul confirmed that Rushdie was still alive. She said a state police trooper stood up and saved Rushdie's life after the attack. The governor noted that the novelist had "spent decades speaking truth to power." Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, was also attacked by the suspect. Police said he was released from a hospital Friday after he was treated for a facial injury. READ NEXT: Guatemala: Arrest of Award-Winning Journalist Sparks Protests, Condemnation From US Suspect in Stabbing Salman Rushdie Arrested and Identified Police said the suspect still managed to walk on stage before he was restrained. According to police, Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, gained access to the grounds with a pass. Authorities descended on his home just hours after the attack. Police are still investigating his motives. According to the New York Post, initial investigations suggest that Matar might be sympathetic toward the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Rushdie is a wanted man in Iran. Country's former leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had even issued a fatwah against him for his 1988 novel, "The Satanic Verses," which was considered blasphemous by some Muslims. The fatwa or edict called for the author's death in 1989. A $3 million bounty was even placed on his head. The fatwah was followed by book burnings and riots across the Muslim world. The death threats and bounty led Salman Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government-funded protection program. He emerged after nine years of seclusion and resumed his public appearances, speaking criticism of religious extremism. Reports said the author has been in the United States since 2000. READ MORE: Nicaragua Newspaper Staff Flee Country as Daniel Ortega Cracks Down on Independent Media This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Author Salman Rushdie Stabbed Before Lecture At Chautauqua Institution - From MSNBC An Oklahoma dad killed his three young children inside their parked SUV before he turned the gun on himself to commit suicide. Police said Trinity Littlejohn, 3; Aliyah Littlejohn, 4; and Kyren Littlejohn, 6, were shot to death by their father, Francoise Littlejohn, 30, on Saturday. According to People, the mother left the kids with their dad days before the killings following a domestic incident between the couple at their home in Oklahoma City. Domestic Dispute May Have Led to Oklahoma Dad to Kill His Children Reports said Francoise Littlejohn was very upset because his wife left him. The Oklahoma dad took his three children from their NW 109th Street family home early Saturday morning and loaded them into his white Dodge Charger. Surveillance video in the neighborhood showed the suspect pulling into an area at the 11300 block of Treemont Lane at around 4 a.m. and parked there. Littlejohn then livestreamed on social media his threats to harm his children. In the video, police said the Oklahoma dad was seen waving a gun while one of his children was seen in the front passenger seat of the SUV. Littlejohn also told the kid he was going to kill them. According to local news station KFOR, a relative of the family saw the live video and alerted the police, who tried to find the vehicle. However, a jogger passing on Treemont Lane at around 7:30 a.m. found the four family members dead inside the SUV from apparent gunshot wounds. The runner then called 911. The vehicle's engine was reportedly still running when the SUV was found. Police were combing the streets and were about to issue an Amber Alert when the vehicle was reported. Police said they found a gun and a cell phone in Littlejohn's lap when officers arrived. Authorities believed that the Oklahoma dad fatally shot his three children before using the same gun to kill himself. Police said the kids had injuries consistent with homicide, while Francoise Littlejohn had an injury consistent with suicide. READ NEXT: Florida Man Killed Ex-Girlfriend, Her New Boyfriend During Jealous Rage Before He Shot Himself Dead Community Mourns Deaths of Three Little Children in Oklahoma City Concerned citizens have set up a GoFundMe campaign for the family to help them with funeral costs. Community members constructed a memorial at the scene. They gathered near the memorial on Wednesday night to remember the three children. One of the community members, Angela Ross, told KFOR that the passing of the three children "because of somebody else's problem" was heartbreaking. She added that their community had not seen anything like this, and they had lived there a "long time." Adina Evans-Cornish, who lives in an adjacent neighborhood, also told the outlet that the Oklahoma dad must have been hurting so bad for him to do what he did, including doing the video. She noted that the three children lost their lives because their father was suffering, adding that they were now sitting in God's lap. According to the outlet, community members placed an iron cross, balloons, flowers, candles, and stuffed animals at the memorial along the neighborhood street, near Hefner and Council, where the children died. Three Care Bears were reportedly placed at the memorial, one for each child. READ MORE: Louisiana Mom Stabs Her 2 Kids, Kills 4-Year-Old Daughter Before She Does Instagram Live Covered in Blood This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Father Livestreams Murder of His 3 Children Before Committing Suicide - From Fox 28 Houston Laoiss Chief Fire Officer is reminding people not to light fires outdoors as a forest fire warning remains in place throughout the weekend. Chief Fire Officer Declan Power urged people to go out and enjoy themselves but asked that they do it responsibly. He cautioned against lighting fires outdoors anywhere no matter what the reason. He also warned against using disposable barbecues in woodlands, parks, bogs or other areas and he urged smokers to be extra careful in relation to extinguishing matches and cigarette butts. Mr Power also reminded motorists who are visiting public amenities of the importance of leaving access for emergency services when parking. The Department of Agriculture has issued a Status Orange, High Forest Fire Risk Warning, which remains in place until Tuesday, August 16. "> Visitors to recreational areas are being asked to cooperate with all requests regarding fire safety, obey all relevant laws and to be considerate in parking vehicles so as not to impede access by emergency vehicles. Where fire outbreaks occur the following actions should be taken by visitors in the interests of safety. 1. Do not light fires in and around forests or open land. 2. Do not attempt to intervene or fight fires under any circumstances. 3. Gather all family/group members and move to a safe fuel-free location such as a car park, upwind of the fire. 4. Telephone Fire and Rescue Services via 112 and report the fire and its location. 5. Evacuate if instructed to do so, and cooperate with all Emergency Service Instructions. A Laois householder has been waiting six months for a water connection, a local councillor has complained. Cllr Ollie Clooney has described as "unacceptable" the long wait for a connection to the public water supply in Laois. Speaking at the July meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory Municipal District, he made the claim. "A person is waiting 24 weeks since the time they had the money paid. It's unacceptable. Either get the work done or get someone else to do it. It is an annoyance to have the money paid and no service. "This person has been through the mill with zero results," Cllr Clooney said. Laois County Council delivers the service in Laois on behalf of Irish water. The standard connection charge for one house is 2,272 for water. It is 3,929 for a wastewater (sewage) connection. Irish Water on their website say to allow 16 weeks between making a 'pre-connection enquiry' and getting 'confirmation of feasability', and to do so before planning permission for a building is sought. It takes another average 16 weeks after making an application to connect, before Irish Water give an estimate of the cost. They say that after the money is paid comes the construction phase, and it takes some 12 weeks from securing a road opening licence to making the water connection. One very common invertebrate (an animal without a backbone) that I am sure you have all witnessed in your local area is the red ant (seangan dearg as Gaeilge). These can be found throughout Ireland and are not thought to be native, but have become established and do not pose a threat to native wildlife. They can be found in many habitats and live in colonies by turning over a stone or wood pile you are sure to find a colony. As its name suggests, their bodies are reddish/brown in colour, with six legs and a well defined head, thorax and abdomen. Females can measure between four and six mm while male workers are smaller. Each ant colony can have up to 100 queens. Each year the colony will swarm and the queens will mate with male workers. After this, the queens return to the colony to lay their eggs while the males die. Red ants feed on both plant and animal material. The male workers leave the nest in search of food to return to the colony. If you come across a red ant this week, be sure to keep your distance as they can give a sting which will cause your skin to redden and become itchy. If you want to get out and explore your local natural heritage, I suggest you take part in one of the many events that are planned to celebrate National Heritage Week which starts this Saturday, August 13. In Kildare there are 57 events being hosted, including butterfly walks, bats walks and canal crusies from Sallins to the Leinster Aqueduct. You can meet with an artist on Lodge Bog, or take a woodland walk and a dusk view of birds at Pollardstown Fen, to name a few. The Irish Peatland Conservation Council are hosting three events starting from the Bog of Allen Nature Centre on August 13 at 11am, August 16 at 10am, and August 19 2pm. For full details visit www.heritageweek.ie and discover for yourself the variety of nationwide events being hosted. Dont forget, if you come across a wildlife species that you would like help identifying I would be happy to help. Contact me at bogs@ipcc.ie. One of the last actions of the government before they began their summer recess was to approve in principle the proposal by Minister Heather Humphreys which would see a number of changes introduced to the State Pension scheme. Government is considering a new Flexible state pension system which will allow some workers to defer their pension until age 70 if they wish. Under the proposed new plan, workers could opt to continue to stay in work beyond the age of 66, defer their state Pension in return for a higher rate of the State pension when they eventually do decide to access it, which could be any time up to the age of 70. The rationale behind the idea is logical and makes financial sense. It is based on the premise that they will have paid more PRSI and will be in receipt of their state pension for a shorter period of time. This type of flexible model is already in place in some other countries. Will this impact the age at which people qualify for the State pension? The Pensions commission had recommended that the qualifying age would increase to 67 by 2031 and 68 by 2039. The government have confirmed that they will not implement these changes and the qualifying age will remain at 66. What does it mean for the retirement age? The Government will attempt to ensure that employers do not force employees to retire before the age at which they qualify for the State pension, which is 66. New legislation is likely to ensure lower retirement ages are not put into contracts, though there will be allowances for earlier retirement in some jobs. The Government will also encourage employers to allow people to continue to work beyond the age of 66, if they want to. However, this will be up to the employer. In the public service, the minimum retirement age for people who joined after January 1st, 2013, is 66 and the mandatory age beyond which people cannot continue to work is 70. What about the level of State pensions? The Pension commission have recommended that state pensions should automatically rise each year in line with wages and prices. Currently it is up to the Minister for Finance each year in the October budget as to whether it Increases. What about people who want to retire at 65? One recommendation was that people be allowed to retire at the original retirement age of 65, but with a slightly reduced State pension. For example, retiring at 66 on a full state pension, currently 253.30, or going a year early and getting a reduced State Pension possibly around 240. This would be better than the transitional arrangements which currently apply for people who retire at 65. What about people who want to work on after 66 years of age? Firstly, there are people who by age 66 have not made enough PRSI contributions for a full Pension and would get a reduced amount. It looks like they will be allowed to defer drawing down their pension, work on up to a max age of 70, continue paying PRSI and thus increase the level of their pension entitlement. Secondly, there are those who have already worked long enough to qualify for a full State pension. These people would be able to choose to defer drawing down their pension at age 66, continue to work and pay PRSI and qualify for a slightly higher pension when they do retire. If it does happen, the Pension Commission suggested that the annual increase a person beyond 66 might expect would be in the region of 4% pa. So, take the current Pension at 66 at a rate of 253.30 or retire at 67 on a pension of around 10 per week higher 263. Higher rates would then apply at older age levels up to 70. Is this likely to result in higher taxes or PRSI? The pension time bomb is a major issue for the Government due to the ageing population and the increasing cost of providing pensions. These proposed changes will inevitably lead to increases in PRSI rates although the government have assured these Increases will not happen in the immediate future. The recent strong growth in employment and wages is supporting the Social Insurance Fund now, but before too long extra cash will have to start going in to make it sustainable in the long term. Trade Unions and other representative bodies cautiously welcomed these proposed changes but we will have to wait until the Government returns in Sept before we know if the changes will be implemented. Barry Kerr CFP is Founder & Managing Director of Wealthwise Financial Planning who are based in Carrick on Shannon and Galway. All details and views contained within this article are for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice. Wealthwise Financial Planning makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness or suitability of any information and will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses arising from its use. Wealthwise Financial Ltd T/A Wealthwise Financial Planning is Regulated by the central Bank of Ireland #CI6614 There are lessons to be learned after Belfast failed to make the shortlist to host next years Eurovision Song Contest, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has suggested. While the 2022 winner Ukraine should be hosting the contest in 2023, the honour passed to the UK as runner-up due to the Russian invasion. The first half of a two-stage process concluded on Friday, and revealed Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield as the seven potential host cities. Reacting to the news, Sir Jeffrey told BBC News NI: Its disappointing to listen to the announcement this morning and that Belfast had been excluded at this stage. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from this. I think we should be quicker with our bid for this. There is a need for a more joined-up approach on these matters in the future, between local government and ministers at Stormont. A Belfast councillor leading the charge for the Northern Ireland capital to host the song contest expressed disappointment after the city failed to make the shortlist. SDLP councillor Seamas De Faoite called on the winning city to honour Ukraine. He also said the absence of a fully functioning Stormont Assembly was hampering a wide range of efforts, including Belfasts Eurovision bid. While we are naturally disappointed that Belfast failed to be shortlisted as a host city for next years Eurovision, I am proud of the all the work that went into making this bid a reality, particularly the cross-party element which showed what we can achieve when we work together to make our city a better place for everyone who lives here, he said. We were not successful on this occasion but Belfast remains a city capable of hosting large-scale events as we have proved repeatedly in the past, with everything from music festivals to award shows and conferences. Unfortunately our bid was hampered, like many things in the North, by the lack of functioning Executive to lead the way and lobby on our behalf. We are blessed with great people, we have the talent and vision, but if we are ever going to address the issues around a lack of space, our infrastructure and maximise the potential of our night-time economy to enable us to attract major events like Eurovision, then we need an Executive up and running to deliver on these issues. A member of the Turkish and Russian inspection delegation checks the Razoni, the cargo ship carrying 26,000 metric tons of corn from the port of Odesa, Ukraine, off the coast of northwestern Istanbul on August 3, 2022. TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTRY / AFP It was supposed to be a humanitarian triumph: Ukrainian grain would break Russia's five-month naval blockade and finally supply the Middle East and Africa. But the fate of the Razoni, the first ship in the fleet, has cast doubt on whether sea traffic to and from Ukraine has actually resumed. The ship left the port of Odesa on August 1, thanks to a three-party agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, signed under the auspices of the United Nations. More than 10 days later, its journey is facing serious commercial setbacks that could also be experienced by the dozens of grain tankers setting out in its wake. On the evening of Wednesday, August 10, the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship docked in Mersin, Turkey, for the first time after four days of sailing around in the waters off Cyprus. In the end, it delivered only 5% of the 26,527 metric tons of corn it was carrying to a Turkish buyer. The head of Turkish shipping company Toros Lojistik Kargo told Reuters that the Razoni is expected to set sail again to unload the rest of its cargo in Egypt. But this is only a guess, as Toros only took care of its delivery in the port of Mersin. 'Quality issues' Everything was going well until the grain carrier crossed the Bosphorus Strait, in northwestern Turkey, to enter the Aegean Sea. A welcoming committee, organized by the Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon, was waiting for the ship to arrive on August 7 at the port of Tripoli. They were preparing a communications operation targeted at grain buyers and the general public. But the initial buyer of the cargo, a Lebanese company, suddenly dropped out, despite the pressing need for grain in its country. After a few days of uncertainty, the Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon finally issued a statement explaining that the five-month delay due to the Russian blockade between the loading of the grain and its delivery had "prompted the buyer and the shipper to agree to cancel the order." It is as if the buyer, the first interested party, suddenly found out about the delay in delivery despite the world's attention having been focused on the ship for days. Rumors are rife, notably about possible Russian pressure on the Lebanese buyer. We are interested in your experience using the site. Send feedback Read more Subscribers only Wheat prices fall after Black Sea grain export deal "I don't think it's a matter of political pressure. The explanation is more basic," said Andrey Sizov, a consultant at SovEcon and an expert on the grain market around the Black Sea. "The issue lies in the quality of corn, which has remained in the hold of the ship for five months, whereas its maximum storage life is one month. Corn deteriorates quickly, mycotoxins develop and make the cargo unfit for consumption, even though this is food for livestock and not for humans. Maybe a sample has already been taken?" the expert asked. Before leaving Black Sea waters, the Razoni was jointly inspected by the Turks and the Russians, in accordance with the three-party agreement. You have 39.38% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only. The Disney Star television network will host the satellite premiere of SS Rajamoulis period drama RRR this August in three regional languages on its channels Star Suvarna (Kannada), Asianet (Malayalam) and Star Maa (Telugu). Offering high-quality entertainment is core to our content strategy at Disney Star. RRR resonated well with audiences across the world and we look forward to further strengthening our content portfolio with the addition of exciting movies and entertainment shows through the year," a Disney Star network spokesperson said in a statement. To be sure, mass-market films have been managing impressive satellite premieres in recent times as people work and study from home. Last year, Varun Dhawan-starrer Coolie No.1, heavily panned by viewers and critics alike after its launch on Amazon Prime Video, had clocked over one crore impressions on Zee Cinema, according to trade website Box Office India. Impressions refer to the number of individuals in thousands of a target audience who viewed an event, averaged across minutes. Movie channels contributed 24% to total television viewership and were the most viewed genre after general entertainment in 2020, according to a recent Ficci EY report. Amid the pandemic-induced mobility curbs, with people mostly home, TV audiences havent had a chance to watch these films in theatres, said broadcast industry executives. Small-town, mass-market audiences are also more likely to switch to films on TV rather than take to content on streaming platforms. Television film channels were expected to see a viewership jump of 10-20% as more people stayed at home during the second wave of covid infections last year coupled with the fact that a fresh slate of movies was also available. Movie premieres especially on holiday or festive weekends can bring advertising for broadcasters who may be able to recoup one-fifth of their investment in a single telecast. The Union Territory of Chandigarh created a new Guinness Book of World Record for the largest human image of a waving national flag on Saturday. The Chandigarh University and NID foundation, both achieved the landmark together. The event was part of the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign of the Union government which kicked off on Saturday and the citizens of India paid respects to the national tricolor in their own ways. The Indian flag was made with human formations and the movement was set in such a manner that it seemed like the flag is waving in the picture. #WATCH | Guinness World Record for the largest human image of a waving national flag achieved by Chandigarh University and NID Foundation at Chandigarh today. Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi was also present here on the occasion. pic.twitter.com/6jRgnsi5um ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2022 Meenakshi Lekhi, the Union Minister of Culture was also present at the event to mark the occasion. The title for this record is 'Largest Human Image of a Waving National Flag.' One such record was set in the UAE, years ago. Today, that record has been broken, thanks to the participation of 5,885 people" said Swapnil Dangarikar, GWR Official Adjudicator told ANI. The nation is celebrating the 75th year of Independence and the Har Ghar Tiranga is a three-day exercise to mark the occasion. Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah also hoisted the national flag at his Delhi residence today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked citizens to keep the national flag as the display picture on their social media accounts. He himself, with senior BJP leaders, changed the display picture of his social media accounts. COLOMBO : The Sri Lankan government has allowed a high-tech and controversial Chinese research ship to dock at the southern port of Hambantota on 16 August, despite India's concerns that it could spy on New Delhi's military installations. The Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship, 'Yuan Wang 5', was earlier scheduled to arrive on Thursday and remain at the port until 17 August for replenishment. The Yuan Wang 5 is described as a research and survey vessel by international shipping and analytics sites, but according to Indian reports it is a dual-use spy ship. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry requested the Chinese embassy last week to postpone the vessel's visit following security concerns raised by India. Subsequently, the vessel did not dock at the Hambantota port on Thursday as planned. According to the officials, the government has finally permitted the ship to dock at the port. It will now arrive on 16 August and remain at the port till 22 August, they said. The ship was awaiting clearance to enter from its location 600 nautical miles away east of Hambantota. Meanwhile, the matter created much controversy in the island nation with the Opposition blaming the government for what they termed mishandling of the issue. The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota is considered strategically important for its location. The port has been developed largely with Chinese loans. India has said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests. New Delhi is suspicious of Beijing's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean and influence in Sri Lanka, seeing both as being firmly within its sphere of influence. "We are aware of reports of a proposed visit by this vessel to Hambantota in August," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said in New Delhi when asked about the reports of a proposed visit by a Chinese vessel. "The government carefully monitors any development having a bearing on India's security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them," he said last month. India has traditionally taken a stern view of Chinese military vessels in the Indian Ocean and has protested such visits with Sri Lanka in the past. The ties between India and Sri Lanka came under strain after Colombo gave permission to a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to dock in one of its ports in 2014. India's concerns have been focused on Hambantota port in particular. In 2017, Colombo leased the southern port to China Merchant Port Holdings for 99 years, after Sri Lanka was unable to keep its loan repayment commitments, fanning fears over the potential use of the port for military purposes. On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was "completely unjustified for certain countries to cite the so-called security concerns" to pressure Sri Lanka. India on Friday rejected China's "insinuations" that New Delhi pressured Colombo against the planned visit by the Chinese research vessel but asserted that it will take decisions based on its security concerns. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Sri Lanka, as a sovereign country, makes its own independent decisions and noted that India would make its judgment on its security concerns based on the prevailing situation in the region, especially in the border areas. According to Indian reports, the Yuan Wang 5 could be employed for space and satellite tracking, and has specific uses in intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Even as permission for the Chinese vessel to enter Sri Lankan waters was announced, Colombo's air force said it had been given a maritime surveillance aircraft by India. It said the Dornier 228 patrol aircraft was loaned from the Indian naval fleet as part of a donation arranged in 2018. China is the main creditor of Sri Lanka with investment in infrastructure. Debt restructuring of Chinese loans would be key to the island's success in the ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. India, on the other hand, has been Sri Lanka's lifeline in the ongoing economic crisis. It has been at the forefront of extending economic assistance of nearly USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka during the year as the island nation is grappling with the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Port officials said the Chinese vessel was about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south-east of Sri Lanka on Friday night and was heading slowly towards the Hambantota deep sea port. Sri Lanka leased the port -- close to main shipping routes from Asia to Europe -- to China for 99 years for $1.12 billion, less than the $1.4 billion Sri Lanka paid a Chinese company to build it. Click here to read the full article. The fashions, fabrics and eye-crossingly patterned wallpapers of the 1970s abound in Angry Annie, a French period piece practically painted in avocado green and Le Creuset orange, with hand-crocheted accessories for good measure. Would that the rest of Blandine Lenoirs rousing abortion drama felt quite so dated. Instead, in a year where the overturning of Roe v. Wade signifies a major step back in the collective fight for womens reproductive rights, this story of women banding together to assert their bodily autonomy in an age of sexual revolution feels all too timely: not merely a compelling reminder of how things were, but a warning of how they could yet be. Bright and predominantly hopeful in tone, and powered by a typically lovable performance from recent Cesar winner Laure Calamy (Call My Agent) as a meek wife and mother emboldened by an underground womens movement, this is a less visceral, more crowdpleasing account of French abortion-rights history than Audrey Diwans celebrated Happening which was set a decade earlier than Lenoirs film, before much community around the cause had taken clear shape. But its no soft lob either, impressing with its inclusive, observant view of how abortion law affects women (and men) across a wide range of ages, social positions and domestic situations, and advocating for a continued collaboration in defending and enacting it. Tonally and narratively, Angry Annie is closer in spirit to this years Sundance-premiered Call Jane, its fictionalized angle on Frances real-life Movement for Liberty of Abortion and Contraception (MLAC) unfolding not dissimilarly to writer-director Phyllis Nagys take on Americas comparable Jane Collective. Such broadly recognizable parallel points will help Lenoirs lovingly crafted, heartily acted film attract global distributor interest following its premiere in Locarnos Piazza Grande showcase. (Some might want to reconsider the slightly comic-sounding English-language title, which doesnt quite convey the films communal focus and outlook.) French outfit Diaphana Films will release the film domestically in late November. Introductory title cards detail the 1973 establishment of MLAC, a movement aiming to assist women with safe illegal abortions and access to birth control, with local chapters across the country staffed by predominantly female volunteers and assisted by liberal-minded doctors, many of them male. Mild-mannered mother-of-two Annie (Calamy) isnt much for activism, even ducking out of workers rights meetings at the small-town mattress factory where she holds down an uninspiring job: Im not into all that political stuff, she says, and her loving but unimaginative husband Philippe (Yannick Choirat) likes it that way. When she falls pregnant with an unwanted third child, however, shes forced to think of her body as a political space. Shyly attending a covert MLAC meeting and going through with a successful, mostly painless Karmans-method abortion, shes surprised by the camaraderie and conviction of the women in the group, while her mind is opened to feminist theories of bodily discovery and the female orgasm. Soon enough, shes volunteering with them, talking other women through the patriarchally instilled feelings and shame and guilt she once held herself, and sensing a new lifes calling altogether to the growing consternation of Philippe, who may support a womans right to choose, but is less keen when that upends a long-held household hierarchy. The goal, of course, is to get abortion rights secured in law yet Angry Annie turns most interesting and emotionally nuanced when that very victory comes at some cost to the validation and belonging that women like Annie have found in groups like MLAC. They wont have the solidarity we had, she mutters, arguing that a clinically delivered legal abortion will be marked by respect but not tenderness, while others fear that legalizing abortion wont help many women in need if the procedure isnt covered by national healthcare. Even the most right-on male doctors, meanwhile, dismiss the feminist creed of MLAC in their pursuit of more sweeping political gestures. (You dont understand, one dares to mansplain to a woman questioning their bullish approach to activism.) Lenoir and Axelle Roperts screenplay may bend towards progress and uplift, but it isnt without its barbs: Theres a pleasing consideration here of the conditions and complexities of change. The warmth and good humor of Calamys performance protects Angry Annie from feeling like a dramatized debate at such junctures. Even at its most didactic, the film feels populated with credible, complicated characters rather than convenient case studies. One particularly moving scene sees a woman, reasoning that she hasnt the means or the energy for a seventh child, wrestling aloud with her own moral qualms as she undergoes the procedure: I have no right, but Im too tired, she weeps. For others, like the nervous teen calmed by Annies guidance, its a chance to begin adult life on her own terms; elsewhere, a young woman backs out after realizing her husband wants the termination more than she does. Theres no one-size-fits-all story in this open-hearted, empathetic film: Choice is the common factor that rights disparate lives in different ways. That seems obvious enough, though with lawmakers and activists restaging this battle half a century later, it appears to bear repeating. Reviewed at Locarno Film Festival (Piazza Grande), Aug. 10, 2022. Running time: 119 MIN. (Original title: Annie Colere) Running Time: Running time: 119 MIN. Production (France) An Aurora Films, Local Films production in co-production with France 3 Cinema in association with Cinemage 16, Cinecap 5, Indefilms 9, Cineaxe 3. (World sales: Indie Films, Paris.) Producers: Nicolas Breviere, Charlotte Vincent. Crew Director: Blandine Lenoir. Screenplay: Lenoir, Axelle Ropert. Camera: Celine Bozon. Editor: Stephanie Araud. Music: Bertrand Belin. With Laure Calamy, Zita Hanrot, India Hair, Rosemary Standley, Damien Chapelle, Yannick Choirat, Florence Muller, Lucia Sanchez, Pauline Serieys, Louise Labeque. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. In March of 1997, Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres were a happy couple in the flushes of new love. But when Heche wanted to bring her girlfriend to her upcoming movie premiere the disaster thriller Volcano, in which Heche was starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones 20th Century Fox, she later claimed, said no. I was told if I took Ellen I would lose my Fox contract, Heche said in 2020, during an appearance as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars. She brought DeGeneres anyway and said security escorted her out of the theater before the end of the movie. I was told I was not allowed to go to the afterparty for fear they would get a picture of me with a woman. Heche said that was the beginning of her career taking a nosedive, all because she wanted to love who she loved. Although the Nineties may not feel that far away (to some of us, anyway), we are worlds removed from that era, culturally. Today when stars come out as gay, theyre as likely to be embraced in the mainstream as they are vilified. At the time of the Volcano premiere, however, gay marriage was still more than a decade from being codified in the Constitution, and when celebrities sexualities were discussed, it was more in rumors and whispers than open conversation. When Heche who died Friday at age 53 after a car crash that left her in a coma came out 25 years ago, she was a part of one of the first high-profile gay couples pop culture had ever seen. Many people believed the relationship was a publicity stunt. But by going to events, attending parties, appearing on Oprah Winfreys show alongside DeGeneres (although Heche later soured on both women), and generally being highly visible in a gay couple, Heche helped pave the way for LGBTQ stars in Hollywood. In the media, the immediate reaction to Heches coming-out was pearl-clutchy, at best. Problem for Hollywood: DeGeneress Companion read the New York Times headline on an April 1997 article that fretted over whether film executives could accept gay actors being cast in heterosexual movie roles. DeGeneres status as a TV star came with consequences an Alabama ABC affiliate said it would not air the episode of her sitcom at the time, Ellen, where her character came out but Heche was a movie star. And at that time, movie stars who were gay were expected to keep it quiet, no exceptions. After all, Heche was starring opposite a man in Volcano, as the Times story helpfully underscored. There has not been a case in time where somebody has been this public about having a lesbian affair and asking us and the public to accept them as a female romantic lead, one powerful Hollywood agent told the paper. Its an important test case. Heche probably would not lose her role starring opposite Harrison Ford in the upcoming Six Days Seven Nights, the article said. But all that publicity surrounding the lesbian affair apparently gave Hollywood bigwigs a lot to ponder. Other outlets at the time suggested women coming out were being trendy, or even opportunistic. Is show business in the grip of lesbian chic? asked a Baltimore Sun headline about the couple. If last seasons must-have was a baby, this season its a girlfriend, said an article in The Independent headlined Oh, the Lesbian Chic of it All. The piece outlined what the author described as the growing acceptance of lesbianism, citing several examples of celebrity girl-on-girl attraction (Ginger Spice had admitted she fancied Posh Spice, gasp!) and presenting DeGeneres, with her rising-star lover Heche, as the leaders of the pack. One New York Post article pegged to the public kerfuffle cited a study suggesting gay women made more money then their hetero counterparts. In a true sign of the times, some outlets even went after Heches looks. Never mind another woman. Ellen is dating a hideously dressed conehead sniped a 1998 piece in Torontos National Post. Much of the media seemed to think Heche who always maintained she would fall in love with a person, not their gender, and would later go on to marry and have children with a man and DeGeneres were doing it for the publicity. Though at the time, it was nearly impossible to be in a famous gay couple without drawing a shit-ton of attention. The Washington Post covered the pairs attendance at the White House Correspondents dinner a few days after the Volcano premiere, and called them the couple of the evening, with no small dose of snark. DeGeneres, the author wrote, made quite the show of strolling about the evenings pre- and post-dinner parties in various states of attachment to Heche. The author also observed how the press glommed onto the couples every interaction, including when a photographer burst into a room where they were relaxing and shouted, Shes rubbing her back! while snapping photo after photo. Even fellow members of the LGBTQ community questioned DeGeneres and Heches motivations in being so publicly gay. In a New York Magazine interview, Sandra Bernhard, who was out and already considered a reluctant lesbian icon, according to the article, called Heches relationship with DeGeneres schtick. I think theyre targets for every imaginable kind of hatred, and who wants to expose yourself to that? she said. Heche and DeGeneres met at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in March 1997. DeGeneres Time cover story with the now-iconic headline Yep, Im Gay came out shortly after that and just days before the Volcano premiere. Yet despite accusations that they were doing nothing more than courting attention, they stayed together for three years. The relationship fell apart, as relationships do. In 2021, Heche spoke on her podcast, saying theyd split up because DeGeneres was more interested in making money than finding love. She also accused Oprah of partnering with DeGeneres to cut her out of a talk-show episode commemorating the 20th anniversary of DeGeneres coming-out. (After Heches death, DeGeneres tweeted, This is a sad day. Im sending Annes children, family and friends all of my love.) Heche suggested on multiple occasions that the backlash to the same-sex romance negatively impacted her career. She did lose her contract with 20th Century Fox after the Volcano premiere, she claimed. The stigma attached to that relationship was so bad that I was fired from my multimillion-dollar picture deal and I did not work in a studio picture for 10 years, she said in multiple interviews, including on Dancing With the Stars. Still, in a 2020 interview with Mr. Warburton magazine, Heche stood by her choices. I am proud that I took a stand early in my life for LGBTQ rights, she said. I would do it again, even knowing its consequences on my career. WE HAVE A HOST! WE HAVE A HOST! And it was the most obvious and perfect choice for NBC this year. Ifandwerent going to host the Emmys (and trust me, neither talk show star had a DROP of interest in doing this gig again), why not turn to your other late night franchise and this biggest of them all Saturday Night Live. And if youre going to mine SNL, then you gotta go with the GOAT., beloved by multiple generations and a staple on NBC, is a great choice. Im looking forward to seeing who shows up to play with Kenan that night and given how many Emmy nominees are SNL alums who once worked with Thompson (I hopeis wearing a tracksuit under his tux, because there will very much need to be a Whats Up With That moment!), there will be a lot to play with.Of course, voting is now underway hence this bonus AWARDS HQ and will continue until Monday, August 22, at 10 p.m. PT. Vote wisely and vote often! Wait, no. There shall be no voter fraud at the Emmys. But check out Varietys Awards Circuit tab to get all your info on the shows and talent to watch, as well as predictions and more. And now lets get going! Hosting an awards show these days is considered a pretty thankless job, with little upside dwindling ratings, snarky social media posts and rigid formats that are tough to change. And yet, its still a bit of a bucket list item for many performers. Which is why I totally get it thatwould say yes to this years Emmys. (And I find it doubly admirable that he agreed to do it, even after TV Academy voters snubbed him this year and NBC canceled his primetime sitcom!)They asked, and its an honor, Thompson told me on a sweltering August afternoon in Hollywood, where he was receiving his star on the Walk of Fame. Its a giant career milestone to host an Emmys, an Oscars, a Tonys, whatever. So you get that phone call, you should take it!His NBC colleague, who hosted in 2014, had no interest in doing it again (nor did, who hosted in 2010). SNL Weekend Update anchorsanddid it in 2018, so it would only make sense that NBC would go to the SNL GOAT, Thompson, to take the reins this time around.Everyones got to do it once, and its his turn, hes earned it, Meyers says. The good news is Kenan, like I was, is lucky enough to be connected to a talented group of writers. The SNL writing staff Im sure its going to show up for Kenan because he has been showing up for them and their sketches, getting laughs on looks and line reads for two decades.Read more about what Thompson, Meyers and NBCUssay about the choice here Right from the start, In Search of stood out. I discovered N.E.R.D.s 2002 debut at a Best Buy on the rim of Houstons I-10 loop, sitting at the front of the store on a blue kiosk marked $6.99. I was a first-year high school English teacher, struggling to pull together all the things expected of me. There was this unfussy album cover staring at me, with a twenty-something Black guy on a battered-looking couch in a nondescript apartment playing a video game in his house clothes, blankly staring at an off-screen TV, blissfully unaware of the camera. The cover drew me in with its mundane imagery a breath of fresh air compared to the bad-boy glamor on the covers of the rap albums I was also buying around that time. Nearly every N.ER.D. fan has a story like this about the first time In Search Of crossed their radar. And over the next 20 years, the album became a touchstone to the next generation of visionaries. Created by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, a.k.a. the Neptunes, with their longtime Virginia Beach friend Shay Haley, N.E.R.D. was a divergent project in its time. Its sound was far afield from the inescapable pop, rap and R&B hits theyd produced for artists like Kelis, Jay-Z, and Britney Spears in the years leading up to its release. Instead of their trademark futuristic Neptune sound, N.E.R.D. offered a brash rap-rock-funk hybrid a combination that left them in search of an audience, at least among a largely skeptical critical establishment. A 2002 Pitchfork review lacerated In Search Of, comparing its sound to frat house anthem[s] and Rap-Metal 101, and concluding that the album was closer to Kid Rock than the AC/DC influences Pharrell cited on the bands website. This was a fairly common take on their debut. I remember a local Black Philly radio station playing Rock Star and the DJ coming in at the end saying, I dont know what that was, but dont worry, yall we wont be playing that type of music on here. The subtext in many corners was clear: Who did these non-white dudes think they were, trying to do rock music? Who told these two inventive pop-machine producers they could do something other than what the industry was already celebrating them for? There was a path for rap/R&B producers and visionaries at the time: make hits, do solo projects, make clothing lines, partner with an alcohol brand, maybe start a record label. The Neptunes did some of those things over time, but N.E.R.D. showed that they were also interested in exploring and expressing things that didnt fit into the conventional boxes. For the misfit fans who found In Search Of.., the discovery was emotionally akin to being handed your first comic book, skateboard, or anime film: a veil pulled back, revealing another world adjacent to the one you were navigating. As someone who found himself crammed into the margins of other peoples expectations around my identity, finding N.E.R.D. as a 22-year-old was both revelation and validation. Here, I thought, are my people. For many of us who discovered their music, and its place in a long line of non-white alternative expression from Sly Stone to Bad Brains, N.E.R.D.s mere existence the defiant, blissful way they rejected false binaries gave language and visualization to something that had escaped us for the longest time. This was a boundless album that wasnt interested in being boxed in based on melanin or melody. Look past the insecure braggadocio of Lapdance, Truth or Dare, and Brain, and you could find the story of a relentless, optimistic romantic in Run to the Sun, Am I High, and the sometimes emotionally contradictory Baby Doll. Tracks like Provider, Bobby James, and Things Are Getting Better swing through bouts of optimism, fear, confidence, and abandonment. Toward the end of the album, Rockstar arrives like a triumphant bullhorn for the bullied meek who will inherit the earth. N.E.R.D.s debut gave validation to a whole generation of hyphenates people who straddle cultures, genres, identities, and expressions. Its fans include some of the last two decades most influential tastemakers and creatives. The late Virgil Abloh cited In Search Ofas a portal that allowed Black kids to jump through the door to the sort of boundless creativity and identities that didnt fit the fixed definitions around us. On the other side of that door, weve gotten a flood of artists and sounds. Afro-indigenous multi-genre artist Princess Nokia has cited the bands trademark trucker hat as one of her nine things she cant live without. The Odd Future gang are among the projects clearest disciples: Syd, Tyler the Creator, and Frank Ocean have all referenced N.E.R.D. as a foundation to their art. Ego Death, the Internets acclaimed 2015 album, follows a cultural blueprint similar to In Search Of.. Throughout his solo work, Tyler, the Creator has both referenced and collaborated with Pharrell and N.E.R.D. Similarly, Frank Ocean has worked with Pharrell (Channel Oranges Sweet Life), and Blondes Nights has emotional echoes of Provider to it. At the 2014 Camp Flog Gnaw festival, the two generations combined as N.E.R.D. and Tyler performed on stage together. Afterwards, Tyler interviewed Pharrell in a post-show conversation that felt like a passing of the baton, as Pharrell told him: The stories you used to tell me about listening to our albummean more to me than to you. In 2022, music is still a racialized identity battlefield. C-suites, streaming platforms, concert venues, and the music industry as a whole are too often caught up in the illusion that creative expression falls heavily along color lines. In the wider world, we are still caught in conversations that reinforce the supremacy of culture, identity, race, and gender in fixed, dominant or inferior positions. Art has always been a way of providing a counter-argument to these notions. In Search Ofmay not have everyones definition of depth, but 20 years later, as many of N.E.R.D.s sounds and aesthetics have moved towards the center, its clear theres been a resonance. A generation later, weve still got a world to explore outside the box. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is staying at a hotel in the heart of Bangkok and police are advising him not to leave for security reasons, a source quoted by local media in Bangkok has reported. Mr Rajapaksa arrived with three other people on a chartered flight from Singapore at Don Mueang International Airport around 8pm on Thursday. According to the source, the group had planned to land in Phuket but concerns about a possible information leak resulted in the flight being redirected to Bangkok. At the hotel, the location of which was not disclosed, plainclothes officers from the Special Branch Bureau have been deployed to ensure his safety. Officials have asked the former leader to remain within the hotel during his stay in the country, the source told the Bangkok Post. Mr Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on July 14 for Singapore amid massive protests over the countrys worst economic crisis in decades. He resigned from the presidency after arriving in the city-state, where his visa expired this week. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters on Wednesday that Mr Rajapaksa would be allowed to enter Thailand on humanitarian grounds but would be advised to keep a low profile. Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai of Thailand said the former Sri Lankan president could stay for up to 90 days as he carried a diplomatic passport. Mr Rajapaksa has made no public appearances or comments since leaving Sri Lanka. Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome yesterday took to Facebook to attack the government for allowing Mr Rajapaksa to stay in Thailand while [turning] away Myanmar people fleeing war in the neighbouring country. Source: Bangkok Post Click here to read the full article. When the first edition of what would become the Sarajevo Film Festival was held in 1995, the Bosnian capital was in the final year of a devastating, four-year siege. Electricity shortages plunged the city into darkness, while food and hard currency were scarce. The inaugural screenings were held in the basement of a bombed-out building a literal hole-in-the-wall where tickets could be purchased with cigarettes instead of cash. The annual event that emerged from the rubble didnt just contribute to the cultural life of the city. In the early days after the siege, organizers and local clean-up crews got to work around Sarajevo, refurbishing historic buildings that had been destroyed by the shelling and converting them into festival venues. Everyone who was involved felt that they were contributing to this rebuilding, says festival director Jovan Marjanovic. The city was almost fully destroyed. And the festival was the place, and this time in the summer, when it would come alive. That experience helped to forge a unique relationship between the Sarajevo Film Festival and its host city, born from a resilience that has helped it navigate periods of flux and uncertainty to become the leading audience and industry event in the Balkans. After two years of slimmed-down editions and pandemic-fueled disruptions, festival leadership expects a robust turn-out on par with the last, record-breaking event in 2019. The festival, which runs Aug. 12-20, kicked off with Palme dOr winner Triangle of Sadness, from Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, who received an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award during the opening ceremony. Other filmmakers to be honored at this years event include U.S. writer and director Paul Schrader, who will present a special screening of his 2021 Venice selection The Card Counter, and actor Jesse Eisenberg, in Sarajevo with his directorial debut When You Finish Saving the World. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen will also be feted before a screening of his film The Hunt, while Ukrainian documentary filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa will be celebrated with a retrospective of his work. Among the 51 films competing for Heart of Sarajevo Awards are 20 world and eight international premieres, with half of the eight films in the main competition bowing in the Bosnian capital. They include A Ballad, from veteran Bosnian director Aida Begic, whose debut feature Snow won the Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes; Men of Deeds, the latest from Romanias Paul Negoescu, director of the hit caper comedy Two Lottery Tickets; and feature debuts from Slovenias Dominik Mencej (Riders) and Hungarys Noemi Veronika Szakonyi (Six Weeks). Continuity has been a key part of Sarajevos staying power: Marjanovic was the former head of the festivals industry department before being promoted to co-director last year, taking the helm when festival director and founder Mirsad Purivatra stepped down in February. Many of the regions emerging talents have likewise grown with the festival, graduating from its Talents Sarajevo training platform to present their first films in the CineLink Co-Production Market and later walk the red carpet outside the National Theater for their festival premieres. Its that deep rootedness in the region thats helped festival leadership keep pace with the times. Case in point: Sarajevos CineLink Industry Days was ahead of the curve when it came to recognizing the potential of Balkan drama, laying the groundwork for an era when global and regional streaming services are jockeying for high-end local content. Six years after launching a co-financing forum for TV projects from the former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo has become the premiere event to pitch, finance and launch dramatic series from the region, with this years roster of industry guests including executives from global players Mediawan and Fremantle. They recognize that we are the place to discover this part of the world, says industry head Masa Markovic. This years event nevertheless proves that the pandemic has left a lasting imprint on how Sarajevo will unfold in the years ahead. After two years of hybrid events, says Marjanovic, We can do some of the things more efficiently. Some of the positive outcomes from these past two years have been integrated in this years process. And I think theyre here to stay. Online tools that made it possible, for example, to host hybrid events during the pandemic will allow Ukrainian filmmakers to participate in this years festival despite the ongoing Russian war. The return of audiences to sold-out cinemas after two years of COVID-19 fatigue, however, will be the surest sign that the Sarajevo Film Festival has returned to its roots, reinvigorating life in the Bosnian capital. This is the event that the people of Sarajevo wait for year-round, says Marjanovic. These things are key to keep the festival for the people of the city where it came from. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Following a vibrant 2022 edition in a three-year cycle dedicated to Latin America and the Caribbean which she oversaw in an interim capacity, Zsuzsi Bankuti has been appointed the new head of Locarnos Open Doors. She replaces long-time Open Doors chief Sophie Bourdon, who stepped down earlier this year. The key to this years Open Doors was its inspired choice of a focus on smaller territories in Latin America which are often home to first-class directors one director this year, Dominican Yanillys Perez scooped a Discovery Award at the Toronto Festival with her doc-feature Jeffrey, for example but, apart from the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, lack robust state subsidy systems enabling producers to produce movies easily out of their own countries. The obvious solution is international co-production. Tailor-made to advance this, Open Doors offers producers and directors networking opportunities and targeted training as well as a showcase for their films for an international audience. This years edition served to highlight projects which suddenly leapt into the limelight, such as winners Moa, an eco-drama from Cubas Marcel Beltran, Kids Swimming in the Lake, a fresh take on emigration from Cannes Cinefondation laureate Michael Labarca and Yashira Jordans Diamond. Open Doors also furthered co-production deals, Bubbles Projects in Brazil, for instance, boarding Kids Swimming and Argentinas Maravilla Cine confirming its production partnership on Diamond. Open Doors also confirmed how the battle for emancipation in Latin America has broadened to address frontally LGBTQ issues, notably in Andean queer cinema titles such as Diamond or Nusta, brought to the Open Doors Producers Lab by Ecuadors Daniela Fuentes Moncada. All of which made for a compelling Open Doors edition. Working in Locarno is one of the most exciting professional experiences of my whole life, said Bankuti. I am looking forward to discovering and developing new talents from this amazing and vibrant region and even more to do so in a festival that feels like home, she added. Bankuti brings large experience to her new job, having served as head of acquisitions at both Cirko Film in Budapest from 2000 and then from 2012 for eight years at The Match Factory, where she oversaw most of the upcoming talents and film productions, international sales activities, festival and marketing strategies. She joined Open Doors team in 2020, working as a talent development manager and leading its year-round-activities. Zsuzsi Bankuti was able to immediately inject innovative energy into Open Doors, which has been for 20 years a crucial element of the Locarno Film Festival, commented Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival. Her professional experience in the film industry and her innovative vision as well as her ability to creatively manage a motivated and talented team lays the best foundation for the new three-year cycle dedicated to Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Zsuzsis appointment as head of Open Doors is wonderful news for Locarno Pro! Having known her for over a decade, I strongly believe that she will be key to the further development of this initiative! concluded Markus Duffner, head of Locarno Pro, the Swiss festivals industry arm. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When he appeared on Fox News Hannity last week, Gov. Greg Abbott kept smiling. Four months prior, he had announced that the state of Texas was planning to bus migrants from near the Texas-Mexico border to Washington, D.C., a move that drew mixed reviews even among conservatives and soon fell off the political radar. But then New York City Mayor Eric Adams began raising alarms about the impact on his city. This just shows the hypocrisy of these liberal leaders up in the northeast who think, That border crisis created by Joe Biden, thats fine as long as Texas has to deal with it, Abbott told the host, Sean Hannity. But as soon as they have to deal with the real consequences of Bidens border-caused crisis, they are up in arms. For days, Abbott had denied Adams claims that Texas was even sending migrants to New York. But that Wednesday night, he told Hannity that he was looking at new cities to send them to. Well, New York sounds like a good one, Hannity said. Then one of the highest-rated hosts in cable news reminded his viewers the importance of reelecting Abbott this fall. Two days later, Abbott announced the arrival in New York of the first bus from Texas. And ever since, the two politicians have traded barbs through the media. For Abbott, the bickering has been a political boon. Its an opportunity to turn the focus on an issue that he views as a strength for him in the state, while Democrats try to energize voters over abortion rights, the states precarious power grid and the fallout from the Uvalde school shooting. Meanwhile, in New York, Adams continues to ring the alarm about the real human cost of sending the migrants on a cross-country trek, though there are signs the shelters he says are being strained faced overcrowding problems before any migrants arrived on a bus from Texas. I think that Gov. Abbott, what hes doing is just so inhumane, Adams said Monday at an unrelated news conference, accusing Abbott of putting them on a bus for the 44-hour ride, very few breaks, no food, no direction and clear information. Adams then vowed: Our goal is every asylum-seeker that comes to New York, we're going to give them shelter and support that they need. New Yorks mayor has been scrambling to deliver on that promise relying on volunteer mutual aid groups and notorious for-profit homeless hotel operators to provide the basics of clothing, food and shelter. Counting on the Grannies With three buses carrying asylum-seekers set to arrive in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, New York City immigration and social service officials waited inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in a makeshift barricaded welcome area. Joining them in the cordoned-off space were volunteers from the immigrant aid group Grannies Respond. With no communication between the state of Texas and New York City, the nonprofit organization has become a key link in the Adams administrations chain of response. Grannies Respond was founded in 2018, when 30 people from upstate Beacon, New York, formed a caravan to the southern border, said Catherine Cole, its executive director. She said Grannies Respond now has a presence in at least 13 states. Ilze Thielmann, director of Team TLC NYC, a Grannies Respond affiliate, corresponds with the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs whenever she learns of a new bus headed to New York. Thats the only way the city is finding out about these buses, through me personally, she said. During a New York City Council hearing Tuesday, the commissioner of the Mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs, Manuel Castro, acknowledged that the Adams administration was completely in the dark about when the buses were arriving and how many passengers they carried because the bus company doing the transporting refused to communicate with New York officials. Thielmann said she has a lot of different sources of information through the Grannies Respond volunteer network and others, but she and Cole declined to share the specifics of how theyre finding out about the bus arrivals. Meanwhile, a band of volunteers, including members of South Bronx Mutual Aid and No ICE NYC, set up an ad hoc distribution center Wednesday on the Eighth Avenue sidewalk, loaded with clothes, menstrual products, COVID tests and other supplies the new arrivals might need. Volunteers said city officials did not allow them into the welcome center inside the terminal. Ninety-two asylum-seekers landed in the city Wednesday, according to MOIA, the most to come to NYC in a single day since Abbott announced the first New York City-bound bus Friday. One of the travelers, Luis Villegas-Alvarado, 36, carried with him papers issued by the Department of Homeland Security after he was apprehended on Aug. 7 at the border, listing two New York addresses. One is for the immigration office in lower Manhattan, where he has an October check-in date, and the other for a mens homeless shelter on West 168th Street in Manhattan listed as his local address. (In fact, single men can apply to enter the system only at a different location miles south on 30th Street in Manhattan.) That means the federal government under President Joe Biden made the first move to send Villegas-Alvarado to New York City. Ive always wanted to get to know the United States, and more so this city, he said in Spanish. In my country if youre against the government, theyll tell you youll follow the rules or here are the doors of the prison open for you. With that pressure you prefer to leave the country voluntarily so nothing bad happens to you. Castro excoriated Abbott outside of the bus terminal after the buses arrived. Governor Abbott is weaponizing the situation, trying to cause as much harm, disruption, by not communicating with us, said Castro. So the nonprofit organizations that are working both in Texas and along this journey who communicate with us are essential in knowing when the buses will be arriving and the people that are boarding and really understanding the situation. Abbott has said hes sending the buses north so that the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border. The plan came in response to Bidens attempt to lift Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allows authorities to turn away migrants, including those seeking asylum. The arrival of asylum-seekers to New York City came into focus when the mayor said in late July that they were the primary reason for a sudden rise in the number of people looking for shelter beds. At the time, Abbott denied sending any migrants to New York. He sent a letter to Adams and Bowser inviting them to the Texas-Mexico border region to see firsthand the dire situation. Adams declined the invitation, saying Abbott should focus on helping asylum-seekers in Texas as we have been hard at work doing in New York City. The first busload of migrants arrived soon after. In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city, Abbott said. I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief. National appeal For Abbott, who is running for reelection this year and is considered a potential presidential candidate for 2024, the busing appeals to a national audience, said Jeronimo Cortina, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston. Its trying to elevate his political stance in the sense of being a governor that gets things done, Cortina said. Cortina said the busing program will be popular among the far-right enclave of the GOP party, particularly those in former President Donald Trumps voter base. Trump, after all, was one of the first to raise the idea of busing migrants to so-called sanctuary cities, saying in 2019 that Democrats were unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws. If youre talking about the MAGA GOP, I think its going to be extremely, extremely, extremely popular, Cortina said. I mean, its one of the greatest hits, perhaps within their top five policy preferences. And the subsequent fighting with the mayor of a city that looms large in the imagination of a lot of conservative Texans is an added bonus. Adams has at times played into that with his criticism. I already called all of my friends in Texas and told them how to cast their vote, Adams quipped Tuesday when asked if he would campaign for Abbotts Democratic gubernatorial rival Beto ORourke, according to the New York Daily News. I am deeply contemplating taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good old-fashioned door knocking. The governor shot back in another appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, saying New York is flummoxed now that theyre getting a taste of what were having to deal with. He said the New York City and Washington mayors are engaging in rank hypocrisy. Clogged shelter system When Adams first claimed Texas was busing migrants to New York, his administration was already aware of a homeless shelter bed shortage that had been taking shape since late spring, in a city with a legal right to shelter on demand. The number of families in shelter began climbing from around 8,100 in mid-May to top 9,400 by July 19. At that point, the family shelter vacancy rate had dropped to around 1%, well below the 5% rate the city strives to maintain. This was the backstory when on July 19, Adams suddenly came forward to claim a dramatic spike in the number of asylum-seekers was triggering a crisis in New York Citys shelter system. For the first time, Adams alleged that in some instances, families are arriving on buses sent by the Texas and Arizona governments. In some cases it appears nonprofit groups in Washington had sent asylum-seekers on to New York. Advocates for homeless people have persistently questioned Adams claim about the scope of the migrant exodus to New York. They attributed much of the wave to the usual spike in families applying for shelter that occurs every summer, along with the end of the states pandemic-related eviction moratorium. The capacity crisis, they contend, was caused not by an increase in migrants but by the Adams administrations failure to plan ahead to maintain an adequate supply of beds. The focus by City Hall on asylum-seekers was, they say, misdirection to divert attention away from what was already happening on the ground. It coincided with revelations that families were forced to sleep overnight on chairs and the floor in a Bronx intake center in violation of city laws requiring that all families that arrive at the center by 10 p.m. be placed in shelter by 4 a.m. They knew they had a problem a long time ago. Thats the thing thats shocking to us, said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless. The accusation of the governor sending asylum-seekers without proof, when it wasn't happening that just adds to the problem. Thats just not how the system should be operating. In a sense, Nortz said, Adams got gamed by Abbott. Responding to Adams claim of a Texas-sponsored asylum-seeker pipeline to the Big Apple, Abbott apparently decided to turn Adams fictional narrative into nonfiction. As far as Im concerned, she said, if politicians accuse politicians of something theyre not doing, they run the risk of them doing it. Department of Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins told the Council on Tuesday his agency was performing a reconciliation that had confirmed the number of asylum-seekers requesting shelter by inquiring about whether they have an out-of-state address and fear returning to their home country. For months, the Adams administration had been placing homeless families in hotel rooms paid for by city government, including some whose owners have a history of substandard conditions undoing years of city efforts to stop using hotels as shelters. As of last week, 11 hotels across the city are involved. And more are coming. Scrambling to fill the need for more beds, the mayor waived competitive bidding rules to hire providers who will open what he said would be shelters specifically designated for asylum-seekers. A Department of Homeless Services request for providers asks for up to 5,000 units in facilities such as commercial hotels or other similar facilities throughout NYC. City Hall is now negotiating with New York Gov. Kathy Hochuls administration to waive state regulations to quickly open new shelters though as of Thursday, a day after vendors deadline to submit proposals, the Adams administration had yet to submit a specific request to the state. When a formal proposal is submitted, OTDA will undertake a detailed review and coordinate with the city to ensure individuals and families can access the services they need, said state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance spokesperson Anthony Farmer. Both Adams and Hochul have been pressing the Biden administration for federal funding to address the emergency. Just doing our best In the meantime, its the Spanish-speaking aid group volunteers who are ensuring new arrivals get their bearings in a strange city after their lengthy ride and find their way to the city-run shelters. Some are growing increasingly frustrated with the Adams administration with one displaying a handwritten sign at the bus station reading: Eric Adams has no plan! On Wednesday, Team TLC NYC and Grannies Respond helped escort migrants off the buses and into Port Authority, provided them with boxed meals, helped them fill out forms, offered them medical care and let them fill bags with toiletries. On the sidewalk, volunteers sorted the travelers into small groups and supplied them with rides to their next destination, including Uber trips booked with city-provided codes. Ariadna Phillips, founder of the South Bronx Mutual Aid, said that as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, she and her colleagues were still with the asylum-seekers to ensure that they were accepted into the shelter system nearly 11 hours after the volunteers had arrived. We dont work for the city, she said. Were just doing our best. She sees Adams efforts as falling far short. There needs to be a coordinated government response to handle this responsibly this is urgent, this is time-sensitive or we're going to have a massive humanitarian crisis on our hands in the city, Phillips said. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. MEXICO CITY (AP) Nicaraguas police have prohibited a religious procession scheduled for Saturday in the capital, the latest sign of tensions between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. The Managua Archdiocese urged the faithful to come directly and peacefully to the cathedral Saturday to pray for the church and Nicaragua. The National Police have advised us that for reasons of internal security the procession scheduled for 7 a.m. this Aug. 13, an activity planned on the occasion of the Marian Congress and conclusion of the pilgrimage of the image of Our Lady of Fatima in national territory, is not permitted, the archdiocese said in a statement. On Aug. 1, the government announced that Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Alvarez was under investigation for allegedly promoting hate and inciting violence. It said he would not be permitted to leave the church compound that includes his residence while the investigation continued. Police have kept the compound encircled. Alvarez has been an outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortegas government. Prior to that, the government closed seven radio stations owned by the Catholic Church in Matagalpa province. The police have not allowed large public gatherings, except those sponsored by the government or the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party, since September 2018. Earlier that year, in April, huge street protests became a call for Ortega to step down. Ortega has maintained that it was a coup attempt carried out with foreign backing and the support of the church. Since then his government has moved against voices of dissent, including political opposition leaders and more than 1,000 nongovernmental organizations. The WBCAs prestigious Mr. South Texas award winner for 2023 was announced on Friday morning at Texas Community Bank. Carroll Erwin Summers Jr. received the honor this year for his history contributing to the Laredo community as part of the 125th Washington Birthday Celebration. A former Air Force pilot, engineer and ranch manager, he has made a significant impact in the Laredo community since first arriving to the area in 1956. I dont feel like I deserve the honor, but it is really great honor to have, Summers said. I will try to follow the footsteps of the previous Mr. South Texas (honorees). I will try to do the best I can with it, and I look forward to what comes in advance. I thank everyone for all the support they are giving us and all the help over the years. Since 1952, the WBCA has honored a person for their contributions to the growth and development of the area. A selection committee comprised of former WBCA presidents and former local Mr. South Texas recipients meet to discuss potential candidates and to select the honoree each year. An effort is made to select persons from all walks of life who have contributed to the growth of South Texas. This committee identified Summers as an honoree that was undoubtedly deserving of the award. I am honored, and I am humbled, Summers said. I would not be here today without all the love and support of my wife of almost 64 years, Evelyn (Bruni). Looking at the list of past recipients, I realize that I am way out of my class, and I will try my best not to embarrass them by having my name added to this list but at the age of 90, I dont have much time left with which to do so. So with a grateful heart, I offer thanks to the selection committee for all they do to bring light to Laredo and the Washingtons Birthday Celebration. While Summers may be modest, WBCA President Matthew Gibson lauded him as a great person who has greatly contributed to the community and is absolutely worthy of being called Mr. South Texas. Carrol Erwin Summers, Jr. is truly one of Laredo's unsung heroes a man who has done many great things for our community usually behind the scenes and always with a selfless nature, Gibson said. He is a great asset to Laredo and South Texas, and certainly more than worthy of the Mr. South Texas title. Looking forward, the Mr. South Texas Luncheon hosted by Texas Community Bank will take place on Feb. 18, 2023 at noon at the Laredo Country Club. It will feature an official induction ceremony and the presentation of the Caballero Medallion. The luncheon is one of more than 32 events in the WBC calendar, with the Celebration set to take place from Jan. 19 to March 4, 2023. Summers was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina on Sept. 2, 1931 to Anabel Hill Summers and Judge Carroll E. Summers. He was an Eagle Scout and member of the Order of the Arrow. Summers graduated in 1954 from The Citadel Military College in South Carolina with a degree in civil engineering. At The Citadel, he was a four-year letterman on the Citadel swim team. Following college, Summers entered the U.S. Air Force and went through pilot training as he was trained as an instructor pilot. He was then stationed at Laredo Air Force Base in 1956 as an instructor pilot. It was in Laredo that he experienced the high point of his life, meeting and marrying Evelyn Bruni, the wind beneath (his) wings. Summers was discharged from active duty in 1958 and served as a captain in the reserves until 1968. He worked with the Texas Department of Highways as an engineer and returned to Laredo after the passing of his father-in-law, Ernest M. Bruni. It was then that he started managing the family ranches, which he has done successfully for 60 years. Summers also worked with Border Road Construction Company and helped set up Laredo International Sales & Service. He then bought into Lare-Tex Feed & Mineral, which he continued for 37 staying very active and involved in local 4-H and FFA programs. Summers was active in the Border Olympics for over 30 years serving as president for two years, a bank director for over 35 years, a trustee of the United Methodist Church for 37 years and a Director of Webb Soil & Water Conservation for 45 years the latter where he helped establish a scholarship program for students interested in the agricultural field. He was also active in the Tax-Payer League, which forced Webb County to put in open space and implement agriculture value tax rates. Summers also was a long-time member of Laredo Rotary Club, served on the Ruth B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center board and served on the boards of both Ursuline and United Day Schools. Summers was elected as trustee and president of the United Independent School Board, where he was instrumental in establishing a swimming program to teach swimming and life-saving techniques, as well as having it available for general community use. He secured funding and construction of the first swimming pool for a Laredo school district. He then worked with an AAU age group swimming program and was the meet director for five years. Previously a scout, Summers was active in Laredo scouting for years and was honored in 2019 for his dedication. In 1979, the Laredo Morning Times honored him as Man of the Year, and in 1987, he portrayed George Washington as part of the citywide Washingtons Birthday Celebration. He was recognized by the LULAC Council #12 as Tejano Achiever in 2021. Summers work with the Texas Wildlife Association brought the first Texas Youth hunts to Webb County in 1999. He has sponsored and hosted these hunts ever since at the familys ranches, La Martinena in Encinal and El Ranchito in Mirando City. He has been honored with the Cola Blanca wildlife management award, Webb County Heritage Rancher of the Year, L.I.F.E.s Rancher of the Year and WSCDs Wildlife and Conservation Rancher-Business Man and Lifetime Achievement Awards. Following the death of his son Carroll Summers III, Summers along with his wife Evelyn created an educational endowment at Laredo College for Webb and Zapata County students pursuing nursing studies. The selection criteria is based on need, not necessarily grade point average. Another endowment in his sons name was established at Texas A&M International assisting students studying nursing, teacher education and STEM. And most recently through the Laredo Area Community Foundation, Carroll and Evelyn Summers set up an outreach endowment which benefits local charities. All three programs are still active and viable, having assisted many students further their education each year. Theyve said that it is their hope that what they have tried to do will be an example to others, as education is the foundation for success. karol.garcia@lmtonline.com Mark Humphrey/Associated Press The Department of Justice is investigating the Southern Baptist Convention following the release of an explosive report detailing how leaders of the nation's second-largest faith organization quashed abuse survivors' stories and resisted organizational reforms, the Houston Chronicle's Robert Downen and John Tedesco reported Friday. The SBC's Executive Committee confirmed in a statement to the Chronicle that the DOJ is currently probing "multiple" member organizations within the SBC. Leaders also made clear that they intend to cooperate with the investigation. Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) Taimur arrived at the port of Colombo on a formal visit yesterday morning (12th August 2022). The visiting ship was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Navy in compliance with naval traditions. The 134m-long ship is commanded by Captain M Yasir Tahir and it is manned by 169 as the ships complement. In the meantime, the Commanding Officer of PNS Taimur is scheduled to call on Commander Western Naval Area at the Western Naval Command Headquarters today. The ship is expected to remain in the island until 15th August and the crew of the ship will take part in several programmes organized by the Sri Lanka Navy to promote cooperation and goodwill between two navies. Further, PNS Taimur is expected to conduct a naval exercise with the Sri Lanka Navy in western seas on its departure on 15th August. Meanwhile, PNS Tughril an identical warship belongs to the Pakistan Navy arrived in Sri Lanka on an official visit on 13th December 2021 and conducted a successful naval exercise with SLNS Sindurala off the western coast on 16th December. Naval exercises of this nature with regional navies will enable each partner to overcome common maritime challenges in the future, through enhanced cooperation. PNS Taimur is the second of four frigates of Type 054 A/P being built for the Pakistan Navy. The lead ship of the class, PNS Tughril, was commissioned on January 24, 2022. PNS Taimur was launched on 29 January 2021, and the Chinese shipyard completed the ship in 17 months. Pakistan signed an initial contract for the delivery of two Type 054 A/P frigates in 2017. An additional contract for two more ships was announced in June 2018. According to the contract, all four ships are built in China and the first two are expected to be delivered to the customer by year-end. HZ Shipyard seems to kept its commitment by delivering the second Type 054 A/P frigate on time. The Pakistan Navy is currently undertaking an important renewal of its fleet, with the procurement of several modern platforms: In addition to these frigates from China, Pakistan will also commission new corvettes from Turkey and OPV from the Netherlands. It is also modernizing its submarine force. In 2016, Pakistan agreed to pay China $5 billion for the acquisition of eight Chinese Yuan-class type-041 diesel submarines by 2028 in order to shift the force balance with its archrival India. The Type 054A is a multi-role frigate and is recognized as the backbone of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet of surface combatants with 30 vessels in commission. They have a length of 134 meters, a beam of 16 meters for a displacement of 4,000 tons. They have a crew complement of 165 sailors and are fitted with: a H/PJ-26 76mm main gun 24 CM302 anti-ship missiles 32x VLS cells for HQ-16 surface-to-air missiles 2x Type 730 30mm CIWS 2x Triple Torpedo launchers In PLAN service, those frigates feature a Type 382 radar which shares a close resemblance with the Russian MR-710 Fregat radar. Unlike the Pakistan Navy variant whose first ship-in-class is fitted with an SR2410C radar the Type 054A in Chinese Navy service does not feature a long-range/metric wave radar. Former flight attendant sues Delta Air Lines after it fired her for sharing anti-Trump editorial cartoon on social media How Abercrombie, Victoria's Secret and Vitamin Shoppe use smell to get you to spend more If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Community groups in Abbeylara have been advised that although funding for local footpaths is not available from Longford County Council there are other avenues available. In a notice of motion at the Garanard Municipal District's July meeting Cllr Turlough Mc Govern called on Longford County Council to extend the footpath on the main Abbeylara to Coole road to provide access for pedestrian's safe passage to the new Sensory Garden: As you know the Tidy Town group in Abbeylara do great work. I was going through the town at 9:30 the last night and there were members of the Tidy Town out working. Cllr McGovern described the area: Cllr Reilly and myself helped local voluntary group get funding of the sensory garden. There is still a good bit of work to be done. We need to continue the towpath on from where it now ends. He asked for advice on the best means to get local authority funding for the project. Area Engineer for the Granard Municipal District, David Coppinger, said there is very little money available for footpaths: The council only gets a small budget for it, and that budget has to balance the need to repair with the need to build new ones. Mr Coppinger said it costs in the region of 150 to 200 per square meter to build a path. So a 100 metre stretch of a standard path will cost between 30,000 and 40,000. The reality is that the funding is not really there for large projects. However it is not all bad news, because where there are hard working groups like the one in Abbeylara there is a lot of funding available through different Departments for rural development who offer up to 90% funding for some projects. That is the way to get path, Mr Coppinger advised. Che was very suspicious and very mistrustful of some of them, because hed seen some problems during the strike in April 1958 and he thought that some of the members of the 26th of July Movement whom hed talked to in Villa Clara during the war were incorrigibly bourgeois. He passed away in 2016 Today, August 13, the world is celebrating the birth anniversary of Fidel Castro who needs no introduction. Following experts adapted from his book My Life. In January 1959 you and your followers didnt institute a policy of revolutionary change overnight; you began a sort of transition phase, isnt that right? Fidel with Salvador Allende in Chile, 1971 We had already put in place a government. I had said that I had no desire to be president I wanted to show that I hadnt been in the struggle out of personal interest. We looked for a candidate, and we chose a magistrate whod been against Batista, whod actually acquitted revolutionaries who came before him in an important trial. Manuel Urrutia? Thats right, Urrutia. He was highly respected. Its a shame he didnt have a bit less ambition and a bit more humility and common sense. You didnt want to be president at that moment? No, I had no interest in being president. What I wanted to pursue was the Revolution, the army, the development of our heroic Rebel Army. I mean, an election might come along at some point and I might run, but I wasnt really thinking about that at the time. I was interested in the laws that the Revolution would put in place, and in the application of the Moncada programme. In other words, you waged that entire war with no personal desire to become president immediately afterwards? I can assure you that that was the case, yes. Other factors may have come into play besides disinterestedness; there may have been a bit of pride, something of that sort, but the fact is, I wasnt interested. Remember, Id been as good as dead for a long time. I was fighting to bring about a revolution, and titles werent important to me. The satisfaction of the struggle, pride in the struggle and its eventual success, victory, is a prize much greater than any government position, and when I said I wasnt interested in being president, I did so after great deliberation. Our movement supported Urrutia for president, and we respected its decision. He and the 26th of July Movement, together, made the appointments to the cabinet, and there were those in the leadership cadre of the 26th of July Movement who were from the upper-middle class, even pretty right-wing, whod joined us along the way, and others from the Left. Some of them have written their memoirs, and many of them remained with the Revolution afterwards. Theyve had very interesting things to say, and theyve been honest about what they thought, their discussions [perhaps arguments] with Che and Camilo. Did Che mistrust some of those leaders? Che was very suspicious and very mistrustful of some of them, because hed seen some problems during the strike in April 1958 and he thought that some of the members of the 26th of July Movement whom hed talked to in Villa Clara during the war were incorrigibly bourgeois. Che was very much in favour of agrarian reform, and some of the others kept talking about a very moderate reform, with indemnifications and compensations and that sort of thing. Che, nevertheless, was in favour of unifying all the revolutionary forces. On the other side there was a lot of anti-Communism; it was strong and influential, and Che rejected it. Here in Cuba, during the McCarthy era, things were pretty venomous; there was prejudice everywhere, in all the media. And to add to the anti-Communism of quite a few people, with their bourgeois and petit-bourgeois background, there was also sectarianism among many Communists. Of the ultra-left-wing sort? No, the Communists, the people in the PSP [Popular Socialist Party].1 Because also, in a way, within the leadership sectarian methods and habits had evolved. That party always maintained good relations with me, and later with the 26th of July Movement. It was in their bookstore on Calle Carlos III that I bought most of the classics of Marxist literature I read when I was a student. When our movement, which had been born after the coup, was organized and launched its attack against the Moncada barracks complex in an attempt to bring down that spurious regime that was detested by the immense majority of the population, it did so in absolute secrecy, as an action of that sort can only be carried out. Ive talked about this. In the subsequent repression, several Communist leaders, among them Lazaro Pena, were arrested by the repressive forces, which were looking for Bias Roca. Bias Roca, who happened to be in Santiago, had left the day before 26 July. In the same cell block where I was isolated in a cell with iron bars, I saw Lazaro Pena walking down the hallway with that noble, dignified expression on his face hed been unjustly accused of being an accomplice in the assault. Some leftists, outside the country, were talking about a putsch. I cant blame them, because no one can know the private thoughts of those who carry out such actions, nobody is in a position to know that a new tactic had emerged, of the thousand and one kinds of fighting that can be used to change a society. When those of us in our group were out on the street again wed been released due to public pressure we renewed our contacts with our former Communist companeros in the struggle for university autonomy. Flavio Bravo, former member of the directorate of the PSP youth, was my contact. In fact, the 26th of July Movement and the PSP were allies, and they had known about our plan to flee to Mexico, so the upper ranks of the Party directorate knew our plans and in principle were in agreement with them; certainly they wanted to maintain contact and continue to cooperate in the fight against tyranny. The year 1956 passed. In Mexico we had serious problems, and many of us were even arrested. The situation in Cuba was still not critical. In the classic theses of the Communist movement, revolutionary action should always be preceded by great economic and financial crises. The conditions in that second half of 1956 didnt seem to be terribly favourable for a revolution to break out. Flavio Bravo visited us in Mexico. He brought us the opinion of his partys leadership and asked us to postpone our action. Flavio was like a brother. We may have given too much importance to our own vow that in 1956 we would either be free or be martyrs. But no one renounces what he believes in, and I believed in what we were doing. We left [Mexico], we disembarked [in Cuba], and three days later we had that terrible setback in Alegria de Pio. Ive already told you that story. A fierce wave of persecution was unleashed against the dispersed expeditionaries: many were murdered. The Communists denounced and condemned the murders. The tyranny, emboldened, sated its hatred by murdering a great many revolutionaries in December, among them several Communist union leaders. All seemed lost. Theories emerged as to the objective and subjective factors that had come into play, the causes of the difficulties a leftist magazine not connected with the 26th of July Movement published all this as told by one of the companeros whod come over on the Granma and was currently in prison. During those extremely difficult days, up in the Sierra Maestra several of us survivors continued to believe that even under these circumstances we had to fight for a victory. Certainly in the case of our country, subjective conditions played a considerable role. There came a moment when the survivors of the Granma, with the support of the campesinos and the young reinforcements from Manzanillo, Bayamo, Santiago and other places, sent in by Frank Pais and Celia Sanchez Manduley, managed to reconstruct our detachment, which, now experienced and battle-hardened, though still small, barely 250 men, was able to extend its operations, with four columns, almost to Santiago de Cuba, and to invade the large strategic eastern region of the island. The historical leader of the Popular Socialist Party, Bias Roca, was a man from a very humble background. Hed been born in Manzanillo and was self-taught, but he was a tireless advocate of spreading Marxist-Leninist ideas and developing the Communist Party in Cuba. Bias Roca had had to live outside Cuba for some time, for obvious reasons. During that time, Anibal Escalante, as secretary of the Party, assumed the main leadership position. By the time of the triumph of the Revolution, he had great authority, and he acted as the virtual president of the Party. He was capable, intelligent and a good organizer, but he had the deeply rooted sectarian habit of filtering and controlling everything in favour of his Party. Those were the old tactics, the old obsessions, of a stage in the history of Communism a ghetto mentality born of the discrimination, exclusion and anti-Communist feelings that people were subjected to for so long. During the early days of the Revolution, once the war was over, they even did this with the 26th of July Movement, despite our excellent relations. These were misguided, mistaken methods, though used by unquestionably honourable, self-sacrificing people who were true revolutionaries and true anti-imperialists. Manuel Caporale was born into one of Italys most famous families of restaurateurs and is now extremely busy carrying the mantle for the fifth generation in Santa Catalina. His great-great-grandmother, Nonna Graziela, opened her first restaurant in Pescara (Abruzzo) in 1918 and Manuels father, Michele, eventually decided to move to Mallorca. He has run Restaurante La Bottega di Michele on Calle Fabrica for the past 25 years, during which time Manuel has perfected the art of the trade, so much so that he is now the director and executive chef of three restaurants in the same street as his fathers establishment. I grew up surrounded by great food, seasonal organic produce of the very best quality. I remember going to the market with my parents every day as a child. I moved about the Italian Mediterranean coast quite a bit because my father was always opening and closing restaurants. He loved to keep changing and experimenting, he still does and then in 1998 we came to Mallorca. I was 17 at the time and started working in the restaurant at the very bottom, washing dishes, you name it; whatever had to be done. It was a great adventure but hard work, 14 to 15 hours a day, and it also opened my eyes to the importance of customer care and public relations. Anyway, I was still growing up in the business and I think it reached a point where my father and I didnt quite see eye-to-eye. Like I said, he was always changing things on a daily basis. One day it would be the grill, the next pizza and then pasta, so I decided to take a break and I went to work for a year at La Taverna in Windsor. Apart from the chef at the time being the private chef for the Queen when she was at Windsor Castle, I learnt a great deal. The restaurant has always had an excellent reputation and the owners treated me so well. They made a huge effort to help me learn more about the business and that gave me a great deal of confidence, Manuel told the Bulletin this week. After his year in London, he returned to help the family business in Palma and the group began to grow. From the small Hierbas Dulces and a small chiringuito beach bar in Arenal - Manuel would nip between the two as chef at lunchtime in Arenal and then cooking dinner in Calle Fabrica - the property next door became available. They decided to merge the two and create a larger restaurant. Bianco e Rosso opened some ten years ago in 2011 and since then he has been the chief executive of the Bianco and Rosso group of restaurants. Then he opened De Gusto tapas restaurant. In 2018 it was Enoteca 1918, and a few months ago the Enoteca Club 1918 - all on Calle Fabrica. However, as chief executive and chef, Manuel did not slow down. It was quite the opposite in fact, but he admits that De Gusto was perhaps a step too far and that he was starting to really feel the stress and the pressure. So more or less on the eve of the pandemic, which no one knew was coming, he decided to close the restaurant and concentrate on the rest of the group. Today, while his father takes care of the delicious home Italian cooking at La Bottega de Michele, Manuel runs the other three restaurants. I guess Bianco e Rosso is a more traditional Italian restaurant whereas at Enoteca we offer a more gourmet experience. At all of my restaurants we work extremely hard and with great passion to provide excellent food in a comfortable and professional environment and that to me is key. Having spent nearly all of my career to date working front and back of house, I have learnt the business side of running a restaurant. Its not just about the food; its a bit like running a circus, he joked. But he is serious. Apart from sourcing the very best seasonal produce, I invest a great deal of time and effort in my staff. I dont want people looking unhappy, I want to see everyone smiling. I dont care if a client starts to get angry or shouts, we have to provide a calming influence and every problem has a solution - theres never any need to panic, thats a fatal mistake in this business, in fact in any walk of life. Ive also found that having a laugh with the staff is much more productive. Were a tight, close-knit team working alongside each other very long days, so we need to get on. We need to click, we need to be able to cover each others backs. And that comes from being the captain of a happy ship. If people are content, they are more motivated, excited and learn faster. Plus, the time passes much quicker in a bright and happy environment, and that contented confidence is what we all try and share with and transmit to our clients. We want then to know straightaway they have nothing to worry about. They can sit back, relax and enjoy their meal and we will take care of everything. Enoteca offers a gourmet experience, be it our tapas, some of which are unique and experimental, to main dishes of the very best meats and fish, not to mention the extensive wine collection we store. The club, which is just opposite, offers a more chilled atmosphere. We serve cocktails but guests can also choose to eat from our menu, so they get the best of two great worlds. It has not been easy. My wife has been a great help, and Ive had to get my head round the business side of things, especially during the pandemic and now as we emerge from it. I have a clear business plan, it would be lovely to continue expanding but all that costs money. Yes, I could open a very big restaurant, but that would immediately mean more staff at extra cost, and while people are now going out again and the tourists are returning, it doesnt mean they are going to spend lots of money. Having loads of tables very rarely turns into lots of money - like I said, its a circus, its one big balancing act and because of the war in Ukraine, operating costs compared to last year are around 30 percent more,. But the last thing I am going to do is try and save on the quality of our products and our menu - thats what were famous for and we offer excellent value for money in all of the establishments. So, the past few years have really been a university experience for me. I think weve all had to adapt, my staff and I, to the various challenges we had never faced before, while keeping a smile on our faces and making sure all of our clients leave with one. I do my best to help all of my staff to become as professional as they can and I can honestly say that, despite the hardships, it works. Weve managed to keep our heads above the water. And we have a lot of repeat customers, be they local residents or visitors, and theres one thing which we must never forget - the client is the owner of the restaurant. In order to keep our repeat clients interested, we are always trying to create new and exclusive dishes, and so every experience in all of my restaurants is different. That said, there is one thing I and my staff can guarantee - and that is a quality, exciting and unique gastronomic experience in a relaxed and professional atmosphere in the very heart of Palma. This August, Venice Grand Canal invites all K-pop fans to a month-long celebration of everything Hallyu at its month-long Korean festival. From appetizing food, K-pop inspired musical performances and loads of fun activities, fans can ride the Hallyu wave through a series of activities including a chance to experience a new type of training and groove like their favorite K-pop idols at the free dance workshop by K-Pop Dance Kraze of Link-Up Productions. Guests can also score the best deals in Hallyu Market and shop from a wide array of K-pop merchandise, K-beauty products, and K-food together with MakeItLive. They can also dabble in fun and competitive games at the Hallyu Plays, presented by TXT Philippines and Harumart. Selca Spots, meanwhile, is giving fans the best place for snapping their IG-worthy OOTD and K-pop inspired poses. Decorated with lantern tunnel, cherry blossom trees, smart booth, oppa zones, memory and freedom wall, the spot is open during mall hours from August 12-31. Shoppers can also get great discounts on Korean products and merchandise at the That That Krazy Sale happening from August 12 to August 31, 2022. No celebration is complete without gastronomic choices from Korean delicacies to famous savory korean dishes that guests will only find here at the K-StrEat Food Fair. They can also prepare their guts for a challenging food activity including finishing up Korean snacks in the fastest way possible for a chance to win awesome prizes on August 20. Looking forward to plan your next trip to Korea? Say no more! Customers can get a chance to win a Trip to Korea for Two plus 200,000 AirAsia Big Points. To join the raffle promo, customers can present a minimum purchase receipt worth P 1,500 from any store in Mckinley Hill from August 15-31, 2022. Venice Grand Canal Mall is open to guests from 10AM to 9PM. For updates on the latest happenings, visit megaworld-lifestylemalls.com or call our hotline at 8-462-8888. Many Tamil Nadu Government hospitals are now facing an acute shortage of medicines thereby affecting the services of the hospital. The government medical college hospitals are now functioning by making local purchases using Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS). Sources in the state health department told IANS that the Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation (TNMSC) not getting adequate medicines, especially antibiotics. This issue was raised to the Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian in a recent meeting the minister had with the hospital deans. Medicinal Issues and Drug Issues to be Addressed The TNMSC, which is the nodal agency for the procurement of drugs, provides a no objection certificate for hospitals to make local purchases. Doctors told IANS that the medicines in shortage are mostly essential drugs like antibiotics. By Trend Azerbaijani community of UK has urged recognition of The Mahdi Servants Union as terrorist organization, the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora of Azerbaijan told Trend. According to the committee, this requirement was made in the community's appeal to MPs, the UK Foreign Office, and the European Parliament due to the recent attack by a radical religious group on the Azerbaijani embassy in London. The appeal to UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss, Home Secretary Priti Patel, MPs Graham Stewart, Dominic Raab, Bob Blackman, Lord Jonathan Douglas Evans and the European Parliament on behalf of the British Azerbaijani Community Chairperson Farida Panahova emphasized that Azerbaijan is a secular, multicultural and tolerant state, far from any kind of religious extremism. According to the appeal authors, the act of vandalism which took place is a gross violation of international law, as well as the Vienna Convention. "The Azerbaijani community in the UK is deeply shocked and outraged by this attack in the center of Kensington, where many London residents and tourists spend time with friends and families. This act of vandalism is an attack on British society, its values and the entire civilized world, and we strongly condemn it, the authors said. The attack by radicals on the Azerbaijani embassy in London is unacceptable and is a gross violation of the principles of the inviolability of the diplomatic building. Its not coincident that this happened on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Azerbaijan, approaching the decisive stage of peace negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia mediated by the EU, amid the development of strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU in the oil and gas sector, the appeal noted. This act was intended to deliberately damage the UK's bilateral relations with Azerbaijan and undermine important processes taking place within the framework of cooperation with the EU. The appeal authors specifically protested against the fact that in the first hours of the event, the UK police silently watched and did nothing. The belated arrival of special police forces to the scene at a time when the lives of the embassy staff were in danger was regarded as evidence of the frivolous attitude of the UK intelligence and law enforcement agencies to a dangerous situation, and it was emphasized that this was absolutely unacceptable, the authors stressed. At the end of the appeal, the relevant UK authorities were required to take the necessary legal steps to bring to justice those who committed this crime against the Azerbaijani embassy in London, and a call was made for the closure of The Mahdi Servants Union and the immediate deportation of this organization's members from the country. "Every citizen of the UK should share such values, as general tolerance and respect for human rights. There is no doubt that if these radical groups go unpunished, they will soon target our homes, schools and other official bodies," concluded the authors. Immediately after the incident, a corresponding letter was sent on behalf of the Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis living in the UK to Home Secretary Priti Patel. Qatar Airways will resume services to its fifth destination in Saudi Arabia, Qassim, with three weekly flights starting August 22, which will increase to four weekly flights from September 2, 2022. The airline will also introduce additional four weekly flights to Riyadh starting August 28, 2022, bringing the total to 20 weekly flights to meet the growing inbound and outbound travel demand. Qatar Airways currently operates 93 weekly flights to four key cities in Saudi Arabia. The addition of Qassim and the four additional flights to Riyadh will increase the number of Qatar Airways weekly flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to 101 non-stop flights. The resumption of services and enhanced capacity is part of the state-owned airlines ongoing efforts to expand its services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to provide greater choice and seamless connectivity to its passengers. Passengers flying from and to Qassim will enjoy seamless connectivity to over 150 destinations within the airline's extensive global network in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas via the Worlds Best Airport, Hamad International Airport. Passengers can also enjoy the airlines newly integrated rewards currency, Avios, providing them even greater opportunities to accumulate points and leverage exciting innovations in redeeming and spending their rewards. In addition, Qatar Airways loyalty programme members will retain their well-earned rewards balance and will be able to continue enjoying the redemption opportunities they currently have. TradeArabia News Service Indonesia plans to complete the first phase of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination for livestock with three million doses of vaccines by September. "From June to July, 800,000 livestock were vaccinated and the number of FMD cases was sloping, this shows that vaccine is able to reduce the transmission rate," the spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito added on Friday. Advertisement Indonesia has imported three million doses of FMD vaccine from five foreign companies and is in the process of procuring another 25 million doses, Xinhua news agency reported. New York, Aug 13 (UNI) The FBI seized top secret files from former US President Donald Trump's estate in Florida this week during its raid, according to a search warrant. Agents removed 11 sets of documents, including some marked "TS/SCI", a designation for material that could cause "exceptionally grave" damage to US national security, as per a BBC report. Trump denied any wrongdoing and said the items were declassified. It was the first time a former president's home was searched in a criminal probe. The list of items was made public on Friday after a judge unsealed a seven-page document that included the warrant authorising the search of the Palm Beach residence, Mar-a-Lago. It said more than 20 boxes of items were taken on August 8, including a binder of photos, a handwritten note, unspecified information about the "President of France" and a clemency letter written on behalf of long-time Trump ally Roger Stone. As well as four sets of top secret files, the cache includes three sets of "secret documents" and three sets of "confidential" material. The warrant indicates that FBI agents were looking into potential violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it illegal to keep or transmit potentially dangerous national security information. The removal of classified documents or materials is prohibited by law. Trump increased the penalties for the crime while in office and it is now punishable by up to five years in prison. The warrant notes that the locations searched at Mar-a-Lago include an area called the "45 office" and storage rooms, but not private guest suites being used by Trump and his staff, the BBC report said. The US Justice Department had asked the court to make the warrant public on Thursday, a move considered rare amid an ongoing investigation. The warrant was approved by a judge on August 5, three days before it was carried out on Monday. On Friday night, Trump's office issued a statement maintaining that he had used his authority while president to declassify the documents. Trump is aiming for another go at the White House in 2024. "He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified," the statement said. "The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States. "The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated by the president, needs to approve of declassification is absurd." The US media is not clear whether this argument would hold up in court. "Presidents can declassify information but they have to follow a procedure," the BBC quoted Tom Dupree, a lawyer who previously worked in the justice department, as saying. "They have to fill out forms. They have to give certain authorisations. They can't simply say these documents are declassified. They have to follow a process (and it is) not clear that was followed here." A spokesman for Trump, Taylor Budowich, said the administration of President Joe Biden "is in obvious damage control after their botched raid". The BBC quoted Budowich as he accused the Biden administration of "leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponisation of government against their dominant political opponent". Trump's conservative allies have also condemned the raid as a political hit job. UNI ING This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses drew death threats from Irans leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and an eye he was likely to lose. Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment. Matar was born a decade after The Satanic Verses was published. The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said. An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. The author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was arrested. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdies wounds as serious but recoverable. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriffs deputy were assigned to Rushdies lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasnt tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million for anyone who kills him. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience. Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater. The assailant ran onto the platform and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first youre like, Whats going on? And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten, Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds. Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask. We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that theres still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds that it wasnt, she said. Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institutions 750-acre grounds, Michael Hill, the president of the nonprofit education center and resort, said. The suspects attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment. Matars home was blocked off by authorities. The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence. From the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the attack as reprehensible and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a quick recovery. This act of violence is appalling, Sullivan said in a statement. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing. Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes, and the literary world recoiled at what Ian McEwan, a novelist and Rushdie's friend, described as an assault on freedom of thought and speech. Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world, McEwan said in a statement. "He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred. PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said the organization didn't know of any comparable act of violence against a literary writer in the U.S. Rushdie was once president of the group, which advocates for writers and free expression. Rushdies 1988 novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Across the Muslim world, often-violent protests erupted against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family. At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdies hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the books Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdies death. Khomeini died that same year. Irans current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasnt focused on the writer. Irans mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Fridays attack, which led an evening news bulletin on Iranian state television. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. He said in a 2012 talk in New York that terrorism is really the art of fear. The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid, he said. Anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered long after Khomeinis decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016. An Associated Press journalist who went to the Tehran office of the 15 Khordad Foundation, which put up the millions for the bounty on Rushdie, found it closed Friday night on the Iranian weekend. No one answered calls to its listed telephone number. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled to learn of the attack on Rushdie, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. In no case is violence a response to words spoken or written by others in their exercise of the freedoms of opinion and expression. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnights Children, but his name became known around the world after The Satanic Verses. Widely regarded as one of Britains finest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal accolade for people who have made a major contribution to the arts, science or public life. In a tweet, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deplored that Rushdie was attacked while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors dont pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night. The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before. At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence. Hate cant win, one man shouted. ___ Associated Press journalists John Wawrow in Chautauqua; Jennifer Peltz, Hillel Italie and Edith Lederer in New York City; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; Ted Shaffrey in Fairview, New Jersey; and Nasser Karimi and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdie's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Irans capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. I dont know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities. Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China. Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the country's economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammad's life. "I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled Satanic Verses ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death," Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: "Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven." Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. Matar, the man who attacked Rushdie on Friday, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from the southern village of Yaroun, the towns mayor Ali Tehfe told the AP. Yaroun sits only kilometers (miles) away from Israel. In the past, the Israeli military has fired on what it described as positions of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah around that area. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie. The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: Salman Rushdie near death? The conservative newspaper Khorasan bore a large image of Rushdie on a stretcher, its headline blaring: Satan on the path to hell. But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Iran's former shah by Khomeini's supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as bonyads in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shah's time, often serve the political interests of the country's hard-liners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the country's Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the country's government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami's foreign minister in 1998 said that the government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it." Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a good feeling after seeing Rushdie attacked. This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people, he said. Others, however, worried the attack regardless of why it was carried out could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. It will make Iran more isolated, warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid, Khamenei said in 1989. As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target. As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslims duty in this regard? Khamenei responded: The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued. ___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press journalists Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) Salman Rushdie, literally the "midnight's child" draws a close relation to his most celebrated title -- being born in 1947, when India too announced her "tryst with destiny". The Indian-born novelist catapulted to fame with "Midnight's Children" in 1981 and since never looked back be it in hiding or otherwise. He has written 14 novels between 1975 and 2019 and been nominated five times for Booker Prize, having won it in 1981 for his second novel. His surrealist, post-modern writing sparked outrage in the Muslim world when his fourth book "The Satanic Verses" was published in 1988. Air Force officials are expected to make their final decision on whether to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama in the coming weeks, ending a nearly two-year saga over where the critical headquarters for space operations should be located. But the unexpected happened in June. The Supreme Court issued a ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade -- known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization -- which ultimately left the right to an abortion up to the states and created uncertainty over whether service members would be able to receive abortion services or other reproductive health care. Moving Space Command from Colorado, where abortion access is unrestricted, to Alabama, where it is illegal with limited exceptions, could change life for service members assigned to the command, and it has raised a red flag for some Colorado lawmakers who believe it will hurt troops' quality of life, as well as harm the military's retention efforts. Read Next: Pregnant Airmen Get More Privacy Under New Air Mobility Command Policy Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., told Military.com that a potential move of U.S. Space Command to Alabama concerns him for a variety of reasons, but among them is the impact the Supreme Court's ruling has on service members who have to relocate. "I'm deeply concerned about how the Dobbs decision and state abortion bans will affect Space Command's workforce and readiness if the command leaves Colorado," Bennet said in an emailed statement. The potential move of Space Command, the unified combatant command that oversees all military operations in space, to Alabama also comes as the Space Force's Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, looks at finding a permanent home for its headquarters. STARCOM's finalist locations include Space Force bases in either California or Colorado -- where abortion access is widespread and mostly unrestricted. Officials are also looking at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, where state law doesn't make abortion available past 15 weeks and there are no exceptions for rape or incest. Rose Riley, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, did not directly answer whether the Dobbs decision was being taken into account with the basing decision. But Riley said officials are looking at how the issue affects the quality of life and options for all airmen and Guardians. "The Department of the Air Force is conducting site surveys at each candidate location to determine which is best suited to host STARCOM based on factors related to mission, infrastructure capacity, environmental considerations, cost, child care, housing affordability and access to military/veteran support," Riley said. She added, "Air Force leaders are working closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense to review the impact on the force of the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Dobbs." It's unlikely that the Dobbs decision will cause a major shift in future bases away from the South, where some of the nation's more restrictive abortion laws and measures are on the books. But Katherine L. Kuzminski, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank who researches military culture and family issues, pointed out that placing certain bases in areas that may have an effect on service members does have a major impact on public opinion. "It certainly comes up in the discussions, whether it be about future basing operations or future military recruits -- like, what are the perceptions of the military if they aren't able to get abortion access or when, when any social issue gets involved," Kuzminski said in an interview with Military.com. Pentagon officials recently told lawmakers that the services currently face a recruiting and retention crisis and said the Dobbs decision will likely make that problem even more difficult. "We have concerns that some service members may choose to leave the military altogether because they may be stationed in states with restrictive reproductive health laws," Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon's chief of personnel and readiness, said in prepared remarks to a House Armed Services subcommittee last month. Obtaining an abortion in uniform has never been easy. Female service members and dependents of U.S. troops have long been required to go through civilian clinics since military physicians and Department of Defense civilian providers are legally not allowed to perform abortions. It's typically an out-of-pocket expense for a service member because Tricare, the military health program, covers the cost of an abortion only in cases where the life of the mother is at risk or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. Those restrictions come from the Hyde Amendment, a bit of language added to congressional spending bills every year that prohibits federal dollars from going toward abortion services. Because it has always been difficult for those in uniform to obtain abortion services, Kuzminksi doesn't believe the Dobbs decision would have a major impact on a basing decision. "I think the real change will be the distance which women will have to travel," Kuzminksi said. "So, I actually don't think it changes as much as we think it does, because the laws were restrictive on DoD in the first place." The decision to move Space Command has come under intense scrutiny after former President Donald Trump announced Huntsville as the preferred location for the command. A subsequent Government Accountability Office and Department of the Defense Inspector General Report found the decision to move the command to Huntsville's Redstone Arsenal was marred by a shoddy and unclear process but also pointed to no significant reason why Alabama shouldn't have been chosen. But those reports haven't stopped Bennet, as well as other members of Colorado's delegation in Washington, from raising the alarm that it would take longer to reach full operational capability in Huntsville versus keeping Space Command at its current location at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. "The Trump administration's decision followed a flawed process that lacked transparency and neglected key national security and cost considerations," Bennet told Military.com. "Space Command has already reached Initial Operational Capability at Peterson, and a strong workforce, of both service members and civilians, is integral to reaching Full Operational Capability quickly." The concern from service members about moving or establishing bases in certain states extends past abortion access. There is a growing trend of state laws that target members of the LGBTQ community. Two measures that drew outsized attention this year were Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, passed in March, that forbids discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity until the third grade and an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, issued in February, that directed the state's child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-confirming care as child abuse. Military.com has previously reported that the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy say they have policies in place -- originally developed with victims or witnesses of abuse and sexual violence in mind -- that allow service members to request transfers if the laws in their state make them feel unsafe or discriminated against, although given the slow pace of most transfers, it's unlikely that those mechanisms would serve to provide access to abortion. -- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly. Related: Air Force Cut Corners, Couldn't Say Who Decided on Space Command Move to Alabama, Watchdog Says How to use the mindat.org media viewer Click/touch this help panel to close it. Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. 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Summary of all keyboard shortcuts Ghanaian musician Odartei Milla Lamptey, widely known as Gasmila or the international fisherman, has expressed worry over what he describes as the unfair treatment to Ghanaian celebrities. His worry stems from the Ghana Gaming Commission's ban on celebrities from signing endorsement deals with betting companies. The commission's reason was that if they do, the youths will be misled by their actions and be influenced negatively into irresponsible gambling, which they were already fond of doing. But this reason doesn't auger well with the Telemo hitmaker on the basis that celebrities have been denied their daily bread. Speaking on Hitz FMs Daybreak Hitz show, he categorically stated that the ban is a calculated attempt by the government to inflict poverty on Ghanaian artistes. For me the first time I heard it I just understood why artistes in Ghana are in this state they are in. It looks like government has decided to make artistes poor. Its like an intentional thing they are doing to create poverty, to control the media or to control artistic people, he said. The international fisherman continues you will tell a betting company not to sign an artiste in Ghana but then that same betting company can sign an artiste from Nigeria. So they are taking the money and our tax money to pay someone else in Nigeria where we do not get to benefit. According to Gasmilla, this imposition caused him to lose a deal to sponsor a social project in a certain community in the country. I tried to work with somebody and he loved the things that I was doing within the community. He said he owns a betting company and I would like to put you in contact with the General Manager and see if you guys can do something because they also want to have activations in the community. I said why not. If they are going to help the community and develop the community, thats what I am for. Now the guy calls and hes like weve been told by the government not to sponsor musicians. If you control what a man eats, you control him, he bemoaned. Ahmed Agbenyadzi, Akuapem south Aspiring NDC Youth Organiser 12.08.2022 LISTEN Members and supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been reminded of the need to continue the hard work to ensure victory for the party come 2024. Leadership expected to be elected from the party's internal elections has also been charged to ensure there is unity and peaceful cohesion to ensure the party stay united and focus to face the ruling NPP. Aspiring Youth Organiser for the party in Akuapem South, Ahmed Agbenyadzi in an interview with Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma of Bryt FM in Koforidua, insisted the NDC can win the 2024 elections with a united force. He said the current Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party's abysmal performance has left Ghanaians with no option but to rely on the NDC which is known for its social development-centred approach to governance. "As we speak now, Ghanaians are fed up with the Akufo-Addo and the NPP so we the NDC has to ensure our actions and policy alternatives sound good tunes in the minds of all. We cannot allow petty squabbles and issues have any effect on our bright chances of ascending onto power in January 2025," the NDC Communicator advised. The current Constituency Deputy Youth Organiser also assured Ghanaians the NDC will come out with a people-centred manifesto ahead of the 2024 elections as it has gained enormous experience as far as democratic governance is concerned. Comrade Ahmed Agbenyadzi added that the NDC since 1993 has undertaken many developmental projects and policies that have transformed the livelihood of many Ghanaians and will continue such actions to ensure citizens are live better. 12.08.2022 LISTEN Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, has appealed to the Passion Air Company to resume its daily flights between Wa and Kumasi to enhance business activities. He said traders in the region considered Kumasi as a business hub and therefore daily flights would help boost commercial transactions between the two regions. Dr. Bin Salih made the appeal when Mr. Edward Annan-Accantable, Manager of Passion Air Company and other officials paid a courtesy call to him on Wednesday. The Regional Minister also pleaded with Passion Air, which was airlifting Travellers from Accra-Wa daily, to double its flights on Fridays and Sundays. This, he said, would facilitate the movement of people who come home to attend funerals and other activities during the weekends and return to Accra to perform their business. Dr. Bin Salih urged the Company to float its shares, as many business-minded people in the region were prepared and willing to buy the shares if the Company deemed it fit. He said the operations of Passion Air had always been his priority to boost the air transport business in the region and it is my prayer to see its transactions flourish because I consider it as one of my achievements for the people of the region. Mr Annan-Accantable said he was in the region to familiarise with the operations of the Company and to also know the workers and encourage them to deliver quality services to the people. He encouraged Dr. Bin Salih not to rest on his oars while he was alive on earth, but to do his best for the people he was mandated to serve. He appealed to the people in the region to endeavour to patronise its services to boost business transactions to enhance incomes and livelihoods. Mr Samuel Ato Hagan, the Upper West Regional Manager of Passion Air Company, said patronage of the flight was encouraging and promised to make available the services of Passion Air to the people. Source: GNA A communicator of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Kwadwo Agyei Yeboah, who is popularly known as Nana Kay, has said the public sector needs practical reforms. According to him, they have had enough of the book reforms and its time for authorities to take physical action. Most of the offices need clocking time to check punctuality- that is the only time we can have efficient people to occupy public service offices. People go to work anytime they want because there is no one keeping a close eye on the time they report to work and the time they close, he said. He added that there is a need for tangible and practical reforms that will ensure people get the job done. He advised President Akufo-Addo and Kusi Boafo the head of the public sector reforms to consider reshuffling. The second edition of the International Coconut Festival has been launched at Ellembele in the Western region of Ghana under the theme: Repositioning Ghanas Coconut Sector for Accelerated Industrialization. The Coconut Festival, which is a collaboration effort between the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and the African Coconut Group aims to quicken the pace of the development of the coconut industry as a whole with emphasis on value addition. The festival also seeks to connect and serve the Ghanaian community and other international participants through the development and promotion of coconut. This years event would be marked with activities including exhibitions of high and low level technologies in the coconut industry, business seminars, financial support platforms, networking, talks, field visits, senior high and university level competition, colloquiums and others. The Chief Executive Officer for Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Dr Asabea Asare, delivering her remarks at the launch expressed her excitement over the partnership between GEPA and the African Coconut Group which has revived the ailing coconut industry and is now gaining ground steadily. It has the potential to position Ghana as the destination for coconut on the continent. According to her, the revitalization of the coconut industry was intended to emphasize Governments industrialization agenda and to push forward the One-District-One-Factory initiative by encouraging more companies to set up coconut processing factories in the districts. In order to make Ghana a leading global supplier of coconut and generate significant export revenue for the country, Dr Asabea Asare indicated that some deliberate policies were rolled out to achieve the needed results. GEPA has made modest but quite significant investments in the sector since 2017 by procuring and distributing disease-tolerant coconut seedlings to coconut farmers across the major coconut farming Regions in the country. So far, we have distributed close to seven hundred thousand seedlings covering some eleven thousand two hundred acres. We are not relenting on our efforts until we get to the point where the industry is mature and can be on its own, he said. The CEO applauded the roles played by other stakeholders to make Ghana the final destination for Coconut on the continent. We equally recognize the fact that the Ministries of Food and Agriculture and Local Government and Rural Development have also invested significantly in the sector through the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) Programme. Of course, we are not oblivious of the central role that the African Coconut Group, led by Mr. Davies Korboe and his able colleagues have played in advocating strongly for the development of the sector to boost export revenues. "We also applaud Government for the establishment of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) which GEPA and other stakeholders had strongly advocated for. We believe that the Authoritys mandate and activities would inure to the benefit of the sector, coconut being one of the key tree crops under the Authority. We are happy to say that our two institutions have been collaborating well on various issues, and on the occasion of this launch, call for greater inter-institutional cooperation to quicken the pace of the sectors development, she said. She reiterated GEPAs commitment to the coconut industry and has encouraged local and foreign investors and SMEs looking to upscale their activities to be on the lookout for an extended range of innovative coconut products in cosmetics, food and beverages, medication, grooming products as well as art & crafts. On his part, Chairman of the African Coconut Group, Mr. Davies Korboe, said the theme for this years event is in response to the growing need to diversify Ghana's traditional export trade through aggressive supply of coconut to meet the shortfalls in trade and export balances. To promote the production and export of coconut, according to him, the African Coconut Group will continue to collaborate more closely with all actors in the coconut industry to stimulate trade and investment in the agri-food sector in Ghana in order to improve productivity and value and job creation, and strengthen the existing structures to support value addition and push for more exports in order to realize more foreign exchange earnings. Other key personalities present at the launch were Hon. Kobina Okyere-Darko, Western Regional Minister, the MCE for Ellembele, Chiefs and other stakeholders in the coconut value chain. The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has slammed critics blaming the sector for poor performance resulting in the high cost of food items in the country. The Agriculture Ministry has been heavily criticized in the face of the country's economic difficulties, particularly alleged food shortages. The criticism stems from the Minister's famous statement two years ago that the price of a bunch of plantains varies between GHS3, GHS4 and GHS5. On Accra-based TV3, which Modernghana News monitors, the former Member of Parliament for the Kwadaso Constituency boasted that his ministry is the only among all that has performed admirably in the face of adversity. People wrongfully say there is food shortage, there is no food shortage in Ghana. If you look at all the sectors, the agric sector stands out as the sector which is doing well. Clarifying his point on whether a bunch of plantains is still sold at GHS5, the Minister replied, I said that 2 years ago. Things have changed. He clarified that his ministry is doing everything possible through the planting for food and jobs initiative to alleviate the country's rising food prices and scarcity due to global factors. A rating agency, Fitch this week has reduced Ghana's credit rating from B- to CCC, citing concerns that the country's standard of living will deteriorate. In the report, Fitch noted that in the absence of new external financing sources, international reserves will fall close to two months of current external payments (debits in the current account) by end-2022. Speaking on the Accra-based JoyNews 'Upfront' on Thursday, August 11, Brig. Gen. Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Rtd), Former Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, expressed concern about the latest rating and the current economic situation. He urged the government to act quickly to avert the impending economic crisis, which could strike early next year if nothing is done. According to the security expert, it may end up turning citizens against the government, resulting in increased chaos in the country. We should observe whats going on and take serious action, otherwise, we might have a serious situation on our hands. Early next year, coming January, February and March, there will be a serious problem for us, which might lead to riots and even breakdown of law and order, he bemoaned. Ghanaians will in the not too distant future have the chance to file reports virtually without having to walk into a Police station. This is according to the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare. Speaking at a public lecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on Friday, the IGP said his outfit is looking forward to a period where virtual police stations will become common. We are looking forward to a period where we will have virtual police station. Where you dont have to show up at the police station. You just make your complain virtually and then we will send you all the information. And we can even virtually also invite the suspect which is data processing, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare said. The Inspector General of Police further explained, And we evaluate and think that it is something that we can virtually do it than to show up at the police station and be unattended to and all that. So, we have a lot of work to do, but internally with a press of a button you can send messages to every police officer across the country instantly. From headquarters to regional level we send documents electronically that we need not to find people to come pick it up and do that. Under his leadership as the IGP, Dr. Dampare has set his sight on changing how the public sees the Police. He has been highly against the tag of corruption in the Police and has been engaged in various interactions with communities since becoming the IGP to get the people closest to the police. My brother, Charles Kusi Fimpong, kindly forgive me for what I am writing today. I had an awful evening yesterday because a lot went through my mind when I was taking my bath. I had flashes of the events on the afternoon of 11th October 2001, and I was a bit teary. I remember we were in SSS 1, and we heard noises coupled with gunshots that black Thursday. There was a daylight robbery incident around 12:30 pm on Otuasekan Rural Bank. Before the robbery attack, the robbers shot and killed the police officer on duty, Constable Paul Awere. After the robbery, they shot and killed Corporal William Kusi, who happened to be the father of my classmate and best friend. Corporal William Kusi had about five children, and Constable Paul Awere was a newly married man whose wife was pregnant at the time of his murder. After their untimely death, the police administration requested a state burial for the officers, which was granted by the families. After their burial, that was the end of the lives of their spouses and children. Common tombstone, the Police Administration have not been able to construct. Meanwhile, these officers were buried in front of the police station they were working. My classmate and brother suffered until the intervention of Asante Mamponhene. The traditional leader asked the bank to grant my friend a scholarship before he was able to further his education, of which the police administration did nothing to support the widows and the children of the officers who died in the line of duty. Twenty-one years down the line, the family is saddened by the way the state and the police administration treated them. 22nd July 2011, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr. Agyemang-Mensah, and the MCE, the late Mr. Daniel Appau Ohyeaman paid a courtesy call on Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, at his palace and told him about the decision of DISEC in collaboration with the Police Administration to honor the fallen heroes. Eleven (11) years later, nothing has been done. Why did the Police Administration fail the families of these two officers? What precedence are they setting for those who are still active in the service? As I memorize the events, my greatest worry was about the then-pregnant wife of Constable Paul Awere and the unborn baby. What was their fate? What is the status of the lady and the child today, twenty-one years after the gruesome murder of their husband and father? May their souls rest in perfect peace, and God continually provides for their families. Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Toobu, has backed the new police policy that allows officers who die in the line of duty to be replaced by a child or brother who qualifies. I don't think that is a very bad policy and I don't think it will be a demotivation to anyone, he said on Eyewitness News. Mr. Toobu, who is a retired police officer, argued further that the policy should be viewed with some empathy. When this policy is applied to your family, the excitement that it will create in your family, the lasting memory it will create in your family, you will come clapping saying that is the best policy ever, the MP said. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare announced this policy during a public lecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The IGP said this policy was part of a broad plan by the Ghana Police Service to protect the welfare of police officers. He says this is one of the best ways of pacifying the affected families for their loss. Critics have however called for more consultations on the matter. ---citinewsroom The Ghana Police Service has set sight on making improvements in the discharge of their duties. Speaking at a public lecture on Policing at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare disclosed that his administration is focused on reducing robberies in the country. He disclosed that the Police Service is working to reduce the response time to crime to 10 minutes nationwide. We want to reduce robbery and crime response time to 10 minutes across the country, we believe this is possible and it will be done. When was the last time you heard of robberies on the major highways in the country, the Police have men patrolling all those places. We are going to deploy about 2000 motorbikes and officers to be patrolling all highways in the country, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare assured. The IGP added, We have our intelligence officers all over the place, in the Ubers, shops and all over the communities. Its very expensive but we need to get the job done. As part of other measures being introduced, IGP George Akuffo Dampare further disclosed that there will soon be virtual police stations. According to him, it will ensure that Ghanaians can file reports to the police virtually without needing to walk into police stations. We are looking forward to a period where we will have a virtual police station. Where you dont have to show up at the police station. You just make your complain virtually and then we will send you all the information. And we can even virtually also invite the suspect which is data processing, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare said. SOME CHRISTIANS have decided to disassociate themselves from organised churches led by pastors. They say they do not want to be shepherded by any pastor; they simply want to be independent Christians worshipping God in their houses. One of such people, who wrote to me recently in relation to one of my articles, said he had no business following any pastor except Christ Jesus alone. He said he could not associate with the many pastors who have gone astray following their own paths instead of following Christ Jesus, the Author and Finisher of the Christian faith, and the only Way to Eternal Salvation. Many Christian believers, like the man I mentioned, stay away from church gatherings. In fact, the man may have a genuine concern to express, but his decision is problematic and inconsistent with the sound doctrine of Christ and church practices. God does not want believers to uphold the practice of always isolating themselves and worshipping Him individually in their houses. Rather, it is His will for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ to join fellow believers and be tended, fed and cared for by pastors, shepherds or overseers. It is for this reason, God spoke through the mouth of Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15). Jesus Christ does not only want His followers to gather in His name, but also be ministered to by one another's spiritual gifts especially that of the pastors or elders. Thus, after determining how deeply Peter loved Him, Jesus Christ asked the Apostle to tend and feed His sheep (followers) (John 21:15-17). The writer of the book of Hebrews also understood this so he instructed Christian believers not to forsake the assembly of the brethren (Hebrews 10:25). No disciple of Christ can be smarter and more intelligent than the Master. After all, we know that a servant is not greater than his master. It is the will of Christ that His followers be led by ministers who have been trained in the Word of Righteousness. Thus, He gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints (believers) for the work of the ministry. They are to feed Christs disciples to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him so that everyone may grow up spiritually (Ephesians 4:11-14). How can these ministers, who are often described as facilitating ministry gifts, train or prepare the saints for the work of the ministry just as Jesus Christ did for the foundational apostles, if the saints worship God individually in their houses? And what is wrong if a believer follows a genuine pastor to be nurtured in the ways and acts of God? Timothy followed Paul just as Elisha followed Elijah and Gehazi also followed Elisha. Now, the word, pastor has been used in the heading to refer to any minister who shepherds, teaches, counsels, exhorts, encourages, corrects, rebukes and prays for, and with believers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, however, sad that many people follow pastors without adequate knowledge. You can be worshipping God with a well-known church and still be following a false pastor. A popular and prestigious church is good but a gospel-focused and Christ-centred pastor is better. He is an honourable vessel. Every believer needs a pastor and fellowship with other believers. But then, before you choose or select a pastor to shepherd you, you need to be properly informed. In other words, many factors may influence the choices we make. First, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us. As Christians, we must first pray about everything we decide to do to determine the will of God. And before we pray in a situation like this, we ought to have been trained in the Word of Righteousness to distinguish between genuine and false pastors. Today, a counterfeit bishop can be found in an Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal or Charismatic church. You can only identify a true servant of Christ if you have read and studied the Bible to uncover the uniqueness of the calling, preparation/training, commissioning, ministrations, character and aim of the biblical servants of God. Genuine pastors minister by the mission and vision of God which are set out in Scripture. Now, it is not proper to follow a pastor merely because of his bodily stature, oratory skills, seminary training, priestly garment or ecclesiastical titles. Many are influenced by these, but they are certainly not the criteria. In this world, there are many apostles, prophets and bishops but not everyone is a servant of Jesus Christ. A servant of Christ follows Christ; he is Christ-centred and gospel-focused. So, choose a minister who follows Jesus Christ. Choose a pastor with Christ in mind. Choose a pastor with eternity in mind and choose a pastor with the salvation of your soul in mind. For example, a Christ-centred pastor will explain to you how God the Father wants to be worshipped. The Owner and Head of the church made it plain that God cannot be worshipped on our terms but on His terms. We do not determine how we should worship our Maker. He does. Jesus taught that worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth is the only way that pleases the Father. There is no alternative. He explained this to a Samaritan woman he ministered to in the days of His flesh: Jesus said to her. Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth (John 4:21-24). [email protected] BY James Quansah Ghana, formerly known as the Gold Coast is a country located in West Africa .She has notoriety for a number of things which include being the first sub-Saharan African country to disannex from British colonialism,the hospitableness of its citizens and relative stability it has enjoyed over a protracted period. It is ranked as the most peaceful country in West Africa,2nd in Africa and the 38th globally by the Institute of Economics and Peace in its 2021 Global Peace Index report. She is named after the extinct but once prosperous Ghana Empire, of the 7th to 13th century situated at the North West of the modern-day country (modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali). Technically,Ghana is a wealthy country,endowed with immense resources.The top cocoa producer also has abundant gold,timber,diamonds, bauxite,mangenese,oil and recently lithium has been discovered in commercial quantities. But Ghana has not been an exception from the " Resource Curse" that bedevils many wealthy African countries with the potential to becoming extremely prosperous. The resource curse also called the paradox of plenty was firstly coined by Richard Auty in 1993 referring to the failure of many resource-rich countries to benefit fully from their natural resource wealth, and for governments in these countries to respond effectively to public welfare needs. Good leadership has eluded these beautiful country and we have mostly settled for mediocrity.Slowly becoming a microcosm of failed states. Interethnic and intratribal marriages may have become popular in recent times, but Ghana has a fragile facade of unity.In reality we are divided on tribal lines.We don't need an anthropologist to do an in-depth research on this.We are either faking oblivion or deciding to live in denial. The 2021 Population and Housing Census by the Ghana Statistical Service puts the literacy rate now at 69.8 per cent.This is quite impressive and indicates a good number of Ghanaians could be on top of issues. Unfortunately,we have become more partisan than ever before.It may be for the underlining condition of tribalism.We are sharply divided along tribal lines and our tribal biases are reflected in our choices.A high literacy rate has not been enough to alter our tribal stances.Since there is little political dealignment, true accountability has also been nonexistent. Our society has evolved and our value system has shifted.More prominence is placed on money and material gains.The source is not really a priority.Leaders are a reflection of their society and as most of us lament about how corrupt our society has become, let us accept that it has been endorsed by majority of us from our homes,churches,mosques and work settings. I may describe the existing political landscape in Ghana as volatile.It thrives on corruption and it's wheels are oiled by it. A.lot of our politicians are well read and exposed.Books written by great authors like Niccolo Machiavelli with tried and tested principles have been manuals used to manipulate the masses. Instances are "Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived". "There is nothing more important than appearing to be religious". "Cunning and deceit will every time serve a man better than force to rise from a base condition to great fortune". "Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite" The political scene is characterized by majority of politicians stating untruths, concealing the truth,. and paltering.They cash in on the corruptibility of electorates and play on tribal cards to acquire power.After all most are blinded by partisanship. The media,a supposed fourth arm of government,which is to keep the populace informed and also serve as a whip of the government has come out to be an aid in manipulating and misinforming the people over many years. The media in the Ghanaian political terrain is vulnerable.Its independence is easily compromised because it is much easier to influence most of them.Most professionals here are financially displaced and work under very challenging circumstances. A lot of media institutions are owned by politicians or people in bed with politicians.This sets the tone and position of workers in such establishments. Besides,a lot of them gon't receive decent remuneration nor good conditions of service. Consequently, well meaning journalists have come to find themselves in the pockets of ambitious and unethical politicians.Most have become.affiliates to one political party or more. Now the pattern and modus operandi of most Ghanaian politicians have become predictable.The populace have loss trust in most politicians and political office holders.This air of mistrust has made the landscape very volatile and Ghana must move cautiously. Institutions that were once very reputable and seen as sacred in their obligations seem to have been infiltrated by partisan political puppets over some years now. Religion was a restraining belt,but it is equally losing its grip quickly as many have come to see a lot of these religious leaders as corrupt, unethical and morally warped.Easily induced by money and visibly exploit their positions to make more money. Politicians may have to earn their trust since many people are waking up to the fact that most of the electorates are just a way to a means for the politicians to gain power.The charm is waning off. In summary,the political climate in Ghana has become one of distrust.It is one that is seen as an industry where deceit is peddled for great economic and financial potentials and consequences for the politician and those who find favor with them.Long Live Ghana. Dumenu Charles Selorm National Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has taken a swipe at the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). According to him, it has become irritating government continue to blame Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict for the current hardships in the country. Speaking to TV3 on the Key Points programme on Saturday, August 13, Sammy Gyamfi blasted the government for the continuous blame game, insisting that the excuses are making the hardships in the country more painful. What makes the hardship even more painful is, we have people who, instead of taking responsibility for their mess, mismanagement and recklessness, always make flimsy excuses for the problems that we have on our hands, the NDC National Communications Officer said. Sammy Gyamfi added, Every NPP communicator is either blaming the problem on Covid-19 or Russia and Ukraine when they know the root problem has very little to do with these global problems. The ever depreciating Ghana cedi, today it is the worst current in Africa according to Bloomberg, and the second worse currency in the world. Was this caused by Covid and Russia Ukraine war? In the midst of the hardships in Ghana, the government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to seek support for the ailing economy. Per information from the Ministry of Finance, the discussions have progressed smoothly and will enter their second stage next month. 13.08.2022 LISTEN Fellow comrades, I have had the rare privilege of being in active service to the NDC as a constituency communication team member for the past three years. This period of service to the party, coupled with my social activism for Women and Persons Living With Different Abilities (PWDAs), has helped me to refine my skill in communication. That recognition got me involved in advocating for the establishment of the NDC Disability Desk in 2019 that now speaks for such vulnerable minority groups in each constituency. Aside that, I am the first and current Majority Leader in Ejura/Sekyedumase Youth Parliament which has the mandate to supervise and summon all Heads of Department under the Administrative jurisdiction of the Assembly except the Member of Parliament. Consequently, I served as the PWDAs Coordinator as well as a campaign team member for election 2020 that secured our seat. Fast forward, a perfunctory observation of the status quo indicates that the party's philosophy and its social democratic ideals, that underpinned the conduct of our founding fathers have been jettisoned. Many appeared crestfallen with the current trend of affairs in the party and needed a change that can revive their loyalty. Such were or are moments where responsibility literally beckons all of us as comrades to arise and be held to task if we want the party to progress. Upon sober self reflection, and further consultation, I have resolved to present myself as a competitive choice for the Constituency Communication Director's office when nominations are officially opened. Comrades, for the avoidance of doubt, trite knowledge has it that, we can no longer sing the NDC's anthem ..... "from victory unto victory ...... our strength in unity" because reintegration of our lost members to promote cohesion is never our concern. We have had to contend with clear manifestations of the politics of entitlement where decisions of leadership continuously fell short of both party's interest and what reality and history has in stock to dictate. It has often been a show of personal ambition over teamwork, double standards and manipulation as evidenced by the penchant for communicating through inappropriate channels and responsibility usurpation even by none executive in some instances. Indeed, let me also acknowledge that despite these divisive tendencies, various structures of the party have persisted in working more diligently for less and many others at the grassroot have made countless sacrifices without commensurate appreciation yet, there is no apparent hope in sight to effect a real progressive change. As a consequence, there is a growing sense of neglect, apathy and discontentment among the generality of the grassroot. It has therefore become critical for those of us in the communication team to reposition the party's communication machinery in a manner that restores the golden but lost sense of collaboration over exclusion without which unity of purpose and selfless service cannot be elicited from our rank and file. Comrades, our victory in 2024 General Elections is predicated on building a formidable united front, from which, an effectively resourceful communications machinery can be assembled to prosecute the NDC's gospel. I believe it would take fresh dynamism to rekindle the dead spirit of teamwork right from the branch level and superior organizational skills to tap into the collective expertise and experiences of all, to create the vibrant research-based communication vehicle, that would deliver to us a historic victory. I am not oblivious of the daunting nature of the task ahead. However, I am convicted by the fact that the solutions to our challenges are within reach but that has to take a radical and credible change in communication to renew that lost enthusiasm of belongingness within the party. This account is what has informed my inseparable all-inclusive vision and mission known as operation "Leaving No One Behind" (LeNOB). It is a social democratic principle inspired by a framework for collective action and very central to our transformative progress as a party. It is the basis for which, branch communicators' skills would be nurtured and honed at vantage information centres in each electoral area, alongside the NDC affiliated Assembly members taking turns at that level to address pertinent socio-political issues. It will inform the pragmatic steps to be taken to identify potential women for inclusion in the communication team to strengthen their voice in our political discourses. Comparatively, I am convinced that women in politics use the best language not only to encourage participation in decision-making but also, persuade, not just inform and so they unleash greater influence on electorates than men do. Empowered women, bring on board diverse and proactive measures that will improve communication content especially when it comes to the use of social media and door-to-door campaign. In furtherance, periodic organization of seminars at the constituency level for purposes of capacity building and networking with regional and national communicators shall be at the forefront on my agenda. Again, through innovation, an incentive mechanism to attract and sustain party communicators and serial callers alike shall be instituted and pursued vigorously. I have also observed with dissatisfaction, the pathetic expectations of the our Member of Parliament (MP). The key role of the MP as far as development is concerned shall be demystified through dialogue forums between the MP and constituents on bills pending before Parliament to promote effective representation. Finally, in my quest to ensure ethical communication that critique issues with recommendations, the NDC's core values and principles of Probity, Accountability and Social justice as enshrined in its Constitution shall not be compromised, in that, we can have the moral authority to confront internal excesses dispassionately as communicators. However, this lofty ambition to offer a paradigm shift with new leadership that breaks the barrier and builds the future for all cannot be attained single handedly without your unflinching support as delegates. I count on you to take charge of the coming change, as I step forward to offer my humble self to you, the delegates in Ejura/Sekyedumase constituency as a competitive choice for the communications' office. Real Change, Real Progress For Many Not The Few. Long live the NDC! Long live our bond in Unity, Stability and Development! Long live Ghana! Ey3 Zu, Ey3 Za! Thank you. Signed: Edward Yennukon Konlan (a.k.a God'sfight) Communications' Director Hopeful. Marjorie Taylor Greene, other conservatives lean into Christian nationalism. What is it? The Coalition of National Youth Organisers has expressed disappointment in the youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for boycotting the 2022 International Youth Day celebrations. In a press release by the NDC Youth Wing on August 11, it said it will not participate in the 2022 International Youth Day Celebrations being organized by the National Youth Authority. The Youth Wing is of the view that there is absolutely nothing for the youth to celebrate in these times of excruciating hardship that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has brought upon the Ghanaian youth through their bad governance, economic mismanagement, and pervasive corruption. The hardship is so dire that the youth struggle to afford one decent meal a day. To add insult to injury, prices of goods and services keep on increasing on the market every second, parts of a press statement signed by NDC Youth Organiser George Opare Addo said. Reacting to the boycott, the Coalition of National Youth Organizers made up of the five National Youth Organizers from the CPP, PNC, GCPP, APC, and the PPP has blasted the NDC. According to the coalition, all the lamentations by the NDC Youth Wing in their press release are rhetorics and nothing but playing politics as usual. The Coalition of National Youth Organizers made up of the five National Youth Organizers from the CPP, PNC, GCPP, APC and the PPP are very disappointed in the NDC National Youth wing, for refusing to be part of the International Youth Day celebration by the National Youth Authority, part of the release from the coalition reads. It adds, Yes times are tough! Yes things are hard for the Ghanaian Youth! Yes government flagship programs have suffered setbacks! But are these reasons why the political parties' Youth Organizers and their youth wings who are government in waiting and generational thinkers and future policy makers must start meeting to share ideas, compare notes, fine-tune National development proposals, and find solutions to the problems that confront us as Ghanaians? Below is a copy of the release from the Coalition of National Youth Organisers: COALITION OF NATIONAL YOUTH ORGANIZERS DISAPPOINTED IN THE NDC YOUTH WING FOR PLAYING POLITICS WITH THE FUTURE OF THE GHANAIAN YOUTH The Coalition of National Youth Organizers made up of the five National Youth Organizers from the CPP, PNC, GCPP, APC and the PPP are very disappointed in the NDC National Youth wing, for refusing to be part of the International Youth Day celebration by the National Youth Authority. This year's international Youth day celebration by the National Youth Authority which brought a lot of Youth groups, advocacy groups, students, religious groups and political party Youth Organizers should be lauded and the organizers led by the Chief Executive Officer Hon Pius Edinam Hadeze, his Deputies Nelson Owusu Ansah, Akosua Manu and the National and Regional Directors. This is the first time under the fourth Republic of Ghana that the National Youth Authority has decide to do broader consultation with various youth groups to include them in decision making, contributing ideas and championing the Youth agenda together. Invited Youth leaders from political parties, NUGS, NCCE, the business community,the Ghana Police Service etc were all given the opportunity to talk about how the Ghanaian Youth can Help protect the Peace and Security in Ghana. The Youth were educated about the need to restore our lost cultural values and mortality in the Today's Youth. There was education on how to use social media positively to improve the life of the Ghanaian Youth, Cyber Security, how to strengthen it and how to be security alert on the Cyber space, as well as the ethical behaviors that must be exhibited by those who patronize the cyber space. Entrepreneurship was thoroughly discussed, experts and successful entrepreneurs were paneled to talk about how to start a business as a Youth, how to grow your existing business as a Youth, the Opportunities that exists for the Youth who wants to venture into Entrepreneurship and how the Youth can ready themselves and also take advantage of the Youstart Policy. The aforementioned programs and activities are not political business as usual and we wish that the NDC Youth should have followed the example of the NDC's member of Parliament for Korley Klottey Hon Zenator Rawlings's example by putting Ghana and the Ghanaian Youth first by joining us to not only celebrate the Youth of Ghana but to champion their well being agenda too. Again the NDC Youth wing should know that successive governments will inherit most of the Youth flagship programs that has been introduced by this government, and that meeting to reshape it the youth way to last and benefit generations is what is expected of Patriotic Ghanaian Youth. All the lamentations by the NDC Youth wing in their press release are rhetorics and nothing but playing politics as usual. Yes times are tough! Yes things are hard for the Ghanaian Youth! Yes government flagship programs have suffered setbacks! But are these reasons why the political parties youth Organizers and their youth wings who are government in waiting and generational thinkers and future policy makers must start meeting to share ideas, compare notes, fine tune National development proposals and find solutions to the problems that confronts us as Ghanaians? Happy International Youth Day to the Ghanaian Youth. Let us all be reminded that building our country is a collective task and we are all involved. Signed.... Mark Ewusi Arkoh National Youth Organizer PNC President Coalition of National Youth Organizers Faisal Sadat National Youth Organizer Vice president Coalition of National Youth Organizers Osei Kofi Acquah National Youth Organizer CPP General Secretary Coalition of National Youth Organizers King Hassan National Youth Organizer APC Director of Operations Coalition of National Youth Organizers Jude Balmah National Youth Organizer GCPP Director of Research Coalition of National Youth Organizers The Commonwealth Secretary-General, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, QC, is set to make her first official visit to the Commonwealths newest member, Gabon, next week. The Secretary-General will arrive in Libreville on 16 August and during her four-day visit, will meet the President of Gabon, H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba, and other senior government officials. The visit comes after Gabon was recently admitted as the Commonwealths 55th member at the Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda. The Secretary-General will thus use her maiden visit as an opportunity to establish the foundations of a new relationship between Gabon and the Commonwealth, understand the challenges of the country, and explore areas of mutual cooperation. Speaking ahead of her visit, the Secretary-General said: We were thrilled to welcome Gabon into the Commonwealth family at our Heads of Government Meeting in June. I am very much looking forward to my first visit to the country and meeting with leaders, ministers and officials. As a new Commonwealth member, this important visit will allow me to deepen engagement with the country and its people. It will also serve as a vital opportunity to discuss ways in which the Commonwealth Secretariat can serve and support the Government and people of Gabon in advancing our shared values and achieving our shared goals. The Secretary-Generals visit also coincides with the 62nd Anniversary of the Independence of Gabon on 17 August and she will therefore take part in the official celebrations in Libreville. Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery has called on fire service personnel to join in sensitizing the public on the See Something Say Something campaign. The Nandom legislator admonished fire service personnel to attach urgency to the threats of terrorism while performing their primary role of education and fighting fires. Speaking at the passing out parade of Recruit Course 55 of the Ghana National Fire Service, Ambrose Dery urged the recruits to exhibit high sense of discipline. We live in a region which is volatile and prone to extremist activities. Our neighbours have been attacked so let me make it clear that, the footage suggesting that extremists have attacked Ghana are false and should be disregarded. I will entreat Course 55 just as I will entreat Ghanaians that even though Ghana has been spared, we must remain vigilant. Ghana's security agencies have been put on high alert over threats of terrorism in the country. The government said several efforts are underway to ensure that the country is protected from any form of attack following reports that terrorist groups are looking to expand southward, with countries such as Ghana in focus. The Ministries of National Security and Information launched the See Something, Say Something campaign to create awareness among citizens. This follows threats of a possible terrorist attack in Ghana. Recently, the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism in its latest report warned that Ghana is at high risk of terrorism following pockets of civil, political, and social unrest in parts of the West African sub-region. It said threats of violent extremism are heavily descending towards coastal states from the Sahel regions and that Ghana may not be spared, for that matter, given happenings in its neighbouring countries. Factors such as chieftaincy and ethnic disputes, land conflicts, marginalization of vulnerable groups, and high youth unemployment make Ghana very susceptible to threats of terrorism, the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism noted. Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Samuel Atta-Akyea is urging traditional authorities of Krobo to call indigenes of the area to order as the Electricity Company of Ghana works to restore power to the community. According to him, it will be in the best interest of the people of Krobo if they revise their decision on the matter. There have been tensions between the residents and the ECG in recent times over the installation of prepaid metres. The situation has led to power outage in the area for some time. Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Atta Akyea stressed the need for people of Krobo to abide by the law of the country. Our people in Krobo should change their stance. There is nowhere in this world that one can enjoy electricity for free. So we want our people to be law-abiding, that is what, I will stress and the stakeholders particularly the chiefs should call the residents to order. Already, the Divisional Chief of Okper in the Yilo Krobo municipality of the Eastern region, Nene Anyeenorgu Teye Agor has welcomed the latest decision by ECG to bring back power to the Krobo enclave. The latest decision was arrived at during a stakeholder meeting in Accra on Thursday by the management of the ECG, the traditional leaders of both areas, the Regional Minister and the National Security Ministry. The two Krobo municipalities have been without power for over two weeks due to security concerns raised by the ECG. Nene Anyeenorgu Teye Agor says the traditional authorities will do all they can to provide the needed security assistance to the utility service provider. The Municipal Chief Executives (MCE) for Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Korbo in the Eastern Region have urged calm among residents, assuring them that power would be restored soon. There have been tensions between the resident and the ECG in recent times over the installation of prepaid metres. By Citi Newsroom The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, is to resume contingent rotations from Monday under fresh approval procedures, the Malian foreign minister and a UN spokeswoman have said. "MINUSMA agreed to the new procedures and communicated them to all countries contributing troops. There will be no exception," Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said Saturday, after the Sahel state suspended the rotations last month over "national security" reasons. The peacekeeping force's spokeswoman Myriam Dessables confirmed the news and said: "Rotations are to resume from Monday." The announcement came after Germany said Friday it had stopped reconnaissance operations and helicopter transport flights in Mali until further notice after Bamako denied flyover rights to MINUSMA. Those rights were refused despite assurances to the contrary from the Malian Defence Minister Sadio Camara in a call with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht Thursday, the German defence ministry spokesman said. Diop said the various contingents previously had to seek approval directly from the Malian authorities. But now "all requests must go via MINUSMA, who will then pass them on to the foreign ministry", the minister said. The July 14 suspension of rotations came four days after Mali arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers it later described as "mercenaries" intent on toppling the country's military-led government. Ivory Coast said the troops had been sent to provide backup to MINUSMA. The peacekeeping mission acknowledged there had been "dysfunctions" in deploying the Ivorian troops. Former MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado was expelled from the country for publishing what the authorities deemed "unacceptable" information on Twitter following the arrest. MINUSMA -- the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali -- was launched in 2013 to help one of the world's poorest countries cope with a bloody jihadist campaign. It is one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operations, with 17,609 troops, police, civilians and volunteers deployed as of April, according to the mission's website. Mali has been ruled by a military junta since 2020. Map of Mali locating the town of Tessit. By (AFP) The junta has turned away from France and toward Russia in its fight against the jihadist insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. France is pulling out the last of its military equipment from the country. On Saturday, residents in the southeastern Menaka region said Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) jihadists had attacked the Assaylal district, "killing seven civilians and taking with off their cattle". It comes after a suspected jihadist attack in the town of Tessit, near the borders with Niger and Burkina Faso, killed 42 Malian soldiers on Sunday last week. The army blamed ISGS. These seafaring 'robot surfboards' will hopefully float into a hurricane soon -- for science August 13, 2022 Iran Confirms Drone Sale To Russia - But What Will It Buy In Exchange? Small birds do not taste well and their small bones makes eating them a fickle. I will have overcome that though as I will now have to eat some crow. On July 12 Moon of Alabama headlined: No, Iran Will Not Deliver Armed Drones To Russia In March this year we were treated to an onslaught of obviously false claims that China would deliver weapons to Russia for the fight in Ukraine. ... Now an equally stupid claim was launched by the very same liar who launched the fake Chinese weapons claim. White House: Iran set to deliver armed drones to Russia - AP - Jul 7, 2022 ... Russia has absolutely no need to buy drones from Iran. Besides that it is dubious that Iran would be able to deliver some and certainly not 'several hundreds'. ... The whole issues is just a talking point designed to put Iran and Russia into the same 'baddies' binder for Biden's talks in the Middle East. The countries there may not like Iran but they will certainly not allow for a condemnation of Russia. The whole idea is, as many others Sullivan had, stupid to begin with. So no, there will not be any Iranian drones going to Russia or fly over Ukraine. I, like the other Iran-watch writers I quoted, was wrong. Elijah J. Magnier, who has excellent contacts within the 'axis of resistance' led by Iran, reports: Russia buys 1,000 drones from Iran and expands the level of strategic cooperation Iran and Russia had expanded the level of their strategic cooperation in various fields, most recently in space when a Russian rocket launched an Iranian satellite into orbit from the Russian launch facility in Kazakhstan. Iran will undoubtedly benefit from renewing its bank of objectives and identifying more targets related to its enemies based in the Middle East, mainly the US military bases and Israel. Moreover, Russia has signed a contract with Iran to buy 1,000 drones after Iran delivered a few planes and a simulator on which Russian officers trained: they successfully used the first drones in Ukraine. This move is considered unprecedented for a superpower to buy its drones from Iran. Tehran considers this to be recognition of its advanced and effective military industry, achieved despite 43 years of US sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The buy seems to be about bigger long endurance drones, not small tactical ones like the Orlan 10 which Russia mass produces itself. Writes Magnier: According to well-informed sources in Iran, the purchase of drones by a superpower like Russia is an important indication confirming the quality and development of Iranian industry, which has succeeded in producing the most advanced drones such as the Shahid 129 which can fly for a period exceeding 24 hours. This is what attracted Russia, especially for use in its war in Ukraine. Russia has developed a number of drones for itself. The Orlan-10 is good for artillery observation and electronic warfare on the tactical battalion level. Then there is the 200 kilogram Korsar which has a tactical strike role. There is also the ZALA-421-16E5, a ... ... tactical operation unmanned aerial reconnaissance system. The UAV flight duration is 6-7 hours, the flight range is up to 150 km, the monitored area can exceed 21,000 sq km in a single launch. That is better than the Orlan 10 but still at the basic tactical level. Anything above that, an operational-tactical drone that can stay up for a whole day and night and continuously cover the front of one or more brigades is something that Russia has not had so far. The Iranian Shahed 129 is an equivalent to the U.S. MQ-1 Predator. It has infrared and day optics, a laser designator for precise targeting and it can carry four precision-guided bombs. Its range is 1,500 kilometer which is significantly more then current Russian drones have. Since 2014 these drones have been used by Iran in Syria so Russia will already have has some direct experience with their battle field performance. I am sure though that Iran will take several years to deliver 1,000 of those. But that may not matter. A few dozen will be sufficient enough for now to continuously cover the whole 2,000 kilometer frontline in Ukraine at the necessary depths. It is unusual for Russia to buy weapons from other states without any other compensation. I therefore suspect that this is not a one sided deal but that Iran has promised to buy some significant Russian systems in exchange. An order of several dozen of the most modern version of the Suchoi Su-35 air superiority fighter would make sense. They would finally allow Iran to get rid of the way too old U.S. made F-4 Phantoms and Grumman F-14 that it has been flying (and crashing) for ages. Iran and Russia may want to wait for the outcome of the still ongoing nuclear agreement negotiations before any official deal will be announced. It simply would be unwise to disturb that process now and to give hawks in the U.S. more arguments to let the deal fail. The further cooperation between Russia and Iran though is independent of the outcome of the nuclear agreement negotiations. It will succeed as nothing that the U.S. could throw up against it is able to influence either side. Posted by b on August 13, 2022 at 14:29 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page August 13, 2022 Ukraine Open Thread 2022-128 Only for news & views related to the Ukraine conflict. The current open thread for other issues is here. Posted by b on August 13, 2022 at 14:40 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page The air is being let out of the drilling activity balloon as strong crude prices, which prompted independent operators to ramp up drilling, have been coming back down to earth. Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said Friday its US rig count, which it has reported weekly since the 1940s, inched down by one to 763 rigs. That marks the first time the rig count has declined for two consecutive weeks in two years. The count is 262 rigs or 53% higher than the 501 reported last August. The number of rigs drilling for crude rose three to 601 203 more than the 398 counted a year ago. The number of rigs drilling for natural gas dropped one to 160, 58 more than the 102 reported a year ago. Like the US, Texas dropped one rig during the week for 372 at work statewide, 140 more than the 232 working last year. New Mexico was unchanged at 104 rigs. Louisiana (2), Oklahoma (1) and West Virginia (1) were the producing states that reported higher rig counts while Alaska (1) and Pennsylvania (2) joined Texas in seeing declines. The Permian Basin likewise dropped one rig, reporting 346 at work throughout the region, 100 more than the 146 reported last year. Lea County, New Mexico, was the most active county in the Permian with 61 rigs, up six for the week. Those six rigs may have come from second-place Eddy County, New Mexico, which dropped six rigs for 40. Midland County fell seven rigs the steepest drop of the week for 32 rigs this week. Martin County was close behind with 31, up four for the week. Reeves County had 29 rigs, up one, while Loving County fell two to 27. Upton County posted the steepest increase of the week eight rigs for 21 at work within county lines. Howard County also reported 21 rigs, down two. Ward County had 15 rigs, up two, and Glasscock County recorded 12 rigs, up three for the week. Crockett County saw renewed activity this week with one rig going to work in the county. Enverus Foundations, part of the energy-focused analytics and Software as a Service firm, said its US rig count rose six to 832 as of Aug. 10. The count is down 1% in the last month, but up 45% year over year. Activity reached as high as 840 rigs during the week, two rigs lower than the prior weeks peak. On a peak-to-peak basis, the Williston Basin and Gulf Coast added two rigs to reach 45 and 118, respectively. The Permian, Appalachian and DJ basins slid by two rigs week over week to 314, 54 and 20 rigs, respectively. The Anadarko Basins peak of 74 rigs was flat compared to last week. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A group of Midlanders protested the Federal Bureau of Investigations outside the bureaus local office on North Big Spring Street. The protest came as a response to the FBIs raid of former President Donald Trumps home earlier in the week. Jenny Cudd, the 2019 Midland mayoral candidate who was sentenced to two months probation for her participation in the events on Jan. 6 at the United States Capitol, organized the protest over social media. The goal is to bring awareness and education to people about the fact that the department of injustice has weaponized against the American people, Cudd said, Specifically, a subsection of the American people, which is conservatives, Christians, school board parents, second amendment supporters, first amendment supporters, all different types of people. She then detailed her preferred end goal, stating that she does not believe the FBI will be abolished. Both sides, Republican and Democrat, both contribute to that, she said. She said she would like to see federal taxpayer funds given to local police, who are capable of stopping crime, rather than the FBI. Midland conservative social media personality Nino America, attended the protest. He claimed the FBI was corrupt and the raid of Trumps estate was unprecedented. Were trying to shed light on it and say that we stand with President Trump, he said. About 20 protestors stood along the busy street in central Midland with signs that read things like, this is the government our founding fathers warned you about and honk if you love this country. Motorists honked in approval, and a few displayed their dismay verbally or with disagreeing looks from the drivers seat of their vehicle. Cudd supplied the Reporter-Telegram with a fact sheet about the FBI, which included the oath FBI agents take, a section labeled FBI symbols of domestic terrorism and militia violent extremism, which included the quotes, I will not comply, well-regulated American militia, and Molon Labe, as well as Thomas Jeffersons quotes -- when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty, and the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Under the Flags subheading included the original United States flag with 13 stars, the Come and Take It flag and a Dont Tread on Me flag. The FBI Has Not section included the phrases, Found Hillarys 33,000 emails, Talked to Ray Epps even though theyve admitted to having informants on January 6th, Upheld the Constitution and the oath they swore among seven other accusations. The FBI Has list read designated parents at school board meetings domestic terrorists, Recruited, paid and then arrested people to plant bombs outside of synagogues and Raided countless Americans homes for being in D.C. on January 6th and five other remarks. It started as a goal to ride a bike. Now 15-year-old Caleb Schroeder's goal is to ride his bike across the country. The Idaho teen is in the process of completing that goal, riding a tandem bicycle with his father, Kirk Schroeder, from an island near Seattle, Washington, with plans to end Aug. 27 on St. Simons Island, Georgia, making the total trip in just more than a month. If all goes to plan, the riders will spend Monday night in Jacksonville after arriving in town Monday afternoon. Since starting his biking journey in 2019, Caleb Schroeder began racking up the miles before attempting his ultimate challenge. This trip will cover roughly 3,400 miles in 33 days. "I want to do what I can do, even if it is harder than it would be for others to do," Caleb Schroeder said on his GoFundMe page. "What I have found, however, is that I am doing what others do not attempt. My goal in exceeding what is expected is for the purpose of inspiring others to do more as well." Caleb Schroeder was born with hydrocephalus, an abnormal build-up of fluid in the brain, and also has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome a high-functioning form of autism and cerebral palsy that affects the right side of his body. While there were physical challenges, his parents said Caleb never let that stop him from running, biking or trying to do those things that were difficult for him. "He always wants to come up with a new challenge," Kirk Schroeder said. "He wants to prove he can accomplish great things." Now he wants to raise fund for the organizations that have helped him. He is raising money for Autism Speaks, an organization that promotes autism advocacy and research, and Shriners Hospitals for Children, which helped him through his surgeries and other health needs. The duo is riding roughly 100 miles a day, six days a week until they reach their destination. "It's been kind of cool to see the scenery change," Caleb Schroeder said. "The weird thing is my legs are fine; it's other body parts that hurt." Kirk Schroeder said his family always tries to support each other. Though reaching this goal has been a lot of physical work, battling wind and heat, Kirk Schroeder said it has been an amazing experience. "We had no idea how hard this would be, but it has been a whole family affair," Kirk Schroeder said. Together the two have experienced many amazing views on their ride, including Mount Rushmore, mountains and lakes. "We get to see the country and we've met some wonderful people along the way," Kirk Schroeder said. Caleb's mom, Dana Schroeder, said it has been a long journey for Caleb to get to where he is now. "His foot was twisted, he had bad balance and all he wanted to do was run," she said. "Over time he got faster and then he was running miles. He always wanted a challenge." Caleb Schroeder said he wants to inspire others with whom he interacts. "If I can do it, other people can do it," Caleb Schroeder said. "No matter what their goal is." People can follow the journey through the Team Caleb Facebook page. The Journal-Courier received four awards, two of which were first-place honors, in the annual Illinois Press Association editorial contest. Awards were announced Friday during the associations annual convention in Springfield. Associate Editor Darren Iozia was awarded first place in the general news photo category for his photograph of David and Laurie Connors at the site where their daughter, Alisha J. Connors, died Nov. 23, 2011, in an accident involving a drunken driver. The couple placed a sign at the site to honor Alisha and to remind others not to drink and drive. "The photograph speaks volumes a decade after the fatal accident. The mother's facial expression touches the reader," according to the judge's comments. Entries were judged anonymously by member newspapers of the Alabama Press Association. The newspapers staff took a first-place Freedom of Information Award for its continued coverage of its efforts to receive complete public records from the village of South Jacksonville and the actions that took place behind the scenes under a previous administration to circumvent laws requiring their release. The newspaper sued the village over the denial. The legal action since has been resolved. "This is a case study of a newspaper fighting for records and uncovering activities that fundamentally change what is happening in government. Excellent, tenacious reporting, according to the judges comments. Journal-Courier editor and publisher David C.L. Bauer received honorable mention in the headline writing and news reporting categories. The Illinois Press Association reduced its contest divisions for daily newspapers from three to two this year. The Journal-Courier was competing against daily newspapers with circulations of up to 15,000. There were more than 1,725 entries in the contest. Todd Winters/The Nature Conservancy/Provided The Nature Conservancys annual Global Photo Contest is accepting submissions through Aug. 31 and the organization is reminding Illinois residents that there are several Nature Conservancy reserves in the state from which to seek inspiration. More than 100,000 photos from 158 countries were submitted to the 2021 competition, with Anup Shah of the United Kingdom taking top honors for his photo of a western lowland gorilla walking through a cloud of butterflies in Central African Republic. This years competition has two new categories plants or fungi and climate to go along with last years categories people and nature, landscape, water and wildlife. The climate category, particularly, asks photographers to illustrate the toll of climate change on communities and ecosystems. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The following are being sought on arrest warrants, according to various sheriffs departments. The addresses listed are the last known addresses provided by the warrants and may be outdated. Jonathan L. Well, 36, of 1921 N. Illinois Route 78 is being sought on a warrant accusing him of failing to appear in court on charges of driving while license is revoked and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. Authorities said he also is being sought in Montgomery County. He is a white male standing 6 foot 6 and weighing 220 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Ryan E. Dokka, 38, of 1652 Old Airport Road is being sought on a warrant accusing him of attempting to elude a peace officer. He is a white male standing 6 feet tall and weighing 160 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes. Morgan County Sheriff ARRESTS, CITATIONS Joshua E. Turner, 44, of 816 W. 11th St., Beardstown, was arrested at 5:50 p.m. Aug. 6 on a battery charge after being accused of kicking a person in the ankle in the 800 block of Main Street in Meredosia. OTHER REPORTS Deputies are investigating a report of someone dumping trash Sunday in Concord Cemetery. Jacksonville Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Perry Handy, 48, of 1117 E. Morton Ave. was arrested at 4:57 a.m. Thursday in the 1200 block of Lincoln Avenue on charges of possession of methamphetamine and driving while license is revoked or suspended. ACCIDENTS Mankila Y. Hart, 25, of Jacksonville was cited on a charge of improper lane use after the car she was driving and one being driven by Shay E. McGarvey, 37, of Jacksonville collided at 8:28 p.m. Thursday in the 200 block of West Beecher Avenue. Ann M. Moreno, 54, of Jacksonville was cited on charges of improper lane use and operating an uninsured motor vehicle after the car she was driving went off the road at 9:59 p.m. Wednesday and hit a utility pole at Lafayette and Westgate avenues. THEFTS, BURGLARIES A motor scooter was stolen between 7 p.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday from the 300 block of West Beecher Avenue. Firearms were stolen from a resident of the 400 block of East Lafayette Avenue, according to a report filed at 9:11 p.m. Wednesday. Cass County Beardstown Police ARRESTS, CITATIONS Levi M. Kessel, 23, of Littleton was cited July 27 on a charge of driving while license is suspended. Jermaine D. Campbell, 35, of Beardstown was arrested July 18 on a battery charge. Alex F. Fisher, 48, of Beardstown was cited July 20 on charges of driving while license is revoked, driving while registration is suspended and disobeying a stop sign. Darla A. Downs, 40, of Springfield was arrested July 17 on charges of disorderly conduct and battery. Mainukuoro Leopold, 36, of Beardstown was arrested July 7 on charges of driving under the influence, aggravated driving under the influence, and having no driver's license. Russell J. Wubker, 53, of Beardstown was cited July 15 on a disorderly conduct charge. William S. White, 42, of Beardstown was arrested July 14 on charges of driving under the influence, possession of cannabis and improper lane use. Jason W. Hawk, 44, of Beardstown was arrested July 13 on a charge of failing to register. Derrick James, 25, of Beardstown was cited July 12 on a charge of having no valid registration. Agustin Urguiza, 19, of Beardstown was cited July 7 on charges of disobeying a stop sign and possession of adult-use cannabis while driving a motor vehicle. Compiled by David C.L. Bauer Fort Polk, LA (71446) Today Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 85F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.. Tonight Showers and scattered thunderstorms. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Ukrainian minister says Russia blocking access to medicines View Photo KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraines health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them, Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday. We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized, the minister said. The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials. The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the countrys state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24. The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries. But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe. When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital, he said. Sometimes, we cant make it in time, the ambulance cant get there in time. Thats why war causes many more casualties (than those killed in the fighting). Its a number that cannot be calculated. ___ Full coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ___ Follow Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Arhirova at https://twitter.com/h_arhirova By DEREK GATOPOULOS and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press COVID-19 Community Levels in US by County View Photo Calaveras Public Health updates weekly on Tuesdays. They report two deaths due to Covid; one woman in her 60s and one in her 80s. There are 47 new lab-confirmed cases from August 3rd to the 9th. The number of cases is down from 105 new lab-confirmed cases among residents last week. Calaveras reports 50 active cases, last week there were 80 active cases. There are four active Covid hospitalizations. Calaveras is back to the medium (yellow) Community Covid Level with Mariposa. Tuolumne has been at the High Community Level since June 24th. The Community level is determined by the CDC based on higher of the new hospital admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days. According to the CDC covid transmission remains high in nearly all counties in California and throughout the United States. Locally only Mono and Alpine Counties have lower transmission levels. Tuolumne County Public Health reports 110 new lab-confirmed community cases and 10 Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) inmate cases from Saturday, August 6th to today, Friday, August 12th, for a total of 120 cases. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports 28 active cases at SCC, last week there were 37 active cases. There are 89 known active community cases down from 127. Positive home tests (rapid/antigen tests) are not counted in the Covid numbers and remain unknown. Lab results come from hospitals or other lab-confirmed testing. Beginning last week, hospitalizations are being reported as a 14-day daily average based on reported data from the hospital to the California Department of Public Health. The number of hospitalizations over the past 14 days is 6 and represents people admitted to Adventist Sonora regardless of their county of residence. The newly reported Covid-19 community cases this week include 12 cases age 17 and younger and 44 cases age 60 or older. The new Covid cases demographics: 6 girls and 5 boys age 0 to 11, 2 boys age 12 to 17, 9 women and 4 men age 18 to 29, 7 women and 6 men in their 30s, 7 women and 6 men in their 40s, 8 women and 6 men in their 50s, 15 women and 8 men in their 60s, 6 women and 6 men in their 70s, 3 women and 3 men in their 80s, and 1 woman and 2 men age 90 or older. The total current case rate, a 14-day average for Tuolumne County (increased/decreased) to ??? from 34 per 100,000 population. A total of ???? more are counted as released from isolation, in all 12,854 have been released from isolation. The 7-day test positivity rate is ???% (up/down) from 15.1%. Protect yourself and those around you from COVID-19: Get vaccinated; contact your healthcare provider or pharmacy about flu vaccine Wear a mask in public, especially indoors Stay home when sick! Keep your distance and avoid crowds when possible Wash hands and clean surfaces frequently Monkeypox Tuolumne Public health states there are 1,945 probable and confirmed cases in California, from 32 local jurisdictions, an increase of 810 cases this week, (349 last week.) No cases have been identified in Tuolumne County to date. The risk to the general public is considered low at this time. While California is working to increase the number of vaccines available, current availability is extremely limited. Tuolumne County does not have vaccines available at this time. On August 1st, Governor Newsom declared a State of Emergency to support the monkeypox response statewide as detailed here. For more information, including prevention information about monkeypox, go here. COVID-19 Testing If you test positive or have been exposed to COVID-19 Isolation instructions (click here) To make an appointment for testing at the testing site visit: https://lhi.care/covidtesting The Mother Lode fairgrounds testing site will close at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, August 17th otherwise testing is open 7 days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. with closures for meal breaks between 11 am to 12 pm and 4 pm to 5 pm. The State testing site at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds launched Test to Treat operations as detailed here. At-home test kits can be ordered for free at https://www.covid.gov/tests. Families with school-age children may obtain free kits by contacting the Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools office. A limited number of free at-home kits are available at the Public Health Department (note, as a healthcare facility, masks are required at all times in our lobby). At-home test kits are also available for purchase at pharmacies. Testing sites at other locations near the area can be found by visiting: https://myturn.ca.gov/testing.html COVID-19 Vaccine children aged 6 months to 5 years are now eligible for COVID vaccination. The Tuolumne Public Health team has added vaccinations for this age group to our clinic schedule beginning next week or families can check with their childs healthcare provider. Appointments for June 27, June 29, or July 1 at the health department on Cedar Road in Sonora are available at myturn.ca.gov. For more information click here: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-moderna-and-pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccines-children More information about Covid Vaccine booster shots can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/clinical-considerations/covid-19-vaccines-us.html. Appointments in Tuolumne and Calaveras can be made through myturn.ca.gov or by calling 833-422-4255 or through local pharmacies, more details are here. County Date New Active (Hospital) Est. Total 2022 All Cases (All Deaths) Amador 8/2 to 8/10 31 66 (5) 2,623 6,799 (79) Calaveras 8/3 to 8/9 47 50 (1) 3,617 8,252 (133) Mariposa 8/5 to 8/11 31 N/A (1) 2,156 3,963 (37) Mono 8/5 to 8/12 13 N/A 1,224 3,170 (9) Tuolumne 7/30 to 8/5 162 127 (6) 7,784 16,071 (193) Colors indicate CDC Community Level: Green-low, Yellow-medium, Orange-high Aug. 2 A 51-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 2 at the 3100 block of Canyon St. during a callout for criminal mischief. Responding officers found damaged property. The individual was charged with criminal mischief. Theft was reported at the 1500 block of Kokomo St. on Aug. 2. Plainview police were called out to the 2600 block of W. 5th St. on Aug. 2 regarding an aggravated assault later determined to have been a false report. Officers responded to the location in reference to an assault. The alleged victim told police theyd been physically assaulted and threatened with a knife. Upon further investigation, it was determined the individual fabricated the claim and was charged with making a false report. Aug. 3 A 22-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 3 at the 600 block of N. I-27. He was charged with violating a bond/protective order and with harboring a runaway child. Fraud was reported on Aug. 3 at the 2900 block of W. 4th St. Officers responded to the Plainview Country Club for credit card abuse. Theft was reported on Aug. 3 at the 1300 block of W. 32nd St. A theft was reported on Aug. 3 at the 900 block of W. 28th St. Officers issued a citation for a traffic violation on Aug. 3 at the 1600 block of Quincy St. Aug. 4 A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported on Aug. 4 at the 400 block of Quincy St. No injuries were noted. Shoplifting was reported at the 3200 block of Olton Road on Aug. 4. A floor jack was reported stolen from Ace Hardware. A 50-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 4 at the 500 block of W. 5th St. during a traffic stop. The man was found to have multiple active warrants including charges for: running a stop sign, driving without a seat belt, violating a promise to appear, failure to maintain financial responsibility and failure to appear/bail jumping. Aug. 5 A hit-and-run crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported on Aug. 5 at the 1200 block of Utica St. A theft was reported at the 3200 block of Olton Road on Aug. 5. A man stole two Craftsman tool kits from Ace Hardware. He left the store in a black vehicle, which was later located. The man was found to be in possession of the stolen items and was arrested for theft. A traffic stop was conducted at the 3200 block of N. Columbia on Aug. 5. An assault was reported at the 1200 block of Galveston St. on Aug. 5. A 39-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 5 at the 1200 block of W. 8th St. during a traffic stop. The individual was charged with an outstanding warrant for failure to maintain financial responsibility. A 41-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 5 at the 2400 block of Dimmitt Road. Officers were dispatched in reference to an intoxicated individual who was causing a disturbance. The individual allegedly threatened the clerk and several customers. He left before officers arrived. The suspect was located and was taken into custody. He was charged with making a terroristic threat. Police arrested a 29-year-old woman on Aug. 5 at the 1100 block of W. 5th St. during a traffic stop. The stop was initiated for a traffic violation. The woman was charged with driving with an invalid license with previous conviction/suspension without financial resolution. She was also found to have active municipal warrants. The warrants include charges for failure to appear/bail jumping, driving while license invalid and with assault causing bodily injury, family violence. Aug. 6 A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at W. 5th and Quincy St. on Aug. 6. Police arrested 60-year-old Mark Edward Branscum on Aug. 6 at the 500 block of Quincy. Officers responded to the location in reference to a crash. Branscum was found to have a warrant out of Randall County for evading arrest/assault causing bodily injury, family violence. Branscum was arrested and was found to be in possession of a controlled substance noted as amphetamine. In addition to the charge from the warrant, he was also charged with possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony. A 59-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 6 at the 4000 block of Olton Road. He was charged with public intoxication with three prior convictions. Damaged property as reported at the 100 block of W. Crestway on Aug. 6. Officers were called in reference to a suspicious vehicle in the alley. The vehicle was found to have deflated tires and body damage. Officers called the owners and discovered it had been stolen out of Lubbock. Upon further investigation, it was found not to have been stolen and the claims were dropped. Aug. 7 Criminal trespass was reported on Aug. 7 at the 600 block of W. 5th St. A 25-year-old man was arrested for criminal trespass. Police arrested 22-year-old Joseph Mangus Navarro on Aug. 7 at the 1100 block of W. 13th St. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is a felony. According to police, they were called to Covenant Health Plainview regarding an assault that had occurred somewhere else. The victim said theyd been struck with the grip of a handgun. Navarro was located and arrested. Two individuals were arrested on Aug. 7 at the 100 block of W. 10th St. A 34-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were arrested when officers responded to the location in reference to an eviction process. The man and woman were found to have active warrants and were arrested for them. Warrants for the man included charges for interfering with an emergency call and for theft of property. The warrant for the woman includes a charge for failure to attend school, parent/guardian contributing. Aug. 8 A 20-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 8 at the 900 block of W. 28th St. Officers responded to the location in reference to criminal trespass. The individual was charged with criminal trespass. A 30-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 8 at the 900 block of W. 28th St. Officers initially responded to the location in reference to an assault. The victim told officers they were assaulted by a significant other. Visible injuries were noted. The man arrested was charged with assault causing bodily injury. A 26-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 8 at the 2800 block of W. 24th St. for failure to identify after he provided officers with a fictitious name and date of birth during a traffic stop. The individual was charged with failure to identify. An assault was reported at the 2800 block of Houston St. on Aug. 8. This was an aggravated assault but no arrests have been made. Aug. 9 Police arrested a 47-year-old woman at the 100 block of W. 9th St. on Aug. 9. She was found to have two active warrants including charges for theft and for failure to appear/bail jumping. A burglary was reported at the 2800 block of W. 24th St. on Aug. 9. Fraudulent activities were reported on Aug. 9 at the 2000 block of Ennis St. Theft was reported on Aug. 9 at the 1300 block of W. 32nd St. Theft was reported at the 2900 block of Olton Road on Aug. 9. Officers arrested 22-year-old Ethan James Gomez and charged him with theft of property valued to at least $2,500, less than $30,000 and with possession of a controlled substance, both of which are felonies. Theft was reported at the 2900 block of Olton Road on Aug. 9. A hit-and-run crash was reported at the 600 block of N. Columbia St. on Aug. 9. A vehicle failed to yield right-of-way to a motorcycle. No injuries were noted. The suspect vehicle left the scene and was not located. A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 3500 block of Olton Road on Aug. 9. A 27-year-old man was arrested on Aug. 9 at the 500 block of W. 5th St. during a traffic stop. He was found to have active warrants including charges for displaying expired license plates/expired registration insignia and for failure to appear/bail jumping. Identity theft was reported on Aug. 9 at the 2200 block of Joliet St. Another case of theft was reported on Aug. 9 at the 2900 block of W. 4th St. Aug. 10 Theft from a yard was reported at the 1600 block of Kokomo St. on Aug. 10. Theft was reported at the 1000 block of E. 4th St. on Aug. 10. Theft from a vehicle was reported at the 300 block of W. 10th St. A firearm and $100 were reported stolen. Burglary of a habitation was reported at the 1200 block of Travis St. on Aug. 10. Officers responded to the location in reference to a burglary believed to have happened in the days before. A reporting party noted finding a scooter at the skate park at the 500 block of Joliet St. Police arrested 42-year-old Tommy Joe Thomas on Aug. 10 during a traffic stop at the 400 block of Vernon St. The driver was found to have an active warrant for injury to a child or elderly causing bodily injury, which is a felony. An assault as reported at the 1000 block of N. I-27 on Aug. 10. A 34-year-old man and a woman had a fight in a vehicle and stopped at the location. The man was arrested and charged with assault causing bodily injury, family violence. Officers responded to a welfare concern at the 1400 block of Garland St. on Aug. 10. Courtesy of San Antonio Pets Alive! In an effort to find their forever homes, MySA and San Antonio Pets Alive! have partnered together to do a weekly series highlighting a different long-stay animal in SAPA!s care. These friendly furries have been in the system for more than 200 days and we want to give them more exposure and boost their chances at possible adoption. Every week well shine a spotlight on a different friend with the idea of giving them a short, fun (entirely fictional) back story in the hope more people adopt these cute and wonderful creatures. For our first-ever feature, we take a look at Brutus, a 10-year-old Chinese Shar Pei/Boxer mix. Good ol' Bru here is a bit of a celebrity believe it or not. You may recognize him from his work on the film Entourage the big-screen sequel to the HBO hit TV series as the stand in for Salvatore "Turtle" Assante's Rottweiler companion, Arnold. Having never set paw on an actually professional set, Brutus made his acting debut in the 2015 film. While his work on the comedy-drama was short lived, he made a strong impression on showrunner Doug Ellin for his professionalism and always being on cue. Going as far as to say, he "many times was the brightest light" out of the star-studded cast members. (Natural News) Amnesty International, the human rights organization globalists love to tout as the gold standard for such groups, is refusing to apologize to Western leaders for telling the truth about the fact that the Ukrainian military, like Russias troops, is also committing abuses. According to a report recently released by the organization, investigators found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas, as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in three war-torn parts of the country from April through July. The report also noted that the Ukrainian military utilized hospitals, schools and private residences in order to escape Russian forces though what the human shield tactic really did was invite more casualties as Russian troops continued to attack Ukrainian forces wherever they could be found. Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure, the report said, adding that the results of this were Russian attacks on said civilian infrastructure, Zero Hedge reported, adding: The report detailed further that in 22 of 29 schools visited by an Amnesty team between April and July, investigators found evidence of prior military activity. Additionally, five instances of Ukrainian troops using hospitals as bases were documented. The report went so far as to stress Amnesty was not aware of instances where Ukrainian troops first tried to evacuate civilians from these locations. Not every Russian attack documented by Amnesty has followed this pattern. In certain locations in which Amnesty concluded that Russia had committed war crimes including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv Amnesty did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military, the report noted. These truths have upset Western globalists. This report by @amnesty International is such a disgrace. It only amplifies the narratives of the Russian #propaganda targeted against #Ukraine. With this one, AI has hit the bottom, tweeted the spokesman for the Polish Minister-Coordinator of Special Services, Stanislaw Zaryn. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba was also very quick to rip the AI report: I understand that Amnesty will respond to criticism by saying that they criticize both sides of the conflict. But such behavior on Amnestys part is not about looking for the truth and presenting it to the world, but about creating a false balance between the criminal and his victim. Other commentators claimed that the organization was engaged in victim-blaming which is true, to an extent, but also very accurate, given the findings listed in the report. Amnesty International blames Ukrainian defenders for protecting civilians from attacks by Russian invaders. Blame the victim false equivalency reflects the moral void at the heart of @amnesty. Its a disgrace to people of conscience who value the protection of human rights, one of them noted on Twitter. Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnes Callamard said that her organization was under extreme pressure not to point any fingers at Kyiv, but she noted nevertheless: Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law. And her organization is not backing down one iota from its report. Initially, AI told the media that it deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian militarys fighting tactics has caused. But, Amnesty went on to emphasize that the organizations sole objective in publishing the report was to ensure that civilians are protected. The group made it clear that it fully stand[s] by our findings so in other words, sorry, not sorry. Russia invaded Ukraine, that much is known. But the Russian troops are certainly not the only ones who have committed atrocities regarding civilians, as AI accurately pointed out. Sources include: NaturalNews.com Amnesty.org.uk (Natural News) Some of Americas smartest men, including Robert Kiyosaki, investment guru and author of the personal finance book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, have some choice words for Executive Order 14067. (Article by Joseph Farah republished from WND.com) It would behoove you to listen to them. Kiyosaki called President Joe Bidens signed executive order the most treasonous act in U.S. history and the creation of Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDC, as communism in its purest form, encouraging Americans to stay awake. He is joined by Jim Rickards, another economist, investor and former CIA official who is calling it a step toward the end of cash, the greenback, in circulation since the founding fathers. The new digital tokens can be turned off if the government doesnt like what you are doing. Rickards has four decades of experience on Wall Street. Rickards criticized CBDC and labeled it as Bitcoins Evil Cousin. He also exposed the supposed singular event called C-Day, which according to him, will take place on Dec. 13, 2022, and will disrupt the traditional financial systems in the U.S. He said when what he calls C-Day happens, paper money would be worthless and the U.S. dollar would crash. He further added that consumer spending and access to basic needs would also be restricted, and people holding too much money would be penalized. Executive Order 14067, titled Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets, includes developing policy plans and the organization of federal regulators. Any future dollar payment system should be designed in a way that is consistent with United States priorities and democratic values, including privacy protections, and that ensures the global financial system has appropriate transparency connectivity, and platform and architecture interoperability or transferability, as appropriate. The International Monetary Fund said in a blog released last month that CBDCs can be a more effective solution compared to credit and debit cards, particularly in terms of energy efficiency. Depending on the specific details of how they are configured, CBDCs and some kinds of crypto assets can be more energy-efficient than much of the current payment landscape, including credit and debit cards, the blog read. Notes Rickards, Thanks to Section 4 of Bidens Executive Order 14067, calling for urgent research into developing the digital dollar, I believe the U.S. dollar, the standard of the world since 1792 will be REPLACED by a new currency, the digital dollar. I call the digital dollar Biden Bucks because I want him to take full credit for what I consider to be crimes, says Rickards. This is not like the money in your online bank account No, this is new and different. Every digital dollar will be a programmable token, like bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. But theres a big difference Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies. Instead, if it plays out the way I see it Biden Bucks will have the full backing of the U.S. Federal Reserve. They will REPLACE the cash (fiat) dollar we have now. And will soon be the sole, MANDATORY currency of the United States. Kiyosaki agrees. But in this climate of fear Biden is creating over the possibility of Donald Trump making a comeback he has the Fed in his corner. When Biden Bucks are rolled out, many experts myself included, believe they will begin an era of total government control and surveillance, Rickards stated. This is not hyperbole. This would dramatically expand the power and influence of the federal government essentially acting as a new type of spyware. With Biden Bucks, the government will be able to force you to comply with its agenda. Because if you dont, they could turn off your money. This wont be like freezing a bank account, it will be so much easier. Just think what this will mean if Biden gets his way or whoever is behind this plot. You want to keep your internal combustion engine car? Your digital dollars suddenly wont pay for gas. Youll be forced to buy an electric vehicle. Rickards calls it the tip of the fascist iceberg. America would become a surveillance state like China or North Korea, he says. Is this scare talk? No, its just Executive Order 14067. Biden signed it March 09, 2022 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America. Look it up! Read more at: WND.com (Natural News) Joe Rogan introduced his audience of millions this week to a conspiracy that just goes from strength to strength, with more evidence emerging every year, no matter how much the liberal elite demand we stop talking about. Is the mask-wearing, sock-loving, all-singing, all-dancing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau actually the son of Fidel Castro? (Article by Baxter Dmitry republished from NewsPunch.com) While Justin Trudeau is famously known as the son of Canadas former liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, comparison images of Pierre, Justin and Fidel Castro suggest there might be more to the story. According to Joe Rogan, the resemblance shared by Castro and Trudeau is completely wild and the Canadian prime minister should do a 23andMe genetic test ASAP. Rogan is not wrong. The resemblance is uncanny. But the Trudeau-Castro rabbit-hole goes much deeper than he realizes. Strong physical resemblance aside, the Cuban rumors are also bolstered by historical facts. While Justin Trudeaus birthplace of Ottawa is a long way from Havana, his mother Margaret Trudeau visited Cuba nine months before Justin was born, and there are photographs of her socializing with Fidel Castro. Thats old Pierre Trudeau on the right, pretending not to have a problem with his young and attractive wife hanging off the arm of Cubas swashbuckling dictator. Margaret Trudeau and Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba, nine months before Justin was born. Dont forget, Castro was a hero figure for the international Left in the 1970s. Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail confirms that Pierre and Margaret Trudeau became close friends with Fidel Castro. Pierre Trudeaus and Fidel Castros paths crossed for the first time in 1970, the Globe reports, before explaining the Trudeaus had such a great time on the Caribbean island that an enduring friendship was forged between the arch-liberal Pierre Trudeau and the Marxist-revolutionary Fidel Castro. And while fact checkers enjoy debunking claims the Trudeaus were in Havana nine months before Justin was born, there are some inconvenient facts the fact checkers refuse to address. The Trudeaus embarked on a Caribbean holiday in that time frame, with reports of visits to various islands in the Caribbean. While Cuba does not appear on an official itinerary, it is inconceivable that they would visit neighboring islands and choose not to visit their good friend in Havana while they were in the neighborhood. So what really happened in Havana in 1970 nine months before Justin Trudeau was born back home in Ottowa? Tucker Carlson introduced his viewers to the conspiracy earlier this year, declaring that Trudeau is for sure the lovechild of former Cuban president Fidel Castro while educating his viewers about the long and sexually charged friendship the Cuban dictator enjoyed with Trudeaus mother Margaret Trudeau. Cutting to a CBS News segment from 2017, the audience was treated to an analysis of the sexual tension between Margaret Trudeau and Fidel Castro, with Margaret quoted as describing Fidel as the sexiest man she had ever met before admitting that she spent the whole trip to Cuba flirting with the communist despot. Bear in mind this trip to Cuba took place one year before Justin, who does not resemble his father Pierre at all, was born. While there is no official record, there is a record of Margaret visiting Cuba after the birth of her son Justin where she was greeted on the tarmac by Fidel. Family reunion? Margaret Trudeau also returned to Cuba shortly after Justin was born. Margaret Trudeau is no stranger when it comes to sex scandals with powerful and high-profile men. Before shocking Canada by marrying the sitting Prime Minister of Canada, Margaret was famous in the 1970s for risque behavior. Known as a poster girl for the flower child movement in the early 1970s, she embraced the sexual revolution and scorned traditional marriage vows as archaic, destroying an artwork that hung on Pierres wall because it celebrated reason over passion. A self-confessed drug addict, Margaret smuggled Class A drugs in her husbands luggage while traveling, taking advantage of her diplomatic immunity, and made scantily-clad appearances at Studio 54. Her nude photographs are still widely published on the internet. Describing a 1974 affair with Ted Kennedy, Margaret Trudeau wrote in her memoir about the moment she met the US Senator at a state dinner in New York: That evening, I felt such a pull toward him that we couldnt even stand within a couple metres of one another. Pierre was not amused. Was Pierre having flashbacks to what happened in Havana a few years before? Margaret then moved on to the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood before moving on to Mick Jagger, eloping to New York with the Stones frontman in 1977. Margaret Trudeau with the Rolling Stones, and the shocked British tabloids reaction to the scandal. The scandal signaled the end of her tumultuous marriage to Pierre Trudeau. The liberal politician fought her in the courts, won sole custody of the children, and refused to pay any spousal support. Did Pierre Trudeau raise Fidel Castros son? Justin Trudeaus parentage has not been seriously questioned by the mainstream in Canada, however startling new information that has come to light in Cuba may change that. A handwritten suicide note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castros legitimate children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro is Justin Trudeaus father. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as Fidelito, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his explosive suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of complaints, the note suggests Fidelito was angry with his late father, the revolutionary Cuban dictator. Fidelito wrote that his father, Fidel Castro, was always comparing me unfavorably with Justin and dismissing my achievements in comparison to his success in Canada. But what was I to do? I am Cuban. My brother is Canadian. If he was born and raised in Cuba, he would have lived in our fathers shadow forever just like me. Damning evidence, if true. However due to the fact the mainstream media suppresses everything that threatens the liberal power elite, the reported suicide note remains unverified. However, further shocking reports from within the Trudeau clan have been emerging. Earlier this year News Punch broke the news that Trudeaus half-brother, Kyle Kemper, admitted that Justin is a pawn of the global elite in service of the New World Order. According to Kemper, Justin does not write his own speeches or tweets, but instead performs scripts written for him by his globalist overlords. Trudeau is not speaking from his heart, said his half-brother, who added blackmail is a very powerful tool. Asked why Justin is determined to betray the Canadian nation, his brother said that he is merely a puppet of the New World Order and takes orders directly from groups such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Economic Forum. Was Justin selected by the globalist elite to perform as a frontman for the New World Order? His backstory would make him an ideal candidate. Watch: Read more at: NewsPunch.com (Natural News) A major newspaper in Canada is requiring potential applicants to be fully vaccinated in order to apply for a job opening. The Globe and Mail posted a job opening on July 15 looking for a full-time editorial reporter for its Ottawa bureau. The job involves covering federal politics and national news, and requires applicants to have a strong capacity to speak French. To be considered for this position, applicants must have experience covering daily news assignments and a proven interest in political coverage. They must also have the ability to develop contacts and to elevate our coverage with enterprise work. As always, the goal is memorable journalism, stated the job posting. We are looking for a reporter who is energetic versatile, innovative and curious. The successful candidate should also be an excellent team player as they will be expected to work with reporters at the Ottawa Bureau other areas of the newsroom and across the country. The Canadian newspapers job opening was an opportunity for a driven and ambitious journalist who wants to play a key role in our political coverage. Those who wish to take part in this, however, need to get their respective Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines first. All offers of employment with the Globe and Mail are conditional upon the candidate being fully vaccinated. To prove they are fully vaccinated, all new hires will be required to provide evidence by emailing a copy of their vaccine dose administration receipt(s) to Human Resources prior to their start date. According to the job posting, fully vaccinated pertains to someone who has received the full series of a vaccine, or a combination of vaccines, accepted by the government of Canada and has received the last dose at least 14 days prior to their start date. Currently, the COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen are approved for use in the country. Applicants seeking vaccine exemptions based on one or more of the protected grounds in the Human Rights Code must lodge their requests to the publications human resources department for approval. If the accommodation request is not approved and the candidate is not fully vaccinated, any offer of employment will be revoked. Dedicated to inclusion yet excluding the unvaccinated The newspapers job posting reiterated its dedication to diversity and inclusion in the workplace, even though its requirement for applicants to be vaccinated excludes a sector of the population. The Globe and Mail is committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible work environment, where all employees feel valued, respected and supported. We believe this strengthens our business and our journalism. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals from all groups regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, age and physical ability. (Related: Lawfare with Tom Renz: Courtney Flynn says woke makeup giant Sephora pushing RACISM under the guise of diversity and inclusion Brighteon.TV.) Seemingly in line with woke policies in other leftist establishment, the job posting echoed themes of inclusion with special emphasis on women, aboriginal peoples, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities as mandated by Canadas federal contractors program. The proportion of applicants in these four categories were also tracked, added the job description. Based on the job description it posted, the Globe and Mail appears to echo the antagonistic stance harbored by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against the unvaccinated. Subsidies received by the newspaper from the Liberal government in Ottawa seemed to back this up. In 2019, the Globe and Mail received more than CA$2 million ($1.57 million) in untendered contracts from the federal government. The following year, it asked Ottawa for a bailout. Prior to the 2021 federal elections in Canada, Trudeaus government gave out more than CA$60 million ($46.97 million) to media outlets in the country. While the recipients of this money were not named, the Globe and Mail was reportedly among them. MedicalFascism.news has more stories about the discrimination of the unvaccinated in Canada. Watch this video about shaming booths for unvaccinated customers in a Canadian Walmart location. This video is from the Vigilent Citizen channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Unvaxxed pharmacy customers in Canada need to be CHAPERONED by staff members when buying retail products. Nurses union in Canada warns COVID-19 vaccine mandates will lead to extreme staffing shortage. Ontario arbitrator: Coca-Cola justified in suspending UNVAXXED employees WITHOUT PAY. Canadian judge rules denying organ transplants to unvaxxed patients is legal. Sources include: GlobalResearch.ca Can62e2.DayforceHCM.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) A prominent scientist who denounced a congressional investigation into gain-of-function research helped fund Wuhan Institute of Virology gain-of-function work flagged by congressional investigators. (Article by Emily Kopp republished from USRTK.org) Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine, has been a fierce critic of potential hearings next year into a possible lab origin of COVID-19 and whether the National Institutes of Health (NIH) prematurely discredited the hypothesis. Hotez decried the hearings as nothing less than a plan to undermine the fabric of science in America in a viral tweet thread last week. Hotez also dismissed as an outlandish conspiracy the possibility that a lab accident sparked the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Hotezs own 2012 to 2017 NIH grant for the development of a SARS vaccine had the stated aim of responding to any accidental release from a laboratory, in addition to a possible zoonotic spillover of the virus. The $6.1 million NIH grant also raises the possibility of deliberate spreading of the virus by a bioterrorist attack. SARS outbreaks remain a serious concern mainly due to possible zoonotic reintroduction of SARS-CoV into humans, accidental release from a laboratory, or deliberate spreading of the virus by a bioterrorist attack, the grants description reads. Its not clear why Hotez has dismissed a possible lab release of SARS-CoV-2 as preposterous, after having conducted research for years to prepare for a possible accidental or deliberate release of SARS-CoV. Hotez did not reply to emailed questions. Hotez helped fund research on controversial chimeric coronavirus While casting concerns about Wuhans labs as fringe, Hotez has not mentioned his own connection to a project involving a laboratory-generated chimeric SARS-related coronavirus that has come under Congress microscope. The project was helmed by Zhengli Shi, a senior scientist and virus hunter at the Wuhan Institute of Virology nicknamed the Bat Lady. As part of his NIH grant, Hotez subcontracted funding for research on combined or chimeric coronaviruses, a scientific paper shows. Hotezs grant underwrote two of Shis collaborators on the project. In the 2017 paper co-funded by Hotez, Shi and her colleagues generated a recombinant virus from two SARS-related coronaviruses: rWIV1-SHC014S. Its not clear whether the paper co-funded by Hotez should have been stopped under a temporary pause on gain-of-function work before 2017. However, some independent biosecurity experts have said research on this chimeric virus in some ways epitomizes lapses in NIH oversight of risky research in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. A prior study of one of the coronaviruses that comprised the chimera, WIV1, found it to be poised for human emergence. Another prior paper on the other coronavirus, SHC014, stated that its future study in lab-generated viruses may be too risky to pursue. The work here should have been at the very least, heavily scrutinized, said David Relman, a Stanford microbiologist and biosecurity expert. This work should have been heavily reviewed for [gain-of-function], and probably should have been subject to the pause prior to December 2017. Shis participation in the joint project was funded in part by EcoHealth Alliance, the paper shows. This NIH grant to EcoHealth Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence has garnered scrutiny for its research on manipulated novel coronaviruses in Wuhan labs. Specifically, an EcoHealth Alliance grant report obtained by congressional investigators demonstrated that a WIV1-SHC014 chimera generated thousands of times the viral load and enhanced lethality in mice with human airway cells. This prompted concerns among some biosecurity experts, scientists and members of Congress. In response to questions from congressional Republicans, NIH acknowledged that the research was out of compliance with its own regulations on gain-of-function research. In this limited experiment, laboratory mice infected with SHC014 WIV1 bat coronavirus became sicker than those infected with WIV1 bat coronavirus, the letter read. As sometimes occurs in science, this was an unexpected result rather than something the scientists set out to do. An investigation could shed light on whether the risks of such experiments outweigh the benefits, but Hotez has not been forthcoming about this apparent conflict of interest. The construction and threat-characterization of rWIV1-SHC014 was unequivocally gain-of-function research, said Richard Ebright, Rutgers Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry at Rutgers University. It is a conflict of interest that, to my knowledge, has not previously been disclosed to The Lancet Commission and that surely will be of interest to The Lancet Commission. The Lancet Commission Hotez serves on The Lancet COVID-19 Commission, a panel of experts working to scrutinize the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Commission Chair Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University economist, has in recent weeks called for an impartial investigation of the lab leak hypothesis. Meanwhile, Hotez has suggested that the commissions final reports should not incorporate Sachs concerns. Whenever I discussed the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was a laboratory release, Hotez strongly rejected that possibility, but never explained to me or to the Lancet Commission that he actually had a grant that was based on that very kind of risk. He should certainly have been clear on that, said Sachs. Sachs said the 2017 paper generated questions about whether a potential conflict of interest should have been disclosed to the commission. I asked all of the Commissioners repeatedly to be transparent about any possible conflicts of interest, Sachs added. Read more at: USRTK.org (Natural News) A historic flour mill in Oregon owned by the nations biggest independent flour milling company has been completely destroyed by a fire. Authorities are describing the Grain Craft mill in Pendleton as a total loss after a small fire that began on Tuesday afternoon reignited early Wednesday morning while the building was empty, fully engulfing the mill due to the significant amount of dry grain it was housing as well as its wood structure. Pendleton Assistant Fire Chief Tony Pierotti told the media that the fuel load was extreme because the silos were filled with finished grain. Authorities have been keeping the area clear in anticipation of the potential collapse of the building, which is more than 100 years old, as well as the amount of slow-burning grain. The mill is surrounded by the county courthouse as well as businesses and homes. The fire was reportedly caused by mechanical failure that may be related to a sifters filter. Police Chief Charles Byram said: It happened in the mill itself, with one of the pieces of equipment, with a rubber bushing or housing that obviously got too hot and started the fire. There were no injuries, but some buildings in the immediate area sustained smoke and water damage. The mill had been processing a significant amount of flour as the fire occurred right in the middle of harvest season. Although an exact figure was not available, employees of the mill have estimated that there were hundreds of thousands of pounds of processed flour in the bins. An estimated cost of the damages is not yet available. The company is now working with Pacific Northwest wheat farmers to handle the excess supply. Although they have never disclosed the buildings production capacity and it is difficult to determine the full extent of the damage, the president of the Oregon Wheat Growers League, Ben Maney, said that a substantial number of area farmers bring their grain to the facility, which he described as a staple in the Pendleton community. Fire yet another hit for struggling wheat farmers Maney said the fire is just the latest hit for growers who are still struggling after the severe drought of last year. Some crops rebounded thanks to the spring rains this year, but many farmers lack home storage for their grain and relied on the mill. He noted: A lot of farmers dont have home storage, and they cant store that grain on their farm. For this heartbreaking event to happen today, it puts the community and a lot of the farmers in a tough situation. It hits the community hard. The farmer-owned flour company Shepherds Grain emailed customers to inform them of an interruption in flour supply as they work on a contingency plan and get wheat staged to be moved to another mill. Byram pointed out that the fire will have a big impact on Pendleton, stating: Theyre a major employer; we are obviously an agricultural community that does a lot of dryland wheat farming. Wheat farmers from the surrounding area bring their wheat in here to the Pendleton flour mill. Its yet to be determined what the impact is, but I can gauge its going to be significant. The mill makes flour for several types of foods, including tortillas and pizza. Oregon is Americas 11th biggest producer of wheat, and the crop is the third biggest cash crop for the state. Up to 90 percent of the wheat that is produced in Oregon is shipped to markets overseas, especially in Asia. Sources for this article include: TheGatewayPundit.com CapitalPress.com OregonBusiness.com (Natural News) Dr. Shmuel Shapira, an Israeli professor censored by Big Tech over his claim that the monkeypox outbreak is linked to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, said he remains unfazed and will continue to spread the truth about the mRNA shots. In an Aug. 7 tweet, Shapira pointed out that he now has more followers than the Twitter account of the Israeli Ministry of Health despite their huge [public relations] budgets, trolls, bots and media support. He wrote: I dont have any of these but my truth, transparency, evidence-based science, reputation and good name are winning. The founder and head of the Military Medicine Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalems Faculty of Medicine found himself blocked on the social media platform. Twitter prohibited him from posting unless he deleted a tweet that purportedly linked the monkeypox outbreak to the COVID-19 vaccines. (Related: Israeli doctor who linked monkeypox outbreak to covid jabs CENSORED by Twitter.) Monkeypox cases were rare for years. During the last [year], a single case was documented in Israel, Shapira wrote in the flagged tweet. It is well established [that] the mRNA vaccines [against COVID-19] affect the natural immune system. A monkeypox outbreak following massive COVID-19 vaccination is not a coincidence. The Israeli scientist himself had suffered vaccine injuries in May after being injected with the COVID-19 vaccine, lending credence to his tweet about the risks of the mRNA shot. I received three vaccinations, [and] I was physically injured in a very significant way as many others were injured, he tweeted on May 14. In addition, my trust in the nature of the decisions and the process of making them has been severely eroded. No one asked and checked. I will fight with all my might so that truthful answers regarding all decisions, and not just regarding the vaccines, are given. Shapira keeps on tweeting the truth about the COVID-19 vaccines Shapiras background is no joke, given his extensive medical experience. He formerly served as the director general of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) from 2013 to 2021. The professor also led the countrys efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, spearheading the initiative until his departure from the IIBR in May 2021. Shapira tweeted in June that he will continue [to] ask why [authorities would] give an outdated fifth vaccine [dose] that does not prevent disease and apparently causes many significant and common side effects. When misunderstandings and doubts that are difficult to deal with are raised, they start preaching morals [and] slanders. Its yes or no to Your Honor. A month later, on July 28, the professor mentioned Twitters warning in a post. [Twitter] warned me to remove the [tweet] connecting monkeypox to COVID-19. Each day, I understand better [the] year in which we live. Artificial intelligence expert Dr. Eli David commented on the social media sites censorship of the Israeli expert. He wrote: Twitter locked his account and forced him to delete [the offending tweet]. They know more about biology than him. The victory will be ours. The spell is fading, and the shocking truth regarding the various damages and side effects is showing up, Shapira posted in August, unaffected by the Big Tech suppression he underwent. The Israeli scientist also enumerated the different risks that come with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. These included myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), fatal arrhythmias, abnormal heart rate, facialis (paralysis of the facial nerve) and tinnitus (ear ringing). Aside from these, the vaccines also caused a 20 percent increase in strokes and excessive gynecological bleeding. They also gave rise to conditions such as herpes zoster and monkeypox. No worries, be happy, Shapira sarcastically concluded the tweet where he outlined all of the vaccine-linked adverse reactions. Censorship.news has more stories about Big Tech platforms banning experts who speak out against the lethal COVID-19 vaccines. Watch this G News report about Dr. Shmuel Shapiras tweet linking monkeypox to COVID-19 vaccination. This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Smoking gun: U.S. government, CDC colluded with Google, Twitter, Facebook to censor important information about experimental covid vaccines. Federal judge: Twitter must explain why it CENSORED journalist Alex Berenson, who exposed many unpopular truths about COVID. Dr. Robert Malone now permanently banned by Twitter for telling truth about covid. Doctors SUE Twitter: Silenced after posting truthful information about covid. Three doctors sue Twitter over censorship of COVID-related posts. Sources include: Expose-News.com Twitter.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) In a landmark ruling, two former employees of the JPMorgan Chase banking empire were found guilty of market manipulation. Former JPMorgan global precious metals desk head Michael Nowak and precious metals trader Gregg Smith were both charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) with racketeering and conspiracy. A third man, salesperson Jeffrey Ruffo, was also charged but almost entirely acquitted. Nowak and Smith engaged in illegal spoofing, which involves the use of computer algorithms that disrupt normal trading activity for manipulation purposes. In essence, spoofing creates artificial pricing for assets, in this case precious metals. The DOJs most aggressive case to date targeting spoofing, the ruling saw Nowak get convicted on 13 other charges as well including fraud and attempted market manipulation. Smith was convicted on 11 charges. Ruffo, who was only charged with racketeering and conspiracy, was acquitted of both, the attorneys said, reported CNBC (Related: Back in June, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned about a soon-to-come economic hurricane.) Central banks like the Federal Reserve actively manipulate metals markets For those directly involved in the metals markets, it is no secret that gold and silver are highly manipulated. The price for the actual commodities is skewed because of paper trading meaning the trading of metals that may only exist on a screen and not in real life. The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) confirmed this in a ruling against investment bank Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc. (MLCI), which was caught spoofing the price of gold and silver futures contracts on the COMEX exchange. The number of investigations, legal cases, class actions and financial headlines involving precious metals manipulation are now so pervasive that its hard to keep track of which cases are in motion and which investment banks are under scrutiny at any given time, reported Bullion Star back in 2019. But beyond the profit and greed driven bullion bank manipulations gold and silver prices, there is also the issue of central bank policy interventions to suppress the gold price by outright gold sales or using the opaque and secretive gold leasing and lending market. This is a less talked about manipulation given the secrecy of everything to do with central banks and gold, as well as a reluctance of the financial media to broach the subject and a reluctance of regulators to go there by even looking at central bank gold market activities. While it might seem encouraging for these JPMorgan goons to finally get what was coming to them, they are just the patsies, so to speak, in a much greater system of financial fraud that continues to dominate the world. Until the big boys are finally held accountable for their crimes of financial terrorism against We the People, these convictions are mere stage play meant to pacify us all into thinking that there is still some semblance of justice in this country. Apart from fractional-reserve banking, precious metals market structure is perhaps one of the biggest cons on the planet, Bullion Star added. So next time you think of precious metals manipulation, remember that in addition to spoofing and secretive central bank gold loans, the entire structure of the precious metals markets is unfortunately one big manipulation hiding in plain sight. The silver lining in all this is that divine justice is coming for the pervasive evil that currently rules the world. They might think they have it in the bag and won, but they have something entirely different coming to them very soon. As the current economic order implodes on itself, we will keep you informed about the latest at MarketCrash.news. Sources for this article include: CNBC.com NaturalNews.com BullionStar.com (Natural News) The harm from New Zealands Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) response is more serious than the disease itself, according to lawyer and politician Sue Grey. New Zealands just got to get some courage and stand up and say weve had enough, were not doing this anymore. The harm from the COVID response is so much more serious than the harm from COVID. Weve had massive increase in suicides, depression, anxiety, heart issues and cancers because people are not getting the treatment they need, Grey told host Dr. Bryan Ardis during the August 10 episode of The Dr. Ardis Show on Brighteon.TV. The New Zealand government still doesnt allow unvaccinated health workers to go back to work. Grey said they dont have enough healthcare workers and a large part of the island nations midwives have left work because they generally dont like vaccinations and have been fired because of it. The harm from the COVID responses is just devastating New Zealand and the government propagandas divide and conquer is even worse. New Zealand is our country; weve always been unified and weve always been fair-minded people, Grey stated. The Kiwi lawyer, who has been active in law reform on a range of human rights, health, environmental and resource allocation issues, cited the insidious propaganda blaming people for this or that has really caused a lot of harm in the country. Grey said a lot of New Zealanders have actually left the country. She mentioned that almost a million New Zealanders from their population of five million have either left or want to leave New Zealand because of the governments COVID response. The Nelson-born lawyer, who is now based in Tauranga, said these New Zealanders will go back home and fight even harder because they cannot let the government get away with it. We want our country back for our people. And we want it back just on the same level playing field that we had it before. We dont need to keep being afraid, Grey said. Police officers assault protesters at Parliament grounds Grey also mentioned that hundreds of New Zealand police officers have assaulted people peacefully protesting at the Parliament grounds. These assaults have caused very serious injuries to some of the protesters. (Related: Dutch protesters march on the streets of Amsterdam to protest COVID lockdowns.) She added that a lot of groups went back to hold smaller protests around the country while other people have gone home to share the word of what happened and inspired communities all around New Zealand to start asking questions about what the government is doing. Tens of thousands of New Zealanders were involved in the protest that happened at the Parliament in Wellington. And according to Grey, the government has not apologized for the way it handled the disbandment of the protest. Grey noted that there are around 2,000 complaints filed against the police because of the incident. The lawyer also told Ardis that most of the people in her country got the shots to keep their jobs. Grey also questioned the governments claims that 95 percent of people in New Zealand have been at least double-vaccinated. I dont know where they get those figures, but Im sure the government is just putting out made-up statistics, she said, adding that the percentages of vaccinated and unvaccinated New Zealanders are much more like 50-50. Follow MedicalFascism.news for more on New Zealands COVID pandemic response. Watch the August 10 episode of The Dr. Ardis Show below. The Dr. Ardis Show airs every Wednesday at 10 a.m. and every Saturday at 11 a.m. on Brighteon.TV. More related stories: New Zealand transforms into a tyrannical regime in pursuit of COVID Zero. Nearly everyone who holds a job in New Zealand now required to get vaccinated for covid. COVID cases overwhelming New Zealand and Singapore despite strict mask mandates. Jacinda Ardern admits New Zealand is struggling to deal with COVID-19 pandemic despite high vaccination rate. Australia and New Zealand are targets of COVID psychological experimentation. Sources include: Brighteon.com SueGreyTauranga.co.nz (Natural News) The president of the Dutch Police Union (NPB) admitted that the Netherlands is now a narco-state, with drug-dealing criminals participating in a parallel economy. NPB President Jan Struijs made this admission during an interview with Swedish broadcaster SVT. According to the police union head, drug dealers in his country have become so influential that they contend with the official economy. I call the Netherlands a narco-state 2.0 because drugs pump so much money into the legal economy that it takes over. It undermines democracy but also the economy, Struijs said. The Netherlands is often lauded by left-liberals for its drug decriminalization policies, but this allowed the illicit drug trade to flourish. According to SVT, the large illegal drug black economy has influenced several parts of the formal economy of the Netherlands. Even housing prices and some companies that manage legal businesses have not been spared from big-time drug dealers. Besides influencing the economy, drug trafficking groups have also intimidated and murdered journalists and lawyers in the past few years. Dutch veteran crime journalist Peter R. de Vries was shot in July 2021 on the streets of Amsterdam and died a few days later. Prior to his death, De Vries served as an adviser for a witness in an important crime gang trial dubbed the Marengo trial. Lawyer Derk Wiersum, who represented a key witness in the Marengo trial, was also shot dead in broad daylight in 2019. Assailants killed the 44-year-old attorney and father of two children in front of his wife, while outside their home in a peaceful Amsterdam suburb. Wiersums murder was seen as an attack on civil society, democracy and the rule of law. The Marengo trial involved the Mocro Mafia and its leader Ridouan Taghi. The Moroccan-born Taghi was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and extradited to the Netherlands. Judicial proceedings for the 43-year-old crime bigwig, presently incarcerated at a high-security prison in the southern town of Vught, commenced in March 2021. Mocro Mafia handles a third of cocaine traffic in entire Europe Even though Taghi is already behind bars, several of those who have testified at his trial have asked that they remain anonymous fearing retaliation from the Mocro Mafia. Founded in the 1990s, the group is composed of dozens of various clans that traffic cocaine and synthetic drugs throughout Europe. Its name comes from the Dutch slur Mocro which was used for people of Moroccan descent living in Belgium and the Netherlands. The groups motto is the Dutch phrase Wie praat, die gatt or Whoever talks, dies. It initially started by smuggling hashish derived from marijuana from Morocco to Europe. However, Taghi eschewed hashish for cocaine, which enabled the Mocro Mafias rise to become one of the most powerful trafficking cartels in Belgium and the Netherlands in the 2010s. Currently, the group still operates out of the two countries and handles a third of cocaine traffic in the continent. The Mocro Mafia developed direct ties with cartels in Colombia and Mexico to smuggle cocaine through the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Police drug hauls at the ports have become completely normal that even the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation now views Belgium and the Netherlands to be the headquarters of cocaine trafficking in Europe. Aside from drugs, Taghis group also made a name for itself through violence. Almost 20 people were killed between 2012 and 2016, amid the so-called Mocro Mafia War. Seventeen members of the drug trafficking group were accused of six killings and numerous attempted murders. The situation became so dire that in 2021, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was put under police protection for fears that the Mocro Mafia would target him. Follow DrugCartels.news for more news like this. Watch the video below to know more about the murder of journalists investigating the Mexican drug cartels. This video is from the Excellent PODCASTS & Real NEWS channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: America is being transformed into a dangerous narco-terrorist state by design. America has collapsed into a PHARMA STATE run by government-protected drug cartels. Credit Suisse found guilty of being unable to prevent money laundering by drug ring. Mexican drug cartels using illegal immigration flood as cover to smuggle operatives and hard drugs into the U.S. China now dominating global drug trafficking with money laundering and chemical production. Sources include: Breitbart.com BBC.com NationAndState.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) Researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) who accidentally discovered soy-based asphalt technology will be making this groundbreaking discovery nationally available for commercial use by next year. The ISU researchers have been testing the product, known as the Invigorate Rejuvenator, for roughly a decade. They recently launched SoyLei Innovations, from where they are developing the rejuvenator a compound made of soybean oil mixed with recycled asphalt. (Related: Streets of the future could be made from tire waste and organic wax.) The compound changes the molecules in the reused asphalt, triggering chemical reactions that restore the balance in the composition of the asphalt and makes it even more durable. Erich Cochran, a chemical and biological engineering professor at ISU, claims that Invigorate Rejuvenator can reduce paving costs by as much as 80 percent compared to projects that use new materials. Rural road projects that do not have large budgets could benefit greatly from this technology. Cochran added that an acre of pavement will use thousands of pounds of soybean oil, and the technology works best in lower-traffic projects like recreational trails, driveways and parking lots. Soy-based road paving to be tested in Iowa with federal backing Republican Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson has lodged a federal spending request for $4 million to help Clayton and Fayette counties in northwestern Iowa re-pave some of their roads with asphalt made of Invigorate Rejuvenators soybean byproduct. Hinson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, called Invigorate Rejuvenator an innovating material, and the spending request has been advanced by the committee and the full House of Representatives and now awaits a vote in the Senate. Rafe Koopman, an engineer working for Clayton County, said the proposed route for the project includes over 12 miles of roads in the county. Its kind of an exciting thing to be able to use projects we need done here as the test of a new material, he said. Weve been working to get our roads prepped so it would be easy for the contractor to come in and do the final stage of the project, which would be the asphalt resurfacing. The project in Clayton County is currently ongoing, but since the Senate has not yet approved the funds, the county government has only been able to approve work on patching these roads and some culvert extensions. If Hinsons request is approved, Koopman said the county could begin work in the summer of 2024. Clayton County is partnering with ISU for this project. Cochran, who is leading the ISU side of the partnership, said the material is the result of over 12 years of research and experimentation. Cochran and the ISU worked with the Iowa Department of Transportation to identify counties in Hinsons district that had the type of roads and repair needs that would qualify them for federal funding. This is a combination of how to showcase the technology, but also put it into practice on rural Iowa roads, which are often overlooked or dont receive enough resources to keep up to date, said Cochran. In an interview with the Telegraph Herald, Cochran reiterated how the soy-based polymer could replace petroleum-based polymers, making it more sustainable. He added that future large demand for soy-based recycled asphalt could provide another market for the soybean crops of many Iowa farmers, which are expected to become less profitable in the coming years, as the automobile industry moves more toward producing electric cars. Its important to have a broad portfolio of end uses for this crop, said Cochran. Right now, the [soybean] oil is very highly sought after for its fuel value, but there are a lot of industrial uses as well. No matter how much is produced in a given year, being able to satisfy the food value and industrial demand is important. Learn more about scientific discoveries and breakthroughs at Breakthrough.news. Watch this episode of The American Journal as host Harrison Smith talks about how Americas critical infrastructure is collapsing. This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: China to build solar roadways with fully transparent concrete covering solar cells. Highway department in England is using SUNFLOWER OIL to self heal potholes. Futuristic roads now mixing recycled plastic with asphalt making them last 10 times longer. Substance used to seal asphalt puts children at greater risk of cancer. Sources include: AgWeb.com Axios.com TelegraphHerald.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) Robots are set to replace human workers as shelf stockers in a Japanese convenience store chain. Convenience store company FamilyMart collaborated with Tokyo-based Telexistence to deploy these robots called TX Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (TX SCARA) in 300 locations across the country. The robot arms designed to replenish drinks in refrigerators are now in mass production, according to the technology firm. TX SCARA was created to do the specific task of restocking refrigerated shelves with bottles and cans a repetitive, tedious job generally performed by employees in often uncomfortable settings, Telexistence said in an Aug. 10 statement. TX SCARA operates 24/7, replenishing shelves to completely remove the task from store staff. The introduction of robots and its AI system will create time surplus without adding employees, and the time can be reallocated to customer service and shop floor enhancement, leading to higher quality work environment and store operations. The robots can work without human assistance 98 percent of the time, with a remote piloting option available in case the artificial intelligence fails or encounters out-of-place items. Each TX SCARA unit can replace one to three hours of daily work by humans in every store where it is deployed. Telexistence said the deployment of the robots served a two-fold purpose: Help relieve store workers and fill a void left by Japans shrinking workforce. The decline in Japans labor population is one of the key management issues for FamilyMart to continue stable store operations, said the companys general manager Tomohiro Kano. He added that the newly created time as a result of adopting TX SCARA can be reallocated to customer service and shop floor enhancement. FamilyMart, which has 16,000 convenience stores in its home country, will pay Telexistence a monthly fee for the robot stockers labor and maintenance. The fee will also include the support of remote workers who can pilot the TX SCARA unit using a virtual reality headset when needed. Robots also replacing human cooks in fast food chains The trend of robots replacing human workers is not limited to Japan. In fact, restaurants in the U.S. have followed the practice. Layoffs prompted by the pandemic and the inability to fill these job vacancies prompted several companies to turn to robots instead. (Related: Restaurants look to ROBOTS to fill openings amid labor shortage.) Fast food chain White Castle was among the companies who jumped on the bandwagon, with its robotic fry cook named Flippy. The robot arm who mans the fry station in the joints No. 42 branch in Merrillville, Indiana worked 23 hours a day, with an hour reserved for cleaning and maintenance. Flippys main tasks involve handling fries, cheese sticks, onion rings and other side items. According to Jamie Richardson, White Castles vice president of corporate relations, Flippy was not just a gimmick to attract more diners. Its dedicated tasks gave its human colleagues more time to focus on customers. If you know youve got the fryer covered, it frees you up to have the right person taking orders in the dining room or the drive-thru, he said. Mexican fast food chain Del Taco followed suit with a machine that fills customers drink orders. According to Del Tacos Vice President for Operations Innovation Kevin Pope, the machine seeks to automatically prepare a diners chosen drink shaving seconds off the time needed to fulfill every order. The machine takes a cup, fills it with ice and pours in the appropriate beverage afterward. It then covers the cup with a lid and delivers the finished drink at the end of a conveyor belt. Human crew members would only have to grab the drink instead of making it themselves. Robots.news has more stories about robots replacing human workers. Watch this video about a restaurant in Japan staffed by robots. This video is from the Vigilent Citizen channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Japanese researchers develop a prototype humanoid robot aimed at eventually replacing human laborers. RULED BY SILICON: Airports turn to ROBOTS to enforce COVID protocols as air travel normalizes. Robots now automating the harvesting of cucumbers in Germany. Your barista is being replaced by a robot, already in use in Japan. Sources include: Finance.Yahoo.com TX-Inc.com WSJ.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) Ohio lawyer Tom Renz said the American justice system needs reform, and called on the Supreme Court to speak out against the corruption happening in the federal court system. I am using my First Amendment rights to say that I believe our justice system needs reform, he said during the Aug. 9 episode of his program Lawfare with Tom Renz on Brighteon.TV. I believe that our Supreme Court needs to make a statement about the corruption thats occurring in the federal court system or that appears to be occurring, continued Renz. Im concerned that its there. I keep seeing things that dont make sense. The attorney warned of the deep corruption in Washington, D.C., pointing to the fact that the justice system and law enforcement the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in particular are being used as political tools. He added that the government cannot politicize the FBI, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the justice system at large as it is unconstitutional on a massive level. According to Renz, people being arrested or persecuted because of their political positions should not be happening in America. Any police officer, military member or citizen participating in this kind of action is committing a treasonous or seditious act. If judges and lawyers who represent the people fail to ensure equality and justice, people are going to lose faith in the system something Renz called unacceptable. He warned that Americans run the risk of destroying their society and nation if they do not see a system or mechanism that they can receive fair justice. Renz appealed to his fellow lawyers and judges to consider their actions and the damage that is being done to Americas faith in the legal system. Citing the example of Gen. Michael Flynn, who was persecuted by the FBI and DOJ, Renz said that courts being openly political and going after people solely for political reasons means the justice system is in serious need of reform. Furthermore, Renz pointed out that Americans are seeing a justice system turned against the people in an unfair way. The country cannot have a two-tiered justice system that favors those who are in the upper class or the elites, he said. It is not acceptable. Justice has to be blind. Blind to the color of your skin, political affiliations, socio-economic status, blind to everything. It needs to be based on justice. FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago proves why justice system needs an overhaul Renz remarked that the Aug. 8 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trumps estate, went too far. He explained that the raid was made possible through a politicized legal system. According to a Fox News report, Trump denounced the raid on his Palm Beach, Florida property in a statement. The former chief executive said the incident was an attack by radical left Democrats desperate to stop Republicans and conservatives in the upcoming [November 2022] midterm elections. (Related: Asleep at the wheel: Trump adviser says DOJ, FBI need to investigate alleged election fraud.) Nothing like this has ever happened to a U.S. president before. After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the justice system. Such an assault could only take place in broken, third-world countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those countries, corrupt at a level not seen before. One source told Fox News that the federal agents broke into the property and looked in every single office and safe. They confiscated several documents and boxes, with a view to scrutinizing them off-site. The raid on Mar-a-Lago was unquestionably a clear political hit, Renz said. He called upon GOP members to find a way to get something done about the incident, instead of simply making it a campaign issue. Follow Corruption.news for more about the corrupt American justice system. Watch the Aug. 9 episode of Lawfare with Tom Renz below. Lawfare with Tom Renz airs every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m. and Saturday at 12:30-1 p.m. on Brighteon.TV. More related stories: Corrupt Biden Justice Department, FBI raid homes of Project Veritas journalists for the crime of doing their jobs and exposing malfeasance. FBI whistleblower shockingly reveals what bureau really thinks about conservatives and Trump-supporting, law-abiding Americans. Revealed: Whistleblower produces memo detailing DOJs clandestine program to target politically incorrect parents as domestic terrorists. Bombshell: Whistleblowers reveal unbelievable corruption in FBI to protect Biden family. FBI put U.S. national security at risk just to save Joe Bidens presidency by sitting on Hunters incriminating laptop contents. Sources include: Brighteon.com FoxNews.com (Natural News) New guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put an end to mandatory Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination at least as far as the CDC is concerned. No longer is the CDC urging or trying to force everyone in the herd to get jabbed. From now on, it is up to the individuals to make the choice for themselves without the government telling them what to do. Entitled Guidance for Minimizing the Impact of Covid-19, the CDCs new release, as explained by NPR, includes the following recommendations: Those exposed to the virus are no longer required to quarantine. Unvaccinated people now have the same guidance as vaccinated people. Students can stay in class after being exposed to the virus. It is no longer recommended to screen (test) those without symptoms. Other new recommendations include only masking if you have been exposed to or tested positive for Chinese Germs, as well as official recognition by the CDC that a healthy person who is unvaccinated now has the same immunity as a fully jabbed person. These changes represent a major deviation from what the CDC has been pushing up until, well, now. For the past two years, the CDC did not want anyone to appear in public unmasked. It also wanted everyone to be force-injected in order to live. (Related: At one point, there was talk about the CDC setting up covid Green Zone quarantine [concentration?] camps.) Now, suddenly, the CDC is stressing the idea of individual decision-making when it comes to health. In fact, the CDC mentions the word individual some 10 different times in the new guidance. That is consistent with where we are in the pandemic right now, says Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. I dont really think there are many state or local jurisdictions that are feeling theyre going to need to start making mandates. CDC says almost everyone is now immune to covid the plandemic is over The CDCs Greta Massetti further explained that the agencys new position is that, vaccinated or unvaccinated, at least 95 percent of the general population is now fully immune to the Fauci Flu, and that no further tyranny is necessary. Based on the latest data, its around 95 percent of the population, she is quoted as saying. And so, it really makes the most sense to not differentiate. One area of concern with the CDCs new guidance is the recommendation that children at school be masked rather than quarantined after being so-called exposed to the virus. The practice of handling exposures would involve masking rather than a quarantine, Massetti said about how children in K-12 should be handled. Massetti stopped short of declaring the plandemic to be over in the same way this writer is, but she did essentially declare it to be over in so many words at least as far as everyday life is concerned. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where Covid-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives, Massetti said. We know that Covid-19 is here to stay. Truthfully, there never should have been any disruption in the first place. While it is great that the CDC is backing off from medical fascism, the damage is already done in the form of economic devastation, lost lives and livelihoods, and broken supply chains. How many poor souls could have been saved if this happened from the beginning? asked a commenter. The lawyers stand to make billions on this in lawsuits. The latest news about the Fauci Flu can be found at Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: Infowars.com NaturalNews.com Conservationists urged better protection for the endangered amphibians, warning that the loss of crocs and gators would impose a devastating effect on other species and upset the ecosystem's balance. According to scientists, over half of all crocodilians, which include crocs, gators, and caimans, are in danger of going extinct. Crocs are allegedly threatened by habitat loss, fishing, hunting, and river damming. Each species has distinct but significant roles to play in the larger ecosystem, such as digging burrows to provide safe habitats for other animals or eating invasive agricultural pests. Up to 38% of the crucial ecological functions, according to researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), are in danger of disappearing. Vilified Amphibians? Many people perceive crocodilians as top predators that grab zebras or other prey in wildlife documentaries, however, this behavior is only a small portion of that of a single species, according to Phoebe Griffith, the study's lead author. She added that the 28 species of crocodilians that exist today are surprisingly different from one another due to evolution. Understanding and preserving global biodiversity and assessing the magnitude of what the world stands to lose if these key players vanish requires gauging the diverse ecological roles that these species play. The researchers determined which species most urgently required conservation in their study. By measuring traits like skull shape, body size, and habitat use that affect how they behave in their environment, they also looked into the various roles they play. Crocodilians play a crucial role in the ecology of the environment they inhabit. Some animals, such as the saltwater crocodile, can move between freshwater and saltwater ecosystems and travel hundreds of miles throughout the open ocean. Griffith, a Ph.D. student from ZSL, added that losing the species would mean permanently losing the significant roles they play. Investigations about what these roles have just begun, however, some species may go extinct before anyone has a chance to learn about their position in the ecosystems where they are found. 6 Out of 10 This is particularly concerning because many of the crocodile species that the group highlights as being ecologically unique are also those that are currently facing extinction. According to the study, protecting threatened crocs would support the global conservation of species diversity because of their distinct evolutionary history. But of the 10 species with the most distinctive ecological roles, six are listed cas critically endangered. These are species that have such low populations that they are regarded as functionally extinct in the majority of their historical habitats. Researchers have also discovered that some characteristics, such as high rates of reproduction, high levels of habitat adaptation, or the ability to withstand extremes in climate, can help animals survive. The study identified Asia as having the most threatened hotspots, and the coastlines and freshwaters there are vulnerable and subject to significant human pressure. The EDGE of Existence program of ZSL has designated the Chinese alligator and the gharial as two of the most endangered species. Dr. Rikki Gumbs, an EDGE Postdoctoral Research Scientist, said that crocodilians have evolved into a stunning array of shapes, sizes, and behaviors, ranging from tiny burrowing alligators to enormous seagoing reptiles. Regrettably, many of the most distinctive crocodilians in the world are in danger of extinction, along with the roles they play in their ecosystems. Read also: Giant Dwarf Crocodiles: Newly Discovered Reptile Species Once Hunted our Human Ancestors Establishing a Priority Group According to the group's research, it is possible to preserve a large portion of the diversity that is in danger of extinction by prioritizing conservation efforts for the most distinctive species. It's interesting to note that preserving the evolutionary history of crocodilians can also effectively protect the threatened functions of these animals. In essence, by taking inspiration from the distant past, we can preserve crocodilian diversity-along with the advantages that diversity brings to ecosystems-for the foreseeable future. The gharial has a long, narrow snout that is perfect for catching fish and is particularly adapted to living in the water. Its presence suggests a healthy and clean waterway. According to ZSL, it has been monitoring the reptiles and assisting them in coexisting with humans with the help of partners in Nepal and India and also local fishing communities. Professor Jeffrey Lang, a co-author of the current study from the Gharial Ecology Project, said that the preservation of crocodilians depends on people. Conserving the world's gators, crocs, caiman, and gharials will become a priority if these dinosaur relatives are valued. Importance of Conservation The first necessary step in ultimately conserving both the most impressive crocodilians, as well as their numerous fascinating and diverse lifestyles, is studying the species and comprehending how significant these aquatic predators are, in the places where they still live. Locals need to be aware of and appreciate those resident wetland species, such as crocodilians, through community events and environmental education programs in village schools. Griffith added that their research emphasizes how endangered crocodilians are and how urgent conservation efforts for many of these species are necessary if people are to safeguard their ecological roles in the freshwater ecosystems they inhabit. This is crucial because freshwater habitats are the most endangered on the planet and offer a variety of essential services to the environment, Newsweek reports. Related article: Turtles and Crocodiles at Risk of Extinction among Other Reptiles Species Gorillas in zoos create a new cry to interact with their human caretakers. Three researchers-two from the University of Georgia and one from Zoo Atlanta-discovered that gorillas at the zoo had developed a new cry that they use to communicate with people-typically those carrying food-at the zoo. A report outlining their conclusions was prepared by Roberta SalmiI, Monica Szczupider, and Jodi Carrigan and posted on the open access website PLOS ONE. Gorilla Communication Gorillas use a range of facial expressions, noises, postures, and gestures to interact with one another. They have been seen making at least 22 different noises to express various emotions, ranging from happy belches to terrified cries. Countless research shows how gorillas are affectionate and caring, as seen through their actions and communication methods. One of the most well-known human traits is our capacity to create new sounds or words to convey ideas to others. A small number of other animals have been seen doing this. Orangutans and chimpanzees, who lived in zoos, make up the current short list. The study team has discovered that gorillas may now be added to the list in this latest endeavor. After learning about anecdotal accounts of western lowland gorillas at Zoo Atlanta making unusual noises intended for zookeepers, the researchers started their investigation. According to the findings, the gorillas didn't make noises or vocalizations to communicate with one another or with other animals nearby. Also Read: Redditor Uses Gamestop Investment Winnings to Take Care of Gorillas "Talking" Gorillas The researchers ran a quick test to see if the gorillas' sounds met the criteria for complicated vocal learning. They observed as three distinct situations were presented to eight different gorillas. In one, a zookeeper was nearby but was going hungry. In another, there was simply food. The third had a zookeeper standing close with some food. According to the researchers, the sound, which has been dubbed "snough," was only emitted by the gorillas when a person was nearby carrying food. As it is known, the snough is described by researchers as sounding between a sneeze and a cough. They assert that it has a connotation akin to the human "ahem," to attract attention and, ideally, earn a food reward. The researchers mention that gorillas have reportedly been heard making such noises in other zoos. It is unknown if they came up with the call on their own or if animals visiting from other zoos taught them how to do it. The researchers contend that the snough proves that the gorillas intentionally created innovative sounds to achieve a specific goal. How Animals Communicate According to researchers, non-human animals do not possess a real language like people. However, they do exchange noises and gestures with one another. Animals have a variety of innate abilities to express their emotions, but they have not created words like those found in human language. Related Article: Just Like Humans, Monkeys Observed Showing Signs of Choking Under Pressure For more animal news, don't forget to follow Nature World News! Temperatures will reach 36C this weekend before finally raining at the beginning of next week, but experts predict it will not be enough to relieve the drought. Following months of unusually warm and dry weather, the National Drought Group declared drought status during a meeting on Friday. The Met Office predicts sunshine for much of the nation on Saturday, with any low cloud and fog dissipating fast in the morning. It will be hot or extremely hot, especially in central and southern England, where temperatures might reach 36C. Heatwave in the UK hits 36C The heat will persist for most of the country on Sunday, although heavy rains are possible farther north in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as per iNews. An amber heat warning is in effect for parts of England and Wales on Saturday and Sunday, and a yellow thunderstorm warning is in effect for Scotland and Northern Ireland on Sunday, moving south to England and Wales on Monday. The Met Office's Nicola Maxey warned of the possibility of flooding next week. "On Monday, the thunderstorm warning is in effect from 6 a.m. to midnight and includes much of England, all of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales," she added. The weather is expected to improve starting Wednesday, and "we will be freed of this hot humid air and return to a milder regime but not chilly." Temperatures are expected to be in the mid to high 20s, with temperatures in the low 20s further north. This is closer to the August average. Despite the rain, John Curtin, the Environment Agency's executive director for local operations, says it will not end the drought that is now afflicting portions of England. Mr. Curtin told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "Basically, it's a signal that this isn't a regular summer anymore, therefore water will be an issue for months to come." Read more: A Massive Rainfall Hits Las Vegas Causing a Widespread Flooding Thunderstorm warning in other parts of UK "While some locations stay dry, hit-and-miss thunderstorms will develop from Sunday night and on Monday, and may cause inconvenience in spots," the national meteorological service said, as per Express. Thunderstorms may hit Central, Tayside & Fife, South West England, North East England, Northern Ireland, Grampian, Wales, West Midlands, Highlands & Eilean Siar, London & South East England, North West England, East England, Dumfries, Galloway, Lothian & Borders, Yorkshire & Humber, Esat Midlands, and Strathclyde. Extreme weather conditions could swiftly flood homes and businesses, causing damage to certain structures from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail, or high winds. The Met Office has advised that when floods or lightning strikes occur, railway and bus services may be delayed or canceled. Spray and flash floods may also cause challenging driving conditions and road closures. Finally, there is a tiny possibility of power outages and the loss of other services to certain homes and businesses. While some areas may be spared, thunderstorms are expected to become more widespread as the day progresses. Storms are expected to begin in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland by early Monday, before spreading to portions of England and Wales by late morning and into the afternoon. Storms from the west should begin to clear later. It is possible to get 20-30 mm of rain in an hour, and up to 50 mm in three to six hours. Hail and lightning are also possibilities. According to the Met Office, thunderstorms develop owing to the presence of cumulonimbus clouds, sometimes known as 'The King of Clouds.' These are the only clouds that can produce hail, thunder, and lightning, and they have menacing-looking multi-level clouds that reach far into the sky in towers or plumes. They are related to extreme meteorological conditions such as strong rains, hail storms, lightning, and even tornadoes. Related article: Britain Braced for Drought Conditions of 30C Until October The oldest penguin at Edinburgh Zoo was killed after a fox entered its enclosure, according to workers. Penguin killed in the enclosure Mrs. Wolowitz, a 35-year-old northern rockhopper with a "big personality," was assaulted late Wednesday, as per The Guardian. Other penguins in the enclosure were not harmed and were doing fine, according to the zoo. The zoo wrote in a tweet Thursday night, "Sadly, we lost her last night after a fox broke into our penguin cage." Fortunately, the rest of our colony was not injured and is doing well. It went on to say that zookeepers examined the cages daily, but there was always the chance of wild animals breaking in. "We're looking at what we can do to strengthen the barrier," it added. More than 100 birds of three kinds live at Penguins Rock, Europe's largest outdoor penguin pool. Colchester Zoo lost its 21-year-old Patagonian sea lion in June. Paris, who had been in the zoo for 19 years, died during an ear infection test "despite all best efforts to heal her." An electrical malfunction at a petting zoo caused a fire last year, killing cockatoos, macaws, parrots, meerkats, armadillos, and skunks. "We will never forget the magnificent creatures that we have lost in such awful circumstances," wrote the barn at Maldon Promenade Petting Zoo in Essex. Some of the little fellas maintained at our private farm were retired, resting, or former unwanted pets that we tried so hard to care for, they added. Read more: The Story Behind Two Widowed Penguins of Melbourne Skyline Penguin vulnerability Penguins appear to be ideally adapted to their habitat, sliding down icy Antarctic hills and dashing across freezing seas, as per National Geographic. However, the captivating birds were not always flightless aquatic acrobats: the transition from flying to swimming necessitated the development of a nearly whole new set of talents, body forms, and functions. A new study utilizes an unparalleled mix of fossil records and genetic data to map that development in unprecedented detail-and to investigate how climate influenced penguin fates. According to study co-author Daniel Ksepka, an avian paleontologist at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, penguins is evolution's most amusing product. They've evolved a completely different body type and lifestyle than their forefathers. The study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, indicates that during the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago, early penguins were unexpectedly quick to adapt to newly established environmental niches throughout the Southern Hemisphere. After dinosaurs died out, there was more area for other creatures to proliferate, and penguins filled in varied temperatures and biomes throughout the world's southern half. However, the study also finds that penguins have the slowest known rate of evolution among all birds, implying that the pace of genetic changes has slowed dramatically since they transitioned to marine life after the mass extinction. According to the study's authors, this calls into doubt their capacity to swiftly adjust to the dizzying rate of current climate change. Penguins have to adapt to frequent temperature fluctuations over millions of years after evolving for oceanic settings. When the most recent glacial epoch began, a new surge of penguin species diversity occurred slightly over two million years ago. Penguins moved and were frequently cut off from other groups as ice sheets increased and habitats altered. Penguins developed over hundreds of thousands of years, separated by ice, into the wide array of penguin species that exist today. While prior studies predicted this mechanism, the new genomic-fossil data combination provides the most compelling evidence yet. Related article: Where on Earth Did the King Penguins Go? This photograph taken on July 25, 2022, shows embers falling from trees of a forest destroyed by the Oak Fire near Mariposa, California, burning west of Yosemite National Park where the Washburn Fire has threatened the giant sequoia trees of the Mariposa Grove. - Firefighters were battling California's largest wildfire of the summer on July 25, 2022, a blaze near famed Yosemite National Park that has forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said, as the Oak Fire in Mariposa County has engulfed 16,791 acres (6.795 hectares) and is 10 percent contained, Cal Fire, the state fire department, said. (Photo : Photo by DAVID MCNEW / AFP) (Photo by DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images) According to AccuWeather meteorologists, the Northwest of the United States will see yet another heat wave. In addition to the possibility of temperatures approaching levels from late last month, the soaring heat and the generally dry environment might result in a considerable increase in wildfire activity. Getting Hotter AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist Alex DaSilva warned that a heat wave expected for the Northwest next week "may rival temperatures experienced in certain regions from late July." It is anticipated that temperatures will increase from 5 to 10 degrees above average early next week to 10 to 18 degrees above average by the middle of the week. In the Northwest, several daily record high temperatures for mid-August range from the mid-90s to the low 100s, which can be unreachable. There will be some records that could fall, though. In Seattle and Portland, August 18 records of 88 and 99 are still in existence today. DaSilva said this summer's highs may be challenging to surpass but are still quite likely because the sun is not as powerful as it was two weeks ago. On the other side, compared to July, the earth is now drier and more receptive to sunlight. There is a possibility for upward mobility with high temperatures for the area next week, depending on the intensity of high pressure at the lower and higher sections of the atmosphere. For a few days next week, DaSilva predicted widespread highs of 100 or higher from east of the Cascades to the lower western slopes of the Rockies. Also Read: Some US Cities May BecomeHotter than the Middle East Before 2100 Record Breaking Heat Seattle recorded 95 degrees on the Pacific coast on the three days from July 29 to July 31. The high temperature broke the previous record on the month's final day. Forecasters predict that Seattle's highs will likely rise from the lower 80s early the following week to the 90s or perhaps higher late that week. Before the late July heat wave, much of Washington, along with portions of Oregon and Idaho, were experiencing average to rainy weather, which at the time reduced wildfire activity. But in some places, that heat wave continued for eight days or more without any rain. According to experts, the region's grassy fields and bushes have been significantly dried up by the hot, dry conditions, increasing the risk of wildfires there. Increased Risk of Wildfires Over the past few weeks, there has been an increase in wildfire activity in the area. The Moose Fire, the largest fire in the area, was in central Idaho and had burned more than 77,000 acres as of Saturday morning. It was just over 27% containment. The general danger of wildfires will increase due to the new heat wave's dry weather and locally strong winds, according to DaSilva. A jet stream disturbance moving northeastward next week could contribute to the rising wildfire risk. Because of the kink in the jet stream, meteorologists predict that enough moisture from the Pacific and the southwest United States might produce thunderstorms in some locations with little to no rain. The storms' lightning strikes might potentially start new flames. Later, in the next week, the chance of lightning storms will be greatest in parts of Oregon, Northern California, and central and southern Idaho. The disturbance's related clouds may also moderate the excessive heat in certain areas. Related Article: Paradise Rebuilt to Withstand Wildfire: After Burning Down, California Town Sees Hope For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News! Eight areas in England have been declared to be experiencing drought. The expert committee issues an official drought declaration amid the extended dry period, which may result in water restrictions. Declaring Drought Following an expert conference, drought has been declared across large parts of England. The National Drought Group has formally announced a drought due to the protracted dry conditions, which have prevented several regions of the nation from getting substantial rainfall all summer. In eight of its fourteen regions-Devon and Cornwall, Solent and South Downs, Kent and South London, Herts and North London, East Anglia, Thames, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and the east Midlands-the Environment Agency has declared a drought. According to documents reviewed by the Guardian, the Environment Agency predicts that two more regions will experience drought later in August. Yorkshire and the West Midlands are these. Also Read: Hosepipe Ban Called After Extreme Heat Warning is Issued in the UK Emergency Declaration The decision to place the nation in "prolonged dry weather status," the first of four emergency dry weather stages and one step before the drought, was made at a meeting earlier this summer to examine the lack of rainfall. The nation has now entered that second stage. This opens the possibility of widespread water rationing, making it easier for water utilities to forbid consumers from washing their cars with tap water and using hosepipes. At this point, more harsh measures, such as a ban on sprinkler usage and restrictions on cleaning windows, cars, and buildings, can also be implemented. Southern Water and South East Water have already banned hosepipes this year. Welsh Water and Yorkshire Water will impose bans starting on August 19 and 26, respectively. Thames Water has also announced a hosepipe restriction as being "ready to go." The seminar attendees presented distressing data regarding England's food security. Since potatoes cannot be watered, half of the harvest is anticipated to fail, and even crops that typically tolerate dryness, like maize, have been struggling. According to the information provided to the committee, "irrigation choices are reducing with reservoirs being emptied quickly," and losses of 10% to 50% are predicted for crops including hops, apples, sugar beet, carrots, and onions. Due to a scarcity of forage for the cows, milk output is declining countrywide, and wildfires are putting enormous tracts of agriculture in danger. There are worries that many farmers may opt not to drill crops for next year, which would have disastrous effects on the harvest in 2023. The administration was anxious to emphasize that domestic water supplies were not in danger. Record Breaking Heat After what was for certain areas of the country the driest July on record, according to water minister Steve Double, we are presently going through a second heatwave. The government and other partners, such as the Environment Agency, are already taking action to control the effects. We have received assurances from all water firms that our vital supplies are secure, and we have made it plain that it is their responsibility to keep those supplies in place. The conference attendees were informed that while recent dry summers have been counteracted by rainy autumns to prevent the greatest consequences on water supply, that is unlikely to be the case this year as drought conditions are projected to persist owing to climate breakdown. Recent Droughts Prior to the declaration, 2018 was the most recent year a drought was declared. The drought this year may or may not have been brought on by climate breakdown, but the Met Office determined that climate change had increased the likelihood of dry weather and excessive heat in 2018 by 30 times. All geographical regions of England have seen five months in a row with below normal rainfall and above average temperatures. During July, there was a decline in reservoir supplies, groundwater levels, and river flows. The soil moisture deficit is equivalent to what was seen after the 1976 drought, and thirteen EA-monitored indicator rivers are at their lowest levels. Related Article: Some US Cities May Become Hotter than the Middle East Before 2100 For more environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News! The Australian Redclaw Crayfish, an invasive species that has been discovered in some parts of the state, is being warned about by officials because it may carry the crayfish plague and other diseases. The first known location in Texas where the invasive Australian Redclaw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) was discovered was recently visited by researchers from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Three samples were gathered between January and February at an apartment complex pond in the Brownsville region that is connected to a close-by resaca. Alien Crayfish Sightings This species has likely been present in this area for some time, as evidenced by the identification on iNaturalist of a female species seen there in 2013 along with several young. This is only the second time that this species has been found in the wild in the United States; the first was in California. Dr. Archis Grubh, an aquatic biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), searched several locations in the region during the month of July and discovered three more Australian Redclaw Crayfish between both the apartment complex pond and a nearby resaca, which is two miles away. Grubh stated that They are unsure of the origin or extent of the spread of these invasive crayfish, but they do know that they can harm regional biodiversity and species. By educating people about such an invasive species and receiving sighting reports, TPWD can better understand its distribution and perhaps take action to stop it. It has been easy to collect both female and male Australian Redclaw Crayfish, raising questions about these bodies of water's potential for reproduction. Australian Redclaw Crayfish The females of the species can produce 1,000 eggs per clutch up to five times a year, which indicates how prolifically they can reproduce. Australian Redclaw Crayfish have a quick growth rate and can grow up to two pounds in weight in less than a year. These large crayfish have the potential to significantly alter vegetation and habitat, compete with native crayfish, and directly prey on native fish populations. Additionally, Crayfish Plague and other parasites or diseases that might affect native crayfish can be carried by Australian Redclaw Crayfish. The four distinct ridges on the top of the head and the large size of the Australian Redclaw Crayfish make them easy to identify. They also have large left claws with a distinct red patch on the outside. Slow-moving streams and still bodies of water with high turbidity, like oxbows and resacas, are their preferred habitat. They can move between bodies of water and over moist terrestrial vegetation. With seasonal rainfall which can spread the crayfish across waterbodies, there is an increase in the introduction to new areas. Read also: Scottish Chef Makes Delicacies Out of Squirrels to Combat Invasive Species: Discussing Invasivorism Invasive and Prohibited in Texas The Australian Redclaw Crayfish, along with the rest of the Parastacidae family of crayfish, are illegal exotic species in Texas and cannot be bought, sold, or kept in aquariums. Releasing these crayfish species into a public body of water is also prohibited. Monica McGarrity, TPWD Senior Scientist for Aquatic Invasive Species, said that unfortunately, one of the primary methods by which invasive species, like these crayfish, are introduced is through the release of aquarium life. When aquarium owners release their pets, they frequently believe they are doing what is best for the animals. However, if the pets survive, they may become invasive and damage the ecosystem and native aquatic species. To stop the spread of the next invasive species, aquarium owners should look into alternatives to aquarium dumping, TPWD News reports. Australian Redclaw Crayfish sightings must be reported to TPWD by sending an email of the pictures and location data to the relevant authorities. Related article: Invasive Species: Growing Population of Crayfish and Carps in Lakes Cause Rapid Ecosystem Collapse By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Azerbaijani capital Baku is soon to host the Sea Cup international military contest, Azernews reports, citing the Defense Ministry. The drawing for the international Sea Cup competition took place on August 12, the ministry reports. The event was attended by the heads of delegations from participating nations, as well as members of the Board of Referees. Representatives from the local and international media were also invited to the drawing. Commander of the Azerbaijan Naval Forces Rear Admiral Subhan Bakirov welcomed the participants and expressed his hope that the Sea Cup competition, which will be hosted for the fifth time in Azerbaijan, would be held in a transparent, high-level, and pleasant atmosphere. He wished the teams success and answered questions of media representatives, emphasizing the importance of international competitions in the mutual exchange of knowledge between personnel of different nations in enhancing their professionalism. The participating nations' team leaders expressed gratitude to the Defense Ministry leadership for creating high-level conditions and for the hospitality. The competing teams were provided with thorough information about the entrance to combat training ranges, conducting training for the performance of stages and episodes of the contest. Finally, the drawing procedure for the competition stages and episodes was held. The Azerbaijani, Russian, Iranian and Kazakh seamen will compete on August 15-27 as part of the Sea Cup contest. In the same vein, participants of the Masters of Artillery Fire competition, which will be conducted as part of the International Army Games-2022, are preparing for the contest stages, the ministry said in a separate report. According to the ministry, the Azerbaijani artillerymen completed a technical examination of the acquired weapons, became familiar with the stage circumstances and technical capabilities of the firing positions, as well as safety requirements. After completing the preliminary phase, the Azerbaijani crew carried out the adjustment firing from small weapons, grenade launchers, and mortars, the ministry added. Reporter Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk). 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. AP Chicago police say an officer has shot a person on the citys near West Side in the second shooting by a Chicago Police Department officer in less than 24 hours Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Submit Nursing homes are suing friends and family to collect on patients' bills Play Barbara Robinson was just trying to help her mothers friend sign up for Medicaid and move into the Monroe County nursing home in Rochester, New York. But because Robinson signed the admissions form, the nursing home considered her financially responsible for the womans care, Anna Werner reported for CBS News. After the woman died, the county sued Robinson for $21,000 in unpaid bills. This report was done in partnership with a KHN-NPR investigation of Americas medical debt crisis. Noam N. Levey, KHN senior correspondent, wrote about Lucille Brooks, another woman sued by Monroe County, this time over her brothers nursing home bill. Pursuing unpaid bills, nursing homes across Rochester have been routinely suing not only residents but their friends and families, a KHN review of court records reveals. In most of those cases, the people sued didnt have an attorney. In nearly a third, the nursing homes won default judgments because the defendants never responded. Consumer attorneys in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio told KHN they regularly see such lawsuits against family and friends. Judge Debra Martin dismissed the case against Robinson. She admonished the county, saying its case, presented without documentation, does not meet the bare minimum requirements. Brooks is now in the clear, too, after the county dropped its case against her. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The Public Safety Report is compiled from criminal complaints filed in state and federal courts, as well as some police blotter information, trooper dispatches, fire department reports and interviews with public safety officials. Individuals named as arrested and/or charged with crimes in this report are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Several arrested in Bahrain yesterday for violating residency and labour laws Several arrested in Bahrain yesterday for violating residency and labour laws TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahraini authorities yesterday arrested several workers during an inspection campaign to ensure compliance with residency and labour laws in Bahrain. The Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs organised the campaign with the Capital Governorate Police Directorate and the Labour Market Regulatory Authority. Brigadier Abdulaziz Abdul Rahman Al-Dosari, Assistant Undersecretary for Exits, Search and Follow-up, said NPRA would intensify the joint inspections in the coming days to combat illegal employment. We will visit commercial establishments in all governorates, he said, calling on the general public to report complaints regarding irregular employment to the authority. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com A Bahraini man who fought criminal charges and demolition threats over a 10-year-old construction can now heave a sigh of relief for the High Appeals Court told the authorities they had exhausted their right to litigate against the illegal construction after three years of inaction. "If three years have passed since the date of the incident without filing a lawsuit, the right to file a lawsuit has forfeited," the court said, overruling an order to remove the rooms built ten years ago. Ruling in favour of the accused, the court described the crime as 'instantaneous' and not 'continuous'. An 'instantaneous' crime is a crime which is fully consummated or completed in and by a single act. Arson, murder and the like are examples of such crimes. It is different from crimes which involve a series or repetition of actions. "The villa owner had expanded the first floor without obtaining a licence from the competent authority. However, he had completed that act with the end of construction and never repeated it," the court said. "Therefore, it's an 'instantaneous' crime. "Besides, if three years have passed without filing a lawsuit, the competent authority also forfeits its right to file a lawsuit. "Therefore, the court rules in favour of the appellant," the verdict said. The court also overruled the criminal charges, citing the expiry of the criminal case by lapse of time. How did it all start? Incidents leading to the protracted court battle started with the appellant building a room, with an attached bathroom, over his garage, without obtaining a building permit 10 years back. However, the man said he received the shock of his life on the 6th of December 2020 on that account. On that day, he said the authorities served him with a notice describing the 10-year-old construction as illegal. The notice said the construction is illegal as the owner did it without obtaining the necessary licence from the competent authority. Lawyer Riyadh Al Sindi, representing the appellant, told the court that it's illogical for the authority to ask the appellant to remove the construction now. The notice said the man should remove the violating construction within two months at his expense. The Public Prosecution had also slapped him with a fine of BD1,000. However, the man approached the Court of First Instance against the notice and got a ruling in his favour. The court also dropped the criminal charges pressed against him. However, that doesn't prevent the authorities from moving against the man. Despite the court ruling, the man said authorities pressed criminal charges on him again and slapped him again with a BD1,000 fine. This time, the man told the court that the order was to remove the violations within three months, forcing him to file an appeal again. The man's lawyer also filed a memorandum requesting to assign an expert to examine the rooms in question. The expert confirmed to the court that construction - a room and a bathroom on the first floor-- was built ten years ago. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURY If the many calls to the citys planning office are any indication, Danbury could see high interest from prospective marijuana retailers after officials approved new regulations permitting a limited number of these establishments. The city has been getting calls for months about its plans for cannabis sales. Weve been hearing from people all along about the status, said Sharon Calitro, city planning director. Now, the Zoning Commission has approved rules that will allow four types of marijuana businesses, including recreational pot sales, in certain areas of the city. Approval of the regulations means an end to the citys temporary moratorium on cannabis establishments implemented last summer after the state legalized recreational marijuana and opened the door to pot sales in Connecticut by the end of 2022. With nearby towns still either studying how to regulate recreational pot sales or looking to prohibit them all together, Danbury could be the first municipality in the area to see this type of business and cash in on the 3 percent sales tax benefit that comes with it. More News Map: CT towns that have banned recreational cannabis businesses Shay Nagarsheth, the citys economic development director, said its too premature to say whether the city will market to marijuana retailers. But he anticipates their arrival could be a boost to the city, adding the new rules offer a nice balance between welcoming the retailers and regulating them. It is going to be highly regulated at the local level and its very limited to the number of establishments, he said. And that, in effect, is going to allow Danbury to test the waters, and then the regulations can be amended as necessary in the future. The state has received more than 37,300 applications for the various types of cannabis licenses ranging from retail to cultivator across equity and non-equity applicants. Retail sales are not expected to begin until later this year. Once they do, Danbury expects it could attract residents from nearby New York or neighboring towns where dispensaries may not be permitted. They may even visit other businesses on their way. As far as people traveling to Danbury to visit one of these establishments they certainly could have an economic impact on other types of businesses in the area, Nagarsheth said. The Zoning Commission approved the regulations in a 6-3 vote on Tuesday, but the new rules wont become effective until the day after theyre published in a newspaper likely next week. Its unclear how soon any business would submit an application, but Calitro says itll be probably sooner rather than later. But theres a whole process at the state level too, that takes time, she added. And again, it takes time to prepare an application that would comply with the requirements. Finding a location that fits within the regulations takes time too, she said. What the regulations say The regulations restrict cannabis establishments from opening near schools, public parks, municipal buildings, licensed day care centers, dependency treatment centers, places of worship, homeless shelters, or transitional housing facilities. Nor are they permitted on Main Street or Route 53. No more than four marijuana businesses would be permitted in the city at any one time. Plus, the regulations cap the number of businesses by category. Businesses must earn special exception approval from the Planning Commission. We are not opening the door, Calitro said at Tuesdays Zoning Commission meeting. This is a very limited number of establishments to see how it goes. The regulations allow for no more than two hybrid retailers that sell medicinal and recreational pot to adults or a combination of one cannabis dispensary facility, one cannabis hybrid retailer and one cannabis retailer. One cannabis micro-cultivator, a space between 2,000 to 10,000 square feet where pot is grown, is permitted. You can get to that fairly quickly depending on the interest and the expediency of putting together and application, Calitro said. Danbury had already permitted medicinal marijuana and welcomed a medicinal dispensary, The Botanist, that moved from Bethel to the Hat City, opening last October. However, any new applications for medical marijuana establishments had been on hold due to the temporary moratorium that the city put in place while new regulations were drafted. Calitro said she considered how the regulations would affect the health, safety and welfare of Danbury residents as they drafted the new rules. We did a lot of research, she said. We put a lot of time and effort into thinking about where if we were going to allow these uses, a limited number of them where in the city they might be appropriate. But some Zoning Commission members were uncomfortable with welcoming cannabis establishments. Robert Melillo noted that federal law prohibits marijuana use and wasnt satisfied with assurances from city lawyers that Danbury wouldnt get into legal trouble. I myself do not feel comfortable approving something that is illegal, he said. Fellow commission member Candace Fay countered its not their job to decide whether something should be legal. The Zoning Commission simply decides where it will go, whether it will go within our city, she said. Commission member Milan David argued residents will smoke pot anyway, so the city might as well regulate where they can buy it. Its going to be safer because people are going to do this whether you approve it or not, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate DANBURYA newly introduced program at Danbury Hospital gives mothers who have just given birth the option to use donor breast milk for their newborns. Donor milk has been available for babies in the hospitals newborn intensive care unit for seven years, but the new program provides the service to any mother who may be unable to breastfeed after giving birth. While a mothers breast milk is whats best for her baby, sometimes she cannot nurse because of a medical condition, or her milk hasnt come in and the babys weight may be a concern, Alexis Curtis, director of Maternal Child Health at Danbury Hospital, said in a statement when the program was announced. Donor milk can help bridge that short gap until shes able to nurse or pump. The program was initially intended to begin on July 6 but was implemented a day early when a patient needed a milk donation on the 5th. A lot of NICUs across the nation use donor milk, but this is a bridge now that goes into the well-newborn nursery that is a very rare opportunity for our hospital to be able to do, Curtis said. Since its implementation, 12 mothers have used the program, which aligns with the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organizations recommendations that all mothers feed their babies solely with breast milk. Breast milk is liquid gold. It has unique and remarkable nutrients that support the infants and childs developing immune system, said Kathleen Moonan, a certified lactation consultant and the hospitals Center for Breastfeeding coordinator, in a press release. Donor milk can be especially important for babies in our nursery who are jaundiced, have low blood sugars or low birth weight. Colostrum (the first milk produced when starting breast feeding) is like giving a baby its very first immunization, Moonan said. Every bacterial or viral infection that mom has had in her lifetime, she is going to be protecting her baby against, but sometimes they need a supplement, so we provide the donor milk. The program provides an alternative to baby formula, receiving the milk donations from the Mothers Milk Bank Northeast. Donors are screened at the bank where the milk is also pasteurized, and lab tested prior to distribution. At Danbury Hospital the milk is stored in a special freezer and refrigerator, available for patients in need. We had staff teaching days where we do a whole presentation on the donor milk and the process, Moonan said. Receiving the milk, logging the milk, preparing it for the baby and all the documentation. But then we also have community education. The community education includes making pregnant mothers aware of the program offered and providing pre-natal breast-feeding education. The hospital also provides lactation consultants to help mothers learn to produce their own milk, while receiving donations. This is a bridge program, Moonan said. While the baby is getting donor milk, the mother will be given assistance and practice breastfeeding, do hand expression and pump. Danbury Hospital also provides breast milk to-go for mothers who are having difficulty producing milk. Another piece of our program we initiated is what we call the to-go program, Moonan said. I only have moms for a couple of days, and it takes three to five days for the milk to come in. So here they have been doing great in the hospital working on getting their milk supply in while the baby has been getting donor milk, and now it is time to go home. So now we can provide them with a small amount of frozen donor milk to help them over that bridge until their milk supply comes in. August is designated World Breast Feeding Month, and with the program in full swing, Danbury Hospital is providing a rare service to mothers in the community. It really is a case-by-case basis. I am a happily surprised that we are not using tons of donor milk because most of our moms are very successful with breast feeding, Moonan said. Here at Danbury Hospital, they get a lot of one-on-one attention. Between the lactation consultants and the nurses, we really do our best to help them. OTTAWA, ON , Aug. 12, 2022 /CNW/ - The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, the Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Health, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, and the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, issued this update today on the actions being taken to ease congestion at Canada's airports, reduce wait times and delays and help keep travellers moving. Rights of air travellers It is never acceptable to make passengers sleep on the floor of an airport as a result of a delayed or cancelled flight. To protect travellers, there are regulations in place from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), which is the independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator of Canada's national transportation system. The Government of Canada strongly encourages Canadians to know their rights when they travel by air under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Through each part of their travel journey, passengers should document any incidents that occur as they may be eligible for compensation. In a recent ruling, the CTA found that the cancellation of a traveller's flight, which was due to a crew shortage, was within the airline's control, and therefore eligible for compensation. Airlines must follow the requirements of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Otherwise, they will be subject to potential enforcement action by the CTA. In addition to the current regulations that already apply to cancellations and delays due to staff shortages, new regulations taking effect on September 8, 2022, will apply to future flights that are cancelled for reasons outside an air carrier's control, including major weather events, a pandemic, as well as situations where it is not possible for the carrier to complete the passenger's itinerary within a reasonable timeframe. Increasing staffing for security screening and customs processing Since April, more than 1,600 CATSA screening officers have been hired across Canada. Efforts to increase screening officer staff levels at all airports continue, including at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport and Calgary International Airport. Streamlining customs processing at Toronto Pearson International Airport To further facilitate entry and expedite traveller processing, there are now 12 eGates and 30 new primary inspection kiosks (PIKs) at Toronto Pearson International Airport. There has been a significant decrease in the number of aircraft holds at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in part due to the Canada Border Services Agency's continuous efforts to reduce border processing wait times. Further, nearly 1.5 million travellers successfully used the ArriveCAN application last week. Collaborating with industry partners to find solutions In recent weeks, Minister Alghabra has met with senior leadership of several airlines and airports of all sizes across the country to ensure ongoing collaboration and continued action that will help further reduce delays and ensure travellers can efficiently get to their destination. Similar meetings will continue over the coming weeks. Officials at Transport Canada also meet regularly with airports and airlines alongside the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the CBSA and NAV CANADA to find solutions and address congestion issues affecting travel. Improving ArriveCAN The Government of Canada continues to make improvements to ArriveCAN so it is faster and easier for travellers to use. Travellers arriving at Toronto Pearson, Vancouver or Montreal-Trudeau international airports can save time by using the optional Advance CBSA Declaration feature in ArriveCAN to submit their customs and immigration declaration in advance of arrival. or Montreal-Trudeau international airports can save time by using the optional Advance CBSA Declaration feature in ArriveCAN to submit their customs and immigration declaration in advance of arrival. Early usage data from Toronto Pearson and Vancouver airports indicates that using the optional Advance CBSA Declaration cuts the amount of time a traveller spends at a kiosk by roughly one third. airports indicates that using the optional Advance CBSA Declaration cuts the amount of time a traveller spends at a kiosk by roughly one third. In the coming months, the optional feature will also become available to travellers arriving at the Calgary , Edmonton , Winnipeg , Billy Bishop Toronto City, Ottawa , Quebec City and Halifax international airports. Associated Link Transport Canada is online at www.tc.gc.ca. Subscribe to e-news or stay connected through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to keep up to date on the latest from Transport Canada. This news release may be made available in alternative formats for persons living with visual disabilities. SOURCE Transport Canada For further information: Laurel Lennox, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, Ottawa, [email protected]; Media Relations, Transport Canada, Ottawa, [email protected],613-993-0055 Taiwan issues a strong statement that China is using air and sea drills around the island to prepare for an invasion. In a provocative response by China to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to the self-ruled island claimed by China. China launched the largest-ever air and sea maneuvers around the Taiwan Strait. Following several days of major Chinese war drills, Taiwans top diplomat accused Beijing of plotting an invasion of the island as the island performed artillery practice simulating defence against an attack. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu charged Beijing with exploiting Pelosis visit as justification for military action during a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday. Wu said: China has exploited the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan. According to a statement from the Peoples Liberation Armys Eastern Theater command, training exercises were being held all over Taiwan with an emphasis on joint blockade and joint support operations. According to Lou Woei-jye, spokesperson for Taiwans Eighth Army Corps, Taipeis practice began in the southern county of Pingtung soon after 00:40 GMT with the launching of target flares and artillery, and it ended a little under an hour later at 01:30 GMT. The road leading to Kenting, a well-known beach location, was concealed from view by howitzers soldiers were firing from. The army stated that hundreds of soldiers and roughly 40 howitzers were deployed during the drills, which also took place on Thursday. Lou informed AFP on Monday that the exercises had been planned and were not in response to Chinas maneuvers. Outrage has been expressed in the United States and other democracies about the size and seriousness of Chinas drills as well as its decision to leave important climate and defence negotiations. Beijing, though, described its actions as strong, robust, and appropriate in response to American aggression on Monday. Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated at a regular briefing that (We) are merely giving a warning to the offenders and pledged that China would firmly crush the Taiwan authorities fantasy of attaining independence through the US. Also Read: China to continue military exercises off Taiwan after talks with US ended Officials from India and the United States have urged the bankrupt country to reject Chinas proposal to dock. The Chinese navy ship is reportedly unarmed most likely, it is sailing in the Indian Ocean. Nobody even knows where it will go. However, over the last week, a 730-foot-long Chinese satellite-tracking vessel has been the subject of increasing tensions and a symbol of the escalating geopolitical tug-of-war between India and the US, and China over Sri Lanka at a time when the economically devastated island nation is caught between major financial supporters. The Yuan Wang 5 has been travelling from China to Hambantota port on Sri Lankas southern point since July after authorities there granted permission for a stopover for replenishment. However, officials from India and the United States have exerted significant pressure on the Sri Lankan government to suspend access to the port, angering their Chinese counterparts. Caught in-between, Sri Lankas Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it formally requested that China postpone the visit while also adding that it wished to underscore the lasting friendship and great relations between Sri Lanka and China. According to reports in Sri Lankan media on Thursday, the ship slowed down and made a U-turn before continuing on its course toward the island. According to a senior source at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry with firsthand knowledge of the conversations, Sri Lankan authorities were still negotiating with the Chinese as of Thursday, when the Yuan Wang 5 was initially due to arrive, over whether and when to allow the ship to dock. The Sri Lankan source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential conversations between nations, claimed that officials from India, China, and the United States had all been vigorously pressing behind the scenes. Even though a Chinese navy ship docking in Hambantota is not strategically significant, officials from India and the United States contend that it would be seen as Sri Lanka favouring China, a significant creditor, at a time when the troubled Colombo government needs to renegotiate its debt with several foreign lenders and obtain a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. India, which views South Asia as its traditional area of influence and seeks to counteract Chinas expanding position there, offered the island $4 billion in loans to buy emergency gasoline when Sri Lankas economy fell into free fall this year. This week, China implied that India had engaged in gross meddling in its affairs and disregarded Indias concerns about the possibility of spying on the country using sensors aboard the Yuan Wang 5. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, told reporters in Beijing that it was abnormal for a third party to exert pressure on Sri Lanka due to purported security concerns. According to American analysts, the Peoples Liberation Army would establish a footing in a very strategic area adjacent to vital maritime routes and the Persian Gulf if China were to deploy military boats out of Hambantota, which it has not done so far. Analysts note that the United States has always supported the idea of unimpeded navigation and frequently annoys China with its naval manoeuvres, so it is hard for Washington to openly argue for denying China access to the port. A news agency said that India is harassing a bankrupt country. Indians believe they now have the upper hand just because they contributed $4 billion. How does that sum compare to the sums that China has donated to Sri Lanka over time? Retd. Indian Navy former chief, Adm. Arun Prakash, suggested lowering the temperature. He said that a conflict between India and China favoured neither nation, including Sri Lanka. Especially now, when Sri Lanka is at its lowest, he remarked, We need to respect Sri Lankas autonomy. It is a sovereign nation with the authority to permit any ship to dock there. There is no Monroe Doctrine in the area. Also Read: Iran conservative media applaud Salman Rushdie attacker In an indictment on the BJP-led administration, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge said that men pay officials while women have affairs with them to obtain government employment. Speaking on behalf of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, MLA Priyank Kharge made severe accusations against the BJP-led state government on Friday, claiming that young ladies have to sleep with someone while men have to bribe to secure a government job in the State. Kharge requested that the government establish a fast-track court and called for judicial investigation or a special investigation team (SIT) investigation into recruiting frauds. To draw attention to the BJPs widespread recruiting corruption, Kharge stated, The administration has chosen to sell jobs. Young ladies should have a bed partner if they wish to work in government. Men are required to pay bribes to get government employment. The young lady had agreed to sleep with a minister in exchange for employment. His resignation came right after the scandal saw the daylight. He said that the Assistant Engineer, Junior Engineer, and Civil Engineer positions were among the 1,492 for which Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) had conducted recruitment. In Gokak, an applicant who was taking the test while using Bluetooth was detained. My knowledge is that the agreement may have been made for a total of 600 postings. They may have got Rs. 30 lakh for the position of Junior Engineer and Rs. 50 lakh for the Assistant Engineer position. Theft totaling Rs 300 crores may have occurred here alone During a news conference, he remarked. If there are flaws in every recruiting exam, where should the smart and underprivileged kids go? Even if fraud is discovered, the perpetrators and intermediaries are aware that nothing would happen to them. The future of the approximately 3 lakh students who have applied for KPTCL positions is being played with by the government MLA for Congress stated. He claimed that the candidates are furious with those who have turned the approach into a business to earn a 40% fee. Attacking the central governments Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, Kharge said that BJP is using patriotism for business. He questioned if the state government, which exempted Kashmir Files from paying taxes, had any justification for providing the flag at no cost. I received calls from officials asking me to buy 20,000 national flags. I am opposed. We are delivering 10,000 free khadi flags from the district congress in place of polyester flags he added. Also Read: KTAKA: BJP retaliates to Cong MLAs allegations Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir, terminated the employment of four government workers for having ties to terrorism as part of a broad campaign against the terror ecosystem, including Bitta Karates wife and Syed Salahuddins son. Farooq Ahmed Dar, aka Bitta Karatewife,s Assbah Arzoomand Khan, a senior JKLF terrorist, is a Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) official from the 2011 batch. By using Article 311 of the Indian Constitution, Muheet Ahmad Bhat, Scientist-D, Majid Hussain Qadri, Senior Assistant Professor, and Syed Abdul Mueed, Manager IT, Jammu & Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI), were all dismissed from their positions. Assbah Arzoomand Khan, according to the government, was fired because it was discovered through investigations by the administration of the Union Territory that she was a separatist with close links to terrorist organisations and the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. When Karate was on trial, she gained attention. In 2003, Assabah started working at Kashmirs Sher e Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology. Her appointment was supposedly made behind closed doors and it looked like someone in the administration was in charge of it According to a top officer in the JK administration. He claims that it has also come to light that she missed work for extended periods between 2003 and 2007 without being disciplined. Finally, in August 2007, she was fired. She visited Germany, the UK, Helsinki, Sri Lanka, and Thailand while she was away from her job, he said. Additionally, the research turned up that she was a JKLF courier. An officer with knowledge of the current investigation against her said, During most of her visits, she used to depart using aircraft through various airports but used to return to India by road routes either from Nepal or Bangladesh. Assbah Arzoomand Khan passed her JKAS certification in 2011, and according to the documentation kept by the UT government, she married Bitta Karate shortly after. According to the JK administrations roster, Muheet Ahmad Bhat, a scientist D at Kashmir Universitys department of computer sciences, was also fired for having ties to terrorism. From 2017 to 2019, Muheet served on the board of directors for the Kashmir University Teachers Association (KUTA), and from 2017 to 2019, he served as its president. He was instrumental in planning the 2016 student and street protests that resulted in the deaths of several children An official involved in the investigation revealed. He said that Muheet Ahmad Bhat, a KUTA member, sent money from the organisation to terrorist families and several stone-throwers. According to the JK administrations dossier, he sent money to Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists families in January 2018. Additionally, he set up money to be paid to the families of terrorists murdered by security personnel. To dodge audit scanners, KUTA has skillfully delayed registering as a society while still using financial channels. He is regarded as a pivotal figure in the radicalization of students and dissemination of Pakistani propaganda in Kashmir the dossier says. Majid Hussain Qadri is a dedicated LeT terrorist, according to the dossier. As an MBA student at Kashmir University in 2001, Qadri came in contact with two Pakistani LeT terrorists in August 2001 and became LeT point-person for Kashmir University for radicalisation, recruitment, according to the dossier, which also notes that in 2002 he was assigned to serve as a terrorists arms courier. He began serving as the LeTs spokesperson in 2003 and did so until his imprisonment in June 2004. Additionally, a sniper rifle was found on him. He was held for two years under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act until the court declared him innocent. He was hired as a contract lecturer at Kashmir University in March 2007. His employment application was never forwarded to the CID for a character check. At Kashmir University, he was hired as an assistant professor in 2010. In the Department of Management Studies, where he is currently employed, a high-ranking JK administration official said. The son of the self-proclaimed Hizbul Mujahideen Supreme Commander, Syed Abdul Mueed, was also fired. He was employed with JKEDI as the IT Manager. The son of the self-proclaimed Hizbul Mujahideen Supreme Commander, Syed Abdul Mueed, was also fired. He was employed with JKEDI as the IT Manager. Syed Abdul Mueed was hired on a contract basis in 2012 to serve as an IT consultant. According to sources, the law was broken to appoint him. The selecting committee included at least three policemen with a history of supporting terrorism. Later, his contractual role was changed to a permanent one. Also Read: Why China shelter Pak-based terrorists from global terrorist labelling? Actor Salman Khan informed the Bombay High Court on Friday that his neighbour in Panvel, where he owns a farmhouse, had posted films on social media that were not only insulting or defamatory but also created bias within the community and were inflammatory. The actor appealed a March city civil court decision that had denied him relief in connection with a defamation lawsuit he had brought against NRI Ketan Kakkad and others for posting on social media videos about the actors alleged activities in his Panvel farmhouse. Justice C V Bhadang was currently hearing the actors appeal. The High Court requested that the actor provide transcriptions of the allegedly defamatory remarks made by Kakkad, including the claim that Khan belongs to don Dawood Ibrahims gang. The Dabangg actor had filed a defamation lawsuit before the city civil court about the videos Kakkad had posted on social media, asking the court to order Kakkad to take them down and enjoin him from making such remarks in the future. The actor had petitioned the HC after the civil court declined to issue an injunction order. Through his attorneys Abha Singh and Aditya Pratap, Kakkad had informed the trial court that Khan had brought a defamation lawsuit in an effort to intimidate him into giving up the fight for his Panvel land. The films produced by Kakkad, according to senior attorney Ravi Kadam, who is representing Khan, are recklessly hypothetical. In addition to being libellous, they also incite viewers animosity toward the Sultan actor on a community level. In reference to the videos script, Kadam said that Kakkad mentions Khan as a member of a marginalised group attempting to annex a Ganesh temple in Panvel close to his land. Kakkad compares the actor to Babar and Aurangzeb and claims that although the Ayodhya Temple took 500 years to develop, Salman Khan is currently attempting to close a Ganesh temple. Millions of fans watch these videos and then remark negatively on Salman Khan. It is obvious that this is inciting the public against Salman. Hindus and Muslims are now at odds because of the films, according to Kadam. The damages must be paid to him, he said, because Kakkad had also published defamatory statements such Khan is engaging in drug, organ, and child trafficking from his home. Also Read: Laal Singh Chaddha: Complaint against Aamir Khan for disrespecting Indian Army Sri Lanka has given permission Chinese spy ship Yuan Wang-5 to dock at the Hambantota Port, the media reported. On August 16, the ship will dock at the Hambantota Port. It was previously scheduled to arrive at the Hambantota Port on August 11. India raised serious concerns with the Sri Lankan government, and the Chinese government agreed to postpone the date till further notice. In a meeting with President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday, US Ambassador Julie Chung expressed her concerns regarding the ship. According to the media reports, the Sri Lankan government asked India and the United States to explain their disagreement about the ship docking, but neither side provided concrete reasons thus the government approved the docking. According to foreign security analysts, the Yuan Wang 5 is one of Chinas most advanced space-tracking ships, designed to follow satellite, rocket, and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. According to the Pentagon, the Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the Peoples Liberation Army. On August 8, China slammed India for its completely unjustified citing of security concerns to pressure Colombo and grossly interfere in its internal matters. We urge the relevant parties to see Chinas marine scientific research activities in a rational light and stop disrupting normal exchange and cooperation between China and Sri Lanka, a Chinese foreign ministry official said. On Friday, India denied Chinas claim that New Delhi pressed Colombo to postpone the docking. Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and makes its own independent decisions, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in Uttar Pradesh detained a terrorist associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan from Saharanpur on Friday. As per the agency, the accused was in direct contact with JeM (Jaish-e-Muhammad) and TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban). According to the police, the arrested terrorist was given the task to kill suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma by JeM. The arrested terrorist has been identified as Muhammad Nadeem (25). According to ATS, a man in Saharanpur, influenced by JeM and TTP ideology, was preparing for Fidayeen attack. During the primary investigation, a mobile phone has been taken into custody, in which a PDF document named Explosive Course Fidae Force was found. Also, police found Muhammad Nadeems phone chat which includes voice messages with Jaish-e-Muhammad and TTP terrorists of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nadeem agreed in interrogation that he has been in contact with various terrorists of Jaish-e-Muhammad and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan since 2018 via WhatsApp, Telegram, IMO, Facebook Messenger, Club House, etc. He has received training in creating virtual phone numbers from terror organisations. The terrorist revealed some names of his Indian accomplices in the case and an investigation is underway, said police. Read more: Salman Rushdie stabbed on stage, 33 years after fatwa in New York State The zoonotic Langya virus has been discovered in China, with 35 human infections reported thus far, according to Taiwans Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who also stated that Taipei would develop a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, according to media reports. The Langya henipavirus, discovered in Chinas Shandong and Henan provinces, may be transferred from animals to people, according to the Taipei Times. According to a study, human-to-human transmission of the virus has not been reported, according to Taiwans CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang on Sunday. However, he added that the CDC has yet to determine whether the virus can be transmitted among humans and cautioned people to pay close attention to further updates about the virus. He stated that 2% of the tested goats and 5% of the tested canines were positive in the serological study done on domestic animals. According to the CDC Deputy Director, the test findings of 25 wild animal species show that the shrew (a tiny insectivorous mammal resembling a mouse) may be a natural reservoir of the Langya henipavirus, as the virus was discovered in 27 percent of the shrew individuals. Furthermore, according to a report published on Thursday in the Novel England Journal of Medicine titled A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China, a new henipavirus related with a fever-causing human ailment was detected in China. The study found 35 individuals in Chinas Shandong and Henan provinces with acute Langya henipavirus infection, with 26 of them solely infected with the Langya virus and no other diseases. According to Chuang, the 35 patients in China did not have close contact or a shared exposure history, and contact tracing revealed no viral transmission among close contacts or relatives, implying that human infections are rare. Fever, lethargy, cough, lack of appetite, muscular soreness, nausea, headache, and vomiting were among the symptoms experienced by the 26 individuals. They also demonstrated a reduction in white blood cells. Low platelet count, liver failure, and renal failure are all possibilities. Because the Langya virus is a newly discovered virus, Taiwans laboratories will need a standardised nucleic acid testing procedure to identify the virus so that human infections can be tracked if necessary, according to Chuang. Concerning COVID, Shanghai people were subjected to unparalleled neglect, harassment, and abuse as a result of Chinas Zero-Covid policy, with leaked footage on social media revealing gross human rights breaches. Taiwans bid to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer was denied for the sixth year in a row in 2022, as the Chinese government has been preventing Taiwans representation. China was not forthcoming about the COVID situation, how it was being handled, and how it was mainly concerned with its own interests. Taiwan, on the other hand, was able to manage the COVID situation better than others, and it was also far more upfront about the challenges it had, so there has been a lot of praise for Taiwan in that aspect, according to experts. Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy informed the parliament on Monday that 24 monuments and sites are untraceable. In a written response to another question in Lok Sabha, the union minister also said, Since independence, it is reported that approximately 210 thefts involving 486 projects have been recorded from centrally-protected monuments and sites spread among 19 states and UT. According to him, 91 stolen items have been recovered thus far in the ongoing process of recovering stolen property. In answer to a different question, Reddy stated that 2,914 of the 8,478 villages that the Archaeological Survey of India has inspected over the past eight years had had ancient remains discovered. According to him, ASI conducts frequent village to village surveys to examine and document the antiquarian relics. There are 3,693 heritage sites in India that are protected by the ASI, with Uttar Pradesh having the most (743) of any state. The minister also provided state-by-state information about the ASIs village-to-village survey, which was conducted between 201415 and 202122. According to the statistics provided, the ASI assessed 8,478 communities during this time, and 2,914 of those villages had ancient ruins. Out of the 8,478 villages, Punjab had the most villages assessed (1,459), followed by Karnataka (933), and 130 and 806 villages in each of these two states had ancient ruins, respectively. Reddy responded to a different question by saying that throughout the previous five years (20172021), 3152 villages were inspected, and 905 of those reported having ancient remnants. The minister said that 1,224 monuments have cultural notice boards. According to him, 3,693 monuments have been designated as sites of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, out of which entry fee is charged at 143 locations, in response to a question about the total number of ticketed and non-ticketed ASI monuments in the nation. He responded to another question by stating that monuments have been separated into two groups for access fees. Monuments listed as World Heritage Sites are in Group A, while others are in Group B. Twenty entries are in Category A, while the remaining 123 are in Category B, he said. Also Read: UP CM Yogi Adityanath receives bomb threat VENTURA, Calif. (AP) A man once briefly married to Britney Spears has been convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery at the pop stars June wedding. Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to the two misdemeanor counts in a California court, prosecutors in Ventura County announced Thursday. The Ventura County judge sentenced him to the 64 days he has already served in jail. Prosecutors dropped charges of felony stalking and misdemeanor vandalism. Spears married longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari at her home in Thousand Oaks, California, on June 9, in front of several dozen guests including Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Madonna. Alexander, a childhood friend of Spears to whom she was married for less than three days in 2004, appeared uninvited at the house before the ceremony while livestreaming on Instagram. He got inside the house and up to the locked door of Spears' bedroom when she was inside getting ready for the wedding, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing. Alexander refused to leave the property when told, battered a security guard who tried to remove him, and damaged a door, prosecutors said. After he entered his plea, a judge issued a new protective order forbidding him from coming within 100 yards of Spears or the security guard. Alexanders attorney, Sandra Bisignani, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. She previously said in court that there was no evidence he had any intention of harming Spears. Spears' lawyer declined comment. ___ This story has been updated to show that the conviction was announced Thursday, not Friday. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW ORLEANS (AP) Known today as a community staple for authentic Creole cuisine and historically as a meeting place for Civil Rights movement leaders, Dooky Chases Restaurant is now the set of a new series honoring its matriarch, the late Leah Chase, also known as The Queen of Creole Cuisine. The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leahs Legacy is a 26-part series following the next generation of Chases in the kitchen, while they share recipes and stories about the famous family restaurant. The series features Edgar Dook Chase IV, Chases grandson, who runs the restaurants kitchen; Cleo Robinson, Chases niece, who first joined her in the kitchen in 1980; Zoe Chase, Chases great-granddaughter, who is the restaurants newest chef; and Eve Haydel, Chases granddaughter, who is responsible for the cocktail and drink recipes. In addition to breaking down a tasty recipe, each episode will walk viewers through a peak moment in the restaurants past. On an episode about distinguished guests, the Chase chefs will share a recipe for grits and quail that Leah served at the restaurant in 2008 to President George W. Bush during a North American Leaders Summit, said the press release from WYES-TV. On another episode the restaurants significant place in the history of the Civil Rights Movement will be celebrated with preparation of Creole gumbo, a dish Leah served to Martin Luther King Jr. and other social activists when they held strategy sessions in the restaurants upstairs dining room in the 1960s, Established in 1941 at the corner of Orleans Avenue and North Miro Street, Dooky Chases was first a family-owned tavern that served po-boys and sold lottery tickets. It was run then by Emily and Edgar Dooky Chase Sr. Years later, when Leah married Chase Jr., the foundation for the restaurant was laid with menu changes and physical renovations. Dooky Chases restaurant was soon known around the country as one of the first African-American fine dining restaurants. The restaurant was a popular choice for notable artists, athletes and politicians travelling through then-segregated New Orleans. Civic leaders, black and white alike, would meet in the second-floor dining room to discuss plans and have a meal from Chase. In May 2021, a historical marker of a silhouette holding a protest sign was placed outside of Dooky Chases by the Louisiana Office of Tourism. The marker is one stop on the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail, a collection of markers that detail the role Louisiana people, sites and events had in shaping American history in the 1950s and 60s. It was designed by Ernest M. English and Benjamin Clay of the GMc+Co Strategic Communications team. In June, a historic placard was installed on Orleans Avenue to highlight the role the restaurant played in the civil rights movement and mark the start of the new Civil Rights Legacy Walk. Chase continued to have an active role in the restaurants day-to-day operation by cooking in the kitchen and making rounds in the dining room, until her death on June 1, 2019, at 96. She is survived by her family members who are working to keep the Dooky Chases Restaurant legacy alive. The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leahs Legacy is just one example of how they are sharing her story. The series was written and produced for WYES-TV by Terri Landry and sponsored by The Melvin S. Cohen Foundation, Inc. It will premiere nationally in spring 2023. After a meeting that lasted over three hours and a process that lasted over a year, the Hartford City Council on Thursday night approved the citys updated charter revision and sent it to Novembers ballot. The vote was contentious and followed a marathon meeting that included a break of over an hour for council members to privately discuss the charter. In the end, the resolution to approve the charter revision passed by a 5-3 vote, with councilman John Gale not present for the meeting. Council President Maly Rosado, Council Majority Leader T.J. Clarke, Councilwoman Marilyn Rossetti, Councilman James Sanchez and Councilman Nick Lebron voted in favor of the charter revision, while Councilwoman Tiana Hercules, Councilman Josh Michtom and Councilwoman Shirley Surgeon voted against it. The resolution needed a majority to approve, and with Gale not present, the margin was thin. Hercules and Michtom had previously said they would not support it, and Surgeon announced before the vote that she would reject it. The main issue over the past few weeks has been a push to overhaul the city council system to add district representation instead of the current model, and also to possibly expand the council to more members. There was drama until the end of the meeting because Clarke did not say which way he was leaning when he spoke before the vote and criticized the lack of district representation in the charter. Its disappointing to hear that Hartford, which is the capital city, is the last major city in Connecticut that has not caught up with the times, so to speak. And I think thats something that we should be actually considering, he said. One could argue, the way that the structure is now, which is nine members at large, is not really impactful and kind of neglecting the voices of those that we call neighbors. Rosado spoke after Clarke and responded to an earlier claim from Michtom regarding allegations of backdoor meetings during the charter revision process. In May, six of 14 members including all four Black members left the commission. This is democracy. And to make this about Black commissioners leaving, I take that very offensively, Rosado said. We should be working together as a council body, as colleagues, moving the city forward and not putting so much negativity or so many things that are just not appropriate. We need to move forward. Rosado later added that to not vote on this tonight sends a very strong message. Clark ultimately voted in favor of the resolution, which will now be on the November ballot for Hartford voters to consider. At a special city council meeting two weeks ago to review the proposed charter, Michtom and Hercules submitted a resolution that would have asked the commission to reconsider a slew of major issues, including district representation and the makeup of boards and commissions. But council voted against the resolution, leading the two members of the Working Families Party to release a statement the next day calling out Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and city council members for what they said was a lack of transparency throughout the process. The status quo in this city of how government works for the people is bad, Michtom said Thursday before the vote. We have a system that is not responsive to people, where people dont know where to turn. They dont have a sense that their vote matters and that folks respond to their needs. Before the vote on the entire charter, council members had voted on 20 different substantive changes proposed by the commission. The most significant changes to the proposed charter include giving city council the ability to hire more staff, giving city council more time to review the annual budget and adjusting the charter section on boards and commissions to create more flexible meeting schedule. The charter revision commission first met in April 2021. James Woulfe, the chairman of the charter revision commission, declined to speak about specific issues but said in a statement that hes grateful to the rest of the commission for their work throughout the process. The City Council has approved the most comprehensive package of charter revisions since 2002, when the city changed its form of government, and Im grateful to them, my fellow commissioners, and the public for engaging in a rigorous, transparent, thoughtful process, he said. jonah.dylan@hearstmediact.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WEST HAVEN City and law enforcement officials believe the biggest misstep regarding a July 21 FBI drill in West Haven was that the public was not properly notified. As a matter of practical courtesy, if something like that is going to go on then generally the local police department would tell the neighbors in the area that would be affected, Weve got a drill going on and here is the timeframe, said Dan Maxwell, a lecturer in criminal justice at the University of New Haven and a retired Madison police officer. I believe this was a miscommunication. Last month, city residents reported surprise, panic and nervousness when a Thursday morning drill by the FBIs hazardous devices unit in the fenced-off location of a development property caused four loud explosion sounds. Neighbors reported that their houses shook and items fell off of walls and porches. Because of the proximity to the shoreline, residents as far away as Branford said they heard the sounds from the drill. Maxwell said the FBI is less likely to disclose the nature of its drills than municipal police departments, but residents still should be informed of when there will be a heavy law-enforcement presence in their neighborhood. A spokesman for FBI New Haven office said the department regrets the effects the drill had on the community. We sincerely regret that the Joint law enforcement special teams tactical training held at a secure West Haven location startled or disturbed nearby residents, said FBI New Haven spokesman Charles Grady in an emailed statement. At no time was there a risk of danger to anyone not involved in the exercise. The professional agents and local officers were in complete control at all times, Grady said in the statement. Life saving training is a crucial necessity for law enforcement to improve ways to protect citizens. Moving forward greater efforts will be taken to inform residents in advance of such law enforcement training exercises. He said the nature of public safety drills also evolves with schools becoming increasingly more popular locations for drills during the summer months so police are familiar with school floor plans in case of emergencies. Maxwell said different departments that conduct public safety drills such as police, fire and EMS have different protocols for conducting drills, but informing neighbors often is a top priority. He said the location for the July 21 drill in West Haven a fenced-off, residential area with abandoned homes would be an attractive site for drills. Its not uncommon for agencies to use spaces like that for drills because a lot of them dont have their own spaces to do things. A fire department, they often use houses that are going to be demolished or buildings that are going to be demolished, with proper permission, he said. First responders have to use whats available. A lot of it is a matter of opportunity. The Simon Property Group, owner of the proposed development site, did not respond to a request for comment. West Haven Police Chief Joseph Perno told the Register on July 21 that multiple agencies, including fire departments, train at the site and there is an understanding with the property manager. He said West Haven police were aware there would be a training exercise on site that day. Perno did not respond to subsequent requests for comment. Neighbor Rita Marcinkus, who described the explosions as frightening the day of the drill, said she was encouraged by the proactivity of public safety officials in the aftermath. She said the Fire Department just recently delivered fliers to neighbors informing them of an upcoming drill. The areas City Council representative, Sarah Ackbarali, said in July that she would speak with fire and police officials about the importance of notifying residents ahead of public safety drills. She said Thursday that she was aware of the Fire Department informing residents of its planned drill. I think after the FBI incident that there will be procedural improvements by our police and fire departments in ensuring that they notify the public before conducting any public safety drills or tactical training near the Haven, she said. brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com Femi Kuti, son of Afrobeat legend has given reason his family will not support any of the top three presidential candidates: Asiwaju Tinubu,... Femi Kuti, son of Afrobeat legend has given reason his family will not support any of the top three presidential candidates: Asiwaju Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in the 2023 election. Kuti, while responding to the backlash over his statement about not being Obidient, said he has his doubt about Peter Obi because he paid visit to the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida who did not change Nigeria and are part of the reason Nigeria is at dire need today. He added that his family also does not support Tinubu or Atiku because they are heartbroken. Kuti also mentioned that Tinubu as the Governor of Lagos State raided the African Shrine so many times which caused a battle between both parties. He concluded saying that although he has his doubts about these presidential candidates, he believes in the youth and hopes for better Nigeria. Why would I support Tinubu? Please dont get me angry. I believe Peter Obi and Atiku are friends for him to be his Vice President if they had won the last election, so why should I not have doubts? My family has not supported any political party, we just sit and watch. We would not support anyone because we are heartbroken. If Obi wins and things change, then well jubilate but no one should tell me not to have my doubts about him. I cant tell you what to do with your life. Stop threatening me that youll burn the shrine or insult my children. Stop that. When Fela was against Abiola, you voted for him, same thing about Obasanjo . If you tell me Obi is different, but he went to greet babangida, Obasanjo, that makes me skeptical My family believes these political elites are part of the problem of this country. I have my reservations about Peter Obi and you cannot tell me what to think. How would you ask me if I like Tinubu, when he was Governor he raided the shrine so many times. We had a big battle with Tinubu closing the shrine. I just love to play my music and dont want anything from anybody. Ive always believed in the youth just like my father. My children are youths and I have to see life like theres light at the end of a tunnel, Femi said. Video: Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State and the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign for the 2023 general el... Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State and the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign for the 2023 general elections, has apologized over his blasphemous remarks about the Holy Father, Pope Francis. He tendered an unreserved apology to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN). He begged for forgiveness and understanding from the Catholic Church through the Bishops conference, admitting that it was an error on his part to have linked the Catholic Pontiff with Nigerias politics. Earlier, some members of the Catholic Church had frowned at his choice of words, even as a Papal Knight of St. Gregory and demanded his immediate suspension from the Church. In a letter to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) President titled, Letter of Apology, dated 12th August, 2022, Governor Lalong assured of his continuous commitment to the Catholic faith and promised to continue upholding the banner of the Christian faith in public life. According to Governor Lalong, I have followed with some shock and deep regret the reactions that have trailed my appointment as the Director-General of the Campaign Council for the Presidential Candidates of our Party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Ibrahim Shettima. He further stated that the appointment, understandably was received with mixed reactions across the Christian community, who genuinely feel aggrieved by the decision of the party to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. He added that while many people commended him for the appointment and saw it as a way of remaining within the system to fight for their own interests, others cast aspersions on it on the grounds that their faith had been insulted and denigrated. Governor Lalong observed that in all of this, many of his opponents turned the issue into a political weapon, with some spreading rumours and questioning the integrity of his credentials as a Catholic and a Papal Knight. In trying to make my case, he explained that he has granted interviews to justify why he believed that the appointment did not in any way undermine his commitment to the Catholic Church, saying that during the week, in the course of defending himself, he had cause to make reference to his credentials as a Catholic and a Papal Knight. According to him, he now realised that it was an error on his part and has caused some level of concern and even embarrassment to many, especially the members of the family of Papal Knights to which he belongs, stressing that he now understood that he might have overreached himself in the course of trying to defend his personal decision in accepting the appointment and thus, the reference to the holy father was not intended as an act of disrespect to his exalted and revered office. According to Governor Lalong, Your Grace, by this written letter, I wish to tender my unreserved apologies and ask for their understanding and forgiveness from my brothers in the Catholic faith and, through you, the entire members of the Bishops Conference, our Fathers and our Leaders. Governor Lalong added that his commitment to the Catholic faith to which he belongs remained unreserved and undiluted, saying that he would continue to uphold the banner of his faith in public life as he has done over the years, pointing out that in the last five or so years. President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has hailed China for helping Nigeria to enhance its infrastructure. Presidential spokesman... President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has hailed China for helping Nigeria to enhance its infrastructure. Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said when the history of the administrations efforts to reverse the infrastructure deficit is written, Chinas role will be included. Adesina spoke on Friday at the State House when he hosted Ambassador Cui Jianchun and the new Deputy Chief of Mission/Ministerial Councilor, Zhang Yi. The aide thanked the Chinese government for sustained efforts to improve Nigerias infrastructure in power, rail, aviation, among others. President Buhari has very great respect for China. Many times he has spoken about the support from China. President Buhari and President Xi Jinping share respect and friendship. Adesina added that Nigeria appreciates the cooperation with the world power, expressing hope that the relations will continue to be strong and beneficial. Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, says the Muhammadu Buhari regime can meet the unions demand with... Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, says the Muhammadu Buhari regime can meet the unions demand without borrowing. Who is asking them (Federal Government) to borrow? They have the money, Mr Osodeke said per a Punch report. If they can release N400bn for trader money, did they borrow that? Is trader money more important than universities being closed? Continuing, the lecturers union boss asked, If they dedicate N200bn for feeding of children in school, which we dont see; if they can be thinking of plea bargain with somebody who stole N80bn, they should let Nigerians know that they are not interested in education rather than giving flimsy excuses. Mr Osodekes statement comes days after Ebonyi State governor David Umahi said the Buhari regime cannot borrow to meet unreasonable ASUU demands because university education is not for every Nigerian. The union president, however, said he will not respond to Mr Umahis statement because he is not a federal government spokesman. Last week, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, said parents should beg ASUU to call off strike as their demands cannot be met. He claims the government would need over N1 trillion naira to fulfil ASUU demands, saying the government could not afford it. Public universities across Nigeria have been shut down since February 14 due to unresolved impasse between the federal government and ASUU. The union is demanding the implementation of a 2009 agreement which stipulated a better working condition for university lecturers, among other demands. An over 80-year-old man, Dauda Ibrahim, has been apprehended for kidnapping and killing his fifteen-year-old daughter, Sherifah for ritual p... An over 80-year-old man, Dauda Ibrahim, has been apprehended for kidnapping and killing his fifteen-year-old daughter, Sherifah for ritual purpose. It was reported that the incident occurred in Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State. The suspect is said to be a staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Idah, in the department of Works and Fire Services unit. He was alleged to have perpetrated the nefarious act, alongside two other people, Isah Adams and one Adah. A source stated that the deceased, the victim, Sherifah was kidnapped on 4th August, 2022, at their residence in Okenya, along Itayi street, in the Igalamela/Odolu Local Government Area of the State. The source added that the girls remains were discovered in a shallow grave a few days after her disappearance, with the body mutilated, while some vital organs were missing. SP Williams Ayah, the State commands Police Public Relations Officer, who confirmed the incident, explained that the suspect and his accomplices were presently under police custody. According to the State PPRO, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Egbuka has directed that the matter be transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department in Lokoja for further investigation. He explained, The commissioner of Police, CP Edward Egbuka, has ordered for an investigation into the case of an alleged kidnap, killing and disappearance of the body parts of a young lady identified as Miss Sherrifah, a 15-year-old girl in Idah by her father. The PPRO assured that a thorough investigation into the matter would be carried out by the police operatives to ascertain the circumstances leading to the kidnap and death of the deceased. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting with relatives of passengers abducted during an attack on a train in Kaduna. The dev... President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting with relatives of passengers abducted during an attack on a train in Kaduna. The development was announced in a tweet by the presidency on Thursday. President @MBuhari is meeting with representatives of victims of the Abuja-Kaduna Train abduction. Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) August 11, 2022 The train, which was travelling from Abuja to Kaduna, was attacked on March 28, and several persons were killed, others sustained injuries, while over 50 people were kidnapped. Although some of the abductees have regained their freedom, more than 20 persons are said to still be in captivity. See photos of the meeting with relatives of the abducted passengers below. Senator Francis Alimikhena has led several All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The lawmaker repre... Senator Francis Alimikhena has led several All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The lawmaker represents the Edo North senatorial district in the National Assembly. In May, Alimikhena dumped the APC for the PDP where he won the 2023 ticket. He will face ex-APC national chairman Adams Oshiomhole who emerged as the partys Edo North flagbearer. On Friday, the defectors explained that they left the APC to join the senator because of injustice. They said the party denied Alimikhena the return ticket in favour of the former governor. Deputy governor Philip Shaibu said he was elated to reunite with those he had shared political journeys with in the past. Youre welcome to the PDP, together we will change the face of Edo North and the state in general. The aspect that gladdens my heart most is the invitation to Edo North to witness a tsunami of defection that will coast PDP to victory at all levels in 2023, he said. Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, says the country will continue to rely on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to secure the countrys econom... Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, says the country will continue to rely on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to secure the countrys economy. Uzodimma said this on Friday while speaking with state house correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari. The World Bank had said the current petrol subsidy regime poses an existential threat to Nigeria, adding that the country would have to eventually get rid of the arrangement. In response to this, the governor said the banks projections were perpetually inaccurate. Our own bank is Central Bank of Nigeria and we are going to look up to them to come up with policies that will protect and secure our economy, he said. Uzodimma added that 25 years ago, before 1999, the World Bank had always said Nigeria will break into pieces and today Nigeria has not been broken into a half piece. This country is loved by God and our faith in God has been keeping this country, he said. According to him, the country has allies who are friendly enemies internationally and nationally but Nigeria continues to exist. There is nowhere in the world you will go and the gas stations you will see are not Shell, ExxonMobil, Texaco Overseas, all the major oil producing companies, he said. It is only in Nigeria that you will hear languages like independent marketers, Okafor & Sons Filling Station and all that. What is the World Bank saying about that? It is only in Nigeria you talk about subsidy. What is World Bank saying about that? It is only in Nigeria you hear jargons like turnaround maintenance. Where else in the world do you have such language? A refinery is a process plant that requires just routine maintenance and cleaning, but here we spend billions of dollars to do what they call turnaround maintenance. If you have been to the United States, Texas in particular, where crude oil production is heavy, when you are arriving Houston airport, look at the environment; they plant vegetables, farmers live there, an environment where they produce crude oil. What is the cost of producing one barrel of crude oil in Houston by Shell and what is the cost of producing one barrel of crude oil by Shell in Nigeria? But if you are landing in Warri Airport, look at the local river, there is no fish anymore, the place is highly polluted. Theres total disregard to our environmental laws and nobodys raising all these issues, rather what we want to occupy ourselves with is knowing a party that has Muslim-Muslim ticket and a party that has Christian-Christian ticket. So, they are making a mockery of us and if we dont rise up and address our challenges, nobody, I repeat, nobody, will do it for us. We have to define our country, we have to identify, collectively, our national interest so we can also collectively defend it. Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau, says prayers were offered for Joshua Dariye, former governor of the state, for the latters release from ... Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau, says prayers were offered for Joshua Dariye, former governor of the state, for the latters release from prison. Dariye and Jolly Nyame, former governor of Taraba, were released from the correctional facility in Kuje council area, federal capital territory (FCT), on Monday. The development comes almost four months after the former governors were granted state pardon. At a council of state meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in April, Dariye and Nyame were among 159 inmates pardoned. The two former governors, who were both jailed for fraud, were granted pardon on the grounds of age and ill-health. In a statement on Friday, Makut Macham, Lalongs spokesperson, said the governor led a delegation from the state along with his wife, Regina, to visit Dariye at his residence in Abuja to congratulate him on his release. Lalong thanked Buhari for his magnanimity in granting pardon to Dariye and Nyame, adding that massive prayers and appeal was made to facilitate it. Advertisement The governor urged Dariye to continue to contribute to the advancement of Plateau through his knowledge, and prayed to God to grant him good health. In his response, Dariye thanked God for his release and using people such as Lalong and President Buhari to make it a reality, the statement reads. He debunked rumours that he was running for senate and advised politicians in Plateau to unite and support the governor in promoting the interest of the state and its people. He described governance as an opportunity for those in charge to do their best and leave posterity to judge their efforts, saying no one could not finish the business of government in a day. The delegation, which included federal lawmakers, as well as members of the state executive council, also visited Nyame at his residence in Abuja. As the world marked the International Youth Day 2022, with the theme: Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages, the Osu... As the world marked the International Youth Day 2022, with the theme: Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages, the Osun governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke has promised to institute a sustainable youth development agenda. Adeleke also revealed that this includes a revision of the Osun State Youth Policy that will enable the integration of global youth innovations. This was made known in a statement signed by the spokesperson of the governor-elect, Olawale Rasheed and made available to newsmen on Friday in Osogbo. Recall that in August 2021, the Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola had launched the State youth policy aimed at ensuring youth participation in politics. Oyetola also noted that his administrations prioritisation of the concerns of youths is rooted in his belief in their potential role in the future development of the State. Adeleke, who stated that he was interested in harnessing the huge potentials of Osun youth when he assumes office on November 27, 2022, revealed that his agenda included a revision of his predecessors youth policy in order to bring about an actionable plan that is localised and domesticated for Osun. He also promised to strive hard to address key challenges such as high rate of unemployment, hostile entrepreneurship environment, drug addiction, unfavorable education sector which are confronting the youths in Osun. In his words, I know the incumbent had prepared a State youth policy but it has no implementation plan and also has a lot of missing gaps. So the document is not yet the best for Osun state. My agenda includes a revision of the policy to integrate global youth innovations as well as an actionable plan that is localised and domesticated for our peculiar environment As youth is a multi-sectoral matter, my administration will not only mainstream youth issues across the sectors, we will strive hard to address the key challenges facing Osun youth today namely high rate of unemployment, hostile entrepreneurship environment, deepening drug addiction, harsh educational circumstances among others. While describing the youths as a major asset and positive force needed for development, he affirmed that their energy and expertise in various fields would be tapped into. My administration will introduce solutions based on the peculiarities of each youth group, such that entrepreneurship programmes will be tailored towards the needs of each youth. Access to finance will be designed to link up with each groups needs. School access and support programmes will follow a similar line to ensure inclusiveness among others, he said. Watertown, NY (13601) Today Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High near 80F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Watertown, NY (13601) Today Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers this afternoon. Thunder possible. High near 80F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. Watertown, NY (13601) Today Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 81F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%. Marie Fazio writes for The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate as a Report For America corps member. Email her at MFazio@theadvocate.com or follow her on Twitter @mariecfazio. To learn more about Report for America and to support our journalism, please click here. Bob Hicks' house in Bogalusa is seen March 20, 2018, with a marker denoting its status on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was a regular meeting place in the 1960s for the officers of the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League and the local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. On Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, it received another marker denoting its place on the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. Emacs and eev, or: How to Automate Almost Everything Eduardo Ochs http://angg.twu.net/#eev eduardoochs@gmail.com (HTML version: 2007oct01) NOTE: This document is unfinished and VERY obsolete ! Please start by this link instead: . Around 2005 I photocopied a few articles from a journal called "Software, Practice and Experience" and wrote this, ahem, thing, trying to copy their style... but I got stuck, and gave up. Since 2005 eev has changed a lot, and some parts of it were replaced by other ones that are much easier to use - for example, both M-x eev and channels (see here and here) were replaced by eepitch, and now we can create "links to here" by just typing `M-h M-h'... Abstract Interacting with programs with command-line interfaces always involves a bit of line editing, and each CLI program tends to implement independently its own minimalistic editing features. We show a way of centralizing these editing tasks by making these programs receive commands that are prepared, and sent from, Emacs. The resulting system is a kind of Emacs- and Emacs Lisp-based universal scripting language in which commands can be sent to both external programs and to Emacs itself either in blocks or step-by-step under very fine control from the user. Note: this is a working draft that has many pieces missing and needs urgent revision on the pieces it has. Current version: (see top). Newer versions are being uploaded to http://angg.twu.net/eev-current/article/, and two animations (in Flash) showing eev at work can be found at: http://angg.twu.net/eev-current/anim/channels.anim.html and http://angg.twu.net/eev-current/anim/gdb.anim.html. Interactive programs in a Un*x system(1) can have basically three kinds of interfaces: they can be mouse-oriented, like most programs with graphical interfaces nowadays, in which commands are given by clicking with the mouse; they can be character-oriented, like most editors and mail readers, in which most commands are single keys or short sequences of keys; and they can be line-oriented, as, for example, shells are: in a shell commands are given by editing a full line and then typing enter to process that line. It is commonplace to classify computer users in a spectrum where the users are in one extreme and the programmers are in the other; the users tend to use only mouse-oriented and character-oriented programs, and the programmers only character-oriented and line-oriented programs. In this paper we will show a way to automate interactions with line-oriented programs, and, but not so well, to character-oriented programs; more precisely, it is a way to edit commands for these programs in a single central place --- Emacs --- and then send them to the programs; re-sending the same commands afterwards, with or without modifications, then becomes very easy. This way (e-scripts) can not be used to send commands to mouse-oriented programs --- at least not without introducing several new tricks. But programmers using Un*x systems usually see most mouse-oriented programs --- except for a few that are intrinsically mouse-oriented, like drawing programs --- as being just wrappers around line-oriented programs than perform the same tasks with different interfaces; and so, most mouse-oriented programs do not matter, and our method of automating interactions using e-scripts can be used to automate almost everything; hence the title of the paper. (1): Actually we are more interested in GNU systems than in real Unix systems; the reasons will become clear in the section nnn. By the way: the term Unix is Copyright (C) Bell Labs). One of the tenets of the Unix philosophy is that each program should do one thing, and do it well; this is a good design rule for Unix programs because the system makes it easy to invoke external programs to perform tasks, and to connect programs. Some of parts of a Unix system are more like meta-programs or sub-programs than like self-contained programs that do some clearly useful task by themselves. Shells, for example, are meta-programs: their main function is to allow users to invoke real programs and to connect these programs using pipes, redirections, control structures (if, for, etc) and Unix signals. On the other hand, libraries are sub-programs: for example, on GNU systems there's a library called GNU readline that line-oriented programs can use to get input; if a program, say, bc (a calculator) gets its input by calling readline(...) instead of using the more basic function fgets(...) then its line-oriented interface will have a little more functionality: it will allow the user to do some minimal editing in the current line, and also to recall, edit and issue again some of the latest commands given. [See also: code, miniature, INSTALL, eev-rctool ] Many line-oriented programs allow scripting, which means executing commands from a file. For example, in most shells we can say source ~/ee.sh , and the shell will then execute the commands in the file ~/ee.sh . There are other ways of executing commands from a file --- like sh ~/ee.sh --- but the one with source is the one that we'll be more interested in, because it is closer to running the commands in ~/ee.sh one by one by hand: for example, with source ~/ee.sh the commands that change parameters of the shell --- like the current directory and the environment variables --- will work in the obvious way, while with sh ~/ee.sh they would only change the parameters of a temporary sub-shell; the current directory and the environment variables of the present shell would be protected. So, it is possible to prepare commands for a shell (or for scriptable line-oriented programs; for arbitrary line-oriented programs see the section nnn) in several ways: by typing them at the shell's interface --- and if the shell uses readline its interface can be reasonably friendly --- or, alternatively, by using a text editor to edit a file, say, ~/ee.sh , and by then executing that file with source ~/ee.sh . source ~/ee.sh is a lot of keystrokes, but that can be shortened if we can define a shell function: by putting function ee () { source ~/ee.sh; } ~/.bashrc ~/.zshrc source ~/ee.sh ee e e We just saw how a shell --- or, by the way, any line-oriented program in which we can define an `ee' function like we did for the shell --- can receive commands prepared in an external editor and stored in a certain file; let's refer to that file, ~/ee.sh , as a temporary script file. Now it remains to see how an external text editor can send commands to the shell, i.e., how to make the editor save some commands in a temporary script file in a convenient way, that is, without using too many keystrokes... Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-prepared-intro) GNU Emacs, the extensible, self-documenting text-editor ([S79]), does at least two things very well: one is to edit text, and so it can be used to edit temporary scripts, and thus to send commands to shells and to line-oriented programs with `ee' functions; and the other one is to run Lisp. Lisp is a powerful programming language, and (at least in principle!) any action or series of actions can be expressed as a program in Lisp; the first thing that we want to do is a way to mark a region of a text and send it as commands to a shell, by saving it in a temporary script file. We implement that in two ways: 1: (defun ee (s e) 2: "Save the region in a temporary script" 3: (interactive "r") 4: (write-region s e "~/ee.sh")) 5: 6: (defun eev (s e) 7: "Like `ee', but the script executes in verbose mode" 8: (interactive "r") 9: (write-region 10: (concat "set -v " (buffer-substring s e) 11: " set+v") 12: nil "~/ee.sh")) ee ~/ee.sh eev We can now use ` ee ' and ` eev ' to send a block of commands to a shell: just select a region and then run ` ee ' or ` eev '. More precisely: mark a region, that is, put the cursor at one of the extremities of the region, then type C-SPC to set Emacs's mark to that position, then go to other extremity of the region and type M-x eev ( C-SPC and M-x are Emacs's notations for Control-Space and Alt-x, a.k.a. Meta-x). After doing that, go to a shell and make it receive these commands, by typing ` ee '. Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-links-intro) [See also: code, miniature] When we are using a system like *NIX, in a part of the time we are using programs with which we are perfectly familiar, and in the rest of the time we are using things that we don't understand completely and that make us have to access the documentation from time to time. In a GNU system the documentation is all on-line, and the steps needed to access any piece of documentation can be automated. We can use Emacs Lisp one-liners to create hyperlinks to files: A: (info "(emacs)Lisp Eval") B: (find-file "~/usrc/busybox-1.00/shell/ash.c") C: (find-file "/usr/share/emacs/21.4/lisp/info.el") These expressions, when executed --- which is done by placing the cursor after them and then typing C-x C-e , or, equivalently, M-x eval-last-sexp --- will (A) open a page of Emacs manual (the manual is a set of files in Info format), (B) open the source file ` shell/ash.c ' of a program called busybox, and (C) open the file ` info.el ' from the Emacs sources, respectively. As some of these files and pages can be very big, these hyperlinks are not yet very satisfactory: we want ways to not only open these files and pages but also to point to specific positions, i.e., to make the cursor go to these positions automatically. We can do that by defining some new hyperlink functions, that are invoked like this: A': (find-node "(emacs)Lisp Eval" "C-x C-e") B': (find-fline "~/usrc/busybox-1.00/shell/ash.c" "void evalpipe") C': (find-fline "/usr/share/emacs/21.4/lisp/info.el" "defun info") The convention is that these extended hyperlink functions have names like ` find-xxxnode ', ` find-xxxfile ', or ` find-xxxyyy '; as the name ` find-file ' was already taken by a standard Emacs function we had to use ` find-fline ' for ours. Here are the definitions of `find-node' and `find-fline': 14: (defun ee-goto-position (&optional pos-spec) 15: "If POS-SPEC is a string search for its first 16: occurrence in the file; if it is a number go to the 17: POS-SPECth line; if it is nil, don't move." 18: (cond ((null pos-spec)) 19: ((numberp pos-spec) 20: (goto-char (point-min)) 21: (forward-line (1- pos-spec))) 22: ((stringp pos-spec) 23: (goto-char (point-min)) 24: (search-forward pos-spec)) 25: (t (error "Invalid pos-spec: %S" pos-spec)))) 26: 27: (defun find-fline (fname &optional pos-spec) 28: "Like (find-file FNAME), but accepts a POS-SPEC" 29: (find-file fname) 20: (ee-goto-position pos-spec)) 31: 32: (defun find-node (node &optional pos-spec) 33: "Like (info NODE), but accepts a POS-SPEC" 34: (info node) 35: (ee-goto-position pos-spec))) Now consider what happens when we send to a shell a sequence of commands like this one: # (find-node "(gawk)Fields") seq 4 9 | gawk '{print $1, $1*$1}' the shell ignores the first line because of the ` # ', that makes the shell treat that line as a comment; but when we are editing that in Emacs we can execute the ` (find-node ...) ' with C-x C-e . Hyperlinks can be mixed with shell code --- they just need to be marked as comments. Note: the actual definitions of ` eev ', ` ee-goto-position ', ` find-fline ' and ` find-node ' in eev's source code are a bit more complex than the code in the listings above (lines 6--12 in the previous section and 14--35 in the current section). In all the (few) occasions in this paper where we will present the source code of eev's functions what will be shown are versions that implement only the essence of those functions, stripped down of all extra functionality. The point that we wanted to stress with those listings is how natural it is to use Emacs in a certain way, as an editor for commands for external programs, and with these plain-text hyperlinks that can be put almost anywhere: the essence of that idea can be implemented in 30 lines of Lisp and one or two lines of shell code. (See also: the section about e-scripts). Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-code-c-d-intro) [See also: code, miniature] The hyperlinks in lines A'' , B'' and C'' , below, A'': (find-enode "Lisp Eval" "C-x C-e") B'': (find-busyboxfile "shell/ash.c" "void evalpipe") C'': (find-efile "info.el" "defun info") are equivalent to the ones labeled A' , B' , C' in Section 5, but are a bit shorter, and they hide details like Emacs's path and the version of BusyBox; if we switch to newer versions of Emacs and BusyBox we only need to change the definitions of ` find-busyboxfile ' and ` find-efile ' to update the hyperlinks. Usually not many things change from one version of a package to another, so most hyperlinks continue to work after the update. Eev defines a function called ` code-c-d ' that makes defining functions like ` find-enode ', ` find-busyboxfile ' and ` find-efile ' much easier: (code-c-d "busybox" "~/usrc/busybox-1.00/") (code-c-d "e" "/usr/share/emacs/21.4/lisp/" "emacs") The arguments for ` code-c-d ' are (1) a code (the xxx in a find-xxxfile ), (2) a directory, and optionally (3) the name of a manual in Info format. The definition of code-c-d is not very interesting, so we won't show it here. Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-eval-intro) (Rewrite this; mention M-k, M-K, `to' and the (disabled) stubs to implement a `back' command) It is so common to have Lisp hyperlinks that extend from some position in a line --- usually after a comment sign --- to the end of the line that eev implements a special key for executing these hyperlinks: the effect of typing M-e (when eev is installed and eev mode is on) is roughly the same of first going to the end of the line and then typing C-x C-e; that is, M-e does the same as the key sequence C-e C-x C-e(1). (There are many other kinds of hyperlinks. Examples?) (1) The main difference between M-e and C-e C-x C-e is how they behave when called with numeric prefix arguments: for example, M-0 M-e highlights temporarily the Lisp expression instead of executing it and M-4 M-e executes it with some debugging flags turned on, while C-x C-e when called with any prefix argument inserts the result of the expression at the cursor instead of just showing it at the echo area. [See also: code, miniature] Note that these hyperlinks can do very dangerous things. If we start to execute blindly every Lisp expression we see just because it can do something interesting or take us to an interesting place then we can end up running something like: (shell-c ommand "rm -Rf ~") The modern approach to safety in hyperlinks --- the one found in web browsers, for example --- is that following a hyperlink can execute only a few kinds of actions, all known to be safe; the target of a hyperlink is something of the form http://... , ftp://... , file://... , info://... , mailto:... or at worst like javascript:... ; none of these kinds of actions can even erase our files. That approach limits a lot what hyperlinks can do, but makes it harmless to hide the hyperlink action and display only some descriptive text. Eev's approach is the opposite of that. I wrote the first functions of eev in my first weeks after installing GNU/Linux in my home machine and starting using GNU Emacs, in 1994; before that I was using mostly Forth (on MS-DOS), and I hadn't had a lot of exposure to *nix systems by then --- in particular, I had tried to understand *nix's notions of user IDs and file ownerships and permissions, and I felt that they were a thick layer of complexity that I wasn't being able to get through. Forth's attitude is more like ``the user knows what he's doing''; the system is kept very simple, so that understanding all the consequences of an action is not very hard. If the user wants to change a byte in a critical memory position and crash the machine he can do that, and partly because of that simplicity bringing the machine up again didn't use to take more than one minute (in the good old days, of course). Forth people developed good backup strategies to cope with the insecurities, and --- as strange as that might sound nowadays, where all machines are connected and multi-user and crackers abound --- using the system in the Forth way was productive and fun. *NIX systems are not like Forth, but when I started using them I was accustomed to this idea of achieving simplicity through the lack of safeguards, and eev reflects that. The only thing that keeps eev's hyperlinks reasonably safe is transparency: the code that a hyperlink executes is so visible that it is hard to mistake a dangerous Lisp expression for a real hyperlink. Also, all the safe hyperlink functions implemented by eev start with ` find- ', and all the ` find- ' functions in eev are safe, except for those with names like ` find-xxxsh ' and ` find-xxxsh0 : for example, (find-sh "wget --help" "recursive download") wget --help recursive download find-xxxsh ~/.bashrc ~/.zshrc find-xxxsh0 find-xxxsh [See also: code] Do we need to remember the names of all hyperlinks functions, like find-fline and find-node ? Do we need to type the code for each hyperlink in full by hand? The answers are no and no. Eev implements several functions that create temporary buffers containing hyperlinks, that can then be cut and pasted to other buffers. For example, ` M-h M-f ' creates links about an Emacs Lisp function: typing ` M-h M-f ' displays a prompt in a minibuffer asking for the name of an Elisp function; if we type, say, ` find-file ' there (note: name completion with the TAB key works in that prompt) we get a buffer like the one in figure 1. _________________________________________________________ |# (find-efunction-links 'find-file) | | | |# (where-is 'find-file) | |# (describe-function 'find-file) | |# (find-efunctiondescr 'find-file) | |# (find-efunction 'find-file) | |# (find-efunctionpp 'find-file) | |# (find-efunctiond 'find-file) | |# (find-eCfunction 'find-file) | |# (find-estring (documentation 'find-file)) | |# (find-estring (documentation 'find-file t)) | | | |# (Info-goto-emacs-command-node 'find-file) | |# (find-enode "Command Index" "* find-file:") | |# (find-elnode "Index" "* find-file:") | | | | | | | |--:** *Elisp hyperlinks* All L18 (Fundamental)-----| |_________________________________________________________| Figure 1: the result of typing M-h M-f find-file The first line of that buffer is a hyperlink to that dynamically-generated page of hyperlinks. Its function --- ` find-efunction-links ' --- has a long name that is hard to remember, but there's a shorter link that will do the same job: (eek "M-h M-f find-file") The argument to `eek' is a string describing a sequence of keys in a certain verbose format, and the effect of running, say, (eek "M-h M-f find-file") is the same as of typing ` M-h M-f find-file '. ((M-h is a prefix; (eek "M-h C-h") shows all the sequences with the same prefix.)) ((Exceptions: M-h M-c, M-h M-2, M-h M-y. Show examples of how to edit hyperlinks with M-h M-2 and M-h M-y.)) ((Mention hyperlinks about a key sequence? (eek "M-h M-k C-x C-f") )) ((Mention hyperlinks about a Debian package? (eek "M-h M-d bash") )) ((Mention M-k to kill the current buffer, and how Emacs asks for confirmation when it's a file and it's modified)) ((Mention M-K for burying the current buffer)) ((Mention what to do in the cases where a hyperlink points to the current buffer (section 16); there used to be an ee-back function bound to M-B, but to reactivate it I would have to add back some ugly code to `to'... (by the way, that included Rubikitch's contributions))) ((Web browsers have a way to return from hyperlinks: the back button... In eev we have many kinds of hyperlinks, including some that are unsafe and irreversible, but we have a few kinds of backs that work... 1) if the hyperlink opened a new file or buffer, then to kill the file or buffer, use M-k (an eev binding for kill-this-buffer); note that it asks for a confirmation when the buffer is associated to a file and it has been modified --- or we can use bury-buffer; M-K is an eev binding for bury-buffer. ((explain how emacs keeps a list of buffers?)) Note: if the buffer contains, say, a manpage, or an html page rendered by w3m, which take a significant time to generate, then M-K is better is than M-k. 2) if the hyperlink was a `to' then it jumped to another position in the same file... it is possible to keep a list of previous positions in a buffer and to create an `ee-back' function (suggestion: bind it to M-B) but I haver never been satisfied with the implementations that I did so we're only keeping a hook in `to' for a function that saves the current position before the jump)) ((dto recommended winner-undo)) Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-psne-intro) [See also: code, code, eev-rctool, m.list, gmane] Emacs knows how to fetch files from the internet, but for most purposes it is better to use local copies. Suppose that the environment variable $S is set to ~/snarf/ ; then running this on a shell mkdir -p $S/http/www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ cd $S/http/www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ wget http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html # (find-fline "$S/http/www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html") # (find-w3m "$S/http/www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html") emacs-paper.html ~/snarf/http/ find-w3m find-w3m Instead of running the ` mkdir ', ` cd ' and ` wget ' lines above we can run a single command that does everything: psne http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html ~/.psne.log psne Eev comes with an installer script, called eev-rctool , that can help in adding the definitions for eev (like the function ee () { source ~/ee.sh; } of section 3) to initialization files like ~/.bashrc (such initialization files are termed rcfiles). Eev-rctool does not add by default the definitions for ` psne ' and for $S to rcfiles; however, it adds commented-out lines with instructions, which might be something like: # To define $S and psne uncomment this: # . $EEVTMPDIR/psne.sh # (find-eevtmpfile "psne.sh") ((See: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/eev/2005-06/msg00000.html)) [See also: code, code, miniature flipbook] Emacs allows redefining how characters are displayed, and one of the modules of eev --- eev-glyphs --- uses that to make some characters stand out. Character 15, for example, is displayed on the screen by default as ' ^O ' (two characters, suggesting control-O), sometimes in a different color from normal text(3). Eev changes the appearance of char 15 to make it be displayed as a red star. Here is how: Emacs has some structures called faces that store font and color information, and ` eeglyphs-face-red ' is a face that says use the default font and the default background color, but a red foreground; eev's initialization code runs this, (eev-set-glyph 15 ?* 'eev-glyph-face-red) For this article, as red doesn't print well in black and white, we used this instead: (eev-set-glyph 15 342434) * Eev also sets a few other glyphs with non-standard faces. The most important of those are ` ' and ' ', which are set to appear in green against the default background, with: (eev-set-glyph 171 171 'eev-glyph-face-green) (eev-set-glyph 187 187 'eev-glyph-face-green) (3). Determined by the face escape-glyph-face, introduced in GNU Emacs in late 2004. [See also: code] To insert a ` * ' in a text we type ` C-q C-o ' --- C-q quotes the next key that Emacs receives, and ` C-q C-o ' inserts a literal C-o, which is a char 15. Typing ` ' and ` 's --- and other non-standard glyphs, if we decide to define our own --- involves using another module of eev: eev-compose. Eev-compose defines a few variables that hold tables of compose pairs, which map pairs of characters that are easy to type into other, weirder characters; for example, `eev-composes-otheriso' says that the pair " << " is mapped to " " and that " >> " is mapped to " ", among others. When we are in eev mode the prefix ` M-, ' can be used to perform the translation: typing ` M-, < < ' enters ` ', and typing ` M-, > > ' enters ` '. The variable ` eev-composes-accents ' holds mappings for accented chars, like " 'a " to " a " and " cc " to " c "; ` eev-composes-otheriso ' takes care of the other mappings that still concern characters found in the ISO8859-1 character set, like ` ' and ' ' as above, " _a " to " ", " xx " to " ", and a few others; ` eev-composes-globalmath ' and ` eev-composes-localmath ' are initially empty and are meant to be used for used-defined glyphs. The suffix ` math ' in their names is a relic: Emacs implements its own ways to enter special characters, which support several languages and character encodings, but their code is quite complex and they are difficult to extend; the code that implements eev's ` M-, ', on the other hand, takes about just 10 lines of Lisp (excluding the tables of compose pairs) and it is trivial to understand and to change its tables of pairs. ` M-, ' was created originally to enter special glyphs for editing mathematical texts in TeX, but it turned out to be a convenient hack, and it stuck. Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-bounded-intro) [See also: code, miniature, shot, anim] Sometimes it happens that we need to run a certain (long) series of commands over and over again, maybe with some changes from one run to the next; then having to mark the block all the time becomes a hassle. One alternative to that is using a variaton on ` M-x eev ': ` M-x eev-bounded '. It saves the region around the cursor up to certain delimiters instead of saving what's between Emacs's point and mark. The original definition of eev-bounded was something like this: (defun eev-bounded () (interactive) (eev (ee-search-backwards " # * ") (ee-search-forward " # * "))) ee-search-backwards # * # * ee-search-forward eev # * # * The actual definition of ` eev-bounded ' includes some extra code to highlight temporarily the region that was used; see Figure \ref{fig:F3}. Normally the highlighting lasts for less than one second, but here we have set its duration to several seconds to produce a more interesting screenshot. ____________________ emacs@localhost _______________________ | _________ xterm __________ |# * |/home/edrx(edrx)# ee | |# Global variables |# Global variables | |lua50 -e ' |lua50 -e ' | | print(print) | print(print) | | print(_G["print"]) | print(_G["print"]) | | print(_G.print) | print(_G.print) | | print(_G) | print(_G) | | print(_G._G) | print(_G._G) | |' |' | |# * |function: 0x804dfc0 | |# Capture of local variables |function: 0x804dfc0 | |lua50 -e ' |function: 0x804dfc0 | | foo = function () |table: 0x804d420 | | local storage |table: 0x804d420 | | return |/home/edrx(edrx)# | | (function () return storage end), |__________________________| | (function (x) storage = x; return x end) | | end | | get1, set1 = foo() | | get2, set2 = foo() -- Output: | | print(set1(22), get1()) -- 22 22 | | print(set2(33), get1(), get2()) -- 33 22 33 | |' | |# * | | | |-:-- lua5.e 91% L325 (Fundamental)--------------------| |____________________________________________________________| Figure 2: sending a delimited block with F3 (find-fline "ss-lua.png") (find-eevex "screenshots.e" "fisl-screenshots") Eev binds the key F3 to the function ` eeb-default ', which runs the current default bounded function (which is set initially to ` eev ', not ` eev-bounded ') on the region between the current default delimiters, using the current default highlight-spec; so, instead of typing ` M-x eev-bounded ' inside the region to save it we can just type F3. All these defaults values come from a single list, which is stored in the variable ` eeb-defaults '. The real definition of ` eev-bounded ' is something like: (setq eev-bounded '(eev ee-delimiter-hash nil t t)) (defun eev-bounded () (interactive) (setq eeb-defaults eev-bounded) (eeb-default)) Note that in Emacs Lisp (and in most other Lisps) each symbol has a value as a variable that is independent from its value as a function: actually a symbol is a structure containg a name, a value cell, a function cell and a few other fields. Our definition of ` eev-bounded ', above, includes both a definition of the function ` eev-bounded ' and a value for the variable ` eev-bounded '. Eev has an auxiliary function for defining these bounded functions; running (eeb-define 'eev-bounded 'eev 'ee-delimiter-hash nil t t) setq defun As for the meaning of the entries of the list ` eeb-defaults ', the first one (` eev ') says which function to run; the second one (` ee-delimiter-hash ') says which initial delimiter to use --- in this case it is a symbol instead of a string, and so ` eeb-default ' takes the value of the variable ` ee-delimiter-hash '; the third one (nil) is like the second one, but for the final delimiter, and when it is nil ` eeb-default ' considers that the final delimiter is equal to the initial delimiter; the fourth entry ( t ) means to use the standard highlight-spec, and the fifth one ( t , again) tells ` eeb-default ' to make an adjustment to the highlighted region for purely aestethical reasons: the saved region does not include the initial " " in the final delimiter, " # * ", but the highlighting looks nicer if it is included; without it the last highlighted line in Figure 2 would have only its first character --- an apostrophe --- highlighted. Eev also implements other of these bounded functions. For example, running ` M-x eelatex ' on a region saves it in a temporary LaTeX file, and also saves into the temporary script file the commands to process it with LaTeX; ` eelatex-bounded ' is defined by (eeb-define 'eelatex-bounded 'eelatex 'ee-delimiter-percent nil t t) ee-delimiter-percent % * ((The block below ... tricky ... blah. How to typeset ` * ' in LaTeX. Running eelatex-bounded changed the defaults stored in eeb-defaults, but ee-once blah doesn't.)) % * % (eelatex-bounded) % (ee-once (eelatex-bounded)) \def\myttbox#1{% \setbox0=\hbox{\texttt{a}}% \hbox to \wd0{\hss#1\hss}% } \catcode` * =13 \def * {\myttbox{$\bullet$}} \begin{verbatim} abcdefg d * fg \end{verbatim} % * ...for example eelatex, that saves the region (plus certain standard header and footer lines) to a temporary LaTeX file and saves into the temporary script file the commands to make `ee' run LaTeX on that and display the result. The block below is an example of (...) ...The block below shows a typical application of eev-bounded : # (find-es "lua5" "install-5.0.2") # (find-es "lua5" "install-5.0.2" "Edrx's changes") # (code-c-d "lua5" "/tmp/usrc/lua-5.0.2/") # (find-lua5file "INSTALL") # (find-lua5file "config" "support for dynamic loading") # (find-lua5file "config") # (find-lua5file "") # * rm -Rv ~/usrc/lua-5.0.2/ mkdir -p ~/usrc/lua-5.0.2/ tar -C ~/usrc/ \ -xvzf $S/http/www.lua.org/ftp/lua-5.0.2.tar.gz cd ~/usrc/lua-5.0.2/ cat >> config <&1 | tee omt ./bin/lua -e 'print(loadlib)' # * ((Comment about the size: the above code is too small for being a script, and the hyperlinks are important)) gdb (here-documents, gcc, ee-once) (alternative: here-documents, gcc, gdb, screenshot(s) for gdb) Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-channels-intro) [See also: code, code, miniature, anim] The way that we saw to send commands to a shell is in two steps: first we use M-x eev in Emacs to send a block of commands, and then we run ` ee ' at the shell to make it receive these commands. But there is also a way to create shells that listen not only to the keyboard for their input, but also to certain communication channels; by making Emacs send commands through these communication channels we can skip the step of going to the shell and typing ` ee ' --- the commands are received immediately. _________emacs@localhost____________ ___________channel A______________ | | |/tmp(edrx)# # Send things to port | | * (eechannel-xterm "A") ;; create | | 1234 | | * (eechannel-xterm "B") ;; create | |/tmp(edrx)# { | |# Listen on port 1234 | |> echo hi | |netcat -l -p 1234 | |> sleep 1 | | * | |> echo bye | | * (eechannel "A") ;; change target | |> sleep 1 | |# Send things to port 1234 | |> } | netcat -q 0 localhost 1234 | |{ | |/tmp(edrx)# | | echo hi | |/tmp(edrx)# | | sleep 1 | |__________________________________| | echo bye | ___________channel B______________ | sleep 1 | |/tmp(edrx)# # Listen on port 1234 | |} | netcat -q 0 localhost 1234 | |/tmp(edrx)# netcat -l -p 1234 | | | |hi | |-:-- screenshots.e 95% L409 (Fu| |bye | |_Wrote /home/edrx/.eev/eeg.A.str____| |/tmp(edrx)# | | | |__________________________________| Figure 3: sending commands to two xterms using F9 (find-eevex "screenshots.e" "fisl-screenshots") (find-eevfile "article/ss-f9.png") The screenshot at Figure 3 shows this at work. The user has started with the cursor at the second line from the top of the screen in the Emacs window and then has typed F9 several times. Eev binds F9 to a command that operates on the current line and then moves down to the next line; if the current line starts with ` * ' then what comes after the ` * ' is considered as Lisp code and executed immediately, and the current line doesn't start with ` * ' then its contents are sent through the default communication channel, or though a dummy communication channel if no default was set. The first F9 executed ` (eechannel-xterm "A") ', which created an xterm with title channel A , running a shell listening on the communication channel A , and set the default channel to A; the second F9 created another xterm, now listening to channel B , and set the default channel to B . The next two ` F9 's sent each one one line to channel B . The first line was a shell comment ( # Listen... ); the second one started the program netcat , with options to make netcat listen to the internet port 1234 and dump to standard output what it receives. The next line had just ` * '; executing the rest of it as Lisp did nothing. The following line changed the default channel to A. In the following lines there is a small shell program that outputs hi , then waits one second, then outputs bye , then waits for another second, then finishes; due to the | netcat... its output is redirected to the internet port 1234, and so we see it appearing as the output of the netcat running on channel B , with all the expected delays: one second between hi and bye, and one second after bye ; after that last one-second delay the netcat at channel A finishes receiving input (because the program between ` { ' and ` } ' ends) and it finishes its execution, closing the port 1234; the netcat at B notices that the port was closed and finishes its execution too, and both shells return to the shell prompt. There are also ways to send whole blocks of lines at once through communication channels; see Section \ref{bigmodular}. [See also: code, code, miniature, anim] [2007: There's a much better explanation, with nice ascii diagrams, at channels.anim; it should be merged here.] Communication channels are implemented using an auxiliary script called `eegchannel', which is written in Expect ([L90] and [L95]). If we start an xterm in the default way it starts a shell (say, /bin/bash ) and interacts with it: the xterm sends to the shell as characters the keystrokes that it receives from the window manager and treats the characters that the shell sends back as being instructions to draw characters, numbers and symbols on the screen. But when we run ` (eechannel-xterm "A") ' Emacs creates an xterm that interacts with another program --- eegchannel --- instead of with a shell, and eegchannel in its turn runs a shell and interacts with it. Eegchannel passes characters back and forth between the xterm and the shell without changing them in any way; it mostly tries to pretend that it is not there and that the xterm is communicating directly with the shell. However, when eegchannel receives a certain signal it sends to the shell a certain sequence of characters that were not sent by the xterm; it fakes a sequence of keystrokes. Let's see a concrete example. Suppose than Emacs was running with process id (pid) 1000, and running (eechannel-xterm "A") in it made it create an xterm, which got pid 1001; that xterm ran eegchannel (pid 1002), which ran /bin/bash (pid 1003). Actually Emacs invoked xterm using this command line: xterm -n "channel A" -e eegchannel A /bin/bash and xterm invoked eegchannel with eegchannel A /bin/bash ; eegchannel saw the ` A ', saved its pid (1002) to the file ~/.eev/eeg.A.pid , and watched for SIGUSR1 signals; every time that it (the eegchannel) receives a SIGUSR1 it reads the contents of ~/.eev/eeg.A.str and sends that as fake input to the shell that it is controlling. So, running echo 'echo $[1+2]' > ~/.eev/eeg.A.str kill -USR1 $(cat ~/.eev/eeg.A.pid) in a shell sends the string echo $[1+2] (plus a newline) through the channel A; what Emacs does when we type F9 on a line that does not start with ` * ' corresponds exactly to that. Update (2013feb11): see this instead: (find-anchors-intro) [See also: code] The function ` to ' can be used to create hyperlinks to certain positions --- called anchors --- in the current file. For example, # Index: # .first_block (to "first_block") # .second_block (to "second_block") # * # first_block (to ".first_block") echo blah # * # second_block (to ".second_block") echo blah blah # * What `to' does is simply to wrap its argument inside ` ' and ` ' characters and then jump to the first occurrence of the resulting string in the current file. In the (toy) example above, the line that starts with # .first_block has a link that jumps to the line that starts with # first_block , which has a link that jumps back --- the anchors and (to ...) s act like an index for that file. The function ` find-anchor ' works like a ` to ' that first opens another file. For example, (find-anchor "~/.zshrc" "update-homepage") does roughly the same as: (find-fline "~/.zshrc" " update-homepage ") Actually ` find-anchor ' consults a variable, ` ee-anchor-format ', to see in which strings to wrap the argument. Some functions modify ` ee-anchor-format ' temporarily to obtain special effects; for example, a lot of information about the packages installed in a Debian GNU system is kept in a text file called /var/lib/dpkg/info/status ; (find-status "emacs21") opens this file and searches for the string " Package: emacs21 " there --- that string is the header for the block with information about the package emacs21 , and it tells the size of the package, description, version, whether it is installed or not, etc, in a format that is both machine-readable and human-readable. The best short definition for eev that I've found involves some cheating, as it is a circular definition: eev is a library that adds support for e-scripts to Emacs --- and e-scripts are files that contain chunks meant to be processed by eev's functions. Almost any file can contain parts meant for eev: for example, a HOWTO or README file about some program will usually contain some example shell commands, and we can mark these commands and execute them with M-x eev ; and if we have the habit of using eev and we are writing code in, say, C or Lua we will often put elisp hyperlinks inside comment blocks in our code. These two specific languages (and a few others) have a feature that is quite convenient for eev: they have syntactical constructs that allow comment blocks spanning several lines --- for example, in Lua, where these comment blocks are delimited by --(( and --)) s, we can have a block like --[[ # * # This file: (find-fline "~/LUA/lstoindexhtml.lua") # A test: cd /tmp/ ls -laF | col -x \ | lua50 ~/LUA/lstoindexhtml.lua tmp/ \ | lua50 -e 'writefile("index.html", io.read("*a"))' # * --]] in a Lua script, and the script will be at the same time a Lua script and an e-script. When I started using GNU and Emacs the notion of an e-script was something quite precise to me: I was keeping notes on what I was learning and on all that I was trying to do, and I was keeping those notes in a format that was partly English (or Portuguese), partly executable things --- not all of them finished, or working --- after all, it was much more practical to write rm -Rv ~/usrc/busybox-1.00/ tar -C ~/usrc/ -xvzf \ $S/http/www.busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.00.tar.gz cd ~/usrc/busybox-1.00/ cp -iv ~/BUSYBOX/myconfig .config make menuconfig make 2>&1 | tee om than to write Unpack BusyBox's source, then run "make menuconfig" and "make" on its main directory because if I had the second form in my notes I would have to translate that from English into machine commands every time... So, those files where I was keeping my notes contained executable notes, or were scripts for Emacs, and I was quite sure that everyone else around were also keeping notes in executable formats, possibly using other editors and environments (vi, maybe?) and that if I showed these people my notes and they were about some task that they were also struggling with then they would also show me their notes... I ended up making a system that uploaded regularly all my e-scripts (no matter how messy they were) to my home page, and writing a text --- The Eev Manifesto ([O99]) --- about sharing these executable notes. Actually trying to define an e-script as being a file containing executable parts, that are picked up and executed interactively makes the concept of an e-script very loose. Note that we can execute the Lua parts in the code above by running the Lua interpreter on it, we can execute the elisp one-liner with M-e in Emacs, and we can execute the shell commands using F3 or M-x eev ; but the code will do nothing by itself --- it is passive. A piece of code containing instructions in English on how to use it is also an e-script, in a sense; but to execute these instructions we need to invoke an external entity --- a human, usually ourselves --- to interpret them. This is much more flexible, but also much more error-prone and slow, than just pressing a simple sequence of keys like M-e, or F9, or F3, alt-tab, e, e, enter. [See also: code, miniature] When I first submittted eev for inclusion in GNU Emacs, in 1999, the people at the FSF requested some changes. One of them was to split eev.el --- the code at that point was all in a single Emacs Lisp file, called eev.el --- into several separate source files according to functionality; at least the code for saving temporary scripts and the code for hyperlinks should be kept separate. It turned out that that was the wrong way of splitting eev. The frontier between what is a hyperlink and what is a block of commands is blurry: man foo man -P 'less +/bar' foo # (eev "man foo") # (eev "man -P 'less +/bar' foo") # (find-man "foo" "bar") The two ` man ' commands above can be considered as hyperlinks to a manpage, but we need to send those commands to a shell to actually open the manpage; the option " -P 'less +/bar' " instructs ` man ' to use the program ` less ' to display the manpage, and it tells ` less ' to jump to the first occurrence of the string bar in the text, and so it is a hyperlink to a specific position in a manpage. Each of the two ` eev ' lines, when executed, saves one of these ` man ' commands to the temporary script file; because they contain Lisp expressions they look much more like hyperlinks than the ` man ' lines. The last line, ` find-man ', behaves much more like a real hyperlink: it opens the manpage inside Emacs and searches for the first occurrence of ` bar ' there; but Emacs's code for displaying manpages was tricky, and it took me a few years to figure out how to add support for pos-spec-lists to it... So, what happens is that often a new kind of hyperlink will begin its life as a series of shell commands (another example: using ` gv --page 14 file.ps ' to open a PostScript file and then jump to a certain page) and then it takes some time to make a nice hyperlink function that does the same thing; and often these functions are implemented by executing commands in external programs. There's a much better way to split conceptually what eev does, though. Most functions in eev take a region of text (for example Emacs's own selected region, or the extent of Lisp expression coming before the cursor) and execute that in some way; the kinds of regions are Emacs's (selected) region | M-x eev, M-x eelatex (sec. 4) ----------------------------+------------------------------ last-sexp (Lisp expression | C-x C-e, M-E (sec. 5) at the left of the cursor) | ----------------------------+------------------------------ sexp-eol (go to end of | C-e C-x C-e, M-e (sec. 7) line, then last-sexp) | ----------------------------+------------------------------ bounded region | F3, M-x eev-bounded, | M-x eelatex-bounded (sec. 14) ----------------------------+------------------------------ bounded region around | (ee-at [`` anchor] ...) anchor | (sec. 20) ----------------------------+------------------------------ current line | F9 (sec. 15) ----------------------------+------------------------------ no text (instead use the | F12 (sec. 19) next item in a list) | Actions (can be composed): * Saving a region or a string into a file * Sending a signal to a process * Executing as Lisp * Executing immediately in a shell * Start a debugger ((Emacs terminology: commands)) [See also: code, miniature, flipbook] ((Simple examples)) ((writing demos)) ((hyperlinks for which no short form is known)) ((producing animations and screenshots)) Update (oct/2011): PLEASE IGNORE THIS! This part of eev has been completely rewritten - see: (These sections - 20 to 24 - are very new (handwritten in 2007jul12, typed a few days later). They are early drafts, full of errors, describing some code that does not yet exist (ee-tbr), etc. Also, I don't know Rubikitch's real name, so I used a random Japanese name...) Emacs can run external programs interactively inside buffers; in the screenshot in Figure 5 there's a shell running in the buffer "*shell*" in the lower window. Technically, what is going on is much more complex than what we described in the previous section. The shell runs in a pseudo-terminal (pty), but ptys are usually associated to rectangular grids of characters with a definite width and height, while in an Emacs buffer the width of each line, and the total number of lines,are only limited by memory constraints. Many interactive programs expect their input to come through their more-or-less minimalistic line editors, that may try to send to the terminal commands like "clear the screen" or "go to column x at line y"; how should these things be handled in a shell buffer? Also, the user can move freely in a shell buffer, and edit its contents as text, but the "Return" key becomes special: when it is hit in a shell buffer Emacs takes the current line - except maybe some initial characters that are seen as a prompt - and sends that to the shell process, as if the user had typed exactly that; so, Emacs takes over the line editor of the shell process completely. The translation between character sequences going through the pty and buffer-editing functions is very tricky, full of non-obvious design choices, and even though it has been around for more than 20 years it still has some (inevitable) quirks. I almost never used shell buffers, so I found the following idea, by OGAMI Itto, very surprising when he sent it to the eev mailing list in 2005. (Figure 5 will be a screenshot that I haven't taken yet.) (It will be simpler than the screenshot from Fig. 6, that is this: http://angg.twu.net/IMAGES/eepitch-gdb.png ) The current window, above in Figure 5, is editing an e-script, and the other window shows a shell buffer - that we will refer to as the "target buffer". When the user types a certain key - by default F8 - the current line is sent to the target buffer, and the point is moved down to the next line; pressing F8 n times in sequence sendsn lines, one by one. One detail: "sending a line" means inserting its contents - except the newline - at the current position in the target buffer, and then running there the action associated to the "Return" key. "Return" is almost always a special key, bound to different actions in different major modes, so just inserting a newline would not work - that would not simulate what happens when a user types "Return". Note that, in a sense, the action of F8 is much more complex than that of F9, described in the last section; but user might perceive F8 as being much simpler, as there are no external programs involved (Expect, eegchannel, xterm), and no setup hassles - all the machinery to make Emacs buffers invoke external processes in buffers pretending to be terminals ("comint mode") comes built-in with Emacs since the early 1980s. Ogami's idea also included three "bonus features": window setup, reconstruction of the target buffer, and star-escapes. In the default Emacs setting some commands - M-x shell between them - might split the current Emacs frame in two windows; none of eev's hyperlink functions do that, and I have always felt that it is more natural to use eev with a setting (pop-up-windows set to nil) that disables window splittings except when explicitly requested by the user. Anyway: M-x shell ensures that a "*shell*" buffer is visible in a window, and that a shell process is running in it; this setup code for F8, (eepitch '(shell)) splits the window (if the frame has just one window), and runs `(shell)' in the other window - with the right defaults - to force that window to display a shell buffer with a live shell process running in it; it also sets a variable, `eepitch-target-buffer', to that buffer, so that the next `F8's will have a definite buffer to send lines too - as target buffers need not necessarily be shell buffers. As for the star-escapes, it's the same idea as with F9: when a line starts with a red star glyph, running F8 on it executes everything on it - after the red star - as Lisp, and if there are no errors the point is moved down. So lines starting with a red star can be used to set up an eepitch target, to switch to another target, or to do special actions - like killing a certain target so that it will be reconstructed anew by the next F8. Note that once that we recognize that a region of an e-script is to be used by eepitch there is only one key to be used to "run" each of its lines, both the ones with red stars and the ones without: F8. However, as with F9, the user must know what to expect after each step. A badly-written e-script for eepitch may try, for example, to "cd" into a directory that does not exist, and if the next line is, say, " tar -xvzf $S/http/foo/bar.tgz " then it will try to unpack a tarball into the wrong place, creating a big mess. # (find-eevfile "eev.el" "EEVDIR") # (find-eevfile "eev.el") As we have seen in section 4, M-x eev sends the region to a "prepared shell"; if the shell has the right settings for the environment variables $EEVTMPDIR and $EE, and if it has the shell function `ee', then running `ee' in the shell "sources" the temporary script - corresponding to the regin - in verbose mode. Well, if Emacs loads eev.el and the environment variables $EEVDIR, $EEVTMPDIR and $EE are not set, then they are set, respectively, to the directory where eev.el was read from, to the subdirectory of it given by $EEVDIR/tmp, and to the file $EEVTMPDIR/ee.sh. Processes started from Emacs inherit these environment variables, so a shell buffer created by running F8 on these two lines, * (eepitch-shell) function ee () { set -v; . $EE; set +v; } will be running a prepared shell. Such buffers can be used to let users understand better how prepared shells work, and decide if they want to patch their initialization files for the shell (see eev-rctool) so that their shells will be "prepared" by default. (Note: I haven't yet played much with this idea - discuss running eev-rctool on such shells (and a function that creates a buffer with an e-script for that), and loading psne.sh from an unprepared shell). [See also: .emacs, m.list, gmane] On *NIX it is common to keep debuggers separated into two parts: a back-end, with a simple textual interface, and a front-end, that controls the back-end via its textual interface but presents a better interface, showing source files and breakpoints in a nice way, etc. The GNU Debugger, GDB, is a back-end, and it can be used to debug and single-step several compiled languages; the "Grand Unified Debugger" mode of Emacs, a.k.a. GUD, is a front-end for GDB and other back-ends. Usually, GUD splits an Emacs frame into two windows, one for interaction with GDB (or other back-end, but let's say just "GDB" for simplicity), and another one for displaying the source file where the execution is. Some of the output of GDB - lines meaning, e.g., "we're at the source file foo.c, at line 25" - are filtered by GUD and are not shown in the GUD buffer; and the user can press special key sequences on source files that generate commands to GDB - like, "set a breakpoint on this line". In order to control GDB with eepitch we need a window setting with three windows, like in the screenshot in Figure 6. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.eev.devel/47 http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/eev/2007-07/msg00000.html http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/eev/2007-07/pngXBfRlWr29Z.png ^ Figure 6 will be like the screenshots (real and asciified) in this message to the mailing list The way to set up that does not integrate very well with the "standard" eepitch at this moment, but that should come with time. We can use elisp hyperlinks to point to specific lines in source files - and we can combine these hyperlinks with the code to set up breakpoints, in two ways. * ;(find-lua51file "src/lvm.c" "case OP_CLOSE:" 1) * (find-lua51file "src/lvm.c" "case OP_CLOSE:" 1 '(ee-tbr)) The first line above contains an elisp hyperlink to a line in the source of Lua. Actually, it points to the code for an opcode in Lua's virtual machine that most people find rather mysterious. As the line starts with ` * ;', an F8 on it executes a Lisp comment - i.e., does nothing - and moves down; only a `M-e' (or a `C-e C-x C-e') on that line would follow the hyperlink. The second line, when executed with F8, would go to that line in the source, then run `(ee-tbr)' there; ee-tbr invokes gud-tbr to set a temporary breakpoint on that source line (i.e., one that is disabled when the execution stops there for the first time), and then buries the buffer - the one with "lmv.c" - like a `M-K' would do; the effect is that the buffer in that window - the top-left window in a situation like in Figure 6 - does not change, it will still show the e-script. A variation on this is to wrap the hyperlink in an ee-tbr: * ; (find-lua51file "src/lvm.c" "case OP_CLOSE:" 1) * (ee-tbr '(find-lua51file "src/lvm.c" "case OP_CLOSE:" 1)) When ee-tbr is called with an argument it evaluated the argument inside a save-excursion, and sets a breakpoint there; the effect is almost the same as the previous case, but this does not change the order of the buffers in the buffer list. E-scripts for eepitch and GDB can be used to bring programs to a certain point (and to inspect their data structures there; we will have more to say about this in the next section). In a sense, as in {Bentley}, these e-scripts are written in a language that describes states of running programs - and they can be executed step by step. These e-scripts, being executable, can be used in e-mails to communicate particular states of programs - say, where a certain bug occurs. Unfortunately, they are too fragile and may cease working after minimal changes in the program, and they are almost impossible to read... However, the screenshot in Figure 5 suggests another language for communicating controlling programs with GDB: the contents of the "*gud*" buffer. After removing some excess verbosity by hand we get something that is readable enough if included in e-mails - and to extract the original commands from that we just have to discard the lines that don't start with "(gdb)", then remove the "(gdb)" prompts. As for the hyperlinks with `(ee-tbr)', they may need to be copied to the GUD buffer, and not filtered out; we still need to experiment with different ways to do that to be able to choose one. Almost anyone who has learned a bit of Lisp should be familiar with this kind of box diagrams. After running (setq x '(5 "ab")) (setq y (list x x '(5 "ab"))) the value of y can be represented by: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ |___|___| --> |___|___| --------> |___|___| --> nil | ___________/ | |/ | _v_ ___ ___ ___ _v_ ___ ___ ___ |___|___| --> |___|___| --> nil |___|___| --> |___|___| --> nil | | | | v v v v 5 "ab" 5 "ab" This representation is verynice - it omits lots of details that are usually irrelevant, like the address in the memory of each cons, and the exact names of each struct in C and their fields. But sometimes we need to understand the implementation in C, and a more complete diagram would be convenient. At least, we would like to know how to get, in the C source of Emacs, from the address of the leftmost cons in the top line to the rightmost "ab" in the bottom line - but how do we express following the "cdr" arrows, the "car" arrows, and extracting the contents of a string object in elisp, One solution is to use GDB, and e-scripts for it: ... A "complete diagram" corresponding to the one above, whatever the format that we choose to draw it, should include some information explaining that "cdr" arrows correspond to "->cdr", "car" arrows correspond to ..., and each string object corresponds to another kind of box different from the cons boxes; to get to the C string stored in an elisp string object we should examine its "foo" field, i.e., do a "->foo". Obviously, this same idea applies also to other programs with complex data structures - and for some programs we may even have fancier ways to explore their data structures; for example, in a graphic toolkit it might be possible to change the background of a button to orange from GDB. A shell can be run in two modes: either interactively, by expecting lines from the user and executing them as soon as they are received\footnote{except for multi-line commands.}, or by scripts: in the later case the shell already has access to the commands, and executes them in sequence as fast as possible, with no pause between one command and the next. When we are sending lines to a shell with F9 we are telling it not only what to execute but also when to execute it; this is somewhat similar to running a program step-by-step inside a debugger --- but note that most shells provide no single-stepping facilities. We will start with a toy example --- actually the example from Section \ref{anchors} with five new lines added at the end --- and then in the next section we will see a real-world example that uses these ideas. Figure 4: sending a block at once with eevnow-at (find-fline "ss-modular.png") Figure 5: single-stepping through a C program (find-fline "ss-gdbwide.png") ((Somewhere between a script and direct user interaction)) ((No loops, no conditionals)) ((Several xterms)) Suppose that we have a person P who has learned how to use a computer and now wants to learn how the internet works. That person P knows a bit of programming and can use Emacs, and sure she can use e-mail clients and web browsers by clicking around with the mouse, but she has grown tired of just using those things as black boxes; now she wants to experiment with setting up HTTP and mail servers, to understand how data packets are driven around, how firewalls can block some connections, such things. The problem is that P has never had access to any machine besides her own, which is connected to the internet only through a modem; and also, she doesn't have any friends who are computer technicians or sysadmins, because from the little contact that she's had with these people she's got the impression that they live lifes that are almost as grey as the ones of factory workers, and she's afraid of them. To add up to all that, P has some hippie job that makes her happy but poor, so she's not going to buy a second computer, and the books she can borrow, for example, Richard Stevens' series on TCP/IP programming, just don't cut. One of eev's intents isto make life easier for autodidacts. Can it be used to rescue people in positions like P's(4)? It was thinking on that that I created a side-project to eev called Internet Skills for Disconnected People: it consists of e-scripts about running a second machine, called the guest, emulated inside the host, and making the two talk to each other via standard internet protocols, via emulated ethernet cards. Those e-scripts make heavy use of the concepts in the last section ((...)) Figure 6: a call map (find-fline "iskidip.png") (find-eimage0 "./iskidip.png") % (find-eevex "busybox.e" "bb_chroot_main") % (find-eevex "busybox.e" "bbinitrd-qemu-main") % (find-eevex "busybox.e" "iso-qemu-main") % (find-eevex "busybox.e" "iso-qemu-main-2") (4). by the way, I created P inspired on myself; my hippie job is being a mathematician. Eev can be downloaded from the author's homepage, http://angg.twu.net/. That page also contains lots of examples, some animations showing some of eev's features at work, a mailing list, etc. Eev is in the middle of the process of becoming a standard part of GNU Emacs; I expect it to be integrated just after the release of GNU Emacs 22.1 in mid-2007. Eev's copyright has already been transferred to the FSF; it is distributed under the GPL license. I would like to thank David O'Toole, Diogo Leal and Leslie Watter for our countless hours of discussions about eev; many of the recent features of eev --- almost half of this article --- were conceived at our talks. ((Thank also the people at #emacs, for help with the code and for small revision tips)) [L90] - Libes, D. - Expect: Curing Those Uncontrollable Fits of Interaction. 1990. Available online from http://expect.nist.gov/. [L95] - Libes, D. - Exploring Expect. O'Reilly, 1995. [O99] - Ochs, E. - The Eev Manifesto (http://angg.twu.net/eev-manifesto.html). [S79] - Stallman, R. - EMACS: The Extensible, Customizable Display Editor. (http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html) By Azernews By Vugar Khalilov Azerbaijani NGO representatives have urged the UK government to hold accountable the attackers of the Azerbaijans embassy in London, Azernews reports. These remarks were made in a statement by a group of Azerbaijani NGO leaders addressed to the British embassy in Baku in response to the vandalism against the Azerbaijani embassy. As representatives of Azerbaijani civil society, we believe that Great Britain should accept responsibility for the attack on our country's embassy as a state, realize the concerns of the Azerbaijani people, conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, find and punish those responsible, and inform the government and people of Azerbaijan about the results, the statement reads. The NGO members condemned the attack of radical religious group on the Azerbaijani embassy in London on August 4, describing it as an act of vandalism. We proclaim that the acts committed against our flag, embassy staff, and the facility are detrimental to the image of the United Kingdom and violate international , as well as diplomatic law, which is a fundamental component of it, the statement says. It adds that despite the fact that the event occurred more than a week ago, the British embassy in Azerbaijan issued a statement only on August 5, noting that it condemns the actions of the protesters, who entered the Azerbaijani embassy in London and that a thorough investigation was conducted on this matter. According to NGO leaders, the UK government's statement a day later did not identify the perpetrators of the event and merely referred to them as "protesters". The labeling of the offenders as "protestors" raises concerns since the incident was an act of vandalism, which was committed against the Azerbaijani flag, and happened in front of the police, they stressed. Although the warning about the incident was brought to the attention of the relevant British agencies by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry through diplomatic channels, the UK government has not yet made a serious statement. Please note that according to Article 22 of the Convention on Diplomatic Relations, adopted on April 18, 1961, diplomatic facilities are inviolable, the statement reminds. It is the receiving State's unique responsibility to take all necessary precautions to safeguard the delegation from any threats and injuries, as well as to avoid any disruption of its tranquility or disrespect to its honor, it adds. Agricultural visionary and popcorn legend Orville Redenbacher and his business partner Charles Bowman started Chester Inc. in 1947, and it's still going strong. The family-owned company is now marking 75 years in business. The Valparaiso-based firm provides architectural, construction and agricultural services. Redenbacher and Bowman bought the George F. Chester & Sons Seed company that was based on the Chester family farm in Morgan Township in Porter County. "They were innovators who put us on the map a long time ago," Marketing and Business Development Manager Rich Shields said. "It's nice to have that pedigree and be able to look back at all that success today." Under new leadership, the company started selling small irrigation systems, grain dryers and complete grain handling systems in 1952. "The company has diversified a lot over the years," Shields said. "Diversification is a big driving force in longevity." It became a Bonanza Uni-Frame Builder serving the farm market in 1969 and added Valley center-pivot irrigation systems the following year. It continues to sell irrigation systems and grain-handling solutions out of a division based in North Judson since 1981. The company diversified into information technology in 1981 when it got a franchise to sell IBM computers to the farm market. It then branched out into architecture in 1987, pursuing a design/build/finance approach to construction projects. "We evolved into agriculture, architecture and construction," Shields said. "We got into information technology to help farmers track their inventories. We had one of the first information technology divisions in the United States and certainly in Indiana." In 2003, Chester sold the assets of its Chester John Deere store to A&M Farm Equipment of Valparaiso. Today, the company is privately owned by Pete Peuquet. It employs about 50 people at its operations in Valparaiso and North Judson. "All of our major divisions are growing," Shields said. "We couldn't do this without the customers and employees. We have longstanding teams of employees who help us continue to grow. We're growing through technology in all divisions and still innovating today." CROWN POINT A judge ordered a man Friday to allow police to collect DNA and hair samples from him as part of their investigation into allegations he, his mother and brother abducted and shot a woman in 2019 in an attempt to find and silence her relative. Jarod D. Johnson, 25, of Gary, told Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez he felt like police were harassing him. Johnson asked the judge to ensure his DNA sample goes only to a lab and "never gets into the hands" of Lake County Deputy Prosecutor David Rooda and police. "That's what the order will say," Vasquez said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's going to the lab. Settle down." Rooda wrote in court filings the samples were needed for comparison with evidence collected from the shooting scene and the woman's clothes. The state previously took a sample of Johnson's DNA, but more DNA material as needed to complete additional testing, he said. Police were prepared to take the samples Friday, Rooda said. Johnson initially was charged in Lake Criminal Court in April 2019 in connection with allegations he shot a woman in Gary and left her for dead after she refused to tell him, his brother and his mother where to find her relative. Prosecutors said Johnson and his family were trying to find and silence the relative, who was slated to testify against Johnson about his involvement in a 2017 shooting in Gary. The U.S. attorney's office took over prosecution of the 2019 cases against Jarod Johnson; his brother Jaron D. Johnson, 24; and his mother, Patricia Carrington, 49. Jaron Johnson and Carrington each pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court in Hammond. Carrington received 17.5-year sentence, and Jaron Johnson received the same sentence. However, a federal jury acquitted Jarod Johnson of kidnapping. A Lake Criminal Court jury later found him not guilty in the 2017 shooting. Lake County prosecutors subsequently refiled charges against him, but they did not include a kidnapping count. Johnson has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, aggravated battery, two counts of battery and intimidation. Vasquez dismissed the case in July 2021 after finding Indiana's double jeopardy statute barred further prosecution because the state and federal cases were based on the same conduct and circumstances. The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed Vasquez's decision, concluding the state could prosecute Johnson because alleged acts outlined in its latest case were not the same as the alleged acts linked to the federal kidnapping charge. The Lake County public defender's office asked the Indiana Supreme Court to review the Appeals Court decision, but the high court declined transfer. Johnson's trial is currently set for the week of Oct. 24. CROWN POINT A judge rescheduled jury trial Friday for a man already convicted of attempting to murder two people and facing charges in two separate murder cases with three victims. William D. Galloway Jr., 29, of Gary, had been scheduled to face a jury next month on murder and attempted murder charges in a shooting that killed Jonquell Golida, 23, and wounded a second man Nov. 12, 2016, in Gary's Glen Park section. Galloway also is charged with murdering Zantrell Collins and Koreena Ramos, both 18, on Oct. 13, 2016, in the 700 block of East 49th Avenue in Gary. He was convicted in April 2021 of two counts of attempted murder and other charges in a shooting and attempted robbery Sept. 19, 2019, in the 2500 block of Pierce Street in Gary. In that case, Galloway shot a woman four times, fired shots at her son Sean Baker and shot into a room occupied by Baker, his pregnant girlfriend and her then-6-year-old child. Baker, 23, later was shot and killed in Gary. No charges have been filed in his homicide. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in May that Galloway, who was sentenced to 57 years in prison, received a fair trial. After defense attorney John Cantrell and Deputy Prosecutors David Rooda and Judith Massa had a long discussion at the bench with Lake Criminal Court Judge Gina Jones, the judge said she was rescheduling Galloway's trial. He is now set to face a jury in Golida's homicide March 6. His trial in the homicides of Collins and Ramos was set for April 10. Jones ordered Galloway to be transported to the Indiana Department of Correction to begin serving his sentence for attempting to murder the Baker family members. He was to be returned to Lake County for a pretrial hearing slated for Jan. 25. The claims of some elected officials and political pundits that an economic recession is underway are not borne out by Indiana's latest tax collections data. The State Budget Agency announced Friday Indiana took in $1.48 billion from all general fund revenue sources for July. That was $72 million (5.1%) more than anticipated by the state's revenue forecast and $147.9 million (11.1%) more than July 2021 state revenue. Indiana's primary revenue sources, sales taxes and personal income taxes, topped the July revenue forecast by 1.6% for sales tax and 2.5% for income tax, as well as collections from the same month one year ago with 6.5% year-over-year sales tax growth and 12.1% for income tax, according to the State Budget Agency. The July revenue total continues a better than expected streak of tax collections that helped Indiana end its 2022 budget year on June 30 with $1.2 billion, or 6.2%, more money than anticipated, and $3.1 billion, or 17.3%, more than the revenue estimate used by lawmakers in April 2021 to craft the two-year state budget. A meaningful chunk of that extra money is headed back to Hoosiers. The General Assembly on Aug. 5 authorized the distribution of $200 payments to eligible Hoosier taxpayers to reduce the state's record $6.1 billion budget reserves by approximately $1 billion. That money, set to be direct deposited or mailed in coming weeks, is on top of the still-going-out $125 automatic taxpayer refund payments tied to excess state reserves at the close of the 2021 state budget year. Senate Enrolled Act 2 also directs another $1 billion be deposited in Indiana's pay-as-you-go teacher pension fund and allocates $74.2 million in new funds for programs supporting pregnant women, children and families in connection with the enactment of a near-total abortion ban in Senate Enrolled Act 1 that takes effect Sept. 15. "Thanks to more than a decade of fiscally conservative policies in Indiana, our state is in a position where we can help our citizens in meaningful ways and continue to aggressively pay down our long-term pension liabilities. This plan embodies the good financial stewardship Hoosiers have come to expect from the Statehouse," said state Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, chairman of the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy. Democrats said the Republican-controlled General Assembly could have done much more, much faster to help Hoosiers, such as temporarily suspending the record-high 62.4 cents per gallon in state taxes levied on every gallon of gasoline sold in Indiana. State Sen. Michael Griffin, D-Highland, said GOP lawmakers also could have boosted state funding for Indiana families long before they banned almost all abortions. "Hoosiers and their loved ones shouldnt have to wait to get essential funding for their newborns and mothers. Every aspect of Senate Bill 2 rings as too little, too late: I voted yes because it was made clear this was the best offer we would get for Hoosiers this special session," Griffin said. Planning for the new two-year state budget already is underway ahead of the 2023 General Assembly that's due in January to begin considering how to spend approximately $40 billion in taxpayer dollars. The next major step in that process will be the mid-December release of the updated state revenue forecast. Here are the recent bookings by the Porter County Sheriff's Department. All information is taken directly from the website. Much of the early fallout surrounding the release of Beyonces Renaissance in the sense that there can be any true fallout from a militarily precise rollout that moves in stealth and is staffed by armies of writers, producers, marketers, lawyers and social media savants came down to matters of acknowledgment and credit. These are concerns that are, in essence, legal, but really more philosophical and moral. Acknowledging a source of inspiration, direct or indirect, is correct business practice but also, in the era of internet-centric hyperaccountability, something akin to playing offense as defense. This is perhaps unusually true in regards to Renaissance, a meticulous album thats a rich and thoughtful exploration and interpretation of the past few decades in American dance music, particularly its Black, queer roots, touching on disco, house, ballroom and more. The credits and the list of collaborators are scrupulous Beyonce worked with producers and writers from those worlds and sampled foundational tracks from those scenes. CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after the leadership of Iran called for his death following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. But in recent years, declaring Oh, I have to live my life, he re-entered society, regularly appearing in public around New York City without evident security. On Friday morning, any sense that threats to his life were a thing of the past was dispelled when an attacker rushed the stage of Chautauqua Institution here in Western New York, where Mr. Rushdie was scheduled to give a talk about the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers. The assailant stabbed Mr. Rushdie, 75, in the abdomen and the neck, the police and witnesses said, straining to continue the attack even as several people held him back. Mr. Rushdie was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Erie, Pa., where he was in surgery for several hours on Friday afternoon. Mr. Rushdies agent, Andrew Wylie, said Friday evening that Mr. Rushdie was on a ventilator and could not speak. Here is a guide to Mr. Rushdies most famous work. Mr. Rushdies second novel received the Booker Prize, and became an international success. The novel, about modern Indias coming-of-age, is told through the life of Saleem Sinai, born at the very moment of Indias independence. For a long time it has seemed that novels from India write their own blurbs: poised, witty, delicate, sparkling, our reviewer wrote. What this fiction has been missing is a different kind of ambition, something just a little coarse, a hunger to swallow India whole and spit it out. If Midnights Children placed Mr. Rushdie on the global literary stage, his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, brought him a painful level of visibility: The book, particularly its satirical depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, ignited a furor. After Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, found the book blasphemous and issued a fatwa against Mr. Rushdie, urging Muslims to kill the author, he went into hiding for years. Mr. Rushdies first novel since The Satanic Verses, Michiko Kakutani wrote in The Times, traces the downward spiral of expectations experienced by India as post-independence hopes for democracy crumbled during the emergency rule declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, and early dreams of pluralism gave way to sectarian violence and political corruption. She went on to call it a huge, sprawling, exuberant novel and a dark historical parable that rivals Mr. Rushdies 1981 masterpiece, Midnights Children, in scope, inventiveness and ambition. Salman Rushdie has been living under a death sentence since 1989, about six months after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, which fictionalized parts of the life of the Prophet Muhammad with depictions that many Muslims found offensive and some considered blasphemous. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, issued a fatwa on Feb. 14, 1989, ordering Muslims to kill Mr. Rushdie and putting a price on his head of several million dollars. Mr. Rushdie, who lived in London at the time, immediately went into hiding with 24-hour protection from the British police, moving every three days from place to place until a fortified safehouse was prepared for him. He lived there for most of the next 10 years. In 2015 the actress Phylicia Rashad said of her former co-star Bill Cosbys accusers, Forget these women. Last year, when Cosbys sexual assault conviction was overturned, she tweeted, FINALLY!!!! before deleting it, tweeting a walk-back and apologizing to the Howard University community. She remains the dean of Howards college of fine arts. The MSNBC host Joy Reid was revealed to have written homophobic blog posts in the aughts, and her later attempts to explain them away werent terribly convincing. This blotted her record, but after a brief outcry, her career as a progressive oracle on prime-time TV remains intact. Contrast Reids situation to the Emmy-winning actress Roseanne Barr being fired from the sitcom she starred in because of a racially demeaning tweet about the former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett. Try to imagine a white male university official getting so smooth a ride as Rashad after caping for Cosby. Ponder the stock response of Democratic voters to a white male member of Congress accused of antisemitism. Is there a sense on the left where it seems the canceling impulse is strongest that Black women should get more of a pass on transgressions of social justice etiquette because of the double burden of being female and Black? Im not sure. But whatever our verdict on that, I am sure that this measure of forbearance should be the default for public or historical figures. Of course, its fair, maybe necessary in some instances, to chastise these figures. Of course, sometimes there will be transgressions so widely condemned that the transgressors are irredeemable. But most of the time, emphasizing peoples contributions despite their flaws seeing them in totality and not boiling down their lives to their specific missteps is just civilized rationality. The idea that an isolated breach of social justice etiquette should derail a career is calisthenic. So when we see that happening, we should hesitate and, in most cases, root for outcomes where people get criticized, perhaps, for their wrongthink but not shoved out of the public square. I recommend Walkers The Temple of My Familiar, a book that left me ashamed of being a man and yet wanting to read it again. Reids career as a broadcaster outweighs any parochial views about gay people she now disavows. Id happily see Rashad in acting roles forever, despite my disappointment in her take on Cosby. I, frankly, wouldnt vote for Omar but accept that voters in her district see things differently. By contrast, Mr. Turner said pointedly on Friday: We support our men and women in uniform. And we request that anybody whos made outrageous statements like that, that you question them and not us. After a federal judge unsealed the warrant authorizing the search of Mar-a-Lago and an inventory of items removed from the property by federal agents, Republicans followed different strategies in responding. The documents showed the F.B.I. had retrieved 11 sets of classified documents, including four sets of top secret documents, as part of an inquiry into potential violations of the Espionage Act and two other laws. While the Republicans said they all stood by Mr. Trump, some embraced a toned-down response. Im not for anything thats critical of law enforcement, said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma. On the other hand, this is a very unusual situation, and the D.O.J. and the F.B.I. ought to come up here and answer questions. It just seems to me this was excessive and over the top. Mr. Cole said he was willing to listen to what the Justice Department had to say. Not so for Ms. Greene. On the Capitol steps, Ms. Greene told a flock of reporters she planned to march into the building to introduce articles of impeachment against Mr. Garland, whom she accused of political persecution of Mr. Trump. The whole purpose of this is to prevent President Trump from ever being able to hold office, she said. The list of items that the warrant authorized the F.B.I. to seize captured this nuance. It said agents could take documents with classification markings, along with anything else in the boxes or containers where they found such files, but also any information regarding the retrieval, storage or transmission of national defense information or classified material. The government has not said what specific documents investigators thought Mr. Trump had kept at Mar-a-Lago, nor what they found there. The inventory of items was vague, including multiple mentions of miscellaneous top-secret documents, for example. But the invocation of the retrieval, storage or transmission of secret information in the warrant offered a potential clue to at least one category of the files the F.B.I. may have been looking for. One possible interpretation of that phrase is that it hinted at encrypted communications, hacking or surveillance abilities. The other two laws invoked in the warrant do not have to do with national security. The second, Section 1519, is an obstruction law that is part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a broad set of reforms enacted by Congress in 2002 after financial scandals at firms like Enron, Arthur Andersen and WorldCom. Section 1519 sets a penalty of up to 20 years in prison per offense for the act of destroying or concealing documents or records with the intent to impede, obstruct or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies. The warrant does not specify whether that obstruction effort is a reference to the governments attempts to retrieve all the publicly owned documents that should be given to the National Archives and Records Administration, or something separate. The leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, the countrys largest Protestant denomination, said on Friday that the church was under investigation by the Justice Department for sexual abuse and that it would fully and completely cooperate. Church leaders said in a statement that multiple branches of the denomination, which includes seminaries and missionary organizations, were under investigation and that the church was continuing to grieve and lament past mistakes. In May, leaders of the church published a scathing review that said reports of sexual abuse were suppressed by top church officials for two decades. Even though the F.B.I.s inventory of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago indicated that numerous files had markings like top secret, Mr. Trump said on Friday that he had declassified all the material. Presidents wield sweeping power to declassify documents, although normally when that happens such markings are removed. But even if Mr. Trump declassified the information before he left office, none of the three potential crimes cited by the department in seeking the warrant depend on whether a mishandled document has been deemed classified. The warrant said the agents would be searching for material as they investigated potential violations of the Espionage Act, which outlaws the unauthorized retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary a standard that was written by Congress before the creation of the modern classification system. It also cited a federal law that makes it a crime to destroy or conceal a document to obstruct a government investigation, and another statute that bars the unlawful taking or destruction of government records or documents. The existence of a search warrant does not mean the Justice Department has decided to pursue criminal charges against anyone. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong. A federal court in Florida unsealed the search warrant and the inventory on Friday after a request from the Justice Department a day earlier to make them public. Sections of the warrant and the accompanying inventory were reported earlier in the The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times obtained them as well before they were unsealed. HANOVER, Germany Gerhard Schroder, the former German chancellor, has filed a lawsuit against the countrys Parliament over its decision to cut funding for his post-chancellery perks because of his ties to Russia amid Moscows invasion of Ukraine, his lawyer said Friday, according to DPA, the German wire service. Since the invasion began, Mr. Schroder has declined to sever all of his ties to Russian oil and has held on to his friendship with Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin. The former chancellor, who was in office from 1998 to 2005, has traveled to Moscow at least twice in recent months and suggested last week that he would be ideally placed to help in peace negotiations because of his relationship with Mr. Putin. In an interview with the newsmagazine Stern and the television channel RTL/ntv, Mr. Schroder asked whether distancing himself from Mr. Putin would do any good. Maybe I can be useful again, he said of any prospective talks to end the war. Repeated shelling inside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant complex over the past seven days has revived concerns of a nuclear accident. The Ukrainians have accused the Russians of directing strikes there to cut off energy supplies to other cities and to try to discredit the Ukrainian military in the worlds eyes. The Russians say Ukraine is doing the shelling. Both sides would suffer if a meltdown occurred and spread radioactive material. While they are designed to withstand a range of risk from a plane crashing into the facility to natural disasters no operating nuclear power plant has ever been in the middle of active fighting, and this one was not designed with the threat of cruise missiles in mind. A Russian attack on the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine early Friday left two civilians dead, 13 others injured, and damaged dozens of homes, according to Ukrainian officials. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional military leader in eastern Donetsk Province, confirmed the attack in social media posts and shared a video of the damage caused by 11 Russian rocket strikes. The video showed several homes that had sustained roof damage, and windows in some houses appeared to have been blown out. Law enforcement officials and rescuers were working in the area, Mr. Kyrylenko said. The Russians cynically and coldbloodedly turned the private sector of the city into ruins, Mr. Kyrylenko said on social media posts. KYIV, Ukraine In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Russian troops seized control of Europes largest nuclear power plant after a fierce battle that included shrapnel hitting the containment structure of Reactor No. 1. The resulting fire was quickly extinguished, a thick wall prevented a breach, and in the ensuing five months the war, and global attention, moved on to new fronts, new outrages and new horrors. The war has had no shortage of devastation and global consequence shifting geopolitical alliances, hunger in Africa exacerbated by missing grain exports, massacres of Ukrainian civilians, mass migrations and enormous losses of Ukrainian and Russian troops. Yet the repeated shelling of the sprawling Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in recent days has particularly roused widespread fears and outrage about the sheer folly and existential danger of turning Europes largest nuclear power plant into a theater of war. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, speaking late Thursday night to a nation that still bears the scars of nuclear catastrophe from the meltdown of the facility at Chernobyl in 1986, said the Kremlin was engaging in unconcealed nuclear blackmail and called the situation at the plant one of the biggest crimes of the terrorist state. The most pressing concerns focus on the risk of a meltdown. While they are designed to withstand a range of risk from a plane crashing into the facility to natural disasters no operating nuclear power plant has ever been in the middle of active fighting, and this one was not designed with the threat of cruise missiles in mind. There are several main concerns. The concrete shell of the sites six reactors offer strong protection, as was the case when the No. 1 reactor was struck in March, officials say. More worrying is the chance that a power transformer is hit by shelling, raising the risk of a fire. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of hiding dozens of military vehicles with an unknown amount of munitions on the premises of at least two reactors. If a fire were to break out at the power transformers and the electric network was taken offline, that could cause a breakdown of the plants cooling system and lead to a catastrophic meltdown, said Edwin Lyman, a nuclear power expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a private group in Cambridge, Mass. He noted that the loss of coolant during the Fukushima accident in Japan in 2011 resulted in three reactors undergoing some degree of core meltdown. If the cooling is interrupted, Dr. Lyman said, the nuclear fuel could become hot enough to melt in a matter of hours. Eventually, it could melt through the steel reactor vessel and even the outer containment structure, releasing radioactive material. According to Ukrainian officials, a shell hit a power transformer at the No. 6 reactor at the same time the No. 1 reactor was struck. It did not explode, according to Ukrainian officials. Founded in 1874 by Lewis Miller and John Heyl Vincent as an educational experiment in vacation learning, Chautauqua began as a Methodist retreat but quickly grew into a community for other Protestant denominations as well. Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work Card 1 of 5 Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work Midnights Children (1981). Salman Rushdies second novel, about modern Indias coming-of-age, received the Booker Prize, and became an international success. The story is told through the life of Saleem Sinai, born at the very moment of Indias independence. Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work The Satanic Verses (1988). With its satirical depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, Mr. Rushdies fourth novel, ignited a furor that reverberated globally. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, found the book blasphemous and issued a fatwa, or religious edict, urging Muslims to kill the author. Subsequently, Mr. Rushdie went into hiding for years. Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work The Moors Last Sigh (1995). Mr. Rushdies following novel traced the downward spiral of expectations experienced by India as post-independence hopes for democracy crumbled during the emergency rule declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work Fury (2001). Published after Mr. Rushdie moved to New York, this novel follows a doll maker named Malik who has recently arrived in the city after leaving his wife and child in London. Although Rushdie inhabits his novels in all manner of guises and transformations, he has never been so literally present as in this one, a Times reviewer wrote. Salman Rushdies Most Influential Work Joseph Anton (2012). This memoir relays Mr. Rushdies experiences after the fatwa was issued. The book takes its name from Mr. Rushdies alias while he was in hiding, an amalgamation of the names of favorite authors Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. The book also discusses Mr. Rushdies childhood (and particularly, his alcoholic father), his marriages and more. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the institution flourished and spawned a movement, with other Chautauqua centers cropping up in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and beyond. Over the years, the institution has featured prominent writers and thinkers stretching from Mark Twain to former Justice Sandra Day OConnor. Today, the Chautauqua Institution, which is about an hour south of Buffalo, is largely unchanged from its heyday a century ago. The manicured grounds feature lawn bowling courts and art galleries, and string quartets play in the grass outside a stately hotel. A few hundred residents stay on the grounds year-round, and the population swells during a nine-week summer season, when homeowners and guests flock to the institution for a feast of cultural programming, ranging from Sheryl Crow to Ballet Hispanico. Mr. Rushdie was the featured speaker for the 10:45 a.m. lecture on Friday. Though Mr. Rushdie had lived in a fortified safe house in London for the 10 years after a price was put on his head, he has been making public appearances for many years, often with minimal security. Moments after Mr. Rushdie took the stage on Friday, the assailant rushed down an aisle of the amphitheater, pushing aside startled guests. The attacker faced no apparent resistance as he took the stage and began stabbing Mr. Rushdie, who was seated and waiting for the talk to begin. Jan Longone, a curious, cordial and diligent food scholar who started a mail-order cookbook business from her Michigan basement that led to friendships with towering culinary figures like Julia Child and grew into one of the nations great cookbook collections, died on Aug. 3 in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 89. The death, at a hospice center, was confirmed by her husband, Daniel Longone. Ms. Longones career had the most practical of beginnings. In the 1950s, when she and her husband were both in graduate school at Cornell University, where she studied Chinese history and he studied chemistry, some fellow students invited them to a dinner party where they served the Indian food they had grown up eating. The students asked Ms. Longone to reciprocate with a typical American meal. She realized she had no idea what that might be or how to prepare it, so she went to a library and discovered the vast world of cookbooks. On paper, at least, Ms. Williams appears to be a good fit. Patagonia, which donates 1 percent of its sales to environmental groups, is another atypical retailer, also with a visionary founder and similar ideals to Eileen Fisher on how products should be made, worn and ideally made and worn again. A decade ahead of many of her competitors, Ms. Fisher started her Renew line in 2009, which sells secondhand garments, while the Waste No More initiative takes damaged garments and makes them into fabric. Patagonia was also early to embrace organic materials, has a long history of political activism and once ran an ad telling people not to buy its products. The fashion industry is in a terrible conundrum, with too much stuff and rampant overproduction and overconsumption, Ms. Fisher said. How do we begin to make sense of it? How do we grow our brand without growing our carbon footprint? I just found Lisa and I to be so in sync when it came to scratching the surface of these complex conversations. Ms. Fisher noted that the two women were also fully aligned on not being driven purely by financial results. (Just the same, Eileen Fisher has been profitable for all but two years since its inception, the company said, with sales of $241 million last year.) And few are as knowledgeable or connected as Ms. Williams when it comes to the complex workings of the fashion supply chain, a global and murky ecosystem in which many brands have little or no knowledge of who makes their clothes. We both agree one of the most important ways we can be sustainable is to reduce, Ms. Fisher said. Just do less: Buy less, consume less, produce less. Thats a really hard line to walk when youre trying to run a business, and youre measuring your success by how much you sell. But I needed someone who was fully on board with that. Their districts were redrawn and partially combined, but discussions failed to push one of the two influential committee leaders to run for a different seat. So Mr. Nadler chose to not seek re-election in his 10th District, and entered the primary for Ms. Maloneys seat. A third candidate in the race, Suraj Patel, has painted himself as the face of a much needed generational shift. At 38, Mr. Patel, a lawyer who helped run his familys successful motel business, is half the age of his two more established opponents. Mr. Patel has challenged Ms. Maloney twice before, coming closest to victory in 2020 when he lost by four percentage points. But drawing distinct ideological differences between himself and both Ms. Maloney and Mr. Nadler has been difficult. The pair has countered that their seniority will matter whether Democrats remain in power or not. The remapping and Mr. Nadlers and Ms. Maloneys decision to run in the same district created a rare open seat in the 10th District, covering parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The opportunity has drawn a range of entrants, including Representative Mondaire Jones, who currently represents a district in Rockland County and parts of Westchester; and Elizabeth Holtzman, once the youngest woman elected to the House of Representatives who, at the age of 81, is now vying to become the oldest nonincumbent elected to Congress. Daniel Goldman, an impeachment investigator in the trial of former president Donald J. Trump, has never held elective office, but has vast personal wealth to draw from and recently gave his campaign $1 million. And that is one of the ways that I want to increase affordable housing provide encouragement and incentives for developers to make enough money, but also require them to give a lot back. So I can assure you look, the campaign finance system needs dramatic overhaul. We need public financing. I fully support that. Even in this race, weve got someone coming from another district with a war chest running here. Weve got someone in the City Council whos taking money from lobbyists and special interests before the city. The whole thing needs to just be revamped, and we need public financing. But I can assure you that a $2,900 or a $5,800 donation from any one individual is not going to influence anything that I do. Eleanor Randolph: We are sort of up against our time limit. But you told a local news outlet that you would not object to a state law banning abortion after the point of fetal viability, and in cases where there was no threat to the life of the woman and the fetus is viable. You later said that you misspoke and that you do not support restrictions on abortion. Which is it? And could you clarify your personal views and how you feel you would vote on some of these issues if you were a member of Congress? Absolutely. Thank you for asking the question. Id love to clarify. I was in an interview where I was getting a series of lengthy hypothetical questions. And, frankly, the lawyer in me felt like I was back in law school with the Socratic method, and I started focusing in my mind on the legal standard that was outlined in Roe and that has been adopted by New York State and their Reproductive Health Act, and is also the standard in the Womens Health Protection Act in Congress. What I realized soon after I answered that question is, wait a minute, I dont think thats what he was actually asking me. I think he was asking a much more normative question on what my views are on abortion. And my views on choice and abortion is that it is unequivocally 100 percent a womans right to choose. And the decision should be made solely by a woman and her doctor, and the government should have no role in that medical room to make a determination. Before we were talking about some of the different ways that I will fight to expand access to abortion. I listed three that I dont need to repeat again. But I have been thinking about this intensively since Dobbs, and it is not enough just to say weve got to codify Roe, we have to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Mr. Goldmans law enforcement experience offers a valuable perspective at a time when New Yorkers are concerned about public safety. As a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, his focus was often on Mafia-related cases and white-collar crimes. In law school, he contributed to Michelle Alexanders groundbreaking book about racism and mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow. He is a committed public servant, supports a ban on stock trading by members of Congress and has stated that he will put his considerable wealth into a blind trust if elected. Although he lives in the district, much of which is affluent, Mr. Goldman would need to use his first term to convince the large numbers of lower-income and middle-class Americans he would represent that he understands the issues facing those constituents, especially the need for more affordable housing and better public transportation. Mr. Jones, in his first term currently representing Rockland County and parts of Westchester County, has distinguished himself in Congress as a bridge builder between the progressive wing of his party and its more moderate leadership. He has a reputation for being a prolific legislator, particularly on voting rights. He wrote parts of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act and named his work on last years bipartisan infrastructure package as his biggest achievement. After the messy redistricting process, Mr. Jones considered a choice between two districts: the 17th, which would have pitted him against the head of the powerful Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or the 16th, in which he would have had to challenge another Black progressive. Instead, Mr. Jones decided to move to New York City to run in the 10th District, which includes Greenwich Village, a formative place in his youth, he told the board. The newly created 12th Congressional District puts voters on Manhattans East and West Sides into a single district, forcing a contest between the veteran House members Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, who have represented the borough for decades. A third candidate, Suraj Patel, a Democratic organizer, is making headway, too. Mr. Nadler has served in Congress since 1992, and his seniority has proved a critical asset for New Yorkers. He is the chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, and he has used his ample influence and seniority to advance urgent legislative work on gun safety, voting rights, the Trump impeachments and more. He has a deep knowledge of this district and the issues most important to daily life in the city, especially housing, transportation and safety. Voters in the northern suburbs of New York City face a choice this August between two candidates with distinct visions for the future of the Democratic Party and with different histories in the district. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney is a longtime resident of the newly drawn district, and he knows its constituents well. His positions on the big issues climate change, housing affordability, public safety, abortion rights, L.G.B.T.Q. rights are consistent with what this district needs, and he has a record of supporting them with votes in Congress. When you represent a district that voted for Donald Trump, as I do, you take seriously trying to listen to peoples priorities. And a lot of those are pretty nonpartisan including infrastructure, agriculture issues, veterans issues and clean drinking water Mr. Maloney said in an interview with the editorial board. As an autocrat at heart, Trump simply conflates himself with the republic. Thats why he probably never thought he was committing sedition on Jan. 6 when he egged on the mob to overthrow the government he was running. Part of that mob was Ricky Shiffer, who was killed by the police on Thursday after he attacked an Ohio F.B.I. office after Trump denounced the agencys raid. Trump is also an expert at projection. As Peter Baker wrote in The Times, Throughout his four years in the White House, Mr. Trump tried to turn the nations law enforcement apparatus into an instrument of political power to carry out his wishes. Now, he is accusing the F.B.I. of being a political weapon for his successor. This egomaniac is desecrating our democracy, tearing the country apart for his own benefit. Fund-raising emails ranting about the F.B.I. search of Mar-a-Lago should be headlined: Lets Ruin America So We Can Make Some Money Off It! (Actually, Rupert Murdoch could use that as a chyron.) The utterly spoiled Fifth Avenue brat accustomed to living in gilt palaces and cheating his way to success portrays himself as the worlds biggest victim. By degrading law enforcement and undermining government, he perpetuates his dark vision that no ones legit and everyones out to get him, allowing him to lie and cheat with ease. One of the more delicious aspects of this is that Merrick Garland, the man Mitch McConnell kept off the Supreme Court, is now the one who could bring Trump to justice. Trump is always whining that someone else should be in trouble, not him. On Friday, he put out a baseless claim, President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots! WELLFLEET, Mass. Sunday is turnaround day for the Cape Cod Modern House Trust, when the four houses it maintains are readied for the next group of tenants the artists, writers and architecture buffs who jockey for a chance to spend a week in these modest bohemian monuments. Peter McMahon, an architect and the founding director of the trust, is the chief steward of this winsome collection of architecture. He and others rescued the houses from extreme decay over the last decade in an unusual arrangement with the National Park Service, which owns the structures, along with the more than 44,000 acres of beach, marsh and woodlands that make up the Cape Cod National Seashore. Signed into law in the summer of 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the National Seashore Act was an extraordinary confluence of politics and civic will that preserved the 40 miles of shoreline and uplands that stretch from Chatham to Provincetown and encompass more than half of Wellfleet. This is the ecosystem famously lampooned by the writer Mary McCarthy as the seacoast of Bohemia. McCarthy was marooned here in the 1930s because of her doomed and stormy marriage to Edmund Wilson, the prolific cultural critic and author who was an early Outer Cape pioneer. (He was chasing Edna St. Vincent Millay when he first arrived in the 1920s.) The city of Sacramento on Friday said it had agreed to pay $1.7 million to the parents of Stephon Clark, an unarmed Black man who was shot seven times by city police officers in March 2018. The payment settled the final portion of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by his parents and ends the familys legal action against the city, the city attorney, Susana Alcala Wood, said in a statement. Mr. Clark was 22 years old when two officers in the Sacramento Police Department chased him into his grandmothers backyard and shot at him 20 times, killing him. His death ignited widespread protests in the capital city and prompted the city and the state to change their policies around the use of deadly force by police officers. GRAND-BASSAM, Ivory Coast The worker carefully peeled the husks from the cocoa beans to keep them from breaking, then tipped them into a metal tray that a colleague slid into an oven. The aroma of roasting beans filled the small shop in this seaside town, where the worker, Marie-France Kozoro, readied the next batch for its journey to becoming chocolate. Nearly six million people rely on the cocoa industry in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, the worlds biggest cocoa producer. But most of them are not involved in the processing of the crispy, sour beans that are turned into a sweet treat. Instead, they focus on growing, harvesting and selling raw cocoa beans bound for Europe and are mostly excluded from the financial benefits produced by the lucrative chocolate industry. It is chocolate made abroad, not raw cocoa, that yields the most revenue, and that money flows to larger foreign producers. Building Momentum Other projects have sought to bring people from the two countries together over the years, including student exchanges and art projects, said Urvashi Butalia, the author of The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. But she said Punjabi Lehar is unique because it celebrates the identity of Punjab, one of the states of British India that was divided by partition. (It was also the site of several bloody clashes afterward that pitted Muslims against Hindus and Sikhs.) It harks to an identity that existed before partition, and in some ways continues after a regional, linguistic, cultural identity, which links people together despite religious differences and rejects the assumption the British made at partition, that the only identity that needed to be foregrounded was the religious one, Ms. Butalia said. Mr. Dhillon, who is Muslim, said that his interest in partitions legacy comes from his grandfather, who would tell the family stories about their ancestral village in Indian Punjab, and the Sikh friends and neighbors he used to know. Mr. Igarashi may be the only person to be killed because of their work with Mr. Rushdie. Several others survived attempts on their lives, including Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of The Satanic Verses, who was stabbed in his apartment in Milan days before the attack on Mr. Igarashi. In July 1993, the Turkish novelist Aziz Nesin, who had published a translated excerpt from The Satanic Verses in a local newspaper, narrowly escaped death when a crowd of militants burned down a hotel in eastern Turkey where he was staying in an attempt to kill him. Mr. Nesin, who was then 78, escaped the building via a firefighters ladder. But 37 others intellectuals who had gathered at the hotel to discuss ways of promoting secularism died in the blaze. A Turkish court later sentenced 33 people to death for their roles in the attack. In October 1993, the Norwegian publisher of The Satanic Verses, William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home in Oslo. He made a full recovery and went on to reprint the book in defiance. In 2018, the Norwegian police filed charges in the case two days before a deadline that would have foreclosed prosecution. They declined to name the suspects or specify how many had been charged. Russia still maintains a huge advantage in the size of its weapons arsenal, and Ukraine has suffered heavily over the course of the war. As many as 200 soldiers were being killed each day at one point; the civilian death toll has topped 5,000, according to United Nations estimates; and several of the countrys cities have been flattened. But Moscow has had no major territorial gains since the capture of the eastern Luhansk Province in late June. Ukraine was bolstered on Thursday when the defense ministers of 26 countries, including Britain and Denmark, pledged about $1.55 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Ben Wallace, Britains defense minister, said the aid would include additional multiple-launch rocket systems and long-range missiles. We are not getting tired, Mr. Wallace said of his countrys continued support for Ukraine. Morten Bodskov, Denmarks defense minister, said his country would not just help with weapons, but that it would also assist in training service members. The aid, which Mr. Zelensky has called for repeatedly since the war began, added to another package from the United States that was announced earlier this week. The Pentagon said on Monday that it would send more ammunition in a new shipment of up to $1 billion worth of weapons and supplies. With that, the United States will have sent more than $9 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. It is there, particularly in the Kherson region, which was the first region of Ukraine lost to Russian forces, that Ukraine hopes it can begin to turn the tide of the war. Using HIMARS and other long-range weapons, Ukrainian forces have slowly chipped away at Russias ability to supply troops holding territory west of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson, which Russian forces have controlled since the first weeks of the war. Serhii Khlan, an adviser to the head of the Kherson regions military administration, said on Facebook that the destruction of the final remaining bridge over the Dnipro River on Saturday was part of Ukraines strategy to frustrate the Russian forces. Of course, they will try to repair, look for an alternative in the crossings, he said. But it is time, money, and then as soon as they prepare and gain equipment and strength we will destroy it again. The idea, according to Ukrainian commanders, is to make conditions so untenable that Russia withdraws across the Dnipro on its own in the face of the expected Ukrainian counterattack. Our soldiers are inventive and progressive, while the Russians are working by the book, deploying battle formations as it was laid out in the Soviet Union, Vitaliy Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regions military administration, said in an interview last week. Our guys have read this book and understand it perfectly well, and are using it for their own goals. There are a lot of things we dont know, Mr. Lotfy said. It doesnt make sense to me. But its good for us, so. Members of the pardon committee have said recently that more than 1,000 people politicians, political activists and journalists, among others are being considered for release. Yet at the same time, lawyers say, the authorities are making new arrests every day, while at least 33 of those released since April have been consigned to detention again under new accusations. Most of those released from Tora prison on that hot day in June had waited three years for that moment, never getting formally charged, never going on trial. After all of that, to be handed a pardon so suddenly felt supersonic. No one outside the secretive Sisi government knows why, exactly, or why now. But for the dozens of friends and family members waiting outside Tora, the releases were long overdue. This is the first time since 2018 that no one I really, really care about is in prison, said Lobna Monieb, a podcast producer whose father, cousin and friend had all been detained in recent years. Its a good moment. Her cousin was freed in 2019, her father last year. Now she was waiting for the release of her friend, Kholoud Said, a translator and researcher at the famed Great Library of Alexandria. Ms. Said was first arrested in April 2020 after writing posts critical of the government on Facebook. Like thousands of other political detainees, she was accused of joining a terrorist group, spreading fake news and misusing social media. But she was never formally charged or tried. Ireland's heatwave is set to end in dramatic fashion on Sunday with Met Eireann forecasting a big change in the weather. Met Eireann has issued a Status Yellow Thunderstorm Warning for Ireland from 3pm on Sunday until 3am on Monday. Met Eireann is warning that while some places will stay dry, hit and miss thunderstorm activity along with hail and heavy downpours may lead to spot flooding and hazardous driving conditions. Status Yellow - Thunderstorm warning for Ireland While some places will stay dry, hit & miss thunderstorm activity along with hail & heavy downpours may lead to spot flooding & hazardous driving conditions. Valid: 3pm Sunday 14/8 to 3am Monday 15/8 pic.twitter.com/Z8gZMNab5x Met Eireann (@MetEireann) August 13, 2022 Temperatures are set to reach as high as 31 degrees on Saturday and will range between 14 and 19 degrees tonight. According to the latest Met Eireann weather forecast, Sunday will be another hot day with temperatures reaching 25 to 30 degrees, although it won't be as hot in the north and northwest. Most parts of the country will be dry and sunny during the morning but there will be a few showers in northern areas, possibly heavy. Through the course of the afternoon and evening, scattered heavy and thundery showers will develop across the country, some of these with hail. Slow-moving downpours are possible, causing spot flooding. Winds will be light and variable. It will remain warm and humid on Sunday night with temperatures staying above 13 to 17 degrees. Early in the night there will be mostly dry and clear conditions but cloud and showers will move into the west and southwest and will spread northeastwards across much of the country overnight. Some heavy and thundery falls are possible early on. There will be light northerly or variable winds. Monday will see a dramatic falls in temperatures from recent days with temperatures ranging from 15 to 23 degrees. Showery rain will continue to move northeastwards across the country on Monday morning. This will be followed by scattered showers and occasional sunny breaks from the southwest. The showers are likely to be heavy in Munster and south Leinster, with a chance of thunder, so spot flooding is possible. Highest temperatures will range between 15 degrees in the northwest and 23 degrees in the southeast, so not as warm as the weekend. Light to moderate northerly winds, becoming fresh on Atlantic coasts. The leader of a British transport union says he has been told by Irish people that his message is really resonating with them, and they want to see the same messaging from their own unions and politicians. Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, rose to prominence in June after conducting a series of media interviews about a rail workers strike held over pay and conditions the largest rail strike for a generation. Mr Lynch whose father left Cork city in 1941 to travel to Britain to get work, and whose mother is from Co Armagh is in Cork this weekend. He spoke to Second Captains programme on Saturday about his sporting allegiances, his Irish heritage and being a trade unionist. When asked if he had been recognised during his trip, Mr Lynch said yeah, theres been a few selfies. He added: Ive got a hat on, Im trying to hide a bit, but theres a few people who are asking are you Mick Lynch? and all that. The first bar I walked into, the barman said are you Mick Lynch and a few people are coming up to me. Its very nice that people want to say hello and its nice what they say. Theyre saying keep on going, what youre doing is really resonating with us, and can you keep it up? People have asked me back over and to speak at various events, which is all very good. So Im hoping to keep all that going. He said: But Im very aware that your stock can be up one week and you can be very down the next week if something goes wrong or the tide turns against you a bit. Mick Lynch slots in in a very respectable second place at the halfway mark of this year's race You can listen back to Mick on our Second Captains Saturday podcast feed or right here now: https://t.co/LNp2XvVOqM pic.twitter.com/Q2rAz3SzIO Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) August 13, 2022 Mr Lynch said that the RMT union was pleased with the public reaction in Britain and internationally to their message, including in Ireland. He added: Theres been a lot of people in touch with us saying its been inspirational and they want the same from their unions and from their politicians really, because people are struggling in a lot of areas in society. Mr Lynch spoke about his Irish roots on the programme, saying that there was a strong Irish contingent in the area of west London he grew up in, nicknamed county Kilburn. He said: We were always in unions, its just what we did. For us, it was the same as going to mass. Being a union activist was the same as being from west London. Speaking about joining the rail union, Mr Lynch said that he had initially aimed to keep a low profile, but that the gift of the gab took over and he began recruiting people into the union as the railways were privatised. If you see a ball, you ought to kick it sometimes, he said. The Ukrainian president first urged a visa ban in an interview this week, saying Russians should live in their own world until they changed their philosophy. As German cities heat up, the federal government has announced plans to increase the number of public drinking fountains to help ease the impact of the changing climate. The plan also has other environmental benefits. The Russian Foreign Office has said if the US seizes its assets, it could lead to a total breakdown in bilateral relations. Meanwhile, the UK said Russia could face big logistical problems in Kherson. Read DW for more. Police in Ukraine are investigating 26,000 war crimes committed by Russian soldiers and expect to uncover thousands more as land is retaken and towns and villages liberated, Sky News has been told. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Russia's military shelled residential areas across Ukraine overnight, claiming gains, as Ukrainian forces pressed a counteroffensive, striking the last working bridge over a river in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. Serbia is something of a paradoxical refuge for thousands of Russians who have moved there since the Ukraine war. The government has refused to impose sanctions on the Kremlin, and many Serbs support Russia's policies. In July, Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a grain corridor to allow Ukraine to resume its exports of grain. But a variety of issues continue to hinder the process. Meanwhile, the price of bread is rising around the world. The system that brings a person to the position of UK prime minister and thus head of the government bears no resemblance to US presidential elections. Watch VideoSalman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital. His condition was not immediately... Mediaite 16 Aug 2022 Salman Rusdhie's The Satanic Verses jumped to the top of numerous best seller lists on Amazon shortly after the author was attacked.. MANISTEE Work to install new windows is underway at CASMAN Academy, and director Shelly VanVoorst said she can't wait to see the finished product. The project will not only seal up the building and eliminate any draftiness, but also improve its appearance. "It's a fun project," she said. "It's going to make the building look really nice, and just updated. It's what the kids need, the community needs and the school needs." Work on the roughly $145,000 project is being done by Lakeshore Construction, of Manistee. VanVoorst said the school is using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding to pay for the project. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020 and provided $54.3 billion for the ESSER II Fund. ESSER III funding was enacted on March 11, 2021 under the American Rescue Plan, and provided a total of nearly $122 billion to states and school districts to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nations students. VanVoorst said the work started a little later than she had hoped, so the school's start date has been moved to Sept. 6 to make sure the building is ready for students. "They brought the trailer, the tools and all that good stuff on July 21, so they were a little bit later than we had hoped," VanVoorst said. "But, the windows arrived last week. That was a week earlier than they had anticipated ... so we're hoping to make up some time so that everything will be ready to go for Sept. 6." VanVoorst said once the new windows are installed workers will be redoing the surrounding drywall. She said it may take another week after the drywall is finished to get the rooms cleaned up and ready for school. "We originally had thought back in June that the project would go well enough and we were hopeful that we could start Aug. 30 the same week all the other schools are starting," VanVoorst said. "With them starting late and the windows arriving when they did, it's looking like drywall is not going to be done in time for us to start on Aug. 30." Kyle Kotecki/News Advocate Work on the building's facade can take place while students are in class, VanVoorst said. "Once they finish up all of the inside they're going to start working right away on the outside. We will definitely be in session while they're working on the outside of the building," she said. "Basically they're going to be filling in all of the cracks in all the bricks. ... After they get the cracks filled in, the new siding will go on the metal sheeting to cover up the cracks and insulate the building even further." The CASMAN school board voted unanimously in favor of accepting Lakeshore Construction's $145,000 bid during a meeting on April 25. UPDATE: This story was updated to reflect the correct spelling of the Cleon Township fire chief's name. COPEMISH Voters approved the Cleon Township Fire Department bond for a new fire station and township hall on Aug. 2; that project is progressing. Mark Griner, Cleon Township fire chief, said the passage of the bond means means the department can take the next steps in the process to build a new fire station. So weve got the architect under contract to finish the design and were hoping that if everything lines up right we could have the contract signed with a contractor at the September township board meeting, he said. The 0.8820-mills bond approved by voters this month is expected to raise approximately $650,000 over a 30-year period, Griner had previously said. But the bond is not enough to fully cover the costs of the new building. That is not enough money. Between the township, between the fire department, the general operations has saved $300,000 since we moved into the building we are in now, he had said. Part of the process for the department has been working to try to get the Manistee County Board of Commissioners to award some of the county's American Rescue Plan Act funds for the station. Griner said some of the commissioners were opposed to the funds being used for the departments station. Previously, Griner said there had been about 19 requests for the funding in the county. The county was awarded $4,770,104 through the American Rescue Plan Act. According to News Advocate reporting, there were 15 applicants for the last round of ARPA funds have requested a total of $3,898,653. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, school districts, units of government and other tax-exempt organizations that serve Manistee County residents. Why a new hall is needed The plan is to build a new station near the existing one on Imoff Drive in Copemish on land owned by Cleon Township. The building is estimated to cost about $1.1 million. Prior to the primary election, Griner had noted that the current fire station is not structurally sound. It also needs a new roof, siding, windows, doors and insulation, he had said. Griner said the Cleon Township Board bought the building the fire station currently occupies in 2007 and that it was built in the 1960s. About eight years ago, some work had been done on the building that helped to prolong its life span. Back in 2014, the Manistee County Local Revenue Sharing Board awarded us a grant (for) $60,000 for some structural work that was really needed to keep the roof from falling down. Back then, they said that would buy you about 10 years, Griner had explained. The future of the current building is still undecided. The current structure would have to be assessed. The board is thinking one of two things: It could be used as some type of cold storage facility in part of it that might be structurally feasible, or it may be demolished, Griner had said. The fire department covers Cleon and Springdale townships. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Forty beagles rescued from a testing facility are scheduled to arrive in Midland after a successful effort this week to find 50 beagles from the same facility their forever homes. Humane Society Director Beth Wellman drove across the country on Monday to bring 50 of the rescued dogs to Midland. All were adopted by visitors from across the state as of Thursday evening. The Humane Society of Midland County is one of many groups nationwide that have collaborated to absorb the beagles from the breeding facility. The United States Department of Justice has opened a federal investigation into the lab. Humane Society of Midland County Board President Nikki Rayce was relieved to witness the beagles experiencing life outside of cages. "They got a second chance," Rayce said. "They can be rehabilitated and become family members; it's fantastic." Now, the facility will welcome an additional forty dogs in about a week-and-a-half. More News 50 beagles saved from testing, adoptable in Midland "We've had a great response from the community and from across Michigan," she said on Friday. "With a lot more people still interested in helping these dogs, we agreed to take more." Wellman said beagles are commonly used in research because of their size and temperament. Prior to arriving at the shelter, she said the dogs were born and lived in the same cage. "They do acclimate into making fairly easy pets, but they are often a bit more quirky than your average dog. (They) need a lot more patience and safety nets in place for fear and running away," Wellman said. The adoption process requires an approved application. Wellman asks those interested to research care and other methods of preparation before consideration. Potential updates on the 40 beagles will be announced on the Humane Society of Midland County's Facebook page, which can be found by searching for the organization by name on the social media platform. PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) A judge turned down a request to have Gov. Gretchen Whitmer testify next week at a hearing about Michigan's 1931 anti-abortion law. A judge said Whitmer is suing a group of county prosecutors in her role as governor, not a private citizen. An appeal is being pursued by lawyers representing prosecutors in Kent and Jackson counties. Oakland County Judge Jacob Cunningham will hear arguments Wednesday about whether to issue an injunction and further suspend enforcement of the law, which makes it a crime to perform abortions unless the life of the mother is in danger. A restraining order has been in place since Aug. 1. Cunningham got involved when the state appeals court said a May decision suspending the law applied to the attorney general's office but not prosecutors. Most prosecutors in counties where abortion services are offered said they don't plan to enforce the law. But Republican prosecutors in Kent and Jackson counties said they can't rule out a case if police investigate and possibly seek a warrant. Whitmer and others in favor of abortion rights say the 1931 law violates the state constitution. The law was dormant until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, leaving abortion policy to states. The law is the focus of much litigation. The governor has repeatedly asked the Michigan Supreme Court to step in immediately and settle the matter. Voters in the fall could get an opportunity to add abortion rights to the constitution. MECOSTA Debate erupted during a public hearing at the Mecosta Village Tri-Lakes Association meeting Thursday night when one individual was concerned for local wildlife. "You guys poison the lakes," he said. "The dragonfly population is way down. Our frog population is way down. There used to be tens of thousands of spring peepers." There has been a significant effect according to this individual, citing the noticeable lack of the typical, recognizable sound of thousands of spring peepers that those used to living around the many lakes in Michigan are accustomed to in the summertime. The individual has lived in the Tri-Lakes area for 60 years, and also worked for 20 years as a research biologist. "These are indicator species," he said, meaning the fact that aquatic insects and amphibians are dwindling should be a red flag, or a sign that the the herbicides used to treat invasive weeds and other plants are affecting local non-invasive wildlife. He believes the problem lies in septic systems, and the city choosing to use tax money to fund the Tri-Lakes Association (TLA) rather than get down to the root of the problem. "I'm expected to pay taxes so you guys can dump chemicals in our lakes," he said. He also mentioned that fisheries are suffering due to the way the herbicides disrupt fish populations. "It's the toxic herbicides you guys dump into our lake year after year," he said. TLA president David Lewis insisted there are other factors at play, asking if there were any studies, or recorded proof of what was being suggested, to which the individual replied that his eyes and ears, as well as 60 years of living on the lakes, should be enough to be able to tell that something has gone askew. Following the public hearing, the TLA approved the appointment of new member, Randy Walsdorf, who is a resident of the Tri-Lakes area, for a four-year term. Walsdorf shared his sympathies with the previously agitated individual, saying "I get you. It must be heartbreaking." The TLA agreed to a five-year plan to continue its work dealing with invasive plant species on the Tri-Lakes, totaling a budget of $90,000. "We're trying to do the most cost-effective, safest thing we can," Lewis said. During the meeting the board also discussed plans to install a boat washing station on the lakes. The item was tabled due to a lack of information, or a site plan, and board members doubting whether many people would even make use of it. REMUS Eight artists are currently being featured at the Wheatland Township Library in Remus. Over the course of the next month, patrons at the Wheatland Township Library will get to observe art from eight local artists in the area. This art ranges from drawings and paintings, to woodwork and sculptures. Emmy Kurtz was one of the youngest people who had their art on display at the library. Being 12, she described how she became interested in creating the art pieces. When I touched the paper, it made me feel like I was in a different world. Like I was being myself and drawing. I do have a beautiful cloud and then a sun then a flower with grass on it. It made me feel like I was home, and I was being myself, she said. LJ Jordan had a multitude of paintings on display for patrons to purchases. Ranging from paper painting to paintings on canvas, her art showcased a multitude of colorfully diverse pieces of art. I discovered how I wanted to draw or how I wanted to paint and different art styles and everything and then kind of just threw myself into it," Jordan said. "I didn't really have a reason to, I just found it really fascinating how people did it." Terry Leiter displayed his woodwork pieces, which prominently displayed the American flag alongside a table that he built himself. Needing something to do after retirement and an extra source of income after a cancer diagnosis, Leiter turned to Pinterest and Facebook to help give him inspiration for his pieces. You find about anything on Facebook, and you just see a design that strikes you when you recreate it," Leiter said. "You do your own thing with it that kind of lives through you and the different things, patriotism seems to be lacking nowadays so this was a good subject for me. Leiter went on to describe what art meant to him and how art helped him. It is one of those things that just kind of keeps you centered. You know, it's just like, you know, everybody gets into this and it's a place to go out in the garage and kind of just lose myself and try not to think about anything other than your artwork, he said. Emmy Kurtz also explained what her art meant to her and why she enjoyed drawing. When I make mistakes, I redo them. Like I make them into different things. They could be a heart, a flower, an animal or maybe just a random thing. Your art can be a different place, if you just imagine. A line can be a tree, a butterfly, a person or maybe even your anxiety or an emotion you're feeling, Kurtz explained. Other art pieces shown included drawings by Dan Lee, a pottery statue by Karen Coville, a trifold educating readers on the geology of Michigan by Betsy Moskowitz, photography by Keghan Jensen, and statues and drawings by Julie Mayer. For more information on the pieces and inquiries on sales, visit the Wheatland Township Library Facebook page, or call (989) 967-8271. To see these pieces in person, library hours are Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Photo: (Photo : David Ryder/Getty Images) Pfizer announced on Monday, August 8, that it has started a late-stage clinical trial to test a vaccine that aims to protect against Lyme disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are currently no vaccines approved in the U.S. for the tick-borne illness, which infects an estimated 476,000 people in the country each year. If the drugmaker's trial succeeds, the vaccine could be the first human inoculation available for Lyme disease in the United States in two decades. Only one other vaccine for the disease, LYMErix, has been used in the U.S., but it was discontinued back in 2002. Annaliesa Anderson, Pfizer's head of vaccine research and development, said in a statement that with increasing global rates of Lyme disease, providing a new option for people to help protect themselves from the illness is more important than ever. Pfizer's vaccine targets Borrelia burgdorferi According to Pfizer, it aims to enroll approximately 6,000 healthy adults and kids 5 and older in the phase 3 trial, which will evaluate whether the Lyme vaccine is safe and effective. The protein-based vaccine, called VLA15, is a three-dose regimen, which are administered over a five-to-nine month period, followed by a booster dose given 12 months later. The vaccine targets Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Pfizer is developing the vaccine with French biotech firm Valneva, according to NBC News. Dr. Alan Kivitz, a rheumatologist in the state of Pennsylvania who is a principal investigator for the trial, said that enrollment could be completed by the end of the year. The company said in its news release that it could potentially submit a vaccine application for approval to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2025. Read Also: Young Girl Builds Lemonade Stand to Raise Money for Suicide Prevention After Dad Took His Own Life Cases of Lyme disease rising across the U.S. The trial comes as the prevalence of Lyme disease appears to be growing across the United States. According to an analysis of private insurance claims released this month by FAIR Health, a nonprofit organization that focuses on health care cost transparency, Lyme disease diagnoses rose 357 percent in rural areas and 65 percent in urban areas from 2007 to 2021. The findings come from an analysis of more than 36 billion privately billed health care claims in the country. According to the CDC, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are carried by black-legged ticks. A bite from an infected tick can transmit the infection to a person. Dr. William Schaffner, who is an infectious diseases specialist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, attributed the rise in Lyme disease cases to more people living in urban areas traveling to areas where ticks are more prevalent. Schaffner also said that as climate change brings warmer temperatures, the geographic regions in which ticks can survive will also expand, increasing the potential risk for Lyme disease in the country. Related Article: Missing Texas Mom Christina Lee Powell Found Dead Inside Car at Shopping Mall Parking Lot By Trend On August 13, Azerbaijan's Minister of Defense, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov held an official meeting with Deputies of the Minister of Defense, Commanders of types of troops, Chiefs of Main Departments, Departments, and Services of the Ministry at the Central Command Post. Commanders of the Army Corps and formations stationed in the liberated territories were also involved in the meeting via video teleconference, Trend reports citing the ministry. The Minister of Defense delivered to the meeting participants the tasks assigned to the Azerbaijan Army by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ilham Aliyev, as well as the requirements and tasks for maintaining combat readiness at a high level. At the meeting, the "Revenge" retaliatory operation conducted by Azerbaijan Army Units was extensively analyzed. Colonel General Hasanov gave instructions regarding the current operational situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, as well as on the territory of Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily deployed. The Minister has set specific tasks for the officials to solve the issues arising from the commissioning of the newly built road for the use of the Lachin corridor. The Minister of Defense instructed to improve the daily combat and service activities of the troops, as well as the quality of the conducted exercises and the practical skills of military personnel, in order to maintain the level of combat readiness of the units at a high level. After hearing the officers reports on the winter preparatory work carried out by the troops, Colonel General Hasanov gave relevant instructions on paying special attention to the units, stationed in mountainous areas, and organizing high-level preparation of military equipment and weapons for seasonal operations. Speaking about discipline and the moral-psychological state of the military personnel, the Minister of Defense emphasized the importance of measures taken to organize teaching and educational work. Defense Minister emphasized the significance of conducting educational talks on the protection of information security, including the unacceptance of the dissemination of sensitive information, and military and state secrets in social networks. The Minister instructed to continue decisive measures against those who grossly violate the requirements of Army regulations and relevant orders. At the end of the meeting, Colonel General Hasanov, emphasizing strict compliance with safety rules in daily service activities, once again highlighted the importance of continuing the necessary measures on protecting the health of servicemen, further improving the troops service and social and living conditions, as well as engineering support and ordered to promptly fulfill all the assigned tasks. Photo: (Photo : FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images) Two children were devastated and in disbelief after their mom died while asleep on the plane back home. They had no idea their mother had lain breathless during the eight-hour flight. Helen Rhodes, 46, was traveling from Hong Kong to the U.K. on Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, with her husband, Simon, and two children, Nathan and Emma. Rhodes returned home to see her parents after two years of living abroad. They also planned to settle back home permanently and start their new chapter as a family. A family friend recounted that Rhodes was both excited and nervous about the trip. The last time she saw her parents were before the pandemic, per People. Read Also: Donations Pour for Boy With Lemonade Stand Who Was Ripped Off by Man Using Fake Money Helen Rhodes was unresponsive But as the plane reached Frankfurt in Germany, an unresponsive Rhodes alarmed her husband. Someone on the plane tried to revive the mom, but she was already lifeless. According to Jayne Jeje, a friend who opened a GoFundMe to help the family, the resuscitation "unfolded in front of her children." Per airline protocols, the plane had to land in Frankfurt to remove the body, while the rest of those on board the flight could proceed to their destination. Rhodes' husband and her kids had to go to the U.K. without her anymore. Reports cited that the family held her on the plane during their last hours together. The mother, who worked as a midwife, lived in a close-knit community in Hong Kong. She was part of the Tung Chung Mums, which has over 200 members, and was described as the "pulse of the community." "Women first looked to her if they had a question concerning anything medical related," Jeje said. "Helen always made herself available to help others." The fundraiser organized by Jeje has, so far, reached 30,335 in under three days. One of the donors was a crew member on the said flight. The cause of Rhodes' death has not yet been released. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in the U.K. confirmed that it was helping the family of a British national who died on the flight and has gotten in touch with the local authorities. Mom, who recently gave birth, dies in her sleep In November, another family was shocked to discover mother-of-two, Amelia Smith, 25, dead on her bed after a normal weekend night with her husband. Tom Mooney, 25, said they went out to eat and watch a movie and were in bed by 11:30 p.m. By 6:30 a.m., Mooney and their two children were downstairs for breakfast. Two hours later, Mooney wondered why Smith was still in bed and realized that she had died in her sleep. At the time of her passing, Mooney and Smith had welcomed a newborn just a month before. Per Daily Mail, the mother was admitted to the hospital three months before giving birth for low potassium levels, but the actual cause of her death was not reported. Related Article: Firefighter Responds to a Blaze, Arrives to Find 10 Dead Family Members Including His Kids Photo: (Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A mom who covered up for her boyfriend, who abused her 2-year-old child while the pair continued to collect child support payments from the girl's father, is facing a New Jersey court for child endangerment and theft. Monique Durham admitted to the police that her boyfriend, Matthew Chiles III, killed her daughter, Sydney Durham, on June 6, 2019. Sydney was beaten to death, and Chiles disposed of the body. The mother watched as her boyfriend walked out of their house with her daughter in his arms. When he returned, Chiles didn't tell his partner where Sydney was buried because "it would be better if she didn't know," per ABC 7. She never reported him to the police. Sydney had a twin sister, now five years old, and a stepbrother, who is Chiles' son from a previous relationship. The boy, 11, told the police he had been missing his stepsister for three years. He also said that Monique and his father instructed them to tell people, if they asked, that another family had adopted Sydney. The mention of her name was forbidden in the house. Read Also: Devastated Father Rushes Home as Ex-Wife Goes Live on Instagram to Say She Stabbed their Kids Spinning lies upon lies Sydney's death was uncovered in early 2022 after the mother and her boyfriend were investigated by the Department of Children and Families Child Protection and Permanency Office. According to NJ.com, the agency received a tip that an unnamed five-year-old girl was being abused at the couple's home. Neighbors also did not know the whereabouts of the girl's twin sister anymore. Monique allegedly told the child protection investigators that Sydney was now living with a relative in North Carolina on the side of Sydney's dad. She claimed to have given up custody of the child. Sydney's twin sister, on the other hand, told investigators that Chiles beat her, but she no longer had any knowledge of a twin. She had been taken under custody, away from her mother and her boyfriend. Chiles' former partner, the mother of his son, also told the police that she asked them about Sydney. Monique got angry and did not want to talk about her daughter. The Child Protection and Permanency Office said the mother and her boyfriend made every attempt to obstruct and stonewall the investigations, especially in locating Sydney. After interviewing Sydney's biological dad, the investigators later found out that the alleged relatives in North Carolina were non-existent. He also said he was no longer involved with his kids except for paying child support. As the agency was closing in on the couple, Monique and Chiles fled their apartment, but police found them living in a motel. They were arrested in June. Mom released from jail, sent to home detention Monique is currently out of jail and was allowed home detention with an electric monitor. However, the court has barred her from seeing her surviving daughter without supervision. Chiles, on the other hand, remained in jail. According to New Jersey News 12, his lawyer had pinned the death on Monique, who also conjured the lie about Sydney's adoption. The pair will be back in court in the coming weeks. Related Article: 12-Year-Old Escapes Alabama Kidnapper by Chewing Off Restraints, Leads Police to 2 Dead Bodies Photo: (Photo : FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) A 75-year-old man from Hawaii was accused on Tuesday of the brutal rape and murder of a California teen, four decades after her body was found by a cinder block wall in Silicon Valley, authorities announced. According to court documents filed in Santa Clara County, Gary Ramirez was linked to the 1982 murder of 15-year-old Karen Stitt after a Sunnyvale police detective was alerted to the killer's possible identity last year. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office issued a news release, saying that Ramirez, who grew up in the Fresno area and served in the U.S. Air Force, was arrested on August 2 in Maui and is expected to be extradited on charges of murder, kidnap and rape, CNN reported. Trucker found Stitt's body at the base of a cinder block wall According to a statement of facts included in the court documents, a trucker found the body of Stitt on the morning of September 3, 1982, at the base of a cinder block wall. An autopsy later revealed that she had been stabbed 59 times. Sunnyvale Police Detective Matt Hutchinson, who wrote the statement of facts, said Stitt had also been raped. According to the district attorney's office, the teen's boyfriend, who had been with her the night before she was killed, was initially believed to be a suspect. The two met on the night of September 2 at a 7-Eleven in Sunnyvale, where the boyfriend lived. According to the statement of facts, they spent a few hours together before Stitt went to a bus stop for a ride home to Palo Alto. Stitt's naked body was found 100 yards from the bus stop. The boyfriend was ruled out as a suspect; however, after a DNA analysis found that sperm collected from the victim's body and male blood found at the crime scene did not match a sample that was provided by the boyfriend. According to the Associated Press, no other suspect was identified in connection with Stitt's murder. The case remained cold until 2021, two years after Hutchinson teamed up with a genetic genealogist. Read Also: New York Times Writer's Cheerful Obituary for Mother has People Crying and Laughing DNA sample leads to Ramirez's arrest Hutchinson found that a son of a woman named Rose Aguilera Ramirez may have killed Stitt. The researcher found that the woman's family lived in the Fresno area and that she had four sons, according to the document. The document further stated that the detective ruled out two of the brothers as possible suspects in the Stitt murder case using law enforcement and public records databases. When details for one of the two remaining brothers could not be verified, Hutchinson found a child of Gary Ramirez and obtained DNA from that person. The county crime lab compared the DNA sample from those found at the crime scene and found very strong statistical support that they were a match, according to People Magazine. It was not immediately clear whether Ramirez has a lawyer to speak on his behalf. He was arrested at his home in Makawao. Related Article: Video of Chinese Girl Being Worried About Her Father's Work in a Meet-the-Parents Call Goes Viral This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions A Presidential aspirant of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Joe Ghartey, has said that the country should do all it can to continue to attract foreign investment. Hon. Ghartey who is the author of Ghanas leading legal text on foreign investment, Doing Business and Investing in Ghana, made this comment when he had successful meetings with business leaders interested in a wide range of business. He used the occasion to brief the business leaders on the legal framework for doing business and investing in Ghana. For those interested in the petrochemical sector, Joe Ghartey informed the potential investors of recent developments in the petrochemical industry in Ghana including the establishment of an institutional framework for the sector which is seeking to create a petrochemical hub. Other areas investors showed interest in was large scale mining, ICT, education and renewable energy. The investors asked about Ghanas economic situation, but after discussions it was agreed that the current situation would not last forever and should not influence medium to long term investments. Joe Ghartey returned to Ghana on the 8th of August after a week of successful business promotion in the United Kingdom. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Access Bank Ghana is empowering more SMEs through its capacity building workshops on digitalization. Over 100 SMEs got the opportunity to participate in the fourth edition of the Banks capacity building workshop on digitalization at Koforidua, organized in partnership with Open Labs, an Information Technology Firm. The workshop on the theme Boosting Digital Skills for Emerging Opportunities, sought to enhance the skills of SMEs to be more efficient in the use of digital tools to position their businesses to attract both local and international opportunities. Sharing insights ahead of the workshop held in Koforidua, Managing Director of Access Bank (Ghana) Plc, Olumide Olatunji was delighted at the impact the Bank is making towards Ghanas economy through its support to the sector, which contributes over 70% to the nations GDP. He said, Access Bank is proud to be championing the cause of SMEs, a key contributor to Ghanas GDP. Since 2021, we have supported over 6,300 SMEs with digital skills, business advisory services and financing. Because access to funding is a major challenge for SMEs, we have made the process less cumbersome by excluding collaterals from the requirement needed for our Instant Business Loans and other loan products. I am happy to say that our support is yielding results as attested by many participants of these workshops. Delivering his welcome address at the workshop, Jones Darmoe, Zonal Head for Business Banking at Access Bank (Ghana) Plc noted that Access Bank loves SMEs. He said between 2021 and July 2022, the Bank had reached many SMEs through clinics and workshops held in different locations across the Greater, Ashanti, Western and Central Regions and online participants from across the country. Jones noted that, Research reveals that a major step towards strengthening SMEs is improving access to technology and funding. As a go-to Bank for SMEs in Ghana, Access MORE Bank continues to lead this cause by equipping SMEs with digital skills through capacity building workshops on relevant subjects, aimed at strengthening them as well as meeting their financing needs. Within these past two years, we have disbursed over GHS50 million to SMEs to boost their capital and provided advisory services to them. Mr. Darmoe also called on SMEs to approach any of the 54 branches of Access Bank nation-wide or locate an AccessClosa agent in their vicinity to discuss their business financing needs. Participants were excited about the opportunity offered by Access Bank and thanked them for supporting the sector. Access Bank remains committed to giving customers more than banking. The Bank has over the years developed a deep understanding of customers needs, delivering excellent service and empowering them to achieve more through financial inclusion. 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. Featured Video The Komenda Sugar Factory in the Central Region has started the processing of unrefined sugar, DGN Online can report. Production is said to have commenced with the production of brown sugar (raw sugar) from the factory after two days of operation as it is expected to commence producing fine sugars in a couple of weeks. A video in circulation shows how the machines at the factory have commenced work and production is ongoing. Another video showed a man reporting on the current state of the factory which is currently producing brown sugar and gave assurance that refined sugar production will commence soon. Recently, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem, Solomon Ebo Appiah outlined the measures being put in place to get the factory functioning and producing sugar at a cheaper cost. According to him, This is no political talk. I will not play politics with the people I serve, Mr. Appiah stated. There are a lot of works going on at the factory right now. A three million litre reservoir has been constructed. The roof of the factory has been changed, and a raw sugar warehouse has been built to store raw unrefined sugar for the processing. 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 days 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 operationalized 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 has taken 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. Out of the amount, $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. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, has directed an immediate clamp down on all sand-winning activities on portions of the Amrahia Dairy Farm Lands, in the Adentan Municipality of the Greater Accra Region. He said any individual or group who would engage in winning sand would be arrested and prosecuted. We are warning all persons engaged in sand winning here to stop immediately. It is an illegality and anyone found in the act will be arrested and prosecuted, the Deputy Minister stated. Mr Owusu-Bio gave the warning yesterday when he led a team from the Ministry, the Lands Commission and a taskforce from the Ghana Police Service to inspect the land in the municipality. The Amrahia Dairy Farm Land has not been ceded to anyone and we dont want any encroachers on it, he added. The visit afforded the deputy minister and the team the opportunity to see at firsthand the final work being carried out by surveyors in view of governments decision to allocate portions of the land to the five pre-acquisition owners. Mr Owusu-Bio said the government would, by the end of October this year, go ahead with its intended plan to allocate 40 per cent out of 1,000 acres of the Amrahia Dairy Farm Land to the five families, identified as pre- acquisition owners of the land, while retaining the remaining 60 per cent. He inspected the portion of the land being used for the construction of 32 residential bungalows for staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, following the relocation from Borteyman, a suburb in Accra. The Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, James Dadson, stated that the Commission, Ministry and Municipal Assembly would undertake a continuous engagement to fashion out a scheme to, among others, aid development in the area. Early this year, residents of Amrahia called on government to institute measures to check sand winning which was creating health and safety hazards. It would be recalled that in October 2021, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, disclosed governments intention to allocate 40 per cent of the total land size to the pre-acquisition owners, and asked the Lands Commission to speed up work on the proposal. He urged the Chief of Amrahia and other allied villages to work together to prevent any form of land litigation or misunderstanding which could jeopardise the efforts made so far. The moment there is a split of front between these families and chiefs, it becomes a problem the Minister, said, and called for unity to fast-track the process. Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Huawei hosted the TECH4ALL Education Global Online Summit yesterday. Officials and experts at the summit explored how digital technologies will transform todays education systems into a more inclusive and innovative paradigm, democratize access to education resources, and build-in systemic resilience to external factors like the pandemic. Technology can play a critical and catalytic role in transforming education, said Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education for UNESCO. We need to use technology to ensure connectivity for all; build free, public digital learning content and platforms; and focus on how technology can enhance innovation and change in teaching methodologies. Underpinned by connectivity, digital skills, and digital platforms, the transformation of the education sector is gathering momentum. Technology truly has the power to transform education for everyone, said Kevin Zhang, CMO of ICT Infrastructure for Huawei. We are doing this in three ways: connecting schools, promoting digital skills, and supporting STEAM curriculum. Strategies that prioritize blended learning are already in play where schools are no longer just physical venues for learning, with educational approaches shifting to prepare todays students for tomorrows world. One UNESCO program that leverages technology and a transformational approach is Technology-enabled Open Schools for All (TeOSS). Supported by Huawei and developed in close collaboration with the MOEs of Ghana, Ethiopia, and Egypt, the three-year project aims to benefit students and teachers in the three African nations and set the foundation for innovative education systems that seamlessly connect school and home learning in online and offline scenarios to maximize inclusion. It is a project we are very much excited about, said Mr. John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister of Education of Ghana. The purpose is to provide reliable connectivity for all schools at the pre-tertiary level. Future educational technology is going to advance the quality of education and even the ways we teach and learn. In Kenya, connecting schools, boosting digital literacy, and providing teachers and students with digital devices is a key priority. Successful completion of phase one of the DigiSchool project, for example, saw 13 schools connected, with more than 6,000 students benefiting. The Ministry of ICT, the Ministry of Education, UNESCO, and Huawei formed a collaborative initiative to provide sustainable Internet connectivity. Ensuring no child is left behind that is the driving force behind this project, said Martin Kungania, Deputy Director, Education National Coordinator for Kenyas Digital Literacy Programme. Experts from WeTechCare and the Bandung Institute of Technology described progress with the France DigiTruck and Huawei ICT Academy, respectively. In France, 35% of people are unable to fully utilize digital tools due to a range of challenges. The DigiTruck a solar-powered mobile classroom converted from a used shipping container aims to help address this by providing free training in digital skills, targeting unemployed young people and older citizens. Continuing the theme of skills development, discussion on the Huawei ICT Academy centered on the value of developing students ICT skills to cultivate the next generation of tech talent a critical need given the current estimated global shortage of 200 million ICT professionals. Looking to the future and at how education will evolve, speakers from the National University of Singapore, Pimax Technologies, and Huawei explored how ICT infrastructure and nascent technologies such as AI, VR, and the metaverse will revolutionize the teaching and learning space, reshaping subjects like geography and history with a truly immersive experience that will enable students to virtually travel through time and space. Read more about Huaweis TECH4ALL Tech4Education projects: https://www.huawei.com/en/tech4all/education Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has seemingly returned to Peace FM's flagship morning 'Kokrokoo', following their long period of boycott after their National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, on Wednesday, 6th May 2020, issued an official directive to that effect. The opposition party boycotted the 'Kokrokoo' programme following that edict signed by Sammy Gyamfi wherein he slammed the host of the programme, Kwami Sefa Kayi and his production team. "Although we appreciate the production and editorial discretion of the station to give their platform to whoever they deem fit, we consider it unfair for the NPP to maintain their two (2) slots on Fridays while the NDCs two slots on Wednesdays are reduced to one (1), to satisfy the whim of a dictatorial Host and his poodle. In protest to this flagrant disregard for fairness by the Host and Production Crew of the program, the National Communication Bureau of the NDC has decided to cease the placement of party communicators on the 'Kokrokoo' show forthwith," portions of Sammy Gyamfi's statement read. But the dust seems to have settled on the 27months old issue after General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, popularly called "General Mosquito", stormed the studios today. He made an appearance on the show on Friday, August 12, 2022 after two years and three months of the party's non-appearance. Although there is no official report from the party, the General Secretary's appearance may be an assurance to the public indicating the party has resolved to returning to the show, since Mr. Sefa Kayi has stated a number of times that he has taken no offence to Sammy Gyamfi's vituperations. Johnson Asiedu Nketia joined Friday's panel briefly with alacrity as he discussed matters relating to the Electoral Commission and the National Democratic Congress's (NDC) boycott of the Commission's Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC). Watch Johnson Asiedu Nketia in the video below Sammy Gyamfi's Boycott Letter The National Communication Bureau of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) wishes to inform all its Communicators, Media Monitors, and Officials that the Party has boycotted Peace (104.3) FMs morning show (Kookrokoo) effective today, Wednesday, 6th May 2020.This decision has been occasioned by the unfair paneling system that the Production Team of that program has continuously foisted on the NDC over a number of months. Specifically, the reason for this boycott has to do with the unreasonable decision of the Producers and Host of the program to permanently reserve one (1) of the two (2) slots the party has traditionally had on Wednesdays on the show to Mr. Allotey Jacobs, who is often introduced by the host of the program as a Social Commentator with strong leanings to the NDC, ostensibly to spite the NDC.All efforts to get the Producers and Host of the program to give us a fair representation on the show over the past eight (8) months, including a complaint to the Management of the station for an amicable resolution of this matter, have proven futile, as the party continues to be treated with utmost contempt.This unfair treatment flies in the face of the long-standing tradition of the program, which allocates two (2) slots each to the NDC and the NPP on Wednesdays and Fridays respectively. Although we appreciate the production and editorial discretion of the station to give their platform to whoever they deem fit, we consider it unfair for the NPP to maintain their two (2) slots on Fridays while the NDCs two slots on Wednesdays are reduced to one (1), to satisfy the whim of a dictatorial Host and his poodle.In protest to this flagrant disregard for fairness by the Host and Production Crew of the program, the National Communication Bureau of the NDC has decided to cease the placement of party communicators on the Kookrokoo show forthwith.All Communicators, Media Monitors, Members, and Officials of the NDC are hereby entreated to refuse any invitations and/or interviews from the said program, until the station addresses our concerns and reviews their unfair paneling system.Signed.SAMMY GYAMFI(National Communication Officer, NDC) Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, the Member of Parliament for Tema West, has expressed optimism over the New Patriotic Partys victory in 2024 irrespective of the presidential candidate it will field. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tema, Mr Ahenkorah maintained that no matter the background of the presidential candidate, the NPP would win the election. I think that the NPP will do well and will win the 2024 presidential election wherever we pick our candidate from. I am confident about that. It is the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that is panicking and trying to play ethnic politics. I am not surprised because that has been their stock in trade, he said. He said the NDC liked to play Ghanaians against one another to remain afloat and relevant, adding: We dont do that in the NPP. We are not looking at the NDC to determine what we do. They are the ones studying us." Mr Ahenkorah, a former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said with the massive support the party enjoyed from majority of Ghanaians, there was no way it would lose the 2024 elections. He charged party members to be ambassadors and conduct themselves in a manner worthy of promoting and marketing its aims and objectives across the country. He urged the supporters to remain steadfast, fair, and ensure justice and equity in their dealings with one another as a mark of exemplary leadership and called for all hands-on deck to achieve victory. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has dissented to arguments by some members of the governing New Patriotic Party and government officials that ministerial reshuffle is at the discretion of President Nana Akufo-Addo. Former Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwah, responding to calls by the Alliance For Footsoldiers Advocacy (AFFA), a grassroot wing of the NPP, asserted that it is not a constitutional requirement that the President should reshuffle his Ministers. "Let me put on record that it's not constitutional injunction that the President should do a reshuffle whether he likes it or not. It's not in any law in Ghana. It is rather an advice from some people that Mr. President, from where we sit, we suggest you changing some appointees will help . . . nobody can begrudge him," he said while discussing the reshuffle and matter arising on Peace FM's show "Kokrokoo" Friday morning. The former MP strongly believes "Ghana is in competent hands", adding that the President is very focused. But Mr. Pratt, joining the panel discussion on the programme, deflated Collins Amankwah's arguments and those who share similar views. He argued that those calling for the reshuffle are key members of the party the President belongs to, therefore if the NPP members themselves agree that the President should change his Ministers, then it goes to tell how significant the reshuffle is. "There is no President in this country who is independent and does whatever he wants. The constitution frowns on that. The President can be dismissed. We have the right to sack the President if he doesn't perform effectively . . . If you find a President in a country who doesn't listen to advice and adamantly does what he wants, that is called dictatorship. "We all know that that agitation for reshuffle is largely coming from within the NPP . . . Let's ask ourselves why are the NPP members, themselves, saying they need a reshuffle? First, the President has accepted that things are not going well. It's not just the President who admits that things are not going well but some NPP bigwigs also say the same thing," he stated. He exposited that having a reshuffle won't end the sufferings of Ghanaians but it will definitely help the government. "Truthfully, cabinet reshuffle doesn't change everything. It doesn't mean things will be okay but it has some other effects. If for nothing at all, the appointees come to a realization that they can be dismissed if they don't perform . . . this helps government." Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has made a surprising revelation about the need for a Ghana Card and its significance. The National Identification Authority has indicated that over 17 million Ghanaians have been registered with over 15 million registrants receiving their printed cards. The card is important for the collection of proper database and curbing fraudulent activities. In order to clamp down on SIM fraud, the Minister of Communications has issued directive to all Ghanaians to register their SIM cards with the Ghana Card and those who fail to do so by the end of September this year risk having their SIM cards deactivated. The Electoral Commission has also indicated plans to use the Ghana Card for the 2024 elections. But the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament have vehemently objected to the SIM re-registration and the EC plans. One of the strong opponents is the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George, who argues it is unlawful for SIM cards to be deactivated based on a person's inability to register with the Ghana Card, particularly when the NIA hasn't been able to register and distribute the cards to every Ghanaian. The Ministry of Communication has issued a deadline of 30th of this month, that [from the] first of July, theyre going to deactivate SIM Cards." We have managed to secure the extension, what we are going to do now is to challenge the legality of the procedure, that is our next line of action, we are challenging the legality of the SIM registration process as ongoing. We are not saying SIM registration is illegal, we are saying the procedure and the methodology the Minister has laid out through the NCA is illegal, he said. He also insists using the card for the elections will disenfranchise a large section of the Ghanaian electorates. "Even the Electoral Commission is preparing to bring us a CI that is to create a new Voters Register using the Ghana Card. But majority of our constituents have registered since 2018. The National Identification Authority (NIA) is unable to provide them their Ghana Cards." The NDC is blamed for the apathetic behavior towards the Ghana Card registration and SIM Card re-registration. Reacting to the issue during Friday's "Kokrokoo" on Peace FM, the General Secretary of the party, popularly called 'General Mosquito', challenged the EC's plans to use Ghana Card for the elections. He argued that the NPP claims those who haven't registered for their Ghana Card is because the NDC discouraged them, so he inferred that those who don't have the card are all NDC members and supporters. "You claim the 2 or 3 million people who haven't registered are NDC people, so if you know these are NDC people and you (EC) are mandated to hold free and fair elections and you are making arrangements to deny the 3 million NDC voters can't participate, can you then say your elections will be free and fair?", he asked. Also responding to whether or not he has a Ghana Card, he emphatically stated; "I have it. I have even linked it to my phone, pension, bank accounts and everything." Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video PokerNews Podcast: Hustler Casino Drama, Scammer Called Out & Happy Birthday, Doyle! August 13, 2022 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S. In the latest edition of the PokerNews Podcast, Sarah Herring returns to join Chad Holloway and Jesse Fullen in talking about all the latest in the poker industry. That includes the legend himself, Doyle Brunson, celebrating his 89th birthday. Listen to folks like Phil Hellmuth, Eli Elezra, Matt Savage, and Stefanie Ungar wish "Texas Dolly" a happy birthday. They also dive into the uproar caused by Hustler Casino canceling a $250K GTD tournament after it had already held four flights, discuss Dan Shak getting into hot water in the commodities world, and debate whether or not they could live in Bally's for a year for $100,000, a popular prop bet that was talked about on social media this week. Other stories include popular streamer Ludwig calling out the same scammer that Ethan RampagePoker Yau did, winners from the recently-completed 2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO), and the new slate of online bracelets coming to WSOP.com and GGPoker. Finally, the crew remembers three-time bracelet winner Panayote "Pete the Greek" Vilandos, who passed away at the end of July. Listen to those stories and more in the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast! Time Stamps Happy 89th Birthday @TexDolly! PokerNews (@PokerNews) 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 PN Podcast: Blowback after Hustler Casino canceled a guaranteed tournament and more! The 25,000 Single-Day High Roller I saw 80 total entries take their shot at becoming the champion of the first of two events of its kind at the 2022 PokerStars and BarcelonaCasino European Poker Tour. It took over 14 hours and 27 levels of play for a winner to be determined, and when all was said and done, Artur Martirosian claimed the title after defeating Paul Phua in heads-up play. Martirosian took fourth place in Event #11: 25,000 No-Limit Hold'em just a few days ago for a prize of 132,060 and was able to improve upon that finish by claiming the first-place prize of 540,990 (USD $555,193), adding to his already-impressive lifetime earnings of $3.4 million in live tournaments with even more claimed online. PokerStars EPT Barcelona 25,000 Single-Day High Roller I Final Table Results Place Name Country Prize 1 Artur Martirosian Russia 540,099 2 Paul Phua Malaysia 349,010 3 Michael Addamo Australia 249,320 4 Francisco Benitez Uruguay 191,790 5 Laszlo Bujtas Hungary 147,520 6 Steve O'Dwyer Ireland 117,260 7 Mikita Badziakouski Belarus 93,830 8 Imad Derwiche France 75,010 9 Aleksejs Ponakovs Latvia 60,030 The Early Goings Martirosian was one of the first players to join the tournament, having registered in the first level of play, and found himself well-established early on. He and third-place finisher Michael Addamo were at the top of the chip counts since the beginning and managed to keep up the pressure all day long. Other players such as Adrian Mateos, Daniel Dvoress, and Dan Smith also were around to start the day and were quickly joined by others such as Jean-Noel Thorel, Timothy Adams, Patrik Antonius, and Nick Petrangelo There was no shortage of action across every table in the room, which at its peak totaled 6 tables of play as the registration period continued and many who were eliminated fired second and, in some cases, third bullets. During that time, Martirosian was able to take a starting stack of 100,000 up to just shy of 600,000 to claim one of the largest stacks into the evening. Into the Night Addamo was the clear chip leader coming back from the dinner break when registration closed with a stack of 763,000, but Martirosian was right behind him with a healthy stack of 648,000. At that point, 47 players still remained and it took about two hours for that number to reach 24 for the three-table redraw and then another hour after that for the two-table redraw. Over the course of that time, Laszlo Bujtas was seen consistently adding to his stack, entering the final two tables with a count just shy of 1 million. Meanwhile, others hung around as the action flew by, with Danny Tang and Eric Rabl being just a few of the players who never seemed to be involved in big pots as they continued to maintain their stack and survive. Steve O'Dwyer and Martirosian were also at the top of the counts at the time with, but Martirosian soared to 1.2 million when he rivered a full house to get a huge double-up from Aleksejs Ponakovs, making him the clear chip leader. Play then began to slow down a bit as the bubble approached, and once they were, it lasted for almost two hours as they played hand-for-hand and no one wanted to be the dreaded bubble boy. In the end, Bruno Volkmann burst the bubble as he was forced all in from the big blind with six-five offsuit and was beaten by Martirosian with a pair of kings. The Final Table The final table of nine was eventually reached six full levels after the initial redraw at 16 due to the bubble process, and Martirosian entered with a whopping 2.1 million in chips which was almost double that of Fransisco Benitez in second place with 1.2 million. Ponakovs found himself short early on and ended up departing in ninth place, followed by Imad Derwiche in eighth. Mikita Badziakouski was also eliminated shortly after in seventh, but once it got down to the final six, action began to slow down once more. The blinds continued to climb, hitting less than 100 total big blinds in play with ODwyer, Bujtas, and Benitez all eventually busting within a span of 30 minutes. The Final Three Three-handed play began with Phua atop the counts followed by Martirosian and Addamo. The latter quickly found a double through Phua when his ace-ten held against the king-queen. From there, it seemed he was gaining momentum, but lost almost all of it when he moved all in with a rivered straight but was snapped off by Martirosian who had hit a flush. Addamo was left short and was eliminated when his queen-four was bested by Phuas king-four. Phuas stack still paled in comparison to Martirosians, even after busting Addamo and he himself was defeated shortly afterward when he got it in with ace-jack versus Martirosians ace-deuce. The flop was nine-nine-deuce and the deuce held the whole way for Martirosian to be crowned the 25,000 High Roller champion. PokerNews' coverage of EPT Barcelona will continue Saturday, August 13 with Day 3 of the 1,100 Estrellas Poker Tour Main Event at noon as well as the Single-Day Event #20: 50,000 NL Holdem that begins at 12:30 p.m. local time tomorrow. Leavelle McCampbell Middle School is starting the school year with a new award. The school received the 2022 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board at SREBs Making Schools Work conference last month. Pacesetter School Awards recognize schools that are implementing one of SREBs Making Schools Work school improvement frameworks and are achieving success in meeting bold goals related to graduation rates, readiness for college and careers, and credential attainment, according to a press release from SREB. +6 Graniteville middle school receives grant to help students explore careers Leavelle McCampbell Middle School was recently named one of the inaugural winners of the Playbook Challenge. Dr. Tiffany Hall, principal at LMMS, said the school had to apply for the award. She added there are 10 best key practices of SREB. When applying, the school had to define what it is they believe they have in regards to the practices and turn in evidence and a written statement. LMMS is implementing Making Middle Grades Works, which is the school improvement design for middle grades from SREB. This means the school is providing support to make sure that each student meets high academic standards. This support includes Saturday school, personalized learning, free after-school tutorials, and intervention classes, according to SREB. Students actively explore their interests and discover their strengths, aptitudes and natural abilities with the help of career interest assessment tools, the press release stated. The goal is for every student to begin with the end in mind and know whether they want to enroll in postsecondary education, enlist in the military or gain employment after graduating. An advisory committee works with students to instruct them on entering and succeeding in these three paths. Aiken public schools getting ready for start of school year There is less than a week until school starts for Aiken County Public School District . Students in eighth grade are evaluated to determine their talents and strengths. Career and technical education lessons are worked into assignments which allows students to explore different career interests online, SREB said. Each eighth grader and their parents or guardians work with school staff to develop individual graduation plans, review career assessments and make plans for the course work they will complete in high school, according to the press release. This was a busy summer for LMMS, as teachers from the school attended HOUSE CON 2022 last month at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. +4 Aspiring Principals Program aims to teach future principals The Aiken County Public School District has a way to help teach future principals. HOUSE CON is a national conference about the RCA House System and participants attended workshops that focused on RCAs methods for creating a positive culture and climate for staff and students through the House System. The conference is immersive and a hands-on experience for teachers and administrators that allows them to learn strategies to help engage students, foster meaningful relationships and create an environment that promotes achievement for the LMMS community, according to a press release about the Ron Clark Academy. There are several benefits to the Ron Clark Houses, with Hall saying it allows the school to continue improving how it helps students. Were merging the idea of Ron Clark House with Leader In Me, and what it does is helps not just kids, but staff members, Hall said. We have six houses, but one family, so at the end of the day were still one Leavelle. But it helps them have a sense of belonging. With the houses, Hall said the students will learn the traditions of the house, which include having hand signals from ALS, certain colors for each house, a mascot for the houses, and an association with certain cultures. So each one of the houses, the teachers will plan cultural events about they represents, Hall said. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Mostly cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 82F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Showers this evening becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 69F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. One of the Charleston area's longtime law firms plans to construct a new $5 million office building on U.S. Highway 52 in Goose Creek. Steinberg Law Firm's 11,700-square-foot structure will be built just down the road from its current office on Goose Creek Boulevard. The new space will house up to 10 attorneys and 25 staffers as well as expanded rooms for meetings. The Broad Street firm focuses on assisting injury victims in Goose Creek and the Charleston area, including cases involving car crashes, truck and motorcycle wrecks, fatalities, workers compensation, nursing home neglect, longshore injuries and construction defects. The building will feature an open atrium and modern design. We are excited to build upon our legacy here and expand our footprint so we can help more people recover justice, dignity and compensation," said attorney and partner Michael Jordan. Goose Creek Mayor Greg Habib said he appreciated the firm's "continued commitment to our city." Founded by Irving Steinberg, the firm has been trying cases in the Charleston area since 1927. The firms presence in Goose Creek dates to 1978 when partners Charles Goldberg, David Pearlman and Hugo Spitz used a small office in the building next to the current office where a pawn shop now operates. Thomas White, the first full-time attorney in Goose Creek, was hired in 1980. Around that time, the law firm purchased the land next door and built the existing office to house its growing staff. Our roots run deep here in Goose Creek and the Lowcountry," White said. "When we first started working in Berkeley County, it was very rural. Now the area has grown and therein our law practice has grown." Sign up for our real estate newsletter! Get the best of the Post and Courier's Real Estate news, handpicked and delivered to your inbox each Saturday. Email Sign Up! LFK Architecture of Mount Pleasant is the architect, and Cornerstone Building, also of Mount Pleasant, is the general contractor. Interior space designer F3 Interior Concepts of Columbia works specifically with law firms. "The proposed new building is beautiful, and their expanded presence here in the city will enhance our built environment as well as allow our citizens expanded access to legal services," said Matt Brady, the city's economic development director. The groundbreaking will take place later this year. Construction is expected to be completed in 2024. Steinberg also has an office in Summerville. New apartments More new apartments are on the way to the Cainhoy peninsula. Charleston-based Woodfield Development plans to build a 384-unit multifamily complex in seven buildings on Clements Ferry Road. The 22-acre wooded site on Beach Hill Road is across the road from the Publix-anchored Point Hope Commons shopping center. Woodfield Point Hope 4, as the project is being called, also includes 25,000 square feet of retail space, clubhouse and eight garage buildings for residents. Woodfield also is developing the 379-unit Morrison Yard Apartments on Morrison Drive on the Charleston peninsula. The first units are expected to be ready in September. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Rain showers this morning with numerous thunderstorms developing during the afternoon hours. High 82F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Partly cloudy in the morning. Thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 82F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms during the evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Cloudy early, then off and on rain showers for the afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. NORTH MYRTLE BEACH The city has responded to a federal lawsuit filed by a Cherry Grove business, alleging that the beach equipment provider has turned its ongoing ordinance violations into a marketing tactic. Cherry Grove Beach Gear filed a 20-page federal lawsuit on July 11 that claimed North Myrtle Beach officials unlawfully targeted the business through a June 29 ordinance amendment and additionally sought to place a monopoly on the rentals of beach chairs and umbrellas on the citys 9-mile shoreline. On June 29, city council amended an existing ordinance that prohibits businesses or people, regardless of the time, from renting, setting up or delivering any beach equipment from public beaches in the city. However, business owners can make arrangements to deliver the items to homes, rental units or at the end of beach accesses. City officials said prohibiting the delivery and set up of equipment on the beach is a proper exercise given to it by state law to adopt measures for advancing the safety and enjoyment of the millions of people who annually visit the citys beaches. City council passed an ordinance in 1990 that prohibits any person from engaging in the sale, lease or rent of any goods or other property upon the public beaches unless he or she has been granted a franchise. Other beach equipment companies comply with the law by delivering items to where their customers are staying, the city said in its response. "But (Cherry Grove Beach Gear) dont like the law, so they refuse to comply with it. Cherry Grove Beach Gear said in the pending lawsuit that it has operated legally within the city limits since 2019 with a valid business license while paying both local accommodations and hospitality taxes imposed by city council. According to the lawsuit, officials allegedly had no issues with the owners setting up rentals on the beach; their only concern was the safety of the company putting up umbrellas. But the city said in its response that since April the business has known that city law prohibits delivery and set up of sold or rented beach equipment. Allegedly, Beach Patrol Manager Munro Reed at the time noticed chairs and umbrellas set up with signs touting Cherry Grove Beach Gear. Reed allegedly contacted the business owner, who admitted that he set up the rentals while he was told the practice was not allowed under city code. The owner, according to the response, apologized and asked if he could remove the various items. Mr. Reed accepted this resolution of the problem, court documents said. However, the citys response said the business continued with its practice, additionally gleefully announcing each fine it received on social media under the hashtag #outlawbeachlife and asking the public to chip in for the fines they are receiving. A GoFundMe for the business has brought in more than $6,000 to counter the daily fines it said it has received for operating. Cherry Grove Beach Gears July lawsuit said the daily citations are factors city council could use to revoke its business license, thereby putting them out of business. If (the citys) illegal and wrongful decision to target (Cherry Grove Beach Gear) and adopt North Myrtle Beach City Ordinance 5-24 is not reversed, (the citys) actions will have resulted in a permanent taking of (Cherry Grove Beach Gear) and a substantial loss of the owners investments, the lawsuit said. MYRTLE BEACH About two dozen protesters gathered along 38th Avenue on Aug. 13 to denounce the FBI's raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, which took place earlier this week. The Horry County residents expressed anger about alleged government corruption, which they believe is responsible for the FBI's Aug. 8 raid of Mar-a-Lago. Shannon Grady, a retired schoolteacher and now leader of the Horry County Conservatives political group, was one of the organizers of the protest. She referred to the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as a "federally backed inquisition." Grady said she believes that Trump had the authority when he was president to classify or declassify any documents at the White House. Trump has said the documents seized by agents were all declassified, and argued that he would have turned them over to the Justice Department if asked. Trump also had kept possession of the documents despite multiple requests to turn them over in accordance with federal law, as reported by the Associated Press. "This is an absolute injustice," Grady said. "When Donald Trump took those boxes of documents, by virtue of him doing that and being the president at the time when he boarded that plane, he had the absolute right to declassify those documents. They're trying to take Donald Trump down in any way that they can." The FBI's search is the escalation of the months-long probe into how classified documents ended up in boxes of White House records located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. It occurs amid a separate grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and adds to the potential legal peril for Trump as he lays the groundwork for another run, as reported by the Associated Press. During the Aug. 13 protest, though, Grady compared Trump's removal of government documents from the White House to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of her personal email server. Clinton drew controversy for using a personal email server for public communications, and over 100 emails on the server were found to contain some form of classified information. In 2016, after the FBI completed its investigation into Clinton's email server, then-FBI Director James Comey said he found Clinton to be "extremely careless," but he recommended that no charges be filed against her since she had not acted with criminal intent. Grady said she believed that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice were picking favorites in deciding to take action against Trump, but not against Clinton. "Whereas, we look at Hillary Clinton," Grady said. "She was never president, she never had the authority to declassify anything, and yet they didn't charge her. But we have this raid on a past president. It's absolutely insane." Although some Trump supporters across the country have suggested that the FBI could have planted evidence on the former president, the Aug. 13 protesters in Myrtle Beach did not express or hint at those same suggestions. Instead, they expressed concern and anger over the FBI's authority to conduct the raid against Trump. Some of the protest signs read, "If they can do it to Trump, they can do it to you," "Banana Republic Justice" and "FBI: False Bravado Injustice." One sign featured two white SS Lightning Bolts a common neo-Nazi/white supremacist symbol alongside "FBI." Two separate signs featured detailed drawings comparing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. President Joe Biden to Hitler. Another sign read, "FBI=Corrupt Gestapo Fascist Tyrants." Many of the supporters at the Myrtle Beach protest claimed that Trump had worked with the authorities since the DOJ began its investigation earlier this spring, and the FBI overstepped its authority in conducting the raid. Chuck Fisher, 73, and his wife Sarah Fisher, 73, both of Little River, were two such people at the Aug. 13 protest who expressed anger toward the FBI for their actions. "Look at what they did to our president," Sarah said. "It wasn't right. There's a way to do it, and the way they did it, storming his home at Mar-a-Lago, it wasn't right." Chuck is one of the leaders of the Little River Patriots, a right-wing political group in the Little River area. He said he believes this was an unnecessary escalation in the investigation against Trump, and he said it was done on purpose as another attempt to "find dirt" on him. "Think about all the things that they've done. They've thrown crap at him, and none of it sticks. They're scared to death of this man," Chuck said. "God sent him (Trump) to take back this country and to preserve the rights of our forefathers to preserve every issue that men fought and died for to protect this country." Organizers said they plan to hold another protest in the future against the FBI's raid, though details are still pending. One horse in Berkeley County and two in Barnwell County have been euthanized following diagnoses of the potentially deadly equine infectious anemia. The disease causes horses and other equine species to become feverish and anemic, lose weight and eventually die. It is often transmitted through bloodsucking animals, like biting flies, and the sharing of needles. And there is no known treatment or cure. Clemson University reported last month the three cases in South Carolina. They are the first known occurrences in the state since a donkey in Aiken County died from the virus in 2014. Veterinarians at Clemson University said the horse in Berkeley County was diagnosed with the disease soon after it was purchased from a barn in Barnwell County. The positive case was traced back to the barn of origin, where two other horses were also confirmed to have the disease. "If there's been recent movement, we have to trace that movement back to see if there are any other horses that might be affected," said Sean Eastman, a Clemson University veterinarian and field services director for the livestock and forages program. The investigation is still ongoing, but state veterinarian Michael Neault said South Carolina has been fortunate that only a handful of animals have been infected so far. Most animals are euthanized once it is determined they have the disease. Owners can choose to keep them alive, but the horses would have to live under a lifetime quarantine and be kept at least 200 feet away from other animals, Eastman said. Owners of the three horses opted to euthanize. Four additional horses were present at the Barnwell County barn and five at the location in Berkeley County. Each one tested negative for the disease but are being quarantined for 60 days. Then they will be tested again. "And if they're positive, then we have to go though those options again with the owner," Eastman said. "They were negative at this point. We hope they stay that way." The incubation period for the disease can range from a week to 60 days or longer. There are three types of equine infectious anemia. Owners of equines horses, ponies, zebras, mules and donkeys that have contracted the acute version of the disease will often find the animal dead, Eastman said. Animals with the sub-acute version are more severely affected and become anemic because their blood cells decrease. The chronic form of this disease is what horse owners are most familiar with. This version is slow. Infected animals tend to have decreased appetite and become anemic, too. And no matter how much they are fed, the animals cannot put on weight. Other symptoms include rapid heart rate, jaundice, bleeding from the nose or blood-stained feces. Lifespan for infected animals vary. Spread of infection can be reduced by limiting exposure to biting flies through management practices, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service suggest owners never reuse needles, syringes or IV sets. Stick to sterile needles and blood products. Open wounds on the animals should be cleaned and covered, and it is recommended that bits and lip chains be disinfected between horses, the USDA said. Surveillance and annual testing are the best ways to prevent infections. State law requires a negative Coggins blood test which determines equine infectious anemia any time horses cross state lines and when owners take them to in-state gatherings with other animals belonging to more than two horse owners. "That just helps make certain that they're not riding next to animals that do have disease," Neault said. Owners should take Coggins test documents with them when traveling with horses, according to a news release from Clemson University. Neault encourages people who are purchasing a horse to also consider requesting a test prior to the sale. A man wielding a hatchet attacked a couple, killing one person and injuring another while they were sleeping in a wooded area behind a Walmart on James Island, according to authorities. Theodore Wagner was arrested Aug. 12 in the attack. The 42-year-old Charleston man was booked into the Charleston County jail on charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He waived his 2 p.m. bond hearing. Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo ONeal identified the deceased as Sean Strojny, a 36-year-old Ohio man who was residing in Charleston. It was the first of two homicides Charleston police investigated that night. No arrests have been made in the second homicide, which occurred at the Bridgeview Village apartments on North Romney Street. Hatchet slaying Police officers responded after 8 p.m. Aug. 11 to the Walmart parking lot located off Folly Road on James Island for a report of an ongoing assault, according to arrest warrant affidavits. In a wooded area at the end of the lot, they found a 34-year-old woman with a large cut on her upper arm, affidavits state. The woman told officers she and her boyfriend were asleep in a tent when she heard another man approach asking for a cigarette. Seconds later, the man "shredded the tent," attacking the couple with what was later identified as a hatchet, affidavits state. The woman escaped and ran to a nearby parking lot screaming for help. A witness dialed 911 and waited with the woman for police. Meanwhile, the assailant "emerged from the woods, stood facing them silent for several seconds, then turned around, and went back into the woods," according to the affidavit. The woman told police she recognized the man. He'd approached the couple hours earlier, asking about another nearby tent. It belonged to the couple, but they offered to let him use it. The stranger stayed in the tent during a storm earlier that day, she told officers. The woman was taken to the hospital for injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. The laceration on her arm required several stitches, affidavits state. After hearing her account, Charleston police dispatched officers and canine units. The Charleston County Sheriff's Office sent deputies and a helicopter to search for the male victim, Charleston police Inspector Mike Gillooly said. They soon found the shredded tent, blood smeared on its sides, according to the affidavits. Officers followed a blood trail from the tent for about 40 yards until they found Strojny. He had suffered "multiple wounds to his head ... inflicted by a weapon with a large sharp blade," the affidavits state. Officers found nearby a Hart-brand hatchet with fresh blood and hair on the blade. Strojny was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives next searched the tent the stranger used that day. Inside, they found packaging materials for three items: a hatchet, a box cutter and a flashlight, according to affidavits. A sheriff's deputy detained Wagner before 2 a.m. Aug. 12 while he was walking along Folly Road, about 2 miles from the crime scene. A box cutter and some of its packaging was found in his backpack, affidavits state. It matched the materials that were found in the stranger's tent. Wagner had a run-in Aug. 8 with Charleston police. During that encounter, Wagner wore clothing similar to that described by the surviving victim, according to the affidavits. The woman identified Wagner as their attacker from a photo lineup. A composite sketch was drawn based on her description of the stranger. It also resembled Wagner, affidavits state. Crime scene tape still closed off part of the shopping center's parking lot at 9 a.m. Aug. 12. Dirty rags, smashed beer cans and a shopping cart containing a loaf of Italian bread lay inside the taped off boundary. James Island resident Bobby Carter, who identified himself as a former employee of the Walmart, said people have lived at the edge of the parking lot or in the woods that surround the store since at least 2015. Bridgeview shooting A second homicide in the city was reported at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 12. Officers dispatched to a shooting at the Bridgeview Apartment Complex, 102 North Romney St., located a 31-year-old woman in the breezeway suffering at least one gunshot wound. Officers attempted to resuscitate the victim, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner identified the victim as Jasmine Benjamin, of Summerville. Neighbors gathered later that morning outside the two-story apartment building where the shooting occurred, chatting about what might have went down. They declined to speak on the record about the shooting. Strojny and Benjamin were the sixth and seventh homicide victims reported this year in Charleston. Anyone with information about the homicides is asked to call the Charleston Police Department at 843-743-7200 and ask to speak with an on-duty central detective. Anonymous tips can be made by contacting Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111. South Carolinas chief justice says some lawyer-legislators have abused the privilege he has granted them to skip court seven months a year, and hes cracking down. Don Beatty was circumspect even as a House member 30 years ago, and unlike his often-chatty predecessors at the helm of the states judicial branch, hes made a practice of avoiding the media. He made an exception Tuesday after I had questions about some information he had sent me through a spokeswoman. The result was his first public comments on the policy that burst out of the shadows to become a hot political debate over the past year, and his first official confirmation of the problems created by legislative immunity, as its called. Chief Justice Jean Toal first ordered judges to let lawyer-legislators skip court under limited circumstances back in 2001. It was a reasonable accommodation, one that recognized we need lawyers serving in the Legislature. But it also could give lawyer-legislators and their clients a huge advantage, in criminal or civil matters, since running the clock is often the best defense. That first order was similar to a 1979 law that granted limited immunity from court-ordered appearances. The state Supreme Court embraced the concepts in the law in a bizarre 1980 opinion that also said dictating when lawyer-legislators may use a get-out-of-court-free card violated the constitutional separation of powers doctrine. My questions about that opinion elicited the call from Justice Beatty, and I would tell you about that part of the conversation, but the other stuff he had to say was much more interesting. Justice Toal gradually expanded the immunity far beyond the law, and Justice Beatty extended it after he became chief in 2017. He expanded it beyond all recognition last summer, but he then scaled it back in January to something more like the 1979 law. That reform lasted one day. After complaints, he went back to the expansive version and eventually settled on an immunity that is still broader than the 1979 law but more limited than what he and Justice Toal had in place for two decades. On Tuesday, Justice Beatty sought to portray all of his orders as a natural outgrowth of the 1979 law which they clearly are and paint his changes earlier this year as a successful effort to solve a problem. There are some lawyer-legislators who actually abuse the system, and were holding them to task, he told me. "People get upset about it, we get upset about it, but as you know, we told judges to hold legislators feet to the fire. Actually, Im not sure I knew that, but I do now, and thats a good thing. Before he tightened the rules in January, he said, he frequently got calls from judges and litigants complaining about lawyer-legislators refusing to show up for hearings or depositions. He also got calls from legislators complaining that they were being ordered to appear during the January-July carveout. That last part surprised me, as had a line in his orders about the inflexible insistence that lawyer-legislators be available whenever the court or lawyers request their presence. Does that really happen, I asked? That happens, has happened, has not happened in the last six months, he said. But it happens a lot of time with lawyers on the other side who want to do depositions or hold a particular summary judgment hearing, something to that effect. He went on to say that there were one or two judges "who had issues with some lawyer(-legislators) who were abusive, and they didnt want to grant immunity until he intervened. In some cases he has decided legislators should be required to appear in court despite the immunity order and in other cases not, depending on the circumstances. His current order, issued Feb. 17, restores an idea from the 1979 law, requiring them to appear even on legislative days for bond revocation matters and emergency family court hearings that involve children. I wish he had stuck to the Jan. 11 order, which also required legislators to show up in court for cases they had managed to delay at least 18 months, but it's still an improvement. The order is always subject to change, he said, but he's confident that judges and legislators both fully understand what he expects, after changes to the order and a meeting with lawyer-legislators early this year where he made it plain. (He declined to provide any names of legislators or judges.) He also said that leadership in the Legislature had meetings earlier this year with particular lawyer-legislators that they believe had abused the system and called them to task because they understand the nature of this exemption, the kind of problems it causes litigants. All thats encouraging, but it has the trust me feel that the public simply isnt buying any longer. My colleagues and I on the editorial staff have called for a law that requires legislators to disclose annually all the instances when they use the immunity to delay court appearances, since that is an extremely valuable perk. Justice Beatty appropriately wouldnt comment on that, but he did say such a law would not raise any constitutional concerns. On Friday, one of the states highest-profile lawyer-legislators, Sen. Dick Harpootlian, argued in a guest column that the court should require lawyer-legislators to make their immunity requests in writing and publish that information twice a year on its website. Either of those mechanisms should work. Both might work even better. Just as most people werent aware of the perk until I wrote about it last fall, most people wont have a clue whether Justice Beattys efforts to curtail the abuse have paid off unless theres some sort of public reporting mechanism. Absent proof, theyll assume its still being abused. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Isolated thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. High 83F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms during the evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is making his first visit to South Carolina, stopping at a historically Black university, where he will hear directly from students about how the pandemic disrupted their lives and their learning just days before a new school year is set to begin. The Aug. 15 trip will take Cardona to Orangeburg, where he will visit S.C. State University alongside U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, an alumnus of the school and the highest ranking Black member of Congress. The trip was first announced by S.C. State University, and later confirmed by Clyburn's office. In addition to a roundtable discussion with students and a tour of the campus, Cardona's visit will also include a meeting with leaders of South Carolina's historically Black colleges and universities. The trip is meant to show how funding from President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan is continuing to help HBCUs like S.C. State recover from the multiple effects of the pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic had a devastating impact on HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions around the country. Not only do HBCUs operate with fewer resources than most other institutions of higher education, the African American population they serve is at high risk of contracting COVID-19. Congress responded by tossing these schools a nearly $5 billion lifeline under the American Rescue Plan, where South Carolina's eight HBCUs were awarded nearly $112 million in funding. Last month, S.C. State and Clinton College were awarded an additional $5 million. According to the Department, the final round of grant funding was awarded to public and private nonprofit colleges and universities "that have the greatest unmet needs, including community colleges and rural institutions that serve a high percentage of diverse student populations and low-income students, and those that have experienced enrollment declines since the start of the pandemic, among other categories." Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! In a statement at the time, Cardona said, "The institutions that serve our highest-need students were not only hit hard by the pandemic, but in many cases have also struggled with chronic underinvestment and funding inequities." The majority of institutions that received these federal dollars are also required to distribute roughly half of all grant funds directly to students with the greatest need, providing additional support for housing, tuition support, food insecurity, and other basic needs. "When we invest in stronger supports for our students, we help remove barriers to their success so that they can stay on track with their studies, complete their degrees, and ultimately, build rewarding careers," Cardona said. Monday's stop will be Cardona's first official trip to the Palmetto State since his Senate confirmation in March 2021. In August 2021, Cardona wrote a letter to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and State School Superintendent Molly Spearman, saying that the state proviso to ban school mask mandates was putting students' return to the classroom at risk and could violate federal law. The U.S. Department of Education later opened a civil rights investigation in South Carolina and in four other states over the issue of mask prohibitions in public schools. After a series of court challenges, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied McMasters request to overturn a previous court order blocking state officials and certain school districts from enforcing the General Assemblys school mask ban. A former public school teacher, Cardona went on to become Connecticuts education chief before Biden appointed him to lead the U.S. Department of Education. Both of South Carolina's Republican U.S. Senators voted against Cardona's confirmation. SPARTANBURG A new grocery store will open Aug. 24 in an area that has been without nearby fresh food options for three years. The Piggly Wiggly at 550 S. Church St. in Spartanburg's Southside neighborhood held hiring events Aug. 9 and Aug. 11 and plans to employ between 40 and 50 workers. The store will be in the building formerly occupied by Save-A-Lot. "We anticipate opening in a couple of weeks," said Randy Burton, the store's co-owner. "The target opening is Aug. 24. It (Piggly Wiggly) will give residents a local option in the community to shop for all their grocery needs. It's going to be a clean, well stocked store and provide jobs for the community as well." Funding for the store was secured in April 2021 when City Council approved an agreement for a $300,000 loan for the Spartanburg Development Corp. The city also backed a $600,000 loan from the Mary Black Foundation for the store. It was previously scheduled to open in January but shortages in commercial refrigeration equipment forced a delay. City Councilwoman Ruth Littlejohn told The Post and Courier the new store is needed since there aren't enough grocery stores in the area. Since Save-A-Lot closed Aug. 25, 2019, residents have had to travel further to get their groceries. "There's been a food desert here for three years and it's created a hardship on this community," Littlejohn said. "A lot of senior citizens don't have the transportation to travel to (other places). We are really grateful to Piggly Wiggly's owners for investing in this community." City Communications and Marketing Manager Christopher George said the store the store is stocking shelves in preparation for opening day. On Wednesday, Congressmen Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson of the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Jill Sanborn, former Assistant Director of the FBIs Counterterrorism Division, requesting that she provide an interview to committee staff. The subject was alleged inflating of domestic violent extremism cases by the FBI: On July 27, 2022, we wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray about whistleblower disclosures that FBI officials were pressuring agents to reclassify cases as domestic violent extremism (DVEs) even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification. This is significant because increasingly, domestic violent extremism has explicitly or implicitly been cast as right-wing extremism. Whistleblower disclosures made by multiple FBI employees from different field offices suggest that FBI agents are bolstering the number of cases of DVEs to satisfy their supervisors. For example, one whistleblower explained that because agents are not finding enough DVE cases, they are encouraged and incentivized to reclassify cases as DVE cases even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification. Another whistleblower stated that a field office Counterterrorism Assistant Special Agent in Charge and the FBIs then-Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division pressured agents to move cases into the DVE category to hit self-created performance metrics. This whistleblower identified you as one official who exerted pressure on agents to reclassify cases as DVE matters. *** We are investigating several allegations concerning the politicization of the FBI, including allegations that the FBI is padding its DVE data. Whistleblowers cant always be trusted, of course. But these claims have a ring of truth, in part because they are borne out by statistics. Two weeks ago, Assistant Attorney General for National Security Division Matthew Olsen testified before the House Judiciary Committee on the allegation that the FBI is inflating DVE numbers: Representative Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the panel, asserted that multiple whistleblowers had approached House Judiciary Republicans, alleging that FBI officials were pressuring field agents to categorize cases as domestic violent extremism, even though they did not meet the criteria for such classification. Are you juicing the numbers? Jordan asked. Olsen responded that he was not aware of the accusations. The numbers certainly raise questions: The FBI tracks several categories of domestic violent extremists. White supremacists and anti-government militias have been responsible for most deadly attacks in recent years. In his prepared testimony, Olsen said FBI investigations of domestic violent extremism cases have more than doubled since 2020. Imagine that! Cases have more than doubled since the Biden administration took charge of the DOJ and the FBI. This is partly because [h]undreds of these cases stemmed from the January 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. The FBI is investigating the attack as domestic terrorism.' As opposed to misguided tourism, which in many cases it appears to have been. Last September, [FBI Director Christopher] Wray told lawmakers that the number of active domestic violent terrorism cases had jumped from about 1,000 in early 2020 to 2,700, while the number of so-called homegrown violent extremist cases remained stable, at around 1,000. It seems obvious that this focus on domestic violent extremists, real or imagined, dovetails with the Bureaus hyping of Militia Violent Extremismwatch for the Betsy Ross flag!as part of the FBIs devotion to the political interests of the Democratic Party. Thursday evening, I was on the US Report on Sky News Australia, talking about the FBIs raid on Donald Trumps home. The host was James Morrow, who also co-hosts the excellent Outsiders show. In addition to the raid, we briefly discussed the Democrats grotesque expansion of the IRS, which, apparently but unaccountably, they expect to be popular. You can go here to view the segment, which is six and a half minutes long. I cant figure out a way to embed it, or I would. UPDATE: Sky News uploaded the segment to YouTube, so here it is: NBC News reports that college attendance is dropping: A little-understood backlash Little-understood by them. against higher education is driving an unprecedented decline in enrollment that experts now warn is likely to diminish peoples quality of life and the nations economic competitiveness, especially in places where the slide is most severe. I sincerely doubt that. These are the numbers: There are 4 million fewer students in college now than there were 10 years ago, a falloff many observers blame on Covid-19, a dip in the number of Americans under 18 and a strong labor market that is sucking young people straight into the workforce. But while the pandemic certainly made things worse, the downturn took hold well before it started. Demographics alone cannot explain the scale of this drop. John Nolte comments: Over just four years, between 2016 and 2020, the percentage of high school graduates enrolling in college dropped from 70 percent to 63 percent. Thats a seven-point drop nationally. It needs to drop more. In certain states, it decreased even more. In Tennessee, it dropped 11 points to 53 percent. Indiana dropped 12 points to 53 percent. West Virginia dropped 10 points to just 46 percent. Why the decline in higher education? Rising costs, fueled in large part by a foolish government loan program, are obviously a major culprit. And those costs are running into growing doubts about the value of a degree. Part of the problem is that the quality of instruction has slipped badly. Moreover, a large majority of jobs dont need a college degree, so if your motivation is financial, as it is for many people, the costs dont make sense. But I think the intolerant leftism that prevails on virtually all campuses is also an important part of the story. Higher education, run mostly by women, is particularly hostile to men. Remarkably, the Left has managed to take the fun out of what used to be, for most students, a gratifying four years. I know a number of young people who have dropped out of college in disgust at the leftism that was inflicted on them, and have gone on to successful careers without carrying debt. Others have rushed through college as fast as possible, yearning for the freedom of the workplace and the outside world. I hope college enrollment continues to decline. The reality is that many of our students are being misinformed, while many more are mostly wasting their time and money. There will always be a place for higher education, and I dont know what the ideal percentage of young people attending college would be. It depends, obviously, on the quality of the education on offer. In todays environment, I would guess maybe 30 percent. So further declines in college enrollment can be anticipated. Emina Melonic offers us a bonus piece with a look back at the glory days of Hollywood when Hepburn and Grant ruled the scene: Nothing says style and charm more than Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. Hepburn is known for her beauty and kindness, and Grant for his humor and suave looks, which is why their pairing in Stanley Donens 1963 Charade is absolute perfection. Its a film that exudes the 1960s style and playfulness, not to mention all that Hubert de Givenchy haute couture that was especially created for Hepburn herself. Charade is both a mystery and comedy with an equal measure of romance. There are good guys and bad guys, except its very difficult to figure out whos who. This is the awful predicament Regina Reggie Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) finds herself in, as she tries to preserve her life. During her vacation in the French Alps, Reggie decides its time to divorce her husband, Charles. Its a meaningless marriage, it seems, and she doesnt even know why shes married to a man who is always absent and about whom she doesnt know that much anyway. It is at this time that she meets a charming American, Peter Joshua (Cary Grant), who tells her hed like to keep in touch upon their return to Paris. Gathering her Louis Vuitton matched luggage to the luxurious Paris apartment, Reggie is confronted with the strangest event: the entire apartment has been pilfered. There is nothing left, not even one shred of clothing. Naturally, shes beside herself, only to be frightened by a mustached man, who turns out to be Inspector Grandpierre. He informs her that Charles has been found dead with nothing more than one small bag next to him. It turns out that Charles was a man of many passports and many identities. This is news to Reggie. Things really take a dark turn when she finds out that there is 250,000 dollars missing and that apparently Charles had it with him. But there is nothing more than a few toiletries and a stamped letter to Reggie in Charles bag. Reggies life becomes even more complicated when four men, whom she never met demand that she produces the money that Charles left for her. One of them is a CIA administrator, Mr. Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), who tells Reggie that the money belongs to the American government and that its imperative that she return it. Except, Reggie has no idea where the money is. The other three men, who appear to be Charles former friends are after the money also and are haunting and taunting Reggie. Peter Joshua is part of the mix, and its not clear if hes a friend or a foe. Needless to say, their meeting in the French Alps was hardly a coincidence. All of this is designed to make Reggie totally insane. She cannot trust anyone, yet she finds herself falling in love with Peter. Who is right and who is wrong? Whos the villain? Can Reggie trust anyone beside her friend Sylvie? What is Peter Joshua hiding? This tangled mess gets untangled by the end, and Donens direction has created a superb mix of romance and mystery. The films stars bring not only their individual charm to the silver screen but the beautiful interplay between Hepburn and Grant is palpable. They are a perfect match, despite the fact that Grant was 25 years older at the time. The writers made a use of the age difference by creating a comedic tension between Hepburn and Grant. In this case, it is Hepburn who pursues Grant. He keeps calling her a child but cant help but fall under the spell of her charm. Both Hepburn and Grant are known as good and kind people, and during the making of Charade, Grants goodness became quite apparent. According to Grants biographer, Scott Eyman, Hepburn was very nervous about meeting Grant, and upon their first meeting, she spilled a bottle of wine on his suit. Hepburn, in general, suffered greatly from anxiety and nervousness, but Grant did not contribute to it. On the contrary, he made her feel welcomed and at ease. Dont be nervous for goodness sake. Im thrilled to know you, he said. Hepburn recalled that not many people liked Grants reserved nature and a need for privacy but she understood it since she desired the very same thing for herself. I think because he was a vulnerable man, he recognized my vulnerability, said Hepburn. He had more wisdom than I to help me with it. He said something very important to me one day when I was probably twitching and nervous. We were sitting next to each other waiting for the next shot. And he laid his hand on my two hands and said, Youve got to learn to like yourself a little more. Often, the stories of on the set fights and animosities render the movie less powerful because the reality trumps the aesthetic illusion. But in this case, it makes Charade even sweeter. In a world of so many unimaginative films, Charade is something we can go back to, even momentarily, as we experience the charm and beauty that once was possible on the silver screen. Earlier this week I offered Notes on the Trump raid. I want to offer a few tentative notes on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant/receipt unsealed in slightly redacted form yesterday. Mr. Techno Fog, Esq., has posted the documents with his own observations here. The Wall Street Journal has separately posted the search warrant/receipt here. I want to tune out the noise Merrick Garlands fatuous four-minute public statement, the ensuing Department of Justice leaks, and the Trump team responses and focus on what we can observe with our own eyes. I reiterate my earlier observation that the authorities are out to get Trump. Andrew McCarthy has commented here and here. He also takes up President Trumps assertion that he declassified all the documents in issue: [I]f Trump declassified documents while he was still president, then they no longer constitute classified information that he could criminally mishandle. Query the evidence supporting the proposition that Trump declassified the documents. Where is the proof that he did so while he was president? That is not clear to me. We have yet to see the affidavit(s) that underlie the warrant. We therefore lack the alleged factual basis supporting the finding of probable cause on which the approval of the warrant is predicated. We all want to see the affidavit(s) underlying the search warrant. The affidavits are where the action is. Without them we are shooting in the dark. Judicial approval of the search warrant by itself doesnt mean much insofar as the proceeding is ex parte (not adversary). As we saw in the Russia hoax, the government the FBI and the Department of Justice swear to facts without opposition and that may not be so. In the Russia hoax, they did this before federal judges serving in the FISA court with virtual impunity. The scope of the FBI search is set forth in Exhibits A and B. The scope covers every inch of Mar-a-Lago but private areas. It covers every Trump administration document illegally possessed in violation of three specified criminal statutes. Looking at the receipt, I infer that the FBI seized whatever documents they wanted without reference to the criminal statutes. Lets take a look at the criminal statutes. They are cited in this order: 18 USC 793: This is a provision of the Espionage Act that prohibits the appropriation of defense information with intent or reason to believe that the information is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation. The New York Times has won Pulitzer Prizes that celebrate its violation of this provision of the act. I wrote about it at length in the 2006 Weekly Standard article Disclosure. Trumps alleged violation of this statute is a joke. I believe it discredits the operation it is a red flag that the purpose is other than as stated. The allegation that Trump violated this provision of the law should not withstand the slightest scrutiny (let alone the requirement that it be supported by probable cause). 18 USC 2071: The statute prohibits the willful and unlawful removal or destruction of government records. Was Trumps removal of the records unlawful? 18 USC 1519: This is an obstruction of justice statute. It prohibits the destruction, alteration, of government records with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States. We need the supporting affidavit(s) to have any idea what the alleged violation of sections 2071 and 1519 is about. The alleged violation of the Espionage Act colors my tentative view that what we have here is a crock fabricated in bad faith. The receipt for seized property runs for three pages. It reflects the seizure of some 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, and Info re: President of France. It generally itemizes documents including documents at all classified levels. When I say what we have here is a crock fabricated in bad faith, I mean that the purpose of the proceeding is other than as advertised. It is in furtherance of the Biden administrations pursuit of President Trump for the events of Jan. 6 and, as I say forgive me for repeating myself I infer that they are out to get him. UPDATE: NROs Andrew McCarthy wrote me this morning to respond to the issues I raised above. I have posted his comments here. Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeni was the architect of the Iranian revolution and the guiding spirit of the Iranian regime that has held sway since 1979. He was the regimes Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Ali Khameni is his successor. Salman Rushdies novel The Satanic Verses was published in September 1988. A few months later, on February 14, 1989, Khomeni issued a fatwa proclaiming a death sentence on Rushdie and all those involved in [the] publication [of the novel] who were aware of its content. As everyone knows, Rushdie lived in hiding for years. His memoir Joseph Anton (2013) recounts the devastating impact of Khomenis fatwa on his life. Benjamin Balints excellent Claremont Review of Books review is not accessible at the moment, but our friends at the CRB are working on it. In the wake of Khomenis fatwa, and understanding its significance, Daniel Pipes immediately set to work on The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, The Ayatollah, and the West (1990). Referring to Khomeni and his ilk, Pipes concludes the book with these words: The West has to make it clear that the fundamentalist Muslims will gain nothing through threats and intimidation. A funny thing happened on its way to publication by Basic Books. Basic Books canceled its contract with Pipes and let him keep the advance. Pipes includes Edwin McDowells brief New York Times Book Notes story on the cancelation in an appendix. The long arm of Khomenis fatwa reached out to strike Rushdie down before his talk lauding free speech at the Chautauqua Institution in New York yesterday. Today comes news that Rushdie is severely injured and on a ventilator. The AP story on the events is posted here. The perpetrator was immediately apprehended. See Michael Dorans tweet on the perpetrator below. Rushdies assailant is reportedly a 24 year old Shiite immigrant from South Lebanon by the name of Hadi Matar. His fake driving license carried the name Hassan Mughniyah (in honor of HASSAN nasrallah + imad MUGHNIYAH?). His FB page expresses love for the Islamic Republic. pic.twitter.com/rJhYFJ0CHu Mike (@Doranimated) August 13, 2022 It is a humiliating and appalling abomination that this attack occurred on American soil. What is to be done? Doran reasonably anticipates the worst from Joe Bidens clown-car administration. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Friday launched an applications platform to monitor crude oil theft in the country. The company launched the app in Abuja at the signing of renewed Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) agreements between NNPC and its partners in oil mining leases. The platform Crude Theft Monitoring Applications according to NNPC Limited was created for members of host communities and other Nigerians to report incidents of oil theft and get rewarded. The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, had in April disclosed that Nigeria lost $4 billion to oil theft at the rate of 200,000 barrels per day in 2021. He said the country already lost $1.5 billion so far in 2022 because pipeline vandalism has escalated. Mr Kyari said the country was losing 95 per cent of oil production to oil thieves at Bonny Terminal, Rivers State. The federal government in its recent draft fiscal strategy paper for 2023 through 2025, presented by the Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said that oil revenue underperformed due to significant production shortfalls such as shut-ins resulting from pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft. Speaking at the launch Friday, Mr Kyari said the actions of vandals on pipelines have become a difficult thing to deal with. There are still ongoing activities of oil thieves and vandals on our pipelines and assets, very visible in the form of illegal refineries that are continuously put up in some locations and insertions into our pipeline network. READ ALSO: Arrests have been made and vessels have been arrested by the Nigerian Navy, I commend the Armed forces, in the last three months, they have done substantive work and have destroyed some illegal refineries. First, we have created a platform where members of the community and other Nigerians can report whenever incidents of theft occur and also reward them, and keep it confidential and private. We at the NNPC will guarantee absolute privacy on any such report that comes and Im directly managing this myself as no one will be exposed. Mr Kyari urged companies to report suspicious sales even in the international arena. Secondly, on an international scale, companies must report suspicious sales of crude. Every oil that leaves this country has a unique registration number that is issued by the NNPC and also validated by the OPEC commission. And I know that the destination reporting framework has been put up by the Commission, he said. Ahead of this, we are also creating a platform where end-users, particularly investors and traders, can validate the crude they are handling from Nigeria as their only source. And whenever they have no validation report, then they must world. If they dont do this, as I always say, our companies are international, which means they are part of the riggers and whenever we discover this, we will take necessary actions against them. And Im sure that our partners will cooperate with us, to make sure that this is done. That way we know that we are looking at the market and also curtailing our local issues. To ensure that we respond to this situation and this also, we cant do without government engagement and involvement, particularly government security agencies and also members of the community. We have put up a very robust framework for ensuring that we curtail this menace and we are already seeing results. Needless to say, there are still ongoing activities of vandals in our pipelines or oil thieves on our assets. This is very visible in the form of illegal refineries that are continuously put up in some locations and also insertions into our pipelines network. We are reacting to it, we are doing many things surrounding it. There are massive actions by our government agencies just to make it clear to us, he said. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Friday signed a contract extension with its international oil companies partners for five major oil blocs. The agreement according to NNPC Limited could put to an end the protracted dispute between the state-owned company and the contractor parties in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 128, 130, 132 and 133, as well as 138 PSCs. The agreements are the Production Sharing Agreement, Dispute Settlement Agreements, Settlement Repayment Agreement, and Escrow Agreement. The signing of the agreement took place at the NNPC headquarters office in Abuja. According to the company, the signing of the new PSCs is a key milestone achievement by NNPC Ltd which would ultimately unlock opportunities within the Nigeria upstream sector. It said the execution of the PSCs will deepen investment and development of Nigerias rich petroleum resources and ensure that the trifold mandate of the NNPC Limited to ensure energy availability, sustainability, and accessibility is achieved. Speaking at the event, Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, said the deal was part of the corporations dispute resolution and renewal strategy of 2017, aimed at securing out-of-court settlement of all disputes around the 1993 PSC and agreeing on terms for their renewal. This is a major landmark achievement since our transition to a limited liability company under the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), Mr Kyari said. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 16th August 2021. This law gave NNPC the legal backing to renegotiate all her existing PSCs in conformance to the provisions of the new Act within 1 year. A major issue for all of us is all forms of litigation. As you do this, it damages relationships and more than anything else, it stifles investment. That is why exactly that situation was brought to the table, that except for one asset, practically did crude oil enter into any new commitment, since 2007, he said. READ ALSO: This is clearly related to the disputes around the 1993 PSC, and we knew that as the JIA process was going on the process to put the Petroleum Industry Act, it was very obvious that the resolution or the dispute of the 1993 PSC is a critical part of that bargain. Today, we are happy. Our country kept its promise, and I understand very clearly that it would not have been possible except you had some courage of leadership, and all of us must give this credit to President Muhammadu Buhari, who agreed that we must resolve this most amicably. In a manner that benefits the country but also in a way investors recover their cost and make the competitive benefits that they must have from their investments. In the end, the PIA recognises all those terms. The fiscal terms are re-engineered to make sure that these terms are met and also allowed us by law to close our disputes amicably so that we stop all litigation so that some terms and conditions will enable us to move forward with our relationship and that is why we are here today, he said. Bala Wunti, head of NNPCs subsidiary National Petroleum Investment Management Services, said the signing should lead to the production of 10 billion barrels of oil. Today, we are on the verge of making history, the history to resolve all pending disputes in our PSCs with a potential to develop and monetize over 10 billion bbls and generate revenue in excess of US$ 500 billion to stakeholders, and attainment of energy security for the country, he said. The execution of the revised PSCs today will deepen investment and development of Nigerias rich petroleum resources and ensure that the trifold mandate of the NNPC Ltd to ensure the security of energy supply, sustainability of Energy Supply, and accessibility is achieved. Nigerias production sharing contracts commenced with the 1993 PSCs, subsequently followed by 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010 etc. The PSC in Nigeria was mainly motivated by funding challenges faced by the joint venture arrangements that led to a reduction in production and revenue. Mr Wunti said since the introduction of the PSC into Nigerias hydrocarbon production algorithm, over 5.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent have so far been produced and monetised by the various PSCs arrangements. Over the last two decades, the PSCs have cumulatively accounted for about 40 per cent of Nigerias oil production. The event was attended by the Chairman of the NNPC Board, Margary Okadigbo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Downstream and Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority Farouk Ahmed, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service Mohammed Nami, the Group General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services Bala Wunti, Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya and other top officials in the industry. Eight state governments failed to pay some of their workers for at least six months, a new report says. The states are Taraba, Nasarawa, Edo, Ebonyi, Ondo, Plateau, Imo, Abia. They owe active workers as well as retirees. The report by the civic organisation BudgIT shows that at least 12 out of Nigerias 36 states owed workers at least one-month salary as of July 28. One state, Abia, did not pay some workers for 22 months. The state (Abia) currently owes its state tertiary institution workers six months salary, while Ebonyi state has not paid its pensioners in the last six months, Budgit said in its report. It said secretariat workers in Taraba State complained of irregular salary payments for up to six months, while lecturers at state tertiary institutions and midwives in the state-owned hospital in Ondo State have not been paid in the last four months. A civil servant in Ondo State told PREMIUM TIMES workers were facing dire conditions. We were receiving salary till February 2022, then it stopped. Since March till date, we have not received any salary, she said. The states Commissioner of Information, Bamidele Olateju, however said the state had paid workers till April. Salaries have been paid till April. And we are working hard to pay off the rest, he said Friday. PREMIUM TIMES contacted state workers and some claimed even states indicated in the survey as not owing were indeed owing. Irregular payment of workers salaries has been a problem in Nigerian states for decades. Officials often blame revenue shortfall, yet continue to apply the same lean resources on their lavish interests. Budgit said it conducted the survey to spotlight and identify state governments that have consistently failed to meet the essential requirement of governance and employee compensation. The group called on governments to urgently address the glaring inability to pay state workers salaries as the attitude, enthusiasm, productivity, and survival of state workers and their families are directly related to the timeliness of their remuneration. Nigerian civil servants are unfortunately no strangers to delays and gaps in monthly salary payments. Despite belonging to the executive implementing arm of the government, they have been left without payments in many instances, said the groups Head of Research and Policy Advisory, Iniobong Usen. With several states guilty of this non-payment, civil servants are often at wits end at month end. The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has alleged that governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) met and plotted to stop the emergence of Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2019 but that the plot was aborted by some of the governors. He said he agreed to the plot at the time because it was not his duty to help the ruling APC to which Messrs Lawan and Gbajabiamila belong, but that he has no reason to start now. Mr Wike made the revelation on Friday during the commissioning of the Rivers State Legislative Quarters in Port Harcourt by Mr Gbajabiamila. He said the same governors again betrayed him during the tussle for the position of minority leader of the House. PDP had nominated Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), an ally of Mr Wike, as minority leader, but Mr Gbajabiamila announced Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) for the position. I have no regret not helping your party that time, even now. My business is to make your party uncomfortable. So I was supporting it was Rivers State lodge in Abuja, where we plotted you should not go. We plotted but PDP governors sold me out. They supported you, even when we agreed that Femi should not go, Lawan should not go. As a party, they went back and supported you. That is why you made Ndudi Elumelu the Minority Leader. We wrote you a letter that it was not what we wanted, he said. Mr Wike also mocked the PDP for threatening to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari over insecurity. He stated that the lawmakers have no balls to proceed with the impeachment threat. The lawmakers of the main opposition party had before embarking on holiday recently gave Mr Buhari six weeks to fix the general insecurity in the country or risk impeachment. People dont like the truth, but the truth must be told at all times. They are saying they will impeach Buhari. They dont have the balls. They dont have it. Ordinary to override.let us see who will stand up and say, Mr Speaker. They think they can use Nigeria, Wayo. Things you know you cannot do, why are you saying it out, Mr Wike said. Responding before commissioning the Legislative Quarters, Mr Gbajabiamila said the experience of Mr Wike affirmed the saying that in politics, there is no permanent friend or enemy, only that permanent interest. And by Gods grace, this journey you have started, which you and I know shall get to the permanent site, the Speaker added. Wikes romance with APC The timing of Mr Wikes overture to Mr Gbajabiamila and other members of the ruling party has continued to generate concerns because of the crisis in the PDP. Before now, the governor was inviting senior members of his party, PDP, and other senior citizens to commission projects in the state. At some point, he also invited a few APC members, including former Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, to commission projects in Rivers State. Mr Wike lost the PDP presidential ticket to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in May. The Rivers governor and his supporters are believed to be aggrieved that he was not picked by Atiku as his running mate having emerged second in the presidential primary. Atiku instead went for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. There have been efforts to reconcile Messrs Atiku and Wike. However, just as the efforts are being made, Mr Wike recently began to invite members of the APC again to commission projects constructed by his administration. Only last Monday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, an APC member, was in Rivers State to commission Orochiri-Worukwo (Waterlines) Flyover built by the Wike administration. Both Messrs Sanwo-Olu and Gbajabiamila are close political associates of the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu. A couple of weeks earlier, Mr Wike hosted two APC governors, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State. Former Governors Abdulaziz Yari and Aliyu Wamamako of Zamfara and Sokoto States, both APC members, are some of the recent visitors to the Rivers State Government House. The United States government has asked the District Court in Tacoma to order the forfeiture of Abidemi Rufais $604,260 being the interest that accrued from his commission of wire fraud. The amount translates to about N252 million when converted at official exchange rate and N392 million based on the prevailing rate in the volatile parallel market. Mr Rufai, an official of the Ogun State government arrested in May 2021, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Rufai admitted using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, U.S. Attorney, Nick Brown, said. He has been in custody since his arrest at New Yorks JFK airport in May 2021. At the time of his arrest, Mr Rufai was the Special Assistant to the Governor of Nigerias Ogun State. According to the plea agreement, since 2017, Mr Rufai unlawfully obtained the personal identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans to submit more than $2 million in claims for federally funded benefits under a variety of relief programs. The various agencies involved paid out more than $600,000. In a fresh move, the U.S. government through its lawyer, Nicholas Brown, on 4 August, urged the court to accede to a forfeiture request. According to court filings seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Brown based the application on the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure of the United States. The document reminded the court of Mr Rufais guilty plea to the fraud on 3 May 2022. The court papers highlighted how Mr Rufai defrauded U.S. citizens of various sums through the Washington Employment Security Department where $350,763 was stolen. At Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, $10,166, was stolen, while US Small Business Administration lost $10,000 to Mr Rufais fraudulent activities, amongst other key US institutions. The sum of these amounts is $604,260. Therefore, the United States is requesting an order of forfeiture in that amount, requesting the total proceeds defendant obtained from his wire fraud scheme, the application read in part. The government says it will request the Attorney General apply any amounts it collects toward satisfaction of this forfeited sum to the restitution that is ordered. Serial fraud The plea agreement revealed that since 2017, Mr Rufai unlawfully obtained the personal identifying information for more than 20,000 Americans to submit more than $2 million in claims for federally funded benefits under a variety of relief programs. The various agencies involved paid out more than $600,000. The largest amount of fraud was committed against the Washington State Employment Security Department, which paid out $350,763 in fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by the con politician. The Nigerian also submitted fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims in at least 17 other states. Mr Rufai also defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) by attempting to obtain Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 8, 2020, and June 26, 2020, he submitted 19 fraudulent EIDL applications. SBA paid out $10,000 based on the applications. Between 2017 and 2020, Mr Rufai attempted to obtain more than $1.7 million in IRS tax refunds by submitting 675 false claims. The IRS paid out $90,877 on these claims. Court documents showed that Mr Rufais attempts to fraudulently enrich himself with false disaster claims precedes the coronavirus pandemic crisis. For instance, in September and October 2017, he submitted 49 disaster relief claims connected to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Mr Rufai submitted $24,500 in false claims and was paid on 13 claims totaling $6,500. This paper earlier reported that on 17 May, 2021, the U.S. Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud such as the one perpetrated by Abidemi Rufai. Mr Rufais case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and the United States Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General. Sentence proposal Prosecutors have agreed to recommend no more than 71 months in prison. The recommendation is not binding on U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle, a court filing says. Judge has fixed Monday, 15 August, for the sentencing, which will be determined after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Background PREMIUM TIMES reported how, in preparation for trial, the United States government had submitted a 97,000-page material in court as part of evidence to be used against the defendant. Discovery in this case is voluminous and complex, the prosecution and the defence said in the document they jointly filed to ask for the postponement of the trial date that was then scheduled for 31 August, 2021. The trial has been adjourned on different occasions while Mr Rufai remained in detention. After his initial denial of the charges, the defendant admitted his guilt in the plea agreement filed in the court in May. He is now awaiting sentencing. The terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March and abducted scores of hostages fooled the Nigerian government to meet its demand but failed to release the hostages as promised, a media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu admitted in during an interview. Mr Shehu told BBC Hausa that the government met the demands of the terrorists, which includes the release of their wives and children from custody but the terrorists failed to meet their own side the deal. Mr Shehu said one of those released was the wife of one of the leaders of the terror gang who recently gave birth to a set of twins at a health facility. The government also released seven children of the members of the terrorist gangs, as demanded, but they reneged in releasing the train passengers, Mr Shehu said. After the relatives of the terrorists were released from custody, the government flew them from Adamawa, where they were detained, and handed them over to the terrorists. Despite these, Mr Shehu said the terrorists refused to release the train passengers, instead they asked for ransom. Mr Shehu said the government is unwilling to pay the ransom. The official added that 31 of the passengers are still being held in captivity despite the efforts of the government in meeting the the demands of their abductors. READ ALSO: The hostages, who were released, reportedly paid millions before they were released. A newspaper publisher Tukur Mamu, who negotiated the release of some of the hostages, also denied knowledge of ransom payment. Mr Mamu said he does not know if the relatives of the hostages paid a ransom before they were released. Mr Mamu has also withdrawn as lead negotiator for the release of the captives due to threats to his life, personal integrity and lack of support from the federal government. Nine passengers were killed during the attack. Some Nigerians on social media at the weekend condemned the call by the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, that the leaders who have allowed the unions strike to linger should be voted out of power during the 2023 general elections. Mr Osodeke said the union was mobilising Nigerians, enlightening them on why and how they should use their voters cards. Mr Osodeke, who spoke in a recent media interaction which was aired by the Africa Independent Television (AIT) lamented the poor response of the Nigerian government to his unions agitation. He accused the government of insensitivity towards the plight of Nigerian students, parents and the university system, saying it allowed the ivory towers to be shut down in February. He said Nigerians should vote out all those who have watched the ASUU strike linger for almost six months. He said; We also appeal to Nigerians, this is their life. And the beauty is that, in the next five to six months, there is an election, they should hold their PVC. For all those who have subjected them to this, they should vote them out. Its their right. They should use the Permanent Voter Cards (PVC). We are mobilising Nigerian people. We are educating Nigerian people to know that the present set of leaders have no feelings for Nigerian students, and have no feelings for Nigeria as a country. And that is why they are looking down on the education system, allowing the universities to be shut down for almost six months without response. Backlash While the ASUU president did not mention any leader or political party, many Nigerians who assumed his comment was directed at the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accused the union of being political with its current industrial action. A twitter user @StFreakingKezy tweeted: ASUU is just the education wing of PDP. Another user @GbengaGOLD said: ASUU has shown their hand and I hope FG will simply take them to the Industrial Court and get a judgement that forces them back to work. Clearly partisan at this point. The ASUU President confirmed the strike was about next years election. Well, most sensible Nigerians knew that a long time ago hence the deliberate stalling and refusal to bend. Its unfortunate theyre making many suffer including their members, @dryaks tweeted. Another tweet by @ahafizmarusa reads: The negotiation is likely not happening soon. ASUU has taken a political stance maybe to blackmail FG into submission but it might backfire and at the end we the students will continue to suffer their failure to reconcile this issue. Strike ASUU embarked on strike in February to demand better funding for the university system and better remuneration for its members. The union also wants the government to replace the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a payment platform for its members. ASUU said IPPIS is marred with irregularities and does not recognise the peculiarities of universities. President Muhammadu Buhari had on 19 July ordered the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to take over negotiations with the striking lecturers from his counterpart at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, as the strike lingers. Mr Adamu reportedly told the President that he could address the issues within two to three weeks if allowed to do so. However, almost two weeks after his pledge, ASUU renewed its strike by another four weeks on 1 August. Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES reported that the minister will brief Nigerians on the state of negotiations with the workers union next Thursday. Again, Buhari appeals to striking workers Meanwhile, President Buhari, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, a professor, has again appealed to ASUU to reconsider its stance on the ongoing strike. The President, who spoke on Friday at a special convocation ceremony organised to confer honorary doctorate degree on a business mogul, Muhammadu Indimi, by the University of Maiduguri on Friday, said; The nation cannot afford long interruption of higher education of the youths and wouldnt undermine the development of the nations human capital in a strictly competitive world. ASUU is not the only university-based union on strike. The Non-academic Staff Union of Educational and other Associated Institutions (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) are also on strike over similar demands. 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. About N653.7 million was paid as ransom in Nigeria between July 2021 and June 2022, a period of one of year, for the release of kidnap victims, a new report by a Lagos-based security and political risk research firm has shown. The report, The Economics of Nigerias Kidnap Industry, conducted by SBM Intelligence and published in August, detailed the countrys security issues, including incidents of banditry and the costs associated with kidnapping for ransom. The report said at least 500 incidents of kidnapping were recorded and 3,420 people were abducted across Nigeria, with 564 others killed in violence associated with abductions in the one-year period. The security report also recorded that N6.531 billion ($9.9 million) was demanded in ransom in the year but N653.7 million ($1.2 million) was paid as ransom for the release of captives. Based on what we could verify, between July 2021 and June 2022, no fewer than 3,420 people were abducted across Nigeria, with 564 others killed in violence associated with abductions. In the ensuing period, N6.531 billion was demanded in exchange for the release of captives while a fraction of that sum (N653.7 million) was paid as ransom As of the exchange rates between the naira and the U.S. dollar on 1 August 2022, these figures translate to $9,806,306.31 and $1,126,126.13, respectively. We have taken care not to include the later ransom payments for the Abuja-Kaduna train incident as most of those victims were released in July 2022. It was reported on 25 July, 2022 that eight Nigerian hostages parted with 100 million each, while a Pakistani hostage paid 200 million, the report read, in part. In 2020, SMB reported that between June 2011 and the end of March 2020, at least $18.34 million was paid to kidnappers as ransom in Nigeria and the larger proportion of that figure (just below $11 million) was paid out between January 2016 and March 2020. The intelligence and security analysis firm further explained that the figure was arrived based on media reports detailing the sum paid to armed groups. It added that the numbers were almost definitely higher than what was reported, but stuck to what we could verify. When contacted, SBM security analyst, Confidence Isaiah, explained that the amount paid as ransom to kidnappers within a year is pretty huge for a population living on less than two dollars a day. According to him, due to the countrys rising rate of poverty, the high incidence of kidnapping-for-ransom is significant as Nigerians, over the past few years, have continued to overstretch themselves scraping resources to pay huge amounts of money as ransom to kidnappers. Nigerians spent 62% of their salary on food in 2020, leaving relatively little for discretionary and disposable income Nigerians have become increasingly poorer over the past few years as a result of the sacrifices they have made for their loved ones, and kidnappers are adjusting by occasionally demanding ransom payments in forms other than cash, he said. In October last year, PREMIUM TIMES published a number of on-the-ground reports, investigations, and research that exposed the nations growing kidnapping-for-ransom epidemic. The research also identified the epidemics hotspots across the nation, showing that no region of Nigeria is immune. Regional breakdown by incidents According to the SBMs report, out of the 500 episodes of abduction reported between July 2021 and June 2022 in six of the seven states in the North-west a total of 177 incidents, or 35.4 per cent. The region is arguably the most impacted by banditry and kidnapping-for-ransom in the nation. Only Kebbi State from the region did not record any reported incident during the period under review. Kaduna State recorded 84 cases, the highest number of incidents recorded in any state in the region. ALSO READ: Kidnappers free medical practitioner after N3 million ransom Also, 29 incidents or 5.8 per cent of the 500 total kidnapping incidents were reported in the North-east. Only Gombe State had no reported incident during the period. The number of kidnapping-for-ransom cases that were reported was 108, or 21.6 per cent, in the North-central region. The South-west had 54 total occurrences of kidnapping or 10.8 per cent. There were 67 total kidnapping incidents during the one-year period, or 13.4 per cent of all reported cases, in the oil-rich South-south region of the country. The South-east region, which has also experienced security issues over the years, reported a total of 62 kidnapping cases between July 2021 and June 2022, or 12.4 per cent of all reported cases in the country. Breakdown by persons kidnapped The North-west region had the most abducted individuals throughout the year-long period, with 2,199, or 65.1 per cent of the 3,379 total kidnapped individuals. The index shows Kaduna State had the highest number of kidnapped persons with 1119. Zamfara State had the second-highest number of abduction cases, with 836 persons reportedly abducted in the state. Kano State had the least with only eight persons reportedly abducted in the state during the period. The North-central region recorded 719 or 21.3 per cent of persons that were kidnapped for ransom out of the 3,379 total kidnapped individuals across the country in the period. The North-east recorded 54 kidnapped persons at 1.6 per cent of the national total. According to the report, Niger State recorded the highest number of kidnapped persons at 36, while Nasarawa scored the least at nine persons. In comparison to the other regions, South-west recorded a total number of 119 persons at 3.5 per cent, while the South-south recorded a total number of 194 at 5.7 per cent in the year of the kidnapped persons. Osun State recorded the least number of kidnapped cases with two incidents, and Ekiti State recorded the highest at 40 kidnapped persons in the region. The South-east region recorded a total of 112 persons at 3.6 per cent during the period. Regional breakdown by casualties The North-west region likewise saw the greatest number of fatalities at 331, or 69.8 per cent of the total number of 474 casualties in the year. And the North-east scored 17 casualties at 3.6 per cent , while the North-central region recorded 106 at 22.4 per cent. According to the report, there were 20 overall casualties in the South-west while there were 37 total cases of casualties in the South-south region during the period or 7.8 per cent of all cases. South-east region recorded a total of 51 cases of casualties at 10.8 per cent. The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to work with lecturers to end incessant strikes in Nigeria universities. Atiku stated this at a youth programme with the theme Intergenerational Synergy on Government, organised by PDP to commemorate the 2022 International Youth Day celebration in Abuja on Friday. The former vice president, who narrated how his father was arrested for never wanting him to go to school, described education as fundamental right of any citizen, especially the children and youth. He decried the inability of the government to resolve lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), saying such would not happen if he is elected president. I want to pledge that I will work with university authorities and government to make sure we end this incessant strikes by ASUU. This is because education is fundamental to your growth. It doesnt matter whether you are in politics, business or any sector. The fundamental right of every youth or every citizen is to be educated. Therefore it is the responsibility of any responsible government to make sure that right is given to every Nigerian, every youth in this country, Atiku said. Atiku, who reiterated his pledge for youth inclusive government, promised to provide them with the opportunities to acquire the training and experience to take over from the older generations. He urged the youth to support the PDP to take over government in 2023 to rescue them and the nation. I believe that the PDP provides the best platform for you to actualise your individuals collective and national aspirations, he said. Atiku encouraged youth who wanted to go into politics, either as part-time or full time career, to be patient and courageous in building their ways to the top. The PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, said that the party would take care of all when it comes back to power by 2023. He said that there would be sufficient representation for youth in the government, both in elected or appointed positions. PDP is the only party that has done it in the past and will do it again. We will rebuild this country and you will have a better country. Power belongs to you; power does not belong to we the old generation. We are only rebuilding to hand over to you, he said. The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, the acting chairman of the occasion, passed a vote of confidence on Mr Ayu and his executive. He urged members to join the party leaders to rescue it. Mr Elumelu said those calling for the dissolution of Mr Ayus National Working Committee (NWC) did not mean well for the party and the nation. What they should be thinking about is how to join us together to unite this party, unite Nigerians that are looking forward to PDP to rescue them and of course, come back to power come 2023, he said. Mr Elumelu urged the youth not to be deterred by what they were going through, but work with PDP to return to power. Let me charge youth to note that not only the future, but the present belongs to you. It is your time and you must make good use of it, he said. The PDP National Youth Leader, Muhammed Suleiman, advised youth not to see leadership as an entitlement, but a process that involved all stakeholders in every aspect of the society. Mr Suleiman said the youth must be prepared to have the right mindset and humility to deal with the challenges that come with leadership. He said that the PDP NWC, led by Mr Ayu, was fully youth-oriented and ready to support them in any endeavour. Our presidential candidate Abubakar has shown over the years that he is a true believer in the capacity of the youth. (NAN) The police in Akwa Ibom State have arrested a newspaper distributor, Chidi Ngadiubi. Mr Ngadiubi was arrested on Friday at his shop in Uyo after some police operatives attempted to arrest the publisher/editor of a local newspaper, The Mail. The Mail has lately been publishing reports considered critical of the Akwa Ibom State government interest, especially on the alleged certificate forgery against the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Umo Eno. Mr Ngadiubi has been in detention at the Criminal Investigation Department at the police headquarters in Uyo. The Chairperson of the Newspaper Distributors Association in the state, Essien Ewoh, told PREMIUM TIMES that the police refused to release Mr Ngadiubi on bail to him when he visited the police headquarters on Saturday. He said the police told him that the order to arrest the newspaper distributor came from above. According to him, the police said the chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) must produce the publisher of The Mail, Ifreke Nseowo, before the newspaper vendor is released. NUJs reaction Meanwhile, the NUJ in Akwa Ibom State has condemned an attempt by the police to abduct the Mail publisher, Mr Nseowo. The union, in a statement on Saturday in Uyo, described the strategy employed by the police in their attempt to arrest the publisher as crude. ALSO READ: Nigerian newspaper publisher alleges threat to life The statement, signed by Amos Etuk (chairperson) and Dominic Akpan (secretary), demanded the immediate release of the newspaper vendor. The statement said the arrest of Mr Ngadiubi was against the new Akwa Ibom State Justice Administration Law, which forbids the police from arresting a person in place of another. While the NUJ is not against the Police arresting any member of the Union who has contravened the law, it is quick to point out that it must follow due process of the law. In the case of the current plot to arrest Mr Nseowo, the Union insists that the right thing would be to invite him to the police station, where he would be informed of the allegations against him, instead of the crude tactics of arresting Mr Ndagiubia, in lieu of Mr Nseowo. However, the Union insists that if the plot to arrest Mr Nseowo is connected to any story published in his newspaper, the aggrieved party should seek a redress in Court. If the publication has criminal contents, Mr Nseowo should be invited, instead of the frantic attempts to take him into custody like a common criminal, the NUJ said. Nigerias Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, has emphasised the need for the country to develop its critical minerals to meet the global net zero targets by 2050. The Minister made this statement in Abuja recently during the maiden edition of the future minerals summit, themed; Leveraging Future Minerals for Sustainable Development. Mr Adegbite said the urgent need to secure a low-carbon future has resulted in the growing demand for critical minerals and countries are increasingly relying on rare earth elements and critical minerals to support their climate commitments. He said; Already, many nations are aggressively initiating policies and strategic models to ensure the accelerated development of these critical energy minerals. Last month, the United States Senate passed an act with incentives for developing critical minerals. Australia is also considering investment packages to stimulate these minerals exploration, mining and processing. In addition, China has stepped up imports from developing nations to bolster critical minerals stockpiles. The minister noted that despite Saudi Arabias largest oil and gas reserve, the global energy shift has made the country develop its solid minerals sector by putting a lot of resources into exploration activities. Mr Adegbite said Nigeria must holistically key into the global rush, noting that a summit like this is apt for such conversation. He said; We cannot be left out of the global rush to develop our vast deposits of these minerals. Nigeria has no choice but to join the global race in developing the critical minerals value chain and work must commence in earnest to ensure the development of these critical minerals for shared prosperity in the mining industry. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Mines, Steel and Metallurgy, Tanko Al-Makura, who also graced the event, said the essence of the summit is to sensitise Nigerians about the future of minerals and what it holds for our economy, employment opportunities, wealth creation and all-around participation for people in the sector. The lawmaker said the 9th assembly is working towards unbundling the sector to provide a platform and framework for exploiting the mineral resources effectively. And we feel that unless the sector is unbundled to have some private sector participation, we may not get the best out of our endowment in the solid minerals. Mr Al-Makura, a former governor of Nasarawa State, said to make the sector private-sector driven, both the Senate committee and the ministry collaboratively created the Nigerian Mineral Development Company (NMDC) bill. He said; The NMDC is proposed to be a private for-profit company with private sector participation and government control and its purpose is to function as the vehicle for unbundling upstream and downstream commercial activity in the Nigerian solid mineral sector just like the Petroleum Industry Act. The lawmaker hinted that the bill has passed the second reading in the red chamber and that its being processed for public hearing. The convener of the summit and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Soundcore Group, Tony Nwakalor, said the summit was organised to put Nigeria on the global mining map. He said; I am tired of Nigeria being at the back of the bus when it comes to the mineral and mining sector. We are not recognised as we should because we have not done what most developing countries have been doing for the last decade. I believe that its better late than never. We must begin to present and portray the sector as being investible and being a choice bride as against being a neglected child which it has appeared to be. We hope to continue to engage and sponsor more engagements like this to create awareness for people to see the sectors viability. After this event, we expect more investors to have a clear road map as to how to get involved in the Nigerian mining sector. We also expect that some of the take homes from this summit will influence policy from the federal government because they have the primary responsibilities to drive policies for the sector, Mr Tony explained. Future Minerals Studies have shown that the demand for certain minerals is exponentially growing as the world moves towards a low-carbon future. These minerals are called the future or critical minerals and are used to foster renewable energy technologies. These minerals include lithium, nickel, copper, graphite, etc. A World Bank report revealed a significant rise in electric battery metals such as aluminium, cobalt, nickel, lead, lithium, manganese and iron. The report quoted the Senior Director and Head of the Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice at the WorldBank, Riccardo Puliti, saying; With better planning, resource-rich countries can take advantage of the increased demand to foster growth and development. The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has called on the Federal Civil Service to protect a whistleblower, Richard Oghenerhoro, who exposed an alleged employment scam in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Abuja. The call came on the heels of the reported disciplinary action taken against Mr Oghenerhoro for uncovering the fake employment and making his findings public. The whistleblower was found guilty of misconduct, breach of oath of secrecy, unauthorised disclosure of official information and copying of official documents, contrary to the provisions of the Public Service Rules, according to Punch newspaper. The rule recommended termination of appointment or forced retirement for the offences. CWPPF has taken up cases of victimisation of whistleblowers over the years and we certainly demand that Mr Oghenehoro be protected, reinstated, and appreciated for exposing irregularities and weak employment data systems in the Federal Civil Service rather than focus on the petition, the coalitions statement issued on Thursday read in part. It said the action taken against Mr Oghenerhoro contradicted the anti-corruption posturing of President Muhammadu Buhari administration. You would think that a government that lays so much emphasis on fighting corruption would be appreciative of citizens who are willing to expose irregularities and corruption in the public interest, the statement by 18 members of the coalition, including Premium Times, reads in part. The coalition said Mr Oghenerhoro is one among numerous cases of violations and stigmatisation of whistleblowers since the policy was introduced by the Federal Government in 2016 as a strategy to curb corruption in Nigeria. It added: Whistleblowing is an important tool for fighting corruption. Mr Oghenehoros disclosure is timely and important considering the recent report about delisting 70,000 ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service. Members of the coalition include media houses, the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and civil society organisations concerned with anti-corruption and free media. Some of them are Premium Times, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, The Cable, Daily Trust Newspaper, International Press Institute, Nigeria; Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL). The rest are Civic Media Lab Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) International Centre for, Investigative Reporting (ICIR), International Press Centre (IPC), International Press Institute, Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), NUJ, Paradigm Initiative, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), and HEDA Resources Centre. Read Coalitions Full Statement: COALITION CALLS ON THE FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE TO PROTECT WHISTLEBLOWER 11 August 2022 The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) calls on the Federal Civil Service to protect whistleblower, Richard Oghenerhoro. The CWPPF regards the disciplinary action against the petitioner, Mr Richard Oghenerhoro, for breach of oath of secrecy, and unauthorised disclosure of official information, as a risible attempt to stifle freedom of expression and a total disregard for the 2016 whistleblowers policy. This is one among numerous cases of violations and stigmatisation of whistleblowers since the policy was introduced by the Federal Government in 2016 as a strategy to curb corruption in Nigeria. Whistleblowing is an important tool for fighting corruption. Mr Oghenehoros disclosure is timely and important considering the recent report about delisting 70,000 ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service. You would think that a government that lays so much emphasis on fighting corruption would be appreciative of citizens who are willing to expose irregularities and corruption in the public interest. CWPPF has taken up cases of victimisation of whistleblowers over the years and we certainly demand that Mr Oghenehoro be protected, reinstated, and appreciated for exposing irregularities and weak employment data systems in the Federal Civil Service rather than focus on the petition. CWPPF condemns the disciplinary actions against Mr Oghenehoro and calls for the immediate withdrawal of the punitive actions. This would boost citizens confidence in reporting irregularities that put the country in danger. We shall continue to oppose all forms of attacks on human rights and press freedom in Nigeria and across the world and hold the government, individuals, and organizations accountable. We shall continue to take the necessary measures to prevent violence against journalists and media workers and we will also fiercely demand accountability and bring perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers to justice. CWPPF Secretariat The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF)is a group of media and civil society organisations committed to upholding democracy and good governance by protecting the ethos of whistleblowing, freedom of expression and press freedom. CWPPF members Premium Times OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative The Cable Daily Trust Newspaper International Press Institute, Nigeria Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) Civic Media Lab Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) International Press Centre (IPC) International Press Institute, Nigeria Media Rights Agenda (MRA) Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Paradigm Initiative Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) HEDA Resources Centre. The spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dino Melaye, has described the political movement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as a mere euphoria that cannot win an election. He said Mr Obi lacks what it takes to unify the country, noting that peace is the prerequisite for economic development. Mr Melaye stated this on Friday during an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels TV. He said the Obidient movement of Mr Obi is not new and that a similar euphoria greeted the candidacy of late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, who ran for president on the platform of National Conscience Party (NCP) in 2003. There is no wave, what you have is an euphoria, a created euphoria. I want to tell you that everybody shouting Peter Obi on social media he is a fantastic Nigerian but this is not his time. He doesnt have what it takes to unify this country. Before you start talking about the economy, you need peace. You need to build trust among Nigerians. It takes Atiku to unify this country. It takes a man that will be trusted in the north, in the east and every part of this country..Today, among all the candidates, he is the only one that can be trusted. No one will see him as a religious bigot, nobody will see him as a tribalist, and nobody will see him as an ethnic jingoist, even those of us around him. All those things you see are euphoria. What is the followership of Obi on social media? Even those people making the imaginary noise dont follow Obi on social media. Go to Twitter, go to Instagram, and check his handle. We have seen it before in this country, Gani Faweyinmi once ran for the president of this country, Facebook went agog, at the end of the day he got 1,400 votes. Femi Falana ran for governor. He is known, he is popular, with the same euphoria, he lost, he said. Tinubu is not marketable Mr Melaye, a former senator, also took a swing at the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, saying the performance of the current Buhari administration makes it impossible to sell Mr Tinubus candidacy. We have done the number. This government marketed Atiku Abubakar by their colossal failure. It is hard to sell the APC candidates, he stated. He said the Atiku campaign is 300 per cent certain of winning the 2023 presidential election. Salman Rushdie, a novelist who spent many years in hiding and under police protection, was attacked and stabbed in the neck on Friday while onstage in New York, the New York times reports. The attack happened shortly after Mr Rushdie took the stage for a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, a community that offers arts and literary programming in the U.S. The police said Mr Rushdie was apparently stabbed in the neck, but stated that the motive and the weapon used in the attack are still unknown. Reuters has reported that the author is in surgery, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said Mr Rushdie is getting the care he needs. I want to commend the state police. It was a state police officer who stood up and protected him, Mr Hochul was quoted as saying. An endocrinologist, who was in the audience and offered assistance, told the New York Times the author had multiple stab wounds and there was a pool of blood under his body. Mr Rushdie, 75, has both British and American citizenship and Fridays lecture was supposed to be the first in a seven-part series hosted by the Chautauqua Institution. Mr Rushdies controversial book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous, and since the late 1980s there has been an edict by hardline Islamic scholars calling for his death. In 1989, a failed assassination attempt on him in London ended with the bomb exploding prematurely, according to the Associated Press. At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdies hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the books Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived, the AP said. Eyewitness Julia Mineeva-Braun told Reuters that it is a scene of confusion, as she thought Mr Rushdies assailant had approached the author to fix a microphone. Instead, Rushdie was stabbed firstly in the neck and then lower, near the shoulder blades she said, adding Rushdie got up and started running, but was pinned down by his attacker before help arrived. Another witness, Mary Newsom, told the BBC there was shock and a giant collective gasp as the incident occurred, in what is considered to be a safe place. Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has said the insecurity and oil theft in the country are more important topics than the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu. Mr Uzodinma stated this on Friday shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja. The governor appealed to the Nigerian media to assist in making Nigerians stop the debate on the controversial ticket, but instead shift their attention on how to support the fight against crude oil theft and rising insecurity in the country. First, the mood of the country today is not about who the candidates are. The mood of the country is that two years ago or three years ago, we were producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil every day, he said. Look at the quantum of banditry going on in Nigeria today. To the extent that bandits are courageously even coming into the capital city. We should rise in unison and condemn these activities, Mr Uzodinma added. The governor said that the activities of oil thieves have caused a significant drop in oil production in the country, saying Nigerians should be worried by the situation, not the Muslim-Muslim ticket. The presidential candidate of the APC, Mr Tinubu, a Southern Muslim, recently picked Kashim Shettima, a former governor of Borno State and northern Muslim, as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election. The ticket had elicited widespread debate across the country, with various groups such as the Christian Association of Nigeria saying the decision was insensitive to Nigerias religious realities. Some APC chieftains have also criticised the ticket. Mr Tinubu, however, said he picked Mr Shettima because of his competence and not his religious belief. Mr Uzodinma, a member of the APC, said those playing up debate on religion and ethnicity ahead of the 2023 general elections were working against the country. He said those fueling the discussion on the ticket should allow Nigerians the chance of choosing their preferred candidate at the polls in 2023. We should make emphasis on things that will unite the country. And please do by the grace of God abandon those things that are capable of dismembering the country. Our national interest is important. Our national unity is important. Our ability to live together as brothers and sisters is also important, the APC governor said. Those are things that should occupy our minds now. But if you throw Nigeria into a situation where religious dichotomy, ethnic jingoism will be at the front burner, it means you are working against Nigeria, he stated. Purpose of visit The governor said he was at the State House to seek the presidents approval for the conversion of Federal Medical Centre Owerri into Federal University of Technology Teaching Hospital. So, if it is upgraded to a teaching hospital, it would be available to the Federal University of Technology to use in maintaining and managing the medical school approved by National Universities Commission, he said. The governor said his visit was also to appeal to Mr Buhari to convert Alvan Ikoku College of Education to Federal University of Education Owerri. He said the Nigerian government began the process of taking over the college during the administration of former Nigerias president, Umaru YarAdua, but the process was placed on hold because the college could not meet some requirements. Now that the school has met all the requirements expected of them, I have come to plead with Mr President to direct that the hold be lifted, so that Alvan Ikoku College of Education will become Federal University of Education Owerri, the governor noted. I am so excited that Mr President gave me assurances that these two requests will be approved. The Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, has written a letter of apology to the head of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, over his Pope comment. Mr Lalongs appointment to market the same faith presidential ticket of Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima has been criticised by many, particularly Christian leaders in the North. On Tuesday, during an interview at the State House after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Lalong justified his appointment as DG of the council by referencing the Pope. He claimed that the Pope did not complain about his appointment. He added that as a Catholic he had one of the highest awards Knight of Saint Gregory the Great from the Pope. Some aggrieved members of the Catholic Church, at a press conference in Abuja, asked Mr Lalong to tender an unreserved apology for dragging the Pope into local politics. President of the Concerned Catholics in Nigeria, Ben Amodu, said the governor caused the head of the Catholic Church global embarrassment with his unguarded remarks. Mr Lalong had on Wednesday said his reference to the Pope was not meant to ridicule Christians. Apology Letter Mr Lalongs letter was addressed to the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Lucius Iwejuru. In the letter dated 12 August, the governor apologised for dragging the Pope into the politics of Nigeria. He stated that his political opponents have taken the opportunity to question his Catholic credentials. Mr Lalong said he has realised that he overreached himself by making reference to the Pope during the interview. He, therefore, apologised for and asked for the understanding and forgiveness from the Catholic Church. I now realise that this was an error on my part and has caused some level of concern and even embarrassment to many especially the Members of the family of Papal Knights to which I belong. I now understand that I may have overreached myself in the course of trying to defend my personal decision in accepting this appointment and thus, the reference to the holy father was not intended as an act of disrespect to his exalted and revered office. Your Grace, by this written letter, I wish to tender my unreserved apologies and ask for their understanding and forgiveness from my brothers in the Catholic faith and, through you, the entire members of the Bishops Conference, our Fathers and our Leaders. My commitment to the Catholic faith to which | belong remains unreserved and undiluted. I will continue to uphold the banner of my faith in public life as I have done over the years, Mr Lalong said. Read the full letter 1. I have followed with some shock and deep regret, the reactions that have trailed my appointment as the Director-General of the Campaign Council for the Presidential Candidates of our Party, the All Progressive Congress, APC, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Ibrahim Shettima. The appointment, understandably was received with mixed reactions across the Christian community who genuinely feel aggrieved by the decision of our party to settle for a Muslim-Muslim ticket. While many people commended me for the appointment and saw it as a way of remaining within the system to fight for our own interests, others cast aspersions on it on the grounds that our faith had been insulted and denigrated. 2. In in the course of this, many of my opponents turned the issue into a political weapon with some spreading rumours and questioning the integrity of my credentials as a Catholic and a Papal Knight. In trying to make my case, I have granted interviews to justify why I believe that the appointment did not in any way undermine my commitment to the Catholic Church. During the week, in the course of defending myself, I had cause to make reference to my credentials as a Catholic and a Papal Knight. In the process, I made reference to the Holy Father. 3. I now realise that this was an error on my part and has caused some level of concern and even embarrassment to many especially the Members of the family of Papal Knights to which I belong. I now understand that I may have overreached myself in the course of trying to defend my personal decision in accepting this appointment and thus, the reference to the holy father was not intended as an act of disrespect to his exalted and revered office. 4. Your Grace, by this written letter, I wish to tender my unreserved apologies and ask for their understanding and forgiveness from my brothers in the Catholic faith and, through you, the entire members of the Bishops Conference, our Fathers and our Leaders. My commitment to the Catholic faith to which | belong remains unreserved and undiluted. I will continue to uphold the banner of my faith in public life as I have done over the years. 5: You may recall, Your Grace that in the last five or so years, i have been at the forefront of facilitating our dialogue as politicians with you our fathers in the faith. I remain committed to this and pray that you will continue to encourage us as we ascend the slippery slope of politics. While soliciting your episcopal blessings. Nigerians have taken to social media to criticise a private tertiary institution Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, over a Twitter post that was believed to have mocked students of Nigerias public universities who have been home for more than five months over prolonged workers strike. The university, which is owned by the Nigerian Baptist Convention, in the post on its verified Twitter handle on Friday celebrated its graduating students, expressing the graduands fulfilment for spending four years for four-year duration courses. The post, which is said to have targeted the unstable academic calendar in Nigerias public institutions, reads; This is what finishing four years in four calendar years in a Nigerian University looks like. You should be here too. This is what finishing four years in four calendar years in a Nigerian University looks like. You should be here too pic.twitter.com/zcRp6yAY9s Bowen University (@bowenuniversity) August 11, 2022 The post was accompanied by a group picture of some of the universitys graduating students. Anger But the caption of the picture in the post infuriated many Nigerians, many of them students of public universities who have been roaming the streets for over 180 days due to the unresolved crisis between the Nigerian government and the university workers. The students and other Nigerians who took to social media to express their displeasure, accused Bowen of being insensitive to the plight of many Nigerian students. Others also accused the university of not being affordable enough for even many members of the Baptist church whose contributions, they said, were used to build the institution. For instance, a user @Chukwubabie tweeted: When Bowen University was being built Baptists contributed money, my parents, my aunt, my church members, they all contributed money and now more than half of the people in my Church cannot afford Bowen and the best move is to rub it in our face??? Another user @datsbobby wrote: Your fees are too expensive for the average Nigerian household. Tweeting this is too insensitive, especially as a lot of the students who are in government universities may not be able to afford your fees and are victims of a failed system. This laughs in the face of millions who cannot afford private universities. We live in a classless society where theres no longer a sense of right or wrong everything is acceptable. Is it a lie or theyre a business doesnt explain away this classless Tweet, another user, @senisulyman tweeted. Private universities are trolling public uni students (who may not be able to afford their fees) in the face of a long standing strike and disagreement between the governing body of public universities and the Federal government, @seyedele wrote. However, other twitter users rallied round Bowen, saying what the institution did was just an advertisement for the quality education it offers. I see no problem here and yes I attended a Federal University and experienced months of strike. You cant tell them not to market with their strongest USP because you feel it hurts the public university students, tweeted @ozoemena_nonso. Another user, @AsinceresongofGod, wrote: Looking at the comment section and all I see is pained people trying to label it as insensitive. The school posts about their quality, awards, wins but they post about this advantage as well and they are suddenly insensitive?? Its marketing. You market your strength!. Strike All the labour unions in Nigerias public universities have downed tools, shutting down activities in the nations ivory towers. The striking workers are demanding better welfare for their members and more funding for the system. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) began its strike on 14 February and has continued to extend it as negotiations with the government continue to stall. On 1 August, it announced another four-week extension of the strike. Other striking unions include the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and other Associated Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT). 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. The Lagos State Government has ordered the reintroduction of History as a stand-alone subject into the basic and junior secondary schools in the state. According to a memo addressed to private school owners and signed by the Director of Research at the Office of Education Quality Assurance of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, Pelumi E.I, the new development is in line with the directives from the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC). The memo added that the subject has been re-introduced in the National Curriculum and the current Lagos State Unified Schemes of Work for primary and junior secondary schools. The government said the subject is compulsory for both primary and junior secondary classes but elective for senior secondary classes. READ ALSO: The memo reads in part; You are to note that while the subject (History) is compulsory for both primary and junior secondary school classes, it is an elective subject in the senior secondary school. To this end, I am further directed to inform you that the subject should be taught in primaries 1 and 2 and JSS 1 and 2 classes in the 2022/2023 academic session. Backstory In 2018, the federal government ordered the reintroduction of history as an independent subject into the basic and junior secondary schools in the country. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who gave the directive, said the subject would allow students to know the history of the country. Mr Adamu said the importance of history to nation building, national identity, patriotism and overall human development could not be overemphasised. According to the minister, one of the cardinal principles of the present administration is social and behavioural change, and history is key to its realisation. The government had said; The desire to realise this and national clamour for it to be back, informed our decision to reintroduce the teaching of history in Nigerias primary and junior secondary schools. The Federal Ministry of Education developed its strategic plan Education for Change: A ministerial strategic plan (2016-2019) which contained several initiatives. This initiative was approved by the National Council on Education during its 61st ministerial session in September 2016. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, has said that the challenge he faced in the state was that the people are used to election rigging and writing results. Mr Igini stated this on Thursday at Uyo in the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State during his valedictory media briefing. I came (here) to count votes, not money, he said. Mr Igini has spent his last five years in service in Akwa Ibom, and is retiring from the INEC this month. He served in Cross River State before he was transferred to Akwa Ibom. The media briefing was preceded by a farewell ceremony organised by the staff of the commission in Mr Iginis honour. Mr Igini was clad in Akwa Ibom traditional attire. He looked royal, with a touch of gold from his head to toe lace-wrapper with golden linings, black staff with a golden head, locally made black shoes laced with golden materials, his hat, neck-tie and half-jacket all had a touch of gold. READ ALSO: I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, Mr Igini said, quoting the statement of the Biblical figure, Paul. Mr Igini, then, reeled out his achievements. He said the commission, under his watch, discovered and moved 23 polling units from private homes and associates of political parties in the state to where they ought to be. Never again will election results in the state be decided in private residences, he added. The commission, he said, has also secured the conviction of a professor for election fraud and that another one is still under prosecution for a similar offence. INEC in Akwa Ibom, under Mr Igini, has also dismissed a staff member, Sunday Ushie, for tampering with the commissions database on the eve of 2019 general elections. Mr Ushie unlawfully transferred some registered voters from different Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom to another and also did similar transfers from Akwa Ibom to other states. INEC has created 1374 new polling units in Akwa Ibom, bringing the total number of polling units in the state to 4354. Mr Igini thanked the residents of the state for the massive turnout for the Continuous Voters Registration, saying it would help in correcting the voter apathy witnessed in the state in previous elections. Reeling out the figures, Mr Igini said 39 per cent of registered voters took part in 2011 general elections in the state, 30 per cent in 2015 and 28 per cent in 2019. Who is Igini? Mr Igini, a human rights lawyer, was the director, Centre for Leadership and Policy, a civil society organisation, before his appointment as REC by former President Goodluck Jonathan, in June 2010. He was reappointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2017, and has served in INEC for ten years. He has also served as the REC in Edo State. He was posted to Akwa Ibom in September 2017, where he supervised the 2019 general elections in the state. Mr Igini, who hails from Delta State, was a Student Union President at the University of Benin, where he graduated from the Department of Sociology. As a Student Union President, Mr Iginis advocacy for human rights and a democratic Nigeria, endeared him to Moshood Abiola, the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, who drafted him into his team for a better Nigeria. Mr Igini and several pro-democracy groups like the National Democratic Coalition, Campaign for Democracy, campaigned against the then Nigerian military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida. The governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Akwa Ibom State, John Akpanudoedehe, said he would have been the governor of the state since 2011 if Mike Igini was the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state. Mr Akpanudoedehe stated this on Friday in Uyo at a farewell ceremony for Mr Igini who is retiring from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Mr Igini, posted to Akwa Ibom in September 2017 as REC, has been applauded by many people for the conduct of credible elections in the state. He is retiring after serving in INEC for 10 years. Mr Igini, as the REC in Akwa Ibom, secured the conviction of a professor for election fraud. Another professor in the state is being prosecuted for a similar offence. INEC in Akwa Ibom, under Mr Iginis watch, dismissed a staff member, Sunday Ushie, for tampering with the commissions database on the eve of 2019 general elections and unlawful transfer of registered voters from different local government areas in the state. Akpanudoedehe in politics Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former national secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC), who defected recently to the NNPP, where he secured the 2023 governorship ticket of the party, was the governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in 2011, but lost in the general election to Godswill Akpabio of the Peoples Democratic Party. He has been the face of the opposition politics in Akwa Ibom for almost two decades. His defection from the APC to the NNPP happened when a faction of APC that is loyal to the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, outmaneuvered him and handed over the governorship ticket of the APC in Akwa Ibom to an entrepreneur, Akan Udofia, who only joined the party a few days to the governorship primary. INEC, however, has refused to recognise Mr Udofia as a candidate of APC because the commission did not monitor the primary which he won, as stipulated by the electoral law. Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former senator, said the 2011 election which he lost to Mr Akpabio was not credible. He believes he would have won the election if Mr Igini had been posted to Akwa Ibom as REC then. The former senator said he shares one thing in common with Mr Igini the truth. He described Mr Igini as someone who speaks the truth no matter who is hurt. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami Ibrahim, has said the deployment of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) did not follow relevant laws as put in place by the Nigerian government. The minister said the section of the NITDA Act that requires the standardisation and certification, application and delivery of such systems in Nigeria were not followed during the deployment of IPPIS, GIFMIS and TSA. At the time they were deployed, the provision of NITDA Act under section A, of setting the standardisation of ICT deployment in federal public institutions was not followed. Because of this, these three systems were not subjected to government certification and IT project clearance as encouraged by law and many other government policies, he said. Mr Ibrahim said following allegations that the systems are being used to syphon money from the treasury, the National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA) reviewed the IPPIS critically, and found errors in high, medium and low magnitudes. President Muhammadu Buhari has, therefore, approved the constitution of a Presidential Steering Committee on critical technical review of the three payment systems used by the government, he said. The minister spoke on Friday while inaugurating the members of the committee on behalf of the President. He said the results of the test conducted on IPPIS have been submitted to relevant government agencies including the Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Labour and Employment as well as the Presidency. The minister said the tests will also be carried out on GIFMIS and TSA and the final report will be submitted to the President. He said: Prior to this meeting as part of the governments processes, testing and certifying systems IPPIS was recently subjected to critical review by NITDA. A report has been submitted to the relevant ministries including Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Labour and Employment, and a copy was sent to the Presidency. There is no doubt, we discovered there are high errors. There are challenges with IPPIS. There is no doubt about this. But in spite of all the challenges we have recorded, there are high, medium and low errors in these systems. The suspended Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, who is currently facing corruption trial, was alleged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to have diverted funds through IPPIS, GIFMIS and TSA. Benefits of IPPIS, others However, despite the irregularities identified in the system, Mr Ibrahim said the systems have proved to be useful, saying they have saved the government over N10 trillion. He said: Inspite of that, many achievements have been recorded. For example, based on the report from the relevant institutions of government that IPPIS saved the government over N120 billion naira, while Treasury Single Account (TSA) saved over N10 trillion for the government. The committee The technical committee, which was inaugurated by Mr Ibrahim, is also to be chaired by him. He said its activities will be supervised by his ministry while NITDA serves as the secretariat for the committee. The main work is to ensure that there is no leakage in these systems, and to ensure that the process is of high quality, he said. He said all the institutions managing the platforms to be reviewed must provide unlimited access to the committee to do its job. He said any institution that fails to cooperate with the committee will report the president for punishment. The minister said; In the approval and the directives given by the president, it is clearly mentioned that all the institutions that manage these three systems (IPPIS, GIFMIS and TSA) must give unlimited access to the committee to ensure that they come up with a very strong recommendation to Mr President for approval. Any institution that failed to give access to it will be reported to the President immediately. And in addition to that recommendation, a punishment is going to be recommended to the president for implementation. It is the mandate of this ministry and the relevant parastatals under the ministry to ensure that any system deployed in government, there is value for money and we must continue to improve on that. Members of the committee, according to the minister, include NITDAs Director General, Kashifu Inuwa, who serves as the secretary; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Folashade Yemi-Esan; Auditor General of the Federation, Aghughu Arhotomhenla; and the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa. Others include the Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dasuki Arabi; Chairman, Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Richard Egbule; and the Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Muhammed Abubakar, a professor. Backstory The striking university workers unions have consistently opposed the deployment of IPPIS for the payment of its members emoluments, saying the system is a product of fraud and an imposition by foreign economic interests. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insisted on the replacement of the payment platform with an alternative its members designed which the union tagged; University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS). Meanwhile, both the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and other Associated Institutions (NASU) have also developed its alternative solution tagged; University Peculiar Payroll Payment System (U3PS). The chairman of the Lagos zone of ASUU, Laja Odukoya, described as a vindication of the unions position the ministers latest revelation about the challenges with IPPIS. The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Ifagbemi Awamaridi, has insisted that he remains the partys flag bearer in the 2023 race. He spoke during an event tagged Unveiling of her Governorship Candidate (Prof. Ifagbemi Awamaridi) and State Assembly Candidates on Saturday at Avid Empire in Alagbado, Lagos. Some members of the party leadership had conducted a substitution primary election on Thursday, where Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the party. Mr Rhodes-Vivour, who defected from the PDP, defeated Moshood Salvador, who joined the party from the APC. Both candidates joined the LP last month. Mr Awamaridi is, however, the candidate recognised by the election umpire, INEC. He said he has decided to speak out because he cant afford to be complacent after another aspirant has been declared the candidate of the party. Mr Awamaridi said the party works with constitution and not the imaginations of (some) individuals. He also said that he came in through the Congress and is the authentic state chairman of the party. I head the structure of the Labour Party anyone that tells you he is the chairman, let him call the meeting of the genuine local government Excos, he said. Kayode Salako, another member of the party, identifies himself as the partys state chairman in Lagos. Mr Awamaridi further said that some members said that he has withdrawn from the race and has been moved to a higher position. So, why was I not there? He said referring to the substitution primary election. He said that Mr Rhodes-Vivour did not inform him of his governorship ambition. He said that when Mr Rhodes-Vivour had earlier reached out to him to be his running mate he told him he would think about it. And the next thing I heard was that he bought the (governorship) form. ??El Ministerio de Salud informa que 260 personas han sido dadas de alta por #ViruelaDelMono y se han detectado 23 casos nuevos y todos vienen recibiendo asistencia medica. Se viene realizando seguimiento a sus contactos. Ya suman 676 los contagiados desde que ingreso al Peru. pic.twitter.com/CuS7OAYbd9 Many bigwigs of the opposition People Democratic Party (PDP) including its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Saturday, attended the wedding of the daughter of a former Governor of Jigawa, Sule Lamido, Surayya. Surayya married her heartthrob Yazid Danfulani, the commissioner of commerce and Industries in Zamfara State. The wedding was held at the country home of Mr Lamido, in Baimana, Birnin Kudu Local Government Area. The ceremony was presided over by Kafil Suleiman, the Imam of Bamaina town. The PDP presidential candidate, Mr Atiku, stood as the brides trustee while the Deputy Governor of Zamafara, Mr Nasiha served as the grooms trustee. The Imam, Mr Suleiman announced the payment of N100,000 as the brides price, after which the trustees of the groom and bride announced their consents to the union. The groom, Mr Danfulani, is the son of the popular Zamfara business tycoon, Shehu Danfulani, and the owner of Yazid Hotels Limited in Kaduna. Governors at the event include Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State; the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyorchia Ayu; and members of the partys Board of Trustees led by Walid Jibril. Other dignitaries are former Vice President, Namadi Sambo; former National Security Adviser, Aliyu Gusau, and former ministers of Special Duties and Police Affairs: Tanimu Turaki and Adamu Maina-Waziri. Also at the event were the former Governors of Bauchi Gombe and Kaduna states, Adamu Muazu, Ahmad Makarfi, Ramalan Yero and Ibrahim Dankwambo among other dignitaries and traditional rulers. Security operatives in Kaduna Saturday recorded a major success in the ongoing operations against terrorists in the state on Saturday. According to a statement by the state Commissioner of Internal Security, Samuel Aruwan, scores of bandits were killed by ground troops and air assets during an operation in Galbi, Chikun Local Government Area. This was conveyed in operational feedback to the Kaduna State Government from the security agencies. According to the feedback, troops of Operation Forest Sanity supported by assets of the Nigerian Air Force conducted clearance operations on an identified terrorist enclave in Galbi general area. During their advance, the security forces crossed River Kaduna and ran into stiff resistance from the insurgents. After a fierce firefight, scores of terrorists were confirmed neutralized as the military forces prevailed. Two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), three AK47 rifles and seven motorcycles were recovered from the enclave of the neutralized bandits. The Kaduna State Government expressed excitement at the feedback and praised the troops for their tenacity in this significant victory against the enemy forces. The Government thanked the troops, air force crews, police personnel, intelligence operatives, and local vigilante members who contributed to the success of the mission. The Government urged the security forces to increase the momentum and vanquish the terrorists for good. Troops will continue clearance operations in the general area, and other identified areas of interest across the state. Terror gangs, commonly referred to as bandits, have unleashed mayhem across Nigerias North-west region. In Kaduna, the crisis is exacerbated by age-long tit-for-tat killing between ethnic groups. Thousands of people have been killed and displaced as a result of the seemingly intractable conflict. There are the inspiring duo of Igwe Uguru and Peter Akwa, young men who rode on the back of technology to navigate African traditional markets and create a multi-million-naira tech startup from Aba, Abia State; Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, tech whizkids who drew the attention of the world to Yaba via Paystack; as well as Mark Essien, the entrepreneur who found wealth in the business of luxury by leveraging on tech, while on the streets of Calabar. Today, Im inspired to celebrate the resilience, strength, and unifying potential of the Nigerian youth through the musical messages of Kush, the celebrated gospel group of the early noughties. Kushs 2002 smash hit, Lets Live Together, was perhaps for me the most important Nigerian song of that crucial era of innocence, on the cusp of the millennium. Thats possibly because the song was released at the height of nationwide fratricidal tensions, notably the Kaduna crises, OPC threats, Yoruba vs. Hausa clashes in places like Ketu, Mile 12, Oyingbo, etc. In some ways, watching the visuals of the song on NTA (especially on AM Express, hosted by Sadiq Dabba, Yinka Craig, Marian Anazodo, Kathrine Edoho, Eline etc) at the time brought therapy, as much as it registered messages of hope and peace on our impressionable minds, despite the despair. First, there was TY Bellos innocent, yet penetrating, rhetorical question: Kilode ta fi n para wa? (Why are we killing one another?) Ko ma sibomiran ta le lo o (There is nowhere else for us to go) Our strength is in our diversity Then came Lara Georges sonorous, tear-inducing, deeply emotional Igbo rendition. And there was Emem Ema (daughter of legendary photographer, Inyang Ema) and her tomboyish swagger and lyrical inventiveness, with which she paid homage to a number of Nigerias ethnic nationalities, from Hausa through Yoruba, Igbo, Ibibio, Fulani, Urhobo, Edo etc. Emems rap delivery, rendered in Hausa, was a big deal for us at a time when rap was still defined largely within the context of Eedris Abdukareems banal lines, way before rapper Modenine came with redemption. And then there was Dapo Dapo Torimiro! a brilliant songwriter and instrumentalist providing direction and balance to that group of young Nigerians, almost always shying away from the camera, while doing the real work in the background. I went through my playlist this morning and found the KUSH hit, and a wave of nostalgia swept through me. Of course the track, released under the phenomenal DKG Music label, has been on auto-replay all day. There is Tobi Amusan, our own celebrated Amazon; Ahmed Musa, an epitome of patriotism and selflessness; as well as Ese Brume, the determined fighter who jumped her way into Nigerias sporting lore. There is Tunde Onakoya, who brought love, light and hope to the faces of young, impressionable boys under the chaotic atmosphere of Oshodi. In this age of mutual tension, politically orchestrated divisions, and deep ethno-religious suspicion, I find Kushs Lets Live Together (released off their The Experience album) not just therapeutic, but a reminder of the strength of the Nigerian young person and the centrality of his or her roles for Nigerias redemption. And whats more, events of recent years have proven this to be true, with young people painting great stories on the canvass of the Nigerian dream, despite institutionalised decay. There are the record-shattering trio of Burna Boy, Wizkid and Davido, including the grossly underrated duo of Flavour Nabania and Yemi Alade, as well as the rave of the moment, Kizz Daniel all immensely talented young artistes putting the nations name on the global map, warts and all. Of course, there is Asa, the brilliant, perceptive nightingale, as well as Tems, the emerging queen of RnB. There is Tobi Amusan, our own celebrated Amazon; Ahmed Musa, an epitome of patriotism and selflessness; as well as Ese Brume, the determined fighter who jumped her way into Nigerias sporting lore. There is Tunde Onakoya, who brought love, light and hope to the faces of young, impressionable boys under the chaotic atmosphere of Oshodi. There is Fati Abubakar, unusual storyteller painting pictures of hope and possibilities behind the shadows of insurgents in Maiduguri, and there is Adamu Tilde, a brilliant thinker engaging culture and developmental issues in Northern Nigeria with clinical, solution-driven expertise. There are the inspiring duo of Igwe Uguru and Peter Akwa, young men who rode on the back of technology to navigate African traditional markets and create a multi-million-naira tech startup from Aba, Abia State; Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi, tech whizkids who drew the attention of the world to Yaba via Paystack; as well as Mark Essien, the entrepreneur who found wealth in the business of luxury by leveraging on tech, while on the streets of Calabar. There are thousands of young, peace-loving patriots who took to the streets to justifiably protest SARS brutality in 2020 (many of whom are not even visible on Twitter), before they were infiltrated by arsonists and other merchants of violence who caused mayhem, leaving in their trail sorrows, blood and tears. There are also hundreds of young, unsung heroes who provided security for their local communities when marauders and criminals came calling in the turbulent days of the COVID-19 lockdown in Lagos, Oyo, and, most especially, Ogun State. irrespective of the turbulence and chas of the moment, I am quite hopeful that with the strength, resilience, creativity and enterprising spirit of the Nigerian young person, this nation will rise and the young Nigerian will shine. But there are also millions of young Nigerians doing great things in their individual spaces, impacting the society behind the klieglights. There are individuals like Rasaq Malik Gbolahan, talented poet and culture enthusiast documenting our stories in beautiful lines and stanzas; Omo Iya Kunmi, a young, resourceful Nigerian providing community service to the downtrodden in Oyo; Badiu Akinola Akinbode, a young Nigerian toiling in far away Barcelona with a dream to influence the nations food processing industry; and Toheeb Adejumo, a U.S-based patriot and educationist quietly illuminating the minds of young, poor Nigerians in Oluode area of Ibadan with free books and a library, unperturbed by the challenges of finance and geography. And there are millions of other young people doing such great things, providing hope amid despair. And so irrespective of the turbulence and chas of the moment, I am quite hopeful that with the strength, resilience, creativity and enterprising spirit of the Nigerian young person, this nation will rise and the young Nigerian will shine. And even though the argument has become quite weak in the face of tension, hate, and decade-long retrogression, our strength still lies in our diversity as we probably saw at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham recently. Dear Nigerian youth, as the world marks the International Youth Day, I celebrate your creativity, industry and resilience. Ad Im optimistic that you and indeed Nigeria shall rise and excel. Oladeinde Olawoyin tweets via @Ola_deinde. NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., ("Cantor") a leading global financial services firm, sadly confirmed today that Anshu Jain, its President, died overnight after battling a serious illness. Mr. Jain joined the firm January 2017. Mr. Howard Lutnick, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It is with profound sadness that today we confirm Anshu's passing. Anshu was the consummate professional who brought a wealth of experience and wisdom to his role as President. He will be remembered as an extraordinary leader, partner, and dear friend who will be greatly missed by all of us and by all who knew him. On behalf of all our partners and employees, we extend our deepest sympathies to Anshu's family and wish them peace and healing during this difficult time." Among many other accomplishments throughout the entire group of companies, Anshu was instrumental in building and cultivating Cantor Fitzgerald's advisory and sales and trading businesses and played a fundamental role in directing the investment bank's Executive Committee. Prior to joining Cantor, Mr. Jain was Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank from June 2012 to June 2015. He joined Deutsche Bank from Merrill Lynch in 1995. He was widely recognized for building the bank's markets business and for helping transform Deutsche Bank into a global universal bank with a leading investment banking franchise. Prior to that, he held various roles at Merrill Lynch and Kidder, Peabody & Co. He served on the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and, as an ardent conservationist, worked with global environmental and wildlife conservation groups. Mr. Jain received his Bachelor's degree in Economics, with honors, from the University of Delhi and his MBA in Finance, Beta Gamma Sigma, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. About Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. Cantor Fitzgerald, with over 12,000 employees, is a leading global financial services group at the forefront of financial and technological innovation and has been a proven and resilient leader for 77 years. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is a preeminent investment bank serving more than 5,000 institutional clients around the world, recognized for its strengths in fixed income and equity capital markets, investment banking, SPAC underwriting and PIPE placements, prime brokerage, asset management, commercial real estate and for its global distribution platform. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is one of the 24 primary dealers authorized to transact business with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For more information, please visit: www.cantor.com. SOURCE Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. SAN DIEGO, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. announces pianist Evelyn Dimov as the recipient of the 2022 Wilshire Quinn Musical Arts Scholarship. Wilshire Quinn will be applying $10,000 towards her upcoming fall enrollment at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Wilshire Quinn received over 1,000 scholarship applications from music majors around the United States, each of which included personal statements and video performances. 2022 Wilshire Quinn Musical Arts Scholarship Winner Evelyn Dimov Dimov, whose stage name is Evelyn Diamant, recently accepted an offer to attend the Manhattan School of Music, one of the country's top independent music conservatories. Evelyn is an accomplished pianist from Palo Alto, California and began competing in music competitions at the age of eight. She has won multiple competitions, including the El Camino Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, Glendale Piano Competition, and VII Rosario Marciano Piano Competition. Evelyn's talents have also empowered her to perform at music festivals around the world, in such places as Italy, Spain, Russia, France, and Switzerland. "We are excited to grant this year's musical arts scholarship to Evelyn and applaud her unique musical talents," said Wilshire Quinn Capital CEO Christopher M. Garcia. "Evelyn's performance and personal statement were phenomenal, and her long list of musical achievements should be recognized. While listening to Evelyn play the piano, we are reminded of music's spiritual force and its ability to connect people from all walks of lifesomething that Evelyn continues to accomplish by performing around the world as a young musician." Some of Evelyn's musical influences include Vladimir Horowitz, Martha Argerich, Sofya Gulyak, and Alexander Kobrin. While Evelyn does not have a favorite musical genre, she does enjoy classical, rock, indie, and pop and its various subgenres. "I find inspiration anywhere and everywhere. My musical aspirations are to simply strive to be the best I can be and to always maximally enjoy the process of working on music and everything that comes with it," Dimov said. "I'm really looking forward to my first year at the wonderful Manhattan School of Music, getting attuned to the new environment and experiencing everything conservatory life has to offer." About the Wilshire Quinn Scholarship The Wilshire Quinn Musical Arts Scholarship, launched in 2019, is a $10,000 annual award presented to a qualified applicant who embodies leadership in the musical arts through talents and character. The scholarship's funds are used directly for tuition, paid to the winner's educational institution. The application process involves a brief personal statement describing what music means to the candidate, and a videoed musical performance. Applications for the 2023 scholarship will open to applicants on April 1, 2023, and the winner will be announced on or around July 1, 2023. Visit http://wilshirequinn.com/scholarship/ to learn more about the award and application process. About Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. Funding for the Wilshire Quinn Musical Arts Scholarship is provided by Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. Founded in 2004, Wilshire Quinn Capital manages the privately held Wilshire Quinn Income Fund, LLC. As a premier portfolio bridge lender, both nationally and predominantly in the state of California, Wilshire Quinn is committed to strengthening local communities by supporting the arts with awards such as the Wilshire Quinn Musical Arts Scholarship. For more information about the Wilshire Quinn Scholarship or media inquiries, please contact us at [email protected] or 619-872-6000. CONTACT: Emily Mesetz, 619-872-6000 SOURCE Wilshire Quinn Capital, Inc. DUBAI, UAE, Aug. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Education has become the foundation of a prosperous life. People from all over the globe strive to widen their horizons and open doors to opportunities through pursuing better education, and this has been reflected in the massive global education infrastructure. However, in some instances, those with the will and desire to pursue education are restricted by their location, mobility, and their home country's limitations. To this end, various people pursue a second citizenship in order to provide their children with a pathway to the best education they can obtain, and ensure they have the tools they need to fulfill their potential and thrive in an ever-competitive world. How second citizenship boosts education One of the main challenges of education comes at the university level, where, in some countries, there are only a handful of universities, and only some of them offer specific courses. This leads to greater competition, limited seats, and shattered dreams. Students looking to get into a specific major at a certain university may have a tough time doing so. This can lead to them going into majors that do not interest them, leading them to lose interest in their studies. Having a second citizenship opens up an entirely new set of universities for students to choose from, giving them more options, more choices, and a better chance at pursuing their dream career. Choosing the right second citizenship can also allow children to pursue majors that are unavailable in their home country, so having a citizenship in a country with an education infrastructure that compliments one's original country can provide students with unlimited opportunities. A second citizenship can also provide students with the ability to study in universities that specifically specialize in certain majors, giving them the edge when they enter a competitive market. For example, those looking to specialize in AR/VR can greatly benefit from having an EU citizenship that gives them access to regions that specialize in these fields like Scandanavia or the Netherlands. While those looking to hone their business pedigree could also attend universities in Ireland that are paving the way in terms of business education, namely in Dublin. Doing so as EU nationals provides them a simple route to entry, lower fees as local students, and access to EU student support. How citizenship by investment factors into the equation Getting a second citizenship, however, is not an easy task. Normally it takes years or even a decade of residing in a country to qualify for its citizenship. Some countries do not even offer its residents a pathway to naturalization and citizenship, such as many of the countries in the GCC region. However, there is a simple route to gaining a second citizenship, and that is by obtaining it through investment. Some countries offer their citizenship and passport in exchange for an economic contribution from foreign investors, and this route takes only months and can greatly benefit investors and their family members. Five Caribbean nations, which are Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis, and St Lucia all offer citizenship by investment programs. Not only are they Commonwealth nations that have powerful passports, they only take three to six months for investors and their families to obtain citizenship without the need to reside or travel to them beforehand. One major benefit of a Caribbean citizenship within the realm of education is the universities in those nations themselves, as Grenada boasts St George's University, a leading medical educational institute that provides the region with some of its best doctors and medical staff. Antigua is home to the University of the West Indies, a large institute with a wide array of majors available for students, and what is more interesting is that Antigua & Barbuda citizenship by investment applicants are eligible to apply for massive discounts on tuition. However, Caribbean citizenship offers more in terms of education benefits. Holders of one of these passports have visa free access to a massive amount of destinations, such as the UK, EU, Hong Kong, and many others. If students are applying for universities in one of these destinations, then they can quickly attend interviews if needed, and not lose out on an opportunity due to not being able to get a visa. 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To know more about getting a second citizenship through investment and how it can benefit your children in terms of education contact us today to book a consultation with one of our experts. Savory & Partners is an accredited agent for multiple governments where citizenship by investment is offered. Founded in 1797, the agency has evolved from pharmaceuticals to family assets and legacy protection through second citizenship and residency. The company's professional, multinational staff is made up of expert advisors who have guided thousands of clients, including many North African investors, on their journey to find the most suitable CBI program for them. The Savory & Partners team will be happy to answer your enquiries in English, Arabic, Farsi, French and Spanish. For more information, please send an email to [email protected]. You can also call +971 04 430 1717 or send a WhatsApp message to +971 54 440 2955. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1738007/Savory_and_Partners_Logo.jpg SOURCE Savory & Partners Geneva, Aug 13 : A total of 168 aid workers have been attacked so far this year, leading to 44 fatalities, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in Geneva. OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told a press briefing on Friday that according to data from the NGO Humanitarian Outcomes, a partner of OCHA, more than 140 aid workers were killed in the line of duty in 2021, the highest number of fatalities since 2013. In 2021, there were also 203 aid workers injured and 117 kidnapped, Laerke said. According to the OCHA spokesperson, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria continue to be the most violent countries for aid workers, Xinhua news agency reported. "Most of the over 140 fatalities in 2021 were killed by small weapons in shooting incidents, with the second-largest cause of death being air strikes and shelling, most of them in Syria," he added. Mentioning that next Friday will be World Humanitarian Day, Laerke also announced the launching of this year's campaign and public call to show support for the work, determination, bravery and sacrifice that humanitarians all over the world demonstrate every day. From today, he said, the people are invited to follow the hashtag on social media, to share, like, comment and support the postings by OCHA and others, and to use every occasion to show solidarity with people in need and appreciation for those who deliver aid. World Humanitarian Day takes place every year on August 19, which was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2008 to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad which killed 22 aid workers. "I express my absolute respect for the work of the National Police and all workers across the country," Mr. Castillo expressed via Twitter on Friday night. "I lament that a voluntary action by a security team member was misunderstood; he wanted to prevent my lumbago from worsening and kindly offered himself for that action," he indicated. The Head of State affirmed that he had never asked or forced the police agent to tie his shoelaces, something that Mr. Castillo explained he himself could not do, because he had been wearing a bulletproof vest for some time to protect himself against any risk or threat. In this sense, the top official indicated that it was a fortuitous event which is being misunderstood and used by his political opponents to continue damaging his image. The President also pointed out that he respects and appreciates the concern of the Ombudsman's Office and other institutions about the incident. Lastly, he ruled out any abuse or discrimination against the police agent. Expreso mi absoluto respeto al trabajo de la @PoliciaPeru y de todos los trabajadores del pais. Lamento que se haya malinterpretado una accion voluntaria del efectivo de seguridad, quien quiso evitar que mi lumbalgia recrudezca y se ofrecio amablemente a dicha accion. (1/4) Washington, Aug 13 : US federal agents took away 11 sets of classified documents from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump during an unprecedented search earlier this week, according to legal papers related to the search and the ongoing investigation unsealed by a court on Friday. These documents are part of a potentially criminal violation of the Espionage Act and a few other laws. They included four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, according to an inventory of items seized by FBI agents. Some of these documents were marked "classified/TS/SCI" documents "shorthand" for "top secret/sensitive compartmented information". Among them was also a document about France's President Emmanuel Macron. The documents, which were listed in a "Receipt of Property" handed over to Trump's lawyers by the FBI, did not give details contained in them. One set was titled, "Various classified/TS/SCI documents". Another went with "Miscellanous (Miscellaneous spelt wrong) Top Secret Documents". And the one on Macron simply said, "Info re: President of France." The warrant sanctioning the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday specified three potential violations of federal law, which could together end in a punishment of years in jail and fine if the accused is found guilty. They are federal laws 18 USC 2071 (Concealment, removal or mutilation), 18 USC 793 (Gathering, transmitting or losing defence information), and 18 USC 1519 (Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations). The second law, 18 USC 793, is part of the Espionage Act, but it does not pertain specifically to the act of spying. Trump could potentially be under investigation for criminal violation of the Espionage Act. The former President is embroiled in a slew of legal cases, both criminal and civil. He was in New York City to testify in one of them on Monday when the FBI visited his property in Florida. This is a civil case against Trump Organization, the family business run by his sons after he was elected President. Trump is facing potentially criminal charges in Georgia state stemming from his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in his favour. San Francisco, Aug 13 : After Ford CEO Jim Farley took a playful dig at Elon Musk, the tech billionaire has shared a lighthearted response to the playful pickup truck jab from him. Farley, recently, drew a comparison between Tesla's long-delayed Cybertruck and Ford's plug-in pick up -- F-150 Lightning, while announcing a significant investment in solar energy. Meanwhile, replying to an account on the microblogging platform Twitter on the matter, Musk wrote: "Thanks, but I already have one." This week, after touting the company's move to more sustainable sources, Farley made a quick jab at his main rival in the EV space, whom he has praised for helping spur the industry toward electric vehicles. "We are really on a mission at Ford to lead an electric and digital revolution for many, not few...," he was quoted as saying. "Take that, Elon Musk," he added. First announced in 2019, the Tesla Cybertruck was initially supposed to go into production in 2021, but Musk has said that it will now kick off in mid-2023. Meanwhile, the F-150 Lightning is currently the bestselling electric truck in the market, outselling the only other two entrants, the Rivian R1T and GMC Hummer EV. London, Aug 13 : More than 21,000 people, including British nationals and their families, have been safely brought to the UK from Afghanistan, the government has said. The group of people also comprise Afghans who worked for Britain and people identified as high-risk, such as women's rights campaigners, journalists and members of the LGBT+ community, reports dpa news agency citing the UK government's latest update as saying. The update was provided following repeated calls for information on arrivals ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021. The total includes around 15,000 people who were evacuated during Operation Pitting, the initial British military rescue mission. Around 5,000 people have been brought to safety since the evacuation in August last year. And around 2,000 locally employed Afghan staff and their families were taken out of the country before Operation Pitting under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which launched in April 2021. So far, 10,000 people have been brought to Britain under ARAP. An up-to-date total was not provided for the number of Afghan refugees who have arrived in Britain under the separate Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), which launched in January 2022. At this time, the government said around 6,500 people had been brought to safety during and after Operation Pitting, and had received leave to remain under the scheme. This remains the latest publicly available figure. Updates on arrivals under both schemes are due to be included in a future publication of the government's quarterly immigration statistics. Moscow, Aug 13 : The Russian economy shrank significantly in the spring as a result of the Western sanctions, according to official figures released in Moscow. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 4.0 per cent in the period from April to June compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year, dpa news agency quoted the national statistics office as saying on Friday. Economists had expected a sharper decline of 4.7 per cent. Economic output has thus fallen back to the level of 2018. The second quarter was the first which has been completely shaped by the war against Ukraine that began on February 24. As a result, Western countries in particular decided on far-reaching sanctions against Moscow. In the winter quarter, the Russian economy grew by 3.5 per cent. The Russian central bank recently forecast a 7.0 per cent decline in economic output for the third quarter. The decline could be even greater in the final quarter. Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 13 : The Centre's 'Har Ghar Tiranga' initiative was kicked off in Kerala to an enthusiastic response transcending all barriers of age, caste and religion on Saturday morning. Initiated as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of Independence, the campaign will continue till August 15. The program envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes and offices. State Minister K.Krishnankutty and K.Balagopal launched the campaign this morning by hoisting the tricolour in their residences. Stealing the show was none other than superstar Mohanlal (Hon Lt.Col) when he raised the flag at his Kochi residence. After he hoisted the Tri-colour, the national anthem was played and all present at the house stood in rapt attention. "Am really proud to have taken part in the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,' and the initiative will certainly help to strengthen the love for the country," said Mohanlal to the media. Similar hoisting of the Tri-colours took place at resident associations' offices, clubs, government offices, and homes. Seoul, Aug 13 : Chipmaker SK hynix is aiming to select a site for a semiconductor packaging plant in the US as early as in the first half of next year. Reports earlier surfaced that the world's second-largest memory chip maker aims to invest billions of dollars to build an advanced chip manufacturing factory in the US with a goal to start operation by 2025-26. "While the company aims to select a site sometime in the first half of next year, nothing concrete has been determined yet," an SK hynix spokesperson said. The plan comes less than a month after Chey Tae-won, chairman of South Korea's SK Group, unveiled an additional $22 billion investment plan in the US when he visited the White House late last month, reports Yonhap news agency. "SK will invest nearly $30 billion in the U.S. going forward, expanding on our recent announcement of $7 billion investment in electric vehicle batteries," Chey said at that time. Details of the investment included $15 billion spending on boosting the semiconductor ecosystem, including research and development programs, materials, advanced packaging and test facilities. SK hynix, South Korea's second-largest chipmaker, earlier this month wrapped up a 576 billion won ($492 million) acquisition of local chip contract manufacturer Key Foundry. Srinagar, Aug 13 : Kashmir University on Saturday continued celebrations related to the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' initiative to commemorate 75 years of independence. On Friday, Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Neelofar Khan inaugurated an awareness programme titled 'Background and Importance of National Flag' organised by the School of Law. Addressing a gathering, she said that the law school students and faculty have a greater role to play in raising mass awareness about the importance and significance of the country's national symbols and events. "Our National Flag is our pride and it is the duty of every citizen to respect it," Khan said. Three law students presented papers on the historical perspective of the Tricolour, National Flag Code and the Naveen Jindal Case. The Vice-Chancellor announced a special cash prize for the student speakers. At another celebration in Markaz-i Noor, Shaikh-ul Aalam Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies (SACMS), a one-day seminar was organised titled "Communal Harmony and Co-existence: A Sufi Perspective". Prof G.N. Khaki, Chairman of SACMS, highlighted the role of Sufis and Rishis of Kashmir in facilitating an environment of peace and tolerance in the Kashmir Valley. Prof Peerzada Irshad A. Shah, Chief Librarian, spoke about the importance of peace and revival of lost virtues while living in the present world, while Prof Tareak A. Rather, Director, Institute of Kashmir Studies, spoke about the significance of communal harmony in the current world order and the need to re-emphasise it. Prof Tabasum Firdous, Director CCAS also spoke on the occasion, while Dr Surayia Gull Naqati, Assistant Professor, CCAS, presented a paper on "Communal Harmony and Mystical Thought". The celebrations were attended by enthusiastic students in good numbers to get educated on the country's long struggle that led to the first hoisting of the Tricolour in India. San Francisco, Aug 13 : Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook), at the loggerheads over privacy changes in iOS and App Store, once planned to "build businesses together" where Apple was in discussions with Mark Zuckerberg-run social network about how it could make more money from its ad revenue. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple and Facebook discussed "revenue-sharing arrangements, including a potential ad-free, subscription version of Facebook". They discussed creating a subscription-based version of Facebook that would be free of ads. Apple also reportedly argued that it deserved a cut of certain portions of Facebook's ad revenue from so-called "boosted posts". A boost allows a user to pay to increase the number of people that see a post on Facebook or Instagram. "Apple, which doesn't take a cut of advertising from developers, argued that Facebook boosts should be considered in-app purchases, according to a person familiar with the matter," the report said late on Friday. The tech giants could not reach an agreement on discussions that took place "mostly" between 2016 and 2018. Facebook is struggling to patch its ad-tracking systems after Apple brought tough privacy changes in its App Store. Apple introduced the "Ask App not to Track" prompt as part of iOS 14.5 in 2021 which has had a significant impact on various companies, including Meta which said that Apple iOS privacy changes will cost it a whopping $10 billion in 2022. "We believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion, so it's a pretty significant headwind for our business," Meta CFO David Wehner said earlier this year. Apple's iOS 14.5 update, released in April 2021, came with an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that has affected digital advertising for tech giants. According to the WSJ report, Apple's privacy move resulted in a "sharp business slump that has shaved approximately $600 billion from the company's (Meta's) market value in less than a year". A Meta spokesman said that the company has "made significant changes over the past five years to protect people's data while also allowing businesses of all sizes to grow". Los Angeles, Aug 13 : US actress Anne Heche is dead but will remain on life support to allow for a possible organ donation, her representative has said. The 53-year-old had been in a coma for a week after crashing her car into a house in Los Angeles, reports the BBC. "Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul," her family said in a statement on Friday. Heche appeared in films including 'Volcano', 'Donnie Brasco' and the 1998 remake of 'Psycho'. The mother-of-two also appeared on 'Dancing with the Stars' in 2020. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), Heche's vehicle "erupted in heavy fire", which took 59 firefighters more than an hour to fully extinguish. The two-storey home she crashed into was left "uninhabitable". As well as suffering burns, the actress was left with "a severe anoxic brain injury", when the brain is deprived of oxygen, the BBC quoted her family as saying. A representative said the late actress is "legally dead", but added that her life-support treatment will continue temporarily to check if she may be a match for a potential organ donation. "Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy," her family's statement said. "Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact." Born in Ohio in 1969, Heche and her family moved around many times during her childhood. When she was 13 years old, her father died of HIV/AIDS, and she later said in her 2001 memoir 'Call Me Crazy' that he had repeatedly raped her as a child. In interviews promoting the book, she said the abuse caused her to be "insane" for the first 31 years of her life and that she had created a fantasy world called the 'Fourth Dimension' to make herself feel safe. Three months after her father's death, her brother was killed in a car crash, which she believed was suicide. Her mother disputed both the suicide and the abuse claims and the pair became estranged. After her family relocated to Chicago, Heche was spotted by a talent agent in a school play. She became known in the late 1980s for portraying twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love on the soap opera 'Another World'. The roles won her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards. Heche came to wider prominence in the late 1990s, playing Maggie in crime drama movie 'Donnie Brasco', alongside Johnny Depp. She later told interviewer Larry King it had been "heaven" working with Depp. She played Amy Barnes, a geologist and seismologist in the disaster movie 'Volcano', opposite Tommy Lee Jones, while cult slasher flick 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' saw her portray Melissa 'Missy' Egan. She also appeared in the action comedy film 'Six Days, Seven Nights' and the drama-thriller 'Return to Paradise' before portraying Marion Crane in Gus Van Sant's remake of the classic horror film 'Psycho'. In 1997, having previously only dated men, she began a relationship with US talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The couple said they would get a civil union if it became available in Vermont, but they split up three years later. She later suffered from mental health problems and reportedly struggled with drug use, at one point being hospitalised after parking on a highway in California and walking into the desert. In 2001, Heche married "Coley" Laffoon, a cameraman whom she met on DeGeneres' stand-up tour, and they had a son, before divorcing nearly six years later. She reportedly left her husband for 'Men in Trees' co-star James Tupper and in 2008 her representative confirmed that the actress was pregnant with her second son. They split in 2018. A new century brought a new direction work-wise, with roles in fewer blockbusters and more acclaimed independent films, such as drama 'Birth', sex comedy 'Spread' and 2011's 'Cedar Rapids' about a naive insurance agent on a life-changing work trip to Iowa, reports the BBC. She received an Emmy nomination for her role as Roweena Lawson in the 2004 TV film 'Gracie's Choice', about a teenage girl who tries to raise her siblings on her own after their drug-addicted mother is sent to jail. The same year, she was nominated for best actress at the Tony Awards after performing opposite Alec Baldwin in a Broadway production of Twentieth Century. New Delhi, Aug 13 : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, Sangh leaders and RSS have removed the display picture of their official social media accounts and replaced it with Tricolour. The RSS on Saturday shared a 48 second video on its official Twitter account in which Bhagwat and other Sangh officials can be seen hoisting Tricolour on different occasions. The move comes in the wake of questions being posed by Congress and other opposition leaders to RSS in context of the Tricolour. On the occasion of 75th anniversary of the Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had appealed to all countrymen to change their DP on social media and put Tricolour on it. In line with the Prime Minister's 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign, the RSS has also urged the people to awaken self-respect and tweeted," Celebrate the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Hoist the Tricolor in every house. Awaken the national self-respect." Making a big issue out of the appeal of the prime minister, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said, "Har Ghar Tiranga campaign is being run by those, who (RSS) didn't hoist Tricolour for 52 years." "They could not stop Congress from fighting for the freedom of the country, and they will not be able to stop it today too," the Wayanad MP said. Junto a mi esposa, @LiliaParedesN, me dirijo a la region San Martin para participar de la entrega de titulos de propiedad en beneficio de las familias mas vulnerables del pais. Evento se realizara en el centro poblado La Libertad, distrito de San Rafael en Bellavista. pic.twitter.com/b4sikVc0iO Los Angeles, Aug 13 : Doing "bad stuff" and acting "depraved" on screen is thrilling for Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey. He says that playing characters that are evil or up to no-good is exhilarating for him. The 52-year-old actor starred as deceiver and sorcerer Walter Padick in 2017 science fantasy Western 'The Dark Tower' while he also played the titular murderer in 2011's 'Killer Joe', reports aceshowbiz.com. However, he believes such roles are only good for actors who are "calm" in their own lives. McConaughey is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying, "Being bad is the best. It just is." "It shouldn't be, but getting to do bad stuff or depraved drama. And with no repercussions - in other words, you go home, see your family at the end of the day - you know, I like that." "I think it's true that you have to be in a calm open space first in your life if you are to do that and I'm glad to say I am certainly there. So beyond that, I feel there is a real freedom to shed light on the shade of a character." The 'Magic Mike' star previously revealed how "no one" wanted to cast him after he rejected romantic comedies. The actor became a Hollywood heartthrob after starring in movies like 'The Wedding Planner', 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past', and 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'. He said: "Now, 14 months go by after that six months where nothing comes in, I call my agent every other day, 'What do you got?' ... 'Buddy, no one is even mentioning your name. I bring up your name they say, 'Don't even want to talk about it.' Now I'm going, 'I may have just taken a one-way ticket out of Hollywood. I may never work in Hollywood again'." "But I had a hunch that I was like with each day - You know when you go and you endure something and you're taking a pennant, with each day you build a little bit more honour and strength to drag it into this, the less it's even going to be a possibility of me going back. I was not going back." However, the actor's plan worked out, as his self-imposed exile resulted in people wanting to get him on board for different projects. He added: "Guess who is now a new good idea for dramatic roles like 'Killer Joe', 'Mud', 'Paperboy', 'Bernie', 'True Detective', 'Dallas Buyers Club', 'Magic Mike'? Me. I found anonymity in the 20 months." "I turned into, 'Where the hell's McConaughey? He's not in a rom-com in the theatre in front of me. He's not in a rom-com in my living room. I'm not seeing him shirtless on the beach, where the hell is he? I don't know what he's doing'." "I found anonymity. I unbranded, and then when those came to me, the scripts came to me that I want to do that dramatic fair, I attacked it with fangs instead and just ate it up, because I knew what I wanted to do, but it was the un-branding. It was the go find anonymity again." New Delhi, Aug 13: Tensions around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Ukraine reached a climax by the weekend, after three more missiles hit the territory where the nuclear waste storage facility is located. As stated by the head of the pro-Russian military-civil administration of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsk, the concrete protection of the storage still withstands the blows. But the situation may change at any minute. "We find hits 300 meters from the nuclear power plant; we find almost hit shells 20 meters from the nuclear waste storage facility. If they get into a concrete storage facility accurately enough, then it's scary to think. It will cause something similar to what happened in Chernobyl - there will be an outburst, it will be a 'dirty bomb'," Balitsky, said. He added that there are several thousand tonnes of nuclear waste at the station. "We urge you, colleagues, to convey to your leaders the need to influence the Kiev regime and force it to stop reckless strikes on the Zaporozhye NPP, which actually make hostages of the inhabitants of European states. The responsibility for this lies also with you," the Russian representative added. "The shells hit the infrastructure facilities, as well as in the area of the nuclear waste storage. While it is very difficult to break through the reactor itself, the storage may well be destroyed. Containers do not have such protection and the threat of a "dirty bomb" effect is quite real," explained Alexei Leonkov, editor of the Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, in an exclusive interview with India Narrative. The apocalyptic scenario of the emergence of a huge, radiation-infected dead space on the territory of several states in the heart of Europe, including the real danger of pollution of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait, which may become unsuitable for navigation, ceases to look like an exotic media story and a horror story for the layman. Despite the fact that a nuclear reactor is not a window pane capable of shattering from a small pebble thrown into it, but a monumental structure made of concrete and iron with thick walls, having several levels of protection and a large margin of safety, this circumstance should not be a cause for complacency. The is no guarantee the HIMALs or 777 howitzers - the pride of the American defence industry supplied to Kiev will not be used to attack the facility. The Multi-Barrel rocket fire can also prove effective. On August 7, the Ministry of Defence of Russia, stated the Zaporozhye NPP was being shelled from the settlement of Marganetch. As a result of the latest shelling, the Kakhovskaya high-voltage line, which supplies electricity to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, was damaged. In connection with the missile attack at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, there was a voltage surge that caused smoke in the open distribution facility of the station. According to the Russian defence ministry, fire brigades managed to eliminate the smoke. To prevent disruption of the nuclear power plant, the capacity of the fifth and sixth units was reduced to 500 megawatts. The Russian Defence Ministry called the shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant "nuclear terrorism". The long echo of the rocket attacks on the power plant in the city of Energodar reached Japan, where UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited at the end of last week, who took part in memorial events on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. "Humanity is playing with loaded weapons," Secretary General Guterres said, pointing out that at the moment "there is a rapid spread of crises with threatening nuclear overtones." At a press conference in Tokyo, the UN Secretary General separately touched upon the situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. "Attacks on nuclear power plants are a suicidal act. We hope that this will stop. At the same time, we want the IAEA to have access to the station. And we hope that it will be able to use its competencies," Antonio Guterres said. It is noteworthy that in his statement, the UN Secretary General avoided the key question of who exactly is carrying out the attack. But this issue remains at the centre of the information war between Moscow and Kiev. The piquancy of the situation, which gives it additional acuteness, is that the station itself is located in that part of the Ukrainian territory that has already de facto come under the control of the Russian temporary military-civil administration established in the areas abandoned by the retreating Ukrainian troops. However, Ukrainian nuclear specialists are still working at the nuclear power plant, which is protected by Russian air defence systems, and it is formally managed by the Ukrainian company Energoatom. The Russian side insists that the nuclear power plant in Energodar is being shelled by Ukrainian artillery, carrying out acts of nuclear terrorism. At regular briefings, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defence, General Igor Konashenkov, cited numerous proofs to determine the origin of the missiles and the trajectory of their flight, which should have removed all questions and doubts that Ukraine is shelling the station. However, the Ukrainian side insists that it is Russia that is firing at the station, which Russia itself controls. At the same time, such an interpretation does not seem at all illogical and absurd to the Ukrainian authorities. Here's what Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Mykola Tochytsky said in New York: "For the first time in history, civilian nuclear facilities have become a factor in the tactics of warfare. The aggressor State treats the nuclear power plant as an ordinary battlefield, it does not try to take care of nuclear safety at all. The Russians use Ukrainian nuclear facilities as a springboard for attacks on military and civilian facilities in Ukraine, as well as a warehouse for their ammunition." The Ukrainian diplomat also accused the Russian side of exerting physical and psychological pressure on the Ukrainian staff of the station. This version was actively supported by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "We are deeply concerned about the fact that Russia has occupied nuclear facilities in Ukraine, especially the Zap nuclear Power Plant, one of the largest in Europe," Antony Blinken said. According to him, there is reliable information that "Russia uses the nuclear power plant as a military base to fire at Ukrainians, knowing that they will not respond to avoid a terrible accident at the nuclear power plant." Antony Blinken described Russia's actions as "the height of irresponsibility" and stressed: "It is extremely important that the IAEA has access to the station in order to understand what is happening there and make sure that the station is operated in accordance with all necessary safety standards." Antony Blinken is right: in fact, the moment of truth could be a visit to the Zaporozhye Nuclear power plant by experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The desire to personally visit Energodar has been repeatedly stated by the Director General of the IAEA, who pointed out that "if something happens there, we will only have ourselves to blame." It would seem that this is the very rare case when international inspectors should be given a green light as the occurrence of the Chernobyl plus disaster must be avoided at all costs. After all, radiation will kill everyone, regardless of political views and attitude to the Ukrainian conflict. However, the IAEA experts still do not go to Energodar and are unlikely to be there. Why? The answer is given by Raphael Grossi himself. "Sending there is a difficult thing. This is Ukraine and a Ukrainian facility, and such a visit requires the consent and assistance of the Ukrainian authorities." Thus, Ukraine does not want any inspections in Energodar, by the way, suspecting the head of the IAEA that he is playing along with Russia. The fact that Kiev is against such a trip of the IAEA inspectors has been openly stated more than once or twice by the head of the Ukrainian Energoatom, Pyotr Kotin. However, why should Ukraine oppose the visit? It is very symbolic that the authorities of that part of the Zaporozhye region, which is already controlled by Russia, signed an order on August 8 to hold a referendum on joining Russia. It is very likely that the referendum will be held in early September. President Zelensky is inevitably losing the country. Apparently, Kiev understands this, although they don't say it out loud - so that Western partners and sponsors don't hear it. In a situation where the regions are splitting off one by one from the unitary Ukrainian state that is falling apart, formally still retaining its jurisdiction over them, an inhuman logic works: if you want to leave, then you will leave Ukraine not alive, but dead. Those who do not want to live as part of Ukraine, those who were unable to appreciate its "European project", those who line up for passports of Russian citizens, their children and grandchildren, have no right to live at all. They should be sentenced to a slow execution -- by radiation. Let the Chernobyl accident seem like a good fairy tale to them against the background of Chernobyl plus. And Russia will receive as a reward from the dying Ukraine a huge infected territory, the restoration of which will require decades and hundreds of billions of dollars. Let it be a cost for Russia, huge cost. At the same time, Russia, which has lost the information war, will appear in the eyes of the whole world as the main culprit of the main technogenic catastrophe of the 21st century. (Sergei Strokan is a veteran journalist, writer and columnist of the Kommersant publishing house based in Moscow. The views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative) (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, Aug 13: The Punjab police have sought the extradition of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, chief of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) settled in Canada, who is wanted in cases related to acts of reviving terrorism in the state. A senior officer disclosed that the demand seeking Nijjar's extradition is in pursuance of a lookout circular (LOC) issued on January 23, 2015, and a red corner notice issued on March 14, 2016, based where he is accused of terrorist activities. Nijjar was declared a designated terrorist along with 8 others by India on July 1, 2020. A reward of Rs 10 lakh was declared on his head in July this year. A dossier prepared by the Punjab police reveals that Nijjar was a close associate of Jagtar Singh Tara earlier based in Pakistan in 2012. He visited Pakistan in April 2012 to meet Tara. Nijjar raised a KTF module in Punjab by motivating Parminder Kala, a resident of Mughal Majri in Ropar district for targeting Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawala and Sanjeev Ghanouli, a Shiv Sena leader, for their alleged anti-panthic activities. In December 2015, Nijjar reportedly organised an arms training camp in Mission Hills, BC, Canada wherein Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal originally a resident of Chak Kalan in the Ludhiana district, and 3 other youths were imparted training to use AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles, and pistols. Mandeep was sent to Punjab in January 2016 to carry out targeted killings but he was arrested in June before he could execute the plan. This correspondent in a WhatsApp message to Nijjar sought to know his side of the story but he did not reply. He also declined a WhatsApp call. In an interview with Vancouver-based journalist Kuldeep Mann aired last week by TV Punjab, Nijjar had denied allegations about his involvement in terrorist activities. "I have been in Canada for over 30 years. I am a sewadar of a gurdwara in Vancouver. I am being wrongly targeted," he claimed. According to the police dossier, in 2020, Nijjar in association with gangster Arshdeep Singh Dala of Moga (now hiding in Canada) raised a four-member KTF module in Punjab. The module succeeded in killing Manohar Lal, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower in Bhagta Baika in Bathinda district on November 20, 2020. Besides, they killed Shakti Singh, a resident of village Dagu Romana in Faridkot district, in July 2021, and Tejinder Pinka, owner of Sunshine Cloth Store in Moga on July 14, 2021. Three module members were arrested with arms which included three .32 bore pistols and one .315 bore pistol with 53 cartridges. In September 2021, Nijjar sent a weapon consignment comprising 2 tiffin bombs, 2 hand grenades, and 3 pistols of .9 mm from across the border. But the Punjab police busted the three-member module comprising Kanwarpal Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and Kamalpreet Singh, all residents of Moga who were to retrieve the weapons. Another 3-member module working for Nijjar was busted by the Haryana police on February 19, 2022, who were involved in contract killings in Punjab. They had killed sarpanch Avtar Singh of village Udhampur in Ropar district. An AK-47 rifle with 49 cartridges and 3 US-made pistols were recovered from them. In a separate dossier prepared by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Nijjar's anti-India activities in Canada have been highlighted. He is suspected to be behind the killing of a Sikh leader Ripudaman Singh Mallik in Surrey on July 14, this year. Mallik while talking to journalist Sameer Kaushal of Sher-E-Punjab radio, Vancouver, a few days before his murder termed Nijjar and his accomplice, Moninder Boyle, as being anti-Akal Takht sahib. "The control of Gurdwaras in Canada has now gone into the hands of those who are undisciplined and do not care for Sikh Maryada. They recognised Jagtar Hawara, convicted for the assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995 as the Jathedar of Akal Takht," he lamented. The NIA dossier maintains that to reach the truth of Ripudaman's murder, the Canadian police need to thoroughly interrogate Nijjar and his accomplices. The arrest of two suspects, Tanner Fox, 21, and Jose Lopez, 23, does not explain the motive behind the crime. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative University of La Verne Im honored to represent the University of La Verne and independent universities across the country to help build and strengthen an equitable national strategy to support the success of all students. University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman joined about 40 higher education leaders who met with US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Thursday, Aug. 11, to discuss national strategies to support college completion, including for students who stopped out during the pandemic. The discussions took place at the US Department of Educations Raise the B.A.R. (Bold + Action + Results) in College Excellence and Equity Summit in Washington, DC. The one-day summit included Cardona, senior leaders from the Department of Education, and select leaders from institutions of higher education from across the country. Invited guests shared their experiences in reforming higher education to promote stronger student outcomes. Lieberman represented the private, nonprofit higher education sector to ensure the sectors role in American higher education is understood by policy makers and their staffs. There are more than 1,700 private, nonprofit colleges and universities, such as the University of La Verne, in the US, enrolling more than 5 million students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Of students attending a four-year college or university, one in four is enrolled at a private, nonprofit college or institution. Im grateful to Secretary Cardona and the Department of Education for bringing us together for this important conversation, Lieberman said. Im honored to represent the University of La Verne and independent universities across the country to help build and strengthen an equitable national strategy to support the success of all students. The summit also included remarks from both White House and Department of Education leadership. Higher Education institution and system leaders participate in the summit include Alamo Colleges District, Amarillo College, Arizona State University, Broward College, Bunker Hill Community College, California Community Colleges, California Community College System, California State UniversityDominguez Hills, California State UniversityFullerton, California State UniversitySacramento, City Colleges of Chicago, City University of New York System, Cuyahoga Community College, Davidson College, Delaware State University, El Paso Community College, Florida International University, Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, Georgia State University, Holy Family University, Kansas Board of Regents, Lake Area Technical College, Lehman College, Louisiana Board of Regents, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A&T University, Northern Arizona University, Northern Virginia Community College, Salish Kootenai College, San Jacinto College, Tennessee State University, Trinity Washington University, University of CaliforniaRiverside, University of Central Florida, University of Illinois Chicago, University of La Verne, University of TexasEl Paso, Valencia College, Virginia State University, Wellesley University, and Xavier University of Louisiana. About the University of La Verne Founded in 1891, the University of La Verne is a private, nonprofit, comprehensive institution founded on four core values: lifelong learning, ethical reasoning, civic and community engagement, and diversity and inclusivity. Ranked among the best in the country for social mobility by US News & World Report, the university serves more than 6,000 students on the historic La Verne location as well as across eight regional campuses and online. In Oddens Under a Veiled Moon (Crooked Lane, Oct.), police superintendent Michael Corravan investigates the sinking of a pleasure steamer, the Princess Alice, on the Thames soon after a passenger train was dynamited, possibly by Irish terrorists. How did you become interested in Victorian England? I was interested in finding out the origins of what we now call PTSD. A lot of people think that it came out of shell-shock in WWI. But in the 1860s and 70s, there was a group of medical men called railway surgeons who were writing about people crawling out of railway disasters, who had all of the same symptoms as PTSD. So I became interested in looking at how railways were represented in parliamentary reports, medical treatises, newspapers, novels, poems, cartoons, all the sort of ephemera that surrounded them because they were a national obsession. What in your research for this book most surprised you? The amount of anti-Irish feeling. I found some very unsettling comparisons to a lot of the tropes and the kinds of language used to justify racist discourse today. People talked about how the Irish are like ratsrats have litters every nine weeks and then they take a two-week break and then they get pregnant again, basically, and they compared this to Irish women. It was disgusting. The plot involves, as you put it, distortions and manipulations in the press. How were those manifested in the Victorian press? There were close to 1,000 newspapers in London, and they had definite leanings, some notoriously friendly to the police, and some that werent, and their accounts of the news were vastly different. One of the things I wanted to explore in this book was how this has material effects in the world. The newspapers are not only reporting events, they are producing stories that then shape further events. And I wanted to show that weve got to recognize that, and be aware of it, and sort of read against the grain, as it were. Did the response to the Princess Alice tragedy differ from the responses to the railway crashes? In several respects, it was very similar. It threw London into a panic, partly because they didnt know who was on that boat. Because it was a hop-on hop-off arrangement, there was no passenger manifest. So if someone you love didnt come home that night, it was possible they were on the boat. In the aftermath of the sinking, the rules for navigation were codified more strictly, similar to reforms following the railway accidents. In Against the Wind (Crown, Nov.), Gabler charts Sen. Ted Kennedys liberal crusade in the Reagan era and beyond. How does Ted Kennedy stack up against his brothers? John and Robert Kennedy were entombed in the amber of youth, which made them mythological. Yet Ted Kennedy accomplished the most to help those in need. There is not an American whose life hasnt been touched by his legislative victories as a senator. Kennedy fought for liberal causes against the wind of a conservative resurgence. Did he succeed? Not always. He was once chased by white Bostonians who were protesting court-ordered school integration by busing and escaped by racing into a subway station while aides held the gates closed against the mob. But he never forsook the cause of the vulnerable, particularly Blacks. Instead, he sought other avenues. Realizing that he would lose every domestic battle during Reagans presidency, he reacted by focusing on foreign issues, like South African sanctions against apartheid, and even got some Republicans to join him. He also fought moderate Democrats. Was he out of step with his own party? It could seem that way during the Carter administration, which he felt had surrendered Democratic principles, and the Clinton administration, which he worried would surrender those principles. During one meeting where Ted was advocating for a higher minimum wage, John Kerry griped that they should drop it, and Ted exploded at Kerry, a friend, questioning his Democratic bona fides and chasing him out of the room. He felt that Kerry had let politics override morality, and that infuriated him. Did Kennedy deserve his scandalous reputation? Kennedys personal behavior helped undermine the liberal cause. Ted was reckless. He was a prodigious womanizer. He drank to excess. He put himself in positions that he should not have. The William Kennedy Smith [rape case] was not his finest hour because he defended his nephewKennedys always defended Kennedyseven when there was evidence against Smith. Still, it was politics, not moral turpitude, that led to conservative moral hysteria over his sins. Even Chappaquiddick was a tragic accident, not a murder. How would Kennedy fare in todays polarized politics? Kennedy is still relevant because his example shows us a way forward toward a more compassionate America. As the Republican Party was veering sharply rightward, Ted never capitulated. He knew how to work the moral lever. Joe Biden once said, People didnt want to feel small in front of him. It was a potent force. The problem today is that most politicians dont care if they feel small. They dont care if they are small. In To Sanctify the World (Basic, Oct.), Weigel chronicles the history and impact of the Second Vatican Council. Could you speak to why you call the Second Vatican Council the most important event in the history of Catholicism since the Council of Trent in the 16th century? Whereas the Council of Trent created what we call the counter-reformation church, the Vatican II accelerated the transition into what I have called evangelical Catholicism or what John Paul II called the Catholicism of the new evangelizationa church of intense missionary fervor rather than a church of institutional maintenance and self-defense. What do you see as the councils legacy? There were two primary questions the council sought to address: Who are we as human beings, and how should we live together in decency and solidarity? It sought to address the first by lifting up Jesus Christ as the model of the truth about humanity and our dignity and destiny. It rather boldly proposed that the church is the imageor in the councils language, the sacramentof true human community and the unity of humanity because the Catholic church is genuinely universal. Those are the two big themes that I think put Pope John XXIIIs intentions for the council into focus. You write about the churchs efforts to lay out a Christ-centered humanism to respond to atheistic humanism. How do they differ? Christian humanism does not believe that we are congealed stardust. Were not a cosmic accident, every human person is an idea in the mind of God. Thats very different from atheistic humanisms notion that were all the result of random biochemical forces. Secondly, Christian humanism says we have an eternal destiny. Death is not the end of the story because the creator of the world and the creator of the human person entered the worlds story as redeemer, making it possible for human beings to live beyond death in a realm of enhanced life. The third difference is that the late 19th and early 20th centuries were full of bad ideas revolving around the notion that human beings cannot live in solidarity with each other; Jews cant live with gentiles. Germans cant live with Russians. Black people cant live with white people. The Catholic church says that is not true, that humanity in all of its magnificent diversity is a single creation of a benign and redeeming creator. Therefore, we ought to be able to discern ways to live together in decency and solidarity. What do the claims of the Second Vatican Council mean for people who are not Catholic? Vatican II challenges us to lift our sights, to stop demeaning ourselves as preprogrammed creatures who are bound by race, ethnicity, nationality, or religious conviction, or the lack thereof, and to think of ourselves as capable of greatness. Stop dumbing yourself down, the church says to everybody. We can do that by meeting Jesus Christ. Reza Aslan looks good for a guy in quarantine. Speaking over Zoom from his Los Angeles home in late June, where he, his wife, and their children are isolating after returning from a two-week trip to Portugal and testing positive for Covid-19, Aslan is animated and gracious, more boyish than one would expect for a 50-year-old father of four. Partly its the afterglow of a great trip, but Aslan is also a man on a mission, energized by his cause. My goal is that every American remember the name Howard Baskerville, he says, the way that we remember the name Lafayette. Maybe I need a hit hip-hop musical to make that happen. Aslans new book, An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville (Norton, Oct.), may not have the chart-busting soundtrack of Hamilton, but it does feature a young man who, much like Alexander Hamiltons friend the Marquis de Lafayette, put his life on the line for a democratic revolution in a foreign land. In the case of 24-year-old Presbyterian missionary Howard Baskerville, that distant country was Iran. For readers who see the words Iran and revolution and picture the stern visage of the Ayatollah Khomeini and protestors overrunning the U.S. embassy in Tehran, it may come as a surprise that the 1979 uprising that brought Khomeini to power was the third of three revolutions in Iran in the 20th century. The first of thosethe Persian Constitutional Revolutionwas the cause that Baskerville died for in spring 1909. Begun four years earlier, it pitted students, business leaders, and religious groups against the ruling Qajar dynasty and resulted in the countrys first constitution and independent parliament. By the time Baskerville arrived in fall 1907 to teach English and preach the gospel at the American Memorial School in Tabriz, however, those gains were under grave threat from the countrys tyrannical ruler, Mohammed Ali Shah. Aslan, who fled Iran for the U.S. with his parents and sister in 1979, grew up knowing the story of Baskerville. Schools throughout Iran were named after him, and his tomb in Tabriz was a pilgrimage site. But the 1979 revolution eventually wiped Baskerville from the countrys collective memory, Aslan says, and he is largely unknown in the U.S. The story of an American Christian missionary who fought alongside his Muslim students for Iranian republicanism is well suited to Aslan, whose life and religious scholarship intertwine both faiths. Raised in a secular Muslim household, he converted to evangelical Christianity at age 15. The summer before he entered Harvard for a masters in theological studies, however, Aslan left Christianity and returned to Islam. He also holds a PhD in the sociology of religions from UC Santa Barbara and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa, and has published bestsellers about both faiths, including 2005s No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam and 2013s Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. After his most recent book, 2017s God: A Human History, Aslan went searching for a new project and found that the story of Baskerville kept popping up. On the one hand, he was looking to do something different: he had publicly vowed, after the publication of God, that he would never write another book about religion. (That book almost killed me, he says with a chuckle.) But the outlines of Baskervilles life also struck a deep chord with Aslan. Its a story about a pious young man who, confronted with an intolerable situation, is activated to do something about itto actually put his beliefs into practice, he says. That is the kind of story that really animates me. It was also a story that Aslan had told before, in Zealot. He sees numerous parallels between that book and An American Martyr in Persia, among them that there are only a few primary sources to rely on. Just two letters record Baskervilles thoughts at the time of his death: one was written to his family but never mailed (it was found folded in his pocket after he was killed); the other was sent to the American consul general in Tabriz and explains why he decided to take up arms alongside his students. Aslan says everything clicked into place when he read Baskervilles letter to the consul general. He was very clear-eyed about the fact that this was him preaching the gospel. This was him actually living out the words he had been spoutingto very little effectto the students he was supposed to convert to Christianity. At a certain point he realized that not just as a Christian, but as an American, this was his duty. In the book, Aslan traces Baskervilles sense of duty back to his junior year at Princeton, where he took two courses on constitutional government and international law taught by university president Woodrow Wilson. If you go back and look at what Wilson was preaching at the time, he was quite a political radical, Aslan says. He was unapologetically talking about democracy being the birthright of all peoples in all parts of the world. And hes doing it in spiritual terms. He was saying this is what the lord God wants for all humanity, and if you call yourself a Christian, your job is to go out there andthrough revolutionmake sure that all human beings, in all places, are free. Under the influence of Wilson and his own Christian piety, Baskerville came to believe, Aslan says, that political freedom and spiritual salvation were entwinedthey were one and the same for him. In the wake of Americas withdrawal from the Middle East, the storming the U.S. Capitol by anti-democratic protestors, and the Christian rights successful effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, Aslan knows that a book extolling the virtues of a faith-based, democratic globalism is bound to have its fair share of detractors, but hes ready to defend Baskervilles viewpoint. Nothing has changed since 1909, he says. People have the right to be free, to have a say in the decisions that rule their lives. Thats a right that either we all have, or its a right that none of us have. What Baskerville represents is what Christianity truly isthese incredible, almost otherworldly values about what it means to be human and what we owe one other. If Aslan seems not just ready but eager to confront his critics, it may be because hes waded into hot water before. Zealot zoomed to the top of the bestseller charts after he tangled, on air, with Fox News correspondent Lauren Green over his authority, as a Muslim, to write a book about Jesus. In a less fortuitous episode, the second season of Aslans CNN show Believer was cancelled in 2017 after he called President Trump a piece of shit on Twitter. People on the right went bananas, Aslan says of the latter incident, but I also got a lot of anger and hatred from liberals and progressives who said, It doesnt matter who is in the office, you have to respect the office. And my answer was, Im sorry, what now? What the fuck are you talking about, respect the office? Maybe its because Im Iranian, and I have a different sense of the relationship between a citizen and the government, but this idea that I have to bow to an empty office, regardless of the stain that may be occupying it, is, to me, indicative of the problem. Its the idea that maybe we can just reach across the aisle, or that the institutions are permanent. Look, I was born in a country that was one thing one day and something completely different the next day. There is no such thing as permanence. There are no pillars. The pillars are whatever we make them to be. Asked where he finds hope that the U.S. can once again embody the values he sees in Baskerville, Aslan points to the younger generation20-somethings who are looking at what we have done to the planet and to this country and realizing that all the old assumptions dont work anymore. One of the old assumptions he hopes to disprove with An American Martyr in Persia is that the relationship between Iran and the U.S. cant be based on mutual respect. Claiming that Iranians are by far the most pro-American population in the Middle East, and that they have the ability to distinguish between Americans and the American government, Aslan says he doesnt think its pollyannish to believe that Baskerville can serve as a bridge between residents of both countries, who have so much more in common than either realize. Or as Baskerville famously said when he was told that the Persian Constitutional Revolution wasnt his fight: The only difference between me and these people is the place of my birth, and that is not a big difference. DEAL OF THE WEEK Art Spy Heads to HarperOne In a deal rumored to be in the high six figures, Peter Steinberg of Fletcher & Company sold North American rights to The Art Spy: The Untold Story of World War II Resistance Spy Rose Valland to Elizabeth Mitchell at HarperOne. The nonfiction work by Michelle Young, Steinberg said, examines the role of French Resistance member and art historian Rose Valland in tracking down looted artworks throughout Europe during WWII. She is credited with providing the information that stopped the last train of stolen art from leaving France just before the end of the war. Young is the founder of Untapped New York, a web magazine dedicated to the hidden history of New York City. She studied art history at Harvard and holds a masters in urban planning from Columbia. No pub date has been set. Coulter Sticks with Morrow May Chen at William Morrow has acquired the next novel in Catherine Coulters series featuring FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock. Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group handled the seven-figure North American rights sale for what will be the 27th entry in the series. The most recent title, Reckoning, was published by Morrow on August 2. The new, currently untitled book has no pub date yet. Applause Wins Papps Public John Cerullo of Applause Theater and Cinema Books acquired world rightswith the exception of audio and performance rightsto Public/Private: My Life with Joe Papp at the Public Theater by Gail Merrifield Papp. Philip Turner and Ewan Turner of Philip Turner Book Productions were coagents on the deal. Papp worked in the theater world for most of her career, including the 16 years she was married to Public Theater founder Joe Papp, who died in 1991. Philip Turner described Public/Private as a highly entertaining book that blends an affecting memoir of Papps life alongside her husband with a behind-the-scenes portrait of the influential theaters dazzling history. A fall 2023 publication is planned. Astra House Gets Happy Deborah Ghim, associate editor at Astra House, acquired world English rights to Happy, the debut novel by Berlin-based author and curator Celina Baljeet Basra, in a preempt. Basra graduated from the Free University of Berlin, where she studied art history, and her debut, the publisher said, follows a charming young gourmand and cinephile, Happy Singh Soni, who leaves his rural village in Punjab with big dreams, only to find himself toiling in restaurant kitchens and farms across Southern Europe. The deal was negotiated by Alexander Reubert at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, and Astra plans to release Happy in fall 2024. A Reimagined Macbeth Goes to Del Rey In a preempt, Tricia Narwani at Del Rey acquired North American rights to Lady Makbeth by Ava Reid (The Wolf and the Woodsman) as part of a two-book deal. Del Rey said the novel was pitched as Circe meets Wolf Halla reimagining of Shakespeares play in which Lady Makbeth is given a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her. Sarah Landis at Sterling Lord Literistic represented Reid. Lady Makbeth is set for publication in 2024. Sharks Swim to Anchor Anna Kaufman at Anchor Books acquired, at auction, world rights to Jasmin Grahams Sharks Dont Sink. Graham is a marine biologist and her story centers on how she cofounded Minorities in Shark Sciences, a nonprofit dedicated to providing support and opportunities for other young women of color in marine studies. Chad Luibl at Janklow & Nesbit Associates handled the sale. Lotta Jansdotter Everyday Patterns Lotta Jansdotter. Abrams, Oct. Building on 2015s Lotta Jansdotter Everyday Style, the author, a Swedish designer living in the U.S., again offers a capsule wardrobe of flexible, unisex patterns. Instructions for the six garments and three accessories include multiple customization options, such as pockets, trims, and different hem lengths. By Trend Integration of Armenians in Karabakh into the Azerbaijani society is the only humanitarian way forward, the former US ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza told Trend. It is important to note that President Ilham Aliyev consistently said that Armenians would be free to remain in Karabakh [as Azerbaijani citiens] living in peace and in security with their Azerbaijani neighbors who would return to their homes. He consistently said that these returned Armenians would be treated as citizens of Azerbaijan with all the same privileges and protections Azerbaijani citizens enjoy from their government with nothing different in that. I think it is a noble objective to integrate Armenians into Azerbaijani society in Karabakh. I think thats the only humanitarian way forward, said Bryza. The former ambassador said he is not sure about how the Armenians on the ground in Karabakh feel about that. I would guess many would welcome that opportunity and many dont. But Armenians living in Armenia largely oppose that idea of ethnic Armenians becoming Azerbaijani citizens. But it is not their decision, it is up to the Armenians living in Karabakh whether or not they want to remain in Azerbaijan as Azerbaijani citizens or whether they wish to leave. I understand that it is a very difficult decision for any family to make to either change their nationality, citizenship or leave. I just hope that everything will continue on a peaceful path and the goal of Armenians living peacefully side by side with their Azerbaijani neighbors in Karabakh will be realized, added Bryza. National security analyst and expert from the US Irina Tsukerman told Trend that the only way to avoid future wars is to have these Armenians either to choose Azerbaijani citizenship and contribute in equal measure to the development of the country and to act like they have a stake in where they live or to leave and move to Armenia. There is no reason for them to claim a status while living in Azerbaijan. The territories are not disputed; under international law they belong to Azerbaijan. If treated as equal citizens, there is no reason for this community to claim a separate status. The only real way to protect their rights is for them to have Azerbaijani citizenship and same rights under the law. And the only way for them to integrate and benefit from what Azerbaijan has to offer is to act like other citizens and view the national idea of a state as an idea greater that purely ethnic lines and accept responsibility that helps contribute to a stronger and better society, she added. Finnish and Estonian leaders want EU countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens. August 13, 2022, 10:59 EU urged to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 13, ARTSAKHPRESS: Finnish and Estonian leaders want EU countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens. Russians should not be allowed to "live a normal life" and visit Europe as tourists while Russia is waging war, Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin told state broadcaster YLE on Tuesday (10 August). "Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right," Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas also tweeted. While EU countries have banned air travel from Russia, St. Petersburg is only 300 kilometres from the Finnish capital and Russians can still travel to Estonia and Finland and reach European capitals from there. On Tuesday, the Finnish foreign ministry even said that many Russians who obtain Finnish tourist visas are in fact just using Finland as a transit point for holiday travel elsewhere. Since Covid restrictions on travel were lifted, Russian border crossings to Finland have increased by between 10 and 30 percent compared to spring, Finnish government officials said. In an interview with the Washington Post on Monday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said EU countries should deny all Russian tourists access to the bloc as punishment for the Kremlin's decision to invade Ukraine. Russians should be forced to "live in their own world until they change their philosophy," he said. The EU and Russia still have a visa agreement in place that allows short-stay visas issuance in various ways. The agreement has been partially suspended, but it has not been terminated. And even the partial travel ban has outraged the Kremlin. "The only possible attitude we can have is extremely negative," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. Others have argued the ban would also restrict Russians who disagree with the war from entering Europe. "You don't want to ban all Russians from travelling to the EU completely. How are we going to engage at all?" an EU official told the Financial Times. "Russians not in favour of the war need to be able to travel too." Estonia and Finland aside, Latvia has already banned almost all issuance of visas to Russian citizens, but Marin said the cabinet is still debating if Finnish authorities have the legal basis for doing so and noted she would prefer an EU solution. "Is Finnish legislation up-to-date enough that we could introduce our own national sanctions in such a very exceptional situation? But I would personally like to see European solutions to this question as well," Marin told YLE. The visa issue is expected to be discussed at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on Aug. 31. Published on: 12 August 2022 Children in a refugee camp. Credit: Nour Tayeh. Children in a refugee camp. Credit: Nour Tayeh. The researchers say that children and their families in such challenging environments need more support. They surveyed over 1,500 children in camps in Lebanon all of them refugees from the war in Syria. Their aim was to investigate what made some children resilient to mental health problems, despite having experienced war trauma. The majority (84%) of the children had experienced bombings, 37% experienced more direct interpersonal violence such as witnessing torture, and 44% said that someone close to them was killed. Based on previous research, the researchers estimated that half the children in their sample would meet their criteria for resilience. But in their results less than one in five of the children were resilient. Dr Michael Pluess, Professor in Psychology at Queen Mary, said: Our study is unique in that we collected data from refugee children living just across the border from Syria, whereas many other studies tend to be based on refugees that resettled in high income countries. "We also carefully matched children with and without mental health problems based on their specific experience of war, and we considered different mental health problems simultaneously rather than only focusing on one (such as solely looking at post-traumatic stress or depression). This allowed us to investigate refugee childrens resilience more rigorously than in previous studies. The finding that about 20% of children remain resilient despite the experience of war and displacement is definitely remarkable. At the same time, it is deeply concerning that the majority of children are at risk for mental health problems. Clearly, more needs to be done to support refugee children especially those living in the challenging environment of refugee camps. The research shows how the child's current environment affects their ability to recover or not from the war trauma they'd experienced. The researchers who also interviewed the children's primary caregivers found the children werent just suffering from the aftermath of war, but from problems experienced within the camps. These included bullying and loneliness, while the mental health of caregivers themselves and how they interacted with their child was also particularly important. First author Cassandra Mani Popham, PhD researcher at Queen Mary, said: " Individual therapy and coping strategies can only go so far. Our results show there needs to be emphasis on supporting the whole family, to give children a better chance of adapting in the extremely difficult conditions of camps. We need to look at how the systems they are part of can support them for example by providing stable shelter, proper resources, and access to education, as well as support for parents who are unsurprisingly struggling as well." Professor Michael Pluess said: Our research shows that resilience is not simply an attribute of the individual. Although individual characteristics of the children contribute to their resilience, the support they receive from their families and communities is also crucial. In order to help these children, we need to also support their families and try to reduce the significant challenges they face by living in refugee camps. Questionnaire data for the study was collected via interviews in the children's homes in the settlements in the Beqaa region of Lebanon in 2017-2019. The interviews were conducted by a team of 16 trained interviewers, in Arabic. This research shortly follows a previous paper by the same authors that looked at mental health in Syrian children across two points in time and found that nearly 25% showed improvement - demonstrating that with the right support refugee children traumatised by war can recover well. Encouraging reports indicate that the more sensible of the states have finally begun to confront not only the leftist takeover of corporate boards and executive suites, but against the attempts by the modern malefactors of great power Larry Fink and BlackRock, Brian Moynihan and Bank of America, and the rest of that crowd to dictate American economic and social life under the banner of ESG. Things are moving quickly. Just recently Governor DeSantis announced a flat ban against investing Florida state or pension funds in ESG-involved investments. West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore listed the firms, including BlackRock, with which West Virginia and its subsidiaries would no longer do business because those companies continue to block their investors capital from flowing to reliable-energy producers in the name of climate protection. State attorneys general are, notably, beginning their own investigations. State efforts to rein in the self-appointed capital controllers will have to be sophisticated, because the latters efforts to dictate national policy from their c-suites have been both highly sophisticated and deeply disingenuous. It is not enough, for instance, merely to steer state funds (including, vitally, pension funds) away from ESG-labeled investments. As I reported in these pages following BlackRocks shareholder meeting earlier this year, Fink and his fellow executives made plain that they use the influence created by all of the assets invested with them not just the ESG-labeled investments to try to force corporations to follow Finks personal policy preferences toward decarbonization on political schedules rather than according to developing technological and financial indicators. This is a breach of BlackRocks disclosure and fiduciary duties, as Fink himself implicitly recognized when he claimed that BlackRock was not violating those duties because it offered investors different sorts of investments to choose. (That choice is not just irrelevant but outright culpable, Larry, if you ignore the implications of the choice made by investors and treat all the funds as though they had been invested in politically actuated investment vehicles.) Until someone calls Fink and BlackRock on the breach, though, its effect is to make every investment at BlackRock an investment in Finks personal policy agenda, including the very political-schedule decarbonization that is causing such mayhem around the world. Truly exciting news from the states, then, is that the consortium of state attorneys general mentioned above have recognized exactly this mendacity and its implications for the investment of the funds of their states at BlackRock (and State Street and other investment houses that pull the same bait-and-switch). As the AGs wrote in a letter to Fink last week (in response to a letter from BlackRocks Chief Client Officer Mark McCombe to many of their states), Mr. McCombe posit[ed] that BlackRock is agnostic on the question of energy, and merely offers investing clients a range of investment options in the energy sector. But this claimed neutrality differs considerably from BlackRocks public commitments which indicate that BlackRock has already committed to accelerate net zero emissions across all of its assets, regardless of client wishes. To prove the point, the AGs quoted BlackRock to itself, by way of the commitment of the Net Zero Asset Managers, on the steering committee of which BlackRock sits: BlackRock has committed to [i]mplement a stewardship and engagement strategy, with a clear escalation and voting policy, that is consistent with our ambition for all assets under management to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Cant get much clearer than that. And BlackRocks every carbon-related interaction underscores the truth of the AGs assertion. If BlackRock were managing investors assets even just according to those assets labeling, they would have to say to companies: Well, a small fraction of our investors appear to want you to follow political decarbonization schedules, according to the ESG nature of their investment, but most just want to maximize value, taking into account all possibilities, including the very great likelihood that net zero cant be accomplished at all without unbearable detriment to the value of this company and to the economy and stability of the world. So on balance we must, in fidelity to our fiduciary duty, urge you strongly against aligning yourself with any political-schedule decarbonization plans. That is manifestly not what BlackRock is doing. The AGs have given BlackRock until August 19th to reply to their letter and explain its actions fully. It does not say what comes next. What should come next are a series of steps to assure that BlackRock can no longer do Larry Finks personal will with the power of his investors capital, followed by concomitant actions to similarly constrain Brian Moynihan at Bank of America and his colleagues at the other too-big-to-fail banks. It seems likely that BlackRocks reply will continue the companys efforts to eat its cake and have it to continue to use all of BlackRocks assets to force American corporations to enact Larry Finks personal policy preferences while pretending only to be acting according to its fiduciary duty to maximize the objectively established pecuniary interests of investors. The AGs should of course ignore that flimflam. They should demand that BlackRock make contractual commitments complete with explicit penalty clauses and oversight mechanisms to ensure that it no longer uses the power not only of state-specific funds, but of all non-ESG-labeled funds from whatever source to push the overarching ESG goals of political-schedule decarbonization and equity-based race, sex and orientation discrimination. The agreement should specify that given the relative weights of these investments, the upshot is that BlackRock will, on balance, be counseling against these objectives. An exception could be made when complete, objective and fully vetted research indicates that the ESG objectives are in the best pecuniary interests of some one specific company, but only if this research along with all of its assumptions, metrics and sources is made publicly available. Without such an enforceable commitment, the states will be wholly unable to believe anything that BlackRock has to say. As the AGs recognized in their letter, BlackRock has been talking contradictory and patently mendacious nonsense for a very long time. BlackRock is very unlikely to make such a commitment. If it doesnt, the AGs will have no choice but to counsel their states and to support legal interpretations and legal reforms that both allow and force their states to divest all state funds not just from BlackRock, but from any investment house that offers any ESG funds at all (unless that investment house is willing to make the enforceable commitments that BlackRock, in this scenario, has passed on). As the BlackRock case has illustrated: without such enforceable assurances, investment houses simply cannot be trusted to limit their ESG advocacy to their ESG assets while advocating in the opposite direction for their (likely far more numerous) non-ESG funds. Many investors have felt trapped by the insurrection of the capital controllers, feeling as though they had no place to put their money where it wouldnt be used in the service of the World Economic Forum-class personal policy preferences. The red states collectively, though, have a lot of money enough to make non-woke investment houses a viable concern, thereby giving smaller investors somewhere to go. That would be a terrific benefit, but there are additional efforts that state AGs and other actors can make to empower small, private investors. As the AGs recognized in their letter, BlackRock is violating both of its fiduciary duties its duty of loyalty and its duty of care in using the power of non-ESG-labeled funds to push the two ESG ubergoals, especially when relying on sloppy and goal-sought research to pretend that those ubergoals are in the best financial interests of the corporations on which they foist them. That is true, and it is true not just for states investments, but for private investments as well. The AGs should follow up their letter to BlackRock with more general opinion letters, indicating that under their states corporation laws, in their own words [a]cting with mixed motives triggers an irrebuttable presumption of wrongdoing against private as well as state investors, such that private investors in their states have an effective cause of action against investment houses that act with such mixed motives, or with the chicanery that has been revealed at BlackRock by the very words and statements of Larry Fink and other directors and executives. Then they should start investigations into the proxy advisory services (ISS and Glass Lewis) and work with insurance commissioners and their legislatures to protect their citizens from insurance companies demanding conformance with those companies executives personal policy preferences, and much more. But getting out of BlackRock in a way that also allows for genuinely apolitical investment houses to thrive, while empowering their citizens to take the fight to BlackRock themselves until Finks delusions of dictatorship have passed, would be a hell of a start. On July 8, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that ballot harvesting and the use of unsupervised ballot boxes is not consistent with the statutes governing Wisconsin election law and must be discontinued. The decision in Teigen and Thom v. Wisconsin Election Commission represents the latest skirmish in the national debate over election integrity versus ballot access. It also represents further evidence that a backlash against the exercise of extraordinary powers justified by COVID is well underway. The case was brought by two Wisconsin voters, supported by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, who argued that the Wisconsin Election Commission had arbitrarily and wrongly altered the states election law in 2020 by allowing placement of hundreds of unsupervised ballot return boxes around the state, including some in Milwaukee parks. In the weeks following the 2020 general election, Donald Trump brought a suit against Wisconsin, ultimately asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to nullify absentee votes that had been delivered through means not approved in state law. The court dismissed the suit by a 4-3 vote without reaching the merits. Instead, the court ruled that it was simply too late. Hundreds of thousands of people had voted in good faith according to the rules promulgated by their local election clerk consistent with guidance provided by the Wisconsin Election Commission. The time for Trump to have challenged those rules was well before the election. Another flaw in Trumps suit was that it only applied to Milwaukee County, though the commissions guidance was statewide, and several counties had acted on it. Now, with time to adapt before the next scheduled election, the court did address the merits of the statutory claim: Wisconsin law governing absentee ballots states that they must either be mailed by the voter or returned to an official election office by the voter. There is no provision in statute for depositing absentee ballots anywhere other than an election office. Moreover, although the case was explicitly about collection boxes, the implication for ballot harvesting is also clear: statute does not endow individuals or activist groups with the right to collect and deliver multiple ballots. Supporters and opponents of the ruling did not hesitate to repeat their well-rehearsed arguments. Opponents claimed that the decision was an affront to democracy inspired by baseless fears of voter fraud, and another attempt to suppress Democratic-leaning voters. Supporters of the decision note that fears of voter fraud, far from being baseless, are grounded in reality; just since 2018, there have been large-scale episodes of voter fraud uncovered in Paterson, New Jersey, the 9th Congressional District of North Carolina, and Wisconsin itself, where an investigation uncovered absentee ballot fraud in nearly 100 nursing homes in 2020. However much or little voter fraud takes place in absolute terms, it is clearly sometimes enough to alter the outcome of a close election. It is also clear that among all possible voting modes, it is, relatively speaking, easiest to perpetrate fraud in mail ballot elections featuring ballot harvesting and unsupervised ballot collection boxes. Voters in Wisconsin should be able to enjoy greater confidence in the integrity of the states elections as a result of the Teigen decision. However, focusing on these arguments would miss the most essential feature of the decision. The Supreme Court of Wisconsin struck a blow for the principles of the rule of law and of government by officials who are accountable to the electorate. In actuality, the court took no stand on the efficacy or desirability of the mechanisms it ruled out of bounds. It simply compared those mechanisms to the statutes passed by the duly-elected legislature of the state of Wisconsin and found that the statutes (i.e., the law) did not authorize the mechanisms. Should the duly-elected legislature and governor of the state of Wisconsin decide tomorrow that they want an unsupervised ballot collection box in every park and honky-tonk in Wisconsin, they can change the law to say so. Until then, Teigen says, the law is the law. Courts are not free to ignore it, and unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats are not free to rewrite it. The elected branches are the ones properly tasked with sorting out the issues and ascertaining the appropriate balance between the competing (though also potentially complementary) values of ballot access and ballot security. They may also be the only ones capable of it. In this sense, the Teigen decision bears a structural resemblance to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the Dobbs abortion case and the West Virginia case stemming from Barack Obamas Clean Power Plan. In those cases, the majority of the Supreme Court took no stand on what the appropriate abortion or climate change policy should be. Rather, the Court held that elected officials, rather than federal courts or unelected bureaucrats, should be the ones making policy. The Constitution and the law must rule. It is more than a little ironic that the harshest critics of all three decisions--they tend to be the same peopleaccuse the courts in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. of threatening democracy by transferring power from the unelected to the elected. The day of enlightened administration, as Franklin Roosevelt predicted (and hoped) in 1932, did indeed come. Perhaps it has now begun to go. Moreover, in the Wisconsin case, the state Supreme Court reasserted the rule of law in the face of extraordinary regulatory overreach that had been justified by reference to the pandemic emergency. Not only in Wisconsin but around the country elections rules were altered in 2020, usually by state or local election offices or commissions. Sometimes they acted on their own, sometimes they play-acted as the defendants in collusive litigation brought by advocacy groups on the left. A large part of the state legislative election reform activity over the last 18 months has been a response to these extra-legal or quasi-legal maneuvers. The Wisconsin case should be seen in conjunction with this pattern, and with the more general national backlash against executive COVID overreach. Nearly everyone from Joe Biden down claims they want a return to normalcy after two and a half years of COVID. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has now actually walked the talk. Of course, the Wisconsin courts decision has no legal authority outside of Wisconsin itself. It may, however, add to the moral authority of Americans who are saying enough. Andrew E. Busch is Crown professor of government and George R. Roberts fellow at Claremont McKenna College. Actress Anne Heche, known for her roles in Another World, Men in Trees and Volcano, has died. She was 53. ADVERTISEMENT "My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness," her son Homer Laffoon, 20, wrote in a statement to CNN. "Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom." The actress is "brain dead," making her legally deceased under California law, a representative for Heche's family said in a statement to TMZ. Life support machines are keeping her heart beating to preserve her organs for donation. Holly Baird, Heche's publicist, confirmed that she has been declared brain dead in a statement to USA Today and said the OneLegacy Foundation, a Los Angeles organ and tissue bank, will determine if she is a match for organ donation in the next few days. "We have lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend," reads the statement to TMZ from the family's representative. "Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact." Heche's death followed a fiery car accident on Aug. 5 in Los Angeles, in which she crashed her Mini Cooper into a house at a high rate of speed, police said, causing her to be critically injured. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Initial reports from the hospital stated that Heche's prognosis was good, and that she was placed on a ventilator but remained "in stable condition," according to her family. A representative for the family said days later, however, that Heche's condition was much more grave than initially reported, telling People Magazine that she was in a coma and had never regained consciousness following the accident. The representative later told CNN that the actress was "not expected to survive" her injuries, and that Heche was being kept on life support to preserve her organs for donation. Heche first made a name for herself in Hollywood during the 1990s on the soap opera Another World, where she played a dual role as a pair of twins. Her performance received critical acclaim and earned her a Daytime Emmy Award. Further television roles would come in the series Men in Trees, as well as the made-for-TV film Gracie's Choice. For the latter, Heche would earn a Primetime Emmy nomination. She was also known on the big screen for her work in films like Donnie Darko, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Cedar Rapids. In more recent years, she made further television appearances on shows such as Quantico, Chicago P.D. and Dancing with the Stars. Off the screen, Heche was also a gifted stage actress, earning a Tony nomination for her work in the Broadway play Twentieth Century. Beyond her acting career, Heche was also known for her high-profile relationships over the years. Beginning in 1997, she dated comedian Ellen DeGeneres, soon after the talk show host first came out. They would be together until 2000. Heche would then begin dating Coley Laffoon, and the pair would marry in 2001. She had her first child with him in 2002, before getting divorced in 2007. She also dated her co-star from Men in Trees, James Tupper, with whom she had her second child in 2009. She was also linked to comedian Steve Martin for a short period of time. Following the crash, Tupper wrote on Instagram, "Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight Anne Heche. We love you." Another one of her exes, Thomas Jane, told the Daily Mail that Heche was "one of the true talents of her generation" and offered his thoughts and prayers. DeGeneres has not made any official statements about Heche, and said that the pair "were not in touch." However, when asked by a photographer for comment following the crash, DeGeneres said that she wanted to send well wishes, and that she "[doesn't] want anyone to be hurt." April 6 (Reuters) - The Biden administration believes a potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey would be in line with U.S. national security interests and would also serve NATO's long-term unity, the State Department said in a letter to Congress that fell short of explicitly supporting the deal. August 13, 2022, 12:33 U.S. says potential F-16 sale to Turkey would serve U.S. interests, NATO - letter STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 13, ARTSAKHPRESS:Turkey made a request in October to the United States to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. Washington has so far refrained from expressing any opinion on the sale, saying it needs to go through the standard arms sales process. The sale of U.S. weapons to NATO ally Turkey became contentious after Ankara acquired Russian-made defense missile systems, triggering U.S. sanctions as well as Turkey's removal from the F-35 fighter jet program. The State Department letter, first reported by Reuters, is dated March 17 and signed by the agency's top legislative official Naz Durakoglu. She acknowledges the strained relations while at the same time describing Turkey's support for and defense ties with Ukraine as "an important deterrent to malign influence in the region." While the letter doesn't provide any assurance or a timeline for the sale, it emphasizes that Washington's punitive actions after Ankara's purchase of the Russian S-400 systems represent "a significant price paid." "The Administration believes that there are nonetheless compelling long-term NATO alliance unity and capability interests, as well as U.S. national security, economic and commercial interests that are supported by appropriate U.S. defense trade ties with Turkey," the letter said. Porterville, CA (93257) Today Sunny skies. High near 105F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A mostly clear sky. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Salman Rushdie's agent says the writer is on a ventilator after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen on a western New York stage where he was about to give a lecture Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images. Athens, GA (30605) Today Cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.. Tonight Increasing clouds with showers arriving overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. In prior columns, I have written about the Port Byron Family Tree project and the quest to discover the connections between family groups. The Duvall family is one of those early families, with roots that run far and wide. Many researchers find William Orville Duvall, as he was an ardent abolitionist with a station on the Underground Railroad at what is today Haiti Island. In Williams day, the island was a hill surrounded on three side by the Seneca River, and it had an open view to the south so that the family could see anyone who might approach. The local folks gave his farm the name due to the number of escaped slaves that found refuge there. The reason many found him is that he was a very active letter writer to men such as Gerrit Smith and William Seward, and many of these can be found in those mens archives. He also wrote letters to the editor, and these are fun to read as they are peppered with sentences such as in this August 1856 column; Beloved: Your vulgar, obscene, badly written and worst spelled note of the 27th ultimo, has just come to hand, and then, For God sake; have you no decent men among you? to finish with, Are you all ignorant, hollow-hearted, whiskey-guzzling ruffians? You get the sense of what William was like, and that he didnt suffer whom he considered to be fools. Williams father, another William, was born in Hackensack, New Jersey. In his obit he is credited as being one of the early settlers of Auburn. His obit says that he built the first log cabin in Auburn but I am not sure if this is fact or folklore, as he is not mentioned in Halls "History of Auburn." His first wife was Abigail Crane, and her father, Ezekiel Crane, was one of the first settlers of Throop back when it was all Mentz. Have you heard of Crane Brook? In the Crane family history, Ezekiel is noted as being a classmate of DeWitt Clinton, the man who would become the father of the Erie Canal. The Cranes lived on the corner of McDonald and Donovan roads in Throop. William and Abigail only had one child before she died. The son, Israel Smith Duvall, married Sallie Lewis Clark. One of their children was a son named John Swartout Smith Duvall. In 1834 John changed his name to John Smith Clark at the request of his material grandfather, Benoni Clark. If you have heard of Clarksville or Clark Street, this is where the name came from. And if John Clarks name rings a bell, you might have seen the historic marker along McDonald Road that reads: Home of Gen. John S. Clark, born 1823, died 1912. Civil Engineer, Historian, Civil War Officer and First Supervisor of Throop. At the end of the 1800s, John was considered to be the authority on the Iroquois peoples. He was adopted by the Iroquois Confederacy and given the name Pathfinder. Johns work is often cited as he was able to interview descendants of the Indigenous peoples who could pass along first- or second-hand history. In 1921 a book was written based on his unpublished manuscripts. You can find the Clark Manuscripts: Aboriginal History of the Susquehanna online if you want to read more about John. Sadly, the published history of the Crane family has a footnote that John was working on the history of the Crane branch in Cayuga County, but died before he completed his work. After his death, the family never responded to the author about Johns work, and that section is missing. John is often given the title "general" for his work in the Union Army during the Civil War. William Orville Duvall would have been Johns uncle. My wife and I recently took a day trip to Peterboro, the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. Gerrit Smith was the son of Peter Gerrit Smith who was the largest landholder in New York in the early 1800s. Using his considerable wealth, Gerrit became one of the leading abolitionists in the country and was a financial supporter of others efforts to free the slaves. Just down the road is the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. I wanted to see if William Duvall had been inducted to the Hall of Fame, as certainly he deserves to be. As he is not, we will begin the process of nominating him. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Cloudy with rain ending for the afternoon. High 78F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 57F. Winds light and variable. With less than two weeks to go until the primary election, one candidate is out with a new TV ad while others are racking up endorsements. Klee Hood out with commercial Democratic candidate Sarah Klee Hood released a 15-second TV ad as she makes her pitch to voters in the 22nd Congressional District. Klee Hood, D-DeWitt, is one of four Democrats Francis Conole, Chol Majok and Sam Roberts are the others vying for the party's nomination in the district. The ad, which is a message from Klee Hood to her daughters, is airing on broadcast stations in the 22nd district, which includes all of Onondaga, Madison and Oneida counties, plus a small portion of Oswego County. Conole picks up endorsements in NY-22 race A pair of environmental groups and a pro-abortion rights organization are supporting Conole, D-Syracuse, in the 22nd district race. Conole has been endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood and Sierra Club. Regarding Planned Parenthood's endorsement, Conole noted that it's a "dangerous time for our country" after the Supreme Court's conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade. "A woman's right to make her own health care decisions is on the ballot this November," said Conole, who is in a four-way Democratic primary with Klee Hood, Majok and Roberts. "Freedom is on the ballot this November, and I will be a champion in Congress in the fight to restore a woman's right to choose and am honored to have Planned Parenthood's support." Wells backed by Oneida County GOP leaders ahead of primary Three leading Oneida County Republicans are supporting Steve Wells in the 22nd district's GOP primary for Congress. Wells, R-Cazenovia, has won the support of Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, state Sen. Joe Griffo and Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo. Picente said in a statement that the region's next congressional representative "should have deep roots in central New York and understand the issues facing local residents." "Steve Wells is that candidate and I am proud to endorse him," he added. Wells is seeking the GOP nomination in the newly drawn district. Brandon Williams, a Cayuga County Republican, is also running for the GOP nod. Wells also picked up former state Sen. John DeFrancisco's endorsement this week. DeFrancisco, a Republican, represented the Syracuse area for a quarter-century. Tenney gets NFIB's endorsement U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney has the support of a national business group in her bid for the 24th Congressional District seat. The National Federation of Independent Businesses endorsed Tenney, who is a longtime member of the organization and a small business owner. Ashley Ranslow, NFIB's New York state director, said Tenney "has the unique understanding of what it takes to run a small business and recognizes the challenges our members face daily." "She has earned a 100% NFIB voting record for this term (in Congress), further proving her dedication to small businesses," Ranslow said. Tenney is one of three Republicans vying for the nomination in the new 24th district, which includes all of Cayuga County. Mario Fratto and George Phillips are the other Republican candidates in the race. The primary election will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 23. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON (AP) Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who single-handedly thwarted her partys longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, received nearly $1 million over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose taxes would have increased under the plan. For years, Democrats have promised to raise taxes on such investors, who pay a significantly lower rate on their earnings than ordinary workers. But just as they closed in on that goal last week, Sinema forced a series of changes to her partys $740 billion election-year spending package, eliminating a proposed carried interest tax increase on private equity earnings while securing a $35 billion exemption that will spare much of the industry from a separate tax increase other huge corporations now have to pay. The bill, with Sinema's alterations intact, was given final approval by Congress on Friday and is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden next week. Sinema has long aligned herself with the interests of private equity, hedge funds and venture capital, helping her net at least $1.5 million in campaign contributions since she was elected to the House a decade ago. But the $983,000 she has collected since last summer more than doubled what the industry donated to her during all of her preceding years in Congress combined, according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance disclosures. The donations, which make Sinema one of the industrys top beneficiaries in Congress, serve a reminder of the way that high-power lobbying campaigns can have dramatic implications for the way legislation is crafted, particularly in the evenly divided Senate where there are no Democratic votes to spare. They also highlight a degree of political risk for Sinema, whose unapologetic defense of the industry's favorable tax treatment is viewed by many in her party as indefensible. From their vantage point, its a million dollars very well spent, said Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal-leaning think tank. Its pretty rare you see this direct of a return on your investment. So, I guess I would congratulate them. Sinema's office declined to make her available for an interview. Hannah Hurley, a Sinema spokesperson, acknowledged the senator shares some of the industry's views on taxation, but rebuffed any suggestion that the donations influenced her thinking. Senator Sinema makes every decision based on one criteria: whats best for Arizona," Hurley said in a statement. She has been clear and consistent for over a year that she will only support tax reforms and revenue options that support Arizonas economic growth and competitiveness. The American Investment Council, a trade group that lobbies on behalf of private equity, also defended their push to defeat the tax provisions. Our team worked to ensure that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle understand how private equity directly employs workers and supports small businesses throughout their communities," Drew Maloney, the organization's CEO and president, said in a statement. Sinema's defense of wealthy investors' tax treatment offers a jarring contrast to her background as a Green Party activist and self-styled Prada socialist who once likened accepting campaign cash to bribery" and later called for big corporations & the rich to pay their fair share before launching her first campaign for Congress in 2012. She's been far more magnanimous since, praising private equity in 2016 from the House floor for providing "billions of dollars each year to Main Street businesses. After her election to the Senate, Sinema interned during the 2020 congressional recess at a private equity mogul's boutique winery in northern California. The soaring contributions from the industry to Sinema trace back to last summer. That's when she first made clear that she wouldn't support a carried interest tax increase, as well as other corporate and business tax hikes included in an earlier iteration of Biden's agenda. During a two-week period in September alone, Sinema collected $47,100 in contributions from 16 high-ranking officials from the private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, records show. Employees and executives of KKR, another private equity behemoth, contributed $44,100 to Sinema during a two-month span in late 2021. In some cases, the families of private equity managers joined in. David Belluck, a partner at the firm Riverside Partners, gave a $5,800 max-out contribution to Sinema one day in late June. So did three of his college-age kids, with the family collectively donating $23,200, records show. I generally support centrist Democrats and her seat is important to keep a Democratic Senate majority, Belluck said, adding that his family has known Sinema since her election to Congress. "She and I have never discussed private equity taxation. The donations from the industry coincide with a $26 million lobbying effort spearheaded by the investment firm Blackstone that culminated on the Senate floor last weekend. By the time the bill was up for debate during a marathon series of votes, Sinema had already forced Democrats to abandon their carried interest tax increase. Senator Sinema said she would not vote for the bill .. unless we took it out, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters last week. "We had no choice. But after private equity lobbyists discovered a provision in the bill that would have subjected many of them to a separate 15% corporate minimum tax, they urgently pressed Sinema and other centrist Democrats for changes, according to emails as well as four people with direct knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Given the breaking nature of this development we need as many offices as possible weighing in with concerns to Leader Schumers office, Blackstone lobbyist Ryan McConaghy wrote in a Saturday afternoon email obtained by the AP, which included proposed language for modifying the bill. Would you and your boss be willing to raise the alarm on this and express concerns with Schumer and team? McConaghy did not respond to a request for comment. Sinema worked with Republicans on an amendment that stripped the corporate minimum tax on private equity from the bill, which a handful of vulnerable Democrats also voted for. "Since she has been in Congress, Kyrsten has consistently supported pro-growth policies that encourage job creation across Arizona. Her tax policy positions and focus on growing Arizonas economy and competitiveness are longstanding and well known, Hurley, the Sinema spokesperson, said. But many in her party disagree. They say the favorable tax treatment does little to boost the overall economy and argue theres little compelling evidence to suggest its benefits are enjoyed beyond some of the wealthiest investors. Some of Sinema's donors make their case. Blackstone, a significant source of campaign contributions, owns large tracts of real estate in Sinema's home state, Arizona. The firm was condemned by United Nations experts in 2019 who said Blackstone's financial model was responsible for a financialization of housing that has driven up rents and home costs, pushing low-income, and increasingly middle-income people from their homes. Blackstone employees, executives and their family members have given Sinema $44,000 since 2018, records show. In a statement, Blackstone called the allegations by the U.N. experts false and misleading and said all employee contributions are "strictly personal. The firm added that it was incredibly proud of its investments in housing. Another significant financial services donor is Centerbridge Partners, a New York-based firm that buys up the debt of distressed governments and companies and often uses hardball tactics to extract value. Since 2017, Sinema has collected at least $29,000 from donors associated with the firm, including co-founder Mark Gallogly and his wife, Elizabeth Strickler, records show. In 2012, Centerbridge Partners purchased Arizona-based restaurant chain P.F. Changs for roughly $1 billion. After loading the struggling company up with $675 million of debt, they sold it to another private equity group in 2019, according to Bloomberg News. The company received a $10 million coronavirus aid loan to cover payroll, which the federal government later forgave, but shed jobs and closed locations as it struggled with the pandemic. Centerbridge Partners was also part of a consortium of hedge funds that helped usher in an era of austerity in Puerto Rico after buying up billions of dollars of the island governments $72 billion debt and filing legal proceedings to collect. A subsidiary of Centerbridge Partners was among a group of creditors who repeatedly sued one of the U.S. territorys pension funds. In one 2016 lawsuit, the group of creditors asked a judge to divert money from a Puerto Rican pension fund in order to collect. A Centerbridge representative could not provide comment. Liberal activists in Arizona say they plan to make Sinema's reliance on donations from wealthy investors a campaign issue when she is up for reelection in 2024. "There are many takes on how to win, but there is no universe in which it is politically smart to fight for favorable tax treatment of the wealthiest people in the country," said Emily Kirkland, a political consultant who works for progressive candidates. Its absolutely going to be a potent issue. ___ Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report. BRISTOL A long-running tradition of setting aside political differences for some comedic relief and a good cause - a dying art in todays partisan political landscape - returned after a two-year hiatus with some notable guests missing. No Democrat running for statewide office showed up Friday for the 139th annual Crocodile Club luncheon at the historic ballroom at Lake Compounce. Almost the entire top of the Republican ticket - including candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, Secretary of the State, Comptroller and Attorney General - appeared on stage before a crowd of 200 politicos, who sat at long tables lined with American flag-themed tablecloths, to make gentle fun of themselves and their opponents. The event featured a few cancellations, Brian Shactman, of WTIC News Talk 1080, who emceed the event, said at the start, noting the no-shows were all Democrats. What are they afraid of? Schactman said. Among those not in attendance were U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, who had to be in Washington, D.C. for a vote on his partys flagship climate change and health care bill, and Attorney General William Tong and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who mustve skipped the event because too few television cameras were there, Schactman joked of the men who are known for holding frequent press conferences. Spokespeople for Blumenthal and Tong said they were invited but were not able to attend due to other commitments. Nancy DiNardo, chair of the state Democratic Party, said she wasnt aware of this years event but has attended in the past. DiNardo added that there was no coordinated effort by members of her party to not attend. Her GOP counterpart, Ben Proto, chair of the states Republican party was there. On stage, Bob Stefanowski, of Madison, the GOP candidate for governor, picked up on a rumor that Gov. Ned Lamont, who showed up in 2018, did not know about the event hence why he wasnt there. Emails sent between staff at the New England Carousel Museum, which hosted the event, and Lamonts office show the governor was invited to attend. Im disappointed that my opponent, the governor, is not here today, Stefanowski said, and I know the excuse is that he didnt give invited. But the real reason for the governors absence, Stefanowski quipped, was because he did not meet the height requirement to ride on the rollercoasters at the oldest amusement park in America. Stefanowski, who is making a second run for governor, then ticked off five reasons hes going to win the race in November with the biggest applause line coming from number 1 on the list, which he joked his wife told him not to use. Governor Lamont, hes actually thinking about withdrawing from the race, moving to Nashville, Tennessee because its simply too hard to do business in Connecticut, he said. The line - said in jest this time - has been a frequent attack of Stefanowskis in the rematch between him and Lamont. Last fall, after facing repeated criticism for investments by his wifes venture capital firm in two companies doing business with the state, Lamont told his reporters, Annie Lamont was in Nashville setting up companies there because Connecticuts pretty complicated. The governor has since said he made the offhand remark out of frustration over the political complications of his wife to do business in a state that he governs. Anthony Anthony, Lamonts director of communications, said after the event Friday afternoon that scheduling conflicts prevented the governor from attending. Governor Lamont keeps a very busy schedule and unfortunately cant make it to every event hes invited to, Anthony said. When it was her turn on stage, Leora Levy, of Greenwich, who won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate earlier this week, played up Democratic attacks over her endorsement from former President Donald Trump. A lot of people are trying to make me into President Trump, Levy said. Well, Donald Trump and I do have something in common, we both love red meat. However, he likes his well done with ketchup. Ill take mine steak tartare. Dominic Rapini, of Fairfield, the winner of the Republican primary for Secretary of the State, has been quick to make accusations of election fraud in Connecticut, many of which have proven to be baseless - and wasted no time making those same claims Friday when it was his turn to speak. Rapini said primary ballots in Litchfield County Tuesday mistakenly had his name crossed out so he called Staples, they sent over a box of white out, sharpies, problem solved, he said - highlighting how he would be a problem if elected to the job. Other Republican candidates to address the crowd included Jessica Kordas, who is running for Attorney General, the states top law enforcement official, and Mary Fay, who is vying to be Comptroller, the states fiscal guardian, paymaster and chief of health services to state employees and retirees. Mike Reiss, writer of the Simpsons and a Bristol native, headlined the event. The rules for the afternoon were simple: no politicking and no stump speeches. Several Democratic state lawmakers in the audience said they were disappointed that party leaders nor candidates running at the top of the ticket could make it. Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, and Reps Kerry Wood, D-Rocky Hill, and Edwin Vargas, Jr., D-Hartford, all attended the luncheon. If I were running for statewide office I wouldve been there, Vargas said. You never give up an opportunity to have a good time, and let your hair loose a little, and not be so serious about politics every so often. Wood first came to the event several years ago, an off-election year, when Larson was the only Democrat on stage. There was a lot of the Republicans and I said When this is a (big) election year, this is going to be great because were going to have bipartisan (attendance), lots of laugh, itll be great, she said. I was disappointed that a lot of people were cancelling. Wood said she would make a more concerted effort to promote the event, which serves as a fundraiser for the carousel museum, to her colleagues ahead of next year. julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com Online e-book publishing could offer yet another channel for China-backed disinformation operations, analysts say. A wave of e-books using the keywords "Nancy Pelosi" and "China and Taiwan" has appeared on Kindle since the start of August. Amazon's Kindle e-publishing platform has been flooded with poorly written books pushing Beijing's line on Taiwan, according to a U.K.-based publisher. A wave of e-books using the keywords "Nancy Pelosi" and "China and Taiwan" laying out China's claim on the democratic island has appeared on Kindle since the start of the month, when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first indicated she would visit Taiwan, sparking days of military exercises by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). "New disinformation push on Amazon?" U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings tweeted, along with a screenshot of the Kindle titles. "A torrent of new low quality 'books' about Taiwan has appeared; a quick Google shows at least some of the content is plagiarized, and the names of the authors appear to be fake. I count 61 of these under one search term alone," Cannings wrote. He later told RFA it was unclear whether the flood of new titles, many of which contain grammatical errors and consist of scraped content with changed wording to evade anti-plagiarism software, was a state-backed propaganda drive or simply the work of unethical people trying to cash in on global headlines. "The possibilities to use this for disinformation are strong," Cannings said. "I just can't be sure whether in this case is really somebody trying to do that, or if it's just unethical people trying to make money." "[But] it shows how it could be done by a state operation," he added. Cannings said the use of keywords and the flood of recent titles means that the books show up at the top of Amazon and Google searches for those keywords. He said most of the titles were likely uploaded to Amazon's Kindle Desktop Publishing platform, and, apart from automated plagiarism checks, weren't subject to any editorial quality control. "I think the danger for readers is that you don't know what's real and what's not," Cannings said. "I mean, some of these books don't look great, but some of them are quite convincing, so a reader who's not familiar with the subject might not know that this is not ... properly researched." "The secondary danger is that these books then become cited by people further down the line... so then the disinformation gets into the wider ecosystem," he said. U.K. independent publisher Michael Cannings called attention to the Kindle titles in a series of tweets on Twitter. Vulnerable to disinformation campaigns RFA was able to roughly replicate Cannings' search results on Amazon, and found that the ebooks sell for around U.S.$10 or less. Amazon told RFA in an emailed response that the company does have content guidelines for books self-published on the Kindle platform, and will investigate and remove books that don't comply with them. Daniel Kapellmann Zafra, senior technical analysis manager at the cybersecurity company Mandiant, said that whether or not the flood of books on Taiwan from Beijing's point of view are actually backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the platform is vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. "As long as there is a platform for sharing information, it can be leveraged to drive these types of narratives," Zafra told RFA. "It's basically a creative avenue that could ... enable an actor to share information." Zafra's own research for Mandiant has identified an information operations campaign linked to the Chinese public relations firm Shanghai Haixun Technology, with content published to at least 72 suspected inauthentic news sites. "Narratives promoted by the campaign criticize the U.S. and its allies, attempt to reshape the international image of Xinjiang due to mounting international scrutiny, and express support for the reform of Hong Kongs electoral systema change which gave [China] more power over vetting local candidates," the report, coauthored by Zafra, said. Several of the sites published articles critical of Pelosi on Aug. 1, in response to reports ahead of her Aug. 2-3 visit to Taiwan, it said. "The articles assert that Pelosi should 'stay away from Taiwan' and highlight perceived tarnished relations between the U.S. and Taiwan." An article published on several sites, including one purporting to be a Taiwanese news outlet, claimed that former U.S. government official Mike Pompeos March 2022 visit to Taiwan was motivated by money and his alleged desire to run for U.S. president in 2024, according to the report. A separate information operation, DRAGONBRIDGE, publishes comments, videos and photos across thousands of social media and forum accounts on authentic platforms, according to the report. Shanghai Haixun uses inauthentic websites to disseminate content, with little obvious overlap between the two, it said. 'Cognitive operations' Taiwanese fact-checkers said they detected a 30-40 increase in fake reports online since Pelosi's visit. Maj. Gen. Chen Yu-lin, deputy director of the Political and War Bureau of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense told journalists on Aug. 8 that China had begun a wave of "cognitive operations" even before the military exercises were announced. Chen said the hybrid warfare campaign sought to create an atmosphere suggesting China might be invading Taiwan, to attack the public image of the government, and to disrupt civilian and military morale. Hybrid warfare denotes a combination of conventional military action on the ground and hacks or disinformation campaigns designed to attack public morale and sow confusion. National Taiwan University was hacked, with the words "there is only one China in this world" appearing on its official website. Meanwhile, the National Palace Museum issued a statement denying online rumors that the government was preparing to send tens of thousands of rare artifacts overseas for safekeeping. Last week, several convenience store branches and government facilities across Taiwan saw their digital signage hacked with messages slandering Pelosi. Digital signage at a railway station in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and at a government office in Nantou county also displayed a message calling Pelosi "an old witch." The official website of Tsai's Presidential Office was taken down for around 20 minutes by a cyberattack, after which full service was restored, while mainland Chinese website Baidu joined in the cognitive warfare, releasing maps of Taiwan for the first time, which went viral after social media users noticed that many streets in Taiwan's cities are named for cities in mainland China. Chinese officials and pro-CCP commentators have launched a global media offensive around Pelosi's Taiwan visit, claiming that the island, which has never been ruled by the CCP nor formed part of the 73-year-old People's Republic of China, is an "inseparable" part of Chinese territory. CCP leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly said that Taiwan must be "unified" with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. But Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in a 2020 landslide after vowing to stand up to China on the issue, has said that Taiwan's 23 million population have no wish to give up their sovereignty, a view that is borne out by repeated opinion polls. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. The warning comes as Tibets capital Lhasa undergoes a three-day disinfection for the virus. Authorities in Xinjiang are threatening those who flout quarantine laws with as many as three weeks of detention amid a new outbreak of COVID-19 in the region that has seen infections rise sharply since the start of the month, sources told RFA Uyghur. The warning comes as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital Lhasa entered a three-day state of de facto lockdown amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the city. On Friday, authorities announced that they had documented 410 new asymptomatic COVID-19 infections in Xinjiang, bringing the total to 1,727, as the region continues to grapple with a new outbreak that has led to strict lockdowns. An official in Qorghas (in Chinese, Huocheng) countys Langar township, who oversees 10 families in Yengiavat village, told RFA that authorities have been conducting street patrols to ensure that nobody is leaving their homes during an ongoing lockdown in the area and informing residents that they would be detained for up to three weeks if they do. We are informing the residents that those who violate the system, that is, those who go out on the streets, will be punished and sent to 15-20 days of re-education, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, using a common euphemism for detention in the region. The leader of the village Womens Committee, who also declined to be named, told RFA that medicine is being distributed to residents by authorities, although she was unsure of what type. They are cream in color and are said to prevent disease, she said. Earlier this week, Chinese state media reported that authorities ordered residents to quarantine in the cities of Urumqi (Wulumuqi), Ghulja (Yining), Aksu (Akesu), Kumul (Hami), Chochek (Tacheng), Bortala (Bole), and Kashgar (Kashi). A community official said that the new infections were thought to have been brought by Chinese tourists from Gansu province, and the first viral outbreak in Ghulja was found in Uchon Dungan village. Daily lives impacted On Friday, sources in Xinjiang told RFA that lockdowns in the region had begun to severely impact the daily lives of residents, with farmers unable to attend to their fields and grocery store owners unable to sell perishables or keep them fresh. Videos posted on social media from the region appeared to show rotten produce in markets that had been shuttered as a result of the lockdown, while residents said they were unable to obtain fresh vegetables while confined to their homes. RFA spoke with the security director of Ghuljas Mazar village, who said that only farmers with urgent irrigation and harvesting needs are allowed to leave their homes. The doors [on village homes] are sealed, he said. Farmers with urgent needs are allowed to go out on a rotating basis. The farmers first need to get the approval of the village officials in order to go to the fields. The security director said those found to have violated the lockdown face at least 24 hours of detention. A government official in Ghuljas Samyuzi village told RFA that farmers are being allowed to work on their fields under supervision, adding that security cameras had been installed throughout the area to monitor whether anyone was leaving their home without permission. If they want to go out for farming needs, they will be accompanied by village officials to the fields. They can go on a rotating basis, she said. We have installed security cameras on every household [to ensure no one ignores the lockdown], she added. Residents undergo mass testing following a COVID-19 outbreak in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, Aug. 9, 2022. Credit: CNS via Reuters De facto lockdown In the TAR, where authorities say they had documented 20 symptomatic and 127 asymptomatic COVID-19 infections as of Friday, officials in the capital Lhasa ordered a citywide disinfection operation from Aug. 12-15, during which people are not to leave their homes. Sources in the city said the order amounted to a de facto three-day lockdown, although officials have refrained from using the term. Those who have been confirmed positive are being quarantined and public testing is underway, they said, although authorities have failed to ensure that residents maintain proper distancing when they do so. Since COVID cases are rising in Lhasa and a few other regions, people who stayed in hotels and lodges in these areas and may have contact with the infected are now quarantining for safety, a source in Tibet told RFA Tibetan. People are being subjected to continuous testing, Potala Palace and other religious sites are shut down, schools have postponed their reopening, and people are stocking up on groceries and buying face masks. Meanwhile, the summer tourism season is in full swing in Lhasa despite concerns that the outbreak there is linked to visitors to the region with Chinese travelers arriving in droves by plane, train, and car from other parts of China, the source said. Tibetan religious pilgrims seeking to visit Lhasa from around the region are having difficulty obtaining travel permits, while Chinese tourists have no issue obtaining passes to visit Tibet, he added. People line up to undergo nucleic acid tests for COVID-19 on Aug. 9, 2022, in Lhasa, in China's western Tibet Autonomous Region. Credit: CNS/AFP Airports operational Another source from Lhasa told RFA they are concerned that Tibets airports remain open, and could lead to the import of additional cases to the region. I understand that Lhasa will be under [a form of] lockdown from Aug. 12, but there has been no official notice from the government yet and Gonkar Airport remains open as usual, the source said. During earlier COVID-19 surges, the Chinese government did not restrict tourists from entering Tibet, despite the concerns of Tibetans. Now, as we see a growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks and the situation remains uncertain, we are worried about what will happen in the next few days. According to local regulations, only travelers who are exiting Lhasa through Gonkar Airport must undergo testing for COVID-19 48 hours prior to their departure and provide evidence of a negative result before they can leave. While the number of infections continues to rise in Lhasa, information about the outbreak has become increasingly difficult to obtain. On Wednesday, a Chinese official in Lhasa sent out a notice warning people not to share any news related to COVID-19 in the area, and social media posts about the outbreak have since become rare. On Friday, Chinese state media reported that five officials in Shigatse, Tibets second-largest city with a population of about 800,000 people, had been dismissed due to a botched response to the outbreak in the region. The report said that the five officials were removed from their posts for inadequate implementation of the novel coronavirus epidemic prevention and control work. The officials had served as cadres in counties that have been designated as either high-risk or medium-risk areas for the spread of COVID-19. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan and Switzerland have agreed on the return by Swiss authorities of $131 million in assets seized during criminal proceedings against Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of longtime Uzbek President Islam Karimov. The Uzbek Justice Ministry said on August 16 that Minister Ruslanbek Davletov and Swiss President Ignazio Cassis signed an agreement in Bern to place the confiscated assets for a UN fund for sustainable development in Central Asia's most populous nation of 35 million. The breakthrough is one of a handful of efforts by Tashkent to agree on the return of some $1 billion in illicit funds, in some cases slowed by foreign authorities' desire to ensure transparency in the funds' return to public coffers. "The fund will allow the returned assets to be used for the benefit of the population of Uzbekistan," Cassis said at the signing ceremony. Switzerland froze around 800 million Swiss francs ($842 million) in 2012 in connection with criminal proceedings against Karimova, a pop diva and businesswoman who had a public falling-out with her late father and is currently in an Uzbek prison on embezzlement and criminal conspiracy charges. The Uzbek Justice Ministry said in February that it was working with authorities in Switzerland, the United States, France, Russia, and several other nations on the return of Karimova's assets that it said were "earned through criminal activities." The ministry said at the time that Uzbek and Swiss authorities had agreed to create a multiparty trust fund with the United Nations to work on the return of assets that were confiscated under a court decision as part of the probe against Karimova. It said that assets worth about $131 million and confiscated in 2019 were ready to be transferred to Uzbekistan. In 2020, the Swiss government said a nonbinding framework agreement signed between Switzerland and Uzbekistan meant any returned assets "shall be used for the benefit of the people of Uzbekistan." Tashkent has sought over $1 billion from foreign jurisdictions since announcing Karimova's imprisonment in 2017. Once seen as a possible successor to her father, Karimova was placed under house arrest in Tashkent in 2014 while he was still alive and running the country. Karimov died in 2016 and Shavkat Mirziyoev succeeded him soon afterward. Criminal investigators in Switzerland, the United States, Sweden, and the Netherlands have linked Karimova to a massive, years-long bribery scheme that revolved mainly around foreign telecommunications companies gaining access to the Uzbek market. In December 2017, Karimova was sentenced to a 10-year prison term but the sentence was later commuted to house arrest for five years. She was detained in March 2019 for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest. In February 2020, Karimova sent a letter to Mirziyoev offering to return $686 million to the country's treasury in exchange for the dismissal of the court case against her at home. But a month later she received an additional 13-year sentence after being found guilty of extortion, money laundering, and other crimes. The suspect in an attack on author Salman Rushdie has been charged with attempted murder and attempted assault and is being held without bond, authorities in the western New York community where the attack occurred said on August 13. Hadi Matar, 24, was arraigned late on August 12 on charges of attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, New York state police said in a statement. An attorney for Matar entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. Jason Schmidt, the district attorney in Chautauqua County, said state and federal law enforcement agencies were working on the investigation. Matar, a resident of New Jersey, was taken into custody at the scene. Investigators are working to understand the planning and preparation that preceded the attack and determine whether additional charges should be filed, Schmidt said. Rushdie remained hospitalized on a ventilator with a damaged liver and nerve damage, his agent, Andrew Wylie, said. Wylie added that he was likely to lose an eye. Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after his novel The Satanic Verses drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, was attacked at the Chautauqua Institution, a spiritual retreat center in a rural corner of southwest New York State where he was scheduled to speak. The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before. The suspect stormed the stage as Rushdie was being introduced and attacked him and moderator Henry Reese, New York State Police said in a statement. Eyewitnesses said the attack lasted for nearly 20 seconds, with Hatar allegedly continuing to punch and stab Rushdie even as onlookers rushed to restrain him. Reese suffered a minor head injury. 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 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 because many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. 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 Khomeinis 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 institutions 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." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the attack was a strike on the freedom of expression. "No one should be threatened or harmed on the basis of what they have written. I'm wishing him a speedy recovery," Trudeau said in a tweet. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also condemned the attack. "What a despicable act," Scholz said on Twitter, adding that he wished the author strength for his recovery. "The world needs people like you who are not intimidated by hate and fearlessly stand up for freedom of expression," he said. Born in Mumbai, India, Rushdie holds British and U.S. citizenship and has lived in New York since 2000, according to Politico. With reporting by AP and Reuters Coconino County continued to be at a low community level the week ending Aug. 6 for COVID-19, according to the latest dashboard data report, but that's not stopping the county from taking measures to make sure numbers don't get worse in the fall. Both community level indicators are in the low category, with a rate of 7.0 new COVID admissions per 100,000 and 8% of staffed in-patient beds occupied by COVID patients over the past week. Last week, the rate of new COVID admissions was 8.4 per 100,000 and 9.4% of staffed in-patient beds were occupied by COVID patients. The case rate continued to fall this week, with 214 new cases reported (a rate of 150.0 per 100,000). There were 265 new cases reported in the county the week before (185.7 per 100,000). Percent positivity of testing also continued to fall to 17.2% (of 1,434 tests) from 21.5% (of 1,420 tests) the prior week. Residents aged 65 and older had the highest case rate for the week (218 per 100,000) and those between the ages of 18 and 24 had the highest positivity rate (29%). A total of 11 people were hospitalized with COVID this week, down from 13 the week before. The incidence of COVID-like illness in visits to county hospitals also fell to 6.7% this week (7% the week before). Two COVID deaths have been reported in Coconino County for each of the past four weeks. Kim Musselman, the director for Coconino County Health and Human Services (CCHHS), said she wasnt sure what to expect COVID metrics would look like this fall. Kids returning to school might mean higher numbers and the availability of at-home testing means some cases have not been included in the county reports. We do know we have been in a much higher spike again late this summer...and as we have come into August, those numbers have been falling again -- which is great," she said. "But we also know that were now back in school bringing all of our kiddos together, and just by nature of school starting, illness tends to spread, especially in those early weeks." She added: "So I do expect to see certainly that were going to be hanging out in these numbers with respect to COVID." The best way for county residents to plan their response to COVID, she said, is to pay attention to the people and situations surrounding them. The BA.5 variant is alive and well in our communities and across the country right now. We are currently in low community transmission. ...I like to tell folks, Do not be deceived by that. You need to take a look at what the level of illness is around you, whether thats your childs classroom, whether thats your household, whether thats your workplace, and use that as your gauge. Coconino County will be offering the Novavax COVID vaccine for the first time this week. The primary series is currently available for those 18 and older who have not yet received any COVID vaccines. It does not have a booster dose. Were hoping that those who may have waited for whatever reason, that this may be the vaccine that they were waiting for, and we have it available if they would like to come in, Musselman said. The vaccines will be available at CCHHSs biweekly clinic (Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 4:30 p.m. at 2625 N. King St.) as will the other three COVID vaccines. The recommendation is still to stay home when sick with any illness and especially when someone has tested positive for COVID. Prevention strategies like hand washing, mask-wearing and vaccinations are still important, even measures like coughing or sneezing into an elbow rather than the air. With kids returning to school this week, Musselman also recommended families make sure they are up-to-date on all childhood immunizations as well as COVID vaccines. CCHHS will be hosting a back to school immunization clinic Aug. 20 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (also at 2625 N. King St.). Were just really stressing the importance of being current on all those, so that we can keep disease and the spread of illness under control and not bringing things into our schools and our communities that have been eradicated, or can keep people from being sick because we have effective immunizations, she said. Musselman said from her perspective as a public health official, local schools should be prioritizing a proper response to symptoms or illness among their students and staff. The current recommendation is five days of isolation after symptoms start, and masking for up to 10 days after symptoms began when in public after isolation. Even if they haven't tested positive for COVID, Musselman said, staying home when sick is still the best practice. I can't say it enough: when they're sick, keep your child home, you stay home when you're sick so that we limit that spread of any kind of illness," she said. Since state legislation now prevents schools from requiring masks, masking, Musselman said, after exposure and illness now depends on individual responsibility. We've been put in kind of a tricky position with some of the laws that were passed over this past year, especially specific to COVID. For those school admins, my recommendation is that they continue to work with the state department of education on how they are getting their guidance for the things that they can and cannot do in their classrooms," Musselman said. "...I think this is really where we are as a community and a country: we need folks to have some personal responsibility to make sure that were not bringing unnecessary risk when we do return after we've been sick, and asking for that cooperation to have their child mask through that day 10 if at all possible. ... I think the majority of folks will do that if their child is able to do so. Masking continues to be a valuable tool in reducing illness, she said, and asked that people mask to your own risk and comfort level while supporting others choices. CCHHS is continuing to provide Bianax testing kits to local schools to help families access rapid testing. Musselman said they had done a great job in enhancing ventilation and airflow in school buildings. It's really just continuing to do the excellent job that our schools and our administrators do," she said. "...They want to keep their kids in school and in the classroom. And that's what we want, is for kids to be in school and in the classroom and really just maximizing all the things that we've learned to help make that school year everything it should be for our young people." More about COVID in Coconino County, including testing and vaccination locations, can be found at coconino.az.gov/2294/COVID-19-Information. Coconino County Health and Human Services (CCHHS) outlined earlier this week some details of its response to the monkeypox virus currently spreading across the United States. The Biden administration had declared the viruss continued spread throughout the country a public health emergency last Thursday. The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency in July. CCHHS director Kim Musselman said the declarations are why the county has announced its response this week, despite the fact that no cases have been reported in Coconino County yet. The declarations mean monkeypox is basically another potential pandemic that we could be walking into, so its serious enough to have that attention," she said. "Therefore, thats how we react at Health and Human Services when those declarations get made and theres the concern of uncontrolled spread of any type of virus and illness. Then we take steps to make sure that the public are informed, and to provide testing and treatment and prevention around keeping that from becoming even more invasive and spreading and making people ill." Monkeypox cases have been rising in both Arizona and the U.S., meanwhile. The first Arizona case was identified in Maricopa County on June 7. As of Friday, the CDC lists 170 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Arizona and 11,177 across the country. Musselman said CCHHS will continue monitoring and working with the state to determine reporting as developments occur. The community will be notified if there is a positive case in the county, she said, and the state, other counties and CDC are also tracking cases. We don't have any [cases] in Coconino County right now and were hoping to keep it that way, but we also realize how quickly disease can spread. So we are working diligently to identify anyone who may have been exposed or who has a positive case and we have services available, she said. Infections are usually not severe, according to the release, with flu-like symptoms and a rash that, in most cases, resolves in two to four weeks. Symptoms usually begin with a fever and can include chills, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue. Rashes associated with monkeypox can look like pimples or blisters and can appear on the face, inside of the mouth, hands, feet, chest, genitals or anus. Monkeypox spreads through close skin-to-skin contact or direct contact with body fluids. It is most likely to spread through intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling and sexual intercourse. To prevent its spread, CCHHS recommends frequent handwashing and staying home when ill and avoiding prolonged skin-to-skin contact with anyone who has monkeypox. What we know about monkeypox is that it can spread from person to person through direct contact with body fluids, Musselman said. So that can be rashes, and we want people to watch for those symptoms. She added: "If people have questions or are concerned that they may have been exposed or may have symptoms, we're happy to answer questions -- especially if they don't have a healthcare provider. Certainly anyone who has any of the symptoms, in particular the rash and the sores that look like small pimples, are urged to contact their healthcare provider to get tested. Anyone with symptoms should contact their healthcare provider for guidance and information about testing. People without a healthcare provider can access information and schedule testing through CCHHSs monkeypox information website and information line (928-679-7300). Testing is available through healthcare providers as well as CCHHS. A sample is collected by swabbing a sore or pimple-like area, and is then sent to a lab to test. CCHHS also encouraged healthcare providers to be on alert for patients experiencing rashes and other symptoms that could indicate monkeypox and said it is reaching out to provide them with guidance and current testing protocols. The monkeypox vaccine, also called Jynneos, is available in very limited supply in Coconino County. At the moment, CCHHSs clinic is prioritizing vaccines for those with known or suspected exposure to monkeypox and are in the timeframe when protection from vaccination can still be effective. It follows the Arizona Department of Health Services criteria for post-exposure vaccination. While the timeline has not yet been identified, the plan is to expand eligibility as the vaccine supply increases. High-risk populations and immunocompromised individuals will be the next group, Musselman said, hopefully rolling out here in the next few weeks. As it becomes more available and more information is released, we will be able to open up to more groups of folks to receive that vaccine, she said. As we look at cases and as we start to have cases in our community ... the vaccines and the availability of vaccines will hopefully be able to correlate so we can continue to stay out ahead of the spread of this illness. Testing available Sonora Quest Laboratories also announced this week it will be offering monkeypox testing to Arizonans through its healthcare providers in partnership with Quest Diagnostics. Unlike the CDC monkeypox testing offered through other labs, this test does not require an initial orthopox screening test before testing specifically for monkeypox, thereby reducing the overall turnaround time for results, a press release stated. Samples must be collected by the patients healthcare provider; Sonora Quest cannot collect the samples. Anyone with a pox-like rash should consult with their regular healthcare provider to determine whether they need a monkeypox test. If so, the provider will collect a sample (by swabbing an existing lesion) that will be sent to Sonora Quest, which will process it for testing at Quest Diagnostics. The release said most results will be returned in an average of three to four days, and will be available through the ordering provider and Sonora Quests online patient portal. The test is a PCR test which screens for the monkeypoxs viruss genetic information, differentiating it from other orthopox viruses. As we all watch the monkeypox public health emergency unfold, Arizonans need answers, said Sonora Quest COO Sonya Engle. By collaborating with our healthcare partners, were bringing yet another innovative test to our communities that make answers more accessible for everyone ... . COVID-19 and the flu continue to be more widely spread in our communities right now, but this testing will help us to better monitor the monkeypox prevalence in our state." More about the Quest Diagnostics monkeypox PCR test can be found here. Information about Sonora Quest is available at sonoraquest.com. The county Board of Supervisors on Wednesday took the first step toward easing parking concerns along state Route 67 in Ramona near Mount Woodson and the popular Potato Chip Rock trail. Supervisors unanimously voted to buy 84 acres of land west of the highway for $1.7 million. The property, which is owned by the Taylor Family Trust, will allow the county to build a parking lot and add about 75 acres of open space to the area. The county is expected to make the purchase official on March 27. The acquisition has been talked about for two years, which is when county officials began to seriously look at ways to get the cars off the shoulder of the highway and nearby surrounding streets. Advertisement Every day, dozens and sometimes hundred of hikers park their vehicles along the shoulder as motorists traveling at highway speeds drive by. Roughly a decade ago, social media popularized the Potato Chip Rock hike. At times, there will be so many people that they have to wait 30 minutes or longer just to stand on the thin outcropping. There are two trails to get to the summit of Mount Woodson. The more difficult hike starts at the Lake Poway parking lot on the west side of the mountain and involves a 7.5-mile round-trip trek. The City of Poway increased the parking at its park to handle the crowds a few years ago and charges non-residents a parking fee on weekends. The other way to visit the natural attraction is from the east, where hikers park dangerously, but for free, and then hike up a utility road owned by the City of San Diego. Thats a 4-mile round trip. Neighbors in the area and law enforcement officials have maintained for years the existing parking situation is very dangerous and has led to many accidents and near tragedies. For instance, sometimes hikers looking for a parking spot will stop on the highway in order to back up into spots along the shoulder. A parking lot has not yet been designed or approved, but the deal was done with that in mind. Supervisors were told in a staff report the entire project, including land acquisition, design and construction costs would run about $3.5 million. A couple weeks ago, Supervisor Dianne Jacob said she was excited about the land purchase and a future parking lot. Its been a long time in coming and been a very complicated negotiation, but were finally here and Im hopeful there will be support to allocate the money to purchase this property, she said. This affects the entire region because people all over San Diego enjoy Potato Chip Rock and this is the easiest access point. The county has discussed the possibility of a partnership with the City of San Diego, which owns the utility road hikers use to climb the mountain. The proposal would be for the city to operate and maintain the parking lot owned by the county, if the county elects to build it. The city has not committed to operate and maintain the parking lot yet. jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones The Arizona Department of Transportation announced US 89 was closed Friday at around 10:30 in the morning. The highway flooded about five miles north of Campbell Avenue, according to ADOT, at mile post 430. Both north bound lanes were closed initially after water drug mud and debris across the roadway, draining from the median and ultimately pooling in the path of drivers on their way toward Cameron and Page. "We do have troopers assisting with traffic control," Said Bart Graves, the with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "We've had flooding issues in that area a few other times this summer. Our responsibility is to insure public safety by making sure people don't drive into the flooded area and have to be rescued." By about 12:30 pm one lane had re-opened, as an ADOT crew worked to address what looked like a very large puddle in the highway. Standing water remained on the west side of the road, where crews on scene speculated a culvert might have collapsed. "The length of closure depends on the weather and other factors such as debris removal which ADOT will handle," Graves said. A bulldozer, excavator, and dump truck were on site, working to quickly move water and material. The highway reopened a couple hours later. Navigating the crowd Pro-tips for how to get around campus with a record freshman class coming to town Our Gamecock family will be growing this fall with one of our largest classes of new students coming to campus. Even seasoned upperclassmen may find campus a little more challenging to navigate. Here are a few pro-tips to help everyone get where and what they need in a crowd. Transportation In addition to the various lots and parking garages on UofSCs campus, commuting students will now have an exclusive lot option. The Bull Street Park and Ride lot off Colonial Drive will be commuter-only and have shuttles running between the lot and campus throughout the day. This permit is only $40 making it the cheapest permit option for students. Carolina students are not required to have a parking permit, but it can make finding a parking spot easier. There are hourly meters in the Bull St. and Pendleton Garages as well as on streets near campus. These tend to fill up quickly, though, so having a permit is advised. Parking permits are required for motorcycles and mopeds, too, not just cars. Students choosing to use their bicycles on campus do not need to register their bike with UofSC Parking. However, it is advised to do so because it could help you in case of loss or theft. For students planning on using the transit system, there have been no major changes. The regular daytime and evening routes for the school year remain the same, and rides are still free with the use of your Carolina Card. The Transloc app is still the best way to track those shuttles in real time. Timing If youre a new Gamecock, navigating a new environment can be tricky. A good rule-of-thumb is allowing yourself double the time it should take you to get somewhere. You never know what will be happening on campus that day to act as an obstacle. Explore the variety of The Community Table's menu with one of their poke bowls. Try The Honeycomb Cafe's baked salmon, chicken cordon bleu and broccolini entree. Make sure to check out The Horseshoe Deli's signature Italian sandwich. Try Village Juice & Kitchen's Cobb salad for a refreshing lunch. Explore Global Cafe's world of flavor, including their brisket sandwich. Dining and Carolina Card swipe options For new and returning students familiar with the long lines at Russell House and looking to branch out for food, Carolina Food Co. offers a variety of dining options across campus. All dining options accept meal swipes, except Starbucks. Starbucks accepts meal plan dollars or dealing dollars from meal plans. All locations accept Carolina Cash. Some of the most popular, non-Russell House options are: The Community Table at 650 Lincoln offers students a table-service style restaurant on campus. The menu features a wide variety of appetizers, pizzas, entrees and desserts. The Honeycomb Cafe in the Honors College residence hall offers all-you-can-eat hot entrees, a salad bar and grill items. The menu also has a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Sub and sandwich fans should try The Horseshoe Deli. This Carolina Food Co. staple is newly relocated from Russell to the Humanities Building. Find healthy brunch and lunch options at Village Juice & Kitchen. Located on the first floor of Close-Hipp, this dining option offers smoothie bowls, wraps and snacks which can be paired with any of their cold pressed juices. Global Cafe in the Moore School of Business features cuisines from around the world, including Greece, Brazil and South Africa. Some students, new or old, might want to travel off campus for meals. There are a number of places that will accept Carolina Cash in addition to cash and credit cards. Most of these options are within five miles of campus. A comprehensive list of all the merchants with their addresses can be found on the Carolina Card website. The off-campus options for Carolina Cash wont be available in an online ordering app, though. Students will have to be present to use their Carolina Card as payment. Making appointments Many services on campus are simply walk-in, but there are some that require appointments. The Health Center, for example, asks that students schedule an appointment online ahead of time for most in-person and telehealth needs. Primary care appointments can be reserved as much as four months in advance, and regular health screenings are always available as walk-in appointments for students. Some appointments may require a referral from your primary care doctor depending on the service. Advising will require you to make an appointment prior to meeting with someone no matter the reason. Whether its academic, major change or transfer, advisors are notably booked up weeks in advance before registration. Make sure to schedule your appointments with them before then, so you can be prepared for the next semester. Thomas Cooper Library Thomas Cooper Library has plenty of quiet space for studying. Every student has a preferred study environment and for many Gamecocks its the Thomas Cooper Library. T-Coop, as its affectionately known, is deceptively larger than it appears with only 2 of its 7 floors above ground. The bottom 3 floors are quiet floors specifically for studying, but all floors have ample study areas including reservable study rooms. Study rooms can be reserved for small or large groups up to four weeks in advance on the University Libraries website. This is good to keep in mind when exam season rolls around and the library gets busier. Exam season or not, however, T-Coop tends to be busiest 10 a.m. 1 p.m. and 3 5 p.m. on weekdays. Avoid high-traffic times With the sheer size of UofSCs student body, its inevitable that you will feel lost in a sea of your fellow Gamecocks from time to time. This can be especially true if you are at certain campus hubs at certain times. This problem is easy to avoid. Russell House, for example, is busiest 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Take this into consideration if you find yourself hungry during these times or are making plans to use one of the study spaces in Russell. For a peaceful workout, try to hit the gym early in the morning. The Wellness and Fitness Center is busiest 10 a.m.-noon and 4-8 p.m. Dont be late to class over a latte. Both Starbucks locations on campus can be perpetually busy, but the one located in the Humanities building is busiest before noon. Keep that in mind if youre thinking of grabbing a quick pick-me-up before your morning classes. Share this Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about The appeal of astronomy is both intellectual and aesthetic; it combines the thrill of exploration and discovery, the fun of sight-seeing, and the sheer pleasure of firsthand acquaintance with incredibly wonderful and beautiful things So wrote longtime Flagstaff resident Robert Burnham, Jr., the author of one of the most prized astronomy books of our time. Burnhams story is one of passion, persistence, and, ultimately, tragedy. Burnham was born in Chicago on June 16, 1931. His family moved to Arizona in 1940, settling in Prescott. At an early age Robert began a lifelong pursuit of studying the universe, collecting rare coins, amassing bookshelves full of rocks and minerals, and peering at the sky through telescopes all while reading as much as he could on each subject. He graduated from Prescott High School in 1949 and two years later enlisted in the Air Force. After his four-year tour finished, he returned home to Prescott and eventually took a job as a shipping clerk, though he continued his passion of studying the universe. It was at about this time that he began thinking about compiling an astronomy book like no other, one that comprehensively covered the science and mythology of all 88 constellations. So went Burnhams life for several years uninspiring job during the day, probing the depths of nature from Earth to outer space at night. One night in 1957 his life took a decided turn when he spotted a fuzzy patch of light through his telescope. This was a comet, and up to this day no one else had ever seen it before. He was not alone in detecting it, as two other observers independently discovered this new celestial nomad. News traveled fast and Burnham soon became a celebrity of sorts, lauded as the self-trained amateur astronomer from Prescott. None other than Senator Barry Goldwater visited Burnham and even gave the young man a family telescope that dated back to the 1800s. Not long after, Burnham found himself in conversation with Astronomer Henry Giclas of Lowell Observatory. Giclas had begun a program to study the movement of stars over time, a so-called proper motion survey, and hired Burnham to work on it. Soon he also moved into a cabin onsite. Burnham would spend the next 21 years living in that same cabin at Lowell Observatory, a short stroll from telescopes he could only dream of as a kid. No longer would he have to spend so much time at a hum drum job; he could now devote virtually all his waking hours to studying the universe. When not fulfilling his regular job duties of photographing the night sky and examining the resulting images, he jumped headfirst into his long-planned Celestial Handbook. With the patience of Job, Burnham marched through the constellations and self-published his magnum opus in loose-leaf folders that the kids of Lowell staffers helped assemble. Eventually, with the vision of substantial royalty payments in mind, Burnham sold the rights to Dover. Little did he know that his life had reached its apex and soon would begin to spiral downward. The proper motion survey ended in 1979 and Burnham was out of a job. After 21 years, he no longer enjoyed regular access to research telescopes, no longer had a home, no longer had a regular income. To many people this would have been a challenge but one they could conquer. To Burnham, this was almost a death sentence. As eloquent as Burnham was on paper, he could be equally awkward in person. Exceptionally introverted former Lowell Observatory Director Bob Millis calls Burnham the most shy person he ever met Burnham was not one to go out into the world and start over. Without the regularity of his beloved work and the stability of his adopted lifestyle, he was lost. Burnham lived with his sister for a short time and then disappeared, with neither family nor friends knowing his whereabouts. A few years later, Bruce Thomas the son of one of Burnhams closest Lowell colleagues was walking through Balboa Park in San Diego when he noticed a skinny, bearded man. As he drew near, he realized the man was Burnham. He learned that Burnham lived in bleak housing nearby, having never seen the riches he expected from the handbook royalties and making a minimal living by selling paintings of cats in the park. In 1993, at the age of 61 and after suffering from a heart attack and other health maladies, Burnham died. His remains went to Fort Rosecrans National Cemeterys columbarium in San Diego. Burnham was a loner to the end: his name was misspelled on his grave marker and his family didnt even find out he died until two years later. While Burnhams tragic life ended in obscurity, his beloved handbook lives on and is a staple in the library of thousands of astronomers, professional and amateur alike. Burnham chronicler Tony Ortega has called Burnhams 2138-page handbook a real-life Hitchhikers Guide -- part travel guide, part history text, part encyclopedia, its like a handheld natural-history museum of the universe. In recent years, efforts have been made to honor Burnham. Amateur astronomers in Phoenix led an effort to create a plaque honoring Burnham, and Lowell Observatory has developed a new display highlighting his life and work. Tonight at 7 p.m., Lowell Observatory is hosting a panel discussion about Burnham, with panelists including Ortega, Lowell scientist Brian Skiff, astronomy historian/retired psychiatrist Dr. Bill Sheehan, and Burnhams only living relative, niece Donna Courtney. Flagstaff Mayor Paul Deasy will kick off the festivities by reading a proclamation that recognizes Burnham. The program may be viewed in-person at the observatory or virtually at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TW4DntK0Ks Reluctant to come forward about the sexual abuse she endured as a child at the hands of her ballet instructor, Katie Wee realized it was up to her to stop him from hurting more students. So, in the winter of 2017, she agreed to hide a recording device in her purse and go to a Daly City coffee shop to meet the man who molested her more than a decade earlier. Police hoped she could extract a confession, or an apology. It worked. Viktor Kabaniaev, a former Soviet ballet star, was arrested in January 2018 and, now 59, is serving 20 years in Avenal State Prison after pleading guilty to four felony counts of molesting two girls. But Wee, who had been previously known as Jane Doe 1 before agreeing to use her real name publicly for the first time for this story, said shes felt little justice. Instead, she recounted in an emotional 90-minute interview with The Chronicle, years of retraumatization from reporting to authorities, testifying in court, enduring a mistrial and confronting a juror. She said shes speaking out to bring awareness about a broken criminal justice system and a fragile dance world where young girls and their parents often must maintain an allegiance to instructors in an industry with few safety guidelines. Provided by Katie Wee I sleep easy at night knowing that Viktor is in jail and cant abuse more little girls, Wee said Thursday from her parents Lake Tahoe home, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. But Im more horrified now than when I started the process. On Aug. 1, Wee, now 33, filed a lawsuit against Kabaniaev and his former employer, Contra Costa Ballet Centre in Walnut Creek, alleging abuse by her instructor from age 12 to 16 and failure to protect her by the dance studio. In January, another former student of Kabaniaev sued him and the Westlake School for the Performing Arts in Daly City, alleging similar charges. The teacher-student relationship is built on trust, and as educators, we have the responsibility to fully honor that trust, the Contra Costa school said in a statement to The Chronicle. We do not condone nor tolerate abuse in any manner. The Contra Costa Ballet Centre is and has always been committed to protecting our youth and supporting their aspirations. The Westlake School did not respond to a request for comment. Wee, now an actress living in Los Angeles, grew up in the world of ballet where she said comments on weight and bodies, and frequent close touching, were constant. From 2000 to 2004, Kabaniaev abused her in dance studios, his car, as well as her parents yoga studio and their Lake Tahoe home. He was in his late 30s, and she was in middle school. She spoke to no one about the abuse. Years passed. In 2017, she was married and had landed roles in hit shows such as Modern Family and Shrill, but waves of flashbacks began to flood her daily life. She started therapy. It wasnt her fault, her therapist would repeat. She didnt believe that. Her brother had a daughter, and as a new aunt she began to see the world differently. Her therapist asked whether Kabaniaev was still teaching children. He was, and Wee became concerned. Her therapist informed her she was a mandated reporter and would have to report him, but asked whether Wee would assist as she would be more credible. She agreed, but wanted to remain anonymous. Provided by Eileen Wee 1994 She said she called a child protective services office, and a receptionist briskly told her to call police. She called two police departments. A police dispatcher told her she would have to share all of her information if she wanted any action to be taken. I felt very exposed, she recalled. Eventually, Walnut Creek detectives called her back and asked her to recount the abuse. She wanted them to investigate Kabaniaev because she believed there could be more victims, but they were interested in her story. They told her they believed her, but needed evidence and asked whether she would surreptitiously record him. So, she found herself in December 2017 sitting at the bar of a Daly City Starbucks, surrounded by undercover police, as her abuser walked up to her. You look unbelievable, he said, according to a transcript of the exchange Wee shared with The Chronicle. I know I never stopped you, and I never said stop or anything like that, but now that Im older, I see that a 12-year-old shouldnt have to say that, she told him. I was stupid idiot, you know? he said. He tried to explain, saying there was a big attraction at the time. He offered her all of his money, and to kill himself, and to kiss her feet. The next month, Wee got a text from Contra Costa prosecutors that Kabaniaev was being arrested the next day and to expect it on the news, so she might want to alert her family. It was exactly what she had wanted to avoid. I tried to protect them from that truth for a very long time because I knew it would be so hard for them, she said. News reports of his arrest included interviews from his supporters. At his bail hearing, the judge received numerous letters of support from the parents of girls Wee had hoped to protect. Provided by Katie Wee 2000 Another victim came forward, and Kabaniaev was charged with molestation, rape and oral copulation involving both students. As the trial neared, Wee said she asked prosecutors to turn down plea deals from the defense. She felt like they were spitting on her case, and holding the prospect of having Wee and her parents testify over her as a bargaining chip. During opening statements, Kabaniaevs attorney said Wees allegations stemmed from her lackluster acting career, her mental health issues and her poor self-esteem. She was the first prosecution witness Jane Doe 1 to take the stand. I decided to just be brave and tell the truth, Wee recalled. I told the details of the most horrible parts of my life to a room full of strangers. And then, as she grabbed at the few remaining tissues in a box and with sweat dripping off her hands, she was cross-examined. OK lets talk about you being in love with Mr. Kabaniaev. Did you tell him that you were in love with him? the defense attorney asked. She was 12, she responded. There was a strong narrative of me being some lovesick child with an unrequited crush, trying to lure this older man, Wee recalled. 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. Kabaniaev took the stand and said Wee had tried to seduce him. In October 2019, the jury hung 6-6 and the judge declared a mistrial. The Chronicle spoke to the jury forewoman after court adjourned, and she explained her concerns: Three alleged victims over more than 20 years teaching and hundreds of students? If he was a hard-core pedophile, thered be more victims. Wee was floored by the verdict. I thought this was a mistake, Wee recalled. How could someone hear me and say they didnt believe me? Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle So, Wee found out where the jury forewoman worked and showed up at her business to ask her just that. Why did she keep going back, Wee said the woman asked her, if she was being abused? As a second trial loomed, Wees life further deteriorated. Amid her anxiety and PTSD, she found out she had a genetic mutation greatly increasing her risk for breast and ovarian cancer and had a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction. In 2020, she got divorced. In June 2021, prosecutors phoned Wee and said another victim had come forward, and they had reached a plea deal with Kabaniaev where hed receive 20 years. Her former teacher would plead guilty to three felony counts of molesting a minor under 14 and one felony count of molesting a 14- to 15-year-old four of the original 14 counts he faced. She faced him at sentencing. Today marks the first day of my life where the world acknowledges that what you did to me was wrong, and you will be punished, because I matter and what happened to me matters, she said. I came forward and this system failed me and retraumatized me, but today because of another brave woman who has come forward, humanity has not failed me. Its that system that Wee hopes can change. I kept thinking the process would be easier, Wee recalled. That removing a pedophile from the environment where he was teaching children would be easy. One of her attorneys, Stu Mollrich, said the dance industry has yet to have its reckoning as more and more cases of abuse by teachers surface. You have an industry that takes in a tremendous amount of money, so they have a lot of incentive to hide the abuse and not to let anyone know, Mollrich said. For Wee, after years of wanting to remain anonymous, she voluntarily jettisoned her Jane Doe pseudonym. She ignored friends who warned her that attaching her name to this abuse could affect her career and future. I absolutely do want to be known as someone who put my abuser in prison and who kept him from abusing other children, Wee said. Sexual abuse gives the victim a tremendous amount of shame ... As you get older, you start to realize its not my fault and the shame is not mine to carry. Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Starbucks workers at a location in Santa Cruz began a three-day strike Saturday morning, making it the first Starbucks store in California to take such action. The workers at the store at Ocean and Water streets, who unionized in May, accused the company of unfair labor practices and refusing to bargain with the union, prompting the labor action. The store, along with another Santa Cruz location, was the first in California to unionize. Our demand is no contract, no coffee, said Melissa Martinez, an organizer with Workers United. The strike began at 5:30 a.m. and forced the store to close on Saturday, Martinez said, and the workers held a rally outside the store around noon. Were just out here basically just asking to be heard, said Rae Conlu, who has worked at the Starbucks for just under a year. She said she is frustrated the company wont negotiate with the union and that, ever since the workers unionized, she feels management at the store does not listen to simple requests for things like better machines or breaks for overworked employees, including herself. I'm glad that we're coming together to use our voice to finally try and or attempt to be heard, she said. I just hope that we're able to get our message across of just wanting a better workplace. She added that several customers came to the store expecting it to be open on Saturday, and instead found the workers rally. We just let them know what were doing and what were striking for, she said, adding that most people seemed supportive. The union also accused Starbucks of denying wage and benefit improvements that it has implemented at non-unionized stores as well as interfering with the union's right to post and distribute union literature. Far too long have we waited for Starbucks to respond to our bargaining/negotiation requests, Noel Bennett, a shift supervisor at the store and Starbucks Workers United organizer, said in a press release. Far too long have baristas at Ocean and Water and all across the state been targets of Starbucks union-busting campaign. Neither the Starbucks store nor Starbucks Corporate responded to requests for comment on Saturday. When the Santa Cruz stores unionized in May, the company said it was opposed to unionization, but that it respects its workers right to organize. 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. From the beginning, weve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed, a spokesperson said at the time. While the Santa Cruz store is the first in California to strike, there have been more than 55 strikes in at least 17 states, union representatives said. Earlier this month, the National Labor Relations Board threw out a charge Starbucks filed against Workers United regarding pro-union workers at a store in Phoenix. Since Workers United began organizing Starbucks stores last year, the company has filed two charges against the union with NLRB. Workers United has filed more than 250 unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks. Martinez said that she hoped the labor action in Santa Cruz would finally bring Starbucks to the bargaining table. We hope we are heard, she said. Striking is a hard thing to do. Danielle Echeverria is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DanielleEchev The health care union organizing an upcoming strike of more than 2,000 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers said Thursday that the health care giant was illegally canceling appointments ahead of the planned labor action. The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed a complaint with state officials Thursday accusing Kaiser officials of canceling or suspending mental and behavioral health services, citing the workers strike which is set to begin on Monday. Reasons for strike include worker complaints over high wait times for patients weeks or even months, according to the union as well as high workloads and burnout among staff. According to state law, Kaiser would have to continue providing timely health care to patients, even during the strike: If in-network services are not available, Kaiser must arrange for out-of-network care for its patients at the same cost, according to SB221, a California law passed last year requiring health plans to provide timely access to mental health treatment. This month, officials with the state department of managed health care sent a letter to Kaiser officials asking how they planned to comply with this law during the strike. In a hearing on Wednesday, the departments director Mary Watanabe said she did not yet know of Kaisers plan to do so. When contacted by email on Friday, Kaiser did not immediately answer whether the company had responded to the states letter. In the complaint, the union alleged that Kaiser began canceling thousands of enrollees access to certain behavioral health services, including intensive services for enrollees recently discharged from psychiatric hospitals and those at risk of hospitalization due to their conditions without replacing the canceled services. Deb Catsavas, senior vice president of human resources at Kaiser Permanente, disputed that claim, saying that care will be provided by our mental health clinicians who decide to continue providing care and through an expansion of our network of high-quality external providers in the community. She added that urgent and emergency care will continue to be prioritized. Some nonurgent appointments may need to be rescheduled for another day or with another clinician, and that any patient whose appointment may be affected will be contacted directly prior to the date of the appointment to ensure they receive the care needed. Catsavas also criticized the strike, calling it a bargaining tactic this union has used every time it has bargained a new contract with Kaiser Permanente, over the past 12 years of its existence. Kaisers mental health care has been under scrutiny in recent months in May, the state announced that it would be conducting a non-routine audit of Kaisers mental health services based on a spike in complaints it received about the company. 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. In a hearing on Wednesday regarding compliance with SB 221, the timely treatment law, Kaiser came under fire from several speakers for failing to comply. Kaiser representatives, as well as representatives from other health plans, did not attend the hearing. State Sen. Scott Wiener emphasized at the hearing that the strike did not in any way excuse Kaiser from ensuring that patients have timely access to care, including going out-of-network and paying for that. I am deeply concerned about what is going to happen to patients when the upcoming strike starts, he said. We are all going to be watching very closely to make sure that Kaiser complies with the law when this strike happens. Danielle Echeverria is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DanielleEchev The Chronicle A man was charged with murder after killing an Uber driver last month, the Alameda County District Attorneys Office said Friday. Major Willis, the suspect identified Friday, allegedly killed 52-year-old Kon Woo Fung near Little Saigon of Oakland on July 17 around 11:00 a.m. Fung was sitting in his car near the intersection of East 22nd Street and 13th Avenue when he was approached by Willis and a juvenile suspect, who ordered him out of the car, officials said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TRUCKEE, Nevada County The sun rose for the seventh time over the Prosser Creek Reservoir without Kiely Rodni coming home. Planes, helicopters, divers and land crews continued searching for the 16-year-old Truckee girl last seen Aug. 5 at a party with other teenagers at a rural campground on the water. The spot has been a popular place for high school parties for decades, locals say. As such get-togethers can, this one swelled to as many as 300 people, authorities say, and yet no one seems to know what happened to Kiely. This is so out of her character, Kielys mother Lindsey Rodni-Nieman told The Chronicle. We still just desperately need people to come forward with their stories. Authorities have said they are treating the case as a potential abduction, though they have no evidence of that. Also missing is Kielys silver 2013 Honda CRV, which she had driven to the gathering. Tracy Barbutes/Special to The Chronicle Rodni-Nieman said the last she heard from her daughter was at about 11:30 p.m. that evening, when Kiely texted to say shed be home a little late. Kiely always shared her location with her mom through a GPS app on her phone. The last ping from Kielys phone was at midnight at the campground, Rodni-Nieman said. The mother sat in a camping chair at the local recreation center where an impromptu command center had risen in the parking lot, across the road from officials running the search. Kielys family set up an RV where volunteers, who were coming in from all over Northern California, can check in to join the search. The helpers were asked to download an app called Caltopo, which allows users to track their movements as they search all over the picturesque mountainous and piney region outside Lake Tahoe. The app plots on a map where the volunteers are searching and transmits the information to authorities, so they know what ground has been covered. Beside the families RV, a group of teenagers sat planning a Saturday concert for Kiely and all the brokenhearted people worrying for her. Tracy Barbutes/Special to The Chronicle Madelyn Wicks, 17, was one of the group. Wicks gushed about her friend Kiely, who can play most instruments in the world, loves cars and Starbucks, and is just so fun. The two met at the Lost Trail Lodge, a backcountry retreat run by Kielys mom that is a popular gathering place for Truckee residents. Last Saturday, Wicks woke up to a text from Rodni-Nieman, saying her 16-year-old hadnt come home. Wicks offered to check the campground, which she did without finding anything. Kiely had planned to go camping with Wicks the day after the party, Wicks said. They had planned to meet at Starbucks, but Kiely didnt show. Tracy Barbutes/Special to The Chronicle Her photo is now posted all over Truckee and the surrounding area: in gas stations, restaurants, hotels, storefront windows. A volunteer estimated that 15,000 fliers are out there, each one pleading with anyone who knows anything to come forward. Officials are pleading for the same. Angela Musallam, spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriffs Office, said the search and rescue teams from numerous agencies had worked a total of 9,000 hours on the case and received more than 900 tips. We need the communitys help, she said at a news conference in the recreation center. Most leads have not panned out, but we are not discouraged. Tracy Barbutes/Special to The Chronicle Rodni-Nieman was feeling numb after learning there was no news. Shed been running a solid week without taking a break. She said the volunteers and well-wishers have kept her going through this crisis. Among the supporters was Cassie Hebel, a friend of Rodni-Nieman. Even as another morning turned to another afternoon without the 16-year-old home, Hebel insisted she would stay positive. Were going to find her, she said. Joshua Sharpe is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: joshua.sharpe@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joshuawsharpe The vacant lot at 841 Polk St. could be a public service announcement for San Franciscos desperate need for housing and the obstacles people face trying to build it. Its used as a makeshift parking lot by a mechanic next door as people sleep just outside its chain link fence. On Friday morning, the sidewalks of the adjacent Olive Street alley were grim. Piles of trash dotted the area, including one that looked like the charred remains of a fire. Old furniture was strewn between tents and other makeshift abodes. A man dozed on cardboard, his head resting on the pole of a No Parking sign. A No Housing sign would be just as apt. Coby Friedman, head of CF Contracting, bought the small lot a couple of years ago. Tellingly in this city where every price tag makes eyes water, he paid $1.1 million for a 2,900-square-foot patch of dirt in the middle of the Tenderloin. He wants to turn it into housing 100% affordable is his dream but 14 months after turning in plans to the city, hes no closer to making them a reality. His predicament is one example of why this weeks intervention by the state to remove barriers to construction in San Francisco was so welcome. Its about time! Friedman said of Gov. Gavin Newsoms unprecedented move to investigate the citys infamously long, burdensome, expensive process of permitting and building housing. This could be a win-win for everybody, Friedman said of his plans to build housing on his lot. It could be, but its well-documented that bureaucrats and elected officials over the decades have created a system that makes it inordinately expensive and time-consuming to build housing and has nearly ground construction of new units to a halt. Its also a system with a marked pattern of delays and denials of new housing and one in which nosy neighbors get an unusual amount of say in what can be built near them. On Tuesday, the California Department of Housing and Community Development named San Francisco as its first target of a housing policy and practice review, an investigation designed to determine why building housing in the city takes longer than anywhere else in the state and generates so many complaints to the states new Housing Accountability Unit. The state also informed San Francisco it had turned down the first draft of its housing element, a legally required document that must show how it will build 82,069 units, including 33,000 affordable ones, by 2030. If City Hall cant vastly improve its plan, it risks losing hundreds of millions of dollars in housing and transit grants from the state. San Francisco has come under scrutiny for rejecting or delaying some major projects in recent months most notably 495 housing units on a Nordstrom valet parking lot. But its expensive, cumbersome process for building housing also means many potential projects never even get started. Just ask Friedman. He last built housing in San Francisco in the 1980s and then it was just single-family homes. This is his first attempt at a fairly big housing project in a city that makes housing construction a wildly frustrating endeavor for even those who have made their careers out of it. Friedman has worked on other projects unrelated to housing in San Francisco over the years and to be clear, his track record isnt perfect. His company misplaced a decimal point in its bid to remake the playground at Mountain Lake Park, causing construction delays. In this case, though, its mostly the inordinate expense of building housing in the city thats causing the frustration. Under the citys zoning rules, he can build high 130 feet but not dense. Just 23 units would be allowed. The lot is also so small, it would be hard to include the green space required by the city. Friedman has proposed building more units with different plans, ranging from 60 to 84 studios, but even at that number, which would require special permission from the city, he cant find an affordable housing developer willing to build it. Thats because building affordable housing is so expensive and time-consuming costing, on average, $750,000 per unit and taking seven years that developers usually turn down projects with fewer than 150 apartments. So Friedman is caught in a Goldilocks-style dilemma with the city saying hes seeking far too many units and affordable housing developers saying hes seeking far too few. Sam Moss, executive director of Mission Housing Development Corp., an affordable housing developer, said he had to turn Friedmans offer down because it didnt have enough units. It wont kick off enough money to pay the rent, Moss said. Thats a shame, but its not wrong. It is sad because in my humble opinion, it has given our city bureaucracy cover to just say no to anything that isnt a 150-unit type deal. It means were trying to make the perfect the enemy of the good. He added that its not all San Franciscos fault. The federal government used to give more housing vouchers, which low-income tenants could use to offset the cost of rent. 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. Dan Sider, chief of staff for the Planning Department, said none of Friedmans proposals so far have complied with city rules and the ball is back in his court. He said, We are in regular communication with the developer, guiding them either toward maximum allowable density or legislative relief from the Board of Supervisors. Asked whether its simply impossible to build housing there and Friedman should just move on, Sider gave a flat no. Beyond any doubt, housing is an ideal use for this site, he said. The question, though, his how to get it approved and paid for. Corey Smith, executive director of the Housing Action Coalition which seeks to build more housing at all income levels, has tried to help Friedman by introducing him to developers and walking him through the byzantine process. But hes not surprised Friedman has so far been unsuccessful in a city that makes it so hard to succeed. The guys actively trying to build housing in a city that needs housing and is happy to build affordable housing, Smith said. Its a good example of a symptom of our own illness. Why is it so, so difficult to do the thing that everybody claims that they want? Asked his prediction for 841 Polk St. in, say, a few years, Smith said, More of the same. He imagines the dirt lot still vacant, homeless people still sleeping around it and the city still desperately needing housing. Lets hope the state can help craft a brighter future. Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf You can see the schism in any developing story in San Francisco, and California for that matter. Be it safe injection sites or safe streets. Housing or crime. The political discourse is largely split between left and lefter, with neither side giving any ground. Youre either with us or against us, which is exactly whats been happening on the national stage since the days of Newt Gingrich. The result of this constant bickering? A lot gets said. Little gets done. You saw it this week when a bill that would establish safe injection sites in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles made its way to Gavin Newsoms desk. The far left fell all over itself encouraging the governor to sign the bill and embrace his progressive roots, referencing his bold stance on gay marriage as mayor back in 2004. A more moderate brand of liberals pointed to a potential presidential run, warning that signing a bill helping addicts inject drugs could be political suicide among a national electorate. Nobody stated the obvious: Safe injection sites will do nothing to solve our drug epidemic. We need a massive increase in drug addiction services and a statewide mental health system. Full stop. In most cases, both left and lefter make valid points. But theres no conciliatory ground. No compromise between X and Y. Consider the criminal justice debate in this town. Youre on Team Brooke or Team Chesa. Its an ideological battle. No one seems all that interested in the massive problems at hand. And dont get me started on the endless debates over street closures. Weve been fighting over where we can roller skate for years, while The City falls apart around us. Everyones dug into their ideological trench, and the war drags on with no end in sight. Its all or nothing on the front lines of the left. Consequences be damned. Now, this is nothing new. In a way, its the definition of politics. And ideology overtook achievement in Washington years ago. Wed rather fight than negotiate. But at least our federal disaster represents a defined difference in philosophy. The distinction between Democrats and Republicans is a serious chasm, rather than a silly schism. So Id like to ask our readers to think about this local schism. Its basically a fight for the soul of San Francisco. We want to be a compassionate, progressive city. Yet we have a growing desire for common sense solutions to complex problems like homelessness and public safety. Were in a deep, muddy and ugly struggle to find the middle ground. Can we move forward in this challenging time if everyones entrenched ideologically? How do we maintain our progressive ideals while cleaning up our struggling city? Writ large, I ask you this: Is ideological warfare the path to recovery for San Francisco? To me, the answer is no. The clear path is solutions-based, results-driven. Lets find answers that work, even if it means compromising a few inches of philosophical territory. Former Mayor Willie Brown said it best last year when asked about San Franciscos troubles by the New York Times: San Francisco is plagued with idealism. We really do want to care for everybody that cant care for themselves. Whether they are addicted, whether they are emotionally challenged by any means or whether they are financially challenged. Weve always wanted to make San Francisco a place where you could be comfortable. But thats created a problem. Because suddenly the people enjoying the comfort are the people who have decided they can define how they can enjoy the comfort. And that might be an intrusion on the people who are paying for it the taxpayers. I turned to the halls of academia hoping to find higher understanding. Jack Citrin, a longtime political science professor at UC Berkeley, was brilliant on the subject. When asked about our left vs. lefter conundrum and the resulting stasis San Francisco endures, he referenced psychology. Its what Freud used to call the narcissism of small differences. Where the bitterness and the conflict between them is far greater than the objective differences between them, said Citrin. Thats certainly what it is. Each (side) has their set of outside supporters in terms of interest groups, and funders and so forth. And so that plays itself out in all kinds of policies, whether its criminal justice, or how to deal with the homeless, or development and housing. They all basically espouse the same general position, right? We need more housing. We need more affordable housing, etc. But then, when it comes to implementation, they start to differ to some degree. And thats where things come grinding to a halt in San Francisco. Just this week, the California Department of Housing and Community Development announced it would investigate The City for its inability to build new housing, despite a mandate to do so. Its the perfect example of The Citys paralysis by analysis. Every liberal in town would agree we need more housing. We just cant agree on how to do it, so we turn up the finger-pointing volume and do nothing. Upon hearing of the states discontent, Supervisor Dean Preston tweeted, Its disappointing that rather than collaborate with the City to fund and create more affordable housing, @California_HCD seems to have adopted a trickle-down, All Housing Matters approach to housing in San Francisco. He wants more state funding for affordable housing, which is admirable. But hes not interested in much compromise on the matter. It's disappointing that rather than collaborate with the City to fund and create more affordable housing, @California_HCD seems to have adopted a trickle-down, All Housing Matters approach to housing in San Francisco. Here's my letter today to HCD. https://t.co/Gpzk5TYTpe Dean Preston (@DeanPreston) August 11, 2022 The public appears fed up with that approach. The thread of commentary from disgusted San Franciscans resulting from his tweet pretty much sums up where were at. Citrins not surprised by the discontent. And the root cause: our ineffective leaders. Its a lot of very ambitious people playing in a pretty small pond, really, he said of San Franciscos ruling class. And so theres a lot of gotcha stuff going on. Its sort of like high school. I think back to the cliques when I grew up. Its not so different. So, while our leaders are playing Pacific Heights 94115, where does that leave the rest of us? Frustrated. Ordinary people, they dont really have an ideology, said Citrin. They want good schools. They want public safety. So when you get into the nuances, and all of the business about degrees of inequality and how you overcome them, it becomes very, very difficult. But the bottom line, when push came to shove on those issues, the progressives lost. And they lost because I think the Asian American communities and middle class community is in many ways more conservative. Which brings us to the end of the sermon. How do we get out of this mess, professor? Hopefully you solve some of these issues and things objectively get better, said Citrin. And then the people whove worked to make things get better get rewarded, and reelected and so on and so forth. Imagine that. Competent governance, supported by an engaged electorate. It could just work. Enough of my soap box. Lets head to the ballot box. Elect effective leaders, not ideologues. Its just before 7 a.m. on an overcast Saturday morning, and Rob Howarth is sitting at a table near the back of Ferrells Donut Shop. Hes focusing on a lottery scratcher and creating a mess of tiny gray shards with a penny, pausing every 30 seconds to draw another ticket from his pocket. When hes finished, he twists his face, inhales and wipes off the Formica, not wholly satisfied but still OK with the outcome: There. Four dollars, he announces to nobody in particular. He gets up and joins the weekend morning queue for a sugary treat and some coffee. I can eat today. Were on the outskirts of downtown Santa Cruz, which late last month was crowned the second most expensive spot in the U.S. to rent (right behind No. 1: San Francisco.) The common wisdom around here is that Santa Cruz is expensive more expensive than almost anywhere else in the country because of its proximity to beaches and redwood trees and a world-class university. And, if youre willing to traverse a two-lane highway, its a not-so-far commute to Silicon Valley and the rest of the Bay Area. RoschetzkyIstockPhoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto This all may be true, but for those whove called the mythic coastal town home for a long time and in some cases, spent a lifetime there working, raising families, building friendships Santa Cruz has also become a symbol of a place and a time where society has shifted, and where the ability for working-class people to live there is out of reach, permanently. The non-moneyed here feel like theyre always playing catch-up in a near untenable city. And to those residents, Santa Cruz is a place that has become cruel. Its insane, Howarth says. Hes spent three decades as a Honda mechanic and continues to work, in spite of breaking his back three times. Im homeless. Ive been homeless here since 2008. Its misery. Im far from alone, but its misery. Surviving. Thats all Im doing. Put anything in front of me and I can fix it but I cant fix this. I can work full-time, but I cant afford $1,000 a week after taxes for rent By now, youve probably read a lot of stories about the growing number of people like Howarth in California. For many, the freefall into homelessness is inevitable when the math simply doesnt work out. And in spite of efforts from city planners, nonprofits and community advocacy groups, theres no safety net. MichaelPizzoliPhotography/Getty Images/iStockphoto Its playing the lottery to eat. Its knowing the best places around to get a free cup of hot water to sink in one of the tea bags kept in your backpacks front pocket. Its knowing where to wash up and where cops wont do sweeps that night. Its fitting in work in between all that. Its knowing where you can park your car overnight if you have a car. And its every day. I can be working full-time, but I cant afford $1,000 a week after taxes just for rent, Howarth says. Maybe thats not the case for some people, but thats where Im at. Santa Cruz is the second most expensive place to rent in the US The latest statistics, putting the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metropolitan area just behind San Francisco in the highest of high-rent districts in the country, come courtesy of the Washington, D.C.-based National Low Income Housing Coalition. Founded in 1974, the nonprofit aims to bring housing issues to the fore and act as an advocacy group for tenants. The coalitions annual Out of Reach report puts on display the gap between the wages people are earning and how much it actually costs to live in a designated area. Photo By Andrew Pridgen In its most recent report, which came out the last week of July, the estimated fair market rate for a two-bedroom rental in Santa Cruz is $3,138. Howarths math of what he needs to bring in every week isnt too far off. The survey calculates its housing wage as the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford a rental home without spending more than 30% of their take home on housing. For a Santa Cruz resident to afford rent just rent theyd have to earn $60.35 per hour, or work the equivalent of four full-time minimum wage jobs simultaneously. San Francisco just edged it out, at an estimated wage of $61.50. Now we cant afford to live. Who can? A June 2020 Santa Cruz County grand jury report entitled Homelessness: Big Problem, Little Progress was critical of the citys response, as well as that of its citizenry, to the crisis. The report identified five reasons homelessness persists. The first of those reasons put the issue squarely on the shoulders of the community which, according to the reports introduction, views homelessness as a problem that should be addressed by elected officials; however, whatever political will that exists to propose housing solutions is often overcome by community resistance. Silentfoto/Getty Images NIMBY (not in my backyard) those that hoard resources and protect their own home values, fighting their whole lives against even a single new condo development are a major factor in Santa Cruz, as they are in the rest of California. But even folks who own homes readily admit that while things once seemed safe, an increasing inability to afford the basics, and seeing others around them slip into being unhoused, sends a clear signal that things might not always be OK. We own. Were lucky for now, Carrie Klair told me. We bought at the right time and without that we couldnt afford to live here. Not to own, not to rent. Its extremely difficult now all of it. Its a difficult place. You realize it more every day. Carries husband, Bill Klair, says he sees the quality of life for a working family in Santa Cruz crumbling all around us. We have a son who works full-time, he says, and he cant afford groceries. The Klairs are residents of Boulder Creek, a tiny mountain town of 5,400 people 13 miles north of downtown Santa Cruz. There, they say, they can hide from many of the problems they see when they come into town, but the problems are creeping up the mountain. Carrie says her sister has now been unhoused for a year and is still working, trying to get by. Im on food stamps for the first time in my life, she says. We worked full-time a whole career. And now we cant afford to live. Who can? Santa Cruz housing far outpaced by population A nonprofit called Santa Cruz YIMBY (yes in my backyard), a subsidiary of the nonprofit YIMBY Action, was formed last year to combat the long-standing notion that communities only thrive when property ownership is available for the chosen few, when in fact it is destroying the state, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Other research says NIMBYism is doing more harm than good on many levels, even when it comes to climate change. Photo By Andrew Pridgen The amount of housing construction has fallen significantly short of where it should be to keep up with increasing population growth, Santa Cruz YIMBY founder Evan Siroky wrote on its website. He noted that Santa Cruz County grew by 21,678 residents between 2007 and 2014, but built only 1,690 additional housing units. All of Santa Cruz County jurisdictions have repeatedly failed to meet their Regional Housing Needs Allocation targets, he added. But building more housing may be a solution that oversimplifies the problem. The grand jury report also cites the other reasons for the growing number of unhoused people: the countys inability to manage the complexity and size of the homelessness issue, insufficient resources to support those affected by homelessness, an under utilization of existing resources and finally, the lack of comprehensive and effective data collection. Still, the root problem having enough housing units to place people who need it may be the most critical component, Housing Santa Cruz County chairperson Don Lane told KSBW. If we dont have a workforce that can live in our community, even those of us who are fortunate to still live here wont be able to get the services we want, Lane said. For its part, Santa Cruz is doing its best to create solutions in the form of its own homelessness response plan and the construction of three new downtown housing projects, which could add more than 200 housing units to the city. They will be available to individuals who make up to 60% of the median income, or about $41,700, Santa Cruz said in a news release. In nearby Watsonville, several new apartment complexes were approved last year. Sixty-three units will be designated affordable housing, according to Carlos Landaverry, Watsonvilles housing manager. Attitudes about unhoused people are changing, but not fast enough And yet, even with the new projects underway, the homelessness crisis is far outpacing the current builds, according to the most recent point in time count available. Every two years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities to count the number of unhoused people in their jurisdiction. The last certified count was Jan. 30, 2019, and recorded 2,167 unhoused people in the county. A 2022 count, conducted in February, is expected to reveal much higher numbers. Mitch Diamond/Getty Images Its an issue that is growing across California. The state saw its homeless population increase 16% from 2007 to 2020, growing to 161,548 unhoused people. Santa Cruz outpaced only by San Francisco, Mendocino and Humboldt counties was in the top four counties for per-capita houseless rates. Even as affordable housing starts are far being outpaced by those in need, there has at the very least been a shift in perception over the past three decades. Back in February 1992, Santa Cruz was considering how to keep homeless people away from shoppers downtown. Part of the urban planning process everywhere in the United States, everywhere in the industrialized world, includes plans to separate shoppers from the homeless, Carlos Norena of UCSCs Stevenson College told a Santa Cruz panel on homelessness at the time. They think the homeless will scare the shoppers away. ... There is a new field of techniques to keep these people away to discourage them from coming into malls and shopping parts of town so that they dont scare the people away. Could new funds earmarked for cops solve the country's issue with homelessness? On his morning walk past the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, I found Simone Olivetti, an engineer and researcher at UCSC who moved here three years ago from his native Rome. He says he thinks all the time about unhoused people in his adopted community and doesnt understand how so many resources can be allocated to other endeavors besides providing basic food, housing and health care for people here. slobo/Getty Images As if on cue, a handful of Santa Cruz police officers pull up and start their morning patrol, clearing the boardwalk of the tents and temporary shelters of those who spent the night there. I like it here as much as anyone can like any place, Olivetti tells me. Its beautiful. The ocean is there. But its not worth it in the way: in the way it costs right now, in what it does to people. Olivetti says he sees the U.S. as having plenty of money to fix the problem, and allocating even some resources toward permanent solutions for unhoused people could put Santa Cruz and the rest of the country in an entirely different situation. Indeed, money large amounts of it is being allocated elsewhere. President Joe Bidens Safer America Plan, released on July 21, proposes funding for 100,000 additional police officers nationwide. While the plan would allocate $15 billion in grants over 10 years to "prevent violent crime," which jurisdictions could choose to put toward housing and services for unhoused people, it also allocates $10 billion over the next five years specifically for the100,000 additional officers. However, simply throwing money at the problem may also not be a comprehensive answer. In San Francisco, an effort to shelter homeless people in hotels during the pandemic ended up costing millions and turned out to be a disaster. With no easy solutions, some people, like Olivetti, who may have thought they found the promised land in a small beach town like Santa Cruz a generation ago, now say when its time to leave, they wont necessarily feel a tug to remain. There are other places, Olivetti concludes. There are other places that are better where you can feel the same or better. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The main door to Building 18 at Wedgewood Apartments in Bloomfield opens without a key. The smell is overpowering, even with a mask on. A short walk down the length of the building leads to a stairwell heading down to the basement. The basement door is swung open to reveal a wet cement floor with areas of puddling and foot-high water lines. There is water-soaked debris on the floor. Residents say it is hard to breathe because in the basement, the smell is even worse. Its been a week since Solange Jefferson shared her concerns about the water in her basement and the resulting smell at a meeting of tenants and local leaders in Bloomfield. Its been five months since she filed a report with the health department about the water. It has been four months since the case was considered closed. Residents raised concerns about mold as a result of the water. Town officials said theyd like to help with many of the tenants problems but are limited by the scope of local ordinances. I am not saying that I dont do mold, said West Hartford-Bloomfield Health Department Director Aimee Krauss. Its just that its not listed in the Connecticut health code for me to specifically cite and say this statute says mold and you need to get rid of it. Jeffersons situation is emblematic of what records show is a larger problem at Wedgewood Apartments, the subject of 15 health department complaints and seven violations since last year. Tenants report problems, and they say the landlord sometimes fails to respond in a timely manner. Then tenants notify the relevant town leaders who inspect the problem, ask the landlord to fix it and then those officials close the case without a fine. In many cases, the problem persists, and town leaders say they have done the most that the statutes will allow. Thursday night, about 10 tenants, some members of the town council and the towns state legislative delegation demanded answers from a larger panel of town leaders, including the health director, the zoning enforcement officer, the building inspector and the fire marshal in an almost three-hour meeting. No representatives of Up Realty, the property owner, were present despite invitations. Residents, as well as Councilor Kenneth McClary grilled the panel of town leaders and inspectors asking, Who is the landlord? since none of the residents have directly spoken to them. I still havent had my question answered, McClary said. Who is the landlord and where are they located? The building inspector, Dwight Carlson, named the companys LLC, ARBA Equities. Up Realty is the manager on the property. No, McCarly said. Who is the principal with contact information? After moments of confusion, leaders were able to identify Gershon Eichorn as the officer on the LLC. None of the tenants reported any contact information with him. Up Realty could not be reached by phone and did not answer requests for comment via email. Eichorn acquired the Bloomfield Hebrew School on 51 Gabb Road in July 2021, about a year after buying Wedgewood Apartments. He purchased the Gabb Road property under a different LLC, called 555 Equities. He could not be reached for comment. Tenants tried to impress upon town leaders the urgency of their concerns, but said the non-responses and fear of eviction so far have made it hard for them to communicate calmly. The landlord notified Jefferson in April, one month after her complaint with the health district, that her month-by-month lease would not be renewed for another month, she said. She is waiting for a court date in housing court. Giovanna Shay, litigation and advocacy director at Greater Hartford Legal Aid, attended the Thursday night meeting. She spoke generally on similar situations. There is a presumption it is a retaliatory eviction if the landlord serves you a notice to quit within six months of you doing one of these protective things, Shay said. Filing a complaint, being a member of the tenants union, these are all protective activities.. Health and safety concerns persist after band-aid fixes Kamera Harrison lives at Wedgewood with her mom, Donna Curry and her daughter who is 4. Medical records show her daughter tested positive for low amounts of lead in March 2021. The familys apartment has one bathroom, which Curry said she is embarrassed to have guests use. The tub is peeling paint up the walls to expose another layer of paint beneath. The health inspector has seen the tub and documents show the case is still open. At Thursdays meeting, the health department said there was no evidence of lead paint in the tub. Shes afraid to take a bath, Harrison said of her daughter. If she goes to another family members house shes still afraid to take a bath because of how our bathtub looks. Friday morning, pieces of paint were peeling off in Currys hands as she pulled back the shower curtain to show Councilor Rickford Kirton the tub. Its affecting her already, Curry said. Four years of her life. Curry locks her front door by sticking a butter knife into the doorframe because the door has a half-inch wide gap in it. She has requested a fix on the door, which maintenance applied putty. Curry said it does not suffice. Curry is not the only tenant who feels the responses from the maintenance workers have not been sufficient. After her floor disintegrated and she was forced to move apartments within Wedgewood, Pamela Acosta quickly discovered her new building did not have a ramp out front. Acosta is in a wheelchair full time. The new ramp, which is portable, is too narrow to fit Acostas wheelchair. Those railings, they are shaky, Acosta said. My wheelchair just barely fits. This part hangs over the side. Acosta said she cannot go up the ramp herself. I cant go out by myself unless someone is going to be out there to help me get back up, Acosta said. The pool debacle, explained Wedgewood Apartments has a pool, but in 2018 the health department closed the pool because it was not fit for use. Health department records show that the building owner had supposedly filled it with dirt. In June, the community alerted the health department that the pool was filled with water again, documents show. Stagnant water sat in the pool for about a week before the health department filed a notice of violation and maintenance covered the pool. The pool was covered Friday, but tenants report that their rent has not changed to reflect the pools closure and believe they are still paying for it. Beside the pool is a gym and game room that is locked and tenants do not have access to. The walkway is littered with spiders, bird poop and a large birds nest. The grounds Parents at the meeting Thursday reported that they dont feel safe letting their kids outside to play at Wedgewood. In September 2021, one tenant filed a health case report about construction debris on the property, including scaffolding blocking both entrances to unit. Records show, Ryan Zannotti, inspector with the health department emailed the tenant at the time saying, I had to speak with the Maintenance Supervisor a couple of times, but it appears like the message finally got through to keep the common areas clear of trash and debris. The town acknowledged complaints Thursday about high grass, trash and large overflowing dumpsters, but said that after notifying the property manager, the problems were taken care of. Friday morning at Wedgewood, the grass was cut in the wide open areas at Wedgewood, but along several tenants windows, the grass was knee high. There were pieces of trash including shards of sharp plastic on the ground. Behind the playground theres a fence propped open with what appears to be trash and machinery behind it. There were two Dumpsters with large pieces of machinery, furniture and mattresses poking out the top on the grounds on Friday, one near the playground. The landlord is fulfilling the requests of the town, but the town code is not explicit enough to maintain a level of cleanliness that satisfies the standard of living tenants feel they deserve. We did not fine them, and we did not give them a cease and desist because they complied, Lynda Laureano, zoning enforcement officer, said. We give them a time frame per ordinance and per state statute and they have complied. The zoning enforcement officer does have the power to fine 25 dollars a day for violations such as storage of machinery on the property, which can eventually go up to $100 a day. These fines do not apply to health code violations. Its basically not even a slap on the wrist, Kirton said. What can the town do? Tenants, and members of the town council, asked that the building inspector, the health inspector, the zoning enforcement officer and the fire marshal take action on the water in the basement of building 18 that night after the meeting, or the next morning at the latest. Jefferson reported seeing some town officials at her building after the meeting. Town leaders pledged that responses would be more immediate following tenant outrage, but reminded tenants that they are still constrained by the limits of town ordinance and state statute. In order to create changes that would benefit tenants long-term Town Manager Stanley Hawthorne outlined some potential courses of action, with the end goal being the creation of more affordable housing in Bloomfield so that people of all incomes could afford to live in town. I wish I could say it could happen sooner, Hawthorne said. We have hired a consultant to create an affordable housing plan who is going to be giving regular updates to the town council. Hawthorne, along with Krauss, discussed changing ordinances to potentially allow for fines to be levied against the landlord in instances outside of zoning violations. Within a couple of months I can bring the new codes back to the town council, Hawthorne said. If we can bring it back sooner we can. Krauss said the proposed ordinance the town is working on involves a $79 fine for failure to comply. Joe Hermann, who represents the Connecticut Tenants Union said that the root of the issue is that the landlord is a bad actor and the current housing code has no teeth to combat him. Because they only care about profit, you need to put financial pressure on them, Hermann said. SALEM, Ore. (AP) The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued two event notifications for incidents involving Salem Hospitals radiation oncology department earlier this year. One incident involved hospital employees, while the other involved patients. Investigations to-date have shown no injuries, the Statesman Journal reported. Salem Health voluntarily reported both incidents, hospital spokesperson Lisa Wood said. Both involved a cancer therapy device called high dose-rate afterloader, or HDR, said Erica Heartquist, a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority, which is investigating the incidents. The agencys Radiation Protection Services licenses and monitors radioactive materials in the state. OHA was unable to provide further information because the events are still are under investigation, Heartquist said. These kinds of events are rare, she said. On March 22, a sealed source of Iridium-192 was delivered by common carrier to the wrong floor of the hospital, according to the NRCs notification document. The part is used in the HDR device. Instead of being delivered to radiation oncology, it was delivered to a medical practice that rents space in the building. The person receiving the package, who does not have radiation safety or transportation training, signed for it without an understanding or what it was and placed it on the floor of an access-controlled staff working area, the notification reads. Salem Health did not realize the package had been delivered until March 28, when medical supplier Varian called to schedule installation of the part, which is delivered quarterly. There was no indication given of tracking a replacement source package while it is in transit to the licensees site. This is being investigated further, the NRC notification reads. Salem Health was initially unaware of the shipment delivery and that it had been misdirected, Wood said. Upon discovering the location of the shipment, Salem Health retrieved the shipment and transferred to its secure location. Salem Heath performed radiation dose measurements on and near the source package at various distances and orientations with a survey meter. It is determined that there was no harm to patients or staff from this source delivery issue, Wood said. On June 29, radiation oncology staff identified a deviation in the length of a transfer tube used to deliver radiation. The tube was found to be 2.9 centimeters longer than the vendors specifications, the NRC notification reads. Treatments therefore will be 2.9 centimeters shorter than the programmed distance for treatments and involving 1.5-2 centimeters of unintended tissue it continues. The transfer tube had last been measured on July 27, 2020. Salem Health believes they may have underdosed some patients, according to the NRC notification. The hospital has identified two treatments where this may be the case and is putting together a list of all cases since the last tube measurement in 2020, the notification says. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Virginia government failed to carry out numerous lessons from a 2018 snowstorm that caused highway gridlock, as exhibited by a similar event along Interstate 95 in January that left hundreds of motorists stranded, a state watchdog office concluded. The Office of the Inspector General report, released Friday, was critical of how the state transportation, police and emergency management agencies performed during the severe snowstorm that began Jan. 3, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Logjams along a 40-mile (65-kilometer) stretch of I-95 in both directions not far from the nations capital led to outrage among motorists, some of whom were stuck in their vehicles overnight and pleaded on social media for help. In April, a state-commissioned report created by a nonprofit group didnt place blame on any single person or agency. But it found state agencies collectively lost situational awareness and failed to keep up with growing gridlock through a confluence of heavy snowfall, abnormally high traffic and staffing shortages related to COVID-19. Up to 11 inches (28 cm) of snow fell in the area. Fridays performance audit mentioned many of the same issues, but the I-95 mess could have been avoided if state officials had taken preventive measures recommended by Virginia DOT after a snowstorm in late 2018 blocked traffic on Interstate 81, in far southwest Virginia. Those recommendations included making plans for storms more severe than are forecast and communicating those dangers effectively to citizens. Theyve got to prepare for when things go awry and they dont get what they expect, said Ben Sutphin, the audit manager for the I-95 investigation. The states communication to the public about the severity of the road hazards was ineffective or misleading, the report said. Drivers also underestimated dangers because of mild weather during the New Years weekend before the storm. The report specifically cited a message to stranded motorists that state & locals coming ASAP with supplies & to move you. A lack of backup electrical power for state Department of Transportation road cameras also made it hard to monitor highway conditions, the report said. The inspector general didnt fault then-Gov. Ralph Northam for failing to declare a state of emergency before the storm because the forecasted event ... did not rise to the level to issue an emergency declaration. Northam, a Democrat, was in the waning days of his administration, with Republican Glenn Youngkin taking office less than two weeks later. U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who was himself caught in the gridlock, said Friday that he hopes the reports recommendations will be followed. We should always be applying lessons learned to improve safety for Virginians." WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) New Zealand on Friday welcomed the first cruise ship to return since the coronavirus pandemic began, signaling a long-sought return to normalcy for the nation's tourism industry. New Zealand closed its borders in early 2020 as it sought at first to eliminate COVID-19 entirely and then later to control its spread. Although the country reopened its borders to most tourists arriving by plane in May, it wasn't until two weeks ago that it lifted all remaining restrictions, including those on maritime arrivals. Many in the cruise industry question why it took so long. The end of restrictions allowed Carnival Australia's Pacific Explorer cruise ship to dock in Auckland with about 2,000 passengers and crew Friday morning as part of a 12-day return trip to Fiji that left from Sydney. Amazing, isn't it? Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said in an interview with The Associated Press. Its another step in the reopening of our borders and a step closer to resuming business as usual. Nash said it would take some time for international tourist numbers and revenue to return to their pre-pandemic levels, when the industry accounted for about 20% of New Zealands foreign income and more than 5% of GDP. I think there's been many people in the tourism sector who have done it hard over the last two years, Nash said. But we've always taken an approach where we need to ensure that we get the health response right. Because if we don't, we know the consequences are dire. Not everybody is happy with the return of tourists. A sailboat carrying protesters upset about the industry's impact on the environment followed the Pacific Explorer into the harbor Friday, before passengers were greeted with an Indigenous Maori welcome and a visit by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Nash said the pause in tourism had given the nation a chance to reset its priorities. One of those was to go after what he described as wealthier high quality tourists who would stay longer and have a story to tell when they returned home. We are not targeting the guys that come over and put up on Facebook, Hey, travel around New Zealand on $10 a day living on 2-minute noodles, Nash said. He said another goal was to move away from the perception that people working in the industry would be subject to long hours and low wages, and to make it a more rewarding and aspirational career. Nash said that with airline tickets more expensive and travelers more risk-averse than before the pandemic, tourism numbers could remain subdued for a while, but he thought the industry would eventually make a strong comeback. I see markets like the United States being a really important market for New Zealand, he said. There's been $2 trillion saved in the States over and above that which would have been saved if it hadn't been for COVID. So, there's a little bit of money floating around. President Lisa Kluge called to order the Aug 5 meeting of Jacksonville Rotary Club at noon at Hamiltons. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and "America" was sung. Volunteers were thanked, including Phyllis Lape, Ginny Fanning, and Keith Lape, greeters and 50-50; Mike Schneider, Maryjane Million, sergeants-at-arms; Samantha Boston, Reflection; Joey Henry, Recognitions and Rotations; note taker Anne Jackson; song leader and tech guru Dan Lepper; and Lynn Sheaff, food delivery. The club had a moment of silence in memory of Jason McDowell. Announcements: The Polio Plus Jars are on the tables! Clipboards are being circulated. Please help where you can! Oktoberfest tickets are being distributed. Sell! Sell! Sell! See Ginny Fanning to get yours. Dan Lepper was looking for volunteers to help with the wheel. Joey Henry was in charge of Recognitions. Rotations were made and money was collected from April Clarke, Shawn McCombs, Bob McLin, Ginny Fanning and Madison Reever. Upcoming events: Aug. 6 is Litter Gitters! Aug. 7 is the Back to School Bash and supplies give away Aug. 10 the board will meet at noon at the chamber Aug. 18 the Oktoberfest Committee meets at 5:15 p.m. at the chamber Aug 27 Neighborhood improvement Woo-hoo! Oktoberfest will be from noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 17 at Morgan County Fairgrounds. Food! Beer! Music! Games! Fun! Save the date. All Rotarians are asked to sign up to help! Rebecca Bigelow-Williams and Dan Carie were inducted as our newest members! Welcome to you both! Dave Fisher was awarded his Paul Harris plus three. Thank you and congratulations Dave! Scott Boston introduced his daughter, Addie Boston, who gave us a Scottish update from her experiences with the Illinois State University study abroad program. What a great program! Keith Lape drew successfully for the 50-50 drawing and donated his winnings to the Polio Plus jars! Thank you Keith! The Four-Way Test was recited and the meeting was adjourned at 1 p.m. Submitted by Anne Jackson Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary Club Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary was gaveled to order by President Linda Meece on Aug. 9 with 10 members and one guest present. Rotations and Recognitions garnered some bucks to go toward scholarships. It was announced that the Holiday Inn meeting room would not be available for the next two weeks; that problem was solved when Cindy Boehlke volunteered the use of Jacksonville Area Museum for the meeting on Aug. 16 and the club will meet on Aug. 23 at the Morgan County Health Department to tour its new facility. President Meece announced that she and Jane Becker will be working to submit an application for a district grant. The club voted approval of the application and the necessary matching funds. Jessica Hoelting, a loan officer from the Jacksonville office of Farm Credit Illinois, was introduced as the speaker. Hoelting is a native of the Troy, Missouri area; obtained an agri-business degree from University of Missouri; and has been on the FCI staff for nearly three years. Farm Credit Illinois is a farmer-owned and directed cooperative that specializes in providing farm loans, crop insurance, appraisals and other financial services to its members in the southern 60 counties of Illinois. FCI is headquartered at Mahomet and has 14 office locations.The northern 42 counties of Illinois are a part of Compeer Financial, whose territory also comprises Wisconsin and Minnesota. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 a.m. Submitted by Don Pigg Jacksonville Area Landlord Association Presenting the program during the August meeting of the Jacksonville Area Landlord Association was Cindy Stuber of i3 Broadband and Melissa Marsh and Chris Elliot of Morgan County Housing Authority. Cindy spoke about how landlords can take advantage of bulk pricing from i3 Broadband for internet service and then pass that discount on to their tenants or provide internet service as an incentive for the tenant. Melissa presented information about MCHAs Section 8 program, explaining that there is a need in the area for Section 8 landlords. She further explained how the program works, who qualifies and who doesnt qualify. She said there are a lot of good tenants in the Section 8 program who would not be able to rent quality housing if not for the Section 8 program. Chris Elliott, who is in charge of inspections for the program, explained what standards the property must meet to qualify for the Section 8 program. JALA members also shared their firsthand dealings with the Section 8 program, which mostly were positive. This months meeting helped JALA members learn about programs with i3 Broadbrand and the opportunities available with the MCHAs Section 8 program. Our next meeting will be Sept. 13. New members are encouraged to attend. JALA meets at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the Morgan County Fairgrounds with a 5:30 p.m. social. Members discuss topics involved in property rentals, repairs and real estate investing. For more information, go online to jville4rent.net. Submitted by Richard Vollmer Jacksonville Christian Women's Connection Jacksonville Christian Women Connection will have a luncheon meeting from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday at Hamilton's. The meal is $12. School supplies will be collected. Rod Nicholson of Jacksonville will sing and Tamera Perry of Indianapolis will speak on "Fighting Fear the Courageous Way." For more information, call Mary at 217-243-2322. Submitted by Libby Gaige Although some groups have resumed meetings, others schedules may have changed because of pandemic restrictions. It is recommended you contact the group in advance to verify details. Any changes in meeting schedules can be emailed to JJCsocial@myjournalcourier.com. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS 217-370-4002 Jacksonville locations: First Baptist Church, 1701 Mound Ave. Wheelchair-accessible. Club HOW, 638 S. Church St. Monday Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW. Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at First Baptist Church. Bowen Group. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Tuesday Open discussion, noon at Club HOW. Womens open meeting, 5:30 p.m., First Christian Churchs Fireside Room. VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Main and Washington streets. ROODHOUSE: Closed discussion, 12-step/12 traditions, 8 p.m. at Grace Center, 114 W. Palm St. Wednesday Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Thursday Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW. Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Newcomers Group. Friday Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. TGIF Group. Closed discussion, 5:15 p.m., Big Book Study at Club HOW. VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 401 E. Broadway Ave. Saturday Open speaker, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Open meeting, noon at Club HOW. Sunday Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. 12 & 12 Group. Closed discussion, 10 a.m. at Club HOW. (Second Sunday is open) SPRINGFIELD: AA for Women, 10 a.m. at Discovery Club, 313 W. Cook St. AL-ANON Meetings are nonsmoking and open to anyone. The only requirement is that there be a problem of alcohol with a loved one or friend. 217-248-6434. Wednesday Al-Anon, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 331 E. State St. (use Morgan Street entrance). NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS All meetings are nonsmoking. Not affiliated with any religious organization. Jacksonville locations: First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. (enter through far southeast door). 217-883-1975. Lutheran Church for the Deaf, 104 Finley St. (enter through back door). 217-883-1975. Wednesday Open discussion group, 8 p.m. at Lutheran Church for the Deaf. Friday Open discussion group, 7:30 p.m. at First Christian Church. OTHER MEETINGS Monday Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. at Faith Tabernacle, 571 Sandusky St. Use side entrance to church hall. PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. in the basement of Subway in Pittsfield. 1-800-323-1388. Tuesday Jacksonville Sunrise Rotary, 7 a.m., Holiday Inn Express meeting room, South Jacksonville. 217-243-6895. Christian Women's Connection, noon-2 p.m., Hamilton's, Jacksonville. 217-243-2322. Wednesday Breastfeeding support group, 6 p.m., Jacksonville Memorial Hospital, Meeting Room 2. ROODHOUSE: Women with Hearts of Love (WWHOL), 6-7 p.m. at House of Restoration, 208 W. Franklin St. 217-602-1670. Thursday Jacksonville Area Chess Club, 6-9 p.m. at Jacksonville Public Library. 217-370-0882. Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, noon at Hamiltons. WHITE HALL: Addicts Victorious, teens 5:30-6:30 p.m.; adults 7-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of New Life Church, 626 Curtis St. Friday Jacksonville Rotary Club, noon at Hamiltons. PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 6 p.m. at Assembly of God, 575 Piper St. 800-323-1388. Saturday Jacksonville Amateur Radio Societys Net, 9 p.m. Transmitted on K9JX repeater. K9JX.com. It has taken longer and cost more than its buyers would have liked, but it now appears that the Deer Lake Boy Scout Reservation in Killingworth, a scenic 255-acre woodland that one environmentalist called an incredible geological wonder, will be maintained as open space and protected from development. The Boy Scouts Connecticut Yankee Council, which owns the land, is in the final stage of negotiations to sell the land for $4.75 million to Pathfinders Inc., a local nonprofit that has run camping programs at Deer Lake for many years under a lease agreement with the Scouts. We think we are very close, said Ted Langevin, president of Pathfinders. The Scouts did not comment, but in a July 25 filing in a lawsuit involving the property, the Scouts lawyers asserted that the contract for the sale of the Deer Lake property to Pathfinders is near completion. The lawsuit, which involved a bird sanctuary on the land, might have held up the sale, but it was settled and withdrawn on Monday. If the sale proceeds as expected, Pathfinders plans to continue its camping programs and otherwise protect the land from development, said Langevin. The sale would end a months-long controversy that has drawn national attention and attracted considerable support for preservation of the property. The Save Deer Lake Facebook page has attracted almost 2,300 followers, and more than 1,300 donors have contributed money to preserve the site. They want it saved, said Langevin. Best offer To preserve the open space, Pathfinders had to top an offer that looked for a time like it would carry the day. In the spring, the Scouts Connecticut Yankee Council announced it was selling the land for $4.62 million to a major real estate developer, Margaret Streicker, who is also a board member of the council. This occasioned considerable pushback. Conservationists were outraged that a supposedly conservation-oriented nonprofit would sell pristine open space to a developer. David Stephenson of Madison filed a lawsuit to protect a bird sanctuary on the property. Attorney General William Tongs office began a probe of the nascent deal, focused on conflict of interest and charitable fund-raising statutes. Pathfinders began a Save Deer Lake campaign in the hope of raising enough money to top Streickers offer. They have done so, and Streicker said in a telephone interview last month that she would not increase her offer. Dual challenges For the Council, which represents Scouts in New Haven, Fairfield and part of Hartford counties, the sale of Deer Lake helps solve one of two major challenges facing the organization. For one, it had more land and camps than it needed, because membership had declined significantly. Though he would not comment for this story, Council CEO Mark Krauss told an interviewer in January that when the council was formed from the merger of two earlier councils 21 years ago, there were more than 20,000 active scouts, but that the number had declined to more than 5,000 by the end of the last decade. This reflects a national trend: the Associated Press reported that national Boy Scout membership has dropped from more than 4 million in the 1970s to well under 1 million today (Girl Scout membership has dropped precipitously as well). The council then owned four major camps, a smaller camp, an office building in Milford and several random and mostly undeveloped pieces of property that had been given to them over the years. Krauss told the interviewer that camps were expensive to run and that the council could get by with two of them. The second issue, only tangentially related to the first, was that the Boy Scouts of America (now rebranded as Scouts BSA) filed for bankruptcy protection in February of 2020, facing thousands of sexual abuse claims from former scouts. (The proposed settlement, $2.7 billion for some 82,000 claims, is working its way through U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware). The 251 local councils will have to bear some of the fiscal burden of the settlement, which has triggered a sell-off of Scout properties across the country. Keep Deer Lake The Connecticut Yankee Council created a property and planning task force in 2020 to evaluate its properties and make recommendations both for right-sizing and to assess potential liquidity and other options that could be pursued in connection with the bankruptcy. The task force worked for several months and produced an 11-page report. It recommended that the council unload the small properties and divest its Milford office building and Camp Pomperaug in Union, which is a considerable distance from the councils boundaries. As for Deer Lake, the task force recommended that operations continue as is, and that a five-year plan be developed for the property. In other words, dont sell it. The councils board of directors accepted the report. Thus it came as a surprise to task force members last fall when Deer Lake was suddenly on the market. I was shocked, said one task force member who asked not to be named. Its not clear how or why the council leadership overrode the task force recommendation, though one source said the board of directors authorized the councils leadership team to take the action. None would comment; Krauss referred questions to a council spokesman who said the council officials had agreed not to speak to the media while negotiations were in progress. The spokesman asked not to be identified by name. In any event, three potential buyers for Deer Lake emerged. One was the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, which has helped protect more than 8,000 acres of open space in the state. The Trust appraised the property and bid $2.4 million early this year. The Trusts effort was supported by the town, other conservation groups and the Pathfinders. The offer was rejected when, seemingly out of nowhere, came Striecker with the much higher bid, of $4.62 million. She is a Connecticut resident who heads New York-based Fortitude Capital LLC, a real estate investment firm. She unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Rosa DeLauro for the states 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020. Streicker said she was initially looking at another Scout property but was asked if she was interested in Deer Lake. She was. The Trust for Public Lands policy is not to pay more than the appraised value of land in its present state. That is also the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protections open space acquisition policy, said then-gubernatorial spokesman Max Reiss. But private investors have no such limitation, they can project what they think land might be worth when developed and bid accordingly. Striecker said she did a commercial assessment of the Deer Lake property to reach her $4.62 million bid. The Council agreed to sell it to her but gave Pathfinders, who stepped in when the Trusts offer was rejected, more time to match the offer. The council turned down an offer of $4.3 million from Pathfinders in April, but negotiations continued. They are expected to conclude with the $4.75 million agreement. To meet its obligation to the bankruptcy settlement, the council will sign over Camp Pomperaug to the national organization and pay the remainder from its endowment, the spokesman said. Bird sanctuary David Stephensons lawsuit, filed in Superior Court on April 25, claimed that in 1985, New Haven ornithologist and philanthropist Richard L. English donated money to the Connecticut Yankee Council to establish the Richard English Bird Sanctuary at Deer Lake and that the council established the sanctuary. The suit claimed that if the land were sold to a developer, there would be a reasonable likelihood that the sanctuary would be discontinued. The suit asked for legal protection of the land. Lawyers for the council filed a counterclaim, asserting that Stephensons lawsuit caused economic damage to the Scout organization and asking for compensatory damages from Stephenson. Both the claim and counterclaim have been released, according to Stephensons lawyer Keith R. Ainsworth as well as a Scouts spokesman. Ainsworth said with the property going to Pathfinders rather than a developer, Stephenson feels his mission will be accomplished. Questions Its not certain how the impending sale will affect the inquiry by Tong. His office declined to comment this week. Though the question may now be moot, it is also not clear what Streicker intended to do with the land if she were the buyer. She had a meeting in the spring with Killingworth First Selectman Nancy Gorski, who said Streicker floated the idea of affordable housing for the site. Streicker said that was not an actual proposal, more a statement of what zoning allowed. The area is in a RR zone, which allows single-family housing. But a zoning review by the town said subdivision development at the site would be constrained by lack of access to much of the land. Gorski also said the site is not close to jobs, transit or the town center, and thus not optimal for affordable housing. Streicker stressed that she didnt have a plan for the property. She called the land a jewel and said her idea was to do something good for the community and give the Boy Scouts solvency and liquidity they need to keep serving their mission. She said her involvement as a board member has been nearly nonexistent. The land Few would disagree with Streickers positive characterization of the Deer Lake property. It consists of forests, meadows, the long lake and unusual rock formations including cliffs and caves, caves being fairly rare in Connecticut. The Nature Conservancy of Connecticut has identified Deer Lake as part of a network of ecosystems and landscapes that are a high priority for preservation, said Shelley Green, the groups director of conservation programs. Such wooded areas help clean air and water, store carbon in plants and soil, protect communities from extreme storms and flooding and provide refuges, migration corridors or resilient habitats for plants and animals adapting to a warming world, she said. Protecting these resilient lands is key to a future where both people and nature thrive. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others have pointed out, fragmentation breaking off into small pieces is a constant threat to forests in the Eastern U.S. One of Deer Lakes advantages is that it is part of a major forested region that includes Chatfield Hollow State Park and the 17,000 acre Cockaponset State Forest. This swath is actually getting larger. The state just awarded the Madison Land Conservation Trust a $585,000 grant to purchase a 30-acre tract called Birch Branch Meadow, which is in the next town and, like much of Deer Lake, in the Hammonasset River watershed. Added to the woodlands to the north, the state gets a great greenway zone, said Ben Diebold, president of the Madison trust. Langevin said if Pathfinders acquires the property it will honor Stephensons wish to preserve the bird sanctuary. RANDOLPH, Mass. Five Connecticut residents were sent to the hospital Friday morning after a single-vehicle crash, according to Massachusetts State Police. Four of the residents a 23-year-old South Windsor man, a 27-year-old New Britain man, a 32-year-old New Britain woman and a 29-year-old Connecticut man suffered serious injuries. The fifth occupant a 30-year-old Vernon woman had minor injuries, state police said in a news release. State police were called to Interstate 93 and Route 1 in Randolph near the Canton line at around 5:45 a.m. for the reported crash. The 23-year-old South Windsor man drove a 2019 Dodge van over the guardrail. A volunteer firefighter who was also a dispatcher for Brewster Ambulance stopped at the scene to help provide medical aid. Randolph Fire and EMS also responded to the scene, according to state police. All five residents were taken to Boston Medical Center. The group, who are employees of a company that provides inventory services to other businesses, were on their way to a job site at the time of the crash. The van was owned by Enterprise Fleet Management, state police said. The crash closed the right lane of the highway until about 9:30 a.m., according to state police. Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash. OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has issued a directive to the Washington State Department of Health outlining additional steps to address the rise in monkeypox cases. In his Friday directive to state health officials, Inslee called the disease an evolving serious public health concern," KING-TV reported. The Centers for Disease Control confirmed the first U.S. case of the disease on May 17. As of Aug. 11, there were more than 10,700 cases across the United States. As of Friday, Washington state had confirmed 265 monkeypox cases. King County recently reported 225 cases, an increase of nearly 100 cases since the states Aug. 3 update. Other cases were reported in Whatcom, Spokane, Snohomish, Pierce, Lewis, Yakima, Benton, Cowlitz, Clark, Mason and Kitsap counties. Inslee said no known deaths have been attributed to monkeypox in Washington state. The directive asked the Department of Health to take actions including conducting comprehensive public outreach and education within appropriate communities and communities disproportionately impacted by the virus; prioritizing equitable distribution of existing treatments including the limited supply of approved vaccine and to monitor case counts and demographic data, among other measures. Other state agencies are ready to assist the Department of Health, as needed, to provide a coordinated and swift response, Inslee said. The Department of Health activated its monkeypox readiness team May 25. State officials launched a response team on July 22. The World Health Organization declared the global spread of monkeypox to be an international emergency in July and the U.S. declared its own epidemic to be a national emergency earlier this month. Outside of Africa, 98% of cases are in men who have sex with men. With only a limited global supply of vaccines, authorities are working to stop monkeypox before it becomes entrenched as a new disease. LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) The mayor of a southwestern Louisiana city and parish is back after a 21-day stint from an in-person rehab program where he was getting treatment for alcohol addiction and post traumatic stress disorder. The Lafayette City Council and Parish Council were notified Friday morning via email from City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan that Mayor-President Josh Guillory was back in town. Fridays announcement comes 18 days after the initial statement about his plan to seek treatment was issued, news outlets reported. MANISTEE COUNTY Law enforcement agencies around the state have started a Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign to encourage sober driving in the state, according to a Michigan State Police news release. This comes after a report that in 2021, nearly 45% of fatalities on Michigan roadways involved alcohol and/or drugs, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. The end of summer is traditionally marked by the Labor Day holiday and is a time for friends and families to enjoy pool parties, backyard barbecues and late-summer road trips. However, the Labor Day holiday weekend is also one of the deadliest times for impaired-driving fatalities. That is why through the remainder of August and the 2022 Labor Day holiday weekend, police departments, sheriffs offices and the Michigan State Police are encouraging drivers to celebrate safely and make smart driving decisions. From Aug. 12 through Sept. 5, there will be increased enforcement and additional messaging about the dangers of driving impaired. In 2021, nearly 45% of fatalities on Michigan roadways involved alcohol and/or drugs, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Over the Labor Day holiday weekend periods from 2017 to 2021, there were 39 drivers killed in vehicle traffic crashes in the state. In those crashes, one-third of the drivers killed were alcohol-impaired. Katie Bower, director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, said in the release that the goal of the campaign is to drastically reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by impaired driving. This should be a time for friends and family to enjoy the final days of summer. Impaired driving puts everyone at risk and is always unacceptable, Bower said. Officers will be on the lookout for motorists under the influence of drugs and alcohol throughout the campaign enforcement period. Michigan statistics The following were reported in 2021, in Michigan: There were 9,557 alcohol-involved crashes, with 357 alcohol-involved fatalities; There were 2,999 drug-involved crashes, with 275 drug-involved fatalities; One person was killed in an alcohol-involved crash every 24 hours and 32 minutes; and In all traffic crashes occurring over the Labor Day holiday period, 11 people died. See More Collapse In Michigan, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher although drivers can be arrested at any alcohol level if an officer believes they are impaired. CAIRO (AP) Libyan authorities said Saturday they found at least 15 migrants dead in the desert on the borders with Sudan, the latest tragedy involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe via perilous journeys through the conflict-wrecked nation. The Department for Combating Irregular Migration in the southeastern city of Kufra said the migrants were on their way from Sudan to Libya when their vehicle broke down due to lack of fuel. The agency said nine other migrants survived while two remain missing in the desert. There were women and children among the migrants, but the agency did not elaborate on how many. It also did not reveal causes of the migrants death, but said they did not have enough food and water. It said the migrants were all Sudanese from a country in turmoil for years. The migrants likely attempted to reach western Libya in efforts to board trafficking boats to Europe. The agency posted images on Facebook showing bodies purportedly of the dead migrants who were later burned in the desert. The tragedy was the latest in Libyas sprawling desert. In June, authorities in Kufra said they found the bodies of 20 migrants who they said died of thirst in the desert after their vehicle broke down close to the border with Chad. Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the countrys lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants are then packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on risky sea voyages. By Trend A UAV of Armenian militants has been intercepted in Azerbaijan's Shusha city, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to the ministry, the UAV of illegal Armenian armed forces remaining on Azerbaijans territory, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed [following the trilateral statement signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders on November 10, 2020 to end Second Karabakh War], tried to make a reconnaissance flight over the positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces units in the vicinity of Shusha at nearly 10:30 (GMT +4) on August 13. The device was timely detected as a result of the vigilance of the Azerbaijani units, was landed in a special way, added the ministry. A Billings police officer shot a man late Friday night at a house near Pioneer Park, and an investigation into the shooting is underway. Police responded to a fight between a man and a woman at a home on the 1800 block of Sixth Street West around 11 p.m., according to a statement released Saturday by the Billings Police Department. The man was armed and refused orders from police. One officer opened fire, striking the man, according to BPD. The man was taken to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries. Nobody was available from BPD Saturday to answer questions about the condition of the man, or provide details about what led up to the shooting. The 22-year-old is the fourth person shot by Billings officers this year, three of whom were killed. In late May, 13 police officers opened fire on an armed 19-year-old man who led law enforcement on a chase into a neighborhood near North Park. A bullet grazed the shoulder of an officer who attempted to box the man into an alleyway. About a week earlier, a 36-year-old man was shot dead by several law enforcement officers after a lengthy chase that looped around Billings. In a standoff in the parking lot of Fireside Lanes near Mountview Cemetery, the man drew what looked like a pistol. Seven people, six BPD officers and a trooper with Montana Highway Patrol, fired on the man. He collapsed, and died. Photos of the weapon he pulled released by BPD revealed it to be a toy cap gun. In February, a BPD officer fired at least eight rounds at a 39-year-old on the West End. The man was reportedly brandishing a Glock 17 semi-automatic replica pellet gun and pointing it at random people. Investigations into the three fatal shootings by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation are still ongoing. BPD Chief Rich St. John is expected to hold a press conference Monday to address the most recent shooting, according to the departments statement Saturday. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) A Maryland man has been charged in connection with the death of a woman last month after the boat she was in was struck by another vessel on a river, authorities said. Brownell Edds Jr., 48, of Cape St. Claire, was arrested Friday by Maryland Natural Resources Police and charged with negligent manslaughter by a vessel and criminal negligent manslaughter by a vessel, news outlets reported. TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) The Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali along with Rosarito and Ensenada were hit by gang violence that included vehicles being set ablaze and road blockades. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana instructed its employees to shelter in place until further notice around midnight because of late Friday's violence. It was the third time this week Mexican cities have seen widespread arson and shootings by drug cartels. The gangs appear to be targeting stores, vehicles and innocent bystanders in response to disputes or attempts to capture gang members. Baja California state officials said a total of 24 vehicles had been hijacked and burned at different points throughout the state: 15 in Tijuana, three in Rosarito, and two each in Mexicali, Ensenada, and Tecate. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero blamed it on disputes between drug gangs and asked them to stop the violence. Caballero issued a public appeal to organized crime, the term used in Mexico for drug cartels, to stop the growing trend of targeting innocent civilians. Today we are saying to the organized crime groups that are committing these crimes, that Tijuana is going to remain open and take care of its citizens," Caballero said in a video, and we also ask them to settle their debts with those who didnt pay what they owe, not with families and hard-working citizens. The extent of the violence was still unclear Saturday. Late Friday, the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana said in a statement that it is aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada, and Tecate. On Saturday, few people ventured out on the streets in Tijuana and many of the bus and passenger van services stopped running, leaving some residents unable to get where they were going. Let them fight it out among themselves, but leave us alone, said Tijuana resident Blanca Estela Fuentes, as she looked for some means of public transport. So they kill each other, they can do whatever they want, but the public, why are we to blame?" Later Saturday, Caballero, the Tijuana mayor, said some bus and van routes had resumed service. The federal public safety department said one person was wounded in the violence and that federal, state and local forces had detained 17 suspects, including seven in Tijuana, and four each in Rosarito and Mexicali. It said some of the suspects had been identified as members of the Jalisco cartel, the group blamed for burning stores and shooting people earlier this week in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato. The area around Tijuana, which borders southern California, is a lucrative drug-trafficking corridor long dominated by the Arellano Felix cartel but which has since become a battle ground between various gangs, including the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels. The mayor's comment about Tijuana remaining open was an apparent reference to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, where some classes and public events were cancelled after similar violence on Thursday. Alleged gang members killed nine people, including four employees of a radio station, in Ciudad Juarez after a fight between rival gangs at a local prison left two inmates dead. On Tuesday, drug cartel gunmen burned vehicles and businesses in the western states of Jalisco and Guanajuato in response to an attempt to arrest a high-ranking cartel leader of the Jalisco cartel. Oxxo, a national chain of convenience stores owned by Femsa, the countrys largest bottling company, said 25 of its stores in Guanajuato which borders Jalisco, home to the cartel of the same name were either totally or partially burned Tuesday. Speaking about the Ciudad Juarez violence Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said: They attacked the civilian, innocent population like a sort of revenge. It wasnt just a clash between two groups, but it got to the point where they began to shoot civilians, innocent people. That is the most unfortunate thing in this affair. Four employees of the MegaRadio station who were broadcasting a live promotional event outside a pizza store in Ciudad Juarez were killed in the shootings. Such random violence is not without precedent in Mexico. In June of last year, a rival faction of the Gulf cartel entered the border city of Reynosa and killed 14 people the governor identified as innocent citizens. The military responded and killed four suspected gunmen. CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) Montenegro declared three days of national mourning Saturday, a day after 10 people, including two children, were killed in a daylight attack by a 34-year-old gunman who police said had recently exhibited a change in behavior. The attacker used a hunting rifle to first shoot to death two children, 8 and 11, and their mother, who lived as tenants in his house in the western city of Cetinjes Medovina neighborhood. He then walked to the street and randomly shot 13 more people, seven of them fatally. The gunman was shot dead later after a gunbattle with police. Police investigating the rampage issued a statement Saturday saying it was still unclear what motivated the gunman identified only by his initials, V.B. But they said people close to the attacker said he had recently started exhibiting a change in behavior but nothing that indicated he could commit such a crime. The attacker had an appointment to see a mental health care specialist but went on the rampage prior to it. The police statement also said the law enforcement officers sent to the scene came under fire from the attacker and responded by firing at him at least 20 times and seriously injuring him. It is still being investigated if he died as the result of the serious injury (by police) or as the result of being shot at by a local citizen, the statement said. The prosecutor coordinating the investigation, Andrijana Nastic, told journalists Friday that the gunman was killed by a passerby and that a police officer was among the wounded. She said nine of those killed died at the scene and two died at a hospital. Witnesses of the attack were struggling Saturday to come to terms with the carnage. They described scenes of chaos and horror as the gunman unleashed his fury on innocent people just going about their daily business on a warm summer afternoon. You could hear women crying, people shouting in panic that a man has a weapon and is indiscriminately shooting around. I heard gunshots, said witness Milena Stanojevic. Ive seen a lot of crying, tears and sadness and today, silence and disbelief. Cetinje, a city of 17,000 people and the seat of Montenegros former royal government, is 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, the current capital of the small Balkan nation. Four of the wounded were transferred to the Clinical Center in Podgorica for surgery and were still in intensive care Saturday, according to its chief neurosurgeon, Dr. Ivan Terzic. Two others suffered less severe injuries and were recovering at a hospital in Cetinje. SIMS, N.C. (AP) A North Carolina Department of Transportation worker was killed when a vehicle struck her as she directed traffic around a fallen tree, the State Highway Patrol said. A man was later arrested and charged with fleeing the scene. Anna Bradshaw, 60, was struck Friday morning by a passenger car while she was holding a sign along U.S. Highway 264 Alternate in Wilson County, according to patrol Trooper Jordan Lamm. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MEXICO CITY (AP) Hundreds of Nicaraguans attended a Mass under a heavy police presence Saturday after the government prohibited a religious procession in the capital amid tensions with the Roman Catholic Church. Church leaders announced a day earlier that the National Police had banned the planned procession for Our Lady of Fatima for reasons of internal security. Instead, the church called the faithful to come peacefully to the cathedral. On Saturday, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said they gathered with a lot of happiness, but also with a lot of sadness due to the situation we have lived in our parishes. Forgive them Lord, because they know not what they do, Brenes said. Earlier this month, the government of President Daniel Ortega closed seven radio stations owned by the church and announced an investigation of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who has been confined to the churchs compound in Matagalpa by police for nearly two weeks. The government acuses Alvarez, a vocal government critic, of promoting hate and inciting violence. Before confining Alvarez, police had encircled a priest in Sebaco, also part of the Matagalpa diocese, for several days before eventually allowing him to leave. On Saturday, a representative from the Matagalpa diocese presented Brenes with an image of the Lady of Fatima. On Friday, the Vatican spoke out publicly for the first time about the recent moves against the church in Nicaragua. The Vaticans permanent observer to the Organization of American States expressed concern during a special session of the bodys permanent council. Monsignor Juan Antonio Cruz called for finding paths of understanding based on reciprocal respect and trust, looking above all for the common good and peace. During the session, 27 countries approved a resolution condemning the forced closure of nongovernmental organizations and the harrassment and arbitrary restrictions placed on religious organizations in Nicaragua. There was one vote against and four abstentions. Police have not allowed large public gatherings, except those sponsored by the government or the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party, since September 2018. Earlier that year, in April, huge street protests became a call for Ortega to step down. Ortega has maintained that it was a coup attempt carried out with foreign backing and the support of the church. Since then his government has moved against voices of dissent, including political opposition leaders and more than 1,000 nongovernmental organizations. CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) A Carlsbad man who had an argument with his girlfriend and then left their home with her cell phone and a handgun was shot and killed by Eddy County sheriff's deputies after he reportedly pointed the gun at deputies, New Mexico State Police said late Friday. The two deputies who fired at 48-year-old Gabriel Mesa provided medical aid until emergency medical technicians arrived, but he did not survive. The shooting happened Thursday evening, and New Mexico state police issued a statement about it a day later. SALEM, Ore. (AP) New state regulations now allow recreational crabbers to catch triple the number of invasive green crabs from Oregons bays and inlets. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission increased the bag limit of European green crab from 10 to 35 per day. Its part of a concerted effort to eradicate these invasive crustaceans- which are known to compete with native crabs for food. Green crabs themselves are fine to eat and some recipes even call for them. They are way smaller than Dungeness or even the red rock crab, making them harder to clean. Mitch Vance is a Shellfish Project Leader with the Marine Resources Program at Oregon Fish and Wildlife. He wants people to know for certain it is a European green crab they are harvesting. Key characteristics that really help in the identification five spines on each side of the crab and between the eyes there are three rounded bumps," he told KLCC. "It also has a very fan shaped shell. Vance said green crabs cannot reproduce in cold temperatures, but since the ocean warming events of 2015, their numbers have dramatically increased. Vance said the increased daily limit was also meant to give recreational crabbers a break. He said while folks were fishing for Dungeness when the limit was ten, if they unintentionally hauled in 11 green crabs as bycatch, they were in violation of the bag limit. And because the green crab is on the controlled species list, it was illegal to return the 11th green crab to the water. The new regulation addresses that conundrum. Vance reminded that green crabs arent always green when they come out of the water. And juvenile Dungeness and native shore crabs can look a lot like green crabs in the rocky intertidal. He encourages crabbers should take a good look at a picture of green crabs before going out to harvest them. In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee has issued an emergency order to address the green crab's exponential population growth. RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) Six young people were shot when a fight occurred at a night club in North Carolinas capital city, authorities said. The Raleigh Police Department said it didnt have the conditions of each of the four girls and two boys who were injured when the fight broke out late Friday night at Club Dreams. But the agency said the young people ranging in age from 12 to 17 were all expected to survive. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia's military pounded residential areas across Ukraine overnight, claiming gains, as Ukrainian forces pressed a counteroffensive to try to take back an occupied southern region, striking the last working bridge over a river in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. A Russian rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night, according to the mayor. Kramatorsk is the headquarters for Ukrainian forces in the country's war-torn east. The attack came less than a day after 11 other rockets were fired at the city, one of the two main Ukrainian-held ones in Donetsk province, the focus of an ongoing Russian offensive to capture eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday its forces had taken control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk, the provincial capital that pro-Moscow separatists have controlled since 2014. Russian troops and the Kremlin-backed rebels are trying to seize Ukrainian-held areas north and west of the city of Donetsk to expand the separatists' self-proclaimed republic. But the Ukrainian military said Saturday that its forces had prevented an overnight advance toward the smaller cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov also claimed that Russian strikes near Kramatorsk, 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Donetsk city, destroyed a U.S.-supplied multiple rocket launcher and ammunition. Ukrainian authorities did not acknowledge any military losses but said Russian missile strikes Friday on Kramatorsk had destroyed 20 residential buildings. Neither claim could be independently verified. The Ukrainian governor of neighboring Luhansk province, part of the Donbas region that was overrun by Russian forces last month, claimed that Ukrainian troops still held a small area in the province. Writing on Telegram, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said the defending troops were holed up inside an oil refinery on the edge of Lysychansk, a city that Moscow claimed to have captured, and also control areas near a village. The enemy is burning the ground at the entrances to the Luhansk region because it cannot overcome (Ukrainian resistance along) these few kilometers," Haidai said. "It is difficult to count how many thousands of shells this territory of the free Luhansk region has withstood over the past month and a half. Further west, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported more Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol, which lies across the Dnieper River from Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Gov. Yevhen Yevtushenko did not specify whether Russian troops had fired at Nikopol from the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Writing on Telegram, he said Saturday that there were no casualties but residential buildings, a power line and a gas pipeline were damaged. Nikopol has undergone daily bombardment for most of the past week, and a volley of shells killed three people and damaged 40 apartment buildings on Thursday, he said. Russia and Ukrainian officials have accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia plant in contravention of nuclear safety rules. Russian troops have occupied the plant since the early days of Moscow's invasion, although the facility's Ukrainian nuclear workers continue to run it. Ukrainian military intelligence alleged Saturday that Russian troops were shelling the plant from a village just kilometers away, damaging a plant pumping station and a fire station. The intelligence directorate said the Russians had bused people into the power plant and mounted a Ukrainian flag on a gun on the outskirts of Enerhodar, the city where the plant is located. Obviously, it will be used for yet another provocation to accuse the armed forces of Ukraine, the directorate said, without elaborating. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly alleged that Russian forces were using the plant as a shield while firing at Ukrainian communities across the river, knowing that Ukrainian forces were unlikely to fire back for fear of triggering a nuclear accident. They said Russian shelling on Friday night killed one woman and injured two other civilians in the city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv region also said a woman died there in shelling. For several weeks, Ukraine's military has tried to lay the groundwork for a counteroffensive to reclaim southern Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region. A local Ukrainian official reported Saturday that a Ukrainian strike had damaged the last working bridge over the Dnieper River in the region, further crippling Russian supply lines. The Russians no longer have any capability to fully turn over their equipment, Serhii Khlan, a deputy to the Kherson Regional Council, wrote on Facebook. The British Defense Ministry said Saturday that damage to bridges across the Dnieper means that ground resupply for the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points. Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the (damaged) bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability," the British said. On Saturday, the deputy director of the Russian-controlled Kakhovka hydropower plant 60 kilometers (37 miles) upriver from the city of Kherson said one of its generating units was out of service after a Ukrainian missile strike. Arseniy Zelenskyy said further strikes could endanger the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant because its water intakes use the reservoir formed by the Kakhovka plant's dam. Days after explosions at a Russian air base in Crimea destroyed up to a dozen aircraft, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said Kyiv should make retaking the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014 one of its goals of the war. Russia started a war against Ukraine and the world in 2014, with its brazen seizure of Crimea. It is obvious that this war should end with the liberation of Crimea," Mykhailo Podoylak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, wrote Saturday on Twitter. "And also with the legal punishment of the initiators of the special military operation - the Kremlin's term for its war in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the explosions Tuesday at the Saki air base in Crimea. Russian defense officials have denied any aircraft were damaged or that any attack even took place attributing the blasts to on-site munitions that exploded. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine A 32-year-old Saginaw man is facing several felonies involving the possession and distribution of child pornography. Michigan State Police said Clinton Lee Wilson Jr. appeared in the 70th District Court on July 21 where he was arraigned on two counts of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material, four counts of using a computer to commit a crime, one count of aggravated distribution or promoting of child sexually abusive material and one count of possession of child sexually abusive material. Police began investigating Wilson Jr. when it was learned that he was viewing files of child sexually abusive material on the internet, according to MSP in a recent press release. Police searched his home and digital evidence was reportedly seized. In light of the crime, the MSP Computer Crimes Unit encourages parents to speak to their children about the safe use of the internet. There are many resources available to parents to assist in keeping children safe online. The MSP Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force provides resources at michiganicac.com. Anyone with information regarding possible child sexual exploitation should report it to the CyberTipLine at missingkids.org/cybertipline. The CyberTipLine, run by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, has helped solve cases in Michigan. For instance, Michigan State Police began investigating a Rogers City man after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said he possessed child sexually abusive material. MSP searched his home and found more than 100 images of child sexually abusive material on his internet-capable devices. He is facing several felonies. Scorching temperatures, dry heat and thunderstorms rolling in may not bode well for fire activity in western Montana through the weekend. Missoula National Weather Service Meteorologist Kevin Shive said theres potential for fire igniting from lighting strikes that may hit over the weekend. On Friday afternoon, NWS Missoula issued a severe thunderstorm watch warning for western Montana and much of Idaho. Hail, wind and lighting were all possible threats through the evening. Shive predicted more thunder and lightning storms would roll in throughout Friday afternoon and evening. Storms, combined with temperatures nearing 100 degrees, make for dangerous fire conditions. Contingent on wind patterns, Shive said theres more potential for fire activity this coming week. Its not necessarily a great situation, he said While smoke in the Missoula valley remained at bay for the most part, Missoula County moved its fire danger to Extreme on Thursday. Fire danger is also Extreme on the Flathead Indian Reservation and all Lolo National Forest lands. To date this year, firefighters in the Lolo National Forest have responded to 36 blazes, 24 of which were human-caused, a Lolo National Forest press release stated. Last week, there were three fires started from humans. Extreme fire danger means all fires start quickly and burn intensely, and small fires turn into big fires much quicker. Elmo 2 Fire Crews fighting the Elmo 2 blaze have made decent progress, and vegetation burned has remained at about 21,000 acres for the last few days. CSKT Division of Fire dispatch confirmed all evacuation orders in the area had been lifted, except for Camp Tuffit Road and West Shore Road. Lake Mary Ronan State Park and the Elmo fishing access boat ramp both reopened. The massive fire, which burned eight structures at its peak last week, moved to 75% containment on Friday. Thursday brought in thunder and lightning across western Montana, resulting in a new fire start about 1 mile north of Lake Mary Ronan. As of Thursday evening, it was estimated to be at roughly 2 to 3 acres. Firefighters and a helicopter worked on constructing a fire line on Friday. The Red Horn fire, which has burned 511 acres seven miles northeast of St. Ignatius in the Mission Mountains, remained at 0% containment on Thursday. No structures are threatened, and there are no evacuation orders in effect. Hog Trough Burning just 18 miles south east of Hamilton, the lightning-caused Hog Trough fire has remained at a steady 824 acres torched over the last few days. Its now 64% contained. Firefighters are removing hazardous trees to improve a constructed line. Fire behavior is expected to continue as smoldering, with strong outflow winds possibly causing fire movement in areas not getting rain, an update on the Hog Trough fire information Facebook page stated. Resources are available to fight any new blazes that start from passing lightning and thunderstorms. Moose fire The Moose fire, near North Fork, Idaho, is still ablaze in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Its scorched 75,481 acres and remains at 21% contained. Officials determined it was human-caused. On Friday, the Lemhi County Sheriffs Office reduced the evacuation notice to ready status from Tower Creek to North Fork and west to Caddiagan Ranch, a press release from the U.S. Forest Service stated. Firefighters are working 16-hour days and making headway on objectives for containment efforts. Rainfall and favorable conditions helped teams knock down the blaze, the press release stated. Southwest winds and scattered rain and thunderstorms were predicted on Friday. The increased humidity should make fire activity more moderated in coming days. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SHAWNEELAND, Va. (AP) Its 1722 in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. Frederick County wont be Frederick County for another 21 years. Virginia wont be Virginia for another 36 years. The only people living in the region are Native Americans of the Shawnee tribe, and they wont cross paths with any European settlers for at least another decade. In the foothills of Great North Mountain, a tiny tree has taken root. The little white oak is barely noticeable in this undisturbed terrain. Fast forward three centuries. Its 2022 and the little white oak has grown into a massive tree. Its trunk is 6 feet wide and its canopy measures more than 100 feet across. It towers above the field where it grows and can easily be seen from the parking lot of St. Johns Lutheran Church, located across the street at 3623 Back Mountain Road. The tree has become so impressive, so beloved, that area residents have given it a name: Charlie. Charlie has witnessed the birth of both Frederick County and the commonwealth of Virginia. He stood tall when George Washington surveyed the Winchester area, when the French and Indian War was fought, when the Civil War threatened to split the nation in half, when families struggled to survive the Great Depression, when local boys shipped out to fight in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East, and when a young man named Troy Pittenger visited the Shawneeland area during summer excursions with his family. The young Pittenger was so impressed with Charlie that, about five years ago, he bought the 15-acre parcel of land surrounding the tree. Pittenger was just 22 years old at the time but already knew this was where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He and his best friend, Mitch Mahoney, planned to build a house in an open field behind Charlie. The prospective housemates couldnt wait to start each day looking out their front window and admiring the magnificent white oak. That all changed earlier this month when Charlies life came to a sudden, unexpected end. The trees gigantic trunk shattered and all of its branches collapsed onto the ground. No one knows how it happened because Charlie, despite his advanced age, appeared to be in great health. There had been thunderstorms in the region the night before, but a lightning rod installed in the tree for protection showed no sign of charring and there were no burn marks on the wood. Maybe it was wind shear. A microburst, maybe, Pittenger, 26, said while looking at the huge pile of splintered wood and withering leaves that used to be his beloved Charlie. One tree, countless stories One reason for Charlies longevity was the fact that he had been loved and protected by many people over the past three centuries. According to an article published in The Winchester Star in April 2013, Charlie stood about a quarter mile from an iron works that was built in the mid-1700s by Isaac Zane Jr. and Mordecai Bean. To produce sufficient fuel for a smelting furnace, you need the wood from about 1,000 acres of forest every year. Zane and Bean cut down many trees, but they always spared Charlie. In 1845, one of Mordecais descendants replaced the original Colonial-era furnace with a larger one. Even though the bigger furnace required more wood, Charlie was again spared. The smelting operation shut down around the time of the Civil War in the 1860s. In the mid-1980s, the land where Charlie stood was owned by Joe Racey, who has since passed away. The power company wanted to move an electrical line along Back Mountain Road and said the giant white oak would have to be cut down. Racey told the utility that anyone who tried to kill Charlie would suffer the same fate as the tree. At Raceys request, forester Gerald Crowell of the Virginia Department of Forestry inspected Charlie in April 2013. Crowell, who has since retired, determined the tree was approximately 300 years old and, surprisingly, still had a lot of life left to live. This ones in middle age, Crowell told Racey, noting that white oaks can live 500 to 600 years. Charlie had already witnessed a Shawnee raid that claimed the lives of settlers in the Hogue Creek area during the French and Indian War in the 1770s, the congregation of St. Johns Lutheran Church building their first sanctuary out of logs in 1793, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early resting beneath his branches while en route to fight in the Second Battle of Winchester in June 1863, and the nearby Rhinehart tire fire that blackened the skies of northern Frederick County for weeks beginning in July 1984. Sadly, no one will ever know what Charlie would have seen had he lived another 300 years. This is devastating Charlie grew up in a time when it took days for important messages to be shared across the region. By the time he died, global communications had become instantaneous. Within minutes of Charlies demise, Facebook lit up with people in disbelief: I admired that tree every time I drove past it for years. (tilde) Brenda Nichols That was a beautiful tree. So sad. (tilde) Cory Holder Lounsbury I grew up about one mile up the road from that tree. It was simply amazing. (tilde) Tracy Hulver This is devastating. (tilde) Sally Furr There were dozens more similar responses to Charlies death, but no one grieved more than Pittenger. Ive known the tree my whole life, he said. We visited it every summer to see it in its full glory. Pittenger said he always knew Charlie had a local fan base, but he had no idea how many people loved the tree until it was gone. I probably heard from 40 people in that first day, Pittenger said. It was shocking. It felt like going to a funeral, Mahoney added. It sucks. The past is prologue When Charlie died, Pittenger and Mahoney canceled their plans to build a house next to the white oak. The thought of looking out their front window every day and seeing nothing more than a tree stump was too sad to fathom. Im going to sell the land, Pittenger said. Jon Jay Duvall of Jon C. Duvall Design and Construction in White Post, who had been contracted to build the house on Back Mountain Road, now has been tasked with clearing away Charlies remains. Were going to try to salvage some (of the timber) and mill it, Duvall said. Well either bring the sawmill here and mill it or cut pieces and take it to the sawmill. As sad as it was to lose Charlie, there could still be a happy ending to his tragic tale. Pittenger has a green thumb and, over the past few years, collected hundreds of cuttings from Charlie that could be rooted and grown into clones of the magnificent white oak. Im a big nature person, Pittenger said, adding hell be sharing many of the cuttings with others who loved Charlie. Hell also plant at least one of the clones where the tree once stood before he sells the 15-acre property. Pittenger and Mahoney have decided they still want to build a house, just not where they originally planned. Theyre currently looking for another suitable parcel of land in the region, and they still want Duvall to build the dwelling. Their new home could become known as The House That Charlie Built. Thats because Duvall said hell use some of the lumber to be milled from the trees toppled branches when he constructs the new house. After the house is built, Pittenger and Mahoney said several Charlie clones will be planted around it. Charlie will live, Pittenger said. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) A Chinese research ship will be allowed to dock in a Sri Lankan port after a days-long delay apparently because of concerns raised by India. Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said in statement Saturday that the Yuan Wang 5, which had been scheduled to dock last Thursday in the southern Hambantota port, will now arrive Tuesday and anchor there until Aug. 22. Sri Lanka did not give specific reasons for postponing the ship's arrival, but security concerns of neighboring India over the ship's proximity to its southern borders likely factor in. China has been vying to expand its influence in Sri Lanka, which sits along one of the busiest shipping routes in what India considers part of its strategic backyard. Indias foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said earlier that India was aware of a planned visit by the vessel and that it carefully monitors any development that affects its security and economic interests and will take all measures to safeguard them. India has provided crucial assistance including food, fuel, medicines and cooking gas to the Indian Ocean nation as it struggles with an economic meltdown amid a severe foreign currency crisis. At the same time, Chinas agreement to restructure its infrastructure loans to Sri Lanka is vital for the country to be able to reach a bailout program with the International Monetary Fund. The Ministry wishes to reiterate Sri Lankas policy of cooperation and friendship with all countries. Security and cooperation in the neighbourhood is of utmost priority. It is Sri Lankas intention to safeguard the legitimate interests of all countries, in keeping with its international obligations, the ministry said. China has lent Sri Lanka billions of dollars for development projects, some of which have been criticized as having little practical use. They include Hambantota port, which Sri Lanka leased to China in 2017 because it could not pay back the loan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday, We urge the relevant parties to see Chinas marine scientific research activities in a rational light and stop disrupting normal exchange and cooperation between China and Sri Lanka." Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said the government had been in talks to try resolving the matter in a spirit of friendship, mutual trust and constructive dialogue, taking into account the interests of all parties concerned, and in line with the principle of sovereign equality of states. It added that China reapplied for clearance for replenishment purposes and was approved. A St. Louis man is facing prison time after admitting to robbing several businesses in the area. Leonard Love, 53, pleaded guilty to robbing five St. Louis-area gas stations and a Walgreens store in 2021. A U.S. Department of Justice press release said Love also pleaded guilty of two counts of brandishing a weapon during a robbery. "In each of the robberies, Love handed a note to a store employee and pointed a gun at employees or, in one case, displayed the gun," the release reads. "Three of those notes were written on pages from a "Relapse Prevention Counseling Workbook" that was being used in a drug treatment class Love was attending. Loves DNA was on the notes and he left his cell phone behind after one robbery." Love admitted to robbing the following establishments: Walgreens, 4218 Linbergh Boulevard in St. Louis - cash and 20 cartons of Kool brand cigarettes Circle K, 10691 St. Charles Rock Road in St. Ann - cash and two cartons of cigarettes Mobil gas station, 2600 Lemay Ferry Road in south St. Louis County U-Gas, 10743 Watson Road in Sunset Hills - cash and multiple cartons of cigarettes Circle K, 1514 Hampton Avenue in St. Louis - cash and several cartons of cigarettes Mobil on the Run, 1401 South Fifth Street in St. Charles, cash During the robbery at the U-Gas July 9, the clerk initially refused to comply with Love's demands. "Love pulled a gun, pointed it at the employee and asked, Do you want to die,"" the release reads. FBI agents and police found two guns and the clothing used in the robberies during a search of Love's home in July. Love is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 8, 2022. "Both prosecutors and Loves lawyer have agreed to recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison, but the decision is ultimately up to Judge (Henry E.) Autrey," the release reads. A man has admitted to threatening to blow up a St. Louis synagogue in 2021. Cody Steven Rush, 30, of St. Louis, admitted to calling the St. Louis office of the FBI on Nov. 5, 2021 and said, Im going to blow up a church. Rush gave his name and identified his target as the Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice Eastern Missouri District. He said he would take action the next morning, when people were inside. Rush said he hated Jewish people. He called back later and again threatened to attack the synagogue while they are in service, the press release reads. Asked if had anything else he wanted to say, Rush said, Yeah, that I hate them with rage. In a third call, Rush gave his location, which was on the same street as the synagogue. Authorities called Rush back, and he again made threats. Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department and the FBI found Rush, who reportedly said to them, I am feeling suicidal and homicidal. I just feel like killing Jews. He was arrested without incident. Rush pleaded guilty to the use of a telephone and instrument of interstate commerce to make a threat. The charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 8. SPRINGFIELD A federal judge is holding the Illinois Department of Corrections in contempt of court for failing to improve health care for inmates. Inmates sued IDOC in 2010 for poor health care, alleging thousands of prisoners were in needless pain. In 2019, a judge ordered IDOC to make a comprehensive plan on how the agency will provide more health care services. Now three years later, a federal court monitor says it hasnt happened. There is a wide gap between what IDOC believes it has accomplished and the findings of the monitor, the report reads. One area highlighted was cancer, the leading cause of death for Illinois prisoners. The monitor found all cancer cases that ended in death were diagnosed late-stage. Another area of concern is dentistry. The monitor found in December 2021, 11 prisons did not employ any oral hygienists, leaving no one to perform basic dental cleanings. Gov. J.B. Pritzker blames a lack of personnel statewide. In order to implement a plan, you need enough health-care professionals, and that is one of the challenges we are discussing with the other side, Pritzker said. Camille Bennett, ACLU of Illinois director of Corrections Reform Project, said the state knew it needed more personnel back in 2019. They should have started posting those positions and trying to hire them back then, and the monitor was just begging them to do that and they didnt do it, Bennett said. The court monitor also reported that IDOC failed to provide over 80% of the information that was requested. IDOC is the third state agency to be held in contempt of court. The director of the Department of Children and Family Services has also been held in contempt of court 12 times for improper placement of children. The Illinois Department of Human Services was found in contempt for not transferring jail inmates deemed unfit for trial for state evaluation. This latest incident begs the question of how many times and how many agencies will it take before the Governor accepts responsibility for these failures and finally takes action to do the right thing for the people hurt under his inaction and failed leadership, state Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, said in a statement. Bennett is hopeful the contempt of court ruling will provoke action by the state. They were supposed to have this plan three years ago and they still dont have it today and it is just way overdue, so were really hoping that this finding of contempt will wake them up, Bennett said. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee lawmakers have been smack dab in the middle of the national hoopla about bans limiting what can be discussed about race and gender in public schools. Legislators outlined those boundaries in a bill passed in 2021. But during the most recent school year, only one complaint was filed at the state level, and it was denied. The legislation took aim at one school of thought in academia. Critical race theory is un-American, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said during a press conference. It fundamentally puts groups of people above the sanctity of the individual, which is a founding principle of this nation. But Tennessees law doesnt outright mention or ban the teachings of critical race theory, which states that racism is planted in the countrys health, economic, education, criminal justice and housing systems. It instead prevents local education agencies from teaching what the state calls prohibited concepts, including that an individual has a leg up in life because of their race. The law also provides a process for parents to challenge curriculums with school districts directly, giving them the option of appealing to the state if their complaints werent resolved. One appeal was received by the Tennessee Department of Education during the 2021-2022 school year. Public records show that a parent initially filed a complaint in February against Blount County Schools concerning the book Dragonwings by Laurence Yep. The childrens novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants in California. The complainant alleged that the book pushed racism and an anti-American agenda, writing: From cover to cover, this author refers to Americans as demons, including statements like white demon, demon land and the American devil means harm. The book was removed from Union Grove Middle School, but the Blount County school district still kept it in its remaining middle schools. The district then determined the complaint was not substantiated in April. A spokesperson for the district never responded to WPLNs request for an interview. The denied complaint sparked the first and only prohibited concepts appeal to the state since the rule was enacted. But it was denied again after an investigation. The Department received an appeal alleging that the book Dragonwings and the related instructional materials violated Tenn. Code Ann. 49-6-1019(a), said Victoria Robinson, a spokesperson for the states education department in a statement to WPLN. Based on the Departments investigation and the facts specific to the appeal, the Department determined that Blount County Schools did not violate the law. Still, despite the decision, the district has changed its approach. The Daily Times reports that Blount County has since made excerpts from the novel Dragonwings optional for sixth grade teachers. A Texas man was arrested after he allegedly used a drone to deliver drugs to a prison. Authorities arrested Bryant LeRay Henderson at his home in Smithville on Thursday and charged him with flying a drone carrying meth, THC, two cell phones and nine MP3 players over to a prison in Fort Worth in early May, according to the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. Contraband drone deliveries are quickly becoming the bane of prison officials existence," said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham. Court documents said Henderson used a DJI Inspire drone to deliver the contraband, but it crashed inside a fenced-in yard near the prison's HVAC shop. Prison employees were able to get hold of the items after they landed. Investigators said they used surveillance video from a nearby high school to identify Henderson who was seen in the video driving up in a red Chevy Tahoe with a "Transformers" decal on the rear window, removing the drone and package from the vehicle, launching it towards the prison, and then driving off. They found his debit card and drone controller inside the car he was driving in the video, the DOJ release states, adding that the controller matched the drone that crashed into the prison yard. Henderson allegedly flew the drone -- which was registered to someone who canceled the license in 2018 -- over to the Fort Worth prison four times and another two times to a prison southeast of Dallas, according to the release. If convicted, he could face up to 45 years in prison. In July, another Texas man was arrested in Houston and charged with allegedly flying a drone over to a prison in Beaumont. DOWNEY, Calif. (AP) A third person was arrested in the off-duty killing of a rookie Southern California police officer during an attempted robbery, authorities said Friday. Gerardo Magallanes, 18, of the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder, Downey police said. He was jailed on $2 million bail Friday, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department website. Details weren't immediately provided. Monterey Park police Officer Gardiel Solorio, 26, was shot and killed Monday afternoon in a parking lot outside a fitness center in the Downey, a Los Angeles suburb a few miles south of Monterey Park. The gunman got out of a nearby car with a gun drawn and tried to rob Solorio, who tried to get away by putting his car in reverse but was shot five times at close range, prosecutors said. Carlos Daniel Delcid, 20, was arrested hours after the killing. He has been charged with one count each of murder, attempted robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon with the special circumstance allegation that the murder was committed during a robbery. He appeared in court this week but didn't enter a plea and his arraignment was postponed until next month. If convicted, he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. A 17-year-old who was believed to be the getaway driver also was arrested and was charged with murder in Juvenile Court. Solorio joined the suburban Monterey Park Police Department as a recruit in January, graduated from the county sheriffs academy on July 22 and started field training on July 25. By her own telling, Mississippi authorities provided Carolyn Bryant Donham with preferential treatment rather than prosecution after her encounter with Emmett Till led to the lynching of the Black teenager in the summer of 1955. Instead of arresting Donham on a warrant that accused her of kidnapping days after Tills abduction, an officer passed along word that relatives would take her and her two young sons away from home amid a rising furor over the case, Donham said in a 2008 memoir made public last month. The sheriff would later claim Donham, 21 at the time, could not be located for arrest. Once her husband and his half-brother were jailed on murder charges in Tills death, she said in the unpublished manuscript, two men with the sheriffs office drove her and her sister-in-law to the lockup for a relaxed visit outside their cell and even ferried the women back home. Later, before their murder trial, the men somehow were allowed to attend a family dinner without guards, she said. I was shocked! How in the world were they released from jail to come to eat supper with us? I didnt see who dropped them off or picked them up to return them to jail, but we had a wonderful evening together, Donham recalled in the memoir, written by her daughter-in-law based on the older woman's words. Nearly 70 years later, Donhams retelling of the days surrounding Tills abduction and lynching stokes fresh frustration among relatives of Till and activists pushing for Donhams prosecution, particularly now that a Mississippi grand jury has decided against charging her with kidnapping in his abduction or manslaughter in his death. For them, the revelations also raise questions about whether Donham, now 88, is still being protected despite what they see as new evidence against her. ___ Carolyn Donham has rarely commented publicly on the Till case, and she has not said anything publicly about the recent decision against new charges. Thats why her memoir made public by a historian who said he obtained it during an interview years ago created such a stir when it was released a few weeks ago. The decision not to indict her followed media reports with details of the document, but it's unclear whether grand jurors considered contents of the autobiography. In the 99-page memoir, Donham said Till, 14 and visiting relatives in Mississippi from Chicago, walked into the family-owned store where she was minding the counter on Aug. 24, 1955. Neither husband Roy Bryant nor his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were around that day it was just her and Till, who also went by the family nickname of Bobo. In the account, Donham repeats her testimony from the murder trial that Till grabbed her and made lewd comments. He also whistled, she said, in the only part of her story backed up by Till cousin and witness Wheeler Parker Jr. during an interview with The Associated Press. Evidence indicated Till was abducted at gunpoint days later by two armed white men, and a woman likely identified the youth for them. While Donham denied in the memoir identifying Till and says she instead tried to help him, she was named in a kidnapping warrant along with Bryant and Milam. Donham was never arrested, despite police knowing where she was located at least part of the time. For a period, Donham said, she was spirited away with the knowledge of officers and shuffled between homes by the Bryant family. Then, with Donham in the courtroom, the two men were tried and acquitted in Tills murder. The kidnapping charges were dropped later, and no one has been charged or tried since. Following their acquittal, Bryant and Milam admitted to the abduction and killing in an interview with Look magazine. In the memoir, Donham said she did not even know there was a warrant for her arrest until an FBI agent told her during a renewed probe decades later. The warrant sat unknown and unseen in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse until June, when members of the Till family and others found it during a search. At the time of the killing, Donham wrote, they didnt even tell me there was a warrant. I was never arrested or charged with anything, she said. The nagging question for some is, why not? ___ Keith Beauchamp, a filmmaker and activist who helped find the warrant, believes the decision against indicting Donham lies not with the grand jurors who voted against new charges but with a system that goes back generations. Mississippi law enforcement, which was all-white at the time of the killing, allowed Donham to avoid justice in a misguided quest to protect white womanhood, he said, and that same veil is covering her now. Chivalrous impulse allowed this woman to go untouched for 67 years, said Beauchamp, who released the documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till in 2005 and helped write and produce the upcoming movie Till, a drama set to premiere in October. But in announcing a Leflore County grand jury's decision not to indict Donham, District Attorney Dewayne Richardson on Tuesday cited neither race nor womanhood or anything else but evidence. Members of the panel were presented with testimony from witnesses who told about the investigation of Till's killing from 2004 until now, he said in a statement. After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from witnesses with direct knowledge about this case and the investigators that investigated this case, the Grand Jury determined that there was not sufficient evidence to indict Donham, said Richardson, who is Black. Members of the Till family weren't pleased with the decision. Yet the Rev. Wheeler Parker of Chicago, a Till cousin who was with the youth the night he was abducted from a family home, sounded a conciliatory tone about the failure to obtain an indictment, a decision which he called unfortunate, but predictable. The state of Mississippi assured me and my family that they would leave no stone unturned in the fight for justice for my cousin, Emmett. They kept their promise by bringing this latest piece of evidence before the grand jury," he said. Expressing appreciation for the prosecutor's efforts, Parker said one person alone cannot undo hundreds of years of anti-Black systems that guaranteed those who killed Emmett Till would go unpunished, to this day. ___ It's unclear whether a grand jury will ever again hold the fate of Carolyn Donham in its hands. At least three investigations have ended without charges in less than 20 years, including a Justice Department review that was closed without prosecution in December. Bryant and Milam died decades ago, and other associates believed by some to have been involved also are dead. Donham is the only person known to still face the risk of arrest. The Till family and others have promised to keep pushing for someone to prosecute Donham, and additional witnesses could still be alive, said Dale Killinger, a retired FBI agent who investigated the Till case in a probe that ended without an indictment on a manslaughter charge in 2007. Theres still a possibility that there is other evidence out there, Killinger said in an interview. Perhaps, but's it's unclear whether anyone with a badge is looking for it. The Justice Department has not given any indication it would reopen the case, and the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch cited the Justice Departments decision in saying no prosecution was planned even before Richardson announced the grand jury had decided against charges. In her memoir, Donham denied doing anything to get Till killed and expressed sorrow for his familys pain. She portrayed herself as another victim of the horrible crime, as someone who quit trusting strangers and has been hounded by the media for decades. For some, enough is enough. Donham may not have paid the price that some wanted her to pay, but she has suffered for what happened to Till. Anyone who claims otherwise is not being honest with themselves. It is time to let her be, The Greenwood Commonwealth newspaper in Leflore County said in an editorial after the grand jury decision was announced. To Ollie Gordon, another one of Tills cousins, some justice may have been served even without anyone being convicted in the killing. Ms. Donham has not gone to jail. But in many ways, I dont think shes had a pleasant life. I think each day she wakes up, she has to face the atrocities that have come because of her actions, Gordon said. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukraines health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them, Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday. We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized, the minister said. The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials. The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the countrys state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24. The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries. But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe. When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces... it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital, he said. Sometimes, we cant make it in time, the ambulance cant get there in time. Thats why war causes many more casualties (than those killed in the fighting). Its a number that cannot be calculated. ___ Full coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ___ Follow Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Arhirova at https://twitter.com/h_arhirova Geraldine Ambe believes that a Bismarck Humanitarian Award she received for her activism and community involvement should belong to the whole community, rather than bear just her name. The Bismarck Human Relations Committee in June bestowed on her the award that recognizes people, businesses or nonprofits that exhibit leadership in the area of human rights, with a focus on promoting diversity and discouraging discrimination. The Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library also was honored. The committee credited Ambe for her human rights advocacy and said she "believes everyone is born equal, and in order to find solutions for global human rights concerns, we must work with one another and be actively involved in finding those solutions together." The native of the African nation of Cameroon said she tries her best to give back to the city that has done so much for her. "I felt like it was validation for the work that we've engaged in over the year," Ambe said. "It showed the youth that I work with that the work we are doing is actually accepted within the community." Journey to Bismarck Ambe, originally from Bamenda, Cameroon, came to the United States in 2009 after winning a green card lottery in 2007. She said she left Cameroon for better job opportunities so that she could support her family, including her then-year-old daughter she had to leave behind. Ambe said her daughter, now 14, lives with her in Bismarck. Ambe lived in Baltimore, Maryland, for five years before getting a job offer in North Dakota. She initially thought it was a scam, as the offer was generous and she had no idea where North Dakota was. She was anxious when she first landed at the Bismarck airport. I walked a few steps behind the woman who picked me up from the airport because I thought she was going to kidnap me or something," Ambe said. "After six months, I fell in love with Bismarck and I decided to stay." Ambe worked as a traveling certified nursing assistant before joining High Plains Fair Housing Center as a fair housing specialist. She got an associate degree from United Tribes Technical College and is close to getting her bachelor's degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix. Ambe hopes to get a master's degree in either political science or international relations. She said no matter where she gets enrolled, she plans to stay in Bismarck. "Bismarck is my town," Ambe said. "It has been very kind to me, it gave me a place. Im staying right here." Community work Ambe said for her, everything started at her church, Grace Action Chapel International in Bismarck. It was there that she started teaching traditional African dances to the church's youth group, Youth in Action, which now travels and performs with different organizations. Ambe also has taught classes with Northern Plains Dance. "The children were not excited one bit," Ambe said of the youth group. "So one day I came in and said, 'Let's do a dance.' Most of them were born here in America, so they didnt know anything about African culture. For me, it was a way of teaching them the culture and the Gospel at the same time. It's just exciting that people want to see them and we can give part of our culture to the community." She said her community involvement snowballed from there: she is involved with the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission as well as the New American/Foreign Born/Immigrant Advisory Board, and has completed a number of leadership programs. Ambe also is an activist for causes relating to the ongoing civil war in Cameroon. She and a small group in 2016 decided to start an "online revolution in Cameroon" to speak out against what they saw as mismanagement of the government. She also is a co-founder of the Southern Cameroon's Women's Movement, which hosted fundraisers and projects for refugees or displaced women from Cameroon. Ambe said the movement started small, with them making videos about the situation. She said it eventually grew to the point where most of the group was banned from returning to Cameroon. This is a point of pride for her and the others, as women were not taken as seriously in the country, she said. She added that Cameroon does not allow dual citizenship, which means she was stripped of her Cameroonian nationality when she became a U.S. citizen. "That didnt hurt me in any way," Ambe said. "I am a citizen of the best country in the world and I did what I had to do. People in my country, they can't do what I was doing online. The only way I could help them with their struggle was speaking out from a safe zone." She said these experiences inspired her to write research papers about the conflict, to help educate more people. She has written three papers with the help of her husband. Ambe said she is always looking for more ways to help others. For now, she is looking forward to being in another leadership program and teaching African dance classes through Bismarck Parks and Recreation. "I can't sit down when there is struggle; if another person does not have enough, I cant have enough," Ambe said. "When there's inequality, when I feel like there's this vacuum or gap somewhere, I can't just sit. I want to stand up and fill that gap. So activism for me is just filling that gap and standing up for people who can't speak. That's just what keeps me going." Library honored Bismarck's public library was nominated for its many services and welcoming atmosphere, according to the Human Relations Committee. "The library provides equal service and a safe gathering space for the citizens of Bismarck/Burleigh County regardless of social standing, race, color, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or mental or physical disability," the committee said in a statement. The Library Board of Trustees also recently approved a section in the librarys Public Service Policy titled "Youth Anti-Bullying Prevention." The policy aims to protect the dignity and safety of youth served by the Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library. Bullying, harassment and intimidation in all youth-serving library services, activities, programs and facilities are prohibited. The library and Administrators Christine Kujawa and Elizabeth Jacobs were honored in June. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) A week and a half after a former intern publicly accused state Sen. Gene Davis of sexual misconduct, the Utah Democratic Party is suspending the longtime lawmaker from party-related activities at all levels and has called for him to step down from the Utah Legislature. The decision, announced in a statement issued late Friday night, comes after the allegation exposed a rift in the party over its handling of sexual harassment. In prior statements, the partys stance was that it couldnt take action unless it received an official complaint, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Following Ms. Weglinskis statement last week, party leaders and members of the Executive Committee spoke privately with Senator Davis, Utah Democratic Party Executive Director Thom DeSirant wrote in the statement. Though he denied specifics of the allegations in his interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, we believe the behavior he acknowledged, regardless of context or intent, was unacceptable. We requested he voluntarily step down. University of Utah student Sonia Weglinski, a former intern who also worked on the senators reelection campaign this spring, said in an Aug. 3 Instagram post that Davis touched her in ways that made her feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions during the five months she worked with him. Before resigning from Daviss reelection campaign in June, she detailed her allegations to Davis campaign manager, former Salt Lake County Democratic Party Chair Richard Jaramillo, and in a letter to the senator. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune last week, Weglinski said she did not submit a formal complaint to the Utah Democratic Party because of how it has handled sexual harassment investigations in the past, and because she didnt want her story to be filtered through the party. Davis told The Tribune that he was flabbergasted by the allegations, but confirmed at least one of the incidents Weglinski described in the Instagram post. A phone call and an email sent to Davis on Friday night were not immediately returned. Weglinski is the second woman to publicly accuse Davis of sexual misconduct. In a 2021 Facebook post, former legislative staffer Elizabeth Converse alleged that the senator behaved inappropriately toward her when she worked at the Utah Capitol and while they were on a work trip in Chicago. Utah Senate President Stuart Adams announced on Aug. 5 that the Utah Senate had initiated an independent investigation into the allegations. The Senate minority leader, Sen. Karen Mayne, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Utah Democratic Partys Friday announcement. Davis was defeated by Nate Blouin in the Democratic primaries earlier this year, but he will retain his seat in the Legislature until January. He currently sits on numerous committees in the Senate, including interim committees that are scheduled to meet next week. The Utah Democratic Partys statement comes two days after dozens of Democrats signed a letter addressed to the partys executive committee calling for Davis suspension, as well requesting a central committee meeting to address the allegations. Though the Party has a stated duty to take swift and decisive action in cases of misconduct, our leaders have failed to take any substantive measures regarding the allegations; the State Executive Committee refuses to do more than refer to prepared talking points, the letter reads. It is an unacceptable failure of leadership that such a serious allegation of sexual harassment has been allowed to remain all but ignored. Eight county party chairs signed the letter, along with 47 other Democratic leaders, public officials and candidates. After its publication, according to Utah County Democratic Party Chair Katie Adams-Anderton, 42 more added their names, making the total 97. Photo provided/Sean Gladwell/Getty Images A 27-year-old woman who tried to set fires at a St. Louis 7-Eleven during a 2020 protest that followed the death of George Floyd was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Tuesday. Nautica Turner pleaded guilty in February to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit arson, according to a recent press release issued by the United States Department of Justice. She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark in St. Louis. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) Jan van Wagtendonk, a longtime federal scientist at Yosemite National Park who is credited with advocating use of prescribed fire in managing forests, died last month, the park and the U.S. Geological Survey said. Van Wagtendonk, a fire ecologist, died July 15 at his home in Winters, California, the agencies said in online posts. Age and cause of death were not included. Van Wagtendonk was one of the authors of the first federal fire policy in 1995, Yosemites Facebook page said Friday. His death came as firefighters battled the Washburn Fire, which began near Yosemites famous Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The fire scorched more than 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) before being contained but the grove survived thanks to decades of intentionally burning undergrowth beneath the towering trees. Jan was a strong advocate for returning fire to the Sierra landscape. His pioneering use of prescribed fire in the early 1970s in and around the Mariposa Grove started us on the path to reestablishing an ecological balance lost in over 100 years of fire suppression, the park service said. There is poetry, in the words of Jans son Kent, that in Jans final days the fruits of those efforts had a direct and dramatic effect in saving the Mariposa Grove from the Washburn fire, the park service said. Van Wagtendonk graduated from Oregon State University and then studied fire ecology at the University of California, Berkeley, according to a profile by the U.S. Geological Surveys Western Ecological Research Center. He conducted research at Yosemite for his doctoral dissertation in the late 1960s and then was hired by the park. In the 1990s he moved from the National Park Service to the USGS as one of the original scientists of the western center while maintaining his base at Yosemite. Van Wagtendonk also studied the impact of increasing backcountry hiking at the park, including effects on vegetation and trail erosion. Yosemite credited him with coming up with the trailhead quota system still in use today. By Lorraine Gabbert San Jose Spotlight Santa Clara County wants to level the playing field for minority-owned businesses that have no skin in the public contractor game. The county plans to conduct a vendor diversity study to examine how the process can be improved. It will collect data to review how businesses are selected for county contractor jobs and analyze it for discriminatory practices. Small businesses -- minority-owned, women, LGBTQ and disabled veterans companies -- will be asked to share their experiences through one-on-one interviews, meetings, surveys and an interactive website. Information about the study is available online in multiple languages and virtual business engagement meetings will also be translated in Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Virtual business forums will take place in August and September, with the first session today. The meetings will be hosted by Florida-based consulting firm MGT, with offices in Sacramento. County staff will not be present and vendor feedback will remain anonymous to encourage honest dialogue. The county aims to complete the study by February 2023. Santa Clara County currently doesn't maintain data on the percentage of its contracts with minority-owned businesses, Gene Clark, chief procurement officer for the county, told San Jose Spotlight. He said this information will be key to understanding where the barriers to entry are for minority-owned businesses. "We know there's opportunity out there for them to have more contracts, but you need good data," he said. "One of the things I'm hopeful for is once we see success, it's going to domino." The county has reached out to local chambers of commerce and business associations like the Minority Business Consortium to compile lists of small, minority-owned businesses to interview. Two years ago, the group completed its own disparity study on the county's contractor hiring process and encouraged the county to do a similar study based on its findings, said Walter Wilson, co-founder and CEO of the Minority Business Consortium. "We knew there was discrimination in contracting in the county of Santa Clara whether intentional or not," Wilson told San Jose Spotlight. According to the consortium's study, from 2012 to 2020, the county awarded 107 capital construction contracts valued at $570 million to 52 primary contractors. Of these, only six--12%--were minority owned, receiving 16% of the total dollars. For minority businesses to be targeted for government contracts, Wilson said the state requires a disparity study showing they aren't able to fairly compete. Wilson said Santa Clara County has to use an equity lens in contracting. He said hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake that should be going to local businesses. Allowances need to be made when requesting bids, because small business don't have the bandwidth to compete with large companies that devote departments to new projects, he said. Dennis King, executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley, said his chamber partners with the county and San Jose to help minority-owned businesses, but the process is difficult. By establishing what minority business contracts exist, local governments can build toward future milestones, he said. "The status quo is not geared to open itself up to new competition," he told San Jose Spotlight. King said contractors want to know where opportunities exist and the size of the projects. These factors determine if they need to work with the general contractor like a painter subcontracting with a builder. He's encouraged by the county and city undergoing vendor diversity studies. "It has been one of the more controversial and overlooked areas for a long time," he said, "but as the COVID clouds dissipate, there will be more and more opportunities. It's a good time to reevaluate where we're going as a community." Wilson hopes the disparity study helps shift the workflow, but said implementation will be crucial. Billions of dollars could come back into local communities and that would change the landscape, he said. "If done right, this disparity study will open up the floodgates to bring minority-owned businesses into the county's contract environment in a real way," he said. To learn more about the diversity study, visit countyofsantaclaradisparitystudy.com. To participate in the business forums and find business opportunities, subscribe to the vendor newsletter at sccprc.org. 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. The state of California is divvied up into 58 counties, and sometimes it takes a dramatic measure to stand out among the crowded lot of constituencies. Residents and elected officials in San Bernardino County, the dominating district in the Inland Empire thats the largest county by area in the United States, have felt for years that state leadership in Sacramento overlooks their best interest in favor of other counties. In response to this perceived neglect, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted this week to include a ballot measure in Novembers election thats expected to raise Gov. Gavin Newsoms eyebrows. The measure will ask constituents to vote on whether county representatives should study options to obtain a fair share of state funding, and tacked at the end of the measure is a mild threat. In their attempt to accomplish this goal, the county could pursue steps up to and including secession from the State of California. If you cant beat em, disjoin them. The measure has been in consideration by supervisors over the past year. At Tuesdays board of supervisors meeting, a local mayor and citizens spoke in favor of dangling secession as an option. Spearheading the effort is Supervisor Curt Hagman, who told SFGATE that the action could prompt other counties to partake. I think this will be a battle cry for those have-not countries to start and rally around action, he said. We suspect that those counties with bigger political bats to swing are getting more resources. Hagman explained that there are three pathways forward, ranging from mild to wild. The first is that the measure would allow county representatives to gather more specific data on how counties receive funding from the state and use the research to stake their claim that San Bernardino is due more than their current allotment. The next step is to pursue the legal standing in seceding from the state before embarking on the wildest outcome which would be to officially secede from California. He mentioned Nevada as a possible next home for the county. Officially seceding from the state, however, would require approval from both the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress. MediaNews Group/The Riverside Pr/MediaNews Group via Getty Images When asked about specific reasons why San Bernardino feels neglected by the state, Hagman mentioned how the state is pushing the county to build more affordable housing but then they pass regulations and laws that make it impossible to do that, he said. He also pointed to frustrations over state policies that are leading to costly ramifications. Specifically, when we decriminalized marijuana growing, we went from a handful of illegal grows to 1,200 illegal grows, Hagman said. All we could do is find and slap them with an infraction. We put $10 million this year alone into this project. Speaking in support of the measure at the supervisors meeting was Rancho Cucamonga Mayor L. Dennis Michael, who highlighted the despondency among local government about Sacramento's treatment. [California Environmental Quality Act] issues are strangling us at the local level, Michael said during the public comment period. The state continues to adopt legislation that continues to make it more difficult for local governments to do what they do best, which is to control at a local level. DeJonae Shaw, who ran an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors earlier this year, spoke against the measure in her comments. It is important to introduce logic into this situation, which has been absent since the inception of the introduction of this ballot measure, she said, decrying the misappropriation of tax dollars to explore and implement a path to secession. It is never OK to peacock and grandstand in front of cameras and float baseless manipulative theories to the voters in this county, Shaw added. The measure is expected to appear on the ballot in San Bernardino County in the statewide general election Nov. 8, 2022. The San Bernardino Sun reported that a real estate developer who backs the secession released a poll that shows a majority of support for the action. Hagman admits that the likelihood of succession is low but said that the ballot measure could convey a directive to state officials. We realize that secession from the state of California is very unlikely, he said. But I do think, by saying, Im ready to leave California, it sends a message to those leading California that were going in the wrong direction. In mid-July, I found myself seated in snow on the Skyline Trail in Washingtons Mount Rainier National Park, peering down the flank of the 14,411-foot stratovolcano, ready to slide. Because that area of the trail was so steep and slippery, butt-sliding down this mini-luge track actually seemed like the safest way, especially after seeing a few people slip off their feet and unintentionally slide down. Its happening! one woman had called out as her shoes lost traction. I had never set out to hike a mountain and ended up sliding down it before, and certainly not in the middle of the summer. The experience was all the more surreal because the Paradise area of the park was enveloped in white fog, and I was unable to see more than 100 feet in front of me. This is how it goes on Mount Rainier, though, one of the snowiest places on Earth. I held my breath, shoved myself forward and began to slide, while a few hikers watched to see if something bad would happen. Ashley Harrell Ashley Harrell Summer doesnt always come on schedule here, it turns out, and for travelers with inflexible itineraries, that can make the hikes on Mount Rainier pretty interesting. When I started planning the trip, I had a very different experience of Paradise in mind. Friends told me to expect wildflower-filled meadows, glorious views of jagged peaks and glaciers, and if I was lucky, mountain goats. The must-do hike was clearly the iconic Skyline Trail, everyone said, and the only thing wrong with it would be the crowds. As it turned out, though, Mount Rainier had an exceptional snowpack this year. In May, it was measured at 121% of the average, and after that, the snow kept on coming. Just to give you an idea of how much white stuff that really is, the average annual snowfall in Rainiers Paradise area, located at about 5,400 feet on the southern face of Rainier, is around 53 feet. We pulled into the parking lot at the Jackson Visitor Center at around 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning and were surprised to find an abundance of spots. Stepping out of the car, we were also surprised to find the air at a chill 60 degrees. We had come from Oregon the day before, where it had been in the 90s. Ashley Harrell Ashley Harrell Inside the visitor center, we chatted with a park ranger about our options, and she didnt advise hiking the Skyline Trail, at least not all of it. The eastern part of the trail was hazardous and unmarked, she told us, and unless we had the right gear and navigation tools, it really wasnt a good idea. The better news was that we could do some of the best parts of the trail. A short portion at the base would take us through the wildflower meadows to Myrtle Falls, and the western side of the trail was snow-covered, but passable, up to Panorama Point, a coveted viewpoint 1.7 miles up from the trailhead. Mountain goats had been spotted off Glacier Vista, a side trail we could explore, the day before, she said. And it was possible that the fog might lift by the afternoon. We rented poles to help with balance in the snow and set out on the path toward the waterfall. Although the terrain was littered with patches of snow and the wildflowers were not yet in their prime, pink-and-white glacier lilies had begun to sprout among the pines. We walked a short way to the falls, a dramatic 60-footer normally backed by views of Mount Rainier. All we could see behind the waterfall was fog, though. Ashley Harrell Ashley Harrell You picked the wrong year to come up here, said a volunteer. Normally, by this time, it would all be melted out here, and these meadows would be in full bloom. We headed back to the trailhead to begin our ascent up the western side of the trail to Panorama Point. It was slow going, and some parts were slick and icy, but the hiking poles were useful and the immediate winter-like scenery was quite lovely. Some of the rockier parts of the path featured small waterfalls, lined in bright pink wildflowers. The thick shroud of fog that surrounded us lent an otherworldly vibe. It was difficult to tell where we were going, considering that there was snow everywhere. But every now and then, there would be a patch of grass or a stone stairway that indicated we were on the right track. Ashley Harrell Ashley Harrell After the steepest part of the hike, we arrived at Panorama Point and reaped none of the rewards. Signage did show us what we would have seen on a clear day: numerous other volcanoes within the Ring of Fire, of which Rainier is a part. If you think being on the mountain on a cold and foggy day isnt ideal, it helps to imagine what it will be like when the inevitable and likely violent eruption finally happens, likely triggering mudflows and widespread devastation not unlike Mount St. Helens. Although we wanted to wait a while to see if the fog cleared, some brazen squirrels began harassing us and the temperature seemed to have dropped about 10 degrees. We headed back down, and after just a few minutes of descent, a marmot climbed up on a rock about 10 feet from us. I had never seen one before, and I was taken aback by the beaver-like size and appearance and casual demeanor of the animal. Marmots are common in the highlands of Mount Rainier, and like bears, they hibernate in the winter and munch on vegetation for the rest of the time. Although we kept our eyes peeled for mountain goats, we ended up seeing another marmot instead. Perched on its hind legs and looking right at us, the marmot seemed to be posing for photographs. Ashley Harrell Giddy from those encounters, we arrived at the part of the descent where the mini-luge track allowed hikers to bypass some of the steep, icy terrain by sliding on their backsides. I yelled for effect as I flew down the track, drenching my pants and loving every minute. After that, whenever possible, I slid instead of hiked down the volcano, as did many others who had the foresight to bring skis and trays to slide on. That night, as my travel partner and I feasted on Nepalese food at a restaurant owned by the guy who holds the world record for the fastest ascent of Mount Everest, we couldnt stop talking about how much we enjoyed the hike. Sure, we missed the main attractions, and definitely plan to come back when the snow has cleared. In the end though, the butt sliding experience and that eerie winter wonderland in the middle of the summer was more than worth the trip. In this weeks air travel developments, low-cost Breeze Airways scraps plans for a new San Francisco-New York flight this fall but announces new routes in other markets; U.S. carriers will reportedly cut 34,000 more flights from their November schedules as they continue to grapple with worker shortages; Delta drops routes from Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit to several smaller cities while American adds some from Dallas/Fort Worth; major carriers report thousands more cancellations and delays last weekend as Transportation Department secretary says he wants to see a cancellation rate of no more than 2%; Hong Kong eases its COVID-19 entry rules, but theyre still very tough; after negotiations with the FAA, Boeing finally resumes deliveries of new 787s, much to Americans relief; at most major U.S. airports, passengers going through TSA security checkpoints no longer need a paper or digital boarding pass; Los Angeles International says its big Automated People Mover project is nearing completion as it shows off its first train car for passengers; and Frontier Airlines breaks ground on a big terminal expansion at Denver International. As the low-cost carrier Breeze Airways continues to fine-tune its young route network, one casualty of its latest revision will be planned new service between San Francisco International and New York States Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, just north of New York City. According to The Points Guy, Breezes latest schedule adjustment drops that route, which was supposed to begin daily flights in early November. It still shows new service between Westchester County and Los Angeles International starting Nov. 3. A new route linking Westchester County with Las Vegas will begin Sept. 8 as previously planned, but will only operate until Oct. 2, The Points Guy said. But Breeze also announced some new routes this week. It plans to introduce twice-weekly flights from LAX to Charleston, South Carolina, on Nov. 4 and add Phoenix to its system Nov. 2 with new twice-weekly flights to both Charleston and Provo, Utah. At Westchester County Airport, Breeze plans to begin twice-weekly service Nov. 2 to Nashville and Nov. 5 to Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida. Breeze is growing its operations nationwide as it continues to take delivery of new two-class Airbus A220-300 aircraft. Breeze also said this week that it plans to create a new base of operations at Providence, Rhode Islands T.F. Green International Airport in 2023, increasing its service there to 20 flights a week by the end of next year and 44 by 2027. It currently serves five destinations from Providence, and plans to add flights to Los Angeles and Savannah, Georgia, next year. OLAFUR STEINAR GESTSSON/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images The U.S. airline industry, which has been shrinking its original flight schedules this summer due to continuing personnel shortages, plans to keep doing so this fall. According to a new analysis of November flight schedules by Simpleflying.com, U.S. carriers latest updates this week dropped 34,000 domestic and international flights previously scheduled for November, and thats on top of fall cutbacks that were announced in previous months. It means that this week alone, November flights have fallen by 4.4%, a loss of 3.4 million seats for sale, Simpleflying.com said. The bulk of those latest reductions 28,807 flights in November, or a 12.6% cutback are at American Airlines. By contrast, Delta eliminated 4,396 flights, or 3.3%, from its latest November schedule, while the comparable number for United is 497 flights, or less than half of one percent (although United had earlier cut thousands of flights from its original November schedule). The November reductions will come mainly from reducing flight frequencies rather than dropping routes, and the early notice gives the airlines plenty of time to rebook affected customers. The latest big airline to trim routes to smaller airports is Delta, which reportedly plans to end service from its Detroit hub to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11; from Detroit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Dayton, Ohio; and Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Oct. 5; and from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Moline, Illinois, on. Oct. 5. Meanwhile, thanks to new Small Community Air Service grants from the federal government, regional affiliates of American Airlines will add new service from AAs Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Rochester, Minnesota; Great Falls, Montana; Natchez, Mississippi; Pasco, Washington; and Charleston, West Virginia. Starting dates havent yet been scheduled. At Las Vegas Harry Reid International, Frontier Airlines this week kicked off daily service on four new routes, to Baltimore/Washington; Buffalo, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Kansas City. STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images In recent days weve seen increased calls from members of Congress to get tough on U.S. airlines for their record of cancellations and delays, and the Transportation Department last week unveiled new proposed rules strengthening the federal mandates for carriers to provide refunds in such instances. But none of that seemed to matter last weekend when airlines went through another spasm of schedule disruptions. From Thursday (Aug. 4) through Monday (Aug. 8), carriers canceled more than 4,000 flights and reported delays for tens of thousands, according to the Washington Post and it wasnt even a holiday weekend. While airline staffing shortages and FAA traffic control problems have usually been blamed for such disruptions, this time it was mostly a series of major storms that threw the airlines schedules out of whack. On Friday, more than half of Southwests and JetBlues flights were delayed an hour or more, the newspaper said; overall, airlines had more than 1,500 cancellations that day. Following DOTs announcement last week of those proposed tougher rules for mandatory passenger refunds, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg conducted media interviews on the subject this week, putting more pressure on airlines to get their acts together and reduce schedule disruptions. On MSNBC, for instance, Buttigieg said that while his agency prefers to accomplish its goals by working with carriers, were also going to use our enforcement powers to make sure passengers have a better experience. He said the metric he is most concerned about is the rate of flight cancellations, which was around 2% or less before the pandemic. Last weekend, he noted, the industrys cancellation rate was 4%. That might not sound like a lot, but if you get anywhere north of 2%, thats really enough to mess with the entire system, Buttigieg said. DALE DE LA REY/AFP via Getty Images Hong Kong this week eased its COVID-related entry restrictions although theyre still really tough. Instead of requiring inbound travelers to isolate in a government-designated quarantine hotel for seven days after arrival, that has now been reduced to three days following a negative nucleic acid test at the airport. Inbound persons are subject to the same quarantine arrangement regardless of vaccination status, the government said. Those who test negative can leave the quarantine hotel the morning of the third day. But then theyre subject to four nights of medical surveillance at home or in other self-arranged accommodation. Those who have consecutively tested negative during that period can complete the process the morning of day 7. But theyre still not totally in the clear: Next come three days of self-monitoring, when the traveler must submit to daily rapid antigen tests and one nucleic acid test. After the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing finally resolved longstanding issues regarding quality control and inspections of the manufacturers newest 787 aircraft, deliveries have finally resumed to airline customers. The most seriously affected U.S. company was American Airlines, which earlier this year had to make some reductions to its international flight schedules because of delays in receiving the new 787s it had on order. The carrier said this week it has just received its first new 787 since April of 2021, a 787-8 that it expects to put into commercial service in the coming weeks. AA currently has 42 787s on order from Boeing and 47 already in service, and Boeing reportedly has 120 finished aircraft sitting on the ground waiting to be delivered to airline customers. One key change in the settlement between the FAA and Boeing involves the final inspections of the 787s before they can be delivered. Those were previously conducted by Boeing employees, but now an FAA inspector will have to look over and sign off on each aircraft before it can start flying. Air travelers are increasingly finding that they no longer need to show a paper or digital boarding pass to go through Transportation Security Administration security screening. In recent months, the TSA has been gradually upgrading its checkpoints by installing Credential Authentication Technology, and according to a report from The Points Guy this week, it is now in place at 175 U.S. airports up 50% in the past year including San Francisco International, Oakland International, Mineta San Jose, LAX and San Diego. The system lets the TSA pull together input from various government and airline databases just by using the passengers personal ID like a drivers license, Global Entry card, or passport. Scanning that document, the TSA officer can not only verify the travelers identity, but call up their flight details, confirm that they have checked in for the flight that day, check to see if theyre on a no-fly list, and find out which trusted traveler programs, if any, the passenger belongs to. But dont throw away that boarding pass youll still need it at the gate to board the aircraft. Robert Alexander/Getty Images In a progress report on the construction of its new Automated People Mover (APM) system, Los Angeles International Airport said this week that work has topped out on the sixth and final train station in the network, the 1.2 million-square-foot West Central Terminal Area facility that will give riders access via pedestrian bridges to terminals 3, 4 and 5 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal. This fall, the airport expects to install the last APM pedestrian bridge, linking the newest station to the Bradley Terminal. And last week, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and airport officials showed off the first of 44 new train cars that will transport passengers around the airport. The 2.25-mile APM system will use electric-powered trains to carry travelers into LAXs central terminal area, connecting passenger terminals with the airports new Intermodal Transportation Facility, with links to regional light rail and bus routes; to the new consolidated car rental center; and to LAXs economy parking lots. The APM system is expected to start operating next year, with trains running about every two minutes during peak hours and a 10-minute travel time from one end (the car rental center) to the other (the West Central Terminal Area station). At Denver International Airport, Frontier Airlines this week broke ground on a big construction project that will allow it to expand flight operations at Concourse A. The company said the work will include the remodeling of 83,000 square feet of existing space on the east end of Concourse A and the addition of 37,000 square feet of new space, giving it a 14-gate facility at DEN. Due to be finished by 2024, Frontiers new ground-level facility will be linked to the existing Concourse A by escalators, and will feature air stairs and switchback ramps that will enable its aircraft to board and deplane passengers through two doors instead of one, speeding up the process and permitting faster turnaround times between flights. The facility will also have plenty of charging stations for passengers, a nursing room, pet relief area, new food and retail outlets and a customer service center. The airline is also building an adjacent 8,000-square-foot maintenance facility that will allow for faster servicing of aircraft. WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, August 12, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... San Bernardino County in southern California... * Until 1100 PM PDT. * At 800 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain along Highway 62 from near Earp to west of Vidal Junction. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life-threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life-threatening flash flooding of low-water crossings, creeks, normally dry washes and roads. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Vidal Junction, Big River and Earp. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Southern San Bernardino County in southern California... * Until 1230 AM PDT. * At 925 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 1 inch of rain has fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life-threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life-threatening flash flooding of low-water crossings, creeks, normally dry washes and roads. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Twentynine Palms, Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms Base, Twentynine Palms Airport, Joshua Tree Lake Campground, Joshua Tree and Morongo Valley. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Las Vegas has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... San Bernardino County in southern California... Southwestern Clark County in southern Nevada... * Until 400 PM PDT. * At 1255 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Radar indicates that 1 to 2 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1.5 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life-threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life-threatening flash flooding of low-water crossings, creeks, normally dry washes and roads. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Cima, Kelso, Mid Hills Campground, Nipton Road, Ivanpah Road, Nipton, Cima Road, KelBaker Road, and Kelso Cima Road. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Law enforcement officers fatally shot a man who fled a traffic stop in Sioux Falls and fired a gun at a police officer and a sheriffs deputy. Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum says law enforcement stopped a car with four occupants in the parking lot of a Burger King restaurant about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday because some were wanted and on parole. Three of the four ran and the fourth drove away. One of the men fired at officers as he tried to flee on foot and was fatally shot. Police said they have arrested two who were in the vehicle. The person who drove away remained at large. WFO PHOENIX Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northwestern Imperial County in southeastern California... Riverside County in southern California... * Until 430 AM PDT. * At 1227 AM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Chiriaco Summit, North Shore, Cottonwood Visitor, Bombay Beach and Imperial Hot Mineral Springs. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO PHOENIX Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northwestern Imperial County in southeastern California... * Until 515 AM PDT. * At 118 AM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 0.5 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Salton City, Salton Sea Beach, Desert Shores, Winona and Coolidge Springs. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO PHOENIX Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Riverside County in southern California... * Until 545 AM PDT. * At 140 AM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 0.5 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Desert Center and Eagle Mtn. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO SAN DIEGO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northeastern San Diego County in southwestern California... * Until 330 AM PDT. * At 1233 AM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the San Diego County deserts. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain have fallen to the west of Desert Shores. Thunderstorms with torrential rainfall are moving slowly towards the southwest. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Hwy 78 Between Borrego Springs Rd And Ocotillo Wells, Borrego Springs, Hwy 78 Between S2 And Borrego Springs Rd, Ocotillo Wells, Hwy S22 Between Borrego Springs And Imperial County Line, Fish Creek Wash. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO SAN DIEGO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ HEAT ADVISORY URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service San Diego CA 102 PM PDT Sat Aug 13 2022 ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Temperatures up to 104. * WHERE...San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys-The Inland Empire County. * WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. ...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of Riverside and north central San Diego Counties through 145 PM PDT... At 104 PM PDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Hwy 79 Between Oak Grove And Aguanga, or 10 miles southwest of Anza, moving southwest at 5 mph. HAZARD...Strong thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail. High wind gusts possible. SOURCE...Radar indicated thunderstorm. IMPACT...Heavy rain and small hail. Possible strong wind gusts to 50 mph. Locations impacted include... Anza, Aguanga, Warner Springs, Hwy 79 Between Oak Grove And Aguanga, Hwy 79 Between Warner Springs And Oak Grove, S7 - East Grade Rd, Lake Henshaw, Palomar Mountain, Hwy 79 Between Santa Ysabel And Warner Springs, Cahuilla Indian Reservation, Oak Grove, Los Coyotes Indian Reservation and La Jolla Indian Reservation. If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building. LAT...LON 3363 11672 3347 11651 3327 11658 3324 11683 3346 11689 TIME...MOT...LOC 2004Z 032DEG 5KT 3341 11676 MAX HAIL SIZE...0.50 IN MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO SAN DIEGO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... North Central San Diego County in southwestern California... * Until 600 PM PDT. * At 305 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain in San Luis Rey drainage, Buena Vista and Ward Creeks near Warner Springs. Between 0.75 and 1 inch of rain has fallen. The expected rainfall rate is 0.5 to 1 inch in 1 hour. Flash flooding is already occurring. HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low-lying areas. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Warner Springs, Hwy 79 Between Santa Ysabel And Warner Springs, Hwy 79 Between Warner Springs And Oak Grove, Lake Henshaw, Hwy S2 Between Hwy 79 And Hwy 78, Ranchita, S7 - East Grade Rd, Borrego Palm Canyon, Hwy 79 Between Oak Grove And Aguanga, Palomar Mountain, Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, Santa Ysabel Indian Reservation, Santa Ysabel and La Jolla Indian Reservation. Between Borrego Springs and Warner Springs This includes the following streams and drainages...Borrego Palm Canyon, Verde, Canada, San Ysidro Creek, Aguanga, Canada, Ward Canyon, Scholder Creek, Cedar Creek, Agua Caliente, Canada, Carrista Creek, Kohler Canyon, San Luis Rey River, Bear Canyon, Temecula Creek, Carrizo Creek, Matagual Creek, West Fork San Luis Rey River, Coyote Creek, Agua Caliente Creek, Iron Springs Creek, Cooper Canyon, Indian Creek, Cow Canyon, Buena Vista Creek, Santa Ysabel Creek and San Felipe Creek. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... When Flooded turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Be aware of your surroundings and do not drive on flooded roads. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. Flooding is occurring or is imminent. It is important to know where you are relative to streams, rivers, or creeks which can become killers in heavy rains. Campers and hikers should avoid streams or creeks. The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a Riverside County in southern California... * Until 715 PM PDT. * At 306 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 2 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1 inch are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. mainly rural areas of Riverside County This includes the following highways... CA Interstate 10 between mile markers 106 and 115. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather WFO EL PASO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, August 12, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING The National Weather Service in El Paso Tx/Santa Teresa has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Central El Paso County in western Texas... * Until 815 PM MDT. * At 541 PM MDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain have fallen. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low-lying areas. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... East El Paso, Ysleta Del Sur, Mission Valley and Socorro. Flooding will be most severe along Zaragoza and Alameda Roads and the Loop 375 bend near the Zaragoza Port of Entry. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Excessive runoff from heavy rainfall will cause flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that's being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons of fuel, state regulators and a company representative disclosed Friday. Cleanup work is ongoing from the spill that was discovered by the pipeline's operator on July 27, said Joe Hunter, Emergency Response Coordinator with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The fuel spilled into sandy soil on private ranchland near the small community of Sussex in eastern Wyoming and did not spread very far, he said. Contaminated soil was being excavated and placed into a temporary staging area, and it will be spread onto a nearby dirt road where the fuel is expected to largely evaporate, Hunter said. The line is operated by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True companies, according to an accident report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center. The company initially reported only 420 gallons had spilled, but later revised its estimate to 45,150 gallons, according to a National Response Center database. Bridger Pipeline spokesperson Bill Salvin said the initial figure was based on what company personnel saw on the ground and reported immediately. The volume estimate increased as the site was excavated, he said. True and its subsidiaries have a long history of spills. In May, federal prosecutors in Montana alleged that representatives of Bridger Pipeline had concealed from regulators problems with a pipeline that broke beneath the Yellowstone River near the city of Glendive in 2015. The break spewed more than 50,000 gallons of crude into the river and fouled Glendive's drinking water supply. In North Dakota, federal prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office are pursuing parallel claims of environmental violations against a second True companies subsidiary responsible for a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons of crude, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary. Representatives of the companies have denied violating pollution laws and rejected claims that problems with the Montana line were concealed from federal regulators. The Wyoming spill was caused by a crack at a weld in the line, said Hunter, who did not know how long it was leaking before being discovered. The spilled fuel did not appear to reach any waterways and no enforcement actions for environmental violations were planned, he said. I'm not saying there wouldn't be any down the road but for right now there won't be" any enforcement actions by the state, Hunter said. It's an older pipeline and it's one of those things that happen. The 6-inch diameter steel line was installed in 1968 by the original owner and later acquired by Bridger Pipeline, Salvin said. It was last inspected in 2019, using a device that travels inside the pipe looking for flaws, and no problems were detected, he said. We're focused on minimizing the environmental impact and we're going to replace the soil and restore the land as close as possible to its original condition, Salvin said. Kenneth Clarkson with the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based group that advocates for safer pipelines, said a thorough investigation into the spill's cause needs to conducted. Its frustrating to hear of another spill by Bridger Pipeline LLC," Clarkson said. "This spill of 45,000-plus gallons of diesel into rural Wyoming negatively impacts the environment, wildlife, and surrounding communities. Violations of pipeline safety regulations would be handled separately and fall under jurisdiction of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Salvin said the agency has been notified about the spill, but officials did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. Bridger last year reached a $2 million settlement with the federal government and Montana over damages from the Yellowstone River spill. The company was previously fined $1 million in the case by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. ___ Follow Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP San Mateo, CA (94402) Today Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later in the day. High 74F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 57F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph. This story is part of the August 14 edition of Sunday Life. See all 14 stories. Norman Swan is a medical doctor, broadcaster and author, best known for hosting The Health Report. The 69-year-old opens up about his mothers two sides, his first wife, and the double standard around ageing for men and women. Ive heard men complain about the women in their lives as the reason theyve been married more than once, when 50 per cent or more of the reason is us, the men. Credit:Nic Walker My maternal grandmother, Yaris, was born in Odesa in Ukraine. Her father was killed in the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1905, but along with the rest of her family, she escaped to Glasgow via the Black Sea. They arrived in the citys slum area, but by the time I was a little boy my grandparents were middle class. On Thursdays, my grandmother would take me on the tram to town, where wed schmie, a Yiddish word for window shopping. We werent going to buy anything, but she and her friends would dress up and wed wander around department stores and then have high tea. I used to love that. My mother, Nanette, was a difficult person. She probably had elements of borderline personality disorder. I suspect there might have been abuse in her early life, but she never spoke about that. Great to see Australia has done so well in the Commonwealth Games, winning a huge number of medals (Green and gold, gold, gold: Aussies shine bright, August 7). And so it should have, when you consider the size of many of the countries and territories participating, some being just tiny places most Aussies have never heard of. Im not sure what kind of sports countries such as Niue, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, or the Turks and Caicos Islands excel in, but it doesnt appear to be one that was featured at the Games. What a one-sided affair these Games were. Time to scrap them. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury Neither mavericks nor minions Parnell Palme McGuinness opinion piece is as inaccurate as it is tendentious (From mavericks into minions, August 7). The teal independents clearly have conservatives rattled. And they should; they represent the end of an ugly era and the dawn of a better future for Australian politics. Her highly personalised attacks betray both the intent of the piece and the paucity of argument. The lowest point of many lows is a pathetic dig at the pronunciation of Dr Sophie Scamps surname. A moments research would have yielded the proud French heritage of the Scamps family. McGuinness describes Dr Monique Ryan as a Karen for her call to Coalition colleagues to wear masks, presumably also rounding up all chief medical officers into the Karen category. Masks save lives and politicians who understand this and care should lead by example. To any physician, those who dont are a disgrace. A blanket ban on mobile phone use in NSW high schools is more urgent than ever after years of academic disruption and soaring screen use during the COVID-19 pandemic, warns the psychologist who led the 2018 review into mobiles in schools. Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg told the Herald that restricting phones in secondary schools is critical to cut distraction, deal with rising cyberbullying and help students catch up academically after months of isolation. Year 12 student Zara Spennato says she uses her mobile in the classroom to take photographs of school work or for other educational reasons. Credit:Kate Geraghty His position on the issue had hardened since the 2018 independent review into phones in NSW schools, he said, after seeing the deleterious effects of children being immersed in social media and technology during remote learning. Banning phones in high schools from first bell to last, including recess and lunch, would be an investment in students mental health, he said. Kids have been saturated in technology and psychological problems have accumulated. A prestigious private school on the north shore plans to set up a campus for year 9 boys in Sydneys inner west, amid concerns about traffic chaos during school drop-off and pick-up. St Aloysius College has already advertised for a principal to head its Rozelle campus even though its $2 million proposal is yet to be approved. St Aloysius College plans to build a new campus in Rozelle for up to 200 year 9 students. Credit:Nick Moir The private boys school wants to open a campus for up to 200 year 9 students and 15 staff at a disused Catholic girls school on Victoria Road to provide teaching facilities while the main Kirribilli campus is redeveloped. St Aloysius College principal Mark Tannock said the school wanted to create a new tailor-made opportunity for boys in the middle years of adolescence. Erskineville-Alexandria leads a swag of suburbs to the south and west of the central business district which have climbed the citys earnings rankings over the past decade. Herald analysis of census data shows Waterloo, Rosebery-Beaconsfield, Botany, Marrickville North, Dulwich Hill-Lewisham, Sydenham-Tempe-St Peters and Haberfield-Summer Hill were among the suburbs with the fastest growing incomes between 2011 and 2021. Ten years ago, the personal median income in Waterloo was $533 a week, below the citywide median of $619. But in 2021, Waterloos median income had more than doubled to $1172, or a third higher than the citywide median (the median being the midpoint of all incomes). Other neighbourhoods where personal income growth outpaced the rest over that period were Wentworthville-Westmead, Macquarie Park-Marsfield and St Leonards-Naremburn. The biggest declines in personal incomes relative to Sydneys median over the decade were in the south-west including Prestons, Edensor Park and Bossley Park-Abbotsbury. In 2011, the median weekly income in Prestons was $657, about 5 per cent higher than that of Greater Sydney. But by the 2021 census, while the areas median income had increased to $757, it had not kept pace with income growth with the rest of Sydney and the areas median income was less than the citywide median of $881. However, the especially strict COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Sydneys west and south-west when the census data was collected in August 2021 could have impacted on peoples working patterns. Rawnsley says many retail and service workers in the region, especially casuals, couldnt get to their jobs during the lockdown and that may have had a statistical impact on the income data. The pandemic skewed income patterns in some places While the harsh COVID-19 lockdowns may have subdued the level of income reported in Sydneys west and south-west, in some suburbs the restrictions helped trigger a massive spike. In Ultimo, for instance, the personal median income was 100 per cent higher in 2021 than when the previous census was taken five years earlier. In Kensington, the jump was 85 per cent and in Camperdown-Darlington 67 per cent. Unfortunately for locals the change wasnt driven by big pay rises but by the exodus of students due to pandemic border closures and other restrictions. Each of those suburbs is adjacent to a big university and so had a high share of student residents. Census data shows Kensington, Ultimo and Camperdown recorded the biggest population drops of any suburbs in the state over the past five years, and all had more than 15 per cent fewer people living there compared to census night in 2016. Because so many students work part-time, and their incomes are relatively low, their mass departure artificially boosted the income profiles of some suburbs adjacent universities. North-west rising Incomes are relatively high across much of Sydneys north-west, including neighbourhoods where housing development has been expanding rapidly. The census revealed five suburbs in that region with booming numbers and fast-growing pay packets. The population of Box Hill-Nelson, near Windsor, has increased by more than 600 per cent during the past decade and its median personal weekly income has doubled to $1274 in that period. Suburbs nearby also showing strong population and income growth were Marsden Park-Shanes Park, Schofields West-Colebee, Schofields East and Riverstone. These neighbourhoods have been attractive to white-collar workers with children because of the relatively affordable housing and proximity to major transport corridors including the M7 motorway. This provides access to major knowledge-employment hubs including the central business district, North Sydney and Macquarie Park. Unequal city The 2021 census, released in June, drew attention to huge income disparities across Sydney. A small group of very high-income neighbourhoods, with personal weekly medians above $1500, is clustered near Sydney harbour. But Sydneys poorest suburbs were also highly concentrated. Neighbourhoods with the citys lowest median weekly personal incomes all under $500 - were bunched around Fairfield and Cabramatta. Double Bay-Darling Point in the citys eastern suburbs had the highest median weekly personal income of $1690. About 40 kilometres across town in Ashcroft-Busby-Miller the figure was less than a third of that, at $452. This map shows where these are clustered, with the suburbs where weekly income is below $500 a week shaded orange and areas with income above $1500 shaded green: Separate figures released recently by the Bureau of Statistics shows the top 1 per cent of earners in Sydney take home a bigger share of the citys total income than any other capital. In Sydney, the top 1 per cent snared 11.7 per cent of Sydneys income in 2018-19, up from 11.5 per cent in 2012-13. The next highest was Perth where the top 1 per cent earned 10.1 per cent of the citys income. Australia-wide 9.5 per cent of income went to the top 1 per cent of earners. How Sydney compares Tougher laws to stamp out money laundering and problem gambling at Crown Melbourne casino risk pushing pokie addicts and criminals to pubs and clubs, so Victorias new gaming watchdog has promised to get tough on those smaller venues. Gamblers using any of Crowns 2628 poker machines will have to set maximum limits on how much money they are prepared to lose when legislation introduced to state parliament this month is passed. Victorians spent $2.2 billion playing poker machines in pubs and clubs over the year to June 30. Credit:Peter Braig In an effort to tackle money laundering, individuals will also be limited to using no more than $1000 cash at the casino every 24 hours and will be required to show their ID to gamble. The crackdown prompted by the recommendations of the Finkelstein royal commission into the casino has been welcomed by anti-gambling campaigners. Cara Mund acknowledges she faces a uphill battle to win North Dakotas lone U.S. House seat. The former Miss America announced her independent candidacy last Saturday and must obtain 1,000 signatures by Sept. 6 to get on the ballot. Its an unusual quest with a late start, questionable finances and basically a one-woman staff, herself. Still, it could enliven a race considered a runaway by Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong against Democrat Mark Haugen. Armstrong and Haugen agree on one key issue, as both oppose abortion. It would seem to take away an important talking point for Haugen. Nationally, Democrats plan to make abortion rights a centerpiece of their fall campaigns. Mund told the Tribunes Jack Dura that her focuses will be abortion rights, which she describes as privacy rights, and becoming the first woman from North Dakota elected to the U.S. House. Otherwise her politics are somewhat murky. She interned for Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., whom she calls a great leader. She stresses a moderate approach in Congress with a willingness to compromise to get measures passed. She said she might have tried for the Republican nomination, but she dislikes the fees the party has imposed for candidates for U.S. Senate and governor. Shes critical of Armstrongs voting record and theres no doubt hes followed a conservative line. He defends his opposition to the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act and a bill capping insulin costs. If Mund gets on the ballot, her candidacy is more likely to draw votes from Haugen than Armstrong. Still, the abortion issue could be a wild card in the race. The vote by Kansas, a deeply red state like North Dakota, to keep abortion protections in the states constitution shows the issue crosses party lines. Mund could put some juice into the election, forcing Armstrong and Haugen to campaign harder. Hes indicated he will take her candidacy seriously, and he should. A three-candidate race focused on the issues would be good for the voters. Munds level of experience in government likely will be criticized. But for a 28-year-old she has an impressive resume. Shes a Brown University graduate, a Harvard Law School graduate, the 2018 Miss America, and she has a record of public and charitable work. Nothing says a candidate has to have a list of local and state government offices on their resume to run for Congress. In fact, the Tribune editorial board thinks it would be refreshing if Mund could turn the House contest into something more competitive. The lopsided recent Republican victories have taken a lot of excitement out of elections and often lessened the amount of time devoted to issues. The odds may be against Mund, but if she invigorates the U.S. House race, we all win. A factional dispute at Melbournes largest Progressive synagogue has erupted into a battle for control of its board amid a string of resignations and allegations of bullying and harassment. Board members and employees of the Temple Beth Israel synagogue in St Kilda claim to have been bombarded with threatening emails and messages by a group of dissidents known as the Chaverim, who want to ditch the board at next months annual general meeting. Temple Beth Israel. Credit:Joe Armao The Chaverim, who includes seven past Temple Beth Israel presidents, two retired rabbis and a host of business and legal industry luminaries, demanded the resignation of incumbent board members by last Thursday, or face a hostile coup. The board did not accede to their demand. Temple Beth Israel has been plagued by conflict since October last year, when Senior Rabbi Gersh Lazarow apologised for plagiarising parts of his sermon. Lazarow resigned last year but later retracted the resignation with board support, before leaving again. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has warned the scourge of coercive control is a widespread problem throughout the nation as he begins work with his state and territory counterparts to establish a nationally consistent response to the psychological abuse. The nations chief law officers met on Friday to agree to a draft statement of principles, which will now go out for consultation, on the best way to recognise the abusive pattern of behaviour which is steadily gathering more attention. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has warned coercive control is a widespread problem. Credit:Eddie Jim They also agreed to adopt more consistent measures to allow the criminal justice system to better respond to sexual assault in response to calls by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame. Coercive control is generally recognised as an abusive pattern of behaviour which includes controlling what someone wears, limiting access to money, tracking their location, controlling whom they see, and persistent texting. It can be a precursor to physical violence. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When Keith Wolahan realised something was wrong, his campaign team decided to make 2500 phone calls to Chinese-Australians in his electorate. What came back was toxic. Many voters of Chinese heritage in the seat of Menzies, in Melbournes east, detested the Morrison governments language on the prospect of war. Some felt unsafe in the community. Others worried they would never see their family in China again. Opposition leader Peter Dutton is dealing with a dual debate within his party room on how to win back Chinese-Australians and teal voters. Credit:James Brickwood For weeks, then-prime minister Scott Morrison and defence minister Peter Dutton had been dialling up the rhetoric on China, claiming Anthony Albanese would appease Beijing in government. With Menzies, which includes the suburbs of Doncaster, Box Hill North and Templestowe and has the third-highest percentage of Chinese-Australian residents in the country at 27 per cent, Wolahan knew he would be up against it. On May 21, he just held on to the seat for the Liberals, withstanding a 6.3 per cent swing. In the seat next door, Chisholm, sitting Liberal MP Gladys Liu the first female Chinese-Australian elected to the House of Representatives was not so lucky, losing to Labor after a 6.9 per cent swing. And in most other seats across the country there was a similar story. While some seats bucked the trend, there was generally an above-average swing against the Liberals in electorates with a high percentage of Chinese-Australians. Advertisement As former federal director Brian Loughnane and opposition frontbencher Jane Hume lead the review into the Liberal campaign, members are locked in a dual debate about how to win back Chinese-Australians, as well as voters who fled the party for one of the teal independents. For many in the party, changing their stance on China would represent junking the Turnbull and Morrison governments biggest achievements: enacting landmark foreign interference laws; banning Chinese telco Huawei from the 5G network; and calling out Beijings human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. With the Coalition largely failing to advance any major economic reforms while in government, they believe the reforms to national security laws and reorienting the China relationship to a more realistic footing are its legacy. Despite a swing against the Liberals, Keith Wolahan was elected MP for Menzies at the May election Credit:Jason South Wolahan, a former Army captain, doesnt believe the Liberals should change any of their policies on China. But he does think the party needs to do a much better job of differentiating the Chinese Communist Party from Chinese-Australians. A lesson from the election is that language matters. Our disagreements are with the Chinese regime, not the Chinese people, he says. The more Chinese Australians hear us make that distinction, the better. But it would be counter to our national interest if we were to conclude that there was something wrong with the foreign or national security policies of the Morrison or Albanese governments. Advertisement Loading Liberal senator James Paterson, the oppositions spokesperson for countering foreign interference and a long-time critic of the CCP, echoed a similar line on the ABCs Q&A show on Thursday night. We have to be very careful about our language, he said. We have to be very clear that we are saying that our dispute and our disagreement is with the Chinese Communist Party or the government of China. It is not with the Chinese people. But there are also questions about whether the Liberal Partys grassroots engagement with multicultural communities is up to scratch, and whether some members are using the China angle as an excuse for their own lacklustre campaigns. When Liberal members gathered for their party room meeting in Canberra on Tuesday, August 2, opposition frontbencher Alan Tudge told his colleagues that China was a significant reason for the 7.3 per cent swing to Labor in his seat of Aston at the election. Some of Tudges colleagues questioned his intervention. More than 50 per cent of voters in his Melbourne electorate are women and the former education minister spent the campaign trying to avoid journalists over questions about an affair he had with a former media advisor in 2017. After Tudges comments, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton asked Liberal MP David Coleman to offer his thoughts to the party room. Coleman is one of the MPs who withstood the tide; his Sydney seat of Banks has about twice as many Chinese-Australians as Aston but he only suffered a 3 per cent swing. Advertisement Loading Coleman told the party room the main issue wasnt the Morrison governments tone but its policies. And given the policies were correct, he said we cant do anything about it in a macro sense. But Coleman said Labor was now in government and rightly adopting the same policies, so to an extent the situation would improve over time. Instead of labouring on what divides them, Coleman suggested that Liberal MPs should focus on the issues that would bring back pro-business Chinese-Australians. A similar debate is going on inside the party on how to bring back inner-city voters who left the party for independents, the Greens and Labor. It is here where issues such as climate change, integrity and the treatment of women were a disaster for the party at the election. While accepting that some of these issues need to be addressed, Dutton has been telling colleagues that the party should also take an ambitious package of economic reforms to the next election. According to the plan, this would focus the mind of traditional Liberal voters who saw no daylight between Morrison and Albanese on the economy. Advertisement Tens of thousands more skilled migrants will arrive in Australia from next year, as the Albanese government moves to fill chronic labour shortages by recognising trades and qualifications from more countries. The government wants to increase the migration intake to between 180,000 and 200,000 a year, which would bring in more skilled migrants including tradies, IT specialists and aged care workers. Skills and Training Minister Brendan OConnor says the country needs to get better at recognising the training and qualifications migrants have been done in their countries of origin. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Skills and Training Minister Brendan OConnor said the country also needed to better recognise existing skills and qualifications of migrants who come to Australia, which could include bridging training instead of forcing them to study again for years. The government is considering increasing the annual migration cap from its current rate of 160,000, with the issue to be heavily canvassed among unions and employer groups at the jobs and skills summit next month. How much would you pay for water views? For some cashed-up home buyers, the answer is in the millions. Waterfront homes in Melbourne sell for a 39 per cent premium compared to their similar counterparts a mile 1.6 kilometres inland, a Knight Frank report this week found. The premium has jumped from 27 per cent in 2019. This Sorrento clifftop home with water views sold for $30 million. Head of residential research at Knight Frank, Michelle Ciesielski, said the premium paid for Melbournes waterfront homes soared during the pandemic, as remote working became the norm, and a lack of overseas holidays due to closed borders sparked searches for a resort-style residence. We have many ultra-wealthy clients who are travelling again and are currently enjoying European summer but also have others who are reluctant to travel, Ciesielski said, adding an absolute waterfront home offers privacy and security. Their home has become a safe haven. First Tin Plc Commences Deep Drilling at TellerhAuser First Tin Plc (aFirst Tina or athe companya https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/first-tin-ltd/ ), a tin development company with advanced, low capex projects in Germany and Australia, is pleased to announce that it has commenced a fully funded programme of diamond drilling at its flagship TellerhAuser tin deposit in Germany. This is a key workstream focused on adding high grade tin mineralisation to the Indicated Resources already present at the project. The drilling will consist of five parent diamond drillholes, with each having up to five daughter holes. The daughter holes will be highly deviated from the centre parent hole, designed to intersect the deeper, high grade Dreiberg tin mineralisation at a nominal 50m x 50m spacing around the parent holes. The deviation technique was chosen for its cost effectiveness given the upper 800m is host rock. The deviation from the parent hole will be above the mineralised zone and the program will overall take approximately six months to complete, with first assay results expected during Q4 2022. Dreiberg mineralisation was originally intersected by Soviet Union drilling undertaken between the late 1960a?s and early 1980a?s and in total there have been 25 holes drilled into the structure, with best historical results including 7.2m @ 2.15% tin (aSna). Dreiberg mineralisation sits approximately 3km down dip of TellerhAusera?s HAmmerlein tin mineralisation and is approximately 400m deeper due to the dip angle.A The ultimate aim of this work is to convert as much of the high grade Dreiberg tin mineralisation as possible, from Inferred to Indicated resource status and thus enable this to be used for economic evaluation under JORC guidelines. The drilling will also aim to identify additional extensions to the known Dreiberg tin mineralisation. The drilling will also enable collection of a new sample of the Dreiberg mineralisation for additional mineral processing testwork, to ensure the Dreiberg mineralisation behaves in a similar manner to the HAmmerlein mineralisation, where most of First Tina?s metallurgical testwork has focused to date.A Previous work by SDAG Wismut (the previous Soviet/GDR Joint Venture) suggests this is the case, however First Tin intends to confirm it through its own work. First Tin CEO Thomas Buenger said, aThe deeper drilling at TellerhAuser is an exciting progression for First Tin, the objective of which is to add high grade tin mineralisation to our Indicated Resources. While the previous mineral processing testwork suggests the mineral processing characteristics of this mineralisation are very similar to those at HAmmerlein, it will be incredibly useful to confirm that with our own sample. This, together with the expansion drilling across both our tin projects in Germany and Australia, means we are well placed to provide significant news flow over the coming months as we build value in our assets.a Notes to Editors First Tin is an ethical, reliable, and sustainable tin production company led by a team of renowned tin specialists. The Company is focused on becoming a tin supplier in conflict-free, low political risk jurisdictions through the rapid development of high value, low capex tin assets in Germany and Australia. Tin is a critical metal, vital in any plan to decarbonise and electrify the world, yet Europe has very little supply. Rising demand, together with shortages, is expected to lead tin to experience sustained deficit markets for the foreseeable future. Its assets have been de-risked significantly, with extensive work undertaken to date. First Tin\-s goal is to use best-in-class environmental standards to bring two tin mines into production in three years, providing provenance of supply to support the current global clean energy and technological revolutions. \Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn\ and \Born2Grow\ with new investment strategy Born2Grow (B2G) will, at a point in the future, be involved in supra-regional investments in innovative and high-yield technology and growth companies. It plans to make 5-7 new investments a year, with no restrictions in place. Its focus lies with companies in the following domains: life sciences, clean tech, artificial intelligence & machine learning, IoT, hardware & robotics, and software. aWe want to build Born2Grow into a brand with pan-European relevancea, the managing director Thomas R. Villinger has promised, adding: aA branch office in Heilbronn is by no means a requirement any more for a B2G investment. However, the team of course supports existing and future portfolio companies in setting up their own branches.a This is how the Israeli IT company Inspekto has already managed to settle itself comfortably in the future park; while the Munich actuator start-up MetisMotion and the company PL BioScience from Aachen could also be doing the same imminently. ZFHN Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn will in the future be focussing, comprehensively, on networking activities and investments in the region. aJust as its name promises, with Zukunftsfonds we intend to ensure further growth of the regional network in Heilbronn, intensify collaboration with medium-size companies in the region and further additional joint projects with the university incubator aCampus Foundersa based in Heilbronna, Villinger has explained. Alongside additional investments in startups recognised in the Campus Founders incubator programme, this also includes the common alignment of the innovative entrepreneurship conference aSlushaDa in Heilbronn in September. aWith the new alignment of our funds and the varied activities in the field of entrepreneurship training, I find that the Heilbronn region is optimally equipped for the futurea, says Villinger. The educational campus includes not only Heilbronn University, the Baden-WArttemberg Dual University and the branch office of the Munich Technical University (TUM) but also several high-class educational institutions. The Fraunhofer research and innovation centre for cognitive service systems (KODIS) and the Ferdinand Steinbeis Institute are two highly innovative research societies complementing the academic landscape and the innovation network in the Neckar. Companies based domestically or abroad that are willing to settle are also supported in their search for commercial space, and staff, as well as with formalities, by Move2Grow. Villinger: aWe regard the current crisis as an opportinity to ensure even better positioning of our activities and our already strong location.a What the copper price is all about right now The demand outlook for the economic metal copper has taken a turn for the better. Strong data from the USA and from China, the largest copper consumer, have made the reddish metal more expensive. China\-s copper imports rose to nearly 470,000 metric tons in July, up more than nine percent year-over-year. Likewise, the data from China, which is expected soon on the subject of investment, house prices and industrial production, could have an effect. In addition, copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses are low. This also supports the copper price. The recently weaker U.S. dollar is also making commodities more popular. And copper should be in greater demand in the next few years as the economy expands, because it is a crucial metal for the global economy. In particular, the increase in renewable energies and electromobility will increasingly need copper in the coming years. This potential must not be underestimated. If demand increases, the price of the metal also rises, which in turn increases the returns of copper companies and thus strengthens share prices. When selecting copper companies, investors should look for the highest possible quality resources and low production costs. Whether a company is debt-free, or how much debt it has, is also of interest, as is whether the copper projects are located in mining-friendly regions. Among the promising companies with copper in projects is Kutcho Copper https://youtu.be/-IJVP6-cG28 . In British Columbia, the company is advancing its Kutcho project. A highly positive feasibility study is already available. Torq Resources https://youtu.be/Yf-0L2au5ik also has copper in the ground in addition to gold, in various projects in Chile. Torq Resources is backed by a very successful management team. Current corporate information and press releases from Kutcho Copper (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/kutcho-copper-corp/) and Torq Resources (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/torq-resources-inc/). In accordance with A34 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and that there is therefore a possible conflict of interest. No guarantee for the translation into German. Only the English version of this news is valid. Disclaimer: The information provided does not constitute any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks involved in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damages arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are fundamentally associated with risk. The total loss of the invested capital cannot be excluded. All information and sources are carefully researched. However, no guarantee is given for the correctness of all contents. Despite the greatest care, I expressly reserve the right to make a mistake, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained is taken from sources that are considered reliable, but in no way claim to be correct or complete. Due to judicial decisions the contents of linked external pages are to be answered for (so among other things regional court Hamburg, in the judgement of 12.05.1998 312 O 85/98), as long as no explicit dissociation from these takes place. Despite careful control of the contents, I do not assume any liability for the contents of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. The disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AG applies additionally: https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/disclaimer-agb/ Here's an artist you should know if you don't already: Mdou Moctar. He is an outstanding self-taught guitarist who plays music that transcends borders and labels. His website describes his eclectic musical style: Tuareg guitarist and songwriter Mdou Moctar boldly reforges contemporary Saharan music and "rock music" by melding Eddie Van Halen pyrotechnics, full-blast noise and guitar shredding, field recordings, drums rhythms, poetic meditations on love, religion, women's rights, inequality and Western Africa's exploitation at the hands of colonial powers to rip a new hole in the sky with the Afrique Victime album. And his background: Mdou Moctar's home is Agadez, a desert village in rural Niger. Inspired by YouTube videos of Eddie Van Halen's six string techniques and traditional Tuareg melodies, he mastered the guitar which he himself built and created his own burning style. A born charismatic, Mdou went on to tell his story as an aspiring artist by writing, producing & starring in the first Tuareg language film: a remake of Purple Rain called Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai, which translates to "Rain The Color Of Blue With A Little Red In It", winning the approval of his family and his community. The word and the sound travelled across West Africa via mobile phone data cards, a popular form of local music distribution. Gruelling DIY world tours and albums on the independent US label Sahel Sounds followed, including 2019's landmark Ilana: The Creator album that earned Mdou Moctar an ecstatic international audience. Please go listen to his music, you won't be disappointed. Here's an amazing set he did for KEXP and a live recording from a show he played in Niamey, Niger. The folks filming the Niamey show describe the scene: In winter 2020, the Mdou Moctar band met up in Niamey, the capital of Niger, to record a few songs in anticipation of the release of, Afrique Victime (May 21st on Matador Records). We were staying on the outskirts of town at a friend's home. One day, we quietly set up in front of the house to film a few songs. Despite our relative isolation, the noise of the band inevitably attracted a crowd. What started as the four of us simply playing a few songs for a camera turned into a three-night run of rowdy concerts, bringing in hundreds of eager listeners. Each night, kids from all over the city would line up at our door, rushing over after their final evening prayer. These performances were completely spontaneous and wholly unplanned. Thanks to our audience, we were able to capture the spectacular energy of a typical Niamey concert for you. We're thrilled about it and hope you will be, too. Enjoy! His music is so infectious and captivating, it's not long before everyone in the audience gets up to dance. I am beyond thrilled to be able to see him next month in Tucson at HOCO fest! JACKSON, Miss (AP) The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said Friday that its internal investigation found no criminal conduct by a white Highway Patrol trooper who used physical force against a handcuffed Black man during an arrest a confrontation caught on video by relatives of the man being arrested. An investigation started after the relatives' video of the Aug. 5 incident went viral. The footage showed the trooper putting a handcuffed man into a chokehold and wrestling him into a grassy ditch in a rural area near the south Mississippi city of McComb. The department and investigators from two of its divisions, the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said they completed all necessary inquiries. A review of this incident by MBI agents and command staff produced no evidence of criminal conduct by the trooper throughout the encounter, Lt. Col. Charles Haynes, director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, said in a news release. The Department of Public Safety released nearly 40 minutes of video and audio. It included video shot by cameras in the trooper's patrol car, audio captured by the trooper and video shot by brothers of the first man arrested. Although some of the patrol car footage was silent, the department said it had synchronized the video and the audio clips. Part of the footage shows Eugene Lewis standing in the road in handcuffs as his brother Gary, who also goes by the name Packer Lewis, and another brother, Derrius Lewis, yelled that they were recording the incident. Suddenly, the trooper grabbed Eugene Lewis by the neck and pulled him across the road, tackling him to the ground. At one point, the trooper appeared to use his knee to pin him down. Investigators identified the trooper as Hayden Falvey. In the combined video and audio, Lewis can be heard telling Falvey, I cant breathe, to which the trooper responded, Youre running your mouth. You can breathe. According to the news release, Falvey pulled over Lewis for speeding and other traffic violations. It also said Falvey alleged he smelled burnt marijuana from the vehicle, and Lewis eyes were bloodshot and glassy. In patrol car dashboard camera footage and audio released Friday, Falvey can be heard saying to Eugene Lewis: Did you smoke some weed recently? Lewis replied that he had done so about 40 or 50 minutes earlier. OK, Falvey said as he patted down Lewis. Not a big deal. Falvey put handcuffs on Lewis, saying it was a precaution as he searched Lewis SUV. The trooper said Lewis was not under arrest at that point and asked Lewis several questions about whether he had ever been arrested and whether any marijuana or other drugs were in the vehicle. Lewis said he had previously been arrested for selling cocaine. During the trooper's vehicle search, Gary and Derrius Lewis drove up in a Dodge Charger, stopped and got out of their vehicle. They identified themselves as Lewis brothers. After a brief exchange with Falvey, the brothers left. They soon returned to shoot cellphone video as the trooper's physical altercation with Eugene Lewis started. After Falvey put Eugene Lewis into the patrol car and buckled his seatbelt, Lewis used obscenities against the trooper. Im glad you feel that way, sir, Falvey responded. Video shot by one of Eugene Lewis' brothers showed another state trooper arriving. It also showed one of the troopers walking toward the two brothers and pointing a weapon at one of them. Troopers arrested Eugene Lewis' two brothers. In the audio released Friday, Falvey can be heard telling the men they should not have stopped to shoot video. Your brother is going to jail, Falvey said. "Now all of yall are catching charges for your theatrics. Packer Lewis said his brothers were released from jail that night, but he was kept two more days because of a past charge on his criminal record. He said he is facing nine charges related to the incident, including obstruction of justice. Eugene Lewis is also facing eight charges and Derrius Lewis is facing five charges. Tindell defended the troopers' decision to arrest the brothers who shot video of the incident. While DPS and MHSP recognize and respect the right of citizens to observe, and even record, law enforcement officers executing their duties, those rights are not without limitations," Tindell said in the news release. "As you will see, this event is a prime example of how even a routine traffic stop can quickly turn into a dangerous situation for both citizens and law enforcement officers when subjects resist arrest and when uninvolved persons interfere. With around a million people using American Sign Language in the U.S. these days, there's a chance you'll encounter someone who uses this way of communication, even if you don't personally know anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing. That's why more folks are becoming interested in learning ASL, understanding the importance of being able to converse with others in general situations, emergencies, and even the film industry. Sure, you could Google some basic signs, but that will hardly get you by in a real conversation. But luckily for you, these American Sign Language (ASL) courses, which are price-dropped to just $39.99, can help you reinvest in your education. They teach you way more than the basics, helping you sign confidently in every situation you can think of. And since the courses are designed for signers of different levels, you can rest assured you'll learn something new, no matter how much experience you have. Boasting 100 hours of CPD-accredited content, this master class bundle contains three different levels of courses, exploring more basic concepts, like pronouns, the alphabet, and occupations. And as you go higher and higher in the lessons, you'll be introduced to more advanced concepts, like how to sign in different tenses, order food at restaurants, talk about money in business situations, and so much more. In addition to the more widely known ASL, this e-learning program also features courses that explore less conventional yet relevant signing styles, including baby and toddler sign language and even diving hand signals. And as a bonus, this master class includes an ASL e-book edition that lets you refer to basic vocabulary, etiquette, and more whenever you need it. Created by the respected Cudoo.com, a widely-known e-learning platform that has released over 800 online courses in different languages and professional and self-development skills, learners can rest assured they're in good hands. The Complete American Sign Language Master Class Bundle is currently price-dropped to just $39.99, and with each purchase, we will donate $0.50 to a school or charity for kids in need. Prices subject to change. 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Follow Bill McClellan 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 Wayne Scott lives in a modest house in Affton. The backyard is really nice. Pots of flowers are scattered about. It is a pleasant place to while away a summer morning before the heat takes over. I sat with him in the backyard last week. He told me he took Social Security when he was 62. Who knows if youre going to make 65? he asked with a grin. He turned 100 in July. His mind is still sharp, and his health is remarkably good. He served in the Marine Corps during World War II. He was on Guadalcanal. At my urging, he talked about his service, but mostly he talked about women. He has always enjoyed their company. Scott was born in the small town of Bolivar, Missouri. His father was a cobbler and had a shoe shop in the nearby city of Joplin. When the Great Depression hit, the family moved to St. Louis. Scott was 7 or 8 years old. His father found work at a shoe repair shop. Scott went to Cleveland High School. He also got a job as an usher at the Capital Theater downtown. That was a prestigious job for a kid. He was in the in-crowd. He used to go dancing at the Casa Loma Ballroom. When he graduated, he got a job as a riveter at the Curtiss-Wright airplane company. The war in Europe was raging. As a worker in the defense industry, Scott could have avoided military service, but after Pearl Harbor, he decided to enlist. Why the Marine Corps? He seemed to ponder the question. It caught my fancy, he said. He did boot camp in San Diego. Then more training at Camp Pendleton. The night before he was shipping to the Pacific, he saw a pretty young woman at a bus stop. Im shipping out in the morning, but you look like somebody Id really like to know, he said. That probably was not an unfamiliar line to attractive young women anywhere near Camp Pendleton. In fact, it was still in use 25 years later, although I cannot recall it ever working. But there must have been something about the smooth former usher. The young woman wrote down her name and address. Write me, she said. Her name was Edna, and she and Scott exchanged letters for the duration of the war. By the way, Scotts service would sound familiar to most veterans. He was a cog in the big machine. He was assigned to the Air Wing, and he drove a gas truck, helping to fuel the Mustang fighter planes. He got to Guadalcanal after the island was declared secure. There were still some Japanese in the hills, he said. Later, he went to other islands. He became a clerk. He was promoted to staff sergeant. On one island, he had his own jeep. He used to drive out to a lagoon and watch the planes fly in and out. When the war ended, he returned to California and received his honorable discharge. Of course, he looked up Edna. But he was a south St. Louis kid, not a Southern California guy. He came home. He replied to an ad in the newspaper for a glass salesman. He was good at it. Soon, he was a regional salesman. He was in Texas when his family called. He had been recalled for service for the Korean War. Although it had an ominous ring in the beginning, his recall turned out to be a wonderful thing. He was assigned to Camp Pendleton as a trainer. The other trainers were guys like him, veterans just a couple of years older than the trainees. Cool guys with a certain attitude. It was like we were teenagers again, Scott said. He got together with Edna. He was with her mostly, but not exclusively. He also dated Donna Reeds younger sister. He still has her publicity photo. She is in a bathing suit, standing on a rock while the waves lap around her. She is a vision. But she could not beat out Edna. Scott and Edna almost got married but did not. When his reserve duty ended, he came back to St. Louis and returned to the glass business. One night, he and a friend went to a bar on Gravois. A young womans sweater fell from her chair to the floor. Scott picked it up and handed it to her. Dance with me, she said. Her name as Jane. It was like I had danced with that girl my whole life, Scott said. They got married. Jane was unable to have children, and that was a disappointment, but they had a wonderful life. Of course, there were spats. Jane was very upset when she discovered that Scott had saved all the letters he had received from Edna. Jane ordered him to throw the letters away. Which he did. Mostly. I saved he good ones, he said. Jane died in 1996. Scott never remarried. He has a housemate these days, but it is not a romantic relationship. She is much younger. She used to be a cook on a barge line, Scott said. A friend of a friend. We take care of each other, she told me. Scott showed me some keepsakes. A few were war-related items. He has a log of the various islands he served on. Handwritten in real time. It seemed historic. Also, some Marine Corps memorabilia. But mostly, he showed me photos. Most of them included one of two women Edna and Jane. Or Jane and Edna. Twitter Events reports that the "US Justice Department is investigating whether former President Donald Trump violated the Espionage Act, which prohibits retaining national security information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary, The New York Times, Politico and The Guardian report. Per an FBI warrant obtained by the outlets, Trump is also being investigated for violating additional statutes relating to obstruction of justice and destroying federal government records. Conviction under these statutes can result in imprisonment or fines." According to The Guardian, a "conviction for violating any of the detailed laws would be severe: the Espionage Act has a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and the statute for obstruction has a maximum penalty of 20 years, while the statute for destruction of records can also bar anyone convicted from holding future office." Politico got an advance peek at the search warrant and revealed some tidbits on what was inside: A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with "TS/SCI," which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled "Info re: President of France." Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled "Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.," a reference to one of Trump's closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. Trump has been complaining on Truth Social that he has been treated very unfairly by the FBI and Justice Department, saying Obama took nuclear secrets but nothing happened to him. The Washington Post explains why Trump's accusation is malarky: [T]he former president claimed his predecessor, Barack Obama, kept sensitive documents after leaving the White House. "How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!" Trump wrote. The National Archives and Records Administration issued a statement pushing back on that accusation, saying that the agency had, as required, obtained "exclusive legal and physical custody" of Obama's records when he left office in 2017. It said that about 30 million pages of unclassified records were transferred to a NARA facility in the Chicago area and that they continue to be maintained "exclusively by NARA." Classified records from the Obama administration are kept in a NARA facility in Washington, the statement said. View the entire unsealed warrant here. HONOLULU (AP) A wildfire on Hawaii's Big Island grew overnight as firefighters worked to contain the large blaze that is burning in a rural area between the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea volcanoes. No homes were at risk, but the flames came within miles of a critical highway Friday. The area where the fire is burning is dominated by shrubs and grasslands that are parched from persistent drought in the region. The last two days the fire was mostly burning in invasive fountain grass," said Steve Bergfeld, the Hawaii Island branch manager for the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife. "Unfortunately, the fire has moved into some dryland forest which has native ohia lehua (trees), and we are trying to keep flames away from this sensitive area. Gusty winds were making it challenging to contain the blaze that started in the western reaches of the U.S. Army's Pohakuloa Training Area, which is above Waikoloa Village, a town of about 7,000 people. The fire had burned more than 25 square miles (66 square kilometers) as of Friday, officials said. Earlier in the day the state had estimated the fire had burned more than 39 square miles (101 square kilometers), but reduced that number after formal aerial mapping Friday afternoon. They estimated the fire had burned about 15 square miles as of Thursday. Crews were using seven bulldozers to build fire lines around the blaze and five military helicopters were dropping thousands of gallons of water on the hottest part of the fire Friday, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Flames were largely contained to the military training area land in a region bounded by Saddle Road, Highway 190 and an 1859 lava flow. Fire managers are hoping the field of hardened lava rock will act as a natural fire break if it reaches that point, the department said. Last year the same region of the Big Island saw the state's largest-ever wildfire, a blaze that destroyed several homes and threatened thousands more. It burned more than 70 square miles (181 square kilometers) on the slopes of Mauna Kea, the state's tallest mountain. Like many islands in the Pacific, Hawaiis dry seasons are getting more extreme with climate change. Large wildfires highlight the dangers of climate-related heat and drought for many communities throughout the U.S. and other hotspots around the world. But experts say fires on typically wet, tropical islands in the Pacific are also on the rise. State land officials said the fire actually began several weeks ago and smoldered until strong winds this week reinvigorated the flames. Strong winds have been recorded across the area, some in excess of 30 mph (48 kph). A spokesperson for the Army told The Associated Press that while there is active military training in the area, the cause of the fire remains under investigation. There are units up there training, I can't confirm or deny if live fire was taking place, said Michael O. Donnelly, chief of external communications for the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii. It's business as usual, but the exact cause we don't know. WASHINGTON (AP) The FBI recovered top secret and even more sensitive documents from former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the sudden, unprecedented search this week. A property receipt unsealed by the court shows FBI agents took 11 sets of classified records from the estate during a search on Monday. The seized records include some marked not only top secret but also sensitive compartmented information, a special category meant to protect the nation's most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause exceptionally grave damage to U.S. interests. The court records did not provide specific details about information the documents might contain. The warrant says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act. The other statutes address the concealment, mutilation or removal of records and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations. The property receipt also shows federal agents collected other potential presidential records, including the order pardoning Trump ally Roger Stone, a leatherbound box of documents, and information about the President of France. A binder of photos, a handwritten note, miscellaneous secret documents and miscellaneous confidential documents were also seized in the search. Trumps attorney, Christina Bobb, who was present at Mar-a-Lago when the agents conducted the search, signed two property receipts one that was two pages long and another that is a single page. In a statement earlier Friday, Trump claimed that the documents seized by agents were all declassified, and argued that he would have turned them over if the Justice Department had asked. While incumbent presidents generally have the power to declassify information, that authority lapses as soon as they leave office and it was not clear if the documents in question have ever been declassified. And even an incumbent's powers to declassify may be limited regarding secrets dealing with nuclear weapons programs, covert operations and operatives, and some data shared with allies. Trump kept possession of the documents despite multiple requests from agencies, including the National Archives, to turn over presidential records in accordance with federal law. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Monday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trumps home earlier this year. The Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department moved forward with the warrant simply as a means to retrieve the records or as part of a wider criminal investigation or attempt to prosecute the former president. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information, with both criminal and civil penalties, as well as presidential records. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the same judge who signed off on the search warrant, unsealed the warrant and property receipt Friday at the request of the Justice Department after Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was substantial public interest in this matter, and Trump said he backed the warrants immediate release. The Justice Department told the judge Friday afternoon that Trumps lawyers did not object to the proposal to make it public. In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, Not only will I not oppose the release of documents ... I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents. The Justice Department's request was striking because such warrants traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation. But the department appeared to recognize that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for bitter verbal attacks by Trump and his allies, and felt that the public was entitled to the FBIs side about what prompted Mondays action at the former presidents home. The publics clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing, said a motion filed in federal court in Florida on Thursday. The information was released as Trump prepares for another run for the White House. During his 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information. To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed. Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given that standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of one's home. In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. FBI and Justice Department policy cautions against discussing ongoing investigations, both to protect the integrity of the inquiries and to avoid unfairly maligning someone who is being scrutinized but winds up ultimately not being charged. Thats especially true in the case of search warrants, where supporting court papers are routinely kept secret as the investigation proceeds. In this case, though, Garland cited the fact that Trump himself had provided the first public confirmation of the FBI search, as is his right." The Justice Department, in its new filing, also said that disclosing information about it now would not harm the court's functions. The Justice Department under Garland has been leery of public statements about politically charged investigations, or of confirming to what extent it might be investigating Trump as part of a broader probe into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The department has tried to avoid being seen as injecting itself into presidential politics, as happened in 2016 when then-FBI Director James Comey made an unusual public statement announcing that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges against Clinton regarding her handling of email and when he spoke up again just over a week before the election to notify Congress that the probe was being effectively reopened because of the discovery of new emails. The attorney general also condemned verbal attacks on FBI and Justice Department personnel over the search. Some Republican allies of Trump have called for the FBI to be defunded. Large numbers of Trump supporters have called for the warrant to be released hoping they it will show that Trump was unfairly targeted. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked, Garland said of federal law enforcement agents, calling them dedicated, patriotic public servants. Earlier Thursday, an armed man wearing body armor tried to breach a security screening area at an FBI field office in Ohio, then fled and was later killed after a standoff with law enforcement. A law enforcement official briefed on the matter identified the man as Ricky Shiffer and said he is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol and may have been there on the day it took place. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report. More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) When astronomers point their telescopes up at the sky to see distant supernovae or quasars, theyre collecting light thats traveled millions or even billions of light-years through space. Even huge and powerful energy sources in the cosmos are unimaginably tiny and faint when we view them from such a distance. In order to learn about galaxies as they were forming soon after the Big Bang, and about nearby but much smaller and fainter objects, astronomers need more powerful telescopes. Perhaps the poster child for programs that require extraordinary sensitivity and the sharpest possible images is the search for planets around other stars, where the body were trying to detect is extremely close to its star and roughly a billion times fainter. Finding earth-like planets is one of the most exciting prospects for the next generation of telescopes, and could eventually lead to discovering extraterrestrial signatures of life. Detectors in research telescopes are already so sensitive that they capture almost every incoming photon, so theres only one way to detect fainter objects and resolve structure on finer scales: build a bigger telescope. A large telescope doesnt just capture more photons, it can also produce sharper images. Thats because the wave nature of light sets a limit to the telescopes resolution, known as the diffraction limit; the sharpness of the image depends on the wavelength of the light and the telescopes diameter. As optical scientists, our contribution to the next generation of telescopes is figuring out how to craft the gargantuan mirrors they rely on to collect light from far away. Heres how were perfecting the technology that will enable tomorrows astrophysical discoveries. Multiple mirrors The question is how to build something substantially bigger than the current generation of telescopes, which have effective diameters of 8 to 12 meters (26 to 40 feet). One of the biggest challenges is making a bigger mirror to collect the light. First, it helps to know the basic optical layout of a telescope, illustrated here by the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) that is being built in Chile. A large primary mirror collects incoming light and reflects it to a focus. The light is reflected a second time by the smaller secondary mirror, to form an image on an instrument located at a safe, accessible place below the primary mirror, where the image is recorded. A mirror much larger than eight meters, made of a single piece of glass, would be too expensive and too hard to handle. Everyone involved in building giant telescopes agrees that the solution is to make the primary mirror out of multiple smaller mirrors. Multiple pieces of glass are shaped and aligned to form one gigantic mirror, called a segmented mirror. Gaps between the segments are acceptable as long as the segments surfaces lie on a continuous nearly parabolic surface, called the parent surface. The three extremely large telescope (ELT) projects now in development have made very different decisions about the design of this segmented primary mirror. Two of the ELTs, the European ELT and the Thirty Meter Telescope, have adopted the approach pioneered by the 10-meter Keck Observatory telescopes in Hawaii theyll make a giant mirror out of hundreds of 1.5-meter segments. The third project, the Giant Magellan Telescope, takes a different tack. Its 25-meter primary mirror will have only seven segments. Theyre the largest single mirrors that can be made, the 8.4-meter (28-foot) honeycomb mirrors we produce here at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona. The GMTs 3-meter secondary mirror also has seven segments, each paired with one of the primary mirror segments. Large, stiff and light Big mirror segments guarantee a smooth surface over their entire large areas. The more segments there are in the primary mirror, the more its accuracy depends on their precise alignment to keep them on the parent surface. Because of the pairing of primary and secondary mirror segments in the GMT, the fine control needed to form sharp images can be done by moving the small, agile segments of the secondary mirror rather than the 8.4-meter primary segments. A second advantage of the 8.4-meter honeycomb mirrors is their strong legacy, including use in what is currently the worlds largest telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope here in Arizona. One of the challenges of using a large mirror is that it tends to bend under its own weight and the force of wind. The mirror is exposed to wind like a sail on a yacht, but it can only bend by about 100 nanometers before its images become too blurry. The best way to overcome this problem is to make the mirror as stiff as is practical, while also limiting its weight. We accomplish this feat by casting the mirror into a lightweight honeycomb structure. Each mirror has a continuous glass facesheet on top and an almost continuous backsheet, each about one inch thick. Holding the two sheets together is a honeycomb structure consisting of half-inch-thick ribs in a hexagonal pattern. Our honeycomb mirrors are 70 centimeters thick, making them stiff enough to withstand the forces of gravity and wind. But theyre 80 percent hollow and weigh about 16 tons each, light enough that they dont bend significantly under their own weight. Crafting the mirror We start by melting glass into a complex mold thats the negative of the honeycomb mirror we want to end up with. While the glass is molten, the furnace spins at five revolutions per minute; the centrifugal force pushes the glass surface into the concave parabolic shape that can focus light from a distant star. Watch the video below to see the construction of the honeycomb mold and the spin-casting process. The spin-cast mirror surface doesnt yet have the optical quality needed to make sharp images. But spinning gives it the right overall curvature and saves our having to grind out 14 tons of glass from a flat surface almost as much glass as is left in the finished mirror. Polishing the surface Next we need to polish the surface to an accuracy of a small fraction of the lights wavelength, so it will form the sharpest images possible. The mirror surface has to match the ideal, nearly parabolic surface to about 25 nanometers about 3 ten-thousandths of the width of a human hair. Thats really, really smooth; if the mirror were scaled up to the size of North America, the tallest mountain would be one inch high and the deepest canyon would be one inch low. To guide our polishing, the first step is to create a superfine contour map of the mirrors surface, with steps of less than 10 nanometers. As our ruler, we use red laser light; its divisions are the lights wavelength about 630 nanometers and it can be read to about one hundredth of a division. The measuring instrument illuminates the mirror surface, collects the reflected light, and compares the path lengths of the rays reflected by different locations on the mirror. A ray that reflects off a high spot will have a shorter path than a ray that hits a low spot. The instrument uses this information to construct the contour map of the mirrors surface. The basic principle of polishing is to rub the surface with a disk-shaped tool, removing glass selectively from the spots that are too high. A fine abrasive such as rouge (iron oxide) slowly removes glass, atom by atom, through mechanical and chemical processes. Figuring is removing glass explicitly from high spots identified in the contour map, for example by having the tool rub there longer. This is effective on scales larger than about 10 centimeters. Smoothing is what happens when you rub a stiff tool over a rough surface: the tool naturally sits on the high spots and removes more material there, even without any guidance from a contour map. This is effective on scales smaller than 10 centimeters. Both methods are more difficult when the mirror surface is aspheric, meaning its curvature changes from point to point, which is very much the case for the GMT segments. Weve developed several new polishing tools to address the challenges of polishing large mirrors for telescopes. One essential feature of any polishing tool is that it match the shape of the mirror surface to an accuracy of around 1 micron. The larger tool in the background is a complex electro-mechanical system that changes the shape of a stiff aluminum disk as it moves over the surface, so it always matches the local curvature of the mirror. The smaller tool in the foreground is much simpler. Similar to Galileos reinvention of a carnival toy as an astronomical telescope, our new idea came from Silly Putty a non-Newtonian fluid that flows like a liquid over a long period of time but acts like a solid on short timescales. We harness those intrinsic properties to achieve both figuring and smoothing. Our tool, containing Silly Putty enclosed by a thin rubber diaphragm, slowly moves over the surface of the mirror while simultaneously rapidly orbiting around itself. The Silly Putty is stiff over the quick period of the orbit, which smooths out small-scale irregularities in the mirror surface. Over the longer time it takes to move across the mirror, the Silly Putty flows easily, so the tool always matches the surfaces shape. As a result, it removes glass at a predictable rate and in a predictable pattern that doesnt vary as it moves across the mirror. Countdown to installation Here at the Mirror Lab, we finished making the first Giant Magellan Telescope segment in 2012. After a pause for work on two other mirrors, the lab is in the process of grinding Segments 2 and 3. Segment 4 has just finished cooling to room temperature after spin-casting in September 2015. We are well on the way to manufacturing the full 25-meter primary mirror. Getting these near-perfect mirrors from our lab in Arizona to a mountaintop in Chile presents another set of challenges. They travel by tractor-trailer on land, and by freight ship from California to Chile. The keys to safe transport are distributing the weight of the mirror over hundreds of support points and having several layers of suspension between the mirror and the road or ship deck. The GMT project schedule calls for a preliminary first light, with four segments installed in the telescope, in 2022. We expect all seven segments to be scanning the cosmos starting in 2024. Many of us who work on the GMT see it as the way to open new windows into the universe, as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has done over the last 25 years. That orbiting telescope was a generous gift to the next generation from the people who worked on the project for decades before it launched. HSTs deep space images amazed, motivated and inspired many of us on Earth. The GMT project team dreams of passing on a similar gift for future generations. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-build-a-mirror-for-one-of-the-worlds-biggest-telescopes-49927. People say the Post-Dispatch is biased against conservatives, but in my opinion, I see bias against a Democrat. The editorial Missourians should encourage Schmitt to return to his moderate-middle roots (Aug. 4) said that Trudy Busch Valentine wont be an obstacle to Eric Schmitt for the U.S. Senate. Then columnist Kevin McDermott wrote that she almost certainly cant win (Path to an unlikely win for Valentine starts in Kansas Aug. 7). The Busch name recognition is no doubt part of her victory. But I think that people are tired of Senate candidates brandishing blow torches the way Schmitt did, or hunting down RINOs as Eric Greitens did, or Buschs primary opponent, Lucas Kunce, saying, Im a grenade, pull the pin on me and throw me into the U.S. Senate so I can change things. Buschs Senate campaign is another chapter in her lifelong efforts at public service through nursing. Do not count her out. Mary Neal University City Iraq wants to buy 14 Rafale fighters from France. These will cost at least $100 million per aircraft and Iraq is offering to pay in oil, not cash. Iraq will also accept used Rafales. Iraq is not alone. The growing threat from Iran has made it easier for France to sell a lot more Dassault Rafale jet fighters than anyone expected. Increased Iranian and Chinese aggression expedited and escalated sales to Arab states, India and Indonesia. For Iraq, the need for Rafales is different. Currently Iraq needs new fighters because its current fighter force consists of 34 F-16 fighters and Iraq has been unable to keep them flying because of a shortage of spare parts and maintainers. The spare parts shortage is because of corruption, where much of the spare parts money is plundered by larcenous politicians. A more immediate problem is a lack of maintainers. Most of them are foreign contractors who left the country in 2021 because the Balad airbase where the F-16s are has experienced a growing number of attacks from Islamic terrorists. This lack of security led the foreign contractors to leave and they wont be back until Balad is safe. Apparently the Rafales will be based elsewhere and the contract maintainers will be more willing to work in a combat zone. Much of the violence against Balad was caused by local Islamic terrorists or Iran-backed groups that want American forces out of Iraq. The French are seen as just another bunch of foreign specialists, who are common in the Iraqi oil industry. As a bonus France will sell advanced air-to-air missiles for these Rafales that the U.S. refused to provide for the F-16s. Meanwhile, the Rafale has become a hot export item, especially in the Middle East. As of 2022 Rafale is closing in on 500 sold, most to export customers. This means Rafale is likely to match or even exceed the sales of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The problem with Typhoon is dependence on the original European customers, who comprise over 80 percent of sales. Despite the increased threat from Russia, Typhoon sales in Europe have not increased. New fighters for European states tend to be the American F-35s. Overseas Rafale is getting a lot of the export sales that Typhoon might have had if Eurofighter had been as aggressive and flexible as Dassault. Rafale can operate from carriers and costs less than Typhoon. Dassault has been working in the Middle Eastern and Asian markets for nearly two decades. That persistence pays off in these markets, something Eurofighter realized too late. Typhoon was developed and built by a consortium of the largest European defense firms and was a replacement for the Cold War era Tornado fighter, which was a contemporary of the Su-27, F-15 and F-16. Typhoon development began in the 1980s and first flight was in 1994, after the Cold War unexpectedly ended. This reduced the urgency to get Typhoon into service, which didnt happen until 2003. The Typhoon turned out to be a pretty good warplane and this was discovered early on. The future looked bright but competition from American and Russian fighters for export sales and the lack of European enthusiasm for more purchases dimmed sales prospects. Typhoon got into combat in 2011 over Libya and performed well, but the demand from export customers and local ones was just not there. A sale to Qatar was important to the Europeans. Dassault was more patient than the Eurofighter consortium. This was demonstrated when Egypt sought to buy another twelve Rafales after receiving the last of the 24 it had ordered in 2015. The French Finance Ministry looked at the Egyptian economy and eight billion dollars worth of French weapons Egypt had ordered since 2014, and expressed concern about the Egyptian ability to handle any more debt and pay for another billion dollars worth of Rafale fighters. French politicians, eager to get the sale, pointed out that Egypt had new natural gas deposits and their economy was growing at 6 percent a year. Egypt had better relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia, which had helped finance some of the French weapons debt. The first 24 Rafales cost nearly $6 billion, but that included establishing training and maintenance infrastructure for Rafales so more sales would increase the chances that Rafale would eventually replace many of older Mirages and F-16s Egypt has been using. By buying more Rafales Egypt would be able to provide maintenance and upgrade facilities in the region, lowering costs for other Arab Rafale users. The Finance Ministry agreed to withdraw its objections. The prospect of selling more Rafales to Middle Eastern nations, including Qatar, which is at odds with its fellow Arab oil states over how to deal with the growing Iranian threat, becomes easier with Egypt as a major Rafale user. Egypt received its first 24 Rafales a few at a time, providing an opportunity to train pilots and support personnel. The first three arrived in July 2015, four months after Egyptian pilots and maintainers arrived in France for training. The Egyptian Rafales required a few modifications, mainly the removal of the hardware and software required for the aircraft to deliver nuclear weapons, as well as NATO communications equipment. This was replaced with what communications gear is currently standard in Egyptian warplanes (largely F-16s). Egypt wanted to receive all 24 Rafales before considering ordering more so France completed delivery by 2017. The manufacturer said it could be done and it was. As expected, this helped obtain more export sales from nations eager to upgrade their air forces. Egypt has a long history of buying from the French and in 2015 had about a hundred Mirage Vs and Mirage 2000 fighters in service. These two predecessors to the Rafale had served the Egyptian air force well, seeing action most recently in the 2014 bombing of Libya. But these Mirages were getting old and would have to be retired by the mid-2020s. Egypt has a large force of American F-16s, but the U.S. has lots of rules that prevent some countries from buying more and the rules change all the time. France is less judgmental when it comes to selling warplanes and demonstrated that in Egypt. The UAE (United Arab Emirates) was hesitant at first and that first sale to Egypt was needed to encourage others to buy an aircraft that has not been selling well. After 2015 Egypt more than doubled its original order, to 54 aircraft. The UAE now has 80 on order and Qatar ordered 36. At one point India might have ordered 128 but local politics reduced that to 36, which may well more than double because an Indian made fighter has proved to be a failure and Dassault stands by ready to help with that. That readiness to make deals was key to Indonesia ordering 42 Rafales. The French air force and navy only ordered 180 Rafales, a quarter of those going to the navy because Rafale was designed to also operate from aircraft carriers. Rafale costs at least 20 percent less than a Typhoon. Its design was based heavily off the Mirage 2000 and, like most other Dassault fighters, it has a delta-wing configuration. Rafale has a maximum speed of 2,130 kilometers an hour and a range of over 3,700 kilometers. It is equipped with a 30mm cannon and can carry nine tons worth of weapons. It is a battle tested aircraft that has already seen service with French Forces in Afghanistan, Mali, Libya and Iraq. Development began in the 1980s, with the first prototype flying in 1986. At that point Rafale was to enter service in 1996. The end of the Cold War in 1991 disrupted those plans and an improved Rafale design entered service in 2001. Until 2015 export buyers for the Rafale were scarce. The Rafale was up against stiff competition from Typhoon, Swedish Gripen NG, American F-18E and Russian Su-30. In 2013 Brazil passed on buying the Rafale and instead went with the cheaper Swedish Gripen NG. France has had nothing but hard times trying to find export customers for Rafale and that had consequences. In 2009 the production rate was reduced from 14 a year to 11 and that was further reduced later. This was to slow down the delivery of Rafales, mainly because the Defense Ministry has decided that other things were more important. The new emphasis (and spending) was on peacekeeping and anti-missile defenses. Another reason for slowing down Rafale production was lack of export orders. Since 2015 production has increased and the manufacturer points out that it has the capability to increase production quickly. By late 2017 over 170 Rafales had been built and over a hundred more were on order. Five years later and sales had nearly doubled and now approach those of Typhoon, something no one ever expected. Rafale production will continue through the 2020s, when the older Rafales will need refurbishment and upgrades. Washington, D.C., Aug. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed its first lawsuit challenging vaccine mandates over a year ago on behalf of George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finally followed the science and acknowledged the scientific fact that NCLA has defended all alongit makes no sense to treat people who are naturally immune to Covid-19 differently from those who have been vaccinated against the virus. This science was known and available to everyone this time last year when NCLA relied on the expert testimony of renowned epidemiologists, including Drs. Jay Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, who have long explained that forcing a Covid-recovered person with natural immunity to take a vaccine that provides virtually no benefit, while risking adverse effects, is not rational. CDC eased its Covid-19 guidance on Thursday, stating that Covid-19 prevention recommendations no longer differentiate based on a persons vaccination status. Despite being comprised of unelected bureaucrats and lacking rule-making power from Congress, CDC has issued edicts during the entirety of the pandemic that have disrupted American life. Governments and employers alike have followed this guidance uncriticallywhich was hard to challenge in court since it was not final agency actiontreating it as though it carries the force of law. Now, in a sudden about-face, the agency claims that due to breakthrough infections and naturally acquired immunity, there is no reason to treat vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals differently. CDC earlier chose to ignore or discount the voluminous proof, available for well over a year, that naturally acquired immunity was as or more protective than that achieved through vaccination. The agency chose to promote politically-motivated, flawed studies that reached unwarranted conclusions. NCLA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, has advocated for recognition of natural immunity in numerous lawsuits, demand letters, op-eds, and on radio and television for over a year. We have sued over government-mandated vaccines or quarantine policies based on CDCs flawed guidanceNorris v. Michigan State University, Rodden v. Fauci, Skoly v. McKee, Vanderstelt v. Biden, Zywicki v. George Mason University, and McArthur v. Brabrand. In each lawsuit, Plaintiffs argued that given their demonstrated natural immunity, the government cannot claim a compelling interest in overriding their long-recognized constitutional rights to bodily autonomy and to decline medical treatment by forcing them to be vaccinated or punishing them for refusing. To add insult to injury, these unconstitutional, unscientific mandates were accomplished not through democratic means, but through usurpation of legislative authority by unelected, unaccountable administrators. All public and private employers who have fired naturally immune people, including NCLA clients, should rehire them ASAP. NCLA released the following statements: From the very beginning, NCLA challenged discrimination against the naturally immune by the government and employers. We consulted top scientists and poured over multiple studies, which all confirmed that natural immunity is at least as effective as a vaccine. Unfortunately, it is too late for tens of thousands of Americans, who lost their livelihoods for merely exercising their constitutional rights to bodily autonomy by declining an experimental vaccine that was medically unnecessary for them. CDC should apologize to all naturally immune Americans who were coerced into getting vaccinated or fired because of the agencys deceptive, irrational, unscientific guidanceand employers should rehire those workers immediately. Jenin Younes, Litigation Counsel, NCLA It is a scandal of the first order that it took CDC more than a year to admit the science around natural immunity. Worse, it appears CDC knew the science but deliberately misled the American people in order to wield unlawful administrative power. Philip Hamburger, Founder and Chairman of the Board, NCLA Government scientists at multiple federal agencies told a Big Lie about natural immunityand silenced those speaking the truthto encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Congress never gave CDC rulemaking authority, yet federal courts bowed down to CDC guidance like it was holy writ. Never again should black-robed judges stand by while white-coated bureaucrats trample individual liberties in the name of compliance. Mark Chenoweth, President and General Counsel, NCLA ABOUT NCLA NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLAs public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans fundamental rights. ### Judy Pino New Civil Liberties Alliance 202-869-5218 [email protected] Source: New Civil Liberties Alliance VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prime Mining Corp. (Prime, or the Company) (TSX.V: PRYM) (OTCQB: PRMNF) (Frankfurt: O4V3) is pleased to report its operating and financial results for the three-month period ending June 30, 2022. Unless otherwise stated, all amounts are presented in Canadian dollars. Prime is focused on the exploration and development of its wholly owned Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Sinaloa State, Mexico (Los Reyes or the Project). Prime Chief Executive Officer Daniel Kunz commented, We are currently into the rainy season at Los Reyes but still have 5 drill rigs operating and already have completed 63,000 metres of drilling in Phase 2, for a total of 88,500 metres Phase 1 and 2 combined. In July 2022, the Company reported results from eight drill holes at the San Miguel East deposit, which were drilled down dip of the known structure at depth. All eight encountered mineralization with seven of the eight extending mineralization beyond the current historic resource. The southernmost hole, 22SME11, with an 18metre intercept returning 2.72 gpt Au and 129.8 gpt Ag (16.9 m etw), was intersected outside the previously reported pitconstrained resource. Corporate Highlights During the Quarter On May 10th, the Company announced financial results for the three-month period, ending March 31st, 2022. On June 8th, the Company announced upgrading to trade on the OTCQX under the symbol PRMNF Exploration Highlights During the QuarterOn April 12th, the Company announced positive drill results from 26 drill holes into its Guadalupe East deposit. These holes intercepted the high-grade Estaca, the San Nicolas and the San Manuel epithermal veins as well as other sub-parallel veins in the system. On May 2nd, the Company announced new drill results expanding the Zapote North deposit. These results included 17 new holes targeting the northern extension of the Z-T Structure, including 2 holes from the Mariposa deposit. This drilling confirmed that gold-silver mineralization extends from Zapote North to Mariposa. On June 1st, the Company announced 12 new step-out drill holes at the Guadalupe East deposit. Six of these holes interested high-grade gold and silver mineralization below the current pit-constrained resource which demonstrated the strong potential for near-pit resource expansion. On June 29th, the Company announced 20 additional assays from its expanded Phase 2 step-out and infill drilling program at the Tahonitas deposit on the western side of the project. These results continued to successfully identify shallow near surface mineralization as well as deeper mineralization down to 450 metres above sea level. Maintaining Health and Safety Protocols The Company continues to successfully mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on operations. To-date Covid-19 has not had a material effect on the Companys activities. Prime remains engaged with local stakeholders and is proactive in monitoring employees and contractors during this uncertain period. The Company continues to closely adhere to the directives of all levels of government and relevant health authorities in Mexico and Canada. Community Engagement and Environmental Stewardship Strategy We continued to gather environmental and community data in the quarter to help support our ESG programs, including completion of a materiality assessment, strategic plan and disclosure matrix. We strive to minimize the environmental impact of our activities and ensure that Los Reyes has a positive impact on our host communities. Selected Financial Data The following selected financial data is summarized from the Companys consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the Financial Statements) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022. A copy of the Financial Statements and MD&A is available at www.primeminingcorp.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Three months ended June 30, 2022 Three months endedJuly 31, 2021 Loss and comprehensive loss $7,063,916 $4,046,624 Loss per share - basic and diluted $0.06 $0.04 June 30, 2022 December 31, 2021 Cash $14,441,284 $27,413,707 Total assets $28,552,940 $41,785,376 Total current liabilities $915,536 $1,372,458 Total liabilities $1,779,915 $2,470,784 Total shareholders equity $26,773,025 $39,314,592 Qualified Person Scott Smith, P.Geo., Executive Vice President of Exploration, is a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release. Los Reyes Gold and Silver Project Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project located in Sinaloa, Mexico, within the prolific Sierra Madre mining region. Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Primes acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately USD 20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies. The Project remains underexplored as only 40% of the known structures have been systematically drilled, leaving 10 kilometres of untested strike length. Los Reyes holds potential for additional discovery and resource expansion. Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and is nearing completion of two phases of comprehensive drilling totaling over 87,000 metres and growing. Results to date suggest the eight known deposits are much larger than previously reported and potential exists for new discoveries outside of current defined resource areas. About Prime Mining Prime Mining is an ideal mix of successful mining executives, strong capital markets personnel, and experienced local operators focused on unlocking the full potential of the high-grade Los Reyes Gold-Silver Project in Mexico. Prime Mining has a well-planned capital structure with significant team and insider ownership. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Daniel KunzChief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: Daniel KunzChief Executive Officer and DirectorPrime Mining Corp.1307 S. Colorado Ave.Boise, Idaho 83706Telephone: 1-208-926-6379 officeemail: [email protected] Andrew Bowering Executive Vice President and DirectorPrime Mining Corp.710 1030 West Georgia StreetVancouver, BC, V6E 2Y3Telephone: (604) 428-6128Facsimile: (604) 428-6430E: [email protected] Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Information This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation as may be amended from time to time, including, without limitation, statements regarding the perceived merit of the Companys properties, including additional exploration potential of Los Reyes, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, the potential size of the mineralized zone, metallurgical recoveries, the timing and results of permitting and the Companys exploration and development plans in Mexico. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Companys management on the date the statements are made, and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold, silver and copper; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained, including concession renewals and permitting; that political and legal developments will be consistent with current expectations; that currency and exchange rates will be consistent with current levels; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances 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 involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of mineral resource estimates, including but not limited to changes to the cost assumptions, variations in quantity of mineralized material, grade or recovery rates, changes to geotechnical or hydrogeological considerations, failure of plant, equipment or processes, changes to availability of power or the power rates, ability to maintain social license, changes to interest or tax rates, changes in project parameters, delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of local communities, environmental risks, title risks, including concession renewal, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, risks relating to COVID-19, delays in or failure to receive access agreements or amended permits, risks inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; and risks associated with executing the Companys objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated April 22, 2022, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Source: Prime Mining Corp. MURFREESBORO, Tenn., Aug. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Volunteer Botanicals, which provides manufacturers with consistent, versatile hemp-based cannabinoid ingredients for use in a wide variety of consumer products, will hold an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 18 to officially dedicate its research and development headquarters in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The event coincides with the return of the Southern Hemp Expo to Nashville at the Fairgrounds Nashville from Aug. 18-20. Volunteer Botanicals Co-founder Jason Pickle will be a featured speaker on the second day of the conference. His presentation, Healing with Hemp: Medicinal, Nutritional and Health Applications of Cannabinoids will occur on Friday, August 19 at 2:00 p.m. Tennessee businesses are recognizing the incredible opportunities of the hemp industry in cannabinoids, as well as a source for fiber and grain. This entire plant can be utilized in such a wide variety of ways, said Derek Odette, CEO of Volunteer Botanicals. The fact that so many in the Tennessee agriculture and business community are investing in its future says a lot for the industry, and for our state. Once we get policymakers aligned the opportunities will explode. It is a great time for the Expo to be back in Nashville. The leading hemp industry supply-chain trade show and conference in the southeastern United States, the Southern Hemp Expo returns to Nashville this year after relocating to Raleigh, North Carolina last year due to pandemic restrictions. This year marks the 4th Annual Southern Hemp Expo, which is the sister show to the NoCo Hemp Expo that takes place in Denver, Colorado every March/April to kick off the new hemp growing season. As part of the Open House, Volunteer Botanicals will provide a tour of their new facility as well as an overview of their work developing hemp-derived ingredients of reconstituted, powderized cannabinoids for use in a variety of wellness and pharmaceutical products. As more consumers and patients become familiar with cannabinoids, interest in their potential health and wellness benefits has increased. However, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies seeking to incorporate cannabinoids into products need consistent, reliable, ratio-specific, pharmaceutical-grade ingredients. Volunteer Botanicals is working to fill that gap. WHO: Volunteer Botanicals and Murfreesboro Chamber of Commerce WHAT: Volunteer Botanicals Open House and Ribbon Cutting WHEN: Aug. 18, 10 a.m. 2 p.m. CSTRibbon Cutting presentation at 11 a.m. CST WHERE: 6673 Midland Rd, Christiana, TN 37037Register to attend via EventBrite here. About Volunteer BotanicalsVolunteer Botanicals develops precise cannabinoid formulations, providing manufacturers with consistent, versatile hemp-based ingredients for use in a wide variety of products that meet specific demands of product creators inside and outside the hemp industry. The companys products provide the building blocks of miscible and flowable powders suited for supplements, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage applications. Through innovation and technology, Volunteer Botanicals is taking cannabinoids mainstream. For more information, visit https://volunteerbotanicals.com. Contact: Jim DissettThe 9th Block303-532-7392[email protected] Source: Volunteer Botanicals NEW YORK, Aug. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., ("Cantor") a leading global financial services firm, sadly confirmed today that Anshu Jain, its President, died overnight after battling a serious illness. Mr. Jain joined the firm January 2017. Mr. Howard Lutnick, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It is with profound sadness that today we confirm Anshu's passing. Anshu was the consummate professional who brought a wealth of experience and wisdom to his role as President. He will be remembered as an extraordinary leader, partner, and dear friend who will be greatly missed by all of us and by all who knew him. On behalf of all our partners and employees, we extend our deepest sympathies to Anshu's family and wish them peace and healing during this difficult time." Among many other accomplishments throughout the entire group of companies, Anshu was instrumental in building and cultivating Cantor Fitzgerald's advisory and sales and trading businesses and played a fundamental role in directing the investment bank's Executive Committee. Prior to joining Cantor, Mr. Jain was Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank from June 2012 to June 2015. He joined Deutsche Bank from Merrill Lynch in 1995. He was widely recognized for building the bank's markets business and for helping transform Deutsche Bank into a global universal bank with a leading investment banking franchise. Prior to that, he held various roles at Merrill Lynch and Kidder, Peabody & Co. He served on the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and, as an ardent conservationist, worked with global environmental and wildlife conservation groups. Mr. Jain received his Bachelor's degree in Economics, with honors, from the University of Delhi and his MBA in Finance, Beta Gamma Sigma, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. About Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. Cantor Fitzgerald, with over 12,000 employees, is a leading global financial services group at the forefront of financial and technological innovation and has been a proven and resilient leader for 77 years. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is a preeminent investment bank serving more than 5,000 institutional clients around the world, recognized for its strengths in fixed income and equity capital markets, investment banking, SPAC underwriting and PIPE placements, prime brokerage, asset management, commercial real estate and for its global distribution platform. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is one of the 24 primary dealers authorized to transact business with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For more information, please visit: www.cantor.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cantor-fitzgerald-confirms-the-death-of-president-anshu-jain-301605384.html SOURCE Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. Conference call to discuss financial and operational results scheduled for Thursday, August 11, at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time HENDERSON, Nevada, Aug. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE AMERICAN: VNRX) ("Volition") today announced financial results and a business update for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022. Volition management will host a conference call tomorrow, August 11 at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time to discuss these results. Conference call details can be found below. "I am delighted with the progress we are making, and in particular could not be prouder of the team's achievement in securing a CE Mark for Nu.Q NETs in Europe and in announcing new clinical studies for NETosis, or NETs, in the U.S. with both MD Anderson and with Diagnostic Oncology CRO LLC, or DXOCRO. As the only analytically validated test for NETs currently available, we believe that there is enormous potential for Nu.Q NETs to support clinical decision-making, enabling physicians to act quickly, and improve patient outcomes," commented Cameron Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer of Volition. "Following the execution of our global licensing and supply agreement for the Nu.Q Vet Cancer Screening Test with Heska Corporation, the team has been hard at work with the technology transfer program and launch preparation. We also continue to make good progress with other potential licensing and supply partners. Finally, we have recently executed a number of contracts for Nu.Q Discover." Company Highlights Financial Cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2022, totaled approximately $16.7 million compared with $20.6 million as of December 31, 2021. Subsequent to quarter end, Volition received approximately $6.4 million net of underwriter's fees and expenses in cash through an underwritten public offering of its common stock that closed on August 2. Secured a further $1.5 million in non-dilutive funding from Namur Invest Capital Risk in Belgium to fund an early access program for Volition's Nu.Q product portfolio at key sites across the EU, UK, and U.S. Continued to manage expenditures carefully with net cash used in operating activities averaging approximately $2.1 million per month in the quarter. Personnel/ Operational Appointed Sharon Ballesteros as U.S. Head of Quality and Development Process to spearhead Volition's clinical product development program in the U.S. and expanded her team and operations in California. Nu.Q NETs Nu.Q NETs test has been CE marked for the detection and evaluation of NETosis, enabling clinical use in Europe in both ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay) and automated ChLIA (ChemiLuminescence ImmunoAssay) formats. Announced a sponsored research agreement with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to evaluate the role of NETS in cancer patients with sepsis. Appointed DXOCRO to undertake development and clinical validation studies for Volition's Nu.Q product portfolio in the United States. DXOCRO will conduct large-scale finding studies across multiple sites in the U.S. using Volition's Nu.Q NETs and Nu.Q Cancer tests to determine clinical utility in sepsis and cancer. Volition anticipates that subsequent studies will investigate the chosen intended use claims of the tests, with the objective to gain clearance, authorization, or approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") and allow the tests to be marketed in the U.S. These multi-site development studies will help demonstrate how Volition's Nucleosomics technology can directly benefit patients and support our application to the FDA's Breakthrough Devices Program and a Pre-submission anticipated in 2023. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Namur and QUALIblood in Belgium, published: a clinical paper entitled "NETosis and Nucleosome Biomarkers in Septic Shock and Critical COVID-19 Patients: An Observational Study" , and , and 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 in July. at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Congress in July. Subsequent to quarter end, sponsored a GenomeWeb webinar titled 'The Promise of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) as Biomarkers in Inflammatory Disease' . To watch on demand, visit the GenomeWeb website. To watch on demand, visit the GenomeWeb website. Commenced a Market Access Program with European Key Opinion Leaders and early adopters. Volition Veterinary Following the execution of a global licensing and supply agreement with one of the industry's leading companies, Heska Corporation, started the technology transfer and launch preparations with Heska. SAGE Healthcare launched the Nu.Q Vet Cancer Test in Singapore. Advanced negotiations with other potential licensing and supply partners in efforts to make Nu.Q Vet products as accessible as possible worldwide and anticipate further announcements in 2022. Expanded product claims with the presentation of new clinical data at: the European Society of Veterinary Oncology Congress in May. To view click here. the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in June. To view click here. Expanded access to a larger clinical research laboratory at Texas A&M University and appointed a veterinary emergency criticalist to commence work in non-cancer indications in addition to developing our clinical research network in Europe. Nu.Q Capture Nu.Q Capture, when used in combination with either sequencing, mass spectrometry and/or Volition's Nu.Q assays could potentially aid diagnosis, treatment selection, and both treatment and disease monitoring in addition to aiding biomarker discovery. The Nu.Q Capture program now has several strands of technology which: essentially remove background noise, thereby amplifying the signal, look to identify the signal in a novel way including through mass spectrometry, or isolate various chromatin fragments, including nucleosomes and transcription factors. Sponsored a GenomeWeb webinar entitled "Novel Proteomics Approach to Epigenetic Profiling of Circulating Nucleosomes" featuring Professor Axel Imhof. To watch on demand, visit the GenomeWeb website. Nu.Q Discover Progressing projects with a range of customers. Recently signed contracts with three bio-pharmaceutical companies who are accessing our assay portfolio for rapid epigenetic profiling of their drugs in development. Upcoming Priorities Drive near term revenue in the following key areas: Licensing of its technology, with a particular but not exclusive focus on Nu.Q Vet. Complete Heska Corporation agreement milestones in order to receive further milestone payments. Sales of key components of Point of Care test with Heska. Sales of kits from non-exclusive agreements for the use of Nu.Q Vet via central reference labs. Ongoing and new Nu.Q Discover agreements. Sales of its disease monitoring tests (e.g. COVID-19, sepsis). Continue to progress the research program for the use of Nu.Q NETs, in monitoring disease progression of COVID-19, sepsis, and potentially other diseases and as a possible companion diagnostic for the treatment of sepsis. Continue to advance its previously announced large-scale blood, lung, and colorectal cancer trials in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Publish several abstracts and peer-reviewed scientific papers with clinical results showing the robustness and utility of its Nu.Q platform. Advance the development of Nu.Q Capture. Continue to file patents to expand and extend its intellectual property portfolio. Event: VolitionRx Limited Second Quarter 2022 Earnings and Business Update Conference CallDate: Thursday, August 11, 2022Time: 08:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time U.S. & Canada Dial-in: 1-877-407-9716 (toll free)U.K. Dial-in: 0 800 756 3429 (toll free)Toll/International: 1-201-493-6779Conference ID: 13732149 Cameron Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer of Volition, will host the call along with Terig Hughes, Chief Financial Officer of Volition, Dr. Tom Butera, Chief Executive Officer of Volition Veterinary Diagnostics Development LLC, and Scott Powell, Executive Vice President, Investor Relations of Volition. The call will provide an update on important events which have taken place in the second quarter of 2022 and upcoming milestones. A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of Volition's corporate website at http://ir.volition.com. In addition, a telephone replay of the call will be available until August 25, 2022. The replay dial-in numbers are 1-844-512-2921 (toll-free) in the U.S. and Canada and 1-412-317-6671 (toll) internationally. Please use replay pin number 13732149. About VolitionVolition 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 to 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 office in the U.S. and additional offices in London and Singapore. For more information about Volition, visit Volition's website volition.com The contents found at Volition's website address or any other website link or address are not incorporated by reference into this document and should not be considered part of this document. Website addresses and links are included in this document as inactive textual references only. Media Enquiries:Louise Batchelor/Debra Daglish, Volition, [email protected] +44 (0)7557 774620 Safe Harbor StatementStatements 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 launch of product sales with Heska, the success of negotiations and the timing, completion and execution of term sheets and/or agreements with third parties regarding the licensing and distribution of Volition's products, the timing, completion and delivery of data from clinical studies, the potential uses, benefits and effectiveness of its Nucleosomics technology platform, including the Nu.Q NETs test, and the timing and execution of Volition's strategy with the FDA. Volition's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, results of studies testing the efficacy of its tests, a failure by the marketplace to accept Volition's Nu.Q NETs test or other products based on its Nucleosomics platform; Volition's failure to secure adequate intellectual property protection; Volition's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products; 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, including those 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. For instance, if Volition fails to develop and commercialize diagnostic, prognostic or disease monitoring products, it may be unable to execute its plan of operations. Forward-looking 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. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all references to "$" refer to the legal currency of the United States of America. Video - https://youtu.be/LOoE_kVkrnc View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/volitionrx-limited-announces-second-quarter-2022-financial-results-and-business-update-301603516.html SOURCE VolitionRx Limited Dang it, I just missed National Spam Musubi DayAugust 8which, according to KCRA.com, is a date that corresponds with the Hawai'i area code 808. Never mind, any day is a good day for the delicious treat. What's Spam Musubi? And what are its origins? While Spam was first produced by Hormel in 1937, it rose in popularity during World War II. According to TIME: In the Philippines, people were fleeing from Japanese invasion, and resisting its occupation from 1941 to 1945, when they were first introduced to Spam. On some Pacific Islands, Spam became a necessity for survival for many local residents due to food rationing and restrictions during the war. And for many Japanese Americans, their love for Spam began with one of the most painful memories, [Robert Ku, a professor of Asian American Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton and the author of Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA] writes in his book: The U.S. government sent canned meat to the incarceration camps where people of Japanese descent were forced to relocate and later detained from 1942 to 1945. During this period, Spam began to make its way into local dishes. Barbara Funamura, a Japanese-American woman from Hawaii, is credited with having invented Spam musubi, a slice of grilled Spam on top of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori. You can now find Spam Musubi all over Hawai'i and increasingly in restaurants across the United States. I actually had my very first Spam Musubi a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, at a delicious restaurant called "Broken Mouth," which describes itself as: "An original food concept founded and operated by local Hawai'i boy, Tim Lee. From the fondest memories of childhood spent around the dinner table, we bring homestyle food of Hawai'i to Downtown Los Angeles, in efforts to share Tim's love for food and family. Korean by blood, Hawaiian at heartour local Kaimuki boy, Chef Lee, was born and raised on the island of Oahu. In a leap of faith, Tim relocated to the Mainland. After years in corporate restaurant management, he decided to throw caution to the wind and gave life to an eatery of his own. We bring a little Los Angeles swagger to the charming local vibes represented at BROKEN MOUTH while staying true in paying homage to the roots of Hawai'i." I absolutely LOVED the Spam musubi and am eager to eat it again the next time I see it on a menu. It's actually apparently fairly easy to make, too, and there are lots of delicious looking recipes all over the internet, like this one from Jess at Plays Well With Butter. I might make some this weekend, in fact. Happy belated National Spam Musubi Day! TICKERS: LIO; LOMLF; LLO; LY1 Source: Streetwise Reports (8/12/22) One analyst believes a 10-year extension of a mining lease at a high-grade gold project in Fiji could put a junior gold play in the crosshairs of companies looking to add ounces. From left: Geologist Jone Madrai, Lion One IT professional Amit Parikh, Lion One Chairman Walter Berukoff, legendary Fijian geologist Waisale Kuruisaravi and geologist Joanna Ruvi Ayuson at the Tuvatu core shack in Fiji. Source: Lion One Metals Ltd. Both investors and Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX; LLO:ASX; LY1:FSE) executives can breathe a little easier now that the mining lease at the companys promising 100%-owned Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Fiji has been extended through February 2035. The official 10-year extension is the cornerstone document that will allow Lion One to build what will be the countrys second commercial gold mine, about 25 kilometers from the town of Nadi, on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. In an Aug. 8 research report, Roth Capital Partners Analyst Mike Niehuser calls Tuvatu one of the highest-grade gold mines in the world and writes that the lease extension could put Lion One squarely in the crosshairs of larger gold companies. We believe that Tuvatu is competitive with Fijis Vatukoula, which has operated for over 85 years, Niehuser wrote. The granting of the Tuvatu Mining Lease (SML 62) de-risks the project, making it attractive to major mining companies. Vatakoula, operated by Vatukoula Gold Mines (Vatukoula means gold Rock in Fijian), has operated almost continuously since 1935. The alkaline-epithermal gold deposit a geological setting shared with Tuvatu has so far produced some 7 million ounces (7 Moz) gold. Vatukoula currently has a resource of 3.8 Moz gold. A Big Deal in Fiji Granting of the extension was a big deal in the tiny archipelago nation where gold is one of the countrys most valuable exports. Lion One CEO Walter Berukoff and more than 300 local officials attended a ceremony to mark the official signing of the lease extension. Lion One Metals Chairman and CEO Walter Berukoff (far right) and Fiji's Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (right of Berukoff) attend an official ceremony marking the 10-year extension of Lion Ones mining lease at its Tuvatu gold project in Fiji. Source: Lion One Metals Ltd. Lion One has made a strong commitment to making Tuvatu the new foremost gold mine in Fiji, and with the recent grant of the mining lease extension, Fiji has shown Lion One its resounding support to see this come to fruition, Crescat Capital Geologic and Technical Director Quinton Hennigh told Streetwise Reports. Hennigh also acts as an advisor to Lion One. Initial production at Tuvatu could start as early as the second half of 2023. The company has already built a 1-kilometer decline into the project to take metallurgical samples and conduct ongoing drilling Engineer and COO Patrick Hickey will lead the team building the Tuvatu mine. He has helped build similar-sized mines with Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM:NYSE) and Kinross Gold Corp. (K:TSX; KGC:NYSE). Six Drills Turning Six drill rigs continue to turn at Tuvatu, where earlier this year, drill hole TUG-141 hit 20.86 grams per tonne gold (20.86 g/t Au) over almost 76 meters the longest, highest-grade gold intercept to date at Tuvatu. An up-close examination of the TUG-141 core reveals a number of high-grade intervals along the intercept, including: 138.15 g/t Au over 0.3 meter from 450.9-451.2 meters downhole; 396.16 g/t Au over 0.3 meter from 479.1-479.4 meters; 340.07 g/t Au over 0.30 meter from 498.9-499.2 meters; 600.42 g/t Au over 0.30 meter from 499.5-499.8 meters; and 244.37 g/t Au over 0.3 meter from 502.5-503.1 meters. 'The granting of the Tuvatu Mining Lease (SML 62) de-risks the project, making it attractive to major mining companies.' Roth Capital Partners Analyst Mike Niehuser TUG-141 is below the current resource outlined at Tuvatus 500 Zone, a network of high-grade structures that is inside the mining concessions covered by the recent extension. A September 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment on the 100% owned Tuvatu outlined an indicated resource of 1,007,000 tonnes grading 8.48 g/t Au for 274,600 oz Au (274.6 Koz Au) and an inferred resource of 1,325,000 tonnes grading 9 g/t Au for 384,000 Koz Au. The study used a cut-off grade of 3 g/t Au. Lion One envisages a low-cost, high-grade underground gold mine operation at Tuvatu. There is also significant exploration upside in its concessions covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, a highly prospective alkaline gold system that stretches across about 7 kilometers (4.4 miles). (Lion One) hit a whole bunch of high-grade intervals down deep on the 500 zone and the other associated lodes down there. (The company is) starting to develop a picture of what's going on. They see four lodes all tied together, like a network of high-grade lodes. And then they've also hit high-grade gold down to 1,150 meters below surface a skinny interval, but it tells you there's high-grade down there, Hennigh told Streetwise Reports earlier this year. All the drill core is being examined at an on-site analytical sampling and assay lab built by Lion One. Having the lab nearby allows for much faster turnaround times for core sampling. Berukoff founded Miramar Mining, which developed the 10 Moz Hope Bay gold project in Canadas Arctic. Berukoff eventually sold Miramar to Newmont in 2007 in an all-cash deal worth CA$1.5 billion. That deal came on the heels of Berukoff and his team selling Northern Orion Resources to Yamana Gold for a little more than CA$1 billion. Reuters reports that Berukoff owns 13.6% of Lion One, while Franklin Advisers Inc. owns about 4.5%; Invesco Advisers Inc. owns around 4%; Mackenzie Financial owns roughly 1.21%, and Aegis Financial owns 0.80%. Niehuser gives Lion One a Buy rating with a 12-month target of CA$2.50 The junior has 156 million shares outstanding and trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.88 and CA$1.66. Want to be the first to know about interesting Gold investment ideas? Sign up to receive the FREE Streetwise Reports' newsletter. Subscribe Disclosures: 1) Brian Sylvester wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He and members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. His company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One Metals Ltd. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 3) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 4) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Lion One Metals Ltd., a company mentioned in this article. In early June, John W. Hinckley Jr. was freed after 41 years of oversight from the court and mental health systems. Having faced gradually loosening restrictions over many years, he now no longer needs to notify the court when he travels, he can access social media and email, and he can use his own name commercially. "A great day for me," he said. But Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has come to realize that freedom is relative. The notoriety that has followed him for decades is preventing him from what he wants to do the most: Perform music to a live audience. On the same day the order went into effect releasing him from court oversight, Hinckley learned a music club in Brooklyn had, citing safety concerns from threats directed at them online, canceled a small sold-out concert in July, where he hoped to perform 17 original songs. The event represented a lifelong dream for the 67-year-old, who began playing the guitar when he was a teenager. It was one of several concerts - the others in Chicago; Hamden, Conn.;, and Williamsburg, Va. - that abruptly canceled for similar reasons. "I had been thinking about this concert for several months now, planning and practicing," he said. If he were any other shooter - found not guilty by reason of insanity and later deemed not a danger to himself or others - Hinckley might have been free of the court system years ago, and blending in with his guitar at a New York City club. But his victims included a U.S. president, as well as a press secretary, a Washington D.C. police officer and a Secret Service agent. Many people are not eager to see him enjoy the benefits of a life without court supervision. The Reagan Foundation opposed lifting Hinckley's restrictions and his attempt at a music career, saying in a statement that Hinckley "apparently seeks to make a profit from his infamy." A 2021 op-ed in The Washington Post by Patti Davis, one of Reagan's daughters, also protested his freedom. "I don't believe that John Hinckley feels remorse," she wrote. "Narcissists rarely do." The Market Hotel, located in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, released a statement on social media that said the concert was "not worth a gamble on the safety of our vulnerable communities . . . in a dangerously radicalized, reactionary climate." "It was quite a disappointment," Hinckley said. Five hundred tickets had already been sold. The venue said it was being inundated with "some very real and worsening threats and hate." Until he emerged on Twitter in October 2021, Hinckley was well-known mostly to people who remember the Reagan years and that March day in 1981 when he fired six shots at the president outside a hotel in Washington. Besides Reagan, the shots hit press secretary James Brady, a D.C. police officer, and a Secret Service agent. Brady suffered brain damage and died of his injuries in 2014. A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity, and he was ordered to live in a psychiatric hospital in Washington for more than three decades. However, starting in 2003, the court started allowing him visits with family, and in 2016 he was approved to live full-time in Williamsburg, Va., where his parents had relocated so they could be nearby. The rulings came with restrictions, such as giving officials access to email accounts and electronic devices and notifying them if he planned to travel outside of a set distance from his home. As Hinckley worked to manage his mental illness privately, his public image continued to root him in 1981, when he shot the president and others out of a deranged plot to impress the actress Jodie Foster. A 1990 Stephen Sondheim musical, "Assassins," made him a character alongside Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot and killed President John F. Kennedy, and John Wilkes Booth, who shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln. Conspiracy theories about his family fester in dark corners of the internet. Different punk bands have made him a subject of their songs. The pop band Devo even put one of his poems to music. Hinckley says he doesn't watch television and isn't interested in learning what people say about him. "I don't read up on that at all," he said. "And I don't want to know." But after decades of silence, Hinckley has something to say. "I just don't have the depression and isolation that I had back then," he said. "That's what was driving me 41 years ago. But I have not had depression for many, many years. If I try to think about the way I was in 1981, I can't do it. I mean, what in the world was I thinking? It's like it was like another person. I do have remorse certainly for what happened. It's in one of my songs." The nearly 40 songs he has posted to YouTube, Spotify and other streaming services reflect his journey in the simplest terms. "I was lost in the world/enough to make you cry," he sings in one song that laments the hardship of living with "nagging fear I would not be free." "Dark is the night/but there's always dawn," he sings in another. "Dark is the night/the fear will soon be gone." Music is soothing for him. "It's just a good feeling to write a good song," he said. But his ultimate purpose, he said, is to communicate with others. "I write peaceful songs. The climate in the country now is just so bad. I just try to write songs to uplift people," he said. On video, Hinckley presents an austere picture: He performs solo with an acoustic guitar against a plain backdrop. His songs are simply constructed and strummed. The music, which has attracted 30,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 15,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, has connected with an audience he did not expect: Generation Z listeners who weren't even alive in 1981. "They don't have their parents' or even their grandparents' prejudice about me. They're open-minded," Hinckley said. Since he emerged on Twitter, he has been barraged with messages from young people, including some musicians, who encourage him and say they recognize themselves in his struggle with mental illness. Bunny Gaubert, 25, contacted Hinckley via Twitter and ended up creating his website and booking his Chicago date, which the venue later canceled. She said her generation is more willing to forgive Hinckley because his infamy pales in comparison to the new realities of growing up in "the weird, dark America" after 9/11. "Our world has less shock value" than in 1981, she said. As someone who suffered mental illness in her teenage years, she said she can also empathize with his journey to get well. "After being put away like that and judged, he could have chosen anger and resentment, but instead he chose to make songs of peace," she said. Matt Paneth, an independent concert promoter in New York who booked the Brooklyn show, characterized Hinckley as someone who is simply trying to regain lost time. "He didn't get to experience life and he's putting out a message of positivity in his music. There's something heartfelt and honest about it," said Paneth, 31, whose company, Scenic Presents, specializes in punk shows. One Hinckley song, "Never Ending Quest," he said is particularly poignant: "He's saying he's on this quest to get out there and live his life. That's a beautiful, honest message." After living in his mother's house until her death last summer, Hinckley relocated to a one-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg where he lives with his cat, a blonde tabby named Theo. He practices guitar, talks with neighbors in his building, and maintains a vinyl record collection he's had since he was a teenager - Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks are his favorites. "I am sure there are new bands that I would like, but I always go back to '60s music," he said. His friends are those who live in his building or work at the nearby antique mall, where he once had a booth but now consigns items he finds around town. Twelve years ago, while hospitalized, he took up painting abstract renderings of men, women and sometimes cats. They sell within minutes when he posts them on eBay. "I'm not a great painter," he admits. "I don't get a thrill of my painting like I do the music." Besides his monthly Social Security check, the paintings provide a regular income. Williamsburg is his comfort zone. "People are nice to me," he said. Every Tuesday, he joins a small therapy group, and he visits his psychiatrist once a month in a nearby town. "But mainly my focus is trying to come up with a new song," he said. Hinckley spends significant time dealing with the steady stream of documentary filmmakers, autograph hounds, and other curiosity seekers who lobby for his attention online, he said. But what he wants is to play his first show and have the world move on. After three dates were canceled earlier this summer, Hinckley took it into his own hands to rent the theater located in the Williamsburg Regional Library for a date in November. But three hours after he announced the date on Twitter in early August, that venue, too, canceled his appearance because "the library immediately received hostile comments through chat and email" and it was becoming apparent "the concert was clearly going to become a major disruption to library operations," Desiree Parker, the library's spokesperson, said via email. Though some see his presence as controversial, mental health experts, and even prosecutor Kacie Weston - who did not object to Hinckley's June 15 release from oversight - characterize Hinckley as someone who "has demonstrated the success that can come from a wraparound mental health system." A judge found he was "no longer a danger to himself or to others." Phillip Resnick, an expert in forensic psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, said Hinckley's hospitalization was unusually long for someone found not guilty by reason of insanity. "The average hospital length is three to four years. He has been in a hospital for an extraordinary length of time because of the infamy of his crime, rather than evidence," he said. Performing music in public "would not be a concern for anyone with a psychiatric problem," he said. "It's not as if you're taking him from an inpatient situation and just plopping him out in public. He has been in the public under supervision for years." Paneth, who recruited a drummer and bass player for Hinckley, said he continues to search for venues to work with because he believes Hinckley "deserves a stage." Hinckley said he is waiting things out, driven only by the "love of the music and trying to keep a positive attitude." One piece of good news he received last month was learning that Asbestos Records, an independent ska and punk rock label, will release a vinyl recording of Hinckley's songs later this year, according to Matt Flood, the label's president. Once people hear his songs, Hinckley said, they will understand his only agenda is "putting out a positive vibe." One of those songs, says it all: "You only know what used to be/you don't know a different side of me," he sings. "The past is over/I have found a new and better day." Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 4, 2002: An elderly Afghan man guides a young child on the uneven road in front of a bombed out building in Kabul, Afghanistan. The original 2002 caption for the photo read: The very old and the very young have been some of the hardest hit in Afghanistan during more than 20 years of fighting here. U.S. military officials hope to reach out to those in need, by helping aid groups and the Afghan government rebuild the country. Visit the Stars and Stripes store to order a copy of Stars and Stripes photo book 15 years in Afghanistan, covering the years 2001-2016. MEXICO CITY Dramatic bouts of violence and mayhem in two regions of Mexico this week have left at least 12 dead and dozens of businesses torched, dramatizing the ability of crime gangs to wreak havoc and shatter the semblance of normality almost anywhere in the country without warning. On Friday, hundreds of Mexican troops were dispatched to the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez in a bid to bolster security after a series of apparently random gang attacks across town on Thursday and early Friday that left at least 11 dead including a popular radio personality and three of his co-workers, and two inmates shot in a prison riot. Assailants armed with guns and Molotov cocktails targeted convenience stores, gas stations, a pizza shop and vehicles. The killings just across the Rio Grande from El Paso came days after roaming bands of criminals hundreds of miles away to the south set fire to dozens of shops, buses and cars, and threw up roadblocks on major arteries across a wide swath of the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato. Among the sites attacked there were some two dozen outlets of Oxxo, a nationwide fast-food, convenience-store chain. Authorities reported one fatality. The dramatic incidents in distinct parts of the country were apparently unrelated: Officials said the bloody prison riot in Juarez sparked the rampage there in acts of retaliation, while authorities blamed the chaos in Jalisco and Guanajuato on cartel leaders outraged about plans to arrest them. The episodes underscored the ability of Mexico's multibillion-dollar criminal underground outfitted with high-powered arms and flush with cash from drug trafficking, extortion rings, migrant smuggling and other rackets to create turmoil. Even many Mexicans accustomed to rampant lawlessness were stunned at this week's anarchic images from Juarez and outside Guadalajara, Mexico's second most populous city, in Jalisco state. "The Mexican state has been overrun and can no longer protect its citizens," tweeted Adrian Lopez, director of the newspaper Noroeste. The deaths of the civilians in Juarez seemed especially shocking to many in a nation where people are accustomed to gangland assassinations of rival mobsters, politicians, journalists and others whose work or activism puts them in the crosshairs of criminals. A widely shared belief in Mexico albeit one of questionable validity is that people can remain relatively safe if they go about their business while avoiding the criminal element. In his regular Friday morning news conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador categorized the attacks on people not linked to criminality as an event out of the ordinary. "This is something that hadn't presented itself before and hopefully won't be repeated, because they attacked the civilian population, innocents, as a kind of retaliation," Lopez Obrador told reporters Friday. "It wasn't just a clash between two groups, but they began to shoot at civilians. ... That is the most lamentable part of this." In fact, the murders of "innocents" have long been a byproduct of Mexico's decadeslong drug conflict. Many have been collateral victims killed, for instance, in gang massacres targeting rivals in bars, restaurants, homes and other locales. Sowing terror via the deliberate targeting of civilians with spectacular outbursts of firepower has also been part of the texture of Mexico's tumultuous recent history. "Random acts of violence create chaos and create fear and allow you to gain a tactical advantage over the authorities and your rivals," said Alejandro Hope, a Mexican security analyst. Most notorious, perhaps, was the 2008 grenade attack on a crowd gathered in a main plaza to celebrate Mexican Independence Day in the central city of Morelia. At least eight were killed and more than 100 wounded in one of the defining assaults by traffickers in the early days of Mexico's so-called war on drugs. Juarez, with its strategic location along a key cross-border smuggling corridor, has long been a hub of mob mayhem, a place where gangsters strung slain rivals' bodies from bridges or dumped their beheaded corpses in vacant lots. The so-called birthday party massacre in 2010 left 14 dead at a high school birthday gathering in Juarez. The systemic failure to bring murderers to justice in a country where most killings go unsolved only adds to the incentive for criminals to target civilians, Hope added. "If you go after random people in the streets, you should become a priority target for authorities," Hope said. "But that does not happen. It sends a message [to criminals] that this is a good tactic." The latest attacks have intensified an overriding sense of insecurity for many in places such as western Guanajuato state, where rival gangs battle for control of drug-trafficking routes and black-market gasoline, while extorting local businesses. "There's no government here: Here the narcos are the government," said Rogelio Cornejo Diaz, 54, who runs a fruit and vegetable stand in Celaya, one of the cities hard hit in the rolling attacks late Tuesday and early Wednesday in Guanajuato state. "If the president thinks all is fine and tranquil, he should come here sometime with his wife and children to see for himself." Violence has ebbed somewhat in Juarez in the last decade, but Thursday's events demonstrated the enduring power of criminal mafias both sophisticated, trans-national cartels and lower-level street and prison gangs. The trouble in the border city began Thursday afternoon in a dispute between rival gangs at a state prison, Ricardo Mejia, Mexico's deputy security minister, told reporters at the president's daily news conference. Battling each other, Mejia said, were groups known as Los Chapos apparently linked to the Sinaloa Cartel formerly headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, now imprisoned for life in the United States and a local prison band known as Los Mexicles. A riot left two prisoners dead and at least 20 injured, Mejia said. It was unclear what caused the dispute. But authorities said Mexicles members outside the prison went on a rampage, killing at least nine people. The victims included the four staffers of Mega Radio shot dead in the parking lot of a Caesars Pizza outlet. It was unclear if Alan Gonzalez, the announcer, and his three colleagues were random victims or were targeted in one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. Also among the dead were two women who apparently succumbed to smoke inhalation after the Rapiditos Bip Bop convenience store (part of the Oxxo chain) was attacked with a Molotov cocktail. Maria del Refugio Ramirez, 54, was a longtime employee, and Saira Janet de Santiago Castro, 18, was applying for a job at the store, according to media reports. Neighborhood residents erected a shrine outside the store Friday. Another man in Juarez was reported shot dead in his truck on Thursday, while another victim, also male, was fatally shot on the street, authorities said. The youngest victim was a 12-year-old who was shot at a Circle K store, officials said. He died Friday after doctors were unable to revive him. Most shops and offices in the border city were closed Friday as many feared a repeat of the violence. Police and army vehicles patrolled the streets. The dramatic events of recent days sparked a renewed round of criticism of President Lopez Obrador's controversial security strategy. In seeking election, Lopez Obrador promised to take a more holistic approach to fighting crime. He vowed to reject the militarized strategy of his predecessors and boost social programs for young people vulnerable to joining gangs. But Mexico's homicide rate has dipped only slightly since Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, and there is little evidence of a diminution of the power of organized crime gangs. "We're in a high-violence equilibrium that has become self-sustaining and that government policy is doing very little to change," said Hope, the security analyst. Special correspondents Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City and Gabriela Minjares in Ciudad Juarez contributed to this report. 2022 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii Thousands of soldiers and family members living on Schofield Barracks in central Oahu are being asked to drastically reduce their electricity use in the coming months as the Army grapples with repairing an antiquated substation. Last week, Army officials asked residents to avoid using multiple major appliances, such as dryers, stoves and ovens during the hours of 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. They were also asked to forgo charging electric vehicles or using nonessential electrical appliances or lights during that time period. The Menoher electrical substation, which serves about 3,500 homes, a number of barracks and other buildings on Schofield, has been operating at half capacity since June 10 when one of its two transformers failed, Army Garrison Hawaii announced on its Facebook page Aug. 4. The situation has grown acute as Hawaii entered its hottest months of August and September when air conditioning demand peaks. After an extensive search for existing transformers to replace the failed one, we have located a manufacturer from the mainland and are awaiting a transformer to be built and delivered, the post stated. The catch? It is expected to take several months before it is delivered to Hawaii, the Army said. In the electric industry, substation-class transformers are typically custom designed and built to meet the needs of the overall grid where they are intended to be installed, Lt. Col. Jamie Dobson, spokeswoman for U.S. Army Hawaii, said Friday in an emailed response to a query by Stars and Stripes. Schofield Barracks electrical system is not widely found in the industry, in part due to how old it is, she said. The transformer has to match the system in order to function safely and efficiently. Corrosion from the weathering effects from Oahus tropical climate led to the failure of the transformer, Dobson said. Until recently, the Army had owned all the electrical infrastructure on Schofield, with the power provided by Hawaiian Electric, which supplies energy to roughly 95% of the states residents. The garrison has been working several years toward a partnership with Hawaiian Electric, Dobson said. In March, the bases electrical infrastructure was transferred to the company, which has the expertise for maintenance and improvements to bring the electrical system to current industry standards, she said. Maj. Gen. Joseph Ryan, commander of Army Garrison Hawaii and the 25th Infantry Division, has prioritized supplying power to homes and barracks. He directed that nonessential military facilities be either removed from the power grid or significantly reduce their electrical usage. Dobson declined to specify the number of facilities affected due to operational security concerns. She said the command is continuing to look for ways to reduce demand during peak hours by identifying additional military facilities to take offline or place on generator power, extensive planning of rerouting individual circuits to other substations, employing military power generation assets, and monitoring the electrical load hourly each night to adjust mitigation efforts. On Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers Alpha Company, 249th Engineer Battalion, coordinated with Hawaiian Electric and the Armys Directorate of Public Works to hook up generators to the bases power grid, Dobson said. Dubbed Prime Power, the battalion is tasked with providing commercial-level electrical power to military units and federal relief organizations, according to its website. Army Garrison Hawaiis Facebook posting from last week had garnered more than 250 comments as of Friday, most of them expressing dissatisfaction with the request to cut electrical use. I know we should try to conserve energy as much as possible but asking people who work during the day to not do laundry at night when thats the time they have or asking families to not use their stove from 4 to 10 pm? wrote a Facebook user named Candace Jade May. When do you want us to eat dinner? At 330 pm? Commenter Alexandria Aldape-Ramirez thanked the garrison command for providing ways the Schofield community could help reduce power usage. Now, a way command can help is maybe giving the people effected meal per diems for dinner? she wrote. Eating out every night and/or guessing when to make food for several months is not practical living. FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii The Navy has pledged to contribute $14.9 million to help foster protection of the groundwater aquifer that serves Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and much of greater Honolulu in response to a disastrous jet fuel leak last year. The Navys cooperative agreement with the state of Hawaii would provide funding through the Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program Challenge, the service said in a news release Thursday. The move is an effort by the Navy to regain public trust after jet fuel from its Red Hill underground fuel storage tank leaked late last year into a well that supplied water to thousands of residents in military housing communities on and near the joint base. The state and Defense Department have ordered the storage facility to be emptied and permanently shut down. One of the three wells used by the Navy for its water distribution system remains contaminated. A Navy investigation made public in July catalogued a host of deficiencies by the service that led to the groundwater contamination, including poor training, a culture of not complying with procedures and slow response times. Some island residents are no longer willing to give the Navy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the water issue and fear the full extent of the contamination is not yet known. Hawaiis Board of Water Supply said in an Aug. 4 news release it had detected low-level petroleum contamination in a monitoring well about 1,500 feet southeast of the Red Hill facility. The detection of chemicals associated with hydrocarbons significantly heightens the [Board of Water Supplys] concern that fuel contamination from the Red Hill facility is travelling through Oahus sole-source aquifer, Ernest Lau, the boards manager and chief engineer, said in the news release. The new Navy funding is intended to implement landscape-scale watershed protection, restore native forests to replenish the Pearl Harbor Aquifer, and provide long-term protection in the Koolau Mountains, the Navy said in the Thursday release. The aim is to protect roughly 7,155 acres of the upland forest in the watershed directly above the joint base, the service said. These native forests protect the source of drinking water for [the joint base] and the surrounding local community, provide a buffer from major storm events that cause erosion and flooding, and subsequently minimize impacts to mission operations, the Navy said. The Navy sees itself as part of the community, and with that role comes a responsibility to protect and preserve the land, water, and other natural resources which Hawaiis people have honored and depended upon, Meredith Berger, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment, said in the release. The watershed funding is dwarfed by the $1.1 billion that Congress has approved to deal with the contamination crisis, which displaced thousands of residents for several months and sickened many. Congress is considering spending another $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023 to pay for emptying and shuttering the fuel facility. Spain is opening its doors to foreign workers to fix labor shortages and ease a demographic slump threatening its future prosperity. In contrast with more anti-immigrant politics in much of Europe, the government has loosened rules to allow the recruitment of employees in their countries, mostly in Latin America, for both skilled and unskilled jobs that are hard to fill. The reform offers an accelerated path to legal status for potentially tens of thousands of people currently working in the shadow economy. With unemployment at its lowest since 2008, Spain -- like much of western Europe -- is struggling with the sort of severe labor shortages that led to travel chaos at European airports this summer. The euro zone's fourth-biggest economy has glaring vacancies ranging from software developers and scientists to waiters, bricklayers and baggage handlers. While the post-pandemic rebound explains the most pressing job needs, the shortage also offers a glimpse of the deeper problems gripping industrialized economies with fewer babies, shrinking workforces, and spiraling public-finance costs to match. "An aging population means you will have to depend more on foreign workers to help European countries maintain welfare states and pensions," Social Security and Migration Minister Jose Luis Escriva, the architect of the reform, said in an interview. "It is more of a medium-term problem, but this measure is designed with that horizon in mind." Spain has one of the world's most rapidly aging societies. The share of its population over 65 years is now at 23%, reflecting particularly high life expectancy and low fertility rates. The number of Spaniards will shrink by a third by 2100, assuming normal immigration flows, United Nations projections show. Escriva, a former European Central Bank economist, predicts such challenges will increase competition to fill skill gaps in advanced economies. That may even be already happening as other countries welcome immigrants too. Germany plans a reform to allow over 130,000 foreigners to gain regular status, and Poland wants many of the 2 million Ukrainian refugees in the country to stay for good. Other nations are more determined to keep foreigners out. Italian far-right parties calling for a crackdown on illegal migrants are leading polls ahead of next month's election. Meanwhile France's nativist National Rally Party had its best showing ever at the ballot box in June, and the U.K. largely shut its borders to European Union citizens seeking work after its exit from the bloc. In Spain, radical right-wing party Vox, the country's third political force, has kept largely quiet about the immigration reform. The party is often less critical of workers from Latin American countries, which were under Spanish rule for centuries. Many opinion polls show relative tolerance to immigrants in Spain compared with other Europeans, which might be due to the relative ease that Latin Americans sharing a common language and religion have found integrating into society. Not all foreigners are equally welcomed. Although Spain already hires farm workers directly from Morocco, the government has kept a hard-line stance against most other African immigrants. In June, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended the efforts of Moroccan and Spanish police to prevent hundreds from crossing a fence into the North African conclave of Melilla, which resulted in the death of at least 23 people. According to Ignacio Conde-Ruiz, an economics professor at Complutense University in Madrid, Spain should open its borders faster to avoid missing out on a pool of workers that is likely to shrink in the future as fertility rates in Latin America drop too. "More needs to be done if we want our economy to function properly and ease the strain on our pensions," he said. "It will be more difficult to bring immigrants in the future." By far the biggest challenge to the sustainability of the pension system comes from the rising portion of elderly citizens relative to the economically active population, according to the Bank of Spain. The irony is that the country does actually have plenty of young people seeking work despite growing labor shortages. More than 840,000 people under the age of 30 could not find a job during the first quarter. At nearly 29%, Spain's youth unemployment rate, one of Europe's highest, reveals a mismatch between vacancies on offer and the skillset of its young workforce. Without deeper reforms to reduce an over-reliance on basic services related to tourism, the immigration reform won't fix the labor scarcity, said Andreu Domingo, deputy head of the Barcelona-based Centre for Demographic Studies. "These measures are a good step, but they don't address the real problem," he said. "It doesn't change an economic structure based on low productivity with low wages that will lead to a constant demand for low-skilled workers." ___ Bloomberg's Zoe Schneeweiss contributed to this report. Despite a barrage of Western sanctions that followed Alexander Lukashenko's claim of victory in a fraudulent presidential election two years ago, the Kremlin-backed dictator of Belarus continues to brutally - and bizarrely - repress political dissent. Among his regime's favorite tools: the video of shame, in which citizens are forced to make humiliating "confessions" while stripped to their underpants, wearing Santa hats or draped with their own pro-democracy banners. These "extremists," arrested by the government's anti-extremism unit GUBOPiK, mumble out details of their alleged crimes for videos that are posted on pro-government Telegram channels. The channels call it "self-denazification." Many of the so-called offenders did little more than attend protest rallies, or subscribe to online independent media. The persistent, pernicious persecution of innocent dissenters in Belarus highlights the failure of Western powers, including the United States, to deter Lukashenko or bolster the country's democratic opposition, whose leaders are now mostly jailed or in exile. Not only did Lukashenko turn to Russian President Vladimir Putin for political and financial support in squashing the protests, he then allowed his country to be used as a staging ground for Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In different ways, the fates of Belarus and Ukraine underscore the limits of Washington's diplomacy on Russia's western borders, long a carrot-and-stick balancing act. Moscow views each as a strategic buffer. In Ukraine, Putin went to war to try to force capitulation to Moscow's interests; in Belarus he succeeded without firing a shot. The United States and Europe wooed Ukraine for years with billions in assistance. They punished Belarus with sanctions only to see Lukashenko sucked back into Putin's orbit. This week, in commemoration of the second anniversary of Lukashenko's fraudulent election, the United States announced new visa restrictions on 100 regime officials and their "affiliates," including high-ranking officials in the presidential administration and the notorious GUBOPiK. In a statement, the State Department said the targeted officials "have been implicated in torture; violent arrests of peaceful protesters; raids of homes and offices of journalists, members of the opposition, and activists; coerced confessions; electoral fraud; politically motivated sentences of political prisoners; expulsion of students for participation in peaceful protests; passage of legislation impacting the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms; and acts of transnational repression." In a symbolic move, Lukashenko's rival in the 2020 elections Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, announced a transitional cabinet. But while Tikhanovskaya is regularly welcomed in Western capitals, and met President Joe Biden at the White House last year, Lukashenko faces no internal threat to his power. Instead, Lukashenko's thuggish enforcers at GUBOPiK have a green light to rough up activists and target their families. They post spoof videos mimicking a popular Russian before-and-after apartment renovation show - but instead the homes are destroyed. Wielding crowbars, they break up the apartments of parents of exiled Belarusian activists, the camera panning slowly across the view, "after the search," showing floors pulled up, broken furniture, mirrors and fittings smashed, shards of glass and tangled clothes. GUBOPiK did not respond to requests for comment about the confession videos. The 2020 protests marked Lukashenko's greatest crisis since coming to power in 1994, but he was saved when Putin supported his violent crackdown. Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine have bound Lukashenko even more tightly to Putin, forcing Belarus to rely on Russia as a market and on Russian ports to ship exports. Before the war, 41% of Belarusian exports went to Russia, while 35% went to Ukraine and Europe - markets now largely lost. "Every new stage of this isolation imposed by the West on Lukashenko means that his dependence on Moscow grows economically," said analyst Artyom Shraibman of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Lukashenko has resisted pressure to send his own military to fight in Ukraine on Russia's behalf. But he has tightened his grip on dissent since the war, broadening the death penalty in May to bring in firing squad executions for the "preparation of terrorist acts," in an ominous message to antiwar activists. Dmitry Ravich, Denis Dikun and Oleg Molchanov, who set fire to a railway signal box to slow the advance of Russian military equipment, have been charged with terrorism, treason and joining an extremist group - and could face the death penalty, according to activists. More than 30 members of their antiwar group, the Railway Partisans, have been arrested and forced to make confession videos. Five were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms from two years to 16 years. "It is to make people afraid. It is to demoralize them and to make them feel unprotected - that this can happen to anyone at any time," said analyst Pavel Slunkin, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a former Belarusian Foreign Ministry official. People are given years in prison for minor offenses that used to be punished with 15 days of detention, he said. Belarusian authorities have named 372 internet activist or media groups and 448 individuals as "extremists." More than 1,200 political prisoners are currently in jail. "Right now, the political field in Belarus has been completely sterilized," said London-based independent journalist and analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis, Tadeusz Giczan. "There is not any real sign of dissent on the streets right now, because literally, hundreds of thousands of people - the most active ones - have been forced to flee the country." Some Belarusians, unable to pursue democracy at home, have volunteered to fight on Ukraine's side in the war. And the parents and families of exiles, especially those fighting in Ukraine, face the worst public shaming. One 68-year-old woman whose son is fighting against Russia, was forced to disown him in a video broadcast on a pro-government Telegram channel. "I am ashamed that I have such a son," she said, visibly in distress. The volunteer fighters see Russia's defeat in Ukraine as a path to Belarusian freedom. It is far from clear how much of a political challenge they may pose to Lukashenko in future, analysts say, but the videos show Lukashenko's regime views them as a threat, according to Shraibman. "They are viewed by Belarusian authorities as the ultimate thugs, as terrorists," he said. "They are armed and if they cannot topple Lukashenko, they can infiltrate the country, use their skills, use their weapons because they have nothing to lose." Other exiles are running opposition media or activist sites. Thousands of young IT specialists have fled, undermining the once-vibrant technology sector. Bypol, an organization of former police and security officers, trains people to resist the regime and has a civil mobilization action plan to topple Lukashenko's regime, with 200,000 Telegram subscribers. The Belarusian Hajun Project compiles detailed reports on Russian military movements in southern Belarus based on civilians' photographs and accounts. Nexta news, an opposition media channel founded in 2015 by then teenager Stsiapan Putsila, has more than 4.5 million followers on Telegram, YouTube and Twitter, focusing mainly on news from Ukraine and Belarus. In January, a flawed constitutional referendum vote empowered him to rule until 2035, ended Belarus's nonnuclear status - paving the way for the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory - and granted Lukahsenko amnesty from future prosecution. In his 28 years in power, Lukashenko has jailed rivals, made opponents "disappear," rigged elections and engineered constitutional changes to stay in office. His country's economy rests on state-owned Soviet-style behemoths. A constitutional referendum in January empowered him to rule until 2035, ended Belarus's nonnuclear status, paving the way for the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, and granted Lukahsenko amnesty from future prosecution. Lukashenko's anti-NATO rhetoric is often more strident than Moscow's, and he revels in bombastic threats. Last year, he amped up pressure on Europe by engineering a migration crisis on the borders of Lithuania and Poland, which lasted months. Like many strongman dictators, Lukashenko's political career had genuine populist origins. Trained as a history teacher, he joined the army before becoming director of a collective farm. In 1993, he was elected to parliament and his fiery speeches against corrupt officials provided a springboard to winning the 1994 presidential election. Lukashenko chuckles at being called a dictator, once joking with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a February 2020 meeting in Minsk: "Our dictatorship has a distinctive feature: Everyone gets some rest on Saturday and Sunday, but the president works," he said, according to state-owned news agency BelTA. "The president has great powers," he said in a recent interview with AFP. "We have elements of authoritarianism in the state." Lukashenko enjoys flaunting that power. On Monday, he dropped into a $400 million private Miory steel plant and declared it had been seized by the state. Among Belarusian elites, the war in Ukraine has only consolidated support for Lukashenko. There are no cracks in his support among the Belarusian elite of security officials and civil servants, Shraibman said. Many see Ukraine being clawed to pieces by Russia for its pro-European leanings, and feel grateful that Lukashenko's wily, pro-Kremlin stance has spared Belarus a similar fate. SIRMIONE Italy Italy's worst drought in decades has reduced Lake Garda, the country's largest lake, to near its lowest level ever recorded, exposing swaths of previously underwater rocks and warming the water to temperatures that approach the average in the Caribbean Sea. Tourists flocking to the popular northern lake Friday for the start of Italy's key summer long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline, ringing the southern Sirmione Peninsula with a yellow halo between the green hues of the water and the trees on the shore. "We came last year, we liked it, and we came back this year," tourist Beatrice Masi said as she sat on the rocks. "We found the landscape had changed a lot. We were a bit shocked when we arrived because we had our usual walk around, and the water wasn't there." Northern Italy hasnt seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%, drying up important rivers like the Po, which flows across Italy's agricultural and industrial heartland. Many European countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Britain, are enduring droughts this summer that have hurt farmers and shippers and promoted authorities to restrict water use. The parched condition of the Po, Italy's longest river, has already caused billions of euros in losses to farmers who normally rely on it to irrigate fields and rice paddies. To compensate, authorities allowed more water from Lake Garda to flow out to local rivers 2,472 cubic feet of water per second. But in late July, they reduced the amount to protect the lake and the financially important tourism tied to it. With 1,589 cubic feet of water per second being diverted to rivers, the lake on Friday was 12.6 inches above the water table, near the record lows in 2003 and 2007. Garda Mayor Davide Bedinelli said he had to protect both farmers and the tourist industry. He insisted that the summer tourist season was going better than expected, despite cancellations, mostly from German tourists, during Italy's latest heat wave in late July. "Drought is a fact that we have to deal with this year, but the tourist season is in no danger," Bendinelli wrote in a July 20 Facebook post. He confirmed the lake was losing .78 inches of water a day. The lake's temperature, meanwhile, has been above average for August, according to seatemperature.org. On Friday, the Garda's water was nearly 78 degrees Fahrenheit, several degrees warmer than the average August temperature of 71.6 F and nearing the Caribbean Sea's average of around 80 F. For Mario Treccani, who owns a lakefront concession of beach chairs and umbrellas, the lake's expanded shoreline means fewer people are renting his chairs since there are now plenty of rocks on which to sunbathe. "The lake is usually a meter or more than a meter higher," he said from the rocks. Pointing to a small wall that usually blocks the water from the beach chairs, he recalled that on windy days, sometimes waves from the lake would splash up onto the tourists. Not anymore. "It is a bit sad. Before, you could hear the noise of the waves breaking up here. Now, you don't hear anything," he said. Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome. Vast amounts of chemical waste were probably dumped into a river on the Polish-German border, Poland's prime minister said Friday, killing tons of fish and creating an ecological disaster that could take years to clean up. Authorities said 150 Polish troops have been deployed to the 522-mile-long Oder River, which flows through Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic, to launch a cleanup operation. The chemical spill was likely intentional, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on a podcast Friday. "It is likely that enormous amounts of chemical waste have been dumped into the Oder River, and this was done with full awareness of the risks and consequences," Morawiecki said. "We will not let this matter go, we will not rest until the guilty are severely punished." German water samples from the region revealed elevated levels of mercury, according to local media, but authorities are still investigating the source of the spill. Scientists have speculated that there might be other causes for the mass fish deaths, including climate change. The Polish troops set up a barrier along the river to catch the dead fish, and warned local residents not to bathe in the water or eat fish caught in contaminated parts of the river. Environmental groups have criticized Poland's government for its slow response to the contamination, which local fishermen noticed in late July. The German environment ministry said Warsaw did not officially inform Berlin of the disaster until Thursday, weeks after the dead fish first appeared. "We know that the chain of reporting that's envisaged for such cases didn't work," environment ministry spokesperson Christopher Stolzenberg told reporters, according to the Associated Press. "An environmental catastrophe is looming," German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke told the RND newspaper group. "All sides are working flat out to find the reasons for this mass [killing of fish] and minimize potential further damage." Video posted on social media shows fish piled up and floating along the river bank. Local fishermen say they have been hauling dead fish and beavers out of the water for weeks. Scientists have speculated that factors beyond deliberate dumping could be at play. The mercury could have settled in the river's sediment due to past pollution, before being stirred up by recent dredging. Europe's historic heat wave this summer could also be to blame. The continent is facing what is potentially its worst drought in 500 years; low water levels and high temperatures could be choking off oxygen supplies to the river's aquatic life and worsening existing pollution. "This is a problem we will increasingly face as we move into a world affected by climate change. Pollutants that are out there are more toxic because they are present in higher concentrations during drought conditions," said David Taylor, a professor of environmental change at the National University of Singapore. "We are in this strange period now, where we are beginning to see . . . not just the direct effects of climate change, such as droughts and storms, but also the knock-on effects." In 2016, Vietnam blamed a steel plant on its coast for a toxic waste spill that killed some 100 tons of fish, in what has been called the country's worst environmental disaster. The spill contaminated 125 miles of coastline and left many fishermen in the region jobless. An internal government report found that the plant, run by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group, had committed more than 50 violations, according to Reuters. On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki fired the head of the National Water Management Agency, after 20,000 people signed a petition urging the dismissal. He also sacked the chief inspector of the country's Environmental Protection Agency for not acting quickly enough. "The situation we are dealing with was in no way foreseeable, but certainly the responsible agencies could have acted faster," he said in a Facebook post. By Trend The State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons of Azerbaijan has held meeting on implementation of President Ilham Aliyevs instructions on organizing return of local residents to Lachin city, Zabukh and Sus villages of Lachin district, Trend reports via the committee. According to the committee, at the meeting it was noted that thanks to the decisive policy of President, Victorious Supreme Commander Ilham Aliyev, heroism of valiant Azerbaijani Army, Armenia, having suffered a crushing defeat, was forced to return the Lachin district to Azerbaijan, including Lachin city, Zabukh and Sus villages, without firing a single shot. Following the instructions of the president, the preparation of the return of former internally displaced persons to these settlements is one of the important tasks. Structural units of the committee were instructed to determine the number of residents of Lachin city, Zabukh and Sus villages. The units were also instructed to take the necessary measures to assess social status and employment opportunities of the residents, to inform the population, to speed up work on the solution of technical and organizational issues in connection with the resettlement and other tasks. New York State Police in Clarence arrested a Buffalo man Friday and charged him with stealing from an elderly victim he served as an aide. Jered C. Menter, 31, is charged with third-degree grand larceny, first-degree identity theft and second-degree forgery, all Class D felonies. Police began investigating on July 2 after responding to a larceny complaint on Ransom Road in the Town of Clarence. The investigation revealed that Menter acted as an aide for an elderly patient, allowing him to access the victims financial accounts. He then transferred approximately $18,500 to himself and other third party proxies, Troop A Commander Major Eugene J. Staniszewski said in a news release. Menter acts as an aide to other elderly individuals across the Western New York area, and police believe more victims exist. Anyone with information is urged to contact state police at 585-344-6200. Menter is awaiting sentencing on another case investigated by the Niagara County Sheriffs Office and is a suspect in a case in Boston. (Tribune News Service) Russia for the first time expressed guarded optimism about talks with the U.S. on a prisoner exchange involving WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American. "'Quiet diplomacy' is continuing, and it should bear fruit, if of course, Washington strictly follows it without slipping into propaganda," Alexander Darchiyev, head of the North American department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with the state Tass news service published on Saturday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this month they're willing to pursue the talks a day after a Moscow court sentenced Griner to nine years in prison on drug charges. President Joe Biden called Griner's punishment "unacceptable" and said the White House would work tirelessly in pursuit of her release. Last month, the Biden administration proposed a swap involving Griner, a two-time Olympic Gold medalist, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was jailed in Russia in 2020 on spying charges he denies. In return it's ready to free Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as the "merchant of death" who was sentenced to 25 years in 2012, and a second Russian also held in a U.S. jail, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. While the Kremlin has long pressed for Bout's return to Russia, officials in Moscow initially indicated Russia was leaning toward rejecting the U.S. offer because it regarded its terms as unequal. Griner, 31, was convicted of drug possession and smuggling following her arrest at a Moscow airport after customs officials found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty July 7, saying her action was unintentional, and her lawyers had asked the court for a lenient punishment. A Russian official asked via a back-channel to include in any swap deal Vadim Krasikov, a former official with links to the domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in 2021 in Germany, people familiar with the conversations said. Another potential target for Russia could be Vladislav Klyushin, a Kremlin insider extradited from Switzerland to the U.S. in December on insider-trading charges, several people in Moscow with knowledge of the matter said. Klyushin may be far more valuable to Russia and the U.S. Russian intelligence has concluded that he has access to documents related to the hacking of Democratic Party servers during the 2016 presidential election, according to people in Moscow close to the Kremlin and security services. One of Klyushin's alleged co-conspirators, who remains at large, was previously charged in connection with Russia's scheme to interfere in the vote. ___ 2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. KABUL, Afghanistan - An Australian teacher who was kidnapped in Kabul by Taliban forces in 2016, then held hostage for three years before being released in an exchange deal with U.S. officials, returned here Friday and announced that he planned to "celebrate" the upcoming first anniversary of Taliban rule. Timothy Weeks, 53, arrived at Kabul's international airport clad in a black tribal turban and white Afghan tunic. He told waiting journalists that he had first come to Afghanistan "with a dream to learn about Afghanistan, and now I'm coming again to complete my journey." Weeks converted to Islam during more than three years in Taliban captivity and changed his name to Baar Muad Jibra'il after returning home. During his many months as a prisoner he "saw these people in a light that nobody else has been able to do," he said, adding that he has long "stood behind" the Taliban and continues to do so. He recently announced to Australian press his plan to return for the anniversary of Taliban rule, saying he now considers himself "an Afghan and a Pashtun," the ethnic group of the Taliban, and that he wants to help the Afghan people through a new charity in Australia. The country is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with many Afghans unable to find enough food, according to international aid groups. "I ask the world to understand the Taliban and give them time," Weeks said in a recent interview with Turkish media. But Weeks's visit and supportive comments toward the Taliban drew immediate criticism from international human rights groups, many of which have recently denounced the regime for suppressing women's rights and refusing to let teenage girls attend school. Zaki Haidari, a refugee rights advocate at Amnesty International in Australia, told broadcaster SBS that Weeks' visit to Kabul was "outrageous" and "brings a lot of anger and frustration" to the large community of Afghan refugees and exiles. "What is there to celebrate?" Haidari said Saturday. "The fact they are violating women's rights, that they are not allowing girls to go to school, and leaving millions of people to poverty and hunger, including children?" Weeks has described himself as spiritually transformed by his experiences in captivity. Despite being beaten, deprived of food, kept in solitary confinement and becoming severely ill, he has said in interviews that he came to "adore" the Afghan people, and also told an interviewer that he admired the Taliban fighters for their tenacity. Weeks was one of two faculty members kidnapped in August 2016 from a van near the American University in Afghanistan, a large private institution in Kabul where he had been teaching English for several months. The other was an American, Kevin King, 13 years older than Weeks, who had taught English there for two years. Soon after they were abducted, U.S. Navy SEALs unsuccessfully attempted to rescue the captives in a secret raid in rural eastern Afghanistan. In early 2017, both men appeared in an emotional 13-minute video filmed by their captors, looking weak and haggard. Both pleaded for the U.S. government to negotiate their release in exchange for Taliban prisoners being held in U.S. military custody. But it was not until two years later that the men were released in an exchange for three senior Taliban members. One of them was Anas Haqqani, now a top member of the current Taliban leadership in Kabul. In 2020, Weeks met Haqqani in Qatar, where they exchanged notes and found something in common: They had both written poetry in captivity. In contrast to Weeks, King has kept a low profile since his release and has been reported to suffer ongoing health problems. He is now nearing 70. Weeks's public praise for the Taliban, just days before the first anniversary of its takeover of the country, stands in sharp contrast to the concerns many international groups and Western governments have expressed recently about the Kabul regime's tightening repression of women, as well as other serious problems. "The last year, since the Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021, has been an absolute disaster for human rights in Afghanistan," Heather Barr, an associate director at Human Rights Watch in New York, wrote in a recent report. She said Afghans have been facing "two different extremely severe crises at the same time": a humanitarian crisis driven by the cutoff of foreign aid and funds; and an "attack on human rights, with extrajudicial killings, attacks on media freedom and very notably a rollback of most of the rights of women and girls." KABUL An uneasy calm has settled over the Afghan capital this summer, a wary detente between the country's stern religious rulers and a deflated, worried populace that is struggling to survive but also relieved that the punishing 20-year war involving foreign troops is over. Both sides have been trying to maintain a precarious balancing act. The Taliban regime, hoping not to further alienate foreign donors, has been sending out muddled signals rather than ironclad orders on controversial topics, especially women's rights. The citizenry, hoping to get through another hard day without crossing an unpredictable red line, is mostly lying low. But as the first anniversary of the Taliban's return to power approaches next week, the balancing act has become harder to sustain. A series of violent attacks in the capital have belied the regime's assertions that it can keep the public safe, while the Taliban's shifting explanations for keeping teenage girls out of school have left thousands of families frustrated and angry. In poor city neighborhoods, life seems to go on as normal. The summer nights are hot, and the power fails often. Men sit on cement stoops and stroll toward corner mosques when the evening call to prayer wafts through the muggy air. Children chase one another in the streets. Burqa-covered women huddle beneath bakery windows, begging for a piece of bread. But gradually, the capital that had swelled to 4 million just two years ago is hollowing out. Downtown, choice parking spots sit empty and clusters of drug addicts are taking over the sidewalks. Gone are the traffic jams that once inched ahead while small boys darted among cars like fish, attempting to wash windshields for pennies. The illusion of postwar security has collapsed. First, on July 31, an American drone missile struck a house in central Kabul, its tremor felt for several miles. Soon afterward, President Joe Biden announced that the strike had killed the leader of al-Qaida, which the Taliban had agreed to ban in its 2020 peace deal with U.S. officials. Then, over the next several days, a spate of terrorist attacks in Kabul's Shiite Muslim community including a bomb hidden in a flowerpot and gunfire from an apartment building shattered hopes that after years of persecution, Shiites could gather outside without fear to observe Muharram, a month of mourning for Imam Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad. "We used to think of the Taliban as a faraway monster. Now the monster is here, in charge of the government, so it is their responsibility to protect us. People feel more confident," Safar Baqri, 32, said two weeks ago as he hung up colorful banners to sell during Muharram. But by last weekend, scores of people in the area had been killed or wounded. Thousands of banners were taken down by the police, traffic was banned and the streets were empty except for Taliban forces in armored trucks. Community leaders angrily accused the authorities of "canceling" their sacred rite instead of safeguarding it. "We took many victims to hospitals, some missing legs or arms, some with shrapnel in their stomachs, some with burned faces," an ambulance driver named Syed Ali, 55, recounted after a bomb exploded Aug. 6 near a major intersection. "We tried to get all their names, but some were too injured to speak." The drone strike, in contrast, harmed no local residents, damaged a single house and targeted a foreign-born militant Ayman al-Zawahri who was little-known to many Afghans. But it sparked a surge of public anger at the United States that had receded since the withdrawal of foreign troops last August. There were defiant tweets on the internet, mocking the Taliban regime for failing to retaliate. There was an anti-American rally in Kabul, with Taliban security escorts and marchers holding up perfectly lettered placards in English saying "Down with America." For the most part, though, the capital soon settled back into a familiar, glum routine of making do with far too little. In conversations over the past several weeks, people from all walks of life said they were mostly trying to get through each day and avoid thinking too far ahead into an uncertain future. In central Kabul, a line of haggard-looking men formed outside a World Food Program depot and stretched along several city blocks. Nearby, other men waited with battered wheelbarrows, hoping to earn a few pennies lugging supplies of wheat, sugar and cooking oil to people's homes. "This is my third time here," confided a dignified man in his 60s named Khalid Aziz, who said he had spent 25 years teaching Persian literature to high school students. "This country has suffered a tragedy, and we are all just trying to survive it," he said. "We are afraid for the future of our children, and we have no hope for tomorrow." A few blocks away, a glittering bridal shop sat empty. The carpeted showroom featured shapely mannequins in sequined, imported gowns, but their faces had been covered by masks or wigs, in obedience to Taliban instructions. The owner, Sayed Hussain, said he had few customers now, because most brides could afford only simple dresses stitched by local tailors. "I am worried and upset all the time. Everyone in this country is upset," Hussain said, fingering prayer beads nonstop. "We have no idea what will happen next, or what our future will look like. When I see the hundreds of messages on Facebook, so many people trying to leave the country, it makes me think I should take my family and go." As with the partly covered mannequins, Taliban officials have taken other half-steps to implement their strict Islamic code without turning the public against them. Weddings, the social glue of Afghan society, were already divided into separate rooms for males and females. The regime has allowed weddings to continue but banned live bands, known for earsplitting, amplified vocals and drums. The Taliban administration has also been working to modernize its bureaucracy and soften its international image. Government ministries now include trimly dressed professionals and spokesmen. Many are Talibs, but they bear little resemblance to the scowling figures with bristling beards and Kalashnikov rifles who ran the country in the late 1990s. At the international airport, arriving passengers are whisked through once cumbersome immigration lines, and uniformed female officers stamp passports in booths adjacent to their male counterparts even as the regime has banned women from most public jobs except at hospitals and detention centers for women. Inside a gleaming bank, foreign cash transfer services, until recently blocked by international sanctions, are processed efficiently by technicians sitting behind computer screens. The premises are spotless and the scene far more orderly than the scrums of pre-Taliban days. Outside, many women shop with their faces exposed, seemingly without fear of punishment, even though the regime has instructed those of childbearing age to veil themselves in public or, preferably, not leave home at all. New rules also forbid women to travel long distances without a male chaperone. Officials refer to these orders as mere "guidance," and there have been no reports of women in the capital being beaten for dressing immodestly. But in rural areas, religious officials have begun meting out severe punishments to both criminals and moral offenders. In Zabul province, authorities recently announced the public whippings of two thieves and an adulterous couple. Such mixed signals have roiled public opinion on the most sensitive issue of the day: whether and when the Taliban will allow girls above sixth grade to attend school. Since May, when the regime abruptly reneged on its pledge to let older girls back in class, officials have offered various explanations: The curriculum needs to be revised; religious scholars are divided; some rural men do not want their daughters to leave home. The year-long wait has been a growing source of anguish and frustration for families in Kabul, whose teenage daughters have sat home for months and whose younger ones dread what will happen when they finish sixth grade. "I feel so sad for my daughter," said Ghulam Haider, 38, an engineer who lost his job with a foreign construction company when the Taliban took over. As the family gathered in their parlor one recent evening, 13-year-old Samia sat shyly on a sofa, looking downcast. "She loves school, and she is so bright," Haider said. Although many of their friends have left the country, the family had been planning to remain. "We wanted to see Afghanistan become peaceful and begin to prosper," he said. "But now, for the sake of her future, we are thinking about leaving, too." TEHRAN, Iran Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdie's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses." In the streets of Iran's capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. "I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. "This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities." Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. "I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. "This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China." Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the country's economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammad's life. "I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled 'Satanic Verses' ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death," Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: "Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven." Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. Matar, the man who attacked Rushdie on Friday, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from the southern village of Yaroun, the town's mayor Ali Tehfe told the AP. Yaroun sits only kilometers (miles) away from Israel. In the past, the Israeli military has fired on what it described as positions of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah around that area. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: "A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie." The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: "Salman Rushdie near death?" The conservative newspaper Khorasan bore a large image of Rushdie on a stretcher, its headline blaring: "Satan on the path to hell." But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Iran's former shah by Khomeini's supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as "bonyads" in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shah's time, often serve the political interests of the country's hard-liners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the country's Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the country's government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami's foreign minister in 1998 said that the "government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it." Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a "good feeling" after seeing Rushdie attacked. "This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people," he said. Others, however, worried the attack regardless of why it was carried out could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. "It will make Iran more isolated," warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. "The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid," Khamenei said in 1989. "As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target." As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: "Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslim's duty in this regard?" Khamenei responded: "The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued." Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press journalists Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. UNITED NATIONS A year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, prominent Afghan rights activist Sima Samar is still heartbroken over what happened to her country. Samar, a former minister of women's affairs and the first chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, left Kabul in July 2021 for the United States on her first trip after the COVID-19 pandemic, never expecting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country and the Taliban to take power for the second time soon after on Aug. 15. "I think it's a sad anniversary for the majority of people of my country," Samar said, particularly for the women "who don't have enough food, who do not know what is the tomorrow for them." A visiting scholar at the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School at Harvard, she has written the first draft of an autobiography and is working on a policy paper on customary law relating to Afghan women. She is also trying to get a Green Card, but she said, "I honestly cannot orient myself, where I am, and what I'm doing." She wishes she could go home but she can't. In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, she recalled a Taliban news conference a few days after they took power when they said if people apologized for past actions they would be forgiven. "And I said, I should be apologizing because I started schools for the people?" said Samar, a member of Afghanistan's long persecuted Hazara minority. "I should apologize because I started hospitals and clinics in Afghanistan? I should apologize because I tried to stop torture of the Taliban? I should apologize to advocate against the death penalty, including (for) the Taliban leadership?" "All my life I fought for life as a doctor," she said. "So I cannot change and support the death penalty. I shouldn't apologize for those principles of human rights and be punished." Samar became an activist as a 23-year-old medical student with an infant son. In 1984, the then-communist government arrested her activist husband, and she never saw him again. She fled to Pakistan with her young son and worked as a doctor for Afghan refugees and started several clinics to care for Afghan women and girls. Samar remembered the Taliban's previous rule in the late 1990s, when they largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions. A U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which al-Qaida orchestrated from Afghanistan while being sheltered by the Taliban. After the Taliban's ouster, Samar returned to Afghanistan, moving into the top women's rights and human rights positions, and over the next 20 years schools and universities were opened for girls, women entered the workforce and politics and became judges. But Samar said in an AP interview in April 2021 four months before the Taliban's second takeover of the country that the gains were fragile and human rights activists had many enemies in Afghanistan, from militants and warlords to those who wanted to stifle criticism or challenge their power. Samar said the Afghan government and leadership, especially Ghani, were mainly responsible for the Taliban sweeping into Kabul and taking power. But she also put blame on Afghans "because we were very divided." In every speech and interview she gave nationally and internationally over the years, she said Afghans had to be united and inclusive, and "we have to have the people's support. Otherwise, we will lose." As chair of the Human Rights Commission, she said she repeatedly faced criticism that she was trying to impose Western values on Afghanistan. "And I kept saying, human rights is not Western values. As a human being, everyone needs to have a shelter access to education and health services, to security," she said. Since their takeover, the Taliban have limited girls' public education to just six years, restricted women's work, encouraged them to stay at home, and issued dress codes requiring them to cover their faces. Samar urged international pressure not only to allow all girls to attend secondary school and university, but to ensure all human rights which are interlinked. And she stressed the importance of education for young boys, who without any schooling, job or skill could be at risk to get involved in opium production, weapons smuggling or in violence. She also urged the international community to continue humanitarian programs which are critical to save lives, but said they should focus on food-for-work or cash-for-work to end peoples' total dependency and give them "self-confidence and dignity." Samar said Afghan society has changed over the past two decades, with more access to technology, rising education levels among the young and some experience with elections, t even if they weren't free and fair. She said such achievements leave the possibility of positive change in the future. "Those are the issues that they (the Taliban) cannot control," she said. "They would like to, but they cannot do it." Samar said she hoped for eventual accountability and justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. "Otherwise, we feel the culture of impunity everywhere, everywhere -- and the invasion of Russia to Ukraine is a repetition of Afghanistan's case," she said. Her hope for Afghan women is that they can "live with dignity rather than being a slave of people." (Tribune News Service) Vice President Kamala Harris condemned an attempted attack on an FBI office and criticized supporters of Donald Trump for incendiary rhetoric that has fueled a backlash against law enforcement following a raid on the former president's Florida home. "I will say, as a former prosecutor, but as a citizen of our nation, any attacks on law enforcement are completely unacceptable," Harris told reporters aboard Air Force Two on Friday. "And any so-called leader who engages in rhetoric that in any way suggests that law enforcement should be exposed to that kind of danger is irresponsible and can result in dangerous activities." Federal agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago home this week and seized documents bearing the U.S. government's highest top secret rating as part of an investigation into whether he was unlawfully holding on to classified documents, a development that creates risks for his possible run for the presidency in 2024. Harris is the highest-ranking White House official to comment on the political fallout. In a fierce backlash following the raid on Monday, Trump supporters and some Republican lawmakers decried the search as politicized. They included voices such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who tweeted that President Joe Biden was "playing with fire" by allegedly using the Justice Department "to persecute a likely future election opponent." Biden learned of the raid from media reports, according to the White House. On Thursday, a man was fatally shot after trying to breach an FBI building in Cincinnati. "It's just highly irresponsible of anyone who calls themselves a leader and certainly anyone who represents the United States of America to engage in rhetoric for the sake of some political objective that can result in harm to law enforcement officers and agents," Harris said. ___ 2022 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. MAYVILLE, N.Y. The man accused in the stabbing attack on Salman Rushdie pleaded not guilty Saturday to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a "preplanned" crime, as the renowned author of "The Satanic Verses" remained hospitalized with serious injuries. An attorney for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment in western New York. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him. A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. "This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr. Rushdie," Schmidt said. Public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge while leaving him "hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks." "He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence," Barone added. Matar, 24, is accused of attacking Rushdie on Friday as the author was being introduced at a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute, a nonprofit education and retreat center. Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak, his agent Andrew Wylie said Friday evening. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye. The attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for "The Satanic Verses." Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage for his longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie "an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world," and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model "for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he's shown incredible warmth." President Joe Biden said Saturday in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were "shocked and saddened" by the attack. "Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals," the statement read. "Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society." Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel "Midnight's Children," in which he sharply criticized India's then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi. "The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie's death in 1989. Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Iran's current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn't focused on the writer. Investigators were working to determine whether the assailant, born a decade after "The Satanic Verses" was published, acted alone. District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing arguing against bail. "Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met," Schmidt said. "His resources don't matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and it's sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County," the prosecutor said. Authorities said Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press. Flags of Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah and portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his late predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani are visible across the village, which also has a small Christian population. Journalists visiting the village Saturday were asked to leave. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to inquiries about Matar and the attack. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. An AP reporter witnessed the attacker stab or punch Rushdie about 10 or 15 times. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie's wounds as "serious but recoverable." Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriff's deputy were assigned to Rushdie's lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But afterward some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn't tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After the publication of "The Satanic Verses," often-violent protests erupted across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born to a Muslim family and has long identified as a nonbeliever, once calling himself "a hardline atheist." At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie's hometown of Mumbai. 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. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir about the fatwa titled "Joseph Anton," the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk that year that terrorism was really the art of fear. "The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid," he said. The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks, and most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night. The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before. At a Friday evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence. "Hate can't win," one man shouted. Italie reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut. The Rev. Carl Kabat, a tireless opponent of nuclear weapons whose decades of protests included damaging warhead nose cones with a group known as the Plowshares Eight that gave new focus to the disarmament movement, died Aug. 4 in San Antonio. He was 88. The death was announced by the Oblate Madonna Residence, a senior community home affiliated with Kabat's religious congregation, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. No cause was given. Kabat was repeatedly jailed - spending a total of nearly 20 years in jail since the 1970s - but remained steadfast in his belief in civil disobedience and symbolic vandalism to bring attention to the threats from nuclear arsenals. Much of his influence came from his unbending commitment to public protests, even as his health declined, and a defiant spirit with a touch of sly wit. He verbally dueled with judges in court - calling some "brother" instead of your honor - and sometimes broke into military bases dressed as a clown, an homage to Saint Paul's admonition in Corinthians to be valiant yet humble: "We are fools for Christ." "You have to put yourself where your words are," Kabat said in a 2010 interview. "Otherwise you're just kind of like flapping your jaws." While assigned to an Oblate mission in Brazil from 1968 to 1973, Kabat was introduced to developing currents in religious activism through liberation theology and its emphasis on economic and social justice. A crystallizing moment for Kabat came as he contrasted the grinding poverty in parts of Brazil with the huge money spent on arms by the richest nations. After returning to the United States, he found a home among anti-nuclear demonstrators, drawing personal inspiration from Vatican statements against the arms race and nuclear war, including Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical "Pacem in Terris," or "Peace on Earth." Kabat started big. On the White House portico and outside the Pentagon in 1978, he splashed human blood, which would become a hallmark of many of his protests over the decades. In 1980, he then gained national attention as part of what became known as the Plowshares Eight, a group that entered a General Electric facility in King of Prussia, Pa., and used claw hammers to damage part of the nose cones on Minuteman missiles and pour blood on documents in the plant. The trial became a rallying point for the nuclear-disarmament movement, with star defendants, antiwar clerics the Rev. Daniel Berrigan and his brother, the Rev. Philip Berrigan. The group took its name from the biblical lines of nations one day beating "swords into plowshares." The proceedings also were an ideological tug of war. Prosecutors tried to stick to the burglary and other charges at hand, while the Plowshares Eight sought to make the trial a question over the morality of nuclear weapons and their threats to humanity. "Nuclear warfare is not on trial here - you are," said an exasperated Judge Samuel Salus II. (A 1982 film, "In the King of Prussia," starred Martin Sheen as Salus with Kabat and the other defendants playing themselves.) The Eight were convicted and given sentences up to 10 years. (Kabat received three to 10 years.) They all appealed and were paroled in 1990, covering any previous jail time served. Meanwhile, Plowshare groups were formed throughout the country for anti-nuclear protests, occasionally copying Kabat's use of blood as a vivid display of dissent. "That first Plowshares action set off a chain reaction," wrote Frida Berrigan, the daughter of Philip Berrigan from a relationship with a Catholic nun that led to their excommunications from the Catholic Church, though they were later reinstated. "People are attracted to, and inspired by, the alchemic mixture of symbolic disarmament and real transformation that carries through the action, jail witness, courtroom saga and time in prison," said her 2020 essay. Carl Kenneth Kabat was born Oct. 10, 1933, on a farm in Scheller, Ill., the third of five children. He began pre-med studies at the University of Illinois but never felt it was his calling, his sister, MaryAnn Radake, told the National Catholic Reporter. He decided to leave school and follow his brother Paul to the Oblates, a global religious community founded in the early 19th century in France with a focus on helping the poor. Kabat was ordained in 1959, a year after his brother. He was assigned to the Philippines in 1965 and then Brazil, where he came under the influence of liberation theology thinkers such as Joseph Comblin. But Kabat's increasing outreach to the poor in Recife brought warnings from Brazil's military dictatorship, said his sister. He was moved back to the United States and built ties with groups such as Pax Christi USA, Amnesty International and the Catholic Worker Movement. For many years, Kabat led a revolving-door life of protest, arrest, trial and jail - and then back again to protests. There were periods of tensions with Oblate leadership, but Kabat managed to keep his activism alive. In 1984, he and three others, including his brother Paul, cut through a chain-link fence and used a rented jackhammer to damage the cover of a nuclear missile silo at Whiteman Air Force Base outside Knob Noster, Mo. They then sat in a circle, singing and holding hands. Kabat was sentenced to 18 years in prison and served 10. Kabat and two others, dressed as clowns, disabled a missile silo cover in 2006 at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, pouring their own blood on the site; Kabat was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Three years later, he cut through the fence around a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo outside Greeley, Colo. - one of several such incursions in Colorado over the years - and unfurled antiwar banners. "I thought, 'What a beautiful place this is except for this damnable thing in the ground that could kill 2 or 3 million people,'" he said later in a jailhouse interview with the New York Times. He was convicted and sentenced to 137 days, the time he already served behind bars. Survivors include a sister, MaryAnn Radake of Tamaroa, Ill., and nieces and nephews. After one of his last major protests, in 2016 - splashing red paint on an entry sign at the National Security Campus in Kansas City, Mo. - he appeared in Kansas City Municipal Court leaning on a cane. He had only limited vision in his right eye after complications following lens surgery while in prison years before. Still, he remained in feisty form, acting as his own attorney. He cross-examined security guard John Falcon, the chief witnesses against him from the Honeywell-linked facility. Kabat asked whether he was old enough to remember the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945. The prosecution objected. Judge Katherine Emke asked whether he had any more witnesses. Kabat didn't miss a beat, reaching back to President Dwight Eisenhower's 1961 warnings about the influence of the "military-industrial complex." "Yeah," he told the judge. "Eisenhower." Prosecutors traced a suspect's moves Saturday and security is under scrutiny at Chautauqua Institution in the wake of the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie on Friday as he was about to give a talk. A senior Chautauqua Institution staff member said Saturday that a security plan for each of Chautauqua's programs including Rushdie's appearance was developed before the summer season began. Shock, sadness after Salman Rushdie stabbed at Chautauqua Institution; suspect in custody Rushdie, who has been living under death threats from Iran for more three decades after the publication of his book "Satanic Verses," is hospitalized on a ventilator with critical injuries, said Andrew Wylie, his literary agent. "We created a security plan in collaboration with the FBI, New York State Police and Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office that was specific to yesterday's event, and we implemented that plan," said Emily Morris, Chautauqua Institution's senior vice president and chief brand officer. "That doesn't mean that, of course, in the aftermath of what happened, that we don't need to reevaluate the plan. And you can be sure that is happening." Stephen Davies, a Brooklyn architect who frequently works in Buffalo, was sitting in the front row of the amphitheater Friday to see Rushdie and was surprised by the lack of uniformed police he saw. "There was no visible police presence," Davies told The Buffalo News. "They didn't have anyone visibly out in front of the stage, unless they weren't in uniform." Rushdie was attacked while sitting on a chair on stage just after the 10:45 a.m. program opened with introductory remarks. The man accused of the attack, Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt announced Saturday morning. He was arraigned Saturday and remanded to the county jail, Schmidt said. Schmidt added that his office applied for a search warrant that was signed by County Court Judge David W. Foley. "Execution of the legal authority provided to us by that warrant has already occurred and is ongoing," Schmidt said. Rushdie, 75, was stabbed multiple times, including at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen. His interviewer, Ralph Henry Reese, 73, was also injured. State Police said that Institution staff members and guests rushed to the stage to hold down the suspect. A state trooper assigned to the event was next to the stage and took the suspect into custody. A Chautauqua County sheriff's deputy with a bomb-sniffing K9 cleared the bag that the suspect was carrying, state police said. Rushdie was airlifted by helicopter to UPMC Hamot trauma hospital in Erie, Pa., where he underwent surgery and is being treated under intensified security. The hospital has not issued a statement on Rushdie's condition. Andrew Wylie, Rushdie's literary agent, said the author is expected to lose an eye, has a severely damaged liver from the stabbing and severed nerves in an arm. He confirmed Saturday evening that Rushdie is no longer on a ventilator and was talking and joking. Chautauqua's Morris said there was "extra added security than we would have typically" for Rushdie's appearance But she declined to say how many uniformed and plainclothes security were present for Rushdie's talk, including police officers and other security employed by Chautauqua Institution. Doing so could undermine future security efforts, Morris said. Matar traveled by bus to Western New York and had day passes to the Chautauqua Institution for Thursday and Friday, District Attorney Schmidt told The News following his arraignment Saturday in a Mayville courtroom. He had with him cash, pre-paid Visa cards, a driver's license with somebody else's name on it and two cell phones, Schmidt said. Prosecutors argued before Judge Marilyn Gerace, who was acting as the town justice for Chautauqua on Saturday, that Matar should not be allowed to post bail. They said he had no known ties to the area. "This attack is clearly one that is being celebrated by a larger international community," Schmidt said. "Even if the court were to set a $1 million bail, there is opportunity for others to finance it. It was our position that he needs to be remanded." Gerace agreed and remanded Matar to jail. He is set to return to court on Friday. Schmidt said that federal authorities are conducting a parallel investigation, as are authorities in New Jersey. Matar has a U.S. passport, Schmidt said. He added that there's no evidence that he was working with anyone else. "Everything seems to indicate he was acting alone," Schmidt said. The India-born author has been living under death threats from Iran for more than three decades since the publication of his book "The Satanic Verses." The DA's office is working with the New York State Police, New Jersey State Police and federal authorities in investigating the incident. Reese put out a statement Friday night through the Facebook page of the organization he co-founded, Pittsburgh-based City of Asylum, which works with writers in exile from persecution. "Salman Rushdie is one of the great authors of our time and one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression. We revere him and our paramount concern is for his life. "The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations. In addition to wishing Salman well as Americans and citizens of the world, we need to re-commit ourselves to defending the values Salman has championed," he wrote. In a statement Saturday, President Joe Biden said: Jill and I were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie yesterday in New York. We, together with all Americans and people around the world, are praying for his health and recovery. I am grateful to the first responders and the brave individuals who jumped into action to render aid to Rushdie and subdue the attacker. Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression. At a community vigil Friday night, Michael E. Hill, president of the Institution, told the crowd that he met with Reese earlier in the evening after he'd been released from the hospital. "What many of us witnessed today was a violent expression of hate that shook us to our core. We saw it with our own eyes and in our faces," Hill said. "But we also saw something else today that I dont want us to forget. We saw some of the best of humanity in the response of all those who ran toward danger to halt it. I watched a member of our staff hurl themselves at the attacker. I saw Chautauquans rush the stage to help secure the perpetrator, making it possible for police to remove him. I saw Chautauquans who are doctors and nurses rush to provide selfless care while the ambulance arrived." Morris, the Institution's senior vice president, told The News there were no metal detectors or bag check procedures for people entering the amphitheater. She also said she could not discuss whether Rushdie's team had spoken of security needs prior to his appearance, or whether Rushdie brought private security with him. "We are not able to discuss the terms of a private contract," she said. Morris said the violent attack is out of character for the 148-year-old educational and cultural summer resort, but poses a challenge moving forward. "The environment is intentionally free flowing and open, and we will continue to try to preserve the character and nature of this environment," Morris said. "That doesn't mean we don't have security. It represents itself in multiple ways," she said. "But certainly we will be reviewing with experts, including law enforcement, what additional modifications may be needed in light of this unfortunate incident." Joanne Curtis (34) broke into the mans home while he was away during the day, a court heard Joanne Curtis (34) broke into the mans home while he was away during the day, a court heard. Judge Bryan Smyth handed down the sentence at Dublin District Court. Curtis, with an address at Burnell Court, Northern Cross, Dublin 17 pleaded guilty to burglary and other offences. Dublin District Court heard the victim left his apartment at Georges Place, Temple Street between 4pm and 7pm on August 3, 2020. He came home to find the door ajar and belongings missing. The accused was identified as the culprit and was arrested and charged. The total value of the property taken was 2,080. Separately, Curtis and a man were stopped by gardai who saw them acting suspiciously around an ATM on OConnell Street on June 26, 2020. They had bank cards and various amounts of cash and could provide no explanation. The accused had a total of 54 convictions. Curtis had a tragic family background and number of her close relatives had died, her solicitor said. A sister had from Covid-19. Curtis a severe drug addiction for a long time and was now on methadone. She had been in custody for several weeks when she appeared in court and realised she was going to get a sentence, her solicitor said. His son Dean Fitzsimons, then aged 19, was jailed for seven years for a range of offences, including possessing firearms. A GRANDFATHER who was jailed for possession of a semi-automatic pistol has been given another two-month sentence after he was caught with a mobile phone in prison. Kenneth Fitzsimons (42) was serving the sentence when officers found the phone at Wheatfield Prison, a court heard. The mother of his infant son had died while he was in custody and he had not been allowed out for the funeral, his defence said. Judge Gerard Jones imposed the two-month sentence but made it concurrent to his existing jail term. Fitzsimons, a father-of- three from Corduff Place, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty. The court heard prison guards found the phone on April 20 this year. Fitzsimons was serving five-and-a-half years with a release date in 2023. He had no previous convictions for having phones in prison. The accused had a son who was born while he was in prison, defence solicitor Simon Fleming said. The mother of that child had died while Fitzsimons was inside and he did not get to go to that funeral, he said. Fitzsimons accepted he had made some poor choices, Mr Fleming said. He had already been disciplined in prison and the solicitor asked the judge not to add to the accuseds sentence. Fitzsimons was jailed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 2019 for possession of loaded pistols, dangerous driving and resisting arrest. His son Dean Fitzsimons, then aged 19, was jailed for seven years for a range of offences, including possessing firearms. The father and son were caught with loaded pistols before Kenneth Fitzsimons led gardai on a high-speed chase in west Dublin on June 23, 2019. Kenneth Fitzsimons was stabbed earlier that year by people who were threatening Dean and he carried out the offence in a bid to protect him, the circuit court had heard. It has been recommended that Blanaru undergoes a psychiatric evaluation Larisa Serban, who was in her 20s, was found fatally stabbed in her home in the townland of Rathmore, near Athboy Daniel Blanaru, 34yrs, from Rathmore, Athboy, Co Meath pictured leaving a special sitting of Trim District Court in Meath after he was charged with murdering 26-year-old Larisa Serban Pic: Paddy Cummins Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie THE partner of Larisa Serban has been remanded in custody with a recommendation he undergoes a psychiatric assessment after gardai charged him with murdering the mother of two at her Co. Meath home. Larisa died at the house she rented at Rathmore, near Athboy, at around 5 am on Friday. Medics and gardai rushed to the property, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Serban, 26, from Romania, had been in Ireland for several years. She lived in Co. Westmeath before moving to Athboy with her family about a year ago. The accused, Daniel Blanaru, presented himself into gardai. Following arrest, he was taken to Ashbourne Garda station, where he was held overnight for questioning. On Saturday afternoon, he was charged with the murder of Larisa Serban on August 12 at her home. Mr Blanaru, 34, who is also Romanian but has an address at Rathmore, Athboy, Co. Meath, appeared before Judge Miriam Walsh at a special sitting of Trim District Court on Saturday evening. Dressed in a blue T-shirt, navy tracksuit bottoms and runners, Mr Blanaru, stood silently throughout the brief hearing. He listened to the proceedings with the aid of an interpreter. Detective Sergeant Colm McNally, of Kells station, told the court that at 2.05 pm on Saturday, he arrested the accused "for the purpose of charge for the offence of murder contrary to common law, as directed by the DPP". Larisa Serban, who was in her 20s, was found fatally stabbed in her home in the townland of Rathmore, near Athboy The defendant was charged at 3.08 pm and cautioned that if he had anything to say, it would be taken down and used in evidence. The court heard he made no reply after caution and was handed a true copy of the charge sheet. Defence solicitor Maurice Regan said there could be no bail application at this stage. The district court cannot grant bail in murder cases which only the High Court can consider. Judge Walsh remanded Mr Blanaru in custody to appear again at Trim District Court on Tuesday via video link. Mr Regan told the court the translator had been helpful during the investigation. The judge said it was "imperative" that the accused would have the translator's assistance at the next hearing. Mr Regan said his client fell into the criteria for legal aid and the judge noted there was no garda objection. Judge Walsh granted it and she also acceded to a request from the defence to direct a psychiatric assessment of Mr Blanaru in custody. The solicitor explained that there had been "a number of issues in relation to my advice that he is not taking in. Following a public order incident a man, aged in his 40s, was discovered with serious injuries at Church Street, Athlone, at approximately 2:35am The scene of a serious assault where a man in his 40's was discovered with serious injuries resulting in his death in the early hours of Saturday morning at Church Street, Athlone The scene of a serious assault where a man in his 40's was discovered with serious injuries resulting in his death in the early hours of Saturday morning at Church Street, Athlone The scene of a serious assault where a man in his 40's was discovered with serious injuries resulting in his death in the early hours of Saturday morning at Church Street, Athlone The man who is aged in his 40s and from Edenderry, Co. Offaly, is understood to have travelled to Athlone to attend a stag party of a pal last night and suffered fatal injuries following an assault on Church Street around 2.35am. A garda spokesman said: Gardai are investigating all the circumstances of a fatal assault of a man that occurred in the early hours of Saturday, 13th August, 2022, in Athlone, County Westmeath. Following a public order incident a man, aged in his 40s, was discovered with serious injuries at Church Street, Athlone, at approximately 2:35am. He was taken to Portiuncula University Hospital, Ballinasloe, where he was later pronounced dead. The scene of a serious assault where a man in his 40's was discovered with serious injuries resulting in his death in the early hours of Saturday morning at Church Street, Athlone The office of the State Pathologist have been notified and a post-mortem examination will be arranged. The scene at Church Street, Athlone, is currently preserved for technical examination by the Garda Technical Bureau. The spokesman said no arrests have been made at this stage of the investigation and an incident room has been established Athlone Garda Station under the direction of a Senior Investigating Officer. Any person who may have any video footage of this incident, including mobile phone footage or any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) and were travelling in the Church Street area between 2am and 2:45am are asked to make this footage available to Gardai. Anyone with information is asked to contact Athlone Garda Station on 090 6492600, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station. His daughter, now 32, has waived her right to anonymity in order that we can reveal Hubbards heinous crime. Victim Catherine Potts was abused when she was 10 Vile Hubbard who we unmasked as a predator after he was convicted of a sexual assault on 10-year-old Catherine Potts in Wicklow almost killed his own daughter on Christmas morning 1990 by inserting a blunt instrument into the three-month-olds vagina. Such was the brutality of the attack, the infant suffered a severe rupture, had to undergo six hours of surgery and spent four weeks in hospital before she could be released. Hubbard later pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and was jailed for four years, but he was not identified at the time to protect his victim. His daughter, now 32, has waived her right to anonymity in order that we can reveal Hubbards heinous crime. And, this week, her mother, met with us to reveal the full horror of what happened that Christmas morning. It was seven minutes past three on Christmas morning when he came into my bedroom and said I want to show you something, she recalled with horror. Ill never forget the look on his face. I thought he was after buying me a big Christmas present. I dont know how to describe it, he looked so excited. Hubbards former partner has told of the vile abuse. So, I went down the stairs and when I got to the sitting room all I could see was the baby in her nappy and I could see the red coming through it. Her face was pure white under her strawberry hair and I remember thinking she was gone. I didnt think it was blood even though I could see it coming through. The woman, who was then just 18, had been in a relationship with Hubbard and recalls that she had gotten pregnant the first time they had sex. But she left the vile sex beast who had been violent towards her throughout her pregnancy and returned home with the infant to live with her parents after their child suffered a head injury in Hubbards care at just four weeks old. Hubbard, who was then 20, said the injury had occurred as a result of an accidental fall from the couch. On the night of the attack on the child, the woman says she pleaded with her parents to allow him stay with them as it was their babys first Christmas. They agreed but they said he had to stay downstairs and I had to stay upstairs, she recalls sadly. The baby was downstairs with him. After Hubbard, who feigned innocence and shock, brought her down to see the catastrophic injuries he had inflicted on their baby, the woman said she ran upstairs to get help. I ran upstairs to get Mammy, she said. And Daddy came down too and told him (Hubbard) to get the doctor. Victim Catherine Potts was abused when she was 10 The ambulance and the fire brigade arrived and it was them who alerted the Gardai. The woman said she went with the baby in the ambulance travelling so fast it almost went off the road at one stage. When we got to Harcourt Street, the doctors were waiting, she said. I was freaking out and I said to one of the doctors: Whats happening, whats wrong with her? And he turned around to me and said: I think you know. That stuck in my head for a long time even though he apologised after. They took her in for surgery, six hours that lasted, and she had to get sutured from back to front. The injuries were life threatening, I had to give her blood. And, I didnt know if she was going to make it. Afterwards, they said shed live but she might never have babies. Thank God, she has four children now. I stayed with her in the hospital. And then they (the hospital administrators) put a photo of him (Hubbard) in reception saying: no visits, no phone calls. Thats when it all started." The woman said she only learned what Hubbard had done to their baby when the doctors told her two days later. I couldnt believe it at first I didnt want to believe it. But my Mammy said to me: Its done now and theres nothing we can do about that, but we have to keep him away from the child. The woman said she still remembers the two gardai coming in to speak with her in the hospital as if it was yesterday. Det Pat Hayes and John Foley, she recalled. They were a great support. They never doubted me. The woman said she and her baby stayed in a small room in the hospital for a month before a decision was made that the tot could be released. After that, Mammy and Daddy got guardianship of my baby because some girls do go back to these people, not this girl, but some girls do go back to them. And, after that, she was raised as my sister. The woman said she told her daughter who she really was when at the age of 16, she came and asked me about it because kids were saying to her that she was adopted. I told her then. Hubbard was eventually brought to justice after blood from the tot was discovered on boxers hed been wearing on the night of the attack. My mum was changing or washing the bed sheets and she found Hubbards boxers with blood on them, the woman recalled. She went straight to the guards and they tested the blood and it was hers (the babys). The woman said Hubbard subsequently attacked her a number of times in Wicklow town even throwing her through the window of a dry cleaners on one occasion. The guards came and they arrested them and while he was in custody for that they showed him the boxers with the blood on them. He admitted it then but said he was changing her nappy and his finger had slipped. It would take two years for Hubbard to be locked up for what he did to his own baby daughter. During this period, he repeatedly threatened the woman. I had to get a Garda escort from 1990 to 1992 when he got locked up, the woman continued. I couldnt even bring her (the baby) outside the door with me. Hubbard was jailed for four years at Dublin Circuit Court on May 18, 1992, after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of occasioning grievous bodily harm on his three-month-old daughter. sisters Det Pat Hayes told the court that Hubbard had assaulted his daughter on Christmas morning 1990 by shoving a blunt instrument into her vagina. The incident was described as a heinous crime by the judge who said it was hard to understand why Hubbard had done this. Me and the baby, shes grown up now, are sisters, the woman said this week.. I got the life sentence, I gave up my child, I gave up motherhood and even now her children dont know Im their grandmother. Mammy and Daddy were so good to do this it meant we got to keep her. But it broke my heart. It came following an intelligence-led search in the Cathedral Road area Two men have been arrested after PSNI offers seized almost 25,000 (21,000) worth of class A, B and C drugs in Armagh. During an intelligence led search in the Cathedral Road area a large sum of cash in both Sterling and Euro notes was also recovered along with a number of other items. Two men aged 22 and 30 have been arrested on suspicion of a range of offences and remain in custody this afternoon. Today's proactive operation reinforces our commitment to tackling the scourge of drugs in the communities we serve, Sergant Eamonn Campbell said. Far too often we see the devastation caused by the misuse, sale and supply of drugs in families and in the wider community and we understand it is an issue people are concerned about. It's really important that anyone who has concerns, or information about illegal drug-related activity in their area report it. Whatever your information, it could help us take drugs off our streets. Please report and we will investigate. It could make all the difference." David McGregor with an address in Smithfield travelled to Leeds to have sex with the girl David McGregor with an address in Smithfield was caught messaging what he thought was an underage teenage girl named Sophie on Facebook. He spoke of his intention of becoming her boyfriend and having sex with her. He then made plans to meet her in a hotel in Leeds and travelled to Leeds Bradford Airport on June 20th 2022. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Sophie didnt really exist. Upon arriving in England, the 49-year-old was met by Predator Exposure, a so-called paedophile hunter group. The group, who hunt down and expose suspected predators, previously exposed former RTE producer Kieran Creaven who was recently convicted of child sex offences. When confronted, McGregor was accused of grooming a 13-year-old but he denied knowing he was speaking to a child. They also accused him of booking a hotel for two nights to rape the underage girl. The group also read out messages which they claimed the Dubliner sent to the person posing as the teenager. Messages from him allegedly said that he would show her a good time, and will teach her sexual things. He appeared before Leeds Magistrates Court charged with arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence contrary to Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child. At sentencing, prosecutor Gareth Andrew told the court: On May 10, he made his intentions clear, saying they would make love when he came over. "He made graphic remarks about what he wanted to do." McGregor pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and attempted sexual communication with a child. Mitigating, Gillian Batts told the court: He says he suffered a significant bereavement in 2019 when his mother died and, during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, he lived on his own and was extremely isolated and was drinking to excess. "He became dependant on alcohol. "He has seen his GP back in Ireland and was given medication for depression. "He has been on remand since his arrest. It is his first experience of custody and he has found it very difficult. "He has been away from his family. Upon sentencing David McGregor to three years and three months in prison, Judge Simon Batiste said: You made contact with a decoy profile known as Sophie. "She indicated from the start that she was 13 and living in Leeds you were aware of this. You made clear to her you wanted to engage in sexual acts your intentions were clear. "This was a visit you undertook to satisfy your paedophilic needs, he continued. "There was a significant degree of planning, there was grooming behaviour and a disparity in age. "You were a somewhat isolated individual, and you were in alcohol when communications took place. You travelled to another country to commit this offence. The body of Baby Carrie is carried in a small white coffin The one-time head of Organised Crime for the PSNI in Northern Ireland and Deputy Director at the National Crime Agency in the UK, Roy McComb has had a decorated.. But still he recalls one case that haunts him today - and one he would do anything to help solve. When a newborn baby girl was found dumped in a plastic bag in his hometown of Carryduff, County Down on March 26, 2002 he became the lead detective and named the child 'Baby Carrie'. Forensics would later determine that she had been stabbed 11 times, her head was crushed and she had been buried elsewhere before the discovery which led to a massive probe. But despite all attempts to find out who she was or where she had come from, the baby's case remains unsolved. Now, Nicola Tallant talks with Roy about the brutality of the crime, the twists and turns of the investigation and his hopes that it will one day be solved by advances in DNA or a witnesses finally coming forward. Crime Word Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Soundcloud. MORE EPISODES When you experience death yourself in the family, when you lose your friend, you want to help Having recently turned 17 years of age Cian ORiordan, from west Belfast has choose a strange apprenticeship path to become a Funeral Directors. Cian, is delighted to have joined the team at ONeills Funeral Directors on the Stewartstown Road. Having recently turned 17 years of age Cian ORiordan, from west Belfast has choose a strange apprenticeship path to become a Funeral Directors. Cian, is delighted to have joined the team at ONeills Funeral Directors on the Stewartstown Road. The young Belfast man recently joined the staff at ONeills Funeral Directors just a few days after his 17th birthday. It makes him one of the youngest in the industry, but the teenager has no doubt hes on the right path. After watching how undertakers helped his friends family following a fatal car accident, and his own family through bereavement, Cian decided he want to help others. When you experience death yourself in the family, when you lose your friend, you want to help. In our family it was my grandmother, my cousin, and an uncle. My friend died in a road traffic accident when was 14 or 15, which hit me at the start and then you process it. It made me want to help out families who are grieving. Some people will say to you if someones son died you understand what Im feeling but I will say no because I never lost a son. Cian O'Riardan Cian had thought about being a teacher, until he felt the call of funeral directing, and contacted companies across Belfast. I contacted loads of places and melted their heads, and ONeills gave me a chance, he says. My daddy said if thats what you want to do go and do it and hes proud of me for it. My friends think Im mad. After just three weeks in the business the teenager is already learning on the job. As part of his in-house training hes dealing with bereaved families, helping to make funeral arrangements and will eventually begin his formal training with the industrys regulatory bodies. Hes also learning how Covid has changed traditions like wakes, which are often held now in funeral homes. I want to show families respect. I want to help out in the biggest way and in the smallest things by going into a business like this. You try and take as much pressure off the family as possible. The first thing is to offer your condolences, and you go through the arrangements for the funeral. Is the deceased going to rest here in the Chapel of Rest or are they going to be brought home? What colours of flowers the family wants as well as clothes, make up. You try and make the deceased look their best to try and give the family the comfort of how they remember their loved one. Before taking him on the company had to consider how the teenager would cope with clients bereavement and help them through the early stages of their grief. Hes also learning how to deal with remains, and the embalming process will be part of his training. It can be sad but at the same time its not about us, its about the family, says Cian. Were caring for them and the deceased, so you have to show respect in how you care for them. They may be deceased, but they are still a person. I think we are not counsellors, but we are there to try and comfort the family as much as we can during the hard time they are going through. We will try and be there as much as possible for them. With families coming in you build up a relationship with them. You know their name and youre chatting away to them and getting everything sorted out and you understand what they are going through to an extent. Laurence ONeill, whose dad Laurence set up the company 31 years ago, says Cian is one of the youngest in the business. The funeral director worked part-time in the family firm from the age of 16 and joined full-time after university. He says the teenager stood out from other applicants because he already understood the job, and the work that goes into planning a funeral and helping a family through bereavement. Cian O'Riardan on the job Cian identified that before he came here, says Laurence. A lot of people have this perception that you wash the cars, you bring the coffin to the house, the chapel, the cemetery and thats it. Cian knew the whole process from having dealt with losing somebody. In his first few weeks with the firm they have already been impressed with their newest employees empathy with clients, and willingness to learn. With Cian meeting families you see how every family coming through the door is different, how every conversation is different. You get to establish how to speak to families by seeing and doing, and you cant learn that out of textbooks. Thats what hes doing at the minute and hes excelling at it, says Laurence. Both boys, known as Boy A and Boy B because their real identities cannot be disclosed, were 13 when they killed Ana The savage murder and sexual assault of the vulnerable 14-year-old girl in a derelict west Dublin house in May, 2018, shocked the nation and led to the conviction of two teenagers who were sent to a juvenile detention facility. Boy A had been in a detention facility for juvenile offenders until his recent move to an adult prison. To protect the killers identity, the Sunday World is not disclosing what jail facility he has been moved to. This is a very sensitive case, anything that could reveal this teenagers identity could put his safety at very serious risk, a source said last night. When contacted, a spokeswoman in the Irish Prison Service said: The Irish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoner cases or prisoner transfers. In November 2019, Boy A was sentenced to a term of life in jail for the murder of Ana and will serve an initial 12 years, followed by a review. The sentence may be extended after the first 12 years served. Boy A was also convicted of aggravated sexual assault. A term of 12 years was also imposed for that count to be served concurrently. His accomplice Boy B, who lured Ana to the derelict house, is serving a term of 15 years, with the sentence to be reviewed after eight years. He was also convicted of murder. Boy A was also placed on the sex offenders register. Both boys, known as Boy A and Boy B because their real identities cannot be disclosed, were 13 when they killed Ana in an abandoned house in Lucan on May 14, 2018. The shocking case heard Boy A comes from a loving, caring and stable home. He had not come to the attention of gardai prior to Anas murder. He has no history of mental illness. He pleaded not guilty at trial and maintained that he did not enter the house where Ana was murdered. Trial judge Mr Justice Paul McDermott said he was not satisfied that Boy A told the truth and a good degree of what he had said was self serving and some was contradicted by the evidence. The judge said he was not satisfied that Boy A demonstrated remorse for the wrong he has committed, the level of violence employed. He said the boy also did not appear to recognise the devastation, sorrow and loss to the Kriegel family and his own family. He added that it may be that the boy finds it difficult to accept what he has done and how that is to be addressed is an important consideration when considering the length of his detention. The judge found it difficult to identify mitigating factors for Boy A other than his young age. He had pleaded not guilty, putting the Kriegel family through the heartache of the trial in which they had to hear details of the sexual assault. He showed little remorse, Justice McDermott said, and probation services had said he showed limited understanding of what he had done. Boy A described what happened with Ana as a fight and said he did not intend to kill her or cause her serious injury. Last month, the Court of Appeal refused to allow fresh evidence in an appeal by Boy B against his conviction. Following the ruling, the court set a date of October 5 to hear the full appeal against the now 17-year-olds murder conviction. The last few days have been very difficult for us. This death came completely out of the blue for a very healthy, vibrant mother Taoiseach Micheal Martin and President Michael D Higgins were among mourners at the funeral mass of the mother of Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. Mary Ryan was been remembered as vibrant mother a loving grandmother and dedicated friend. Mrs Ryan, who live at Burdett Avenue in Sandycove, died following an accident on a family holiday earlier this week. Mary Ryan was on Inisbofin Island, off the coast of Galway, at the time of the incident. She died in Galway University Hospital on Tuesday after being brought there by the Air Ambulance Service. Her funeral mass took place at St Josephs Church, Glasthule this morning. Chief celebrant, the Very Rev Brian OSullivan, introduced symbols of Christianity which were placed on her coffin. A copy of the bible and a crucifix were brought forward. Mrs Ryan was born in Bantry, Co Cork and later moved to Dublin where she settled down with her last husband Bob, who also died at the age of 86, in 2017. Very Rev OSullivan said, after her family, what was most important in Mrs Ryans life was her faith and her community. He said her interests included bridge, politics, walking and her friendships which she nurtured. Before Mrs Ryan four children, John, Eamon, Robert and Marion, shared memories of her beloved mother, the song Bantry Bay was sang loudly by the congregation. Her son John thanked President Michael D Higgins, Taoiseach Michael Martin, the Tanaiste Leo Varadkar for the presence at the funeral mass and said: We are political family by default thanks to Eamon but politics is a big interest. The last few days have been very difficult for us. This death came completely out of the blue for a very healthy, vibrant mother, added. In heartfelt tribute to his late mother, Eamon Ryan recalled how she met her future husband at work in a Dame Street bank. They had four children in quick succession and as each of us would attest to here today, her love to us was the foundation stone to our lives. "We would love to have said we love you one more time but as someone said in the last two days, she already knew that. Such love is never lost and does not decay. We pray that her true soul carries it on. While what she leaves behind is passed on from here, generation to generation. Meanwhile, Mrs Ryans daughter Marion added: We are fortunate that we were with mum as she slipped so peacefully into the next world, where no doubt her mum and dad her brother Tom and her beloved Bob are all waiting for her. Mary Ryan is survived by her children, grandchildren, one great-grandchild, her extended family and many friends. She was laid to rest at St Fintans Cemetery, Sutton following this mornings funeral mass. The Chocolate will be one of the highest-profile mobsters to be taken down if convicted The Newry-based narco king is preparing to stand trial next month on a raft of drugs charges including importation and distribution. The notorious dealer was detained as part of a Europe-wide investigation called Operation Venetic, in which criminals using encrypted mobile devices to import and export drugs were targeted. Commonly referred to as EncroChat, criminals have used encrypted mobile devices to adopt and hide behind code names. Around 60,000 users of EncroChat have been identified worldwide, with about 10,000 of them in the UK all involved in coordinating and planning the supply and distribution of drugs and weapons, money laundering and other criminal activity. A number of people in Northern Ireland have been arrested and charged, with a small number of cases already having passed through the courts. The Chocolate will be one of the highest-profile mobsters to be taken down if convicted. But until his court appearance its business as usual for one of the most prolific drug dealers in the North. According to sources, last week he is understood to have been involved in an altercation which resulted in the temporary closure of a bar in the Newry area. Sources have told the Sunday Worldthere was a confrontation after members of staff at a Newry bar raised concerns over the mob using it for drug deals. It is understood a complaint was made to the bar manager who confronted an individual who is a known associate of The Chocolate. It resulted in the arch criminal being called and his arrival at the bar. He told everyone there that as far as he is concerned Newry is his town and that he will do his business wherever he wants, said our source. It was a tense moment, the staff were terrified to the extent the manager sent them home early. He said there were rumours the pub had shut permanently over concerns for staff and customer safety. The bar was closed the following day but has since reopened. Its not the first time The Chocolate has been involved in a bar-room confrontation. A number of years ago a member of staff at another Newry bar was on the wrong end of a beating at the hands of the crime boss after he tried to have him barred because of drug dealing on the premises. The notorious mobster has a reputation for extreme violence and has been known to inflict brutal beatings, on one occasion dragging a driver who worked for Sinn Fein into the street and giving him a hammering. The Chocolate has no convictions, despite being widely known as a major player in the drugs market. The Sunday World, which is aware of his identity, first uncovered The Chocolates activities when he muscled in on the border towns lucrative drug trade, pushing aside Barney King Coke Morgan. Morgan, who also does not have criminal convictions, controlled Newrys drug trade for years until the arrival of The Chocolate. It was The Chocolate who brought heroin to the streets of the border town after going into partnership with an eastern European organised crime gang. Residents expressed alarm at the rising tide of the deadly drug people injecting heroin are now a regular sight on the streets of Newry. One resident told us how she challenged two people who were injecting in a childrens playpark. Raymond McCreesh Park, which has been at the centre of controversy after it was named in honour of the IRA hunger striker, has become a playground for drug dealers and users. It was incredible, the resident told us. They were sitting in the playground, there were syringes on the ground, one of them had blood on it and they were clearly off their heads. When I spoke to them they just ran off. Despite residents objections, The Chocolate has continued to flood the area with the deadly drug. The Newry native has been a fixture on the local drugs scene for many years. Known as much for his penchant for violence as his drug dealing, he has been peddling cocaine and cannabis for some time. Now, in partnership with his east European gangsters, he has moved into the heroin trade. Residents claim they have passed information to the police but as yet The Chocolate has been left free to conduct his business. He is regarded as one of the more prominent dealers around Newry and is widely feared because of a volatile temper and his unpredictability. Barney Morgan was pushed aside by The Chocolate In 2019, lunchtime drinkers at two pubs across the border in Omeath were left stunned when a clearly drunk Chocolate fired six shots into the air before driving off. He took exception to being recognised and went outside, loosing off three shots, before driving to another watering hole where he carried out a repeat performance. The serial love cheat was with his mistress at the time but despite the incidents being reported to the police there were no arrests. The Chocolate lives under constant threat from rival dealer and dissident groups and it is not clear how well he will fare if he ends up inside. He is preparing for jail time by ensuring his business is protected if he sent down. In May this year a money launderer who used EncroChat to hide his crimes was handed a three-year sentence. Samuel McKeag (37) was sentenced at Laganside Crown Court following an investigation led by the National Crime Agency. Half his sentence will be served in custody and the rest on licence as he pleaded guilty to a number of offences including conspiracy to possess a Class A controlled drug with intent to supply, possessing criminal property, transferring criminal property and possessing counterfeit currency. The sentencing is the first in Northern Ireland to result directly from Operation Venetic, led by the NCA. This was part of the UK law enforcement response to the takedown of the EncroChat network in 2020. The encrypted communication channel was used by criminals to plan crimes such as importing drugs and moving cash. Back on board the tiny aircraft - which was less than full - David Trimble opted to sit beside us and our amiable conversation continued much as it did before I first shook hands with David Trimble in the coffee dock at Isle of Man Airport. We were both bound for the English seaside resort of Blackpool, where the British Labour Party Conference was in full swing. It was September 30 1996 and the Ulster Unionist Party politician had recently been elected party leader. Trimbles presence at a conference, made up largely of socialists and trade unionists, was a rare one for a unionist leader. In fact, the former Queens University law lecturer was the first unionist to attend such an event. We had been passengers on a small plane which had departed the then Belfast Harbour Airport 20 minutes before. It had been diverted to the Isle of Man because the airport at Blackpool was fog bound. Trimble was wearing his trade mark grey suit combined with a smart red tie. I inquired if his neck attire was an indication of a recent conversion to Tony Blairs Third Way brand of New Labour politics. Trimble laughed and not for the first time that day. I was travelling with my friend and colleague Henry McDonald, who at that time reported for The Observer. The chat was dominated largely about the chances of the then new Labour leader Tony Blair, becoming British Prime Minister. After a while we received the news we had all been hoping for. The fog clinging to Blackpool Tower had cleared and we were free to continue with our onward journey. Back on board the tiny aircraft - which was less than full - David Trimble opted to sit beside us and our amiable conversation continued much as it did before. David told us that as a small boy he had lived in Londonderry - as he called it for a while. His Civil Servant dad worked in the local Broo and the family lived at Eden Terrace off the Northland Road. I knew it well, I said. We discussed music. Trimble told us he enjoyed the classical works of Wagner and Verdi. I said: Wagner? He was a nazi! No, he wasnt! barked Trimble, He was anti-Semitic. Same thing. said I. No it isnt. insisted the UUP man, before launching into a diatribe about the difference between a Nazi and a Jew-hater. It was my first realisation of the pedantic personality which drove David Trimble. As we neared Blackpool Airport, the pilot announced the fog which had gone out over the Irish Sea, had returned and the seaside resort was once engulfed in thick fog. Our only option was to circle in the air high above the Lancashire town. With little other choice, we three passengers continued our wide ranging conversation. After ninety minutes, the pilot announced, he had been ordered to divert the flight to Liverpool Airport some 20 miles away. Our plans for a short hop flight were in tatters. But as we waited for our luggage, Trimble was approached by a pleasant man who introduced himself as Richard Gordon from the Northern Ireland Landowners Association. He had been on the same flight as us leaving Belfast. And as he was also heading to the Labour Party Conference, he had pre-booked a hired car in which he offered the UUP leader a lift. But the caring Trimble explained to Richard, his two new-found journalist friends were also bound for Blackpool and the generous PR man immediately included us in his offer of a lift. As were settled into the comfort of the car, our lively conversation petered away. We were talked out. We had nothing left to say to each other. But as we neared Blackpool, along the promenade in posh Lytham St. Annes, Richard braked heavily. The car shuddered to a halt. A man had pulled around 20 donkeys tethered to each other, out in front of us. They were bound for the sandy beach where they would shortly begin taking excited children for short rides. As we sat in silence, I said to David Trimble, Do you know what those donkeys get for their lunch? I dont, as a matter of fact. replied Trimble. About half an hour. said I. David Trimble laughed uncontrollably. It was as though no one in the world had ever cracked a joke before. I was well aware it was a pretty awful joke. But from a journalistic point of view, it gave me future access to a senior Ulster Unionist politician, who would soon play a pivotal role in the history of Northern Ireland. After that chance meeting on a flight to Blackpool, David Trimble always acknowledged me whenever our paths crossed and he always returned my telephone calls when I rang him. Im glad we met when they did. And at his funeral last Monday, I reflected on how a silly joke had assisted me in getting to know such an important historical figure as David Trimble. hjordan.media@btinternet.com Buffalo police are asking the public's help in finding a 12-year-old Buffalo girl who is believed to have run away from home. Yeneidaliz "Jay" Rodriguez was last seen leaving a residence on Pooley Place around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Police described her as a Hispanic female. She is 5 feet tall, about 120 pounds, with black hair with brown tips. She was last seen wearing a "Bad Bunny" hoodie, black sweatpants and black Champion sneakers with white soles. She was carrying a black Champion backpack with white lettering. Police asked anyone who knows her whereabouts to call 911. Controvesrial author sustains damage to his arm and liver in frenzied knife attack SALMAN Rushdie is reportedly on a ventilator and may lose an eye after he was stabbed on stage in New York state. The 75-year-old Indian-born British author sustained nerve damage to his arm and damage to his liver, according to the New York Times. New York state police have named the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who was taken into custody following the incident. Rushdie, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua some 65 miles south-west of Buffalo, when the incident occurred. Police officers detain a suspect outside the Chautauqua Institution AP He was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police officials, before he was taken to hospital. According to his agent Andrew Wylie, he is on a ventilator and unable to speak. Mr Wylie added the news was "not good" and the author will "likely lose one eye". He said the nerves in Sir Salman's arm were severed in the attack and his liver was "stabbed and damaged". Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: "Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution. "Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. Salman Rushdie is taken by chopper after being stabbed by an attacker AP "Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriff's deputy. "Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene. "Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery." Photos showed Rushdie lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him. His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous, and its publication prompted Iran's then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury. They were due to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. A video posted to Twitter by a reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage. Controversial author Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator AP New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salman's life. She added: "He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life." The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: "We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today." Its president Michael Hill said: "What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history. "We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems. "Today now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits - hate." Jeremy Genovese, 68, from Beachwood, Ohio, a retired academic from Cleveland State University, told reporters he arrived at the amphitheatre as it was being evacuated and people were "streaming out". He said: "People were in shock, many people in tears. Chautauqua has always prided itself as a place where people can engage in civil dialogue. "The amphitheatre is a large outdoor venue where people have given lectures since the late 1800s. You need a pass to access the grounds but it is not too difficult to get in." Rushdies publisher Penguin Random House said they are "deeply shocked and appalled" by the incident. Chief executive Markus Dohle said in a statement: "We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. "We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time." Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend". He added: "Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay." US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: "Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. Rushdie began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named "best of the Bookers" on the literary award's 25th anniversary. The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Rushdie gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Jones's Diary. The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. His other works include The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker. Ireland has deployed unarmed staff as part of the UNs mission in the Congo since 2001 Two members of the Irish Defence Forces have been extracted from the Democratic Republic of Congo due to what has been described as security concerns. Two Irish officers, one male and female, were successfully removed from the state in the last 24-hours, with the help of the Air Corps and input from unnamed international partners. The Defence Forces has three armed Officers working as staff officers in the United Nation Peacekeeping MONUSCO Force Headquarters in the DRC city Goma, which is the capital of its north-eastern province. Ireland has deployed unarmed staff as part of the UNs mission in the Congo since 2001, while armed staff were re-located to Goma in 2013. Until yesterday afternoon, two armed Officers were present at the mission in Goma, while another officer was on leave in Ireland and his planned return to the Congo has been suspended. A Defence Forces Spokesperson said the Minister for Defence Simon Coveney was informed of the volatile situation on the ground earlier this week and he was advised of the threat posed to the Irish Officers as a result. Following recent civil disturbance in and around Goma (DRC) which gave rise to multiple killings including UN personnel, the Minister received military advice on foot of which he concluded that the risk to such a small deployment could not be sustained in the current circumstances. While the civil disturbance appears to have abated, the Minister agreed to use this quieter period to effect the withdrawal of the Officers from the mission area, a Defence Forces spokesperson said. Air Corps assets were used to transport personnel and equipment from Goma (DRC) to Entebbe (Uganda), personnel will continue home from Entebbe by commercial airlines and the Air Corps will transport the equipment home. The evacuation was planned for Thursday but was later delayed yesterday due to a delay in receiving diplomatic clearances for flights. The Defence Forces has confirmed that Minister Coveney maintained close personal contact with the planning arrangements at all times, as the safety and security of personnel were foremost of his concerns. The Defence Forces Spokesperson added: He [Minister Coveney] acknowledges the significant and collaborative work undertaken by Department of Defence and military officials over the last number of weeks supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The UN had been informed of this withdrawal of personnel. This withdrawal will allow for a period of reflection on our continued participation in the Mission. The Minister wishes to express his thanks to other troop contributing countries in MONUSCO who provided practical support to the two Irish Officers." The 53-year-old has been declared legally dead The 53-year-old was in a coma following a car crash which took place on August T She remained in hospital on a ventilator after she was dragged from the wreckage which went up in flames by firefighters who spent over an hour extinguishing the blaze. Heche later died in hospital just one week later, after a rep for the star originally said she was expected to make a full recovery. She was declared legally brain dead but is being kept on life-support in a bid to donate her organs to potential matches. Ellen DeGeneres lead tributes to the Hollywood star, who she dated for three years from 1997 to 2000. This is a sad day, she said. Im sending Annes children, family and friends all of my love." Anne's ex-husband James Tupper shared on Instagram a simple Love You Forever. A-lister Robert De Niro said: "Im very sad to hear of the tragic passing of Anne Heche. She was a wonderful actress and I enjoyed working with her tremendously in Wag the Dog Sad!Sad!Sad!" Director James Gunn added: "Honest to God, I think maybe the best acting performance Ive ever seen in my life was Anne Heche in PROOF on Broadway. #RIP. Heche crashed into a garage and was pictured looking dazed as a bottle with a red cap sat in the cars front cup holder. Video footage captured on a Ring doorbell and published by TMZ shows her blue car speeding down the road in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. Seconds later the vehicle is heard crashing into the garage. In another video from the scene of the garage crash, a man is heard demanding that the driver gets out of the car before she reverses and screeches away at speed around the corner and out of sight. Moments later she went on to veer into an apartment complex which caused her vehicle burst into flames. Images from the scene showed Heche with severely charred clothing as she was rushed to the hospital for treatment. The two Hollywood heavyweights seem to have been spending time at locations in the west and south west of the country The two Hollywood heavyweights seem to have been spending time at locations in the west and south west of the country after their private jets were tracked landing here. Spielbergs Gulfstream jet flew a five-hour from a private airport in New York and landed at Ireland West Airport in Knock, Co. Mayo, on July 21. Later the same day it flew to Shannon. The same jet took off from Shannon four days later on July 25 for Knock again, where it refuelled and departed for London, andlater for Rotterdam before returning to New York. Tom Cruise Tom Cruises Challenger jet touched down in Shannon from Maine on Americas east coast. He seems to have spent two days in that area before flying to Kerry Airport, near Killarney, before he left Ireland last Sunday and headed back to the States. Cruise (60) is the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and his last public appearance in Ireland was at the premiere of his movie Oblivion in Dublin in 2013 during his visit here he was given a Certificate of Irish Ancestry by the Government. Read more Hollywood star Tom Cruises private jet lands in Ireland Spielberg (75) famously filmed Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, in Co. Wexford in 1997. Cruise and Spielberg have worked together before, in 2002s Minority Report and 2005s War of the Worlds. The couple have been enjoying a dream summer together The Notorious got into the spirit by using a bottle of his Proper 12 Whiskey as an air guitar as he played along to the rhythm of the music. The couple looked radiant as they partied the night away drinking the MMA fighters own brand of whiskey. Posing for a series of snaps together, Dee stunned in a two-piece crop top and skirt paired with sandals and a black handbag. Meanwhile, McGregor wore pink shorts with a black t-shirt and his brand new Alexander McQueen white trainers. Taking the queen out in the new mcqueens, the best buzz is @properwhisker #thedonkingbuzz, he captioned a post on Instagram. In another, he challenged his followers to also use their bottles of Proper 12 as air guitars in a bid to win some prizes. He also teased some game-changing news for fans of the Irish liquor brand. Do your best proper twelve air guitar and post and tag for prizes! #propertwelveairguitar #go @properwhiskey. Big news incoming for all our fans of Proper No.Twelve Irish Whiskey #gamechanging #huge, he wrote on social media. The couple have been enjoying a dream summer together, spending time on their yacht and celebrating both their birthdays. Last week the pair marked Dees 35th birthday at a top restaurant in Mallorca. Conor presented her with a private table decorated with rose petals, balloons and a large floral design. The UFC star forked out for the elaborate setup to celebrate his fiancee's birthday with a romantic dinner on the Spanish island where they are holidaying with their three children. Photos posted on social media show the couple being chauffeur driven to the restaurant, which is located close to Palma. Sharing snaps on Instagram, the Notorious wrote: "Late night birthday dinner in the mountains. #landairsea #iloveyoudee." Dee also shared a photo on her own Instagram thanking McGregor for "the best birthday ever". Conor then posted another picture of Dee which he described as: Breakfast time, my favourite time! The days fuel! I always say if you cant be happy with a coffee, you wont be happy with a yacht. He adds: I feel like I won all the belts, all the cups, the awards, the cash, the jackets, all the medals you name it, if its out there as a win, I won it. No one can tell me different. No one ever could. #winner #king #babybirthdaybrekkie. Whelan was a major motorbike enthusiasts and was gunned down by rivals in the Mr Flashy gang. Youths riding scrambler motorbikes were filmed accompanying a funeral cortege as part of an upcoming storyline revolving around the fictitious Kinsella criminal empire. Mourners dressed in black one carrying a picture of the victim and another flowers, follow the hearse carrying the coffin, which has Brother emblazoned on the roof of the vehicle. Pictured filming "KIN" the 2nd series where a funeral takes place of "GED", a Gang Member. From the images it appears not to be the main Kinsella family affected itself as none of the major characters are pictured in the scenes filmed in Bluebell in Dublin yesterday. Gangland shooting victim James Whelan was buried in a golden coffin at a funeral mass in north Dublin in April, with some of his pals accompanying the cortege riding scrambler bikes. Whelan was a major motorbike enthusiasts and was gunned down by rivals in the Mr Flashy gang. Dozens of bikers staged a show of strength at the funeral of Whela, doing doughnuts, wheelies and revving before, during and after his funeral at River Mount Parish church in Finglas. Pictured filming "KIN" the 2nd series where a funeral takes place of "GED", a Gang Member. At Whelans funeral mass Fr Seamus Aherne said he wished the sanctions imposed against the Kinahan cartel could extend across the whole plethora of drug suppliers everywhere. He fumed: I dont care what clan they belong to or who they are. They are a vicious deadly virus on our young people. Kin is due to return to TV screens later this year, with back to back series two and three being filmed around the capital this Summer. James Whelan The crime drama proved to be the top favourite among all TV dramas in 2021 on RTE1, with 687,000 viewers watching on RTE1 and a phenomenal 2.5 million streams on the RTE Players. The opening episode of the hit series which has been sold worldwide was the most watched programme on the RTE Player across 2021, with over 515,000 streams alone. Video shows mourners dancing with cardboard cut-out of slain criminal James Whelan Slick video shows sax player, pitbull in tux and dancing mourners at James Whelan's funeral Viewers in the final episode of series one saw rival cartel boss Eamon Cunningham (Ciaran Hinds) gunned down in a Belgian airport by Michael Kinsella (Charlie Cox), in a move orchestrated by Amanda Kinsella (Clare Dunne). Kin was created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly, who along with stars from the show maintain that the drama was not inspired by the infamous Kinahan/Hutch feud. The number of people off sick for more than a week almost doubled in the three months to the end of June, according to Stats NZ. About 55,000 people cited illness as the reason for being off work for a week during the last quarter, following a similar trend reported for the March quarter. Food manufacturing and packaging plant Hansells Masterton was operating at 80 per cent capacity and running behind on some orders due to staff absences, says chairperson Alan Stewart. We have all the time people away either from Covid or from the flu. In the factory weve got lines that cant operate because weve got people away. While the Government doubled the minimum statutory sick leave from five days to 10 during 2020, many staff had already used it all of their leave, Stewart says. Where people have completely run out, the company works with them on other options including using holiday leave or taking unpaid time off. The situation is dire and depressing, says Matt McLaughlin of Hoff Hospitality. A business owner for 20 years, McLaughlin says the unprecedented staff shortage is being compounded by sickness among the staff they still have. Across his three Wellington venues, McLaughlin says one kitchen is closed completely while two others are operating on reduced hours, which has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. This is partly to avoid putting too much pressure on the staff to prevent people leaving the industry entirely, he says. Alternative leave options are worked out on a case-by-case basis. Hospitality NZ board member Jeremy Smith says restaurateurs are performing a juggling act between looking after staff and being able to pay them. Employers are working with employees to find the best solution as they didnt want to risk losing more staff. Smith says most businesses are using a combination of annual leave and negative leave, acting on the understanding that employees will remain with them for a while and could earn the sick leave in the future. There were more people away from work due to sickness last quarter - Stats NZ finds. The problems are not confined to the hospitality industry, although customer-facing sectors have been hit hard because of the requirement for workers to be on site. Small to medium businesses were being hit the hardest and especially prone to instability from Covid, says Blair Scotland, a partner at Dundas Street Employment Lawyers. Even with no money coming in, businesses still have outgoings and, for some, having to pay double the sick leave now put them under added strain. Once the sick leave is up, employees will have to use holiday pay or take unpaid leave, he says. Larger companies, however, had the luxury of more staff cover, more money to enable offering more than the minimum entitlement. ANZ doesnt have a set number of days entitlement, meaning they can accommodate situations where staff need more sick leave than usual, says general manager for talent and culture Michelle Russell. It's a managed rather than unlimited sick leave policy, as ANZ reserved the right to limit it, she says. Public Service Association assistant secretary Alex Davies says many union members have more than the 10-day minimum sick leave and can request discretionary leave if this ran out. However, some employers had taken an unduly punitive approach to sick leave during Covid, he says, adding this was poor practice and undermined the public health effort. The PSA supports taking a flexible and supportive approach to ensure that workers, and the public health, comes first. Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Michael Wood says the current situation highlights the importance of doubling minimum sick leave to ensure people have adequate sick leave and financial support in place where people need to stay home. He says he thinks the Government has the right balance with the Covid-19 leave support scheme, adding he hadnt heard strong calls from employers or unions about the scheme. Earlier this week, Covid-19 Response Minister Ayesha Verrall confirmed New Zealand would stay at the orange traffic light setting, adding there would be no changes to case isolation and household contact quarantine requirements which will be reviewed next month. -Stuff/ . The Volcanix are set and ready to go this weekend for their first of two Tauranga Domain double-headers as the Counties Manukau Heat come to town for a Round 5 Farah Palmer Cup match-up. "Everyone has trained well this week," says head coach Brent Kaua. "We've worked on the areas we needed to work on, and they're excited to get into their mahi. What's even better is that they get to play in front of friends and whanau." The Volcanix narrowly lost last week's matchup vs defending champions Waikato. Despite the defeat, they took away key learnings. "We played well for periods of the match, especially in the first 25 minutes. Our set piece was good. We just need to be more clinical with the ball in hand and maintain our tempo," says Kaua. Assistant Coach Crystal Kaua adds, "we were penalised 21 times against Waikato. Our discipline is a non-negotiable this weekend. "We're at our best when our set piece is dominant, we are decisive and playing what's in front, and our defence is aggressive and moving forward. "Each week our team is growing, and we are excited at the thought of them putting it all together." There are multiple changes to the side that will face Counties this weekend, including a variety of players starting in different positions. Four new players enter the starting lineup, including Te Urupounamu McGarvey, Tynealle Fitzgerald, Miracle Monga and Payton Takimoana. Captain Luka Connor is on restricted minutes leading into the Black Ferns Laurie Oreilly Cup, so she willll be making an impact off the bench. The Heat are one in four this season and will need a win if they want to keep their season alive. The Volcanix, meanwhile, are two from three and currently sitting 4th in the overall standings. The Double Header action kicks off Sunday, August 14, with gates opening at 11am at the Tauranga Domain with the Volcanix kicking off at 11.35am and will be broadcast live on Sky Sport 1. Volcanix Round 5 team vs Counties Manukau Heat 1. Te Urupounamu McGarvey 2. Natalie Delamere 3. Santo Taumata 4. Kelsie Wills (VC) 5. Tynealle Fitzgerald 6. Les Elder 7. Kendra Reynolds 8. Pia Tapsell 9. Sheniqua Taula 10. Kalyn Takitimu-Cook 11. Olivia Richardson 12. Miracle Monga 13. Renee Wickliffe 14. Grace Parata-Stewart 15. Payton Takimoana 16. Luka Connor (C) 17. Kate Henwood 18. Animei Skudder 19. Jessie Wharekura 20. JayJay Taylor 21. Emma Flynn 22. Kiki Tahere 23. Sapphire Williams Not available due to injury: Olive Watherston Kiri Ngawati Azalleyah Maaka Tayla Manu-Pym Match details Bay of Plenty Double Header Sunday, August 14, Tauranga Domain, Tauranga Gates Open at 11am Volcanix v Counties Manukau, 11.35am Steamers vs Taranaki, 2.05pm Games Live on Sky Sport 1 CHAUTAUQUA By 10:45 a.m., the amphitheater of the Chautauqua Institution had mostly filled with patrons. They were there to hear a talk by world-famous author Salman Rushdie, who has been living under death threats from Iran for more three decades after the publication of his book "Satanic Verses." Rushdie, 75, was on stage with his interviewer, Ralph Henry Reese, 73, when a man bounded onto the stage wearing a black Covid-19 mask and black and white jogging suit. "I couldn't believe what was happening," said Linda Ulrich-Hagner, a retired teacher who spends her summers in the lakefront community. State police early Friday evening identified the man as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., who is accused of stabbing Rushdie multiple times, at least once each in the neck and abdomen. Investigators and prosecutors at a 5 p.m. press conference said they were considering what to charge Matar with as they gathered evidence and surgery to address Rushdie's wounds continued at UPMC Hamot trauma hospital in Erie, Pa., where he was flown by helicopter after the attack. Andrew Wylie, Rushdie's literary agent, said just before 7 p.m. that the author was on a ventilator with critical injuries. "The news is not good," Wylie said in a statement. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," he said. A state trooper assigned to security at the event grabbed Matar after the commotion began, and took him into custody with help from a Chautauqua County sheriff's deputy and several audience members who ran onto the stage. A doctor in the audience and emergency medical technicians on hand tended to Rushdie before he was helped off the stage. Reese, who suffered minor facial injuries, was treated at the same Erie hospital and later released. The attack stunned the crowd and drew international attention. "This has never happened in our entire history," said Michael E. Hill, the president of the Institution. "Chautauqua has always been an extremely safe place." Unanswered questions Questions remained Friday about the accused attacker's intentions, whether he acted alone or whether he was motivated by a three-decades-old fatwa against Rushdie, as well as how he carried out the attack. Authorities said Matar had a pass to enter the grounds and his backpack was screened by a sheriff's deputy and K-9 assigned to the event. State police said it appeared Matar acted alone. They continue to investigate, along with the FBI and Chautauqua County Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt will determine charges as the investigation continues, depending, in part, on Rushdie's condition. Book backlash After the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, often-violent protests against Rushdie erupted around the world, including a riot that killed 12 people in Mumbai. The novel was banned in Iran, where the late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini the following year issued the fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdies death. A bounty of $3.3 million was offered by a semi-official religious organization to anyone who killed Rushdie. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, including a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism. "We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil," PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said of Friday's attack. The organization seeks to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. Rushdie is a former president. "Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades, but has never flinched, nor faltered," Nossel said. "He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced." The shock Just before the attack occurred at about 10:45 a.m. Friday, the Booker Prize-winning author was sitting on stage near Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum, a Pittsburgh residency program for writers living in exile under threat of persecution. Introductory remarks had just begun before the men were to begin a conversation about the United States as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. Then the attack began. Witnesses said they saw a man rush from the left side of the stage wearing a black mask worn for Covid-19 and begin to assault Rushdie, who was on the same side of the stage. "There was horror the whole audience reacted, and probably 15 spectators raced onto the stage to try to attend to him, or so it seemed," said Tonawanda resident Paula Voell, a former Buffalo News reporter, who was in the audience. "It was pretty clear, instantly, that he was being attacked." Voell said Rushdie was on the ground for possibly five minutes when two men, one on either side, helped him walk to the back of the stage and out of view. A few minutes later, Deborah Sunya Moore, vice president of programming at the Chautauqua Institution, asked the audience to calmly leave the amphitheater. Shortly afterward, a group of about 40 people gathered for a prayer circle in English and Hebrew. Steve Davies sat in the first row as the chaos broke out. He saw 10 or more spectators descend on the stage to subdue the attacker, who he said was "pummeling" Rushdie with his right hand. He couldn't tell if the attacker was holding a knife. "I feel like I did after 9/11, that it was an attack on the Chautauqua Institution, and not just Salman Rushdie," said Davies, who lives in Brooklyn. "Hopefully, it is something we can overcome and get past. This is the antithesis of what Chautauqua stands for." Liz Kolken, who lives year-round at Chautauqua, was running late and got to the main entrance when she heard gasps from the crowd. She turned away. "I had been at Tops two hours before the shooting, so I've had enough violence," Kolken said, referring to the May 14 attack by an avowed white supremacist that killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket. State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, was at Chautauqua Institution earlier Friday and had just left when the attack occurred. He recalled buying "The Satanic Verses" when it was first published. He said his "thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Rushdie." "I bought the book, as did so many others, as a show of support for Mr. Rushdie and for the basic human right of free speech," Borrello said. Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statement on Twitter, calling Rushdie "an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power." Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin called the incident a "horrific attack." He was attacked, but not injured, while on stage for a campaign event in Fairport last month. "We must hold the perpetrator of this violence accountable to the fullest extent of the law," Zeldin said. The attack was especially shocking to patrons of the Chautauqua Institution, known for drawing luminaries of the arts, humanities and religious worlds to its pastoral, lakeside getaway. In the hours after the attack, yellow "crime scene" tape crisscrossed the front of the amphitheater. Most events were canceled for the day. Ulrich-Hagner, the retired teacher, ended up spending most of the day on a bench in the plaza trying to make sense of what she had just witnessed. "It's almost like, where are you safe anymore?" she said. Karen Rumsey of Eden said Friday was the first time she had been at Chautauqua since summer 2019. "I so looked forward to coming back," Rumsey said. "And now I'm speechless." News staff reporters Jon Harris and Lou Michel and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. With a new order announced, Republicans may be forced to start the process all over again to vote down the governor's emergency order and accompanying mask mandate, but the most likely outcome appears to be an eventual court decision. TwistOfFate! BHPian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Luxembourg, EUR Posts: 43 Thanked: 134 Times Your experience of being pulled over by a cop abroad I have been a rather silent member of this wonderful community since a decade and half (also almost half my age!). My salutations to all the wonderful humans that make this community a Go-To for anything related to automobile content. Prelude: In February 2022, I got an opportunity to move to Luxembourg, Europe along with my family (spouse and 1.5 year old son) for long term. Since my movement was due to work reasons, I have opted for the company assisted move, which gave me access to a rental car for a period of 30 days while I'm settling in the new city/country. Three weeks since I landed in Luxembourg, I was handed over a BMW X1 Automatic for my personal use (self driven), leased with the car rental company SIXT, which is quite famous now in EU. Back in India, my daily drive was a 2021 Hyundai Venue 1.5 D Manual and all cars in our family have always been Manuals. It was a mix of a lot of "first times" when I drove the BMW X1: 1. First big brand aka luxury car, 2. First left-hand-drive vehicle, 3. First time automatic (I did drive automatics earlier, but not for a continued 30 day duration), 4. First time driving on roads outside India etc. I have been driving cars since the legal permissible age and never did I receive any tickets for breaking the law, let alone being involved in accidents. I think I'm one of those drivers who believe vehicles should take us from point A to point B and they precisely do it if we respect both the vehicle and the laws. That said, these "first times" did land me some amount of panic, but I coped up well. One really good thing about living in Luxembourg is that you get to travel across the neighboring countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland etc.) without breaking a sweat - awesome highways for cruising, wonderful machines to drive, skillful drivers on the roads and picturesque locations few hours away! Two days into taking the car, we left for Amsterdam for the weekend. Amsterdam is approximately 400 kms away from Luxembourg - we started at 8 AM and reached by 12 noon (yes, just four hours for ~400 kms, including a 20 mins diaper change for toddler and a stretch/coffee break). Once in Amsterdam, we visited a very close friend and stayed with them for the long weekend. Encounter 1: This is where my first encounter with the cops happened! We were cruising down a highway (visited a cherry blossom park and returning home) and I was leading, while my friend and his family (spouse and 1.5 year old again) were following us in their Mitsubishi Outlander 4WD. We had to exit the highway towards the right right hand side, which forked into the road we should take followed by another "Bus-Only" road. I missed the "Bus-Only" signboard and entered that lane, which took us over the bridge and as we exited the bridge, we were stopped by two cop cars with strobe lights on! To my surprise, while we were on that flyover bridge, my 1.5 YO son threw up and my wife just pulled him out of the baby seat to clean him up. The cops who stopped us enquired why we entered Bus-Only lane, why our baby was not in the car seat, took my Indian driver's license for identity, ran through the car's registration papers and was super kind enough to let us go as with a soft-warning - as I explained him how Google maps tricked us into taking the bus lane and why the baby was not in his car seat. The first encounter with the European cops, although not hostile, did leave a strong impression of how quick they react and how critically they adhere to the traffic rules. Encounter 2 (this is going to be a long one): This was in May 2022, when I had to shift from my service apartment (SA) in Gare Central to my rental apartment (RA) in Strassen. By then, I already returned the BMW X1 and we finished a couple of trips to Belgium and France (more on these travelogues later) - courtesy self drive cars booked again via SIXT. I love this company for the wide variety of cars they host and all the cars I booked were always almost brand new (less than 1000 kms driven when I picked them up). These trips meant I was extremely familiarized and comfortable with driving in Europe by now and really loved the ease with which you can munch miles here. Coming back to the topic, anyone who lives in Luxembourg may understand, the road which connects Stareplaz to Hamilius drives through Avenue Monterey, where there is a mandatory left turn near Monterey park, which eventually merges you into Hamilius towards Gare Central. To facilitate my movement from SA to RA, I booked a car again with SIXT and was lucky to be upgraded to Audi A6 Avant (probably because of my booking history with them in the short period). Now with this bigger car at hand and our movement to the RA, we planned to visit IKEA in Belgium (but just 25 mins away from our home in Luxembourg - now you realize how easy it is to commute between countries here) to buy some household stuff. Since we did not have our Luxembourg residence cards yet and since we were crossing country borders, I carried my passport in a bag. While returning from IKEA, I realized that we inadvertently left the bag at the store ( ), which meant I (almost) lost my passport! We were the absolute last people to checkout from the store and the shutters were closed right in front of our eyes while we were still at the car park. By the time we realized about the bag and went back to IKEA, it was already closed and the security personnel asked us to come back next day to check our luck. With a heavy heart (and a very heavy car with ~EUR 1000 worth of IKEA stuff), we returned to the SA and decided to move stuff to our RA in a few trips during the night. One of my closest friends who lived in France for the last two years came over to help us with the shifting & settling, and accompanied me in my trips between SA & RA for moving the luggage. Two trips went well and in the third and the last trip between SA & RA past mid-night, I was driving through this Avenue Montarey between Stareplaz and Hamilius and saw a cop car on the right in standby. I casually asked my friend if he had any experience with cops in EU and since he never drove cars in EU, it was negative. But he did say, in case cops ever turn on the strobes, pull over. Right when we were at the traffic signal (remember where we have to take mandatory left to eventually merge into the Hamilius road), the cop car was right behind us. When the signal turned Green, I inadvertently drove straight (which is again a Bus-Only lane) instead of taking the mandatory left and boom - the cop car right behind us turned on the strobes instantly. I had to pullover, but the traffic signal where I stopped earlier and the Hamilius road are probably less than 100 meters apart - I took the right turn on Hamilius road towards Gare and pulled over. I immediately realized my offenses - driving in Bus-Only lane and not adhering to traffic signal while turning right into the road from Hamilius to Gare. Two cops came down immediately, asked us to be seated in the car with my hands on the steering wheel and my friend's hands on the dashboard, which we obliged. The cops initially inquired where we were coming from, where we were heading, if we had any weapons in the car etc. and asked us for the car registration and insurance papers. To my utter surprise, the registration of my rental car expired a few months ago (or at least they did not have the latest registration papers in the glove box). The series of events really made me extremely anxious: 1. Lost my passport the same day (retrieved it the next day luckily) 2. Two back to back traffic violations 3. Expired car registration papers 4. No residence card yet (basically nothing to prove I'm legally entitled to live in Luxembourg, let alone the traffic violations). I tried calling SIXT customer support as the cops asked for valid registration documents, but again, to my utter surprise, SIXT systems across the globe were hacked a week ago and there was no customer support (live or non-live) available whatsoever. With nothing else to do, I showed my car booking details to the cops and informed there's absolutely nothing I can do to bring the current registration documents at midnight. They discussed internally and excused me for the documents, but asked me to bear the fine of approx EUR 250 for the two traffic violations. You can take a person out of the village, but not the village out of a person. With this quote in mind, I started negotiating with the cops, asking them to excuse me for the unmindful violations and promised not to commit them again. But they were dead-adamant about me paying the fine and asked if I would like to pay via cash or card on the spot. I looked at my friend, and this time we both pleaded for some mercy! Finally, one of the cops obliged and asked us to pay the fine of EUR 150 (approx) for one of the violations and agreed to let go off the other, as this was my first violation in EU (according to them - little did they know about the Amsterdam saga). EUR 150 to an Indian brain meant approx INR 12000. That is freaking huge sum of money, and I continued to ask them to excuse me as this was my first violation ever and promised not to break the traffic laws ever again. At this same time, the cops received an URGENT call on their sets (walkie-talkie eh?) about some scuffle happening few kilometers away, and woooosshhh! The cops excused me, handed over my Indian Driver's License and the car's documents and left the place in a jiffy (literally in a blink of an eye, they were not to be seen anymore). I thanked all my stars for the turn of events and promised myself to never ever violate the traffic laws with these first hand experiences, which I continue to share with my family and friends. I'm sure this community may have had similar (interesting) experiences with cops pulling over when you're driving/riding abroad. Looking forward to reading through some such KGF-ish stories here. Hi everyone,I have been a rather silent member of this wonderful community since a decade and half (also almost half my age!). My salutations to all the wonderful humans that make this community a Go-To for anything related to automobile content.In February 2022, I got an opportunity to move to Luxembourg, Europe along with my family (spouse and 1.5 year old son) for long term. Since my movement was due to work reasons, I have opted for the company assisted move, which gave me access to a rental car for a period of 30 days while I'm settling in the new city/country. Three weeks since I landed in Luxembourg, I was handed over a BMW X1 Automatic for my personal use (self driven), leased with the car rental company SIXT, which is quite famous now in EU. Back in India, my daily drive was a 2021 Hyundai Venue 1.5 D Manual and all cars in our family have always been Manuals.It was a mix of a lot of "first times" when I drove the BMW X1:1. First big brand aka luxury car,2. First left-hand-drive vehicle,3. First time automatic (I did drive automatics earlier, but not for a continued 30 day duration),4. First time driving on roads outside India etc.I have been driving cars since the legal permissible age and never did I receive any tickets for breaking the law, let alone being involved in accidents. I think I'm one of those drivers who believe vehicles should take us from point A to point B and they precisely do it if we respect both the vehicle and the laws. That said, these "first times" did land me some amount of panic, but I coped up well. One really good thing about living in Luxembourg is that you get to travel across the neighboring countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland etc.) without breaking a sweat - awesome highways for cruising, wonderful machines to drive, skillful drivers on the roads and picturesque locations few hours away!Two days into taking the car, we left for Amsterdam for the weekend. Amsterdam is approximately 400 kms away from Luxembourg - we started at 8 AM and reached by 12 noon (yes, just four hours for ~400 kms, including a 20 mins diaper change for toddler and a stretch/coffee break). Once in Amsterdam, we visited a very close friend and stayed with them for the long weekend.This is where my first encounter with the cops happened! We were cruising down a highway (visited a cherry blossom park and returning home) and I was leading, while my friend and his family (spouse and 1.5 year old again) were following us in their Mitsubishi Outlander 4WD. We had to exit the highway towards the right right hand side, which forked into the road we should take followed by another "Bus-Only" road. I missed the "Bus-Only" signboard and entered that lane, which took us over the bridge and as we exited the bridge, we were stopped by two cop cars with strobe lights on! To my surprise, while we were on that flyover bridge, my 1.5 YO son threw up and my wife just pulled him out of the baby seat to clean him up. The cops who stopped us enquired why we entered Bus-Only lane, why our baby was not in the car seat, took my Indian driver's license for identity, ran through the car's registration papers and was super kind enough to let us go as with a soft-warning - as I explained him how Google maps tricked us into taking the bus lane and why the baby was not in his car seat. The first encounter with the European cops, although not hostile, did leave a strong impression of how quick they react and how critically they adhere to the traffic rules.(this is going to be a long one):This was in May 2022, when I had to shift from my service apartment (SA) in Gare Central to my rental apartment (RA) in Strassen. By then, I already returned the BMW X1 and we finished a couple of trips to Belgium and France (more on these travelogues later) - courtesy self drive cars booked again via SIXT. I love this company for the wide variety of cars they host and all the cars I booked were always almost brand new (less than 1000 kms driven when I picked them up). These trips meant I was extremely familiarized and comfortable with driving in Europe by now and really loved the ease with which you can munch miles here. Coming back to the topic, anyone who lives in Luxembourg may understand, the road which connects Stareplaz to Hamilius drives through Avenue Monterey, where there is a mandatory left turn near Monterey park, which eventually merges you into Hamilius towards Gare Central. To facilitate my movement from SA to RA, I booked a car again with SIXT and was lucky to be upgraded to Audi A6 Avant (probably because of my booking history with them in the short period). Now with this bigger car at hand and our movement to the RA, we planned to visit IKEA in Belgium (but just 25 mins away from our home in Luxembourg - now you realize how easy it is to commute between countries here) to buy some household stuff. Since we did not have our Luxembourg residence cards yet and since we were crossing country borders, I carried my passport in a bag. While returning from IKEA, I realized that we inadvertently left the bag at the store (), which meant I (almost) lost my passport! We were the absolute last people to checkout from the store and the shutters were closed right in front of our eyes while we were still at the car park. By the time we realized about the bag and went back to IKEA, it was already closed and the security personnel asked us to come back next day to check our luck.With a heavy heart (and a very heavy car with ~EUR 1000 worth of IKEA stuff), we returned to the SA and decided to move stuff to our RA in a few trips during the night. One of my closest friends who lived in France for the last two years came over to help us with the shifting & settling, and accompanied me in my trips between SA & RA for moving the luggage. Two trips went well and in the third and the last trip between SA & RA past mid-night, I was driving through this Avenue Montarey between Stareplaz and Hamilius and saw a cop car on the right in standby. I casually asked my friend if he had any experience with cops in EU and since he never drove cars in EU, it was negative. But he did say, in case cops ever turn on the strobes, pull over. Right when we were at the traffic signal (remember where we have to take mandatory left to eventually merge into the Hamilius road), the cop car was right behind us. When the signal turned Green, I inadvertently drove straight (which is again a Bus-Only lane) instead of taking the mandatory left and boom - the cop car right behind us turned on the strobes instantly. I had to pullover, but the traffic signal where I stopped earlier and the Hamilius road are probably less than 100 meters apart - I took the right turn on Hamilius road towards Gare and pulled over.I immediately realized my offenses - driving in Bus-Only lane and not adhering to traffic signal while turning right into the road from Hamilius to Gare. Two cops came down immediately, asked us to be seated in the car with my hands on the steering wheel and my friend's hands on the dashboard, which we obliged. The cops initially inquired where we were coming from, where we were heading, if we had any weapons in the car etc. and asked us for the car registration and insurance papers. To my utter surprise, the registration of my rental car expired a few months ago (or at least they did not have the latest registration papers in the glove box). The series of events really made me extremely anxious:1. Lost my passport the same day (retrieved it the next day luckily)2. Two back to back traffic violations3. Expired car registration papers4. No residence card yet (basically nothing to prove I'm legally entitled to live in Luxembourg, let alone the traffic violations).I tried calling SIXT customer support as the cops asked for valid registration documents, but again, to my utter surprise, SIXT systems across the globe were hacked a week ago and there was no customer support (live or non-live) available whatsoever. With nothing else to do, I showed my car booking details to the cops and informed there's absolutely nothing I can do to bring the current registration documents at midnight. They discussed internally and excused me for the documents, but asked me to bear the fine of approx EUR 250 for the two traffic violations.With this quote in mind, I started negotiating with the cops, asking them to excuse me for the unmindful violations and promised not to commit them again. But they were dead-adamant about me paying the fine and asked if I would like to pay via cash or card on the spot. I looked at my friend, and this time we both pleaded for some mercy! Finally, one of the cops obliged and asked us to pay the fine of EUR 150 (approx) for one of the violations and agreed to let go off the other, as this was my first violation in EU (according to them - little did they know about the Amsterdam saga). EUR 150 to an Indian brain meant approx INR 12000. That is freaking huge sum of money, and I continued to ask them to excuse me as this was my first violation ever and promised not to break the traffic laws ever again. At this same time, the cops received an URGENT call on their sets (walkie-talkie eh?) about some scuffle happening few kilometers away, and woooosshhh! The cops excused me, handed over my Indian Driver's License and the car's documents and left the place in a jiffy (literally in a blink of an eye, they were not to be seen anymore).I thanked all my stars for the turn of events and promised myself to never ever violate the traffic laws with these first hand experiences, which I continue to share with my family and friends.I'm sure this community may have had similar (interesting) experiences with cops pulling over when you're driving/riding abroad. Looking forward to reading through some such KGF-ish stories here. NotanF1driver BHPian Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Kochi Posts: 93 Thanked: 367 Times Issues in my 5-month old Tata Safari | Terrible after-sales support Today happens to be the day, where I am the one who posts about Tata's terrible service support. I have read several ownership threads here regarding bad service, and still went with a Tata. The car in isolation, is excellent and ticked all boxes. Car in question: Tata Safari 2022 Ownership period: 5 months Dealership: Malayalam Vehicles, Kochi I, had to face issues from the day of delivery, which are detailed in Safaris official review thread: 1. Check engine warning - this was present the minute the engine was cranked up on the day of delivery. This was due to DPF error. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5279909 (2021 Tata Safari Review) 2. The car was delivered with a missing wheel well cover, which I noted later. This got replaced (the full wheel cladding) and I paid some 1k for it - was rectified in the first service check-up. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5286238 (2021 Tata Safari Review) 3. Flip seats wont flip and tumble. Still unresolved. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5367348 (2021 Tata Safari Review) The third issue is still being addressed. I escalated the matter to Tata Motors via their Twitter handle. They were prompt enough to call me the very next day morning and apologized for the ordeal and promised to get it fixed. Unsurprisingly, that was it, and no one else called or informed me on what are the next steps. Now comes the worst part. I called up the SA and asked him on an update. He said that it would take one week to get the part delivered at the service center. He calls me back again in the evening and says Sir, did I tell you on the cost of the part? It is around 49 50 range. I was shocked to hear him reconfirm that it is 50 thousand! He told me that the whole seat assembly needs replacement and since this is a case of some broken parts, it would not be covered by warranty. It seems to be a small issue from my visual inspection - see images below. Left side lever - cable is detached from the lever Right side - lever is attached (adding for reference) Summarizing the aspects: 1. If there are no issues with the car, in isolation, the vehicle is nothing short of brilliant. 2. Once the car develops a slightest of issue (I acknowledge that cars are prone to issues as they run on nuts and bolts), dealing with service is a pain. You would not understand this until you are in such a situation (at least, I did not). 3. Flip fold seats were not damaged by me hitting the mechanism with a hammer or anything. It just gave up based on daily usage. In my opinion, that should be covered in warranty - if not, what would be? 4. The issue was first reported on 26 Jul which has not yet been resolved by the dealership. Making a customer wait for 3 4 weeks for a small issue is unacceptable. I cant understand what took them so long to tell me about this. 5. I can't consume the fact that the seat assembly needs to be replaced for as a fix. If a door lock is not working, is replacing the door the only solution? The dealership says that child parts of rear seat is not available to order. Does that mean the customer should pay for the entire seat assembly? 6. I asked the SA to send me a written confirmation on two things one, that the warranty claim is rejected by Tata along with the reason. Two, that the part which needs replacement along with the cost. Spoke to his manager as well and explained this no one seems to be interested. 7. I spent my hard-earned money on a Tata product, not because I am a patriot, but the product seemed genuinely good. If someone asked me now if I am willing to switch my car with another, and incur a loss of 2-3L on it, I would do it. I know it is immature to sell a car for a silly reason like this, but this thought has been in my mind since these issues came up. I have work responsibilities which takes up a lot of my time, and I value peace of mind more than anything else. My question is, if a common man like me, is in such a situation, what are the ways in which one can proceed? Had I been a social media influencer or an editor with an automobile magazine, I could have used some influence. What next, BHPians? @Mods - this is my first new thread, please guide me if I have not done some things right. Hello BHPians.Today happens to be the day, where I am the one who posts about Tata's terrible service support. I have read several ownership threads here regarding bad service, and still went with a Tata. The car in isolation, is excellent and ticked all boxes.Car in question: Tata Safari 2022Ownership period: 5 monthsDealership: Malayalam Vehicles, KochiI, had to face issues from the day of delivery, which are detailed in Safaris official review thread:1. Check engine warning - this was present the minute the engine was cranked up on the day of delivery. This was due to DPF error.2. The car was delivered with a missing wheel well cover, which I noted later. This got replaced (the full wheel cladding) and I paid some 1k for it - was rectified in the first service check-up.3. Flip seats wont flip and tumble. Still unresolved.The third issue is still being addressed. I escalated the matter to Tata Motors via their Twitter handle. They were prompt enough to call me the very next day morning and apologized for the ordeal and promised to get it fixed. Unsurprisingly, that was it, and no one else called or informed me on what are the next steps.Now comes the worst part. I called up the SA and asked him on an update. He said that it would take one week to get the part delivered at the service center. He calls me back again in the evening and says Sir, did I tell you on the cost of the part? It is around 49 50 range. I was shocked to hear him reconfirm that it is 50 thousand! He told me that the whole seat assembly needs replacement and since this is a case of some broken parts, it would not be covered by warranty. It seems to be a small issue from my visual inspection - see images below.Left side lever - cable is detached from the leverRight side - lever is attached (adding for reference)Summarizing the aspects:1. If there are no issues with the car, in isolation, the vehicle is nothing short of brilliant.2. Once the car develops a slightest of issue (I acknowledge that cars are prone to issues as they run on nuts and bolts), dealing with service is a pain. You would not understand this until you are in such a situation (at least, I did not).3. Flip fold seats were not damaged by me hitting the mechanism with a hammer or anything. It just gave up based on daily usage. In my opinion, that should be covered in warranty - if not, what would be?4. The issue was first reported on 26 Jul which has not yet been resolved by the dealership. Making a customer wait for 3 4 weeks for a small issue is unacceptable. I cant understand what took them so long to tell me about this.5. I can't consume the fact that the seat assembly needs to be replaced for as a fix. If a door lock is not working, is replacing the door the only solution? The dealership says that child parts of rear seat is not available to order. Does that mean the customer should pay for the entire seat assembly?6. I asked the SA to send me a written confirmation on two things one, that the warranty claim is rejected by Tata along with the reason. Two, that the part which needs replacement along with the cost. Spoke to his manager as well and explained this no one seems to be interested.7. I spent my hard-earned money on a Tata product, not because I am a patriot, but the product seemed genuinely good. If someone asked me now if I am willing to switch my car with another, and incur a loss of 2-3L on it, I would do it. I know it is immature to sell a car for a silly reason like this, but this thought has been in my mind since these issues came up. I have work responsibilities which takes up a lot of my time, and I value peace of mind more than anything else.My question is, if a common man like me, is in such a situation, what are the ways in which one can proceed? Had I been a social media influencer or an editor with an automobile magazine, I could have used some influence. What next, BHPians?@Mods - this is my first new thread, please guide me if I have not done some things right. Tesla Model 3 Long Range, one of the best-selling vehicles of the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle (EV) maker, is no longer available, its online listing reveals. On the other hand, the two Model 3 sedan options, such as the Standard and Performance variants, are still available on the online configurator page of the all-electric automaker. The Tesla website further estimated when the Model 3 Long Range would be available to take orders again. Tesla Model 3 Long Range Orders Halted As per the latest news story by Electrek, Tesla quietly stopped taking new orders for its Model 3 Long Range, which has become increasingly popular in the US and other countries like Canada. And as such, if you are looking to get your hands on the Long Range variant of the sought-after Tesla electric sedan, you might need to wait a little longer. (Photo : `by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) A Tesla model 3 is seen in the Tesla stand during the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai on November 6, 2019. While it is easily possible to purchase one in the used market, getting it straight from the renowned EV maker goes otherwise. It comes as the online configurator of Tesla confirms that it would take several months before the Model 3 Long Range would be available for orders. When Will Tesla Model 3 Long Range Be Available Again? Electrek notes in the same story that the US configurator of the EV maker still lists the Long Range variant. However, the option has been grayed out, preventing customers from selecting it. Despite that, the configuration of the car maker assured its visitors that it would be available again soon. Below the now grayed-out Tesla Model 3 Long Range option, the website notes that it would be available by next year or in 2023. It is worth noting that both the configurators of the Musk-led automaker in the US and Canada no longer take new orders for the Model 3 sedan. But why has it come to this? Read Also: Tesla Giga Shanghai Upgrade Leads to Low EV Sales in China? Negative Effects Expected to Continue Throughout August Tesla Production vs. Huge Demand No less than the mega-billionaire Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla, Musk, has previously warned against a time wherein the EV maker might stop taking orders for some of its vehicles. The big boss of Tesla admits the possibility of the unavailability of some models amid the massive demand for EVs these days, according to a recent report by Mashable. In turn, he says that the production of new EVs is having a hard time keeping up with the strong demand. Musk states that the "demand is exceeding production to a ridiculous degree." He adds that "we're actually probably gonna just stop taking orders for anything beyond some period of time because some of the timing is like a year away." Related Article: Tesla Giga Shanghai Breaks Local Demand Promise? Model Y, Model 3 Covers Half of China's Exported EVs This 2022 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple finally approved Telegram's "major" update in its App Store after getting stuck in the review process, causing its delay. The slow down in the approval of the Telegram update irked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the privacy-focused messaging app, Pavel Durov. And in turn, no less than the big boss of Telegram had called out Apple for holding off the release of its latest update. Apple vs. Telegram According to a recent report by Mac Rumors, the Telegram chief exec penned a post to boldly call out Apple for delaying the newest update of Telegram as it seeks approval from the App Store. Durov touts that the latest update would "revolutionize how people express themselves in messaging." He also went on to dub the review process of the official app marketplace for iPhones and iPad as "obscure." The tech exec also disclosed that the update had been stuck in the review process for more than a week. And on top of that, he claims that the Cupertino-based tech giant failed to give any explanation or feedback why it got seemingly stuck in review. During the time that Durov lashed out against the delay of the new update of Telegram in the App Store, it is unclear why it took long. Read Also: Apple Wants 90 Million Units for iPhone 14 Similar to Predecessor's Shipment Last Year-No Drops in Demand Telegram App Store Update Has Been Approved But this time, as per the latest news from 9to5 Mac, the iPhone maker has finally approved the Telegram update after sitting for more than two weeks. The Telegram boss has confirmed that Apple has already given the major update a go signal for its release on iPhones and iPads. And it turns out that Apple had some issues with the new animated emoji that the privacy-focused messaging service is introducing to its users, Durov reveals. The CEO disclosed that the renowned tech giant had complained against the seemingly harmless animated emojis in the messaging app. Telemoji: What is it? Telemoji allows users to send multiple animated emojis on the platform. 9to5 Mac notes that it seems to be based on the emojis on iOS, but the messaging app spiced it up with animations. Durov states that Apple asked Telegram to remove its new "Telemoji," saying that the tech giant had issues with the "higher quality vector-animated version of the standard emoji." And as such, the newly approved update ditched the seemingly iOS-inspired animated emojis. But the tech exec is not backing down, teasing that it pushes Telemoji to be more "unique and recognizable." Related Article: Apple's macOS Ventura Website Ditches 'Hide my Email' for Third Party Apps from Features List This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Teejay Boris 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SpaceX is the frontrunner for recycled spacecraft use, with most of its lineup being eligible for recycled ventures, it yet again secures a contract with the US Space Force for a future flight to deliver on orbit. US Spy satellites are flying soon in "economy" with SpaceX after the approval to use recycled Falcon boosters for the coming launch of the surveillance tech. SpaceX: US Space Force Approves Recycled Falcon Boosters for Spy Satellites According to Bloomberg, SpaceX got approval from the Pentagon to use old Falcon boosters that the company utilized for past flights, for another use towards bringing US Spy satellites to orbit. The US Space Force's satellites would take the Falcon boosters despite their previous use to go launch its first stage for the coming mission. The future top-secret mission would launch using the Falcon Heavy with recycled boosters, and it would not be a problem for both SpaceX and the US Space Force which approved its use. It also puts SpaceX at a great advantage against Boeing-Lockheed, as they were once the exclusive partner for Defense's need for space launches. Read Also: SpaceX Starship Completes Static Fire Test, Booster 7 Success-Static Fire Test Soon? Not the First Time the US Space Force Approves Recycled Tech CNET reported that SpaceX's use of recycled Falcon 9 boosters was previously approved by the military for the launch of its new GPS satellites, and it saw a different take for the venture. Now, it would focus on the Falcon Heavy rocket which has three Falcon 9 boosters combined to provide significant power for its launch and bring heavier payloads to orbit. SpaceX and its Recyclable Launch Spacecraft One of the best features of SpaceX is its reusable or recyclable rockets which aim to reduce the growing number of space trash or waste that is either left in space or comes back to the planet with no more use. Its first recycled rocket launched in 2017, and since then, the company brought different missions by reusing the previous spacecraft that took flight already. SpaceX is notable for servicing these rockets to a good, reusable state, as one of its past flights that sustained damages on landing was something that it aims to launch again. The NASA Crew-1 rocket booster from SpaceX that returned to its droneship and saw significant damages got word from CEO Elon Musk that it only needs to swap parts. There were previous ventures towards reusing old rockets from SpaceX with its ventures with the US Space Force, and while one of its features offers savings, it demonstrates reliability to the company's tech. Now, there is an upcoming launch that would use the Falcon boosters again, in their recycled state for maximum use and delivering spy satellites. Related Article: SpaceX Rockets To Replace Roscosmos' Soyuz? ESA Now Discussing This Plan This article is owned by TechTimes Written by Isaiah Richard 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Friday fired Michael Gableman, marking an end to the more than $1 million taxpayer-funded, GOP-ordered review that has failed to uncover any evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. A day after telling the Wisconsin State Journal he wanted the election review to reach its natural conclusion, Vos, who hired Gableman last summer to lead the probe, ended the states contract with Gableman and closed the Office of Special Counsel headed by the former state Supreme Court justice. Gablemans firing comes three days after Vos narrowly defeated his primary opponent Adam Steen, who was endorsed by both Gableman and former President Donald Trump. After having many members of our caucus reach out to me over the past several days, it is beyond clear to me that we only have one choice in this matter, and thats to close the Office of Special Counsel, Vos said in a statement issued first to The Associated Press. In an interview with WISN-12, Vos said he sent Gableman a letter on the matter, adding he hasnt personally spoken with the former justice in weeks. I really dont think theres any need to have a discussion, Vos said. He did a good job last year, it kind of got off the rails this year and now were going to end the investigation. Vos said his goal now is to help Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels defeat Democratic Gov. Tony Evers this November and pass a slew of election bills Evers vetoed last legislative session. Vos hired Gableman at a cost of $676,000, though legal fees and other court costs have pushed the price tag to more than $1.1 million all of which will ultimately fall on taxpayers. Gableman was paid more than $100,000 to lead the review. Farce from start The investigation was a farce from the beginning and did nothing but waste taxpayer dollars, demonize our local clerks and election officials, and further sow misinformation and doubt in our democratic systems, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, said in a statement. Im relieved the Office of the Special Counsel is closed, but this action from Speaker Vos today is far too little, far too late. Vos told the Wisconsin State Journal on Thursday several state Republicans wanted to see Gablemans review come to a natural conclusion, but at the time still planned to caucus next Tuesday to decide the fate of the review. I would have fired his keister a long time ago, said Sen. Kathleen Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, who chairs the Senate elections committee. Bernier, who is not seeking another term this year, has long criticized the election review. As to why Gableman had remained under contract for so long, Robin may not have fired him prior to the primary for political reasons and I dont blame him, Bernier said, clarifying that she was only speculating about Vos intentions. Gableman did not respond to a request for comment Friday. Trumps lie Facing pressure from Trump, who continues to promote the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election, Vos unveiled plans to embark on the election review at the Republican Party of Wisconsins annual convention in June 2021. But while Vos launched the review at Trumps behest, the former presidents opinion of Vos has soured in recent weeks due to the speakers refusal to entertain Trumps calls to decertify the results of the 2020 presidential election something that cannot happen under state law or the U.S. Constitution. A recount, court decisions and multiple reviews have affirmed that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes. A report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau last year found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election but made several recommendations for improvements. A brief history The review was initially intended to conclude by the end of last year, but Gableman himself admitted in June while providing testimony in one of four public records lawsuits related to the probe that he spent the first several months of his efforts getting up to speed on Wisconsin elections. He also attended a South Dakota event hosted by MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell billed as presenting irrefutable proof that Chinese-backed hackers helped steal the 2020 election for Biden. Gableman later said he was very disappointed with the lack of substance to back up those claims. He also traveled to Arizona that month to observe the widely discredited election audit conducted by Cyber Ninjas. He couldnt help himself and in the end he was going to rallies, he was attending political events which clearly looked like there was a partisan tinge to the investigation, Vos said Thursday. We stopped most of that, but then here we are where he does not just attend a political event but chooses to be involved in a very partisan way and then lie about it. In March, Gableman recommended the Legislature take the legally impossible step of decertifying the results. Two weeks later he described the proposal as a practical impossibility in a private memo to Vos. Vos paused the probe two months later to allow time for pending lawsuits related to the review to play out in court and halved Gablemans monthly salary to $5,500. Gablemans most recent misstep came days before Tuesdays primary, when he recorded a robocall for Steen, an election denier who was seeking to oust Vos in the 63rd Assembly District, claiming that Vos never wanted a real investigation. I never said we werent serious about the investigation, Vos said Thursday. Frankly, if you ask any Democrat and most Republicans in the state, they think I was pretty serious in spending the money and time and resources that we did. So for him to lie about it, thats kind of an unforgivable situation where you trust somebody because of their integrity and then at the end they lie. Vos ultimately won by about 260 votes, according to unofficial results. Speakers timing Its astonishing that in a matter of weeks, a campaign emerged that almost unseated the most powerful Republican in Wisconsin state government, said UW-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky. If Gableman wants to continue having influence, hes certainly laid the groundwork for that because he has fans in the party and he has the backing of Donald Trump. Several state Democrats, including Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, applauded Gablemans firing, but also pointed out the timing of Vos decision. There were zero consequences for Gablemans buffoonery, mismanagement of state dollars, brazen violations of open records laws, temper tantrums, and constant lying until he attacked Robin Vos politically, Wikler said in a statement. Its unclear how the end of Gablemans contract impacts the several ongoing lawsuits related to the probe. All told, four lawsuits have been filed against Gableman, Vos and the state Assembly over records requests related to the probe. Another pending lawsuit in Waukesha County relates to whether Gableman has the authority to demand that the mayors of the states five largest cities and other officials be jailed for not cooperating with his subpoenas. Gableman issued subpoenas to local and state election officials, the mayors of the states five largest cities and two companies that make vote-counting systems, Election Systems & Software and Dominion Voting Systems. Many of the subpoenaed parties have rejected Gablemans requests for in-person meetings or documents, while the former state Supreme Court justice has also withdrawn some requests, including one filed with immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera Action. Vos office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pending lawsuits. Diagnostic Robotics is a company that aims to tell you any medical problems with its AI, and it aims to detect issues or anomalies in one's health before the need to go to hospitals. It aims to provide a take on preventive medicine and detection, aiming to reduce requirements for health care and drastic measures or operations in the future. Diagnostic Robotics: AI to Detect Medical Problems, Avoid the Worst "Prevention is better than cure," goes the old saying, and Diagnostic Robotics is in this focus to avoid any concerning cases and trips to the hospital for life-threatening situations. Instead of making hospitals the last place to go for an ailing person, the company wants to feature its AI to help in knowing the steps further for the best medical care possible. The company offers a monthly subscription to detect health problems before they even manifest in their bad to worse symptoms, something which most people tend to ignore. According to TechCrunch, the company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, recently raised $45 million in funding that would help improve its artificial intelligence for its system's progression. Additionally, the payment for their services is cheaper than needing to undergo surgery which may cost far more expensive than their preventive measures. Read Also: ScriptDrop and Roadie Work Together to Improve & Scale Medication Access Diagnostic Robotics AI is Trained on 65M Health Records Kira Radinsky, CEO and co-founder of Diagnostic Robotics said that "It's all about offering the right intervention, at the right time, to the right patient." Diagnostic Robotics pride themselves in their AI that got its training from 65 million health records that may pinpoint any problem currently happening to the body and remain mostly undetected, even by professionals. Additionally, the Tel Aviv-based company aims to help answer the shortage of medical professionals in the field, with AI detecting the problems that may need addressing. AI for Health is a Massive Venture Now One of the top uses of AI for Health is for the detection and diagnosing of diseases, and there are significant healthcare providers that use deep learning technology to aid in their search for the cause. It is one progression in health care and it helps doctors to have an accurate diagnosis and pinpoint the true source of the ailment. Many AI was developed by researchers in detecting any significant problems in the body, with one significant application for it focusing on heart problems. There is one AI project that researchers developed to detect heart problems that may soon lead to cardiac death in 10 years, and this system aims to prevent that from happening. Furthermore, there is another use for AI in healthcare tech, with different applications for the world to enjoy. AI in the medical field also aims to solve the physician shortage problem and speed up any problems in health cases. Now, a new company aims to deliver on artificial intelligence for health uses, and it promises early detection of different medical conditions before symptoms start to show. Intervention for drastic situations brings a better focus on addressing medical concerns instead of coming to hospitals with a bad case of the ailment or illness, using AI to progress further. Related Article: Alzheimer's-Diagnosing AI Better Than Medical Experts? New Study Shows It Can Solve Physician Shortage This article is owned by TechTimes Written by Isaiah Richard 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Everywhere we move - whether on the land, air, or water - we always push against something. Physicists believe this is constant on Earth due to the concept of conservation of momentum up until recently. The Georgia Institute of Technology's researchers has now demonstrated the opposite, showing that bodies can move in curved regions without bumping against anything. Physics-Defying Robot According to a press release by the university on Monday, the new study was directed by Zeb Rocklin, an assistant professor in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech. It involved the engineering of a robot that was kept on a sphere with unprecedented levels of isolation from its surroundings so that its curvature-induced effects would predominate. "We let our shape-changing object move on the simplest curved space, a sphere, to systematically study the motion in curved space," Rocklin said in a statement. "We learned that the predicted effect, which was so counter-intuitive it was dismissed by some physicists, indeed occurred: as the robot changed its shape, it inched forward around the sphere in a way that could not be attributed to environmental interactions," he added. The goal of the research was to determine how an object can travel across a curved area. They allowed a set of motors to travel along curved rails as moving masses in order to restrict the object on the sphere with the least amount of contact or momentum exchange with the surroundings. Read also: A 'Colony of Tiny Robots' Could Be Digging Tunnels In The Future Navigating Around Black Holes The system was then completely coupled to a rotating shaft, causing the motors to always revolve around a sphere. Air bearings and bushings were used to support the shaft in order to reduce friction, and the shaft's position with respect to the Earth's gravity was modified in order to reduce the gravitational pull that still remained on it. Gravity and friction began to have a little effect on the robot as it moved forward after that. These forces combined with the curvature effects create a peculiar dynamic with qualities neither force could have created on its own. Rocklin hopes that the experimental methods created will enable other researchers to investigate these curved worlds. The research illustrates how curved environments can be achieved and how it fundamentally violates physical rules and intuition created for flat space. By simulating the environment in which celestial objects live, the researchers believe that such robots might one day assist us in navigating around black holes. Related Article: Scientists Invent a Tiny Robot With 'Human-Like Hands' That Can Lift 1000 Times Its Own Weight! This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. (Photo : Lockheed Martin) According to Lockheed Martin, this technology is prepared to resist off small rockets, mortar rounds, artillery shells, small unmanned aerial vehicles, small assault boats, and light ground vehicles that are about a mile away. They also claim that their technologies will be able to neutralize larger threats over longer distances as fiber laser power levels rise. These systems have the capacity to multiply the force of kinetic energy systems when used in conjunction with them. Lockheed Martin is creating laser weapon systems to defend troops at sea, in the air, and on land. This breakthrough, known as the layered laser defense system, works in conjunction with skilled platform integration to counter a variety of escalating threats to armed forces and infrastructure. According to the company's website, the technology is prepared to fend off small rockets, artillery shells, mortar rounds, unmanned aerial vehicles, small attack boats, and light ground vehicles around a mile away. Lockheed Martin also claims that these systems will be able to neutralize larger threats over longer distances through increasing fiber laser power levels. These systems can multiply the force of kinetic energy systems when used simultaneously. All About the ALADIN As reported first by Interesting Engineering, Lockheed Martin is well-known for developing auxiliary technologies for military ships, ground vehicles, aircraft, and laser weapon systems. The ALADIN laser has operated in the field for two years without needing to be realigned, proving both the lethality and the reliability of the firm's solutions, according to Dr. Rob Afzal, Senior Fellow, Laser Sensors and Systems. He also claims that the fiber lasers have an efficiency that produces less heat and fits into a smaller package, making it simpler to integrate them into different military platforms. According to the company, ALADIN maintains exceptional beam quality and electrical efficiency while producing the maximum power ever recorded by a laser of this type. Numerous fiber laser modules can also be combined using a process called spectral beam combining to create a single, potent, high-quality beam that has more efficiency and lethality than multiple separate 10-kilowatt lasers. Read also: US Air Force Receives First 'Fighter-Mounted Laser Weapon' That Can Combat Hypersonic Missiles! Beam Control Technology Meanwhile, the company's beam control optics and software algorithms fine-tune the energy stream into a focused beam for laser devices with output as tiny as 10 kilowatts or as large as 1 megawatt using mirrors, lenses, and windows as beam control devices. "Our beam control technology enables a precision equivalent to shooting a beach ball off the top of the Empire State Building from the San Francisco Bay Bridge," Paul Shattuck, Director of Directed Energy systems, said in a statement. This suggests that Lockheed Martin's research and innovations are enhancing laser weapon systems' performance while reducing their size, weight, and power requirements. This comprises line-of-sight stabilization, air-flow management, adaptive optics, precision pointing, spectral beam combining, and precision pointing. Related Article: US Military Will Use 'High-Altitude Hot Air Balloons' to Prevent Hypersonic Missiles Against China and Russia This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. NASA is finally returning to the moon after 50 years in just a few weeks with the Artemis 1 mission. However, the spacecraft will not be carrying any humans. Instead, it will be sending a lamb to the moon called "Shaun the Sheep." According to the European Space Agency, Shaun will be the first ESA astronaut to join the Artemis mission, and they are "wooly" happy about it. "Giant Leap For Lambkind" A spot has been reserved for Shaun, the title character from the animated television series "Shaun the Sheep," on NASA's Artemis 1 mission. On NASA's unmanned Orion spacecraft, this Shropshire lamb will travel far beyond the Moon before returning to Earth in a little over a month. Shaun has been included in the Artemis 1 Official Flight Kit thanks to the ESA, which also constructed the mission's power-supplying service module. "This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA. We're woolly very happy that he's been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it's a giant leap for lambkind," David Parker, ESA's Director for Human and Robotic Exploration, said. The Space Launch System will lift off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with Orion and its European Service Module on the rocket, which will first place the spacecraft into a low-Earth orbit before firing its upper stage to place it into a translunar orbit. The spacecraft will fly by the Moon, almost half a million kilometers from Earth, further than any sheep or human has ever traveled. It will do this by harnessing the Moon's gravity to accelerate and reach 70 000 kilometers beyond the Moon. Read also: NASA Will Land On The Moon For The First Time in 50 Years l Here's Everything You Need To Know About Artemis 1 Training The Sheep Shaun started his astronaut training and familiarization with the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module in 2020 as a preparation for this voyage. He visited numerous locations around Europe and the USA to see different components of the mission. This voyage, overseen by an ESA team, helped Shaun prepare for his space traveler role in his 2019 movie "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon." It gave him a glimpse into the demanding training that all astronauts go through to get ready for spaceflight, which he will now actually experience. However, it is worth noting that Shaun's dummy is not the only pop culture character that will participate in the Artemis mission. As noted by collectSPACE.com, it will include a Snoopy doll modeled on the comic strip beagle flying in the OFK and four LEGO mini figures. Related Article: NASA Artemis I Mission To Send Your Name To the Moon! How To Include Yours in the Space Agency's Flash Drive? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. On Wednesday, Aug. 10, Samsung revealed the newest models of its foldable phone lineups in its efforts to take the phones to the mainstream. Both the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 were announced at Samsung's annual Unpacked event. The two foldable phones were also revealed alongside the Galaxy Watch 5 and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. The Galaxy Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 will launch on Aug. 26, and they will cost around $1,800 and $1,000, respectively. Difference Between Z Flip 4 and Fold 4 While both models have a foldable design, the specific look and feel are different. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 has a clamshell style that Motorola's Razr popularized. The phone is compact and targets online content creators, among other demographics. Meanwhile, the Z Fold 4 is a book-style foldable. It is almost double the height of the Z Flip 4 when both are folded. When unfurled, the phone expands to a tablet-sized interior screen that the company says is perfect for multitasking, thanks to its 12GB of RAM, according to CNET. Also Read: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 to Debut 'Invisible Creases' on Foldable, Better than the Flip3 Features and Design of Z Flip 4 and Fold 4 The Z Fold 4 comes with a corresponding set of features. There are three cameras in the rear, including a telephoto lens. The Z Fold 4 also has a cram-in larger battery, according to Pocket Lint. The front displays are also different. The Z Flip 4 has a petite display on the lower part of the cover, which Samsung has made more useful with the iteration. The display of the Z Flip 4 is the same size as a regular smartphone screen. Despite their design differences, Samsung's biggest advantage is its software. Like the Z Fold 4, the Flip 4 has a bottom-screen trackpad feature in its Flex Mode, which splits apps between the top and bottom portions of the screen when it is folded halfway. With the updates, you will be able to use the bottom half of the screen as a trackpad for navigating the top part of the screen, so it is easier to manipulate apps in Flex Mode. Each foldable phone also has nighttime photography improvements that were launched with the Galaxy S22, including night portrait-mode pictures. Samsung's Execs on the Importance of Foldable Phones In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the head of Samsung's mobile business, Roh Tae-moon, explained why folding phones are important to the company's business. Roh said in the report that Samsung's foldable phones are attracting three times more brand switchers compared to the regular Galaxy S phones. That means people are moving away from other brands, whether Apple, Oppo, or Xiaomi, and instead buying Samsung phones. Roh said that they consider the change to be a "meaningful percentage and a positive sign as it is about switchers from other brands, not Samsung users switching to other Samsung devices. Samsung hopes to make the potential brand switcher mainstream as it aims for foldable phone sales to surpass its past flagship smartphone, the Galaxy phone. Related Article: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 Bespoke Edition Comes in Over 70 Color Styles! For Real? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Sophie Webster 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Katy McNeil, director of the Columbus Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently opened up a position for marketing and communications assistant so she could focus more on her work promoting the city. "My advisory team asked what would be of most benefit to change, what takes the most time from sales, and thats marketing," McNeil said. "To make ads, website changes, promotions and push info on social media takes a lot of time. I love to, but it takes time." Enter Liz Plettner, the newest addition to McNeil's team. Plettner, born in Columbus, moved to Norfolk at a young age due to her mother's job and came back after high school. She spent some time at Central Community College and eventually attended the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she graduated. "Shortly after graduating college, I left and was living in other states, other towns. After coming back here, it just felt like home and there's been so many people who are warm and welcoming," Plettner said. Plettner has been in the role for just two weeks now and is learning a lot, she said, but she's hoping to learn even more as she grows into the position. "Its gonna be a learning process but I think it's really cool that the visitors bureau is adding on and making these changes where we're gonna be doing a lot of new exciting things for downtown Columbus and all these expansions happening," Plettner said. Plettner's duties are mostly focused on her abilities in photography, studio art and graphic design. Formerly, these abilities were used outside of her work and she's happy to try to use them as much as possible. "I'll be able to use some of my photography skills for this and I think it'll be awesome," Plettner said. "For the most part my creative outlets were basically freelance, so a lot of volunteer work and things like that." McNeil said Plettner has fallen into the groove of things quickly and is learning even faster. "This is week two for her and it's apparent she wants to learn more and wants to be involved so I want to give as much as she thinks she can handle on the marketing side," McNeil said. McNeil added that Plettner's duties will be a little flexible but mostly she will be working with the Something Good app, social media and digital marketing for events and businesses. "I'm excited that we can make this position anything it needs to be to benefit the community as long as we can relate it to promoting attractions, promoting our community as a destination, marketing our events," McNeil said. Over the past week, Plettner has plunged headfirst into the bureau's preparation for Columbus Days, which she said she's excited to see unfold. "I'm very excited about this, to see everything going on and it seems like there's so many events. I think it's going to be a blast," Plettner said. "[I'm excited for] the wiener dog races. I've never seen that before and I feel like it'll be fun. The turtle races are neat as well." ASTRO's Moonbin who says that light skin is rather dark "If you do it according to your inner skin..." Japan Appoints Political Heavyweight as New Digital Minister, Boosting Web3 Hopes Taro Kono. Source: a video screenshot, FRANCE 24 / YouTube Hopes are high in Japan that the government will put Web3 development at the front and center of its economic plans after its Prime Minister appointed a new minister in charge of digital affairs. On Twitter, the politician Taro Kono announced that he had been appointed to the post by the Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, in the latters latest ministerial reshuffle. The appointment appears to be a clear sign of intent from Kishida: Kono is a former tech industry chief, has a particularly high social media presence, and as a former Georgetown University alumnus, is fluent in English. He has previously headed the foreign ministry and is also the former Minister of State for Administrative Reform. During his term as Foreign Minister, Taro Kono held an official meeting with the Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundations Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi. Last year, Kono narrowly lost the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election race to Kishida. Had he won, he would have taken on the role of PM. More recently, he took to Twitter to ask his 2.4 million followers to create a digital avatar that he could use in metaverse spaces. Kono will head the government-run Digital Agency, which was created in 2009 in an attempt to digitize the workings of the government, bridge the tech divide between rural and urban areas, and promote IT-based growth. But in recent months, Kishida and the ruling LDP have spoken in bullish terms about Web3-related growth. Appointing a minister with the clout of Kono to effectively spearhead this effort appears to demonstrate just how seriously Tokyo is now taking its efforts in this field. Opposition leaders and industry chiefs have warned that top Japanese blockchain and crypto talents are moving overseas due to prohibitive tax rates, prompting talk of crypto tax reform. And in a visit to the UK in May this year, Kishida told British investors that his government was targeting Web3-related growth, making note of both metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT)-related developments in his speech. CoinPost reported that last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry established the new Web3 Promotional Office. The latter was described as a cross-ministerial organization. ____ Learn more: - Japanese VC Firm Mistletoe Strengthens Crypto Focus, Says Web3 Will Spread to All Industries - PM Says Web3 Is an Opportunity for Japanese Economic Growth - Gamers Play Different Strategies: Minecraft Says No to NFTs, While Square Enix Unveils Its NFT Project - Japanese Crypto Industry Urges Tokyo to Reform Tax Laws - Bitcoin ATMs Return to Tokyo, Osaka for First Time Since 2018 - Japanese Trust Banks Likely to Gain Permission to Handle Crypto from Autumn The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) said it has successfully financed the first beneficiary under the Tasheel finance solutions, enabling them to purchase a residential villa in Deerat Al Oyoun, in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and Eskan Bank. Tasheel falls under the latest housing finance programmes recently introduced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. On the key agreement, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning Amna bint Ahmed Al Rumaihi, said: "As part of the ministrys efforts to achieve the vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, we are keen to enhance the housing services offered to the community by providing innovative housing solutions in collaboration with the private sector." "The private sector shows great proficiency in supporting and providing housing services for our citizens, which resulted in financing the first beneficiary of the newly-introduced housing finance solutions programme," she added. Eskan Bank General Manager Dr. Khalid Abdulla said: "Our latest housing initiatives are designed to facilitate and accelerate the process of providing housing solutions to citizens of the kingdom. Tasheel offers a range of social housing financing solutions that aim to support citizens of Bahrain, and help fulfil their diverse housing requirements." "The ministry of housing and Urban Plannings latest programme,Tasheel, which aims to increase beneficiaries across the kingdom, will offer three different financing options - Tasheel Aqari, Tasheel Al Bait Al Oud and Tasheel Taawon, and will see new features added to the existing 'Mazaya' programme, as well as a continued offering of existing housing services. The programme will increase the minimum amount of financing from BHD19,000 to BHD40,000, while increasing the cap from BHD60,000 to BHD70,000. The age cap for 'Mazaya' beneficiaries will also be increased to 40 years of age. NBB Chief Executive Officer Jean-Christophe Durand said: "We are proud to be the first bank in the kingdom to successfully complete a joint housing loan as part of the newly-launched Tasheel social housing solutions by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning" "We continue to provide innovative products and services to our clients and remain committed to increasing our social loan financing, in line with our ESG strategy," he stated. NBB Retail Banking (CEO) Subah Abdullatif Al Zayani said: "Following our successful track record in providing Mazaya Scheme and Joint Housing financing solutions, we are more committed than ever to offering social housing financing in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning." "With an experienced team that providesinformed advisory services, and a smooth application and approval process, we continue to provide the best-in-class financing solutionsto our customers," he added. COLUMBUS, Ohio A gunman who died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBIs Cincinnati office apparently went on social media and called for federal agents to be killed on sight following the search at former President Donald Trumps home, a law enforcement official said. Federal investigators are examining social media accounts they believe are tied to the gunman, 42-year-old Ricky Shiffer, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. At least one of the messages on Trumps Truth Social media platform appeared to have been posted after Shiffer tried to breach the FBI office. It read: "If you dont hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I. Another message posted on the same site this week from @rickywshifferjr included a call to arms and urged people to be ready for combat after the FBI search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Shiffer graduated from West Perry High School in in Perry County in 1998 and enlisted in the Navy that same year, later serving on the USS Columbia submarine until 2003, according to military records. He was an infantry soldier in the Florida Army National Guard from 2008 to 2011, when he was honorably discharged. I know he was way into World War II and the military, said Lori Frady, a classmate at West Perry High School in Elliottsburg, who had not seen Shiffer since graduation. He didnt have a lot of friends, but the friends he did have were big into history and military history. Shiffer worked as an electrician, according to one of his social media profiles. He was a registered Republican who voted in the 2020 primary from Columbus, Ohio, and in the 2020 general election from Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to public records. Court records show the Ohio Department of Taxation filed suit against him in June, seeking a $553 tax lien judgment, according to court records listing him at an address in St. Petersburg, Florida. He also previously lived at several addresses in Columbus and in Omaha, Nebraska. Authorities also are looking into whether Shiffer, a Navy veteran, had ties to far-right extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, the official said. Shiffer was armed with a nail gun and an AR-15-style rifle when he tried to breach the visitor screening area at the FBI office Thursday, according to the official. Shiffer fled when agents confronted him. He was later spotted by a state trooper along a highway and got into a gunbattle that ended with police killing him, authorities said. The burst of violence unfolded amid FBI warnings that federal agents could face attacks following the search in Florida. The FBI is investigating what happened in Cincinnati as an act of domestic extremism, according to the law enforcement official. Shiffer is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and may have been at the Capitol that day but was not charged with any crimes in connection with the riot, the official said. Officials have warned of a rise in right-wing threats against federal agents since the FBI entered Trump's estate in what authorities said was part of an investigation into whether he took classified documents with him after leaving the White House. Supporters of the former president have railed against the search, accusing the FBI and the Justice Department of using the legal system as a political weapon. FBI Director Christopher Wray denounced the threats as he visited an FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, saying, Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who youre upset with. The FBI on Wednesday also warned its agents to avoid protesters and ensure their security key cards are not visible outside FBI space, citing an increase in social media threats against bureau personnel and offices. A now-suspended Twitter account, @rickyshiffer, shared the same profile picture as the Truth Social account and similar opinions, including a call for armed conflict in the U.S. this past spring. It included posts saying that elections are rigged against conservatives and that the country faces tyranny. I dont think its a one-off incident, said Amy Cooter, a researcher at Middlebury College who is an expert on militias. Im afraid theres going to be a pocket full of people who feel compelled to act. Courthouses, government offices and election headquarters all could be targets, she said. Anywhere is fair game now because these folks feel this a personal issue for them, Cooter said. Lara Nicholson writes for The Advocate as a Report for America Corps Member. Email her at lnicholson@theadvocate.com or follow her on Twitter @LaraNicholson_. To learn more about Report for America and to support our journalism, please click here. I retired in 2014 at age 60 and rolled over my superannuation into an allocated pension, drawing down $40,000 a year. My pension account is now at $443,000 Ive lost $40,000 since January. I own 40 per cent of my home as tenant-in-common with my partner, who is 76 and has $200,000 in his super pension, paying $25,000 annually. Our house is valued at $1.8 million and we each receive a Centrelink part-age pension of $223 per fortnight. My mother recently passed away, leaving me $587,000. I am thinking of putting $200,000 into my allocated pension, and buying another 10 per cent share of the house, so that my partner has additional funds. Id use the remainder for long-overdue renovations on our home and the rest on travel. Is this the best strategy? V.S. It seems a well-thought-out use of your inheritance. However, you are probably aware that you will likely lose the age pension, as the upper assets threshold for a homeowning couple is $915,500. What should you keep in mind when planning to spend a sizeable inheritance? Credit:Michael Kempf If your assets later diminish, and you reclaim a part-age pension, your allocated pensions would be classified as post-2015 and subject to deeming. Looking down the track, you also need to consider what would you do if one of you succumbs to illness and needs to move into an aged-care facility. The lump sum refundable accommodation deposit required on entry varies, but $500,000 could be seen as an average figure. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald have claimed several honours at the Kennedy Awards for excellence in journalism, including investigative reporter Nick McKenzie winning the journalist of the year for a second time. More than 400 people gathered at Royal Randwick in Sydney for a gala dinner on Friday night, where the awards honoured 34 categories. McKenzie took out the award after winning before in 2020. McKenzie and Joel Tozer also won the outstanding finance reporting award for both mastheads and 60 Minutes following their investigation into Star Entertainment, owner of The Star Sydney casino, enabling suspected money laundering by drug syndicates and Chinese high rollers. Tozer and Adele Ferguson claimed the outstanding consumer affairs reporting award for Bad Look: Exposing the dark underbelly of the cosmetic surgery industry, also on 60 Minutes. A man was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after he fell four storeys when the cherry picker he was in collapsed in Sydneys south on Saturday. Emergency services were called to an apartment block in Allawah about 12.30pm to reports a maintenance worker was trapped after the vehicle toppled over. A man was rushed to hospital after the cherry picker he was in collapsed. Credit:Nine News The man believed to be aged in his 30s was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics and placed in an induced coma, before being taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition. Witness Andrew Kollington, who contacted triple zero, said he heard a loud bang before seeing the basket had crashed onto the ground with the man inside it. What have the Romans done for us? asks Reg in Monty Pythons Life of Brian. In Sydney, we can thank the Romans for the 225-metre-long Boothtown aqueduct, one of Sydneys most beautiful engineering puzzles. Its 22 arches are a uniform 9.1 metres wide, yet they appear to widen and contract depending on the light and the angle. Heritage listed, the now defunct aqueduct turned cycleway is hidden in plain sight in suburban Greystanes. Boothtown aqueduct spans a valley in Greystanes. Credit:Dean Sewell Roman architecture found in Sydneys west, said amateur photographer Rob Ward on his Instagram account after hiking along the former Lower Canal, where the aqueduct spans a valley. When engineers were struggling with how to divert floodwaters from near the Sydney Metros new driverless trains at Sydenham, they turned to ancient history and Sydneys old water infrastructure for inspiration. De Jersey says when she came to Mapoon there were only a few basic buildings, no road in, no electricity and no running water. Mapoon artist Daphne de Jersey. Credit:bluethumb.com.au I wanted to return here because everything was taken from us [the Stolen Generation descendants]. We dont know where were from, we dont know who we belong to, she said. Our strongest connection is here, so this is where I wanted to come, raise my children and Im glad that I did. The population has grown to 430 in Mapoon, which straddles a sandy, mangrove-lined peninsula between Port Musgrave and the Gulf of Carpentaria. It has its own water treatment plant, power station, general store, healthcare centre, primary school, a new church, and a new cultural centre will soon open. But jobs remain scarce outside the public service and Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Council relies on government funding. However, its hoped that developing tourism could help it deal with both those issues. The nearby mining town of Weipa estimates about 40,000 visitors arrive there annually, with many visitors making day trips to Mapoon. Most daytrippers visit the monument to the first contact between Indigenous Australians and Europeans in 1606 and enjoy a burger at the popular local takeaway shop. Mapoons midwinter temperatures can reach 30 degrees, but the local crocodile population deters any swimmers. But the main tourist draw card is still in the water: fishing. Western Cape locals reckon Mapoons Cullen Point is one of the best places to drop a line in Australia. You can almost catch mackerel right off the beach up there, Weipa Town Authority chair Michael Rowland says. Mapoon councils executive manager of parks, Kelli Leatham, has caught the species, usually found in the open ocean, at Cullen Point. A green turtle, one of several sea turtle species found in northern Queensland. Credit:Eddie Safarik Theres not many places you can come and catch such a variety of fish just off the beach, let alone go out in the boat, she said. You know, youve got three different rivers this side, and then you go straight out of the port here [in a boat] and go 25 kilometres, and catch reef fish, one after the other. The council is trying to work out how to acquaint visitors with other natural wonders, such as sea turtles and shore birds. It recently opened a self-contained visitor lodge in town, but theres still nowhere to go out for dinner and Mapoons tiny supermarket closes at 5.30pm. Whether the town is ready or not, visitor numbers are likely to rise when the state government seals the last 200 kilometres of the Peninsula Development Road from Cooktown to Weipa in the next few years. After a visit in February, Tourism Queensland officials advised the council it needed more infrastructure and services. The council discussed the fairly timely need for a boat for turtle tourism and fishing trips, and an upgrade of Cullen Point Campground so campers have an attractive place to stay. It has also spoken about upgrading the mission site and building a turtle centre for visitors, modelled on the popular Mon Repos Turtle Centre near Bundaberg. However, a lack of funding means the council is unable to quickly or easily act on many of its ideas. Mapoons remote location hinders its best-laid plans as well. The new cultural centre hasnt found a chef for its cafe, despite the council advertising the role for months. De Jersey also thinks the council missed a golden opportunity to give Mapoon locals a creative outlet, and potentially boost tourism, by not adding a large art studio in the new centre. Not pointing fingers, but certain people just dont see the benefit of practising art, she said. They cant see it because theyre not practising it, so to them its not important. The local Wei Num Arts collective rents a studio in Cairns, which is 600 kilometres away as the crow flies, for about $3000 a month. Their stunning paintings, prints, ceramics and carvings, which fuse traditional and contemporary styles, have been exhibited at the Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair, Australias most prestigious Indigenous art exhibition. But most tourists arriving in Mapoon would be none-the-wiser about the nascent art movement in town. Just like Mapoons population, many members are of mixed descent, meaning Wei Num Arts cant access government funding for infrastructure. De Jersey says Mapoon may be the only Indigenous community in the Western Cape without its own arts studio. Six arrested after stolen car crashes into Melbourne art gallery Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Two roadside signs begin to tell the story. The first tells of a car race most locals agree has put the town of Sea Lake, in north-west Victoria, on the map over the past 47 years. The second, a recent addition, stands eight kilometres north of town and says you have entered Wotjobaluk Country. At the bottom, spray-painted in black letters, somebody has added the words kill coons. The car race, the Mallee Rally, is Australias oldest known off-road car race. Its traditionally been held in June over the Queens Birthday long weekend. Since its first year in 1974, the event has grown to include about 100 competitors who gather to pit their vehicles against one another over an 85-kilometre circuit around the foreshore of Lake Tyrrell, which lies just to the north of Sea Lake. A defaced sign welcomes people to Wotjobaluk Country in north-west Victoria. Credit:Jack Latimore Sea Lake Off Road Club president George Bailey describes the event as one of the top off-road events in Australia, when it runs. And Buloke Shire Mayor Darryl Warren says it injects more than $250,000 into the area. The money filters through to the Lions Club, local footy clubs and school groups, as well as local businesses, Warren says. The issue for Bailey, the club and supporters of the event is that four years ago, the rally stalled over an Aboriginal heritage ruling. The races abrupt cancellation came after a state heritage adviser identified traditional Aboriginal burial sites around the lake, prompting a conservation assessment. The process paid for by the state government and administered by the shire council was swift. An interim report immediately determined that the Mallee Rally posed too high a risk for Lake Tyrrells sensitive cultural heritage, which included proof of 30,000 years of Aboriginal habitation. Supporters of the race continue to vent their frustrations. Some people associated with our event have much more of a spiritual connection to the land than, dare I say, the people from Melbourne that are the actual ones controlling whats happening, one person said in a post on The Sea Lake Off Road Clubs Facebook page in July. Advertisement Dozens of other posts to the page shared similar sentiments before its administrators recently closed the comment section. The way the commenters see it, their historic cultural event was snatched away because of sensitive new views and attitudes towards the Aboriginals, a phenomenon many locals seem to believe has materialised out of nowhere. They cite as evidence the signs acknowledging Wotjobaluk connection to the area and what they see as an encroaching bureaucracy from the states capital, 350 kilometres down the highway to the south-east. The battleground in this town between enduring Aboriginal cultural heritage and a more modern tradition shows how challenging genuine reconciliation will be as the Victorian government heads down the path to a treaty with First Peoples in the state. It shows that, as Aboriginal self-determination and governance are increasingly asserted, many will inevitably find it confronting. Direl, or Lake Tyrell, is an Aboriginal cultural site in north-western Victoria. Credit:Justin McManus A passionate story The campaign to return the Mallee Rally has political backing in at least one high place. Victorian Opposition Deputy Leader Peter Walsh, who is also the state Nationals Party leader and the shadow spokesperson for Aboriginal affairs, is right behind it. Walsh sought answers in parliament in April 2019 the year the race was cancelled claiming the state Labor government had reneged on a promise to help the races organisers comply with a cultural heritage assessment. In July of that year, Walsh visited the events organisers in Sea Lake and released a statement saying that the race had been operating successfully for 47 years and the committee had worked with traditional owners over that time to protect Lake Tyrell. History will show the Sea Lake community as true environmental and cultural custodians of the lake, he said. Advertisement Since then, Walsh, whose Coalition opposition has announced its support for the treaty process, has reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the campaign for the revival of the race. On social media last year, he wrote: I am still doing all I can to bring back the Sea Lake Mallee Rally. The areas local member, Ali Cupper, an independent, has also expressed her support for the races return, pressing Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams in parliament in 2021 on what assistance the government would provide to revive the event. Warren, the mayor, is quietly confident that the Mallee Rally will be back. In his view, it just takes people working together in the same direction. Its a passionate story, whichever way you talk, he says. But the way ahead is if everyone sits down and takes a big, deep breath. If there is a willingness from everybody to sit down and be honest, open and frank about what the issues are, [the rally] can happen again. Warren, 70, a former clerk of the magistrates court who has Aboriginal heritage from a Yorta Yorta great-grandmother a First Nations group situated more than 100 kilometres to the east says the obstacles holding up the return of the event are not insurmountable. These are farming people whove endured drought and all sorts of things. Theyre not going to give up. They dont give up, he says. Advertisement Pink salt country At 20,860 hectares, Lake Tyrrell is Victorias largest inland saltwater lake and forms the centrepiece of the Direl cultural landscape. Occupation of the site by First Peoples has been dated to about 30,000 years ago, making it comparable to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage-listed Willandra Lakes Region in south-western NSW. It is a remnant of the ancient Lake Bungunnia, a mega-lake that connected to the Willandra Lakes Region in the Pleistocene period. Kennedy likens the destruction of Direl and the effort to revive the Mallee Rally as like somebody wanting to bomb the Vatican. These days, the Direl cultural landscape contains several known culturally sacred and archaeologically significant places. Many more are likely to be concealed in the lakes eastern dunes. Its present-day cultural heritage connections extend to First Nations groups that include the Wergaia (Wotjobaluk), Barapa Barapa, Yung Balug of the DjaDja Wurrung, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wamba Wamba, Jupagulk and others to the north. The lake itself is dry, however, for about a third of the year; it may hold three to six inches of water, which migrates across the bed of the lake with the wind. Some of its water comes from ground springs, and because it is so salt-laden, the surface perfectly mirrors the sky or direl in the local traditional language. In the warmer months, the shallow waters quickly evaporate, leaving a dry pink-white salt crust, which, on the western side of the lake, is thick enough to have supported commercial salt mining enterprises for more than a century. Tourists have swarmed to Lake Tyrrell since photos went viral eight years ago. Credit:Justin McManus After a holiday snap of the lakes reflection went viral on social media about eight years ago, the lake became a popular international tourist destination, particularly at its south-eastern shoreline, about seven kilometres outside Sea Lake. Advertisement The first thing you notice about the lake at its northern end is the lack of wildlife. This area contains the lakes only remnant native vegetation, but there are no waterfowl in sight, nor can a kangaroo or wallaby be spotted at dusk. The absence is noted by Tatti Tatti, Wadi Wadi and Wamba Wamba man Brendan Kennedy, whose First Nations groups are connected with the north-east end of the lake. The area holds Box Gully, a registered site containing the hearths and cooking ovens of the local Aboriginal people from past millennia. The discovery, which included the remains of cooked bettong a small marsupial placed the Aboriginal occupation in the same late Pleistocene period of deep time history as Mungo man and Mungo woman. Traditional owner of the Wergaia tribe Robby Wirramanda Knight brought his family to the northern end of Direl to cure kangaroo skins with salt. Credit:Justin McManus Kennedy wants regular cultural flows of fresh water into the lake, via the Tyrrell Creek, which feeds from the Avoca River to the east. Water is prevented from flowing regularly into the rivers tributaries by catchment management authorities and landholders who use channels and dams to divert water from the natural Avoca River system, he says. The lake is meant to have water in it. Its meant to have native vegetation all around it. It needs a whole rehabilitation process, Kennedy says. Theres none of our totemic, spiritual species there at all. No pelican, no red tail cockatoos, no quolls. You dont even see any goanna. Wergaia traditional owners Robby and Jackie Wirramanda Knight maintain a connection with Direl through their art and cultural practices. The couple have taken custodianship of numerous artefacts unearthed by neighbouring farmers or re-discovered on the banks and dunes. The cultural significance of the lake is everywhere. Its in the trees, its in the lake, its in the ground, says Robby Wirramanda Knight, who considers it his duty to preserve the site. Advertisement Information is from police reports and may be incomplete depending on the status of an investigation. Phone numbers are nonemergency. Dogs attacks have increased in two-thirds of Melbournes council areas since 2018, with dog trainers attributing much of the problem to pandemic puppies growing up post-lockdown into poorly-adjusted dogs lacking in training. Dog attacks increased on average 14 per cent across all council areas from 2018 to 2021, data obtained from every Melbourne council by The Sunday Age reveals, while attacks increased by around 110 per cent in the City of Melbourne and Whitehorse. In Wyndham, the volume jumped more than 285 per cent. Last calendar year, Mornington Peninsula saw the highest number of recorded dog attacks with 223 reports, while the growth area of Casey has seen 261 attacks recorded for the 2021-2022 financial year. In May, four-year-old toy cavoodle Charlie was mauled by an American staffy at Jim Duggan Reserve in St Kilda. The point about the teals is that they have given their constituents the chance to hear a reframed political debate more intelligent than what preceded it when opposition seemed the only tactic. Parnell Palme McGuinness writes that Labor is transforming the teals from mavericks to minions (Opinion, The Sunday Age, 7/8). It may be a neat line, but its not insightful. Commentators now need to adjust their lens if they wish to contribute to a better Australia. The quick jibes that were the main menu in former times dont work any more, they sound infantile. Now, thanks to the independents, the electorate gets a chance to read and hear insightful additions to what the government of the day is offering. The more the better. Teals may not have the raw power as McGuinness construes it, but they do have a mighty influence, and in terms of outcome that may be far more significant for the wellbeing of Australia. Effeminated? Hardly. Marguerite Heppell, Hawthorn East Just let us teach If there was one phrase guaranteed to give me the horrors in my 25-or-so years of secondary teaching, it was the dreaded will only take a few minutes of your time. Whether it be for rewriting curriculum to fit some new jargon, replacing twice-yearly reports with continuous online reporting (lets do reports 10 times a year, for each student) or anaphylaxis training, to name a few, it was never just a few minutes. Constant administrivia or changes to make it appear that one was moving with the times, or satisfying the KPI for someone up the greasy pole. No wonder burnout is a problem. Most teachers I know simply want to inspire and teach their students. Let bean counters and clerks do the other stuff. Wendy Hinson, Wantirna The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention and its entities on the heels of an explosive report that detailed the mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse by church leaders, the SBC said in a statement Friday. The report in May by a third-party firm, Guidepost Solutions, also said church leaders intimidated victims and their advocates and resisted attempts at reform over the course of two decades. Survivors and others who reported abuse were ignored, disbelieved, or met with the constant refrain that the SBC could take no action, the report found, even if it meant that convicted molesters continued in ministry with no notice or warning to their current church or congregation. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, with an estimated 14 million members across more than 47,000 churches. In its statement Friday, the SBC Executive Committee said it had been recently made aware of the DOJ investigation and that it would fully cooperate. While we continue to grieve and lament past mistakes related to sexual abuse, current leaders across the SBC have demonstrated a firm conviction to address those issues of the past and are implementing measures to ensure they are never repeated in the future, the statement said. We recognize our reform efforts are not finished. In fact, those efforts are continuing this very moment as the recently announced Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force begins its work and as each entity has strengthened its efforts to protect against abuse, the statement said. CNN reached out to the Middle District of Tennessee US Attorneys Office and was told via email we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. The SBC is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. In June, the SBC approved two reform measures to address how it deals with sexual abuse allegations within its churches. One created a Ministry Check website, which would maintain a record of SBC pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees, and volunteers who have at any time been credibly accused of sexual abuse, according to the Baptist Press, the SBCs news service. Story continues The measure defines credibly accused as a pastor, denominational worker, or ministry employee or volunteer who has confessed to sexual abuse in a non-privileged setting, who has been convicted in a court of law, or who has had a civil judgment rendered against them, the news service reported. Under another measure, an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force would be created to examine SBCs response to sexual abuse allegations and serve as a resource in abuse prevention, crisis response, and survivor care. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Some of the most powerful stories come from those who have served in the armed forces. Theyve shown allegiance, heroism and determination. This first story recognizes a very special person who served in the U.S. Army. Park Hills resident Darby Ross Downey, 104, tried to join the U.S. Army when World War II broke out. But he was turned down in December 1941 because he is blind in his right eye. So, he married his sweetheart, Yvette Bullock, on Mothers Day, May 10, 1942. He was called into the service for light duty just three months later on Sept. 7, 1942, at age 24. Downey was stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison, just northeast of Indianapolis. He served in the Ordnance Corps, whose mission was to procure, maintain and issue Army combat units with weapons and ammunition, vehicles, equipment, and more. Downeys rank was Technician fifth grade, or T/5. (This rank was used from 1942 to 1948 and recognized enlisted soldiers with special technical skills but who were not trained as combat leaders.) While stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Downey worked at the reception center which is where the newly enlisted soldiers underwent their health assessment. I was dedicated to take new recruits through all of the things they had to do, including getting their clothes, haircuts and shots, said Downey. Then after that, they were graded and taken care of. A lot of times I was sent with a group of them to their future camp. Downey made trips to Texas, Florida and California. He traveled with the new recruits, left them at their new base, and traveled back to Fort Benjamin Harrison where he met a new group. He spent two years in Indiana before being sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., where he went through more training. He spent about six months in Missouri. Then I was attached to a reception company, said Downey. I was put out to work doing different things. One thing was they gave me about eight German POWs. One of them could speak English. So, my group did some work around the camp. We started out by laying these flat rocks in a ditch to keep it from washing. Next, Downey was sent to Fort Jackson, S.C. While stationed there, his wife Yvette gave birth to their first child, Jeannie, in Illinois. Later, Yvette and Jeannie traveled by train to South Carolina so Downey could meet his newborn daughter. The Army just passed me around and finally attached me to this Ordnance Company, he said. He was sent to the state of Washington where he was stationed for about two weeks. Then the soldiers were sent on a ship in the Pacific Ocean. We stopped at Hawaii on our way to Japan, Downey said. We stopped at another island before we got to where we were going just south of Japan. Once they arrived at their destination, Downey completed a variety of jobs including driving a truck and pulling a trailer to obtain water from the water station for soldiers to bathe. He retrieved supplies and more. The island I was on had an airbase, he said. He recalled a big storm in the Pacific while he was stationed on the island. The storm was so strong that it stopped all shipments for about four weeks. We didnt get any food, so we ate a lot of one thing, he said. We were getting low on food when finally about the middle of it we got a shipment of pork chops and thats what we had for breakfast, dinner and supper. Downey left the Pacific in January 1945 to return to Washington. Then he was sent briefly to Indiana and was discharged from there. They gave us a big speech that theyd like for us to join up again, he said, but I wasnt ready for that. He was discharged from the U.S. Army in January 1946 after nearly four years of service. He was beyond thrilled to be heading home. When he left Camp Atterbury in Indiana, he was given a bus ticket to St. Louis. Once he arrived in St. Louis, he had no way to get home. Fortunately, one of his fellow soldiers parents was picking him up so they offered Downey a ride into Illinois. That was a ride, he said. During the trip, the lights went out on the car, but they finally came back on. From there, he hitchhiked and walked the rest of the way to his wifes familys home of Charles and Ella Bullock in Chester. I knocked on the door and my family wanted to know who was at the door, he said. I just said who I was and of course they were all in bed. When we got settled down a little bit and went to bed, Jeannie got in bed in between us. She didnt really know who I was because she was only 1. This homecoming was unexpected for Downeys family because they had not received the telegram that hed sent stating he had been discharged and was on his way home. The next day, the family cooked a big meal and celebrated Downeys unexpected yet joyous and safe return home. Downeys parents Alden and Edna had two other sons, Arthur Glenn and Benjamin David. All three brothers joined the military, with Darby in the Army and Arthur and Benjamin in the Navy. My parents had three sons and all three went to war, said Downey. I was the oldest. Art went to the Pacific, and Ben was stationed in San Francisco to help keep the subs [submarines] out. Although Downey wasnt directly involved in combat, he did experience a great loss. His best friend was killed in action in Germany. After Downey returned home from the service, he was happy to return to his family. After I got back from the service and got back to my wife and baby, everything else just washed away, he said. The Downeys son Ross was born in 1952. After his service in the military, Downey worked as a surveyor for about five years with an oil exploration crew and then with another company for about 10 years. The family moved to Missouri when Downey got a job with the states new interstate projects started. We moved to Missouri about two weeks before Thanksgiving in 1961, said Downey. He went to work for the state highway department in Kirkwood and drove every day to work until he retired in 1983. Darbys daughter Jeannie was included in this interview. She expanded on some of Darbys stories to include more specific details. At the conclusion of this interview, she said her father had told her earlier that morning that he didnt do anything important in the military. Jeannie said, Dad said, I wasnt a hero. But I told him that what he did was important to get those soldiers transported from one base to another. Every job was important. They all worked together to get the jobs done. Even if Darby Downey doesnt think hes a hero, the fact is he made personal sacrifices. He risked his life to keep Americans safe. And with this story, we acknowledge his sacrifices and offer great respect and gratitude to him for his service. Charlottesville residents will soon be able to express pleasure and displeasure with their police department online or put their comments on a card and contact a supervisor. The Charlottesvilles Police Civilian Oversight Board is launching a new online complaint portal for alleged misconduct by city police employees, which would go directly to the board for investigation. The website would also allow citizens to request board review of police internal affairs investigations, submit recommendations to improve the departments or the boards services and submit compliments to police officer. The website will allow residents to track progress of complaints or requests and access to data relating to the number of complaints submitted in previous years, types of complaints and disciplinary outcomes. The board is developing videos explaining how the portal will work and how to use it. The site is accessible at charlottesvilleva.siviltech.com. The board will continue to receive, and process complaints and or allegations via email or fax and the community may continue to make their complaints or compliments to board by phone or visiting the board office in Charlottesville City Hall. The board is also teaming with the police to create an interaction card that citizens can request from a police officer after interacting. The card may be used for compliments or complaints and includes a space to write down the officers name, the reason for the encounter, date of the incident, and a report number. The card also provides the contact information and a link to the complaint form for the police Internal Affairs Division and the board. Officers will carry cards printed in English and Spanish. This card is modeled after other efforts around the country and nearby jurisdictions. The board is also launching a survey to find out what community members think about the department and the board and hear their experiences. The anonymous and confidential survey will provide information to the board, city council, city manager, police and the rest of the community on how each entity is performing and their strengths and weaknesses. Board members will be present at the Soul of Cville Festival from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at Ix Art Park to promote the boards recent initiatives and hand out informational literature about the board. Five major state-owned Chinese companies are about to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. Chinas regulator says its by choice, but an ongoing U.S.-China debate may suggest otherwise. Some officials say investment company BlackRock is putting climate issues at the top of its agendaeven above making a profit for U.S. pension funds. Beijing has stopped talking about its economic goals for the year, hinting at a worsening Chinese economy. And the problem is spilling over into the job market. The United States, Indonesia, and some allies held a joint military exercise. China condemned the drills as looking for conflict, while a top U.S. admiral said the opposite. Topics in this episode: 5 Chinese State Companies to Delist from NYSE States: Blackrock Puts Climate Above Pensions Home of Made in China Products Under Lockdown Tibet Capital Orders Static Management in Risk Areas Torrential Rain, Flash Floods Strike North China Millions Unemployed in Chinas Hard-Hit Job Market U.S., Indonesian Forces Hold Joint Military Drills Beijing Launch Cyber Attack Against Taiwan Americans Funding Chinese Firms Has to Stop Seoul Still Recovering from Fatal Floods Have other topics you want us to cover? Drop us a line: chinainfocus@ntdtv.org And if youd like to buy us a coffee: https://donorbox.org/china-in-focus Subscribe to our newsletter for more first-hand news from China. Follow China in Focus on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChinaInFocusNTD Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@chinainfocus Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/chinainfocus Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NTDChinainFocus Gab: https://gab.com/ChinaInFocus Telegram: https://t.me/ChinainFocusNTD Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Back to the scene of the strike, Anne recalled that the united medical workers demanded a border shutdown to fight the epidemic. (Terence Tang/The Epoch Times) A Nurses One-person Revolution Hong Kongs medical workers were put in jail, some self-exiled, and the union was crushed, leading to helplessness in the post-national security law era. As the past three years swept away many committed workers from their jobs, an ex-union member chose to live her own revolution. Medical workers had a distinct voice during the time of the 2019 anti-extradition movement as well as during the outbreak of the Covid-19 endemic. At its peak, the union boasted a membership of 20,000. The figure, however, dropped to around 700 as disbandment neared. Set up in November 2019, the Hospital Authority Employee Alliance (HAEA) was dissolved two and a half years later on June 24. HAEA executive member Anne Lui was a particularly solitary figure at the EGM when she explained the voting procedures for disbandment from a podium to members who were scattered throughout the hall. It was a tough task trying to sum up what the union had gone through in the 30 months, not to mention fellow union crusaders who had left, one after another. As an executive member of HAEA, Anne was mainly responsible for liaising and preparing printed literature. Confronted with political grimness, toward the end, the unions activities were sometimes attended by a few participants only. The union no longer held the publics attention and its membership diminished sharply. Anne never wanted to see the union dissolved. By the time the fifth wave of the epidemic hit, one after another union executives reported being followed and resigned. The union was no longer in a position to continue providing feedback on the way HA was handling the epidemic. On the day of voting, 62 members were present. Many executive members should have been there to oversee the EGM, but some had already left Hong Kong and some were behind bars. Eventually, the resolution to dissolve was passed with 57 voting yes and 3 against. Afterward, many active members or volunteers came up to hug Anne. Touched by this, Anne also appreciated the company of her sister, also a union member, during the final journey. Hong Kongs civic society went through an unprecedented decimation in 2021, many unions and NGOs, all household names, were dismantled one after another. Now the outspoken HAEA also disappeared from public view. Anne was overwhelmed by helplessness and it was not something she could manage right now. As the movement reached this stage, it really boiled down to how to set off a revolution of her own, Anne said. With the unions responsibilities off her shoulders, Anne continued to devote herself to nursing as normal. Yet at the same time, she was swathed by helplessness. She chose painting and reading cartoons to escape from reality. Anne is continuing to work in medical care. She joined the nursing profession after university graduation in 2018. She progressed from a very ordinary Brat (junior nurse) to an outspoken union member, Anne did not take part in the 2014 Umbrella Movement, as one might have imagined. It was not until the anti-extradition movement took place that she got to know the meaning of ride or die together. At that time, the flame of fights swept through the Hong Kong streets. Ivan Law, her senior in university, and also the vice-chair of HAEA, contacted her to see whether she was interested in organizing a union. She was inspired by the vision. People are the most important element of a union, she used to say. HAEA was set up on Nov. 24, 2019, with only eight members. Around the same time, the pro-democracy candidates won a landslide victory in the district council elections and there was a high rising tide of new unions. As it started to organize strikes, HAEAs membership surged to 20,000. However, membership dwindled to 700 when it was on the verge of being disbanded. Anne did not attribute HAEA to all that happened in 2019. It was just about protecting workers interests. It was set up under Article 27 of Basic Law, which established the rights and freedom to participate in unions and strikes, to extend the spirit of the movement. When the first Covid-19 positive case was confirmed in January 2020, HAEA started planning strikes. By the end of the month, the strike plan was announced and there was a long queue applying for HAEA membership. The strike took place more than a week later, its goals included a demand for an entire border shutdown. Over 8,000 people participated in the strike, the union announced. During the strike, HAEA members once stormed the Hospital Authority headquarters demanding a dialogue with the management. Anne, calling herself a jack of all trades, shuttling between floors doing liaison work, but she did not take part in the negotiations. She recalled that the headquarters was filled with medical workers and one of the back stairs was entirely packed. As there was no air-conditioning in the headquarters, some fellow workers with less stamina fainted, and many residents in the neighbourhood rushed to the spot with supplies including many portable fans. There was a long line leading up to the headquarters entrance. The sun was so strong! People held placards that read I am a medical worker. I am on strike. Anne recalled. At that time all medical workers were united into a fortress to safeguard Hong Kong peoples health and safety. We are thinking that given the epidemic, it was a checkpoint for the whole public hygiene system. But the government and Hospital Authority remained tough and rejected all the unions demands. The government insisted on maintaining a passage with the mainland. It further accused the strike of damaging emergency services. As some of the strikers started to worry about vengeance from the HA, the picketing line gradually dwindled to around 5,000 people. The union eventually voted against further strikes. Seeing the voting result, Anne was in tears. After the strike, many participants no longer showed up and some executive members withdrew from the union. All these were hard to endure for Anne. Fortunately, during the strike, she met a medical worker charged with rioting. He told Anne that he felt strapped. However, after meeting the unions people, he felt that there was space for him to continue fighting for his rights. This is the unions very major significance to mecourage is contagious and actually can bring hope to others, Anne said. Winnie Yu was regarded as a pillar of strength in the union. She was having hugs with the union executives one day before the February 28 arrests. (MV clip from the HAEA) HAEA produced an MV called A dream in 2021 that recorded the reunion of Anne and other members just one day before the February 28 Round-up (the arrest of 47 pro-democracy activists). HAEA chair Winnie Yu Wai-ming told a reporter from the now defunct Stand News, with a catch in her voice, that she worried it could be years before there was such a reunion again. At that time she was charged and jail was looming. Winnie said she would never forget the time with fellow union members. At the interview, Anne donned a T-shirt with the slogan: An injury to one is an injury to all. Winnie had this line printed on T-shirts hoping medical workers would be concerned with every single patient. When there was a person injured or trapped, it was the business of all. One in the trap is freedom deprived for all. In the interview, Anne was in a T-shirt with a slogan suggested by Winnie Yu. ( Terence Tang / Epoch Times) When a society lacks channels to speak out, people will naturally keep quiet. May those who remain in Hong Kong still keep others peoples goodness in mind and may they all know how to heal their own wounds. The Abbott Laboratories logo is displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on Oct. 18, 2021. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) Abbott to Add 1,000 Jobs in $450 Million Irish Investment DUBLINU.S. healthcare company Abbott Laboratories plans to hire 1,000 more people in Ireland in one of the biggest job announcements this year in the countrys booming multinational sector, state investment agency IDA Ireland said on Friday. Abbott, which is one of the largest multinational employers in Ireland with 5,000 staff, will expand its manufacturing facilities in the north west county of Donegal and build a new plant at the other end of the country in Kilkenny. Confirming the $450 million investment, Abbotts senior vice-president for diabetes care, Jared Watkin, told the Irish Times that choosing Ireland for its increased production of devices that monitor glucose levels made strategic sense. Jobs growth among multinationals in Ireland soared to record levels in the first half of 2022, helping push the countrys unemployment rate to a 21-year low of 4.2 percent. By Padraic Halpin This almost mythologized drink has made a comeback, as have its side effects The fall of communism in Eastern Europe resulted in dramatic gains in civil rights and liberties. But with the flood of new freedoms, a few evils have slipped in as well. The legalization of absinthe, a toxic liqueur fashionable in Europe at the turn of the 19th century, may well be one of the more insidious evils of recent times. The Wall Street Journal reported that Czech distiller Radomill Hill began producing absinthe and selling it in bars in Prague in 1990. Czech officials were wary of restricting personal liberties in a way reminiscent of the old communist regime. Consequently, they didnt block the return of absinthe. American visitors flooding into Prague have helped make absinthe a popular drink, as it was for Hemingway, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and fin de siecle France. The fans of absinthe praise both its hallucinatory and stimulatory effects. A green liqueur, its extremely bitter in taste, and, at 160 proof, has about twice the alcohol concentration of whiskey. Absinthe has been described as similar in taste to Nyquil and similar in appearance to the mouthwash Scope. However, the real kick in absinthe is not the alcohol, but one of its principal herbs, wormwood. It is from wormwood that the terpene thujone is obtained, which has been identified as the hallucinogenic compound in absinthe. Wormwood is a shrub-like herb native to Europe and Asia. It was prescribed by Hippocrates for jaundice, anemia, rheumatism, and menstrual pains. Wormwood is mentioned 12 times in the Bible. The Russian translation for wormwood is Chernobyl, the name of the city that was the site of a nuclear meltdown in 1986. In the Middle Ages, wormwood was used as a popular treatment for flatulence in dogs and was also known to kill intestinal worms. Wormwood had the reputation as a protection against the plague, and people slept with it in their pillows, hung it from the rafters, and burned it as a fumigant. Modern absinthe was probably invented in 1792 by a French physician, Pierre Ordinaire, who fled to Switzerland during the French Revolution. Ordinaire settled in Couvet, a small village in western Switzerland. He discovered the wormwood plant growing wild on his frequent horseback journeys in the countryside. Like many country doctors of the time, he prepared his own remedies and began experimenting with wormwood and other herbs. He eventually produced a 136-proof elixir, which became a popular tonic in the area. The concoction was known as La Fee Verte (the Green Fairy). Upon Ordinaires death, he left his secret recipe, which likely included wormwood, anise, dittany, sweet flag, melissa, coriander, veronica, chamomile, parsley, and spinach to the Henriod sisters of Couvet. The sisters then passed it on to a Frenchman, Major Dubied, in 1797. The majors daughter married a Swiss man named Pernod, who began producing absinthe based on Ordinaires recipe. By 1805, Pernod opened a large factory, Pernod Fils, the first distillery of an anise-based liqueur in France. The distillery got a major boost during the French-Algerian War, when French troops fighting in Algeria from 1844-47 were issued rations of absinthe as a fever preventative. It was also thought to act as a health-preserving tonic when mixed with wine and water. The troops quickly acquired a taste for this high-octane drink. When they returned to France after the war, they brought their taste for absinthe with them. The popularity of the drink grew rapidly, resulting in the Pernods producing 20,000 liters daily by the mid-century. Absinthe made its way to North America, probably first appearing in New Orleans in the 1830s. A popular bar at the corner of Bourbon Street and Bienville became known as the Old Absinthe House. The history of absinthe in the New World was brief, however, since by 1907, Harpers Weekly reported that the green curse of France was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Five years later, on July 25, 1912, absinthe was banned in America. It has the distinction of being the only alcoholic drink singled out for prohibition. In 1905, a sensational quadruple murder in Switzerland was blamed on the perpetrators supposed addiction to absinthe. The notoriety of the crime and another absinthe-related murder a few days later incited public opinion against the liqueur. A petition quickly circulated resulting in the Swiss government banning absinthe in 1908. Belgium outlawed absinthe in 1905 and Holland followed suit in 1910. However, in France, absinthe remained legal and popular up until World War I. In 1912, the French consumed 221,897,000 liters per year. As early as 1864, scientists began studying the effects of absinthe on health. The initial work was performed by Dr. Valentin Magnan, a physician at the asylum of Sainte-Anne in Paris. Magnan conducted animal experiments and concluded that thujone, the essence of wormwood, was responsible in man for such diverse symptoms as amnesia, violent behavior, epileptic seizures, visual and auditory hallucinations, and brain damage. Thujone was determined to be an isomer of camphor, which has been used for centuries in aromatherapy, treatment of asthma, muscular aches, and cardiac insufficiency, to name a few. In 1872, the British medical journal The Lancet stated that the principal effects of thujone were epileptiform attacks, that is, they looked like epileptic attacks. Absinthism victims were noted to appear dazed and intellectually enfeebled. According to Scientific American, absinthe was said to evoke new views, different experiences, and unique feelings, making it very popular with creative artists, including writers and painters. A sensation of heightened perception was reported by some users. In order to overcome the extremely bitter taste of absinthe, a ritual evolved in which the liqueur was sweetened and diluted. A popular routine involved placing a sugar cube on a slotted spoon which was then placed across the top of a glass containing a small amount of absinthe. Cold water was then slowly poured over the sugar cube into the glass. As the clear green liqueur becomes diluted, it turns an opalescent yellow color. Many Parisienne bars and cafes became dedicated to lheure verte (the green hour) as a daily ritual. The Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh was a devotee of absinthe. During the last two years of his life (before he committed suicide in 1890), Van Gogh experienced fits with hallucinations that have been historically attributed to psychosis. However, Van Gogh was an alcoholic and also abused absinthe, which likely resulted in his death. Van Goghs letters and the observations of friends indicate that he had an affinity for substances chemically related to thujone. His use of camphor for insomnia and at least one documented attempt to drink turpentine (which contains the terpene pinene) are examples of cravings for terpenes chemically related to thujone. Some have also suggested that the craving for terpenes was a variant of pica, an eating disorder that involves eating or craving to eat things that arent food. This may explain the bizarre behavior of Van Gogh eating his paints. Today, La Fee Verte appears to be making a modest comeback, although it has largely gone underground. Clandestine Swiss distillers still produce thousands of gallons of bootlegged absinthe for local consumption. Absinthe never became illegal in Spain, which was the only country where it was legally sold until the Czech Republic began production. The revival of absinthe in Prague may in part represent experimentalism and faddism by many partakers. Many users may recall literary descriptions of the revelatory effects of absinthe, like Hemingways hero in For Whom the Bell Tolls, One cap of it took the place of the evening papers, of all the old evenings in the cafes, of all the chestnut trees that would be in bloom Perhaps the fascination with absinthe is merely a passing fancy for most. In todays drug-ridden society absinthe seems almost quaint, compared to the lethality of drugs such as fentanyl. However, absinthes potential for havoc remains great, with its double threat of 160 proof alcohol plus a hallucinogenic. The green fairy is truly a devil in disguise. References An ambulance outside Hospital Samaritano Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in November 2021. (Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) American Tourist Dies in Rio After Being Hit by Stray Bullet RIO DE JANEIROAn American tourist died in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, three days after he was shot during a confrontation between local drug dealers and vigilantes. The U.S Consulate in Rio and hospital Samaritano Botafogo confirmed Trey Barbers death in separate statements. The consulate did not offer more details due to family privacy issues. Barber was initially identified by police and the hospital as 28-year-old Joseph Trey Thomas. He was shot in the neck in an apartment in Northern Rio. Police said Barber was visiting a friend when he was shot. Brazilian media reported he was in Rio on vacation since July and taught Portuguese language classes in Los Angeles. Local police also found another dead man after the same shootout. According to Instituto Fogo Cruzado, which counts shootings in several Brazilian cities, 116 people were shot in Rios metropolitan area in 2021. Twenty four of them died. Taiwan National Security Bureau (NSB) Director General Tsai De-sheng says cyber-attacks from China have seriously affected Taiwan. The NSB website, for example, has received 3.34 million attacks in the past year, averaging about 10,000 a day. (Chen Baizhou/The Epoch Times) Attacked by CCP Cyber Army, Taiwan Government Information Security Being Shored Up Taiwan is facing political, economic, and military coercion from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) amid a significant increase in cyber-attacks on government departments, according to Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang. The completeness of security and protection of government agencies has recently gained public attention. ROC Defense Department Confirmed Cyber-attack from Beijing The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (ROC), that is, Taiwan, held a press conference on Tuesday, confirming that in addition to military exercises, the Chinese Communist Party (CP) has also launched a cognitive warfare and cyber-attack on major global information websites in Taiwan. The official website of the Ministry of National Defense was hacked on March 3. According to a search by the response team of the Ministry, the website was flooded with requests for connections from multiple suspicious computer IP addresses at the same time, causing the network traffic to exceed the limit and making it impossible to access the website. According to the Political Warfare Bureau of ROC, the CCP launched a cognitive warfare ahead of its military exercises. From Aug. 1 to Aug. 8, a total of 272 controversial messages were copied and distributed to call for unity by force and undermine the authority of the ROC government. Speaking of the CCPs cognitive warfare, Chen Yu-lin, Deputy Director of the Political Warfare Bureau, pointed out that with the rapid development of online communities and media, the style of warfare has changed greatly from what it was in the past. Cognitive warfare, in particular, destroys the existing networks of society and makes if difficult to have a decisive influence on the battlefield, she said. The Defense Ministry urged the public not to ignore disputed messages. Numerous Cyberattacks Launched Abroad The ROCs presidential office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, and other agencies have all recently experienced Level 1 information security incidents. Government agencies and critical infrastructure websites have been attacked by foreign forces in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. A DDoS attack on a website is like a busy line, Digital Minister Audrey Tang, who is Taiwans first minister of digital affairs, explained to Liberty Times Net on Aug.7. If a large number of cross-border calls from abroad are made to a designated line in an instant, it is impossible to dial in, she said. In fact, the phone line is not broken, and government information is not leaked. Tang said that critical infrastructure related to government agencies websites is now well protected and that such hacking is intended to cause psychological panic among the public. At present, digital websites are piloting a distributed architecture based on Web3, which is asymmetric and has not been subjected to recent DDoS attacks. If successful, it will be extended to all government ministries and commissions. In the future, the applicable boundaries of Web3 architecture and domestic laws for international operators will be established; relevant guidelines will also be set up for gradual implementation. The official websites of ROCs government agencies have repeatedly experienced overseas cyberattacks, which peaked on Aug. 2, 23 times the previous daily peak. Audrey Tang confirmed on Aug. 11 that (the government) had been continuing to monitor the network attack situation. According to the statistics of Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), during the period of Aug. 2 to Aug. 3, the maximum query volume of national top-level network domain DNS was about 85,000 times per second, among which malicious attack traffic accounted for 75 percent of the whole. The source is mainly cloud operators from the United States and China. IThome, a Taiwanese news media revealed that even after Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan, the CCPs cyberattacks did not stop. For example, FTV News was attacked by DDoS on Aug. 6, 7, 8, and 10. FTVs live YouTube program was tampered with by hackers on Aug. 6. The homepage of the official website of the Academic Affairs Office and R&D Office of National Taiwan University was replaced by hackers on Aug. 7, with the words There is only one China and China, not even a bit can be left behind appearing on the homepage with a red background. In terms of false messages, the most notable one was faking the well-known hacker group APT 27, which claimed that it had hacked into the systems of important departments in Taiwan and possessed the zero-time difference loophole of 200,000 IoT devices, which was enough to launch cyberattacks to shake Taiwan. Despite the apparent simplicity of these cyberattacks, experts are urging continued vigilance. Schee Tzu-han, a tech entrepreneur who has advised the Taipei City government on digital issues, told The Wall Street Journal on Aug. 10 that the low-tech attacks could actually gather intelligence on Taiwans cyber defense for use in the next attack. Alastair MacGibbon, chief strategy officer of Australian cybersecurity firm CyberCX, echoed Schees view in saying that he isnt concerned about high-profile attacks on Taiwans government websites, but rather, the extent to which the CCP might have infiltrated so-called core systems, such as supply chain systems. TV Walls Attacked The CCP cyber army attacked several public TV walls in train stations and supermarkets in Taiwan to transmit slogans such as Pelosi, the war monger, get out of Taiwan and The great China will finally be reunified. It was later revealed by legislator(s) that the software used by TSRC TV was that of Colorlight, a Chinese company. The ROCs Executive Yuan (a branch of government) in April 2019 adopted the principle of restricting the use of products that endanger the security of national information and communications, which restricts the use of Huawei and Hikvision products by government agencies, said Hsu Kuang-tse, a researcher at the Economic Democracy Union, a Taiwanese nongovernmental organization. The Executive Yuan also sent a letter requesting all government agencies not to use Chinese brands in their ICT products and not to connect them with government work, and requires them to replace their use or stop purchasing Chinese brands by the end of 2021. Hsu said the ban on the use of Chinese-branded ICT products by government agencies was a trend in democratic countries and should have been strictly enforced by the Executive Yuan. However, failure to effectively implement the policy was clearly reflected in the recent TV wall incident. Hsu demanded that the Executive Yuan submit a comprehensive audit report on the use of Chinese communication products by public agencies, including outsourced contractors and advertisers, and proposed a list of penalties for non-compliance before the Legislative Yuan convenes. Audrey Tang said that the TV wall incident is mainly information and psychological warfare whose purpose is to trigger public panic. Although the hacking of TV walls does not involve an information security crisis, it should be considered a tactic in a mixed warfare. In response to the information security loopholes in this cyberattack, the Executive Yuan said that it has started to revise the principles of restricting the use of products that endanger national information security by various authorities, and that security-hazardous information products or services cannot be used on electronic screens in the public domain in the future, including the central government, local governments, administrative corporations, public facilities, Taiwan Railway, High Speed Rail, MRT, etc. Financial Warfare Exercises Suggested: Taiwan Think Tank With regard to the CCPs military exercises becoming normalized, Taiwans Financial Research and Training Institute Director Dr. Hank C.C. Huang advocates conducting simulated military exercises to deal with financial warfare. Financial warfare exercises, including financial stress tests conducted by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Security, are called Financial Han Kwang Exercises in Taiwan, and generally refer to a nationwide military exercise in which the CCP Army is the imagined enemy. Wang Ping, an academician at Taiwans Academia Sinica, said on Aug. 9 that the rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait have a great impact on Taiwans industries. Although the financial sector has no production chain problems, security is more important, he said. The financial sector should conduct a complete risk assessment in advance and conduct financial warfare exercises. The companys main goal is to provide a comprehensive range of products and services to the public. An official from the ROCs Financial Supervisory Commission pointed out that the commission has adopted individual and overall prudent supervision of the financial industry. [We] have been monitoring the risks at all times, he said. The Ministry of Finance has activated the information security alert response team, mobilizing the eight major public banks, Taiwans tobacco and liquor companies, customs and trade, and other business institutions, to regularly check their websites for signs of hacking. Wang Jian-an, an associate professor of finance at National Chi Nan University, said in a commentary published in United Daily News that traditional bank stress tests and financial supervision ignore operational risks to some extent. In the face of the increasing possibility of military conflict, a financial stabilization program should be proposed for national security to maintain the basic functioning of society, he said. Author Salman Rushdie at the Blue Sofa at the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Oct. 12, 2017. (Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images) Author Salman Rushdie Cannot Speak, on Ventilator After Stabbing in New York Author Salman Rushdie, whose novel published in 1988 drew death threats from Irans leader and other Islamists, was on a ventilator and unable to speak late Friday, after he was stabbed just as he was to deliver a lecture in New York. The news is not good, Andrew Wylie, Rushdies book agent, said in an email. Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged. A New York State Police trooper providing security at the event arrested the suspect at the scene after he rushed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed Rushdie in the neck and abdomen at about 11 a.m. The suspect was identified as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass to the lecture event. State police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said Matars motive is currently unclear. Matars lawyer declined to comment. Attendees at the lecture event helped to pull the attacker away from Rushdie, who had fallen to the floor after he was stabbed. Police said that a doctor in the audience as among those who helped tend to Rushdie while emergency services were on the way. The doctor, Martin Haskell, described Rushdies wounds as serious but recoverable. The 75-year-old author was flown to a hospital and underwent hours of surgery later on Friday. Writers and politicians around the world have condemned the attack as an assault on the freedom of expression. Henry Reese, the events moderator, was also attacked and suffered a minor facial injury. Reese, 73, was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He was due to discuss with Rushdie on stage about how the United States has provided asylum for writers and artists in exile, and its role as a home for freedom of creative expression, according to the Chautauqua Institutions website. Bounty Since Publication of Book in 1988 Rushdie was born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in Bombaynow Mumbaiin India, before moving to the United Kingdom. In 2016, he became a U.S. citizen and lives in New York City. The author has lived with death threats and a bounty on his head ever since 1988, when his fourth novel published that year, titled The Satanic Verses, was deemed blasphemous by some Muslims. A few months after the books publication, in February 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Irans leader, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling upon Muslims to kill Rushdie and anyone involved in the books publication, for blasphemy. Often-violent protests against Rushdie also erupted around the world, including a riot in February 1989 that killed 12 people in Mumbai. The book has since been banned in many countries with large Muslim populations. Rushdie went into hiding for nearly a decade. He has called his novel pretty mild. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of the novel, was murdered in 1991. The Iranian government said in 1998 that it would no longer back the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived relatively openly in recent years. But Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeinis successor, said as recently as 2019 that the fatwa was irrevocable. Iranian organizations, some linked to the Iranian regime, have raised a bounty worth millions of dollars to have Rushdie killed. A self-described lapsed Muslim and hard-line atheist, Rushdie has been a fierce critic of religion across the spectrum and outspoken about oppression in his native India, including under the Hindu-nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. House GOP members are demanding transparency into the FBI raid on former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort. A member of the House Intelligence Committee joins us to weigh in on the reports of possible classified documents at the former presidents home. Well also be speaking with Congressman Scott Perry who earlier in the week had his phone confiscated by the FBI. Democrats had a big win on a budget bill they say will lower costs. Republicans, however, had some strong words of criticism. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is making another attempt for National Guard troops to help with the flow of illegal immigrants in Washington. Will her request be granted by the Pentagon? With a massive influx of illegal immigrants coming in through the southern border, we sit down with Texas Congressman Brian Babin to find out how it is affecting Border Patrol agents. The Chinese Communist Party has been expanding its global influence unchecked for decades, and now Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is saying something must be done. * Click the Save button below the video to access it later on My List. Follow CapitolReport on social media: Twitter https://twitter.com/capitolreport Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CapitolReport/ Gettr https://gettr.com/user/capitolreport Follow EpochTV on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Lebanons elected leadership sent the mushroom questions back to voters Aug. 10, codifying the City Councils decision in July to seek a two-year delay on the rollout of legal psilocybin mushrooms. City Manager Nancy Brewer told councilors implementation is "all over the map," with some counties banning legal 'shrooms while cities within those same counties allowing them. Others, like Philomath, are seeking to wait before approving or banning. Its a mismatch, Brewer said. Oregon voters elected to position the state as the first to legalize hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psilocybin when they passed State Measure 109 in 2020. The Oregon Health Authority is slated to begin licensing growers, distributors and administrators of psilocybin on Jan. 2. Staff presented the council in July the options cities are debating in all corners of the state: Say yes, no or maybe to mushrooms. If they do nothing, cities and counties consent by default to accept applications for licensed centers where the use of therapeutic mushrooms would be restricted to onsite with the guidance of licensed administrators. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Lebanon Express. Lebanon councilors agreed they didnt want the city to be among the first to permit licensed mushrooms while Oregon Health Authority is still setting rules for implementation. They directed staff to intervene in the rollout by putting a two-year moratorium on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot. Councilors on Wednesday, Aug. 10 received the resolution that makes their moratorium ask official. They agreed it's still the city's correct course of action and voted unanimously to approve the moratorium ballot measure. A yes vote means Lebanon will hold off. A majority no will position Lebanon to fall in line with the health authority, although cities can enact time, place and manner restrictions. In 2020, Lebanon constituents voted 3,940 to 4,331, about 47%, for legal psilocybin. Linn County was even lower with just 44.7% voting to approve the drug. Here is how other agencies are landing on the issue: Benton County will allow mushrooms in unincorporated areas within its boundaries. Corvallis will too. Linn County sent a ban to voters. Albany considered following, then did an about-face to roll with legal psilocybin. Irelands Four Courts where a driver crashed into the restaurant on Aug. 13, 2022. (Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) Car Crashes Into Arlington Restaurant and Catches Fire, 14 Injured An individual crashed a vehicle into a busy restaurant during peak dinner service in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday night, causing a fire, injuring 14 people, and damaging the building, according to police. Arlington County Police Department and Arlington Fire Department said they responded to the crash in the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard on Friday. The cause of the crash is unclear. Police and emergency services said the crash caused a structure fire that has since been extinguished and that multiple injuries have been reported. Eight people were transported to nearby hospitals, four in critical condition and four non-life-threatening, police said in an update. Six of the injured people were treated at the scene and released. ACPD and @ArlingtonvaFD are investigating a vehicle crash into a building in the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard. The crash caused a structure fire which has been extinguished. Multiple injuries have been reported. Investigation ongoing. pic.twitter.com/a5BGlg9uet ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) August 12, 2022 Building engineers evaluated the structure and determined it was structurally sound but could not be reoccupied. The investigation remains ongoing, Arlington Fire Department said in an update on Twitter. According to local media ARLnow, the car plunged 20 feet inside Irelands Four Courts in Courthouse. Photos of the scene show thick black smoke billowing out of the damaged restaurant as emergency responders run inside in the aftermath. The restaurants general manager, Dave Cahill, told ARLnow that none of the staff were seriously injured but that at least one employee was sent to hospital for smoke inhalation. According to Cahill, the four seriously injured people are thought to be customers who were there for happy hour, ARLnow reported. Cahill said the car came down N. Courthouse Road and went into the building going very quick. The vehicle careened around 20 feet into the building before coming to a stop and catching fire. A view of the Royal-class cruise ship "Sky Princess" operated by Bermuda-based Princess Cruises of Carnival Corp., off the coast of Cyprus' southern city of Limassol, on March 30, 2021. (Amir Makar/AFP via Getty Images) Carnival Welcomes Unvaccinated Guests to Sail, Drops Pre-Cruise Testing for Vaccinated The largest cruise line company in the world will start allowing unvaccinated guests to sail on one of their cruise ships and has updated its COVID-19 testing protocols for vaccinated passengers Carnival Corp. announced in updated protocols on Friday that the new guidelines will make it easier for guests to sail with simplified COVID-19 vaccination and testing guidelines and will eliminate the exemption request process for unvaccinated guests, who will only need to show a negative test at embarkation. The following guidelines will be in effect for cruises departing on Sept. 6, or later: Vaccinated guests must continue to provide evidence of their vaccination status prior to embarkation. Pre-cruise testing is no longer required, except for cruises to Canada, Bermuda, Greece, and Australia (per local guidelines), and on sailings 16 nights or longer. Unvaccinated guests are welcome to sail and are no longer required to apply for a vaccine exemption, except for cruises in Australia or on voyages 16 nights and longer. Unvaccinated guests, or those who do not provide proof of vaccination, must present the results of a negative PCR or antigen test that was taken within three days of embarkation. Guests under the age of five years are exempt from vaccination and testing requirements from the United States and under the age of 12 from Australia. All policies are subject to local destination regulations. Voyages 16 nights and longer will continue to have vaccination and testing requirements that are specific to the itinerary. The company noted that for guests who have an application pending for COVID-19 vaccine exemption and are awaiting confirmation for cruises departing on Sept. 6 or later, the booking is confirmed unless booked on a sailing that calls on Canada, Bermuda, Australia, or if the voyage is 16 nights or longer. Our ships have been sailing very full all summer, but there is still room for more of our loyal guests, and these guidelines will make it a simpler process, and make cruising accessible for those who were not able to meet the protocols we were required to follow for much of the past 14 months, Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement. Weve got lots happening, with Carnival Luminosa and Carnival Celebration joining our fleet this November and more to come in 2023, she continued. Whatever the ship, homeport, or itinerary that works for you, our great onboard team is ready to deliver a fun vacation. The cruise ship operators movewhich affects Carnival Cruise, Princess Cruises, and Cunardcame in the same week rival Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced similar revisions to its COVID-19 vaccination and testing protocols. Our long-awaited revisions to our testing and vaccination requirements bring us closer in line with the rest of society, which has learned to adapt and live with COVID-19, Frank Del Rio, president of the Florida-based global cruise operator, said in an Aug. 8 press release. Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean-operated cruise lines also announced similar guidelines starting with Sept. 5 departures, according to a statement from the firm. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, is seen moored in the Port of Miami on Aug. 1, 2021. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images) All travelers regardless of vaccination status can cruise on the following itineraries, as long as they meet any testing requirements to board, said Royal Caribbean, noting itineraries include cruises from Los Angeles, Galveston, New Orleans, and European homeports. Royal Caribbean stressed that COVID-19 vaccination requirements remain in place until further notice at any homeport not mentioned, urging guests to visit the companys Getting Ready to Cruise page to view current protocols by homeport. Smaller cruise operators such as Azamara Cruises, MSC Cruises, and several others have recently scrapped vaccination and testing requirements altogether. The moves came after a decision handed down by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 18 that ended its reporting system for cruise ships, which was hailed by cruise industry groups. Cruise operators have said COVID-19 restrictions have crushed the industry over the past two yearsamid high-profile incidents involving viral outbreaks on ships. From NTD News Chinese military helicopters fly past Pingtan Island, one of mainland China's closest points to Taiwan, in Fujian Province, ahead of military drills around Taiwan, on Aug. 4, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) CCP Military Expert Brags Chinese Military Drills Forced US Navy to Back Away From Taiwan On Aug. 5, the Chinese communist regimes state-run central television (CCTV) boasted that the Chinese military exercises targeting Taiwan forced the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group to back away from Taiwan and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis plane to detour east of the Philippines from Kuala Lumpur to the island. CCTV interviewed Meng Xiangqing, a professor of the CCP PLA National Defence University, who said in the program that the intensity and deterrence of the military drills are far greater than before. Pelosi paid a 19-hour visit to Taiwan and left the island on Aug. 3, the third stop of her Asia trip after Singapore and Malaysia. One day after Pelosi left Taiwan for Japan, the Chinese regimes Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command conducted live-fire drills in six zones around Taiwan, firing altogether 11 Dongfeng missiles, according to Taiwans Ministry of National Defense on Aug. 4. Meng bragged that the drills achieved multiple firsts, including the first exercise closest to Taiwan and the first fire test across the island, which passed through the airspace where Patriot missiles were densely deployed and precisely hit the targets under the nose of the American Aegis Combat System. He said that the military drills were a heavy blow to foreign interference forces. A US-made S70C helicopter is guided by a navy seaman during take off from a frigate at sea near the Suao navy harbour in Yilan, eastern Taiwan on April 13, 2018. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) The Aegis Combat System is an American integrated naval weapons system that uses computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. According to Nikkei Asia on Aug. 4, Japans Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters that five out of the 11 missiles fired by the CCP landed in Japans exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This reveals that the PLAs missiles did not precisely hit their targets. Echoing the CCTVs rhetoric, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI)a Chinese think tank with a Chinese military backgroundcontinuously released maps allegedly recording the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group backing away from Taiwan during the PLA drills. The SCSPI, though touting itself to be an international research network and not affiliated with any institution, has several retired PLA officers on its advisory board and research team, according to its official website. Taiwan Responds Calmly to CCP Coercion: Military Youtuber The regime has been notoriously using its propaganda mouthpieces to spread fake information both domestically and abroad to fool or coerce its audiences. In this military exercise, in addition to military operations, the CCP also launched a lot of cyber warfare and cognitive warfare, including hacker attacks, fake information, and photoshopped pictures, as propaganda tools, said Mark, a military Youtuber and vlogger of Mark Space, a self-media program on military and aerospace technology. He told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times in a recent interview that the CCPs propaganda aimed to serve two purposes: firstly, the CCP wanted to tell Chinese citizens that the U.S. army was scared away by the PLA; and secondly, it wanted to confuse the Taiwanese people and erode Taiwans confidence. However, in the face of the coercion from opposite the strait, the Taiwanese society behaved very calmly. The Taiwan stock market closed last Friday, rising by more than 300 points instead of falling. On Monday, it only fell by 15.63 points. There is no panic atmosphere in Taiwan at all, Mark said in the interview. US Navy Wont Back Away from Taiwan: US Carrier Strike Group Commander As a response to the CCPs coercive military actions in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. National Security Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that the United States will not be deterred from operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific. Kirby said this at a press briefing on Aug. 4. He added that the United States would continue supporting Taiwan and defending a free and open Indo-Pacific. U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (R) and South Koreas landing platform helicopter (LPH) ship Marado (L) at sea during a joint military exercise at an undisclosed location on June 4, 2022. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP) Secretary Austin today has directed that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the ships in her strike group will remain on station in the general area to monitor the situation, Kirby said, We will conduct standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks. The Stars and Stripes, a daily American military newspaper, reported on Aug. 5 that the U.S. 7th Fleet will send more aircraft and warships past Taiwan in the coming weeks. U.S. 7th Fleet is the largest forward-deployed numbered fleet in the world. The Navy will not back away from its normal operations in the Western Pacific, nor will it be dissuaded, bullied or forced by potential rivals like China, Russia, or North Korea into abandoning its mission to maintain open seas in the Indo-Pacific region, said Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, the commander of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group, at a news conference on the carrier. The strike group is in the Philippine Sea, according to United States Navy Institute (USNI) News Fleet and Marine Tracker on Aug. 8. Li Jing contributed to the article. An employee makes a chip at a factory of Jiejie Semiconductor Company in Nantong, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, on March 17, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Chinas Natural Sand Export Ban to Taiwan has Limited Impact on its Chip Industry: Experts Chinese media disclosed that China imports most of its natural sand China has hit Taiwan with several economic sanctions following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis high-profile visit to the island. Among them is a ban on natural sand export to Taiwan aimed at hurting some of its industries, including semiconductors. However, Chinese media recently disclosed that China does not produce the high-purity sand required for chipmaking but instead relies on imports. On Aug. 3, Chinas Ministry of Commerce suspended its natural sand exports to Taiwan. The move was widely seen as part of the retaliatory measures taken by Beijing over Pelosis visit. People often associate sand with silicon, the primary raw material for semiconductor chips. However, silicon is derived from high-purity quartz sand that can only be produced in a limited number of countries, mainly the United States and Australia. A recent article on NetEase, a Chinese online news platform, revealed that China does not produce the kind of sand for chipmaking but instead spends over 1.3 billion yuan (about $192 million) yearly importing natural sands. Many people think that natural sand is the core raw material for chipmaking, and China has an abundance of such resources, but this is not the case, the article said. Natural sand primarily refers to the sand with industrial or construction purposes, such as river sand, sea sand, etc. Only quartz sand is used for chipmaking, and it also must be of high purity, with a silicon content of 99.999 percent. And even that, subsequent purification processes are needed to produce a satisfactory silicon wafer. The article added that China has no high-purity quartz sand, whereas the United States has a near-monopoly. A researcher at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences Mineral Resources Institute, Wang Jiuyi, said in one of his papers that the U.S. State of North Carolina contains the largest known high-purity quartz mines in the world. He added the states Spruce Pine Mining District is the only deposit with over 10 million tons of raw material reserves. Although China is rich in siliceous resources, most deposits are common silica ore for ordinary glass, stone, and construction sand. Additionally, China has no mines specializing in producing high-purity quartz raw materials. Thus, it must import large amounts of high-purity quartz sand, raw ores, and high-end quartz products every year, Wang said in his paper. Natural sand is formed primarily through rock weathering, a natural process. Rock particles with a particle size less than 5mm are widely used in construction, concrete, machinery, casting, and other industrial purposes, including quartz sand, the core raw material for making semiconductor chips. The article on NetEase divides Chinas natural sand imports and exports into two main categories: silica sand (also known as quartz sand) and other natural sands. The report indicates that China has been importing natural sand since 2014. However, at that time, the import volume was lower than the export volume. As the demand for natural sand in construction and other industries expanded, in 2018, Chinas natural sand imports exceeded exports for the first time. By 2021, the import volume of Chinas natural sand has reached four times its export volume, reaching an import value of over 1.3 billion yuan (about $192 million) per year. In the first half of 2022, Chinas import volume reached 2.012 million tons in the category of silica sand (and quartz sand) alone, a total value of 680 million yuan (about $101 million). On the other hand, the highest monthly export value in 2022 was only 1.297 million yuan (about $192,000). The report pointed out that the raw ore used by the Chinese quartz giant Jiangsu Pacific Quartz Co. to purify high-purity quartz sand is mainly sourced from abroad, with imports reaching 90 percent in 2020. North Carolinas Spruce Pine mine remains its largest source of high-purity quartz raw material ore. You must know that Jiangsu Pacific Quartz is the only company in China capable of producing high-purity quartz sand on a large scale. It basically represents the entire domestic industry. But the fact is, the key to the raw materials is in the hands of others. Taiwan: The Impact Is Limited In response to Chinas suspension of natural sand exports, Taiwans Ministry of Economic Affairs said its reliance on Chinese sand and gravel this year has dropped significantly regardless of the ban, and Chinese imports of natural sand account for less than 1 percent. The ministry said that the domestic production capacity is currently self-sufficient, and the ban is expected to have little impact on its related industries, adding that Taiwans import of sand and gravel from China peaked in 2016 and has since declined. According to the Bureau of Mines, imported natural sand in 2021 accounted for about 0.75 percent, or 540,000 metric tons, of Taiwans yearly domestic demand. And only 170,000 metric tons were sourced from China in 2021. In addition, only about 20,000 metric tons of natural sand were imported from China from January to June of this year, representing a minimal impact. An exhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell) inactivated vaccines developed by Wuhan Biological Products Institute, subsidiary of Sinopharm Groups China National Biotec Group (CNBG), during the Second World Health Expo that was held in Wuhan, China on Nov. 13, 2020. (Getty Images) Chinese People Doubt Claims That CCP Leaders Received Domestic COVID-19 Vaccine Reports by Chinese state media that all Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders received domestic vaccines has met with disbelief among Chinese internet users. According to a July 23 report by Xinhua News Agency, the deputy director of Chinas National Health Commission, Zeng Yixin, declared at a press conference that current Party and state leaders had all been vaccinated to protect themselves against COVID-19, and that they had received only domestic vaccines. Zeng said this demonstrates that the CCP leaders attach great importance to the prevention and control of the epidemic and have great trust in the domestic vaccines. Show That Leaders Trust Domestic Vaccines Zengs announcement immediately triggered debates online, with people commenting that, if the leaders have been vaccinated and have a high level of trust in domestic vaccines, then when will the country open up, and when will the nucleic acid tests stop? Otherwise, where is the trust, where is the confidence, and whats the point of having a vaccine? Sunsequently, many official media outlets closed their comment sections. Related comments on Chinese social media were also quickly blocked. Two and a half years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic first began in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. As early as the first half of 2020, Chinese officials announced to the world that Chinas domestic vaccine trials were effective. According to state-run media Peoples Daily, as of March 24, 2022, China had administered over 3.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine, covering 90.47 percent of the total population, with 88 percent of the population having received full vaccination. If more than 90 percent of Chinas population has been vaccinated in the past two years, why are dozens of top CCP leaders now, belatedly, doing so? Where was their high level trust in domestic vaccines, as stated by deputy director Zeng? In normal countries, leaders are the first to take a vaccine to give the people confidence, some people said on social media. Why do Chinese leaders do the opposite? In addition to the delayed timing of CCP leaders getting vaccinated, there is actually no proof as to whether they received domestic vaccines as there isnt any credible evidence, such as real-time news reports, photos, or videos of them being vaccinated, including close-ups of the domestic vaccine packaging, so its difficult to convince people. Ordinary Chinese who were given domestic vaccines and are fully vaccinated, are wondering why they are still getting infected, put under lockdowns, and when released from lockdowns, contracting the virus again; yet none of the high-level CCP leaders were infected. Its therefore difficult to convince the public that the leaders received only domestic vaccines. Up Media, a Chinese website, reported that according to a transnational intelligence exchange, facing the inevitable trip to Hong Kong, Xi Jinping completed three rounds of vaccination in Maynot the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, but Pfizers BNT, which came from abroad. Some social media users left comments, such as: When they [the officials] specifically announced that they got the jab, they most likely didnt. CCP Leaders Health Is Kept Secret The CCP has always treated the physical condition of its leaders as a secret, so its odd that the leaders vaccination status is suddenly made public for the first time, current affairs commentator Zhou Xiaohui told The Epoch Times. Xinhua News also reported that Wang Fusheng, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases Medicine at the 301st General Hospital of the Army, said that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine would not cause leukemia or diabetes, nor would it affect the human genetic code, cause metastases and spreading of tumors, or cause increased antibody dependence, as some online information suggests. The public suspects that this may be a response to the many injury incidents and even deaths caused by Chinas domestic vaccines that the officials can no longer cover up. There have always been doubts about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines among the Chinese public. From time to time, social media and even official media release videos of people suddenly falling to the ground. Chinese Vaccines In Other Countries Other than using communist party leaders to endorse and reduce responsibility for the efficacy of domestic vaccines, the CCP has also called on other world leaders to stand up for it. Leaders of more than 30 countriesincluding Turkey, Serbia, Cambodia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia, Peru, and Chilehave also received Chinese-made vaccines, according to Zeng Yixin, deputy head of Chinas Health Commission. However, there has been a lot of negative news about world leaders who received Chinese made COVID-19 vaccines. Perus Congress impeached and removed former President Martin Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo from office in November 2020 over a scandal in which he secretly received a Sinopharm vaccine in October 2020. Just six months after receiving the Chinese vaccine, Vizcarra tested positive for COVID-19 on April 25, 2021. On Jan. 13, 2022, China Central TV reported that on Jan. 12, former Vizcarra posted on social media that he had again tested positive for COVID-19 after a rapid antigen test. Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh was confirmed positive for COVID-19 during a visit to Egypt on Feb. 21, 2022 and had to cancel his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Jordans Health Minister said on Jan. 10 that Prime Minister Bisher and several ministers had received Chinas Sinopharm vaccine. Brazilian media reported in February 2021 that Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed on Feb. 18, 2021 that his 93-year-old mother had received a British vaccine, however medical staff forged her vaccination card; they tore up the original card and replaced it with one saying she received Sinovac. The incident sparked a lot of controversy in Brazil. Chiles President Sebastian Pinera personally went to the airport on Jan. 28, 2021 to welcome the arrival of a shipment of Sinovac vaccine from China and to announce that the vaccination program in Chile would begin in February. However, by April 13, the Chilean Ministry of Health confirmed that the countrys ICUs were in critical condition and 97 percent of the beds were occupied by severely ill COVID-19 patients. Chile has the third highest COVID-19 vaccination rate in the world. However, as of April, a COVID outbreak infected more than one million people and killed nearly 25,000 in Chile, Latin Americas richest country of fewer than 19 million people. In Chile, 93 percent of COVID vaccines administered were Sinovac. Whats interesting is the absence of North Korea from the list. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected 2 million doses of Chinese made AstraZeneca vaccines in July 2021. The Kim administration put it politely: The vaccines should be sent to countries where the pandemic is more severe. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), joined by members of the House Freedom Caucus, speaks at a news conference on the infrastructure bill outside the Capitol Building in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Congressman Perry Gets Phone Back From FBI, Unclear About Motives Behind Seizure House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) confirmed that he has received his cell phone back from the FBI after the agency had seized it a few days back. On Aug. 9, a day after raiding former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, FBI agents had taken Perrys phone as part of a separate investigation. At the time, Perry was traveling with his family. Speaking to Capitol Report on NTD News, the GOP member confirmed that he has received his phone. He is still uninformed as to why the phone was confiscated by the FBI. However, Perry was informed by his attorneys that he was not a target of the FBIs investigation. After the seizure, Perry had blasted FBI agents for making no attempt to contact his lawyer who would have made arrangements to submit the phone if needed by the agency. In a statement, Perry said that though he was outraged, he was not surprised that the FBI under the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garlands Department of Justice would seize the phone of a sitting member of Congress. Perry claimed that his phone contains information about political and legislative activities as well as private conversations with his family members, friends, and constituents, none of which is the governments business. DOJ chose this unnecessary and aggressive action instead of simply contacting my attorneys, the statement said. These kinds of banana republic tactics should concern every citizen. Unprecedented Move In an interview with NTD, Greg Shaffer, a retired FBI agent for the elite hostage rescue team, said that the FBI needs to have special permission to seize any property belonging to members of Congress, members of the clergy, attorneys, or other individuals who deal with privileged information. Seizing Perrys phone was a show of force by the Biden administration. For an FBI agent to go walk up to a sitting congressman and take his cell phone that had to be approved at the highest level at the FBI and DOJ, Shaffer said. That is very, very difficult to do. Unprecedented. It is unclear whether there is a link between Perrys phone seizure and the raid on Trumps home. Speaking to The Epoch Times, Perry pointed out that the separation of powers is a firewall that keeps the three branches of government in check. By taking control of a phone belonging to a sitting member of Congress, the DOJ, for maybe the first time in history, is preparing to pierce that veil. Darlene McCormick contributed to the report. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), joined by members of the House Freedom Caucus, speaks at a news conference on the infrastructure bill outside the Capitol Building in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Congressman Scott Perry Warns FBIs Action Appear Politically Motivated Pennsylvania Republican fears people have lost faith in the agency Congressman Scott Perry (R-Pa.), whose personal cell phone was seized by the FBI a day after it raided President Donald Trumps Florida home, said citizens are right to question if the agencys actions are politically motivated. Perry, a Trump ally, was traveling with his family when three FBI agents visited him and took his personal cell phone on Aug. 9, imaging it before giving it back. It raised questions as to why the agency was unnecessarily aggressive by showing up unannounced instead of contacting his attorney. Perry told Capitol Report on NTD News the similarly aggressive raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago home Aug. 8 has raised separation of powers issues and eroded public trust in the FBI, which appears to be weaponized against political opponents. Perrys phone contained info about legislative and political activities along with private discussions with his wife, family, constituents, and friendsnone of which is the governments business. His attorneys told him the Justice Department said he was not a target in an investigation, which begs the question of why they seized his phone in the first place. It is unclear if there is a connection between Perrys phone and the raid on Trumps home. President Joe Bidens FBI now has private information belonging to a sitting member of Congress, he said. The separation of powers is a firewall to keep the three branches of government in check. Thats there for a reason, Perry said. And of course, right now, it looks like the DOJ, for maybe the first time in history, is preparing to pierce that veil. Perry said that when people see false accusations against Trump, such as the Russian collusion hoax, followed by the FBI storming the former presidents home this week over a document dispute, it shakes their faith in the system. Rot at the Top The National Archive Records Administration confirmed in February that Trumps representatives were cooperating in transferring presidential records. Trump attorney Christina Bobb told The Epoch Times on Aug. 9 that it was unclear why the agency resorted to drastic measures. We dont know what the probable cause is. I dont think there is a good cause to do such a drastic thing. But they did, Bobb said. Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) The search warrant for the raid was unsealed Friday. FBI agents took 20 boxes of materials and various classified materials, miscellaneous secret, top secret, and confidential documents. The agents took photos, a handwritten note, the executive grant of clemency for Trump ally Roger Stone and info concerning the president of France. General Services packed boxes for the president, which were sent to his home. Perry said that Trump invited authorities to take a look and asked him to put an additional lock on the storage area before the raid. Keep in mind that the president is the classifier of all information, Perry noted. So its hard to say Trump has taken classified information. Trump has said the documents were declassified. If the president says its not classified, then its not classified, Perry said. What is happening here sure seems like character assassination and political persecution because hes their political rival. Perry pointed out that it was James Comey, former head of the FBI, who took classified documents and forwarded them to a friend so that he could have a special counsel created to investigate Trump. Meanwhile, Comey never suffered any consequences. Without a doubt, we are concerned with the rot at the top, Perry said. The facilities at the Medically Supervised Injecting Room in North Richmond, Melbourne, Australia on June 29, 2018. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy) Decision on Melbournes Proposed Second Injection Room Unlikely After State Election: Vic Premier A proposal to build a second medically supervised injecting room in the Australian city of Melbourne will be kept under wraps until after the November state election, Victorias premier Daniel Andrews said on Aug. 9. This follows a push from the Melbourne City Council, which has demanded the urgent release of the proposed injecting room report by former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Ken Lay. I think thats unlikely, principally because Ken Lays not finished his work and Im not certain when that work will be finished, Andrews said at a presser on Aug. 9, adding that Lay was an outstanding Victorian who will finish the work. Then a proposal will be put to the parliament, and it will have to pass. The actual address needs to be in the law; this is not a simple process, Andrews said. I wouldnt want anyone to be critical of Ken and the work hes doing; hes working extremely hard. Circumstances have changed. However, opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy told reporters on Aug. 9 that the Andrews government was hiding the report and said Victorians needed to know about the injecting room proposal before the state election. In July 2020, Lay was appointed by the Andrews government to lead the consultation process on the proposed second drug injecting room. Lay was due to present the report at the end of 2020. However, the report has yet to be finalised. The Andrews government has blamed the pandemic on the delays saying that restrictions have limited community consultation. In a November 2021 statement, Victorias Department of Health said that it accepted all the recommendations made by the Independent Review Panel into Victorias first Medically Supervised Injecting Room, which included establishing a second injecting room in the City of Melbourne. In early 2021, the former Yooralla facility at 244 Flinders Street was purchased by the state government and the facility is believed to be the proposed site for the second injecting room, according to The Age. Originally, the second site was proposed at cohealth Central Melbourne on Victoria Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth Street. However, this proposal sparked concerns from residents, market stall holders and Melbourne City Council. Significant Issue Arising from North Richmonds Injecting Room According to the independent review, the medically supervised injecting room in North Richmond had almost 120,000 visits in the first 18 months, and modelling suggests that at least 21 27 lives have been saved. The review also states that there was reduced ambulance attendances due to overdoses and reduced public injecting, with users accessing other health and support services. The facility in Richmond has saved 44 lives and has responded to 4500 overdoses, Andrews said. Not everybody supports it, but its not about getting universal support. If you tried to get universal support to save the lives of injecting drug users, then we would still be seeing people dying in gutters. However, the City of Melbourne motion states that in the first 10 months of the facility being open, the number of inappropriately disposed syringes collected in the surrounding area increased by 27 percent, compared with the 10 months before the injecting room opened. The motion also states that there were more heroin-related deaths within one kilometre of the North Richmond injecting room in the 12-month period after it opened compared to the 12 months prior. Traders on Degraves Street fear the Andrews Labor government will push ahead with its plans for a second injecting room at the old Yooralla building on Flinders St without seeing Mr Lays final recommendations, Kealy said. Children at the primary school next door to the Richmond injecting room have been exposed to traumatic scenes of dead bodies, daily drug abuse and drug crime. Lay is expected to complete the report by early next year as he officially finishes up his tenure as chairman of the Forensicare and Ambulance Victoria boards on Aug. 25. An aerial view of the California Aqueduct as it runs through the western Mojave Desert near Lancaster, Calif., on April 21, 2021. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) Delta Conveyance Project: Time to Start Moving Dirt and Stop Throwing Mud Commentary The window may be closing on the Delta Conveyance Project as California slowly slides back to the stone age, while blaming everyone and everything except the organizations and individuals who have perfected the policy of paralysis by analysis. The Delta Conveyance Project would be the completion of the states most vulnerable and valuable assetand the piece de resistance of what former Governor Pat Brown started in 1960, the State Water Project (SWP). Despite Governor Pat Browns best efforts to quench the states thirst, the SWP was never completed. So, the problem remains: Most of the rain and snow falls in Northern California, but the worlds breadbasketthe Central Valleyand two-thirds of the states population rely on water deliveries at the southern end of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Roughly 30 percent of those water supplies are utilized in the Central Valley to grow food, and nearly 70 percent is consumed for residential, municipal, and industrial uses in the Silicon Valley and southern California. Thats why the Delta Conveyance Project, which would build a tunnel below the Delta to bring fresh water to the pumps in the southern portion of the estuary, must be built. Its long overdue. When voters approved bonds for the State Water Project in 1960, the money was intended for related future projectslike the Delta Conveyance. When Governor Reagan dedicated what we now refer to as the State Water Project in 1973, the population of the state was about 20 million. Today we have nearly 40 million residents in Californiaand the only major infrastructure constructed since the dedication of the SWP is Diamond Valley Lake (DVL) in Hemet, which was completed in 1999. This recreation, power generation, and storage facility was paid for by the ratepayers of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and doubled their local storage capacity. DVL enabled MWD to take large amounts of storm-generated water and provide replenishment to the groundwater basins in their service area. Critics of the Delta Conveyance have opposed every proposal to fix the Delta for over 40 years. Rather than put up a no vacancy sign, they are trying to control where and how we live by stifling investments in critical infrastructure that could keep the water flowing for the next century and beyond. These opponents, to date, have effectively used environmental regulations, such as the California Environmental Quality Act, to prevent construction, and hope to delay it to the point of extinction. They are constantly seeking legal loopholes to hinder progress. Another argument from the no vacancy brigade is that the Delta Conveyance will raise taxes. Wrong. Just like the SWP, this will be paid for by revenue bonds, which are not paid back with tax dollars. Those who benefit from the projectall water userswill pay through their water bills. Not building the Delta Conveyance will surely raise your water bills. As drought inevitably returns, Sacramento will push the water-rationing button again. And, in the face of mandatory conservation, water providers will be forced to raise their rates, meaning higher bills regardless of how much water you use. Another bogus claim is that the taxpayers will be left with the bill if the bonds cant be paid off. The most significant share of the cost for the SWP, roughly 50 percent, will be borne by the customers of the MWD, and they have never defaulted on any investments that deliver water to the fifth largest economy in the world, southern California. Like me, former Governor Jerry Brown understood and appreciated the great construction projects of the 1960s, which ushered in Californias Golden Age, first under his father, then under Governor Ronald Reagan. There was a time back when California did big projects almost seamlessly, building infrastructureroads, schools, universities, water projectsthat everybody needed. Well, that bipartisan can do spirit is once again required. We are one earthquake, one catastrophic event away from cutting off that precious water supply to our homes, businesses, and the worlds breadbasket. The cost of doing nothing is too great. The time is now. We must rely on Civil Engineers and eschew Social Engineers. Before the vote to approve the State Water Project in 1960, Governor Pat Brown said, It is time to start moving dirt and stop throwing mud. A timeless statement that I could not agree with more today. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. ESG Poses Biggest Threat to Capitalism and Democracy in America: Vivek Ramaswamy The push toward environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards in the private sector is the single greatest threat to both democracy and capitalism in the United States, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said. Agendas that the government cannot directly achieve via the Constitution are being pushed through the ESG movement in the private sector, he said. The ESG movement is gaining power through the aggregation of capital into the hands of a small number of investment firms, with the three biggest players being Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street. Combined, these three firms manage over $22 trillion, Ramaswamy pointed out in an interview with EpochTVs Crossroads program. And what those firms do, is that they show up in the boardrooms of American companies buying shares in those companies on behalf of everyday citizens, and then tell those companies that, hey, you have to adopt these social or environmental agendas. And if you dont, were going to fire you, were going to dock your pay, were going to kick you off your own companys board, he said. Such actions by these investment firms have forced companies to adopt agendas that not only make these businesses less successful but also suck the lifeblood out of American democracy, he added. Topics like climate change and systemic racism are questions that must be addressed through free speech and open debate in civic spheres rather than forcing them through Americas corporate boardrooms, Ramaswamy insisted. The entrepreneur also highlighted the ample ties between the investment firms pushing ESG and the Biden administration. The Treasury Department, the Council of Economic Advisers, and the vice presidents office are all chock full of BlackRock alumni, he said adding that this is a two-way street of crony capitalism. Energy Industry Impact, China Bias The industry most damaged in America from the ESG movement is energy, Ramaswamy said. Accumulating the capital of everyday American citizens, investment firms have told American oil companies to produce less energy, drill for less oil, and frack for less natural gas. This has created a generational energy crisis in which the country is now suffering from energy shortages, higher gas prices, and less successful domestic energy companies. Ramaswamy also criticized the double standards of the pro-ESG investment firms. These firms only impose ESG constraints on Western companies, but dont say a peep about them to Chinese companies. As a result, if Western companies like Chevron or Exxon were made to drop projects to conform to the emissions cap or climate goals, Chinese companies like PetroChina end up picking up these projects. Despite Chinese companies being far dirtier than their American counterparts, BlackRock remains silent on China as they have numerous financial interests in the country. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will not grant BlackRock the license to do business in the country if they were to impose the same ESG standards on Chinese companies as they do on American ones, Ramaswamy said. Hence, the idea that a free market exists is a myth. Governments on both sides of the Pacific are using BlackRock to advance their interests, with the CCP and the prevailing liberal government in the United States pushing their own agendas. BlackRock has therefore become a political pawn that is pretending to be an asset manager, he said. Naveen Athrappully Follow Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times. Roger Stone, a former adviser and confidant to former President Donald Trump, addresses reporters in front of the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Federal Building after his deposition before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol breach in Washington, on Dec. 17, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) Its About Intimidation: Roger Stone Responds to FBI Raid After Trump Clemency Letter Seized Roger Stone, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, says he found it a little perplexing that the former presidents executive grant of clemency for him topped the list of Mar-a-Lago materials that were seized by FBI agents. The clemency letter that Trump issued in December 2020 was among about 20 boxes of items the agents removed during a raid of Trumps Florida residence on Aug. 8, along with documents marked as classified, top secret, and confidential, although Trump said that the documents were all declassified. In an interview with The Epoch Times shortly after the FBI search warrant was unsealed, the political lobbyist wondered why the clemency letter became a focus of the federal agencys attention. Why these documents are being struggled over between the president and the National Archives, I have no idea other than to say everything was done perfectly legally, said Stone. No Corrupt Bargain Trump issued the pardon in December 2020 as his term as the 45th U.S. president was nearing its end, saying that the then-68-year-old Stone had numerous medical conditions and had been treated very unfairly due to prosecutorial misconduct. Stone, who served briefly as a Trump campaign adviser in 2015, was arrested in January 2019 in connection with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into whether the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia in influencing the 2016 presidential election. Muellers report in April 2019 stated there was no evidence that Trump or his associates had knowingly conspired with Russia. Stone acknowledged that he had made misstatements to Congress under oath, but maintained that they were all innocuous and immaterial. One cannot lie to Congress about Russian collusion, if no Russian collusion took place, can they? So I was framed solely for the purpose of pressuring me into giving false testimony against the president, Stone told The Epoch Times. According to Stone, in July that year, prosecutors told his attorneys that if he agreed to testify falsely against the president regarding some 26 phone conversations they had during the 2016 presidential campaign, they would argue for his leniency with the judge, an offer he said he refused. Trump commuted Stones sentence that same month, a day before he was due to begin serving a term of three years and four months in connection to the Russian interference probe. Roger Stone, former adviser to President Donald Trump, leaves federal court after a sentencing hearing in Washington, on Feb. 20, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times) He speculated that the FBI agents may be looking into the records indicating a corrupt bargain or some impropriety, which he insisted was not true. There was no communication whatsoever between me and the president, or my lawyers and the presidents lawyers, or myself and the president through any other third party from the time I was charged, till the time that he called me to tell me he was commuting [my] sentence. No communications whatsoever, he said. So any insinuation that theres something improper about the clemency in my case, that would be categorically false. Its About Intimidation Stone had a taste of an FBI raid himself on the day of his arrest in 2019. At 6 a.m. that day, 29 FBI agents swarmed his residence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with 17 armored vehicles, a government helicopter overhead, and two amphibious units. The agents were there for 13 hours, he recalled. As with how the agents went through former First Lady Melania Trumps wardrobe, Stone said they also searched all of the personal items and clothing of his wife. He stressed that nothing from the raid on his home, office, and Manhattan apartment was used against him at trial. So its about intimidation, he said. The whole purpose of this is to intimidate the former president, which, having known him for 42 years, Donald Trump cannot be intimidated. If anything, they have galvanized his resolve to run again. He sees the raid as the latest in a series to disqualify Trump from running for president in 2024, following the two impeachment attempts while Trump was in office and the ongoing Jan. 6 committee probe. One federal code listed in the search warrant concerns the willful and unlawful concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records, which could cause the individual to forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. A member of the Secret Service in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) But a hypothetical conviction under the statute still isnt a legal basis barring the former president from seeking a second term, some legal experts have argued, as the statute cant override or supersede qualifications for the presidency as set out in the Constitutionminimum age of 35, and being a natural-born citizen who has lived in the country for at least 14 years. Its a signal that Trumps opponents are desperate for legal ways to thwart his presidential ambitions, Stone suggests. They must not feel that they have any kind of viable case against the president regarding Jan. 6, and therefore theyre using this new rubric as an excuse to try to eliminate him as a candidate in 2024. Stone said his time going through the political prosecution has revealed to him a two-tiered justice system, contrasting what he saw as a differential treatment between those on the Democratic camp, such as Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden who had engaged in foreign ventures while his father was holding a public office, and the handling of those on the Republican side. If youre a liberal Democrat, you have nothing to fear from the FBI or the justice system. If youre a supporter of Donald Trump, if youre a Republican, well then youre a target. The FBI declined to comment. Department of Justice officials didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment about Stones statements. Eva Fu China Reporter Follow Eva Fu is a New York-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on U.S.-China relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Contact Eva at eva.fu@epochtimes.com Former Hong Kong Legislative Councillor Attacked in Sydney Restaurant Former Hong Kong Legislative Councillor in exile Ted Hui Chi-fung was doused with water and verbally threatened at a restaurant in Sydney, Australia on Aug 7. He posted on Facebook on Aug. 9 that he received a lot of sympathy and support from Hongkongers after the incident, and he thanked them for their care. He also revealed that he had called the police and urged the Australian government to conduct an investigation, protect the freedom of speech and personal safety of Hongkongers in Australia, and prevent the infiltration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Australia-Hong Kong Link issued a statement on Aug. 8 saying that Ted Hui was doused with water and verbally threatened by a Chinese man in a Sydney restaurant on Aug. 7. The man said that if it was not for many people there, he would have beaten Ted. He also told Ted that he would hit him the next time he sees him. Australia-Hong Kong Link Strongly Condemns the Incident Ted Hui posted on Facebook on Aug. 9 that he has received a lot of sympathy and support from Hongkongers for this incident. And he thanked them very much for their concern and love. He said that as a politician, he had encountered people with different political stances abusing him verbally in public, and in general he would respect and listen to their opinions because he believes that they have the right to express their views, but he usually would refrain from responding in order to avoid escalating the conflict. In addition, he did not call the police immediately when the incident happened, as the mans appearance had been photographed. However, Ted Hui also said that considering that the incident involved physical attacks and threats of violence, and since he is a public figure, his personal safety involved the public interests of Hongkongers. Therefore he had already reported the incident to the Australian Federal Police and provided information such as a photo of the man, his name, and so on to them. He revealed that he had been called by the local police (NSW Police) and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) on the morning of Aug. 9. Ted Hui urged the Australian government to investigate the incident, prevent the infiltration of the CCP, and protect the freedom of speech and personal safety of Hongkongers in Australia, in order to protect the freedom and civilization of Australia. He said that he had a clear conscience and he did not worry about his personal safety, and he would not abstain from going to any Chinese restaurant or premises, but he would remain alert. Many netizens expressed their support for Hui by leaving a message under the post. A netizen said, Well done, calling the police is the correct way to deal with it, and it also protects the safety of other overseas Hongkongers. You must be careful, take care, and stay safe. In fact, it is not only your business, Mr. Hui. If you tolerate them, such people will have no fear, and they will attack other ordinary people with different political stances, another netizen posted. FBI a Great Threat to Democracy: Victor Davis Hanson Following the FBIs raid on Mar-a-Lago, military historian Victor Davis Hanson is calling for the dissolution of the agency, which he calls one of the great threats to democracy. This idea of a Federal Bureau of Investigation its record is too dangerous to democracy, Hanson said in an interview with EpochTVs American Thought Leaders program following the raid on former President Donald Trumps home in Palm Beach, Florida. The left always says democracy dies in darkness. Right now, at this moment, the FBI is one of the great threats to democracy. Its a terrible thing to say. But Hanson holds his position: The FBI, he says, intervenes in elections, lies under oath, and is a massive behemoth that is out of control. Attacking Trump and Allies The raid on Mar-a-Lago, according to Hanson, was part of a series of incidents against Trump and Trumps allies that shows the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) to be out of control. If you want a lurid diary of Joe Bidens and youre in the FBI, and you become a retrieval service for the Biden family, you drag out James OKeefe in his underwear, Hanson said, referring to the FBIs search of citizen journalist James OKeefes home in November 2021. The raid was reportedly motivated by OKeefes possession of a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, President Bidens daughter. James OKeefe, founder of Project Veritas Action. (Courtesy of Project Veritas) You go to Roger Stoness house with a SWAT team. You put Peter Navarro on leg irons. You go to Rudy Giulianis office and mess it up, Hanson said, referring to other instances where the FBI prosecuted or raided Trump allies homes. So it was part of that series that the FBI and this DOJ are out of control, and theyre trying to send all of us a message: We can do this, and nobodys going to stop us from doing this and you better make the necessary adjustments, Hanson said, echoing Trump and Trumps allies protests that the FBI raid was a political witch hunt and at least partly an attempt to stop Trump from running for the presidency in 2024. Election Interference Hanson pointed to a disparity between the FBIs treatment of Trumpwhos said everything short of announcing a 2024 runand what he observed as the agencys reluctance to prosecute other establishment figures who were once presidential candidates or likely candidates. Didnt James Comey tell us that when he was investigating Hillary Clinton and he found thousands of emails that were classified, and there was evidence that she took a hammer and broke up her devices and [used the] BleachBit program to bleach it? Hanson asked rhetorically. [Comey] basically said, Well, she did things that were wrong, but shes a candidateand Im not going to interfere in [the] election. Then-FBI Director Comey said in July 2016 that the agency would bring no charges against Clinton for mishandling classified information, despite finding evidence that she and her team were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Then-FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 28, 2016. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo) In comparison, Hanson pointed to the 2019 impeachment of Trump, when Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to look into the firing of Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin for possible connections to then-candidate Joe Biden. Joe Biden would be a likely candidate. Therefore, Donald Trump is using his office to preemptively hurt a possible candidate. So this is the locus classicus of everythingand there was not a word, Hanson said of the impeachment effort. They hired a foreign national spy. He was basically being paid by Hillary Clinton GPS-DNC pay wallet Perkins Coie, Hanson said, recounting when federal officials found Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to have likely violated the law when they hired former British spy Christopher Steele, who conducted political opposition research (in the Steele Dossier) that alleged collusion between Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and Russian entities. They ruined the life of Carter Page. They went after [George] Papadopoulos. They tried to destroy Michael Flynn, Hanson said, noting people who were affected by the Steele dossier. Their leaderswhen asked to explain what was going onlied, Hanson said. Andrew McCabe lied to federal investigators. James Comey pled amnesiahe broke the law and he disseminated confidential memos. Mueller lied when he said he didnt know [about] Fusion GPS or the Steel dossier. McCabe admitted he lied four times. Yet, before the 2020 election, when the FBI obtained Hunter Bidens laptop from a computer repair shop owner, and the laptop was found to contain information that could be incriminating to both Joe and Hunter Biden, Hanson said, the agency dismissed it as Russian disinformation. When you have an agency that has gone rogue and is interfering at the highest level of the country to affect an election and the directors of those agencies are willing to alter or leak documents that they shouldnt or lie under oath to federal investigators, or lie to a committee by claiming amnesia and they oversee a bureau that will wipe clean phone records that are under subpoena or they will not prosecute one person, but they will [prosecute] another then its institutionalized, Hanson said. And youve got to get rid of it. I think you do. Revolutionary Cycle According to Hanson, the big picture overshadowing the raid is that the left has perceived Trump as such a threat to the republic that it would use any means against him, putting America in a revolutionary cycle. Because were in a revolutionary cycleor the left has now saidunder the pretext that Donald Trump is so extraordinarily threatening to the republic that it requires any means necessary to end him, Hanson said, and therefore were going to do things that are revolutionary. As a part of the power struggle, Hanson noted, the left has tried legal or institutional measures. Lets get rid of the filibuster. Lets pack the court. Were going to form two more states. Were going to have a national voting law. Were going to get rid of the Electoral College, Hanson said of the left. None of thats worked yet. Then, Hanson said, come the extra-legal means. Weve established a precedent that the House minority leader has no say about the nominations on a committee, Hanson said, referring to the Jan. 6 committee. The speaker of the House says No one is going to be on the January 6 committee and bother us unless they meet two criteria: They have to impeach Donald Trump, and they have to be politically inert with no future in the Republican Party. Theyre also saying, if we dont like the State of the Union, we tear it up on national TV. We just tear it up, Hanson said, referring to the 2020 incident when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up Trumps State of the Union speech on national television. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tears her copy of President Donald Trumps State of the Union address after he delivered it to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 4, 2020. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo) Were going to impeach a president, in his first term, the moment he loses the majority in the House, Hanson said. Were going to impeach a president twice. Were going to impeach a president when he is a private citizen and out of office. And so they have set precedentsthat and were not even talking about the Supreme Courtwere going to set precedents that the Senate minority leader is going to go to the Supreme Court doors and threaten by name the Supreme Court justices, Hanson said, recalling when Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), then the upper chambers minority leader, said in 2020 that Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch of the Supreme Court will pay the price for unspecified awful decisions. The What Within the revolutionary cycle, Hanson said, one thing that would be worth seeing is how the Republican Party will react after it takes power in 2022, especially taking into account the unprecedented raid of a former presidents home. There better be something good [in Trumps Mar-a-Lago documents]or were going to do what? Hanson said, emphasizing the interrogative. Regardless, Hanson said, Republicans would need to act if nothing inculpating is found in Mar-a-Lago and if there are no consequences for the parties who approved and conducted the raid. And the what is interesting, Hanson said. Because when the Republicans take the Houseand I think they will, in Novemberare they going to have an article of impeachment of Merrick Garland? I dont know. Will they impeach Joe Biden? In other words, will Kevin McCarthy say, I dont like Joe Biden; its another one of his line speeches; Im tearing it up on national TV just to show you that you shouldnt do this. House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at a press conference in the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Or will he say, Squad members, none of you are going to be in committee? Im sorry. But Nancy taught me in a good rule that youre just too troublesome. And you would get in our way. So not any of you get to serve on a congressional committee. And by the way, its time to impeach Joe Biden. Take your pick. He destroyed federal immigration law. He harassed individual citizens. He didnt pay tax, we think, on money he gave Hunter, and he didnt pay income tax on money Hunter gave him. So were going to investigate that. Or, were going to say: and by the way, Joe, were going to probably have to impeach you a second time, if the first one doesnt work in conviction. And we might do it when you were a private citizen. And we might even have to go into one of your three homes. Thats what happened in the Roman Republic. It happened at the end of Athenian democracy, Hanson said of the revolutionary cycle. So thats what the Democrats have startedand well see how it plays out. The FBI didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. Gary Bai Follow Gary Bai is a reporter for Epoch Times Canada, covering China and U.S. news. Fight Over How to Define Metis Identity Is Both Deeply Problematic and Racist Commentary Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognized the Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, explicitly including Metis peoples. At the time, however, the Constitutions framers offered no clear idea of what they meant by Metis. The word Metis refers to the descendants of a union between an aboriginal and a non-aboriginal person in the context of Canada. The most familiar example of this process of racial mixing are the Metis of Ruperts Landthe vast Hudsons Bay Company concession that later became much of Western and Northern Canada. The Constitution, however, refers to the Indian, Inuit and Metis peoples of Canada, seemingly in the plural. It certainly raises the possibility that Metis may exist elsewhere in Canada and trace their origin to other historical eras and geographic areas. In 2016 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) that Canadas Metis and non-status Indians were to be considered Indians under federal jurisdiction, within the ambit of section 91(24) of the British North America Act. But the court also said, There is no consensus on who is considered a Metis or a non-status Indian, nor need there be. Prompted by Daniels, in June 2019 Justin Trudeaus government announced that it had signed self-government agreements with three provincial branches of the Metis Nation in Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. (Manitoba signed a similar agreement in 2021.) Since the Daniels ruling, Metis organizations have received an estimated $3.4 billion in federal funding. By failing to define the elements of Metis status, the Supreme Court compounded the failure of the section 35 framers to produce a legally valid notion of a Metis person. Now it appears this will be up to the Metis themselves to hash out in court, as indicated by a high-stakes lawsuit that is already tearing the Metis Nation apart. Since 1983 the Metis have been represented nationally by the Metis National Council (MNC), created through the cooperation of Metis organizations from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Later, organizations from Ontario and British Columbia were added. In 2002, Manitoba representatives pushed the MNC to adopt a national definition of Metis status that focused attention on those with a direct connection to the Ruperts Land fur trade. This position naturally rankled other provincial bodies, notably the Metis Nation of Ontario (MNO), most of whose members lack the necessary Red River/Ruperts Land connections to meet the national definition. The MNO prefers a pan-Indigenous definition of Metis status based on self-identification and a connection to the territories outside Manitoba. This long-simmering internal feud became more important after the Daniels ruling opened the door to billions in federal funding through self-government agreements with Ottawa. The issue has been most pronounced in Ontario, where the MNO is particularly aggressive in signing up members from what it calls new historic Metis communities, that is, communities without a direct connection to Ruperts Land and the fur trade. After failing to block Ontario from welcoming new Metis by legal means, last year the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) abruptly split from the national body on the eve of its 2021 national assembly. The trigger for this move was the election of Ontario Metis representative Cassidy Caron as MNC president. Earlier this year, the national body launched a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the MMF, claiming its departure was fraught with corporate malfeasance, including the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars in program funding arrangements signed with the federal government. In its application filed with the Ontario Superior Court, the MNC also claims the MMF arranged excessive, inappropriate or unnecessary severance and retirement packages for employees who were promised jobs with the Manitoba organization. All told, the MNC is claiming damages of more than $25 million. In its statement of defence and counterclaim, the MMF denies all allegations, claiming the lawsuit is simply the latest salvo from the MNC against the MMF in a broader political dispute over the representation of the Metis people and what it means to be Metis. The MMF boasts that it was a primary driver of the MNCs growth and is thus entitled to run all the programs it took with it. The MMF argues further that, as an indigenous organization, it should not be held to the same legal standards that apply to non-aboriginal organizations, even though the MMF clearly expects to benefit from Canadian law by demanding that governments and other organizations live up to agreements in accordance with law. However the legal dispute may end, this fight over how to define Metis identity is deeply problematic and indeed racist, in that it seeks to define individuals based on ancient bloodstock. It is also dubious given that much of the motivation is self-admittedly about who gains access to federal largesse and who gets to administer and distribute it. It is sad that, instead of recognizing and celebrating the broad diversity of their heritage, Metis organizations seek to racially pigeonhole themselves as indigenous. In doing so, they deliberately ignore the crucial other part of their heritage that makes them so distinctive and has helped them progress faster than many other aboriginal peoples. A longer version of this story first appeared at C2CJournal.ca Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. The Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Star Laura at the sea port of Pivdennyi in the town of Yuzhne, Odesa region, Ukraine, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters) First Export of Wheat Under UN Deal as Two More Ships Leave Ukraine ISTANBULTwo more ships left Ukraines Black Sea ports on Friday, including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a U.N.-brokered deal, Turkeys defense ministry said. A total 14 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraines Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war. The agreement, brokered by the United Nations along with Turkey, was reached last month amid fears that the loss of Ukrainian grain supplies would lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world. The Belize-flagged Sormovsky left Ukraines Chornomorsk port on Friday, Turkeys defense ministry said, carrying 3,050 tonnes of wheat to Turkeys northwestern Tekirdag province. The Belize-flagged general cargo ship Sormovskiy 121 at the sea port in Chornomorsk, Odesa region, Ukraine, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters) It was the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports before Feb. 24, when Moscow launched what it describes as a special operation to demilitarize its neighbor. Ukraine has some 20 million tonnes of grain left over from last years crop, while this years wheat harvest is also estimated at 20 million tonnes. The Marshall Island-flagged Star Laura also departed from the port of Pivdennyi, bound for Iran with 60,000 tonnes of corn aboard, the ministry said. So far most of the cargoes under the deal have carried grain for animal feed or for fuel. There have yet to be shipments to countries most at risk from the global food crisis, although on Thursday Ukraine said a ship is due to come into port that is scheduled to take grain to Ethiopia. As part of the U.N. deal, all ships are inspected in Istanbul by the Joint Coordination Centre, where Russia, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel work. The Razoni, the first ship to depart Ukraine under the deal, docked in Turkey on Thursday and was headed to Egypt on Friday, Refinitiv ship tracker data showed, after its initial buyer in Lebanon refused delivery. Shipping agent Toros, which managed the Razonis offloading in Turkey, said on Thursday that the ship would drop off 1,500 tonnes of its 26,527-tonne load of corn in southern Turkeys Mersin and the rest of it would go to Egypt. The Rahmi Yagci, which left Ukraine on Tuesday for Istanbul, was anchored on the northern end of Istanbuls Bosphorus Strait on Friday, while the Mustafa Necati, which left for Italy on Sunday, was anchored on the southern end. Four other vessels were approved for travel to Ukraine after being inspected by a JCC team in Istanbul. Turkeys defense ministry said on Thursday that the ships that arrived in Ukraine were being loaded. It was not immediately clear when they would leave. The U.N. has said the number of inbound ships was expected to grow as grain sales are agreed. Mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions (L), and spherical immature virions (R), obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP) First Human-to-Dog Monkeypox Transmission Recorded in France A pet dog of a homosexual male couple has been confirmed positive for monkeypox in France in what is believed to be the first recorded case of human-to-dog transmission of the infection. On June 10, two men, ages 44 and 27, visited a hospital in Paris. The men are non-exclusive partners living in the same household, according to an Aug. 10 Lancet study detailing the case. In the 44-year-old, anal ulceration was followed by a vesiculopustular rash on the face, ears, and leg. In the 27-year-old, vesiculopustular rashes were seen on the legs and the back. Both men developed headaches, fever, and asthenia four days after developing the rash. They were diagnosed with monkeypox. After 12 days from symptom onset, their four-year-old male Italian greyhound that had no medical disorders showed mucocutaneous lesions and soon tested positive for the monkeypox virus as well. The men were co-sleeping with the dog. After the onset of their own symptoms, the men kept the dog from coming into contact with other pets or humans. Given the dogs skin and mucosal lesions as well as the positive monkeypox virus PCR results from anal and oral swabs, we hypothesize a real canine disease, not a simple carriage of the virus by close contact with humans or airborne transmission (or both), the study said. Our findings should prompt debate on the need to isolate pets from monkeypox virus-positive individuals. The study called for further investigation into the secondary transmission of monkeypox via pets. Spreading Via Pets In the study, researchers also noted that only wild animals like primates and rodents have been discovered carrying the monkeypox virus in endemic nations. In the United States, transmission in prairie dogs has been documented. In Europe, captive primates that came into contact with imported infected animals have been found with the virus. However, monkeypox infection among domesticated animals like cats and dogs has never been reported, the study said. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is possible for infected humans to spread the monkeypox virus to animals by sharing sleeping areas, sharing food, petting, hugging, kissing, cuddling, and licking. Infected animals can also spread the virus to human beings. In late May, the UK Health Security Agency warned monkeypox patients to avoid contact with their pets for a period of 21 days. The worry is the virus could get into domestic animals and essentially ping-pong between them and humans, said professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, according to BBC. If you are not careful you might create an animal reservoir for the disease that could result in it spreading back into humans, and well be in a loop of infection. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe looks on as President Donald Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former football coach Lou Holtz, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Dec. 3, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo) Former National Intelligence Director: Trump Has Ultimate Declassification Authority A former director of national intelligence said Aug. 12 that it is virtually impossible to prosecute people for mishandling classified documents, and asserted that former President Donald Trump has the ultimately declassification authority in terms of such documents. The president does have ultimate declassification authority. He can literally declassifyand President Trump had that authority, and could declassify anything you want while he was president, John Ratcliffe, a Republican congressman before Trump appointed him to be director of national intelligence, said on Fox News. According to documents unsealed earlier Friday, Trumps Mar-a-Lago home was raided by FBI agents on Aug. 8 because of potential violations of several laws, including the Espionage Act, which some legal experts say relates to possessing classified defense information. An inventory showed that agents seized what they listed as classified, secret, and top secret documents. Ratcliffe said on Fox that before the search warrant materials were made public, he didnt believe the raid was about classified materials. It has to be more than that because the Department of Justice and the FBI have already set a standard that makes it virtually impossible to prosecute a case like that, he said, pointing to how former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons possession of classified documents was handled by the FBI, including then-Director James Comey. As people talk about Espionage Act and classified documents and all of that, the standard was set in 2016. Remember the Department of Justice and the FBI took the official position that Hillary Clinton, who was in possession of classified documents that [being] in possession of that, that wasnt enough, and that being grossly negligent and being careless, Jim Comey told us, thats not enough under the Espionage Act. You have to know youre violating the law, Ratcliffe said. Even if you assume the worst case scenario for President Trump, that there were classified documents in his possession at Mar-a-Lago, that only puts him where Hillary Clinton was. And what the FBI and the Department of Justice would have to show is that he knew the documents were there and he didnt think they were declassified, he added. Trump wrote on Truth Social that all the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago were declassified. He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified, a Trump spokesperson told Just the News. The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States. The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated BY THE PRESIDENT, needs to approve of declassification is absurd. Others werent sure. He cant just wave a wand and say its declassified, Richard Immerman, an assistant deputy director of national intelligence during the Obama administration, told NBC News. There has to be a formal process. Thats the only way the system can work. Ive seen thousands of declassified documents, he added. Theyre all marked declassified with the date they were declassified. A sign is posted in front of a building on the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif., on Jan. 31, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Google Fined $60 Million for Misleading Australian Users Internet giant Google has consented to pay $60 million (US$40.7 million) to settle a long-running court fight with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). In April 2021, the Federal Court of Australia found that between January 2017 and December 2018, Google violated Australian consumer laws by misleading consumers into believing that their location data was not collected if they turned off some settings on their Android smartphones. In particular, the court found that Google continued to collect and access location data on some Android phones when a user turned off the Location History setting on their Google Account but left Web & App Activity switched on. Additionally, Google was found to have broken two other consumer laws regarding conduct liable to mislead the public and making misleading representations about the performance characteristics of one of its services. Courts Judgement In a brief hearing on Aug. 12, the Federal Court was told that Google agreed to settle the case by paying $60 million in penalties. Justice Thomas Thawley said he was pleased that the fine fell within an appropriate range. When handing down the judgment, Thawley said Google was fined for breaching the Australian Consumer Law in three instances, which resulted in two penalties of $10 million and one of $40 million. In addition to ordering Google to pay half of the ACCCs court costs up to April 16, 2021, the judge directed the company to review its existing compliance program, make necessary changes, and monitor compliance for three years. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the courts decision sent a strong warning to digital platforms and other businesses that they should not mislead consumers on the collection and usage of their personal data. Personal location data is sensitive and important to some consumers. And some of the users who saw the representations may have made different choices about the collection, storage, and use of their location data if the misleading representations had not been made by Google, Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement. Companies need to be transparent about the types of data that they are collecting and how the data is collected and may be used so that consumers can make informed decisions about who they share that data with. Google has not replied to a request for comments from The Epoch Times. House lawmakers hold a moment of silence for Rep. Jackie Walorski at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 12, 2022, in a still from video. (House TV via AP/Screenshot via The Epoch Times) House Holds Moment of Silence for Rep. Jackie Walorski The House of Representatives on Friday held a moment of silence for Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and two of her aides, who died in an automobile crash while traveling in her Indiana district just over a week ago. Walorski, 58, was in an SUV with two members of her congressional staff on Aug. 3 when it crossed the median of a northern Indiana highway and collided with an oncoming vehicle, according to the Elkhart County Sheriffs Office. Walorskis 27-year-old staffer, Zachery Potts, of Mishawaka, Indiana, was driving. The congresswomans 28-year-old communications director, Emma Thomson, of Washington, was also in the vehicle. The woman who was driving the other vehicle also died in the crash. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 19, 2018. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo) Walorski was first elected to Congress in 2012 after six years in the state Legislature and was seeking reelection this year in the solidly Republican district. She was active on agriculture and food policy in Congress, often working across the aisle on those issues. A co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, she introduced legislation with Democrats to bring back a Nixon-era White House event on food insecurity. Black bunting and white flowers are laid on a seat on the floor of the House of Representatives in memorial of Rep. Jackie Warlorski (R-Ind.) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Aug. 12, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) On Thursday, numerous members of Congress were among several hundred mourners for the nearly two-hour service at Granger Community Church near Walorskis northern Indiana home. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke about Walorskis work as a Christian missionary in Romania with her husband, as the director of a local humane society, and as a television news reporter before entering politics. Tell you the truth, Jackie never had a job. She always had a purpose and a mission, McCarthy said. Much of Walorskis funeral highlighted her Christian faith, with her husband, Dean Swihart, an elementary school music teacher, playing saxophone with other musicians as they performed several hymns. Pallbearers carry the coffin of late Congresswoman Jackie Walorski during her burial service at Southlawn Cemetery in South Bend, Ind., on Aug. 11, 2022. (Chloe Trofatter/South Bend Tribune via AP) Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) recalled becoming friends with Walorski after they first joined Congress at the same time and lived in the same Washington apartment building for many years. Wagner choked back tears as she called Walorski one of the best. Jackie was a no-nonsense, get it done and move it or lose it woman of strength and intense integrity, Wagner said. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, said Walorski loved the country and was proud of her home area. One thing about Jackie, her step was always sure, her step was always forward, Holcomb said. She was optimistic and enthusiastic and, yes, energetic. Idaho Supreme Court Allows Near-Total Abortion Ban to Take Effect Also refuses to block 2 other abortion measures The Idaho Supreme Court has said it wont block a trigger law that bans nearly all abortions in the state slated to take effect Aug. 25, as well as a separate law that bans abortion after about six weeks set to take effect Aug. 19, as litigation continues. The court on Aug. 12 also allowed a civil enforcement mechanism of the six-week abortion ban to come into effect. In a split 32 ruling (pdf), the Idaho Supreme Court said that the three Republican-backed measures banning abortions can take effect in Idaho amid ongoing legal challenges. The judges also decided to speed up the timeline for the lawsuits to be decided. One law is a near-total abortion ban thats set to take effect on Aug. 25, which makes it a felony for medical providers to carry out abortions, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. In the case of rape or incest, the victim must have reported the crime to law enforcement, and be able to provide a copy of a police report. Medical providers, if convicted, face two to five years in prison. Those who assist in the abortion may also have their medical license suspended for at least six months, or even permanently. The ban was approved in March 2020 and is referred to as the trigger law, or S.B. 1385 (pdf). The law was triggered to take effect by the U.S. Supreme Courts decision on June 24 to overturn the Roe. v Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that had overturned state laws and largely enabled abortions up until 24 weeks across the United States. Planned Parenthood on June 27 challenged the Idaho trigger law and asked the states Supreme Court to block it from taking effect. The abortion provider argued that the law would violate Idahoans privacy and equal protection rights under the states constitution. The state Supreme Court on Aug. 12 rejected that request. Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice recently sued Idaho in federal court over the same trigger law and has asked that the law be put on hold. The federal judge hasnt yet ruled. A pro-life campaigner displays a plastic doll representing a 12-week-old fetus as she stands outside the Marie Stopes Clinic in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 7, 2016. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) 6-Week Abortion Ban, Civil Enforcement Mechanism The Idaho Supreme Court also refused to block a second abortion measure passed and signed into state law in March 2020 that enables certain private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against abortion providers. Also known as S.B. 1309, the provision adds a private enforcement mechanism to a fetal heartbeat law passed in 2021, by allowing certain private citizens to bring civil lawsuits against abortion providers. Under the measure, the woman receiving the abortion, or potential relatives of the unborn child, can sue abortion providers within four years of an abortion over procedures done after six weeks of gestation, for a minimum $20,000 reward. After Gov. Brad Little signed the civil enforcement mechanism into law in March, the Idaho Supreme Court temporarily blocked it in April, in response to a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood. The Aug. 12 ruling by the Idaho Supreme Court lifts that temporary block. The third abortion measure noted by Idahos top court is the fetal heartbeat law that Little signed in April 2021. It is also referred to as the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act. The legislation makes it a crime for medical providers to carry out abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is at about six weeks of gestation. Those convicted would face punishment of two to five years in prison. The measure also has exceptionsin cases where abortion was deemed necessary to save a pregnant womans life, or in cases of rape or incest. The fetal heartbeat law has a trigger provision which means it wouldnt go into effect unless a federal appeals court somewhere in the country upholds similar legislation from another state. A court recently upheld a similar ban in Georgia. As such, the fetal heartbeat law is set to take effect on Aug. 19. Planned Parenthood had filed a lawsuit challenging the fetal heartbeat bill on July 25. Dr. Caitlin Gustafsonan abortion provider in Idahoand Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, and Kentucky filed three lawsuits over each of the three Idaho abortion laws. The Idaho Supreme Court consolidated those cases into one as part of the Aug. 12 ruling. 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) No State Right to Abortion: Majority Opinion Justice Robyn Brody, joined by Chief Justice Richard Bevan and Justice Gregory Moeller in the majority, wrote that given the U.S. Supreme Courts decision on June 24 that overturned Roe, Planned Parenthood couldnt show it was entitled to such drastic relief, particularly since before Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was illegal in Idaho. [W]hat Petitioners are asking this court to ultimately do is to declare a right to abortion under the Idaho constitution whenon its facethere is none, Brody wrote. The Idaho Supreme Court majority also said that Planned Parenthood and Gustafson also failed to show that allowing enforcement of the Idaho laws would cause irreparable harm. The high court noted the plaintiffs also didnt have enough evidence that they had a clear right that will be irreparably injured if Idahos trigger law goes into effect, and didnt demonstrate that they were likely to win on the merits of the case. The court said that complex legal questions must be answered and that given the legal history of Idaho, we cannot simply infer such a right [to abortion] exists absent Roe without breaking new legal ground, which should only occur after the matter is finally submitted on the merits. Justice John Stegner, joined by Justice Colleen Zahnin a partial dissentreferred to abortion as a fundamental right of a woman to exercise her right to bodily autonomy and health to terminate the pregnancy. The State and the Legislatures only argument that irreparable harm will not result is that the Idaho Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, Stegner wrote. This argument fails because it is premised on a decision we have not yet made. During oral arguments in the case, an attorney for Planned Parenthood and Gustafson told the high court that the abortion bans exceptions for saving a patients life are so vague that they are impossible to follow. That language gives no indication of how imminent, or substantial, the risk of death must be in order for a provider to feel confident performing the abortion, said Alan Schoenfeld. Suppose a patient with pulmonary hypertension has a 30 to 50 percent risk of dying is that enough? Blaine Conzatti, president of the Idaho Family Policy Center, a pro-life organization, praised the courts decision. As a result of the order issued this afternoon, the civil enforcement mechanism of the Heartbeat law is currently in full force and effect. Furthermore, the criminal penalties of the Heartbeat law will become enforceable next Friday, August 19, as scheduled, he said in a statement on Aug. 12. This is the day that the pro-life movement has worked towards for decades! Conzatti added. Precious children with beating hearts now finally have legal protection in the state of Idahoand to God be the glory! In a statement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Alexis McGill Johnson characterized the courts decision as one that has taken away bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate, said it would continue to push back. The Idaho state legislature has made it abundantly clear that this is the future they want for their constituents, and today, the court allowed their vision to become a reality. But this fight is not over, Gibron said in a statement, adding that the fight to ensure abortion access will continue. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Masks are no longer required in congregant settings in Colorado like prisons or homeless shelters, according to a newly revised state public health order, even when surrounding COVID-19 infection rates are high. Individual facilities and local authorities can still require masking under the order, which was publicly released Friday. Face coverings are still required in medical settings in areas where COVID-19 transmission is rated as "substantial or high" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local officials also have the ability to require masking at all times. According to CDC data, no county in Colorado is rated as having high transmission. Thirteen counties including Broomfield and Boulder are rated as having medium transmission. The order also removes a vaccination requirement for state contractors. A requirement that all health workers in the state be vaccinated expired last month, though nursing home and some other health workers must still be vaccinated under federal rules. Congregant settings like prisons have been among the most affected by COVID-19 outbreaks since the pandemic began. Some of Colorado's largest outbreaks have occurred in prisons, and one of the largest federal prison outbreaks in the country unspooled in FCI Englewood. The shift comes as the state continues to unwind its broader COVID-19 response. Earlier this week, it released school guidance that, in line with CDC recommendations, advised a layered approach but stopped short of requiring masking or other specific measures. The state has stood down dozens of public testing sites, stopped its large-scale vaccination clinics and has shifted its approach to COVID-19 to bring it closer in line with influenza and other infectious diseases. Reported COVID-19 cases in Colorado have dropped for well over a month, and wastewater indicators a more reliable check on spread have also declined, state officials said this week. Hospitalizations are declining, too, and officials say the latest omicron wave driven by a newly dominant variant is subsiding. Illegal Immigrants Become New Slave Class in US: Texas Sheriff GOLIAD, TexasFederal immigration officials have long said that every illegal immigrant who crosses the U.S. southern border has to pay the Mexican cartel in control of that area of the border, known as a plaza. Fees vary depending on the nationality of the border crosser and what type of service theyre paying for. Its cheaper for those who want to cross and then turn themselves over to Border Patrol, although its still pricier for foreign nationals traveling from farther afield, such as China, Africa, or the Middle East. For the individuals who want to avoid Border Patrol and get smuggled to their destination city in the United States, it costs more and involves more complicated logistics. A recent Justice Department indictment of four Guatemalan smugglers revealed that the organization charged people between $10,000 and $12,000 to be brought from Guatemala to the United States illegally. Several Chinese illegal aliens have previously told The Epoch Times that they paid $15,000 to get into the country. These aliens, who evade Border Patrol, are recorded as gotaways if agents or cameras detect their presence. So far this fiscal year, Border Patrol agents have recorded more than 800,000 known gotaways, according to former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan and several Customs and Border Protection sources. The gotaways often end up indentured to the cartel and spend years paying off their debtno matter what they were promised at the outset, according to Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd. I actually have a letter from a sex slave house out of Rockport [Texas] from a search warrant I ran some years ago that articulates it, Boyd told The Epoch Times on June 23. It takes 8 to 13 years to buy your freedom once you come into the United States. He said Houston is the first major destination for many illegal aliens once they get across the border into Texas. Once they get to Houston, where they think theyre going to be shipped out to their families, theyre not, Boyd said. In reality, what happens is once they get to Houston, theyre then told that they owe another $5,000, $10,000, depending on where theyre from and how much money is invested in them. And they have to work that debt off. Working off the debt can involve anything from hospitality work, landscaping, and factory work to forced prostitution and drug trafficking, he said. Boyd said his office caught a female smuggling three female illegal immigrants in her car last year. We brought them here to jail. And what we found out was that those three females who thought they were going to be brought here and reunited with their family, were actually going to be taken to Chinatown in Houston and put into sex slavery, Boyd said. The smuggler actually had the fake Social Security cards in her underwear. In a more recent case, northern Texas woman Manuela Magdalena Jimon Castro, 30, was charged on Aug. 4 with alien harboring. Castro and a family member worked with a smuggling operation to hold illegal aliens hostage at their home and threatened to deprive them of food and water until they paid $11,000 to $12,000 or worked off the debt, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The investigation began when law enforcement in California received a tip from a woman who claimed her sister was being held for ransom in Texas, the DOJ said in a statement. The woman reported that her sister had traveled from Guatemala to Mexico with the intention of seeking asylum in the United States, then crossed the border at the behest of a Mexican cartel who held her captive. She said her sister sent her a pin of a location in Friona [Texas] before she escaped. Law enforcement officers found 17 illegal immigrants, including two minor children, in the Castro home. If convicted, Castro faces up to five years in federal prison. Slavery isnt exclusive to the gotaway population of illegal immigrants; visa holders and asylum-seekers have also been lured in. In 2014, during an unprecedented surge of unaccompanied minors crossing the border, the Office of Refugee Resettlement placed eight children into the hands of traffickers, according to a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released in 2018. The traffickers put the children into forced labor on an egg farm in Marion, Ohio, the report states. The children worked for no pay for 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, and lived in deplorable conditions. The traffickers threatened them and their families with violence if the children did not comply with them. The traffickers lured the children into the United States over a four-month period, with promises of education and a better life, according to the report. There are a lot more slaves than people realize, Boyd said. Its going on within our own sight, but we dont recognize it, because it doesnt look like what the History Channel tells us slavery looks like. Slavery is perpetuated, continued, and expands at a constant rate. Thats what were seeing. Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries on the sidelines of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on Sept. 5, 2017. (Wu Hong/AFP via Getty Images) India Criticizes China for Blocking UN Sanctions on Terrorist NEW DELHIIndia on Friday criticized the Chinese regimes decision to block the imposition of U.N. sanctions sought by it and the United States against the deputy chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based extremist group designated by the United Nations as a terrorist organization. It is unfortunate that when it comes to our collective battle against terrorism the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. Abdul Rauf Azhar has been under U.S. sanctions since December 2010 for acting for or on behalf of the group, known as JEM. India says Azhar was involved in the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks, including the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft, the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, and the 2016 attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot. In June, the Chinese communist regime put a hold on adding Abdul Rehman Makki, deputy chief of another Pakistani terrorist group proscribed by the U.N., Lashkar-e-Taiba, to the U.N. blacklist. Makki has been under U.S. sanctions since November 2010, and India says he has been involved in raising funds, recruiting, and radicalizing young people to resort to violence, and planning attacks, including in Mumbai in 2008. The Indian spokesperson said on Friday there should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists. The practice of placing holds and blocks without giving any justification must end. It is most regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world are being placed on hold, Bagchi said in a statement. Pakistan says it has outlawed more than 65 extremist groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The Chinese regime enjoys strong friendly ties with Pakistan. Beijing is financing tens of billions of dollars worth of megaprojects as part of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor. The package includes road construction, power plants and agriculture and has an estimated cost of up to $75 billion. Indias ties with China have deteriorated amid tensions caused by a more than two-year-old standoff between the two countries armies at their disputed border in the eastern Ladakh area. Both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks, and fighter jets along the de facto border called the Line of Actual Control. In 2020, 20 Indian troops were killed in a clash with Chinese soldiers involving clubs, stones, and fists along the disputed border. The Chinese regime said it lost at least four soldiers. The actual number of casualties may be much higher as the Chinese regime routinely suppresses or alters information. The Japanese national flag is seen at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on March 16, 2020. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images) Japan Tightens Screening of Foreign Researchers to Prevent Tech Leaks Japan has tightened its screening process for foreign researchers applying for visas, including requiring them to disclose work histories, as part of measures designed to prevent technology leaks. Foreign researchers seeking entry into Japan must submit their past research papers and an eligibility certificate from their employers. They also will need to declare the purpose of their travel and the location of their stay in Japan, Nikkei Asia reported. Japanese universities also have been asked to enhance scrutiny of foreign students and scholars to prevent espionage on campuses. Under the new guidelines, universities are required to conduct background checks and flag people of interest, such as those with ties to foreign governments or defense-related institutions. The new screening is designed as an additional layer to immigration visa procedures. Until recently, for example, a Chinese scholar subsidized by their government had few hurdles in pursuing a doctoral course in cutting-edge radar technology in Japan and then returning home to use the study for military purposes. The same scholar might well have been rejected as a high-risk candidate in the United States, where the stakes are high for universities: along with the individual, they can be held liable for any breach in export controls. Many Japanese universities are desperate to fill places as the number of student-age citizens declines in an aging population, and foreigners have provided a lifeline. Chinese students made up 44 percent of Japans 279,597 foreign university students in 2020, according to government data, while the United States was the top destination for Japanese researchers, followed by China, in 2019. Chinas Efforts to Undermine US Fed Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, released a report (pdf) last month detailing Chinas efforts to target the U.S. Federal Reserve since at least 2013. The report stated that China sought to recruit U.S.-based economists to share information in exchange for monetary gain and other benefits. The Fed had identified 13 persons of interest as having connections with Chinese talent recruiters or having patterns deemed of potential concern. These individuals, dubbed the P-Network, were working across eight of the regional Fed banks, according to the report. This investigation makes clear that Chinas malign efforts at influence and information theft are not limited to science and technology fieldsAmerican economic and monetary policy is also being targeted by the Chinese government, Portman said. The issue was compounded by a lack of internal counterintelligence competency at the Federal Reserve or sufficient ongoing cooperation with Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. the report said. Left unchecked, these gaps continue to present China with an open avenue to disrupt the integrity of the American financial system, jeopardizing U.S. national security. Reuters contributed to this report. Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 6, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) NARA Responds to Trumps Remarks on Obamas Classified Documents The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responded Friday to former President Donald Trumps statements that former President Barack Obama took classified records from the White House when his term ended in 2016. President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots! Trump said in a statement on Friday. Trump repeated his assertion about Obamas presidential records in a post on Truth Social after the FBI conducted its unprecedented raid of his Florida property to search for classified presidential documents. NARA released a statement in refute of Trumps claims, saying they exclusively maintain Obamas presidential records according to the Presidential Records Act (PRA). NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA, NARA said in a statement. Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, D.C., area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration. The Epoch Times contacted Obamas office for comment. NARAs Pursuit of Trumps Records It is unclear why an FBI warrant and subsequent raid was needed given Trumps cooperation with NARA to return presidential documents. Throughout 2022, NARA has released a series of statements about Trumps presidential records, starting in January, when it spoke about receiving some paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump. In one of the statements, NARA said Trumps presidential records should have been transferred to NARA from the White House at the end of the Trump Administration in January 2021. In February, NARA noted that Trump and his representatives had been cooperating with NARA to transfer boxes of records from the Mar-a-Lago property to the National Archives. NARA official David Ferriero said in February regarding Trumps records that NARA pursues the return of records whenever we learn that records have been improperly removed or have not been appropriately transferred to official accounts. Five months later, on Aug. 8, the FBI carried out a raid of Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach in search of presidential documents. After pushback, the Department of Justice asked the court to unseal the warrant, which revealed that Trump is under investigation for alleged violations of 18 USC 2071concealment, removal, or mutilation; 18 USC 793 of the Espionage Actgathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; and 18 USC 1519destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations. Number one, it was all declassified, Trump said in a statement. Number two, they didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted to without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has called on the DOJ to release the information as to why a warrant was necessary saying the DOJ must lay their cards on the table. Trump and Republicans have said the raid is an example of the weaponization of the justice system against a political opponent of the sitting president who is mulling running against President Joe Biden in 2024. Calgary's downtown core is in the riding of Calgary-Centre, pictured in Calgary, Alta., on Sept. 2, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh) Nearly Half of Canadians Say Downtown Cores Have Declined in Past Year: Poll Nearly half of Canadians say the state of the downtown core closest to where they live has declined in the past year, a recent poll shows. Released by Canadian market research firm Leger on Aug. 11, the poll reported that 45 percent of Canadians indicate that the downtown core nearest to them is declining. In addition, 15 percent of Canadians say that either a close friend or family member or they themselves have feared for their safety in the downtown core nearest to where they live in the last six months. The top three reasons that have contributed to the downtown cores decline are mental health challenges for vulnerable populations, given by 89 percent of the respondents; homelessness (88 percent); and lack of affordable housing for vulnerable populations (88 percent). Notable mentions of other reasons include rising crime rates (87 percent) followed by drug addiction and lack of people working downtown (82 percent and 70 percent respectively). According to the second-quarter report by commercial realty firm CBRE, Calgary has the highest downtown office vacancy rate among the 10 Canadians cities listed in the report, at 33.7 percent, surpassing the national rate at 16.9 percent. The report released, on July 5, also noted that the Waterloo, Ont., region has the second-highest vacancy rate (26.5 percent), followed by London, Ont., (25.9 percent) and Edmonton (21.7 percent). The Leger poll, conducted from Aug. 5 to 7 in collaboration with the Association for Canadian Studies, was based on a random sample of 1,509 Canadians aged 18 and over recruited from its online panel. The poll is considered accurate within +/- 2.52 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., on March 19, 2021. (Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images) New CDC COVID-19 Guidance Is Agency Admitting It Was Wrong: Stanford Epidemiologist The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 guidance is the agency acknowledging it was wrong in the past to downplay natural immunity and promote unprecedented policies like asymptomatic testing, a California epidemiologist says. The new guidance, released on Aug. 11, rescinds and alters a number of key recommendations, including treating unvaccinated and vaccinated people differently for many purposes, explicitly stating that people with previous infection have protection against severe illness, and removing six-foot social distancing advice. The CDC is admitting it was wrong here, although they wont put it in those words, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, told The Epoch Times. What theyll say is that, well, the population is more immunized now, has more natural immunity now, and now is the timethe science has changed.' But a large percentage of the U.S. population has had natural immunity, or protection from prior infection, Bhattacharya noted, while over 80 percent of the elderly population had protection from severe disease from COVID-19 vaccines, previous infection, or both, since 2021. This is two years too late, but its a good step, Bhattacharya added. CDC Statement The CDC, which did not respond to a request for comment, portrayed the change as streamlining previous guidance, with the adjustments stemming from more people being vaccinated and more COVID-19 treatments available. Were in a stronger place today as a nation, with more toolslike vaccination, boosters, and treatmentsto protect ourselves, and our communities, from severe illness from COVID-19, Greta Massetti, the CDC author of the new guidance, said in a statement. We also have a better understanding of how to protect people from being exposed to the virus, like wearing high-quality masks, testing, and improved ventilation. This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives. Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general during the Trump administration, echoed the line of thinking. The fact that @CDCgov is changing guidance shouldnt be taken as proof that they were necessarily wrong, on a particular issue. The virus has changed, our tools and immunity have changed, and our knowledge has changed. So too must our guidance. Thats how science works, Adams wrote on Twitter. Vaccination numbers have fallen off in recent months, with little change among adults and little update among children, even after the vaccines were authorized and recommended for kids as young as 6 months old. No new treatments have been authorized since December 2021, and a number of the treatments have been shown as less effective against newer strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, as have the vaccines and, in some cases, natural immunity. Nearly half of the 20 papers and briefs cited by the CDC in support of the adjusted guidance were published in 2020 or 2021, while a number of others were released in early 2022. No Mandates Rescinded Yet Among the most significant changes in the guidance: a rollback of recommendations for asymptomatic testing for individuals exposed to COVID-19, loosening guidance related to tracing contacts of COVID-19 cases, and ending quarantine recommendations for people exposed to a positive case. Some rules are stricter for high-risk settings such as nursing homes. Masking is also recommended for 10 days for people who were exposed to COVID-19, including when a person is at home around others. Bhattacharya, who co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in 2020, a document that called for focused protection on the elderly and fewer restrictions on others, said that the guidance is closely aligned with the principles outlined in the declaration. Based on the new guidance, the CDC should immediately rescind the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for foreign travelers entering The United States, a policy imposed in November 2021, the professor added. The CDCs webpage describing the mandate says that the agency is reviewing this page to align with updated guidance. The U.S. government has not adjusted or rescinded any of its vaccine mandates since the guidance was changed. Editors note: The CDC responded after this story was published. See its statement below. CDC response: The COVID-19 landscape has changed in the United States, and we now have many tools than we did in early 2020 to support the prevention of COVID-19 as well as severe disease, hospitalization, and death. Our guidance emphasizes the minimum actions people need to take to protect communities. In addition, this guidance refresh is informed by the reality that nearly the entire U.S. adult population now has some level of immunity, either due to vaccination, past infection, or both. We also have a better understanding of who is at higher risk for getting very sick with COVID-19 and ways we can help protect them from severe disease. With more tools to protect ourselves and our communities from severe illness from COVID-19 like vaccination, boosters, and treatments we have increased protection and flexibility for the future. CDCs commitment to addressing COVID-19 is strong and as a nation, we continue to respond to evolving challenges and identify best practices related to COVID-19. Zachary Stieber Reporter Follow Zachary Stieber covers U.S. and world news. He is based in Maryland. A shrew sits on an autumnally colored leaf on Oct. 6, 2015 in Rossdorf near Darmstadt, western Germany. (Frank Rumpenhorst/DPA/AFP via Getty Images) New Henipavirus Identified in China May Be Problematic: Expert A new Henipavirus, named Langya henipavirus (LayV), was first identified in China in 2018 through a throat swab sample from a patient with a fever, according to a peer-reviewed medical journal. Henipaviruses are an important emerging cause of zoonotic disease, that is, transmitted from animals to humans, according to BMJ Best Practice, a medical information platform. Among the five known species of Henipaviruses, two infect humans (Nipah and Hendra) and are associated with high case-fatality ratios. The Henipavirus is closely related to these two viruses. Patients infected with LayV suffered from fever and other symptoms, such as fatigue, cough, anorexia, myalgia, nausea, headache, and vomitingsimilar to the symptoms of coronavirus. The information was published on Aug. 4 in an article titled A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China by The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). It is unclear if LayV can be transmitted from human to human, and to date, no deaths from the virus have been reported. The study was based on samples collected from three selected hospitals in China, one in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and the other two in Xinyang, Henan Province. One hospital in Xinyang is the 990th Hospital of the Chinese PLA, a military hospital; the other two are public hospitals. However, the sample size was too small to determine the status of human-to-human transmission for LayV, the article said. The first case was confirmed by the throat swab sample collected from a 53-year-old female who suffered acute fever, headache, fatigue, cough, and other symptoms. She sought treatment in one of the three aforementioned Chinese hospitals in December 2018. From April 2018 to August 2021, the investigation team identified 35 patients with acute LayV infection. Among them, 26 patients were infected with only LayV. The findings said that shrews are likely to be a natural reservoir of LayV. Shrews are small, mole-like mammals that look like long-nosed mice. They are found worldwide, living in major tropical and temperate areas. However, according to Environmental News Network, shrews in Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand are not native. The Qingdao Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention told The Epoch Times on Aug. 8 that it was unaware of the disease until it was informed that morning. The respondent who answered the phone insisted that if there is a risk [related to LayV], the authorities will announce it. However, given that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) systematically prevented any open and thorough investigation of the origins of COVID-19, it is improbable that it will disclose any details it has on the Langya henipavirus (LayV) disease. According to the Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) fact sheet released by the U.S. Department of State in January 2021, the CCP devote[d] enormous resources to deceit and disinformation, that comes at the expense of public health in China and around the world. Dr. Huang Li-Min told Taiwans SET News that LayV, an RNA virus with mammals as its primary host, will be more problematic than having a bird host due to more mutating opportunities to spread between humans. Huang is the chief doctor of the National Taiwan University Hospital Department of Paediatrics. He also said, at this stage, the best way is to contain the unknown emerging infectious disease is by isolating and trapping its hosts as well as instructing people to stay away from possible infection sources. Chinese institutes have researched LayV since 2019. The WIV started experiments on animal-derived coronaviruses in 2016 or prior with no indication of a stop before the global COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. fact sheet on WIV said. The investigation team of LayV primarily consists of researchers from Chinas Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Qingdao Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, State Key Laboratory of Pathogens and Biosecurity, and Changchun Institute of Veterinary Medicine, and Singapores Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, according to the peer-reviewed medical journal. Kane Zhong contributed to the report. Wake County Sheriff deputies work at the scene where a deputy was shot and killed in eastern Wake County, N.C., on Aug. 12, 2022. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP) North Carolina Deputy Killed; Search on for Shooter RALEIGH, N.C.A sheriffs deputy was killed after stopping along a dark stretch of road in North Carolina, prompting authorities to launch a manhunt for whoever fired the shots late Thursday night. We will find whos responsible for this loss. Even in the midst of the hurt and the pain, we ask for prayers, we ask for patience as we go about finding out what happened and whos responsible, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker said at a news conference early Friday morning. The sheriffs office identified the slain deputy as Deputy Ned Byrd, 48, a K-9 officer who had been with the office for 13 years. Byrd was fatally shot in the line of duty after 11 p.m. Thursday on a dark section of Battle Bridge Road adjacent to open land about a quarter mile from a gas station, sheriffs office spokesperson Eric Curry said by telephone. The scene of a deputy-involved incident on Battle Bridge Road, near Auburn-Knightdale Road in Wake County, N.C., on Aug. 11, 2022. (Wake County Sheriffs Office via AP) Were trying to gather why the deputy stopped where he did, Curry said. Earlier in the evening, Byrd had responded to a domestic call less than a mile away and then entered his notes into the system, Curry said. There was no radio traffic to indicate that Byrd was making a traffic stop, since procedure would have dictated that he check in, he said. However, it appears that as Byrd patrolled the area, something caught his attention along the road, since his vehicle was positioned as if to illuminate something, he said. When Byrd didnt respond to several attempts to check-in, another deputy was sent to check and found Byrd shot outside his vehicle with his K-9 still inside the vehicle, Curry said. Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were in the area Friday to join a manhunt for the perpetrator or perpetrators, Curry said. Several sheriffs deputies have been shot and wounded in recent weeks in North Carolina. Sgt. Matthew Fishman of the Wayne County Sheriffs Office was killed last week. He was one of three deputies shot while trying to serve involuntary commitment papers at a home south of Goldsboro on Aug. 1. Attorney General Josh Stein said in a statement that hes troubled by the recent spate of violence against law enforcement officers. Officers put their lives on the line to protect our communitieswe must do everything in our power to keep them safe, he said. I thank the many public-spirited officers who are serving and protecting the people of North Carolina all over the state. Byrd joined the sheriffs office as a detention officer in 2009 and was sworn in as a deputy in 2018, according to the sheriffs office. Former Sheriff Donnie Harrison remembered that Byrds goal was to be a deputy, WNCN-TV reported. I allowed my detention officers, if they qualified to go out for the deputy position, Harrison said. He tried a couple times and finally made it. He was one happy person and I was one happy person for him. Thats what makes it so hard. A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company's IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York on Sept. 26, 2019. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) Peloton to Cut Jobs, Shut Stores, and Raise Prices in Company-Wide Revamp Peloton Interactive Inc. said on Friday it would cut jobs, shut stores, and raise prices on its exercise equipment including treadmills and top-end bikes as it undertakes a company-wide revamp to shore up its revenue and improve cash flow. Shares of the company surged about 11 percent in afternoon trade after the company said in a memo it would cut about 800 jobs and reduce its retail presence in North America. Under Chief Executive Officer Barry McCarthy, Peloton has implemented a slew of measures including cost cuts to steady its business as a pandemic-driven demand for its treadmills and exercise bikes quickly fizzles. On Friday, the company outlined a plan to aggressively reduce its retail presence in the United States and eliminate a number of jobs in warehouses and customer support teams. Shifting final mile delivery to third-party logistics providers will reduce per-product delivery costs by up to 50 percent, McCarthy said in the memo seen by Reuters. The company is also raising prices of its Bike+ and Tread machines in five markets, including the United States and Canada. The company, which lowered the prices for its products earlier this year, said it would now raise prices by $500 to $2,495 on Bike+ and by $800 to $3,495 on Tread in the United States. McCarthy, a former Netflix Inc. executive, said he was aiming to boost Pelotons software engineering team, terming it as right investments to drive growth. ($1 = 1.2782 Canadian dollars) By Kannaki Deka Philadelphia Mandates Masks for Students and Staff for First 10 Days of Class The School District of Philadelphia is requiring all students and staff to wear masks for the first 10 days of the upcoming school year, officials announced on Friday. After that, everyone is allowed to go mask-optional, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, unless the community transmission level is high. For the first 10 days of the new school yearfrom Aug. 29 through Sept. 9all students and staff will be required to wear masks while in school, regardless of the COVID-19 Community Level, according to an announcement on the districts website. This is an extra precaution for everyones health and well-being since increased end-of-summer social gatherings may heighten the risk of exposure to COVID-19, the post states. The district will follow guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine whether masking will be mandatory on campus and on buses. If the CDC finds the COVID-19 community transmission level is high in Philadelphia, masks will become mandatory again. When the level is medium, the health agency strongly recommends masking. There will also be periods the district will re-implement mask requirements following extended breaks in the school year and holidays when increased social gatherings may heighten the risk of exposure to COVID-19, or in the event of a classroom or school-wide outbreak. If a student, or staff member, is exposed to COVID-19 but doesnt show any symptoms, they will be allowed to remain at school, but are required to wear a mask for 10 days. If a student tests positive for COVID-19, they will need to isolate at home for at least five days. If symptom-free after five days, they can return to school but are required to wear a high-quality (N95 or KN95) mask for an additional 5 days and must eat in a designated area, the districts announcement reads. Students and staff attending the districts Pre-K Head Start program are required to wear a mask regardless of transmission levels for the entire 20222023 school year, according to updated pandemic protocols (pdf) presented by Dr. Kendra McDowell, the districts chief medical officer. For those unable to wear a mask due to a disability, the school should be informed to assist the student with accommodations around mitigation efforts, which include rapid antigen testing every 48 hours for 10 days. If testing isnt available, or possible, the student will be required to quarantine at home for 10 days. McDowell and Tony Watlington Sr., the districts superintendent, said at a news conference theyre determined to keep students in school for in-person learning following significant disruptions over the past three school years. Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center, told Fox News that requiring masks for the first 10 days of the school year is a sign of hypocrisy, noting that the mandate offers no public health value. The whole thing is, mandates arent working at all, Siegel declared. So, you know, they just obscure the question about whether theres any public health value in actually doing any of this. I mean, I think if youre at high risk, there is. So if I was in an area with a lot of spread, and I was at high risk, I might choose to wear a mask indoors. But theres no evidence that these mandates doing anything. From NTD News Your morning rundown of the latest news from overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Shoppers are finally allowed to leave the Mall of America after a lockdown of several hours in Bloomington, Minn., on Aug. 4, 2022. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP) Police Arrest Man Accused of Shooting Inside Mall of America BLOOMINGTON, Minn.A man accused of firing shots inside the Mall of America before fleeing the suburban Minneapolis shopping complex with the help of several accomplices has been arrested in Chicago, authorities said. Shamar Alon Lark, 21, of Minneapolis, was arrested Thursday along with another man who had been sought following the Aug. 4 shooting, the Bloomington Police Department announced. A week ago, we said that you cant shoot at the mall and expect to get away with it. You cant commit these acts and think youre going to enjoy the freedoms of a free society, Bloomington police Chief Booker Hodges said. According to court documents, Lark faces charges including second-degree assault. It wasnt immediately known whether he had a lawyer Friday who could speak on his behalf. Police earlier said that Lark fired three rounds in front of a Nike store following a fight involving a half-dozen people. The shooting sent some shoppers running for cover and led officials to lock down the mall. No injuries were reported. Lark and the other man had just left a barbershop in Chicago when they were arrested, Hodges said. They were taken into custody without incident and jailed in Chicago. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has been under fire from Republicans over fears of violent crime, issued a statement Friday saying that he, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman would work to ensure the swift extradition of the two suspects. Walz issues about 100 interstate extradition warrants each year, his office said. Three people accused of helping the two men escape the mall were charged Monday with aiding an offender. Police: Officers in Texas Fatally Shoot Man With Rifle RICHLAND HILLS, TexasPolice in suburban Fort Worth fatally shot a man who pointed a rifle at them, authorities said. The shooting Friday in Richland Hills happened as two officers were investigating reports of gunshots along a city street. They found a man carrying a rifle about two blocks away, according to Richland Hills Officer Sheena McEachran. The suspect raised and pointed what has been identified as a semi-automatic rifle at the officers, McEachran said. Officers fired at the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene. It wasnt yet known whether the man shot at the officers or how many times he was shot, McEachran said Saturday, saying that is part of the ongoing investigation. McEachran said the mans body was sent to the medical examiner for identification. Authorities did not release the names of the two officers, who were placed on paid leave, as is standard. Texas Rangers will investigate the shooting. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Files Articles of Impeachment Against Attorney General Merrick Garland Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced Friday that she filed articles of impeachment against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who said that he personally approved the FBIs search of former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. Greenes resolution states that Garlands personal approval to seek the warrant to search Trumps Palm Beach estate constitutes a blatant attempt to persecute a political opponent of President Joe Biden. Attorney General Garland has failed to uphold his oath and has instead overseen a denigration of the principles of our democratic republic by politicizing the Department of Justice, and utilizing the Federal Bureau of Investigations as a Federal police force to punish or intimidate anyone who questions or opposes the current regime, the resolution reads. The articles of impeachment state that the attorney general has taken measures to silence the voice of millions of citizens of the United States by persecuting the former duly elected President of the United States, and potential Presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump. Read my articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland.#ImpeachGarland pic.twitter.com/mfmr0WuGV5 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 12, 2022 On Friday afternoon, Judge Bruce Reinhart unsealed the warrant authorizing the FBIs search of Mar-a-Lago after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion the day before to unseal the documents. Trump supported their unsealing. The warrant revealed that Trump is under investigation for alleged violations of 18 USC 2071concealment, removal, or mutilation; 18 USC 793 of the Espionage Actgathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; and 18 USC 1519destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations. The warrant allowed FBI agents to target their search on the 45 Office and all storage and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by Trump and his staff in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate. Then-President Donald Trump speaks to media before departing on Marine One en route to Ohio and Texas, from the White House South Lawn in Washington on Aug. 7, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Trump Says Documents Were Declassified In a statement obtained by Just The News on Friday, Trumps office said the 45th president had a standing order while he was president that any documents he removed from the Oval Office were deemed to be declassified. As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, often took documents including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence, the statement reads, according to Just The News. Under the standing order, these documents were deemed to be declassified when the 45th president removed them from the Oval Office, according to the statement. The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States, the statement added. The idea that some paper pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated by the president, needs to approve of declassification is absurd. Trump personally responded on his social media platform after the documents were unsealed, asserting that the documents were not just declassified, but that the FBI could have had it anytime. Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted to without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago, Trump said in a statement. The former president said the documents were securely stored as per their request. He added: The bigger problem is, what are they going to do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of which are classified, that President Obama took to Chicago? The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) responded on Friday to Trumps remarks about Obamas records. NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area where they are maintained exclusively by NARA, NARA said in a statement. Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, DC, area. As required by the [Presidential Records Act], former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration. The Epoch Times has contacted the DOJ for comment. This article was updated to include a statement from NARA. Rhode Island Officials: School Mask Mandates May Return A second Rhode Island health official has not ruled out bringing back school mask mandates, while speaking in a deposition performed for an ongoing lawsuit brought by parents upset their children had to wear masks at school. Based on what we know today, RIDOH would not recommend a masking mandate be put in place, Jaime Comella, director of the Center for COVID-19 Epidemiology at the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), said during a July deposition, according to a transcript reviewed by The Epoch Times. Unless something changes drastically with a new variant that would cause an increase in pediatric hospitalizations or death, I dont foresee masking being mandated in schools, she added. Comella was not aware that there have been zero pediatric deaths in Rhode Island caused by COVID-19. In fact, nobody under 25 has perished from the illness, according to RIDOH data. Comella is the second RIDOH official not to rule out bringing back a mask mandate in the state, the nations smallest by size. Dr. James McDonald, the agencys former director, who was still employed by the department when he spoke in June in a deposition for the case, also said a mandate could be brought back. The school mask mandate previously in place in Rhode Island was lifted in March, based on a decision by the health department and Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat. RIDOH and a spokeswoman for McKee did not respond to requests for comment. Letter Questioned On May 19, RIDOH sent out a memo to primary school administrators, saying it recommended universal indoor masking policies in schools located in counties that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated as having high community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. A day later, a letter to parents and students said that students who tested positive for COVID-19, even if they were vaccinated, must stay home and isolate for at least 5 days and, if they returned to school on day 6, they must wear a well-fitting mask on the bus, in school, and at all school-associated masks. McDonald claimed the letter was not a mandate. He said compliance was voluntary despite the use of the word must. He also said he did not compose the memo or the letter. Plaintiffs in the school masking case were told by a lawyer with the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General that Comella was most responsible for communicating to the Rhode Island Department of Education that the May 19 memo should be interpreted as recommending that school districts located in high tier communities mandate the wearing of face masks while in school. Comella said she did not draft the memo, though a working group shes a part of with people from other states departments did discuss the concepts that were included. Comella also said that parents reading the letter would be wrong to think it was conveying a masking requirement. A woman looks at lipstick at a shopping mall in Beijing on May 10, 2018. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images) South Korean Beauty Giant Shifts to North American Market After Abandoning China South Korean beauty industry giant, Amorepacific, has turned to the North American market and achieved remarkable results after drawing itself out of a downturn in the Chinese market. Amorepacific said on July 21 that the company reaped its biggest benefits from Prime Day, the largest annual discount sales event for members of Amazons paid services that was held July 12-13, Korean news media reported. Since the beginning of this year, Amorepacific has focused on developing its online and offline sales channels in the United States, spearheaded by its major brands such as Laneige, Sulwhasoo, and Innisfree. Laneige led the pack in the beauty and personal care category during Prime Day and was also selected as the best-selling brand, and Sulwhasoo sold out of all the products prepared for the event. In March and April, Sulwhasoo and Laneige were officially launched on Amazon, expanding their online sales reach. In addition, Sulwhasoo entered 51 Sephora stores in March, and Innisfree has also expanded in Sephora and Kohls to more than 490 stores. In North America, Amorepacifics sales increased by 60 percent in the first quarter from the same period in 2021. China Market Problems South Korean cosmetics relied heavily on the Chinese market in past years, with Amorepacifics share of cosmetics sales in China making up about 70 percent of all overseas sales. A woman checks out the lipsticks at a department store in Shanghai, Aug. 16, 2004. (LiuJin/AFP via Getty Images) However, Amorepacific had been losing its share of the Chinese market since 2017 when Beijing imposed economic retaliations on South Korea for its deployment of the U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems. Meanwhile, Sulwhasoo and IOPE Air Cushion foundation were eyed as main targets for copycats in China, while local brands also had more attention with their low-price advantages. In addition, the Chinese Communist Partys lengthy Zero-COVID policy has weakened the countrys economy and added to the plight of foreign companies. In response, Amorepacific has drastically cut back on its brand stores in China. When it was all the rage in the Chinese market, Amorepacific had a peak of over 1,280 stores as of 2019, before the COVID outbreak, The Korea Herald reported on Dec. 16, 2021. In 2021, Amorepacifics Innisfree stores in China shrunk from 610 to 280 and will be reduced to only 140 this year. Amorepacifics other brands Etude House, HERA, and IOPE shut down all of their offline stores in China last year, the Chosun Ilbo reported on Dec. 15, 2021. Amorepacifics overseas division reported a 6.1 percent drop in revenue and a 19.5 percent decrease in operating profit for the first quarter of this year, driven by a sales decline in China. according to Korean news media mk.co.kr on April 28. Asia was the slowest growing region in terms of revenue, with Chinas revenue declining by approximately 10 percent in the October-December quarter last year, according to Amorepacifics 2021 financial report. What lessons from one of the oldest vaccines tells us about vaccine technology A collaboration from scientists from Australia and the Netherlands has resulted in a fascinating new study showing immune-boosting benefits of a tuberculosis vaccine. Tuberculosis (TB), or consumption as it was known in 19th century America, is an infectious disease that invades the lungs. Caused by a bacterium, tubercule baccilum, TB is spread through droplets in the air via coughing and sneezing. Once a widespread and deadly disease in America, TB now infects fewer than 8,000 people a year in the United States. In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 526 deaths from TB. At the same time, however, TB plagues people in other countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 10 million people contracted it in 2020: 5.6 million men, 3.3 million women, and 1.1 million children. Some 1.5 million people died. TB is present in all countries and age groups, the WHO explains on their site. But TB is curable and preventable. New Vaccine Research The new study, conducted by scientists from Australias Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases in the Netherlands, involved a randomized sample of 130 infants. Sixty-three of the infants were vaccinated with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine. BCG, named after its inventors, is made from an attenuated, or weakened, strain of the bacteria that cause TB. It is thought to protect against the most severe forms of TB, including TB meningitis. The infants given the BCG vaccine were matched with 67 controls who did not receive it. The researchers found something unexpected: administering the BCG vaccine appeared to provide protection against more than just TB. Trained Immunity Indeed, though this was a small study, they found that the group of 63 infants who received the BCG vaccine were shielded from a broad range of additional diseases unrelated to TB due to a phenomenon known as trained immunity. Trained immunity is when something triggers an innate immune response to certain external exposures and pathogens that can last for more than a year after vaccination. The researchers discovered that there were significant genetic differences between the monocytes of BCG vaccinated infants and the monocytes of unvaccinated infants. Monocytes are white blood cells responsible for being the first line of defense against pathogens. The BCG vaccine seems to have essentially reprogrammed the infants monocytes to have a heightened response to other pathogens. Putting the monocytes on high alert, which is how a recent Science Alert article explained the findings, is thought to make them responsive to other infections in addition to TB. Holy Cow! How the BCG Vaccine Was Developed French scientists, Dr. Albert Calmette and veterinarian Jean Marie Camille Guerin, began researching a vaccine against TB at the Pasteur Institute in the early 1900s, according to a 2013 article on the history of the BCG vaccine from the journal Maedica. They cultivated a strain of TB from the udder of a tuberculosis-infected cow in an ox bile, glycerin, and potato medium. Despite the difficulty of collecting ox bile and the high price of potatoes due to the first World War, the two immunologists were able to collect 230 subcultures. The vaccine they developed was first tested on various animals, including horses, cattle, and guinea pigs. When it appeared to be successful, the BCG vaccine was given to a human in 1921. This infant, whose mother had just died of TB a few hours before, was given the vaccine orally. Today the BCG vaccines are mostly administered via an intradermal injection, according to the WHO. Used in Over 150 Countries Rarely given in the United States, some 157 countries approved BCG for universal vaccination, according to a 2011 article published in the journal PLOS Med. Many of these countries have a higher incidence of TB. They include China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, and Vietnam. The WHO has an on-line search engine to see which countries currently recommend the BCGand other vaccinesfor their citizens: https://immunizationdata.who.int/listing.html?topic=vaccine-schedule&location= The United States currently does not have a universal BCG vaccine program, both due to the low incidence of TB and because of questions about the vaccines efficacy and safety, according to the CDC. Early identification, thorough Tuberculin skin testing, and prophylactic treatment have proven more successful in combating TB in the United States without the need for universal vaccination. Unexpected Benefits of Vaccines While the results of this study seem surprising, other scientific research has similarly uncovered unintended consequences, or non-specific effects, of vaccines. Some of these consequences appear to be helpful to the immune system, albeit in unexpected ways. Other consequences, however, appear to cause harm. Much of the work of the unexpected benefits of vaccines has been done by a Danish anthropologist who also has a Ph.D. in medicine named Peter Aaby. Aaby spent some 40 years in the Guinea-Bissau running the Bandim Health Project, a non-profit organization that focuses its research on studying the effects of vaccines. Among other discoveries, Aaby and his research team, which includes his partner, Dr. Christine Stabell Benn, found that instituting a measles vaccination program in Guinea-Bissau reduced overall death rates from other diseases, reducing mortality in those who received the measles vaccine by fifty percent compared to people who did not get the vaccine. However, prior to the measles vaccine, child mortality rates from measles were already very low. This led Aaby to conclude that the major decline in deaths were because of non-specific effects of measles vaccination. As he explained to a BBC reporter in 2020, young lives were being spared from illnesses likely unrelated to measles. In addition to the measles vaccines, Aabys research has found that the BCG vaccine helps protect children against other diseases that are not the intended target. These vaccines may wake up the immune system, helping to train the body to respond more strongly to any foreign invaders. Other nonspecific effects from the BCG vaccine, according to published research cited by the BBC, include better long-term survival, reducing severe allergies, lowering the incidents of Alzheimers disease, and increased resistance to aggressive skin cancer. Now some scientists, writing in the journal Nature as well as in the journal PNAS, are hypothesizing that the BCG vaccine could also be used to protect against severe COVID-19. Unhappy Consequences: A Note of Caution While there seem to be several unintended beneficial happy accidents associated with the BCG vaccine, Dr. Stabell Benn and others have also pointed out that if vaccines can have non-specific positive effects they can also have non-specific negative, or harmful, effects. These effects, too, are well documented in the scientific literature. For example, research published in 2011 found that the countries with the highest rates of sudden infant death syndrome also had the highest rates of infant vaccinations. Similarly, over a dozen peer-reviewed studies have linked certain vaccines to an increased risk of autoimmune disorders. What Have 100 Years of BCG Taught Us? First used in humans in the early 1920s, BCG vaccines are among the oldest vaccines developed. So what have we learned from this vaccine technology? Larger than life: Art that inspires us through the ages Some of Brazils most beautiful churches are located in the colorful, historic city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia. Among them, one stands out: The church and convent of Sao Francisco (St. Francis) is a magnificent representation of both Portuguese and Brazilian artistry from the 18th century. The initial convent and church were built in 1587 by friars of the Franciscan order. Unfortunately, these were destroyed during the Dutch invasion of Bahia in the 17th century. Father Vicente das Chagas began reconstruction in a grandiose style in 1686. Multiple artists worked on decorations to complete the project in the 18th century. While the church square is relatively simple, the churchs interior is glorious. It is lavishly ornate and gilded, a decorative technique for applying gold to a surface. Gold leaf and gold dust cover the churchs walls, pillars, archways, and vaulted ceilings. European Rococo extravagance combines with local faunal and floral elements, the definition of Brazilian Baroque, and a unique Brazilian architectural style. European influences continue with azulejosglazed ceramic tiles from Portugalwhich are found throughout Brazils colonial churches. These tiles are organized in ornate panels depicting allegorical scenes based on Flemish engravings from the 17th century and Latin quotes from the famous poet Horace. The entrance hall of the Sao Francisco Church exhibits multiple religious paintings and azulejo panels displaying biblical scenes, making the church unique. The Portuguese influence is noticeable throughout the church, with the ceramic tiles imported from Lisbon in 1748, after the churchs reconstruction. (Paul R. Burley/ CC BY-SA 4.0) One of about 50,000 azulejo panels in the church and convent of Sao Francisco. Sao Francisco has the most azulejos of all of South America. Here, the phrase Cantemus Domino, which means Let us sing to God, is illustrated. (Paul R. Burley/ CC BY-SA 4.0) One of the details of the churchs entrance hall is a bas-relief of a putto holding flowers, in an elaborate framing. Putti are little boy figures, sometimes with wings, that are often depicted in Baroque and Rococo art. The gilded woodwork combines Portuguese and Brazilian artistry. (Paul R. Burley/ CC BY-SA 4.0) When visitors enter the church, they are greeted by a lavishly decorated interior. The impressive detailing enhances its architectural beauty through panels of azulejos, sacred paintings, and extensive use of gilding. The ceiling has impressive sculpted woodwork with gilded finishes and a hanging lamp. Golden foliage continues throughout the interior, on the sculpted columns and arches, and on the eight columns supporting the side altars. About one ton of gold was used in the church and convent, which were built with local sandstone from Bahia, a state in Brazil. (Leon Petrosyan/ CC BY-SA 4.0) Another of the churchs striking elements is the wooden ceiling, created by artist Jose Joaquim da Rocha in 1774. The ceiling was painted in an illusionistic perspective, a Renaissance technique used to create the illusion of depth. The wooden carvings in star, diamond, and octagonal shapes hold sacred paintings. Both the ceiling and pulpit are decorated with biblical scenes, and the azulejos display allegorical scenes with moral messages from Roman mythology. (Larissa Thans Carneiro/ CC BY-SA 4.0) This side chapel, dedicated to the veneration of St. Joseph and used for private prayer, displays impressive gilded woodwork and elaborate arches. Angels, flowers, leaves, and birds intertwine throughout the backdrop and around the altar. This shows the unique Brazilian Baroque art and architecture based on the 18th-century European Baroque style. (Paul R. Burley/ CC BY-SA 4.0) The church has a two-story cloister with a covered courtyard often found in religious buildings. This one has a simple aesthetic, with religious paintings and azulejos imported from Lisbon. Approximately 35,000 azulejos are displayed in the cloister, inspired by prints from the emblem book The Work of Quintus Horace Flacci by Otto van Veen. The book is a collection of mythological illustrations, with moralistic quotes from Horace. The azulejos-filled panel around the outside wall of the cloister depicts a main street or avenue with people walking along public buildings of 18th-century European architecture and arches, framed by fauna and flora, and putti. (Paul R. Burley/ CC BY-SA 4.0) This film is only available in the United States because of territorial licensing. A film about Colin Wallace, an intelligence officer who blew the whistle on fake news and was framed for a murder, The Man Who Knew Too Much is a documentary by Michael Oswald about Colin Wallace, a former military intelligence officer involved in psychological operations in Northern Ireland. Colin Wallace spread fake news, created a witchcraft scare, smeared politicians, and attempted to divide and create conflict among communities, organizations, and individuals. He fell out with members of the intelligence community and found himself accused of murder. In conjunction with the public release of the film in October 2021, Colin Wallace has announced legal action against the British Ministry of Defence. Feature Films: Cinema collection: http://epochcinema.com Epoch Original content: http://epochoriginal.com Feature Films: https://www.theepochtimes.com/featured-films Follow EpochTV on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Los Angeles County Public Health director Barbara Ferrer (L) and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (R) speak as they arrive for a press conference in Los Angeles on March 4, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) City of Torrance Votes No Confidence in LA County Public Health Director TORRANCE, Calif.City officials recently passed a vote of no confidence in Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, saying that the restrictions she imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic violated peoples freedom and hurt businesses in the city. The Torrance City Council voted 41 in favor of the item brought forward by Councilman Aurelio Mattucci on Aug. 9, with Councilmen Mike Griffiths voting no and Asam Sheikh abstaining. Mattucci said Ferrer, as an appointed official, shouldnt have excessive power over other peoples lives and that its important for the city to send her a message. The bottom line is that this individual, Barbara Ferrer, kept on overstepping our freedom, our freedom to be able to just get up and go to work and earn a living so that we can pay our bills, he said during the meeting. Mattucci said Ferrers regulation is government overreach and that individual cities situations should be taken into consideration. He also said the stay home, save lives ordinance that shut down businesses and stopped people from going to work has created financial issues for the city. Torrance is currently ranked 24th among Californian cities facing the most financial distress by the California State Auditors Office. On the other hand, Griffithsthe lone dissenting votesaid the motion is the citys own overreach in commenting on an elected official. Where do we stop? Do say we have a vote of no confidence on the mayor? The sheriff? The governor? he said. Griffiths said he would rather send a letter to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to express the councils concerns about Ferrers decisions. Just because we disagree with their policies doesnt mean we have to do votes of no confidence, he said. Despite some disagreements about the no confidence vote for Ferrer, the council unanimously passed a motion opposing the countys future indoor mask mandate and business closure. I do fully support something that we can do as a city and that is to not enforce the mass mandate using our resources, Mattucci said. He said the motion is to ensure that residents and businesses wont be affected by any future COVID-related restrictions. We need to send a message both to the county and also to our businesses that we stand by our businesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the county moved into the medium virus-activity category on Aug. 9, when the average daily rate of people being admitted to hospitals for COVID-19 fell to less than 10at 9.9per 100,000 residents. The county was thus able to escape the high category, which it entered in mid-July, raising the possibility of another indoor mask mandate. The county ultimately opted against the new mandate, citing steadily improving infection and hospitalization numbers. Masks are still required in some settings, including health care facilities, homeless shelters, aboard transit vehicles, and at transit centers, along with correctional facilities. While we are thankful to see our county move to the medium community level, because we know that getting infected causes disruptions at the workplace and in the family and for some, becoming infected leads to debilitating illness, we advise caution, and ongoing use of a sensible approach for reducing the risk of exposure and preventing severe illness, Ferrer said in an Aug. 12 statement. All tools available help: getting vaccinated and boosted reduces risk of severe illness, testing before and after gathering, wearing masks when indoors, and staying home and away from others when sick reduces transmission. Prior to Torrances motion, the Los Angeles County cities of Pasadena, Long Beach, and Beverly Hills also opposed the potential mask mandate. City News Service contributed to the report. Residents look on as hundreds of people march in a parade to celebrate 400 million Chinese people quitting the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations, in downtown Toronto on Aug. 6, 2022. (Evan Ning/The Epoch Times) Unsurprising More People Are Cutting Ties to CCP, MP Says as 400 Million Chinese Quit Party Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has voiced support for the movement of Chinese people cutting their ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as the number of people who have withdrawn from the Party and its affiliated organizations recently hit the milestone of 400 million. I strongly support the right of people to choose to voluntarily disassociate themselves from the Chinese Communist Party, the MP for Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan told The Epoch Times. Given the escalating violence and repression that the Party is responsible for, increasing disassociation is entirely unsurprising. Genuiss comments come after the Global Service Center for Quitting the Chinese Communist Party announced on Aug. 3 that the number of Chinese people who have renounced ties to the CCP and its affiliated organizations had reached 400 million. While the CCP claims to have over 95 million members as of 2021, most Chinese citizens are required early on in their childhoods to join its affiliated bodiesthe Young Pioneers (YP), for elementary and middle school-aged children, and the Communist Youth League (YL), for middle and high school-aged youths. Such requirements are mandated as children enrol in almost all schools across China. As people advance through the three CCP organizations, their pledge evolves from contributing to to fighting for and, eventually, to be ready to sacrifice everything for the Party. The right to freedom of association is a fundamental human right. Canadians are guaranteed this right by our constitution, freedom of association is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Chinese government purports to respect this right as well. Sadly, universal human rights and freedoms are not recognized or honoured by the Chinese Communist Party, said Genuis, who is the Shadow Minister for International Development. Garnett Genuis, Canadas shadow minister for International Development & Human Rights and a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. (Courtesy of Garnett Genuis) Tuidang Knowing that the CCP doesnt allow Chinese people to actively renounce their Party membership, and would even retaliate against those who do so, the Global Center has been helping the Chinese to disassociate with the Party using aliases. Quitting the Party, or Tuidang in Chinese, is one of the largest grassroots movements in Chinese history. It began in 2004 after The Epoch Times published the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a book that illustrated the history of the CCP and its crimes against the Chinese people. Since the CCP established the Peoples Republic of China under its one-party rule in 1949, an estimated 60 million to 80 million Chinese people have died of unnatural causes, according to the Nine Commentaries. Many perished under the regimes political movements, including in the ongoing persecution of adherents of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, the imprisonment of millions of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, and the clampdown on democracy in Hong Kong. Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas noted that, unlike in democratic countries where elections are regularly held to reflect the public interests, political elites in China rule by force, and their power-seeking and maintenance tools are propaganda, censorship, coverup, nepotism, and compulsion. The CCP has relied on these tools to prop up its tyrannical rule over China for the past 74 years, but the people need just one to dismantle this oppressive system, according to Matas. Since the Communist Party is the problem, dismantling the Communist Party is the solution. The campaign to have people quit the Communist Party is a ray of hope, he said. The people of China do not need to overthrow the Communist Party to achieve liberty. All they have to do is walk away from it. If enough people quit the Party, the Party becomes an empty shell and its power will be gone. Precipitating the CCPs Collapse Matas, a co-founder of The International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, exposed the CCPs horrendous crimes of live organ harvesting on adherents of the spiritual practice Falun Gong in 2006. Also called Falun Dafa, the practice involves meditative exercises and moral teachings of truthfulness, compassion, tolerance. First introduced in China in 1992, the practice quickly attracted 70 to 100 million adherents by the end of the decade, according to Chinese official estimates. But former CCP leader Jiang Zemin perceived Falun Gongs popularity as a threat to its totalitarian rule, and on July 20, 1999, launched a brutal persecution campaign aimed at eradicating the practice. In this process, the Chinese regime has turned the life-saving therapy of organ transplantation into an organ harvesting and trafficking industry, using the organs forcefully taken from Falun Gong practitioners and other prisoners of conscience. This, however, could lead to the CCPs own sudden demise, Matas said. There are events which could precipitate a collapse of the Party even earlier, he said. One is the killing of prisoners of conscience for their organs. The abuse is so awful and indefensible that the widespread knowledge within China that the Party is responsible could lead to its collapse almost immediately. Over time, more and more people come to appreciate the existence and extent of the atrocity and the falsity of the denials. Over time, leaks in the system of censorship have a cumulative effect. The mass killing of Falun Gong for their organs is a string which, pulled on long and hard enough, can unravel the Party rug which blankets China. Matass investigations of the CCPs organ harvesting, conducted with former Canadian MP David Kilgour, are published in the book Bloody Harvest. Bloody Harvest book cover. (Courtesy of Seraphim Editions) Threat to Canadians Canadas former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler recently condemned China for its continuous attacks against Canadian citizens and the international rule of law. In his opinion piece, Cotler highlighted the list of Canadians who are victims of the Chinese communist regime. Some high-profile cases include Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who until last September, were held in Chinese prison and deprived of access to family, counsel, media, and an independent judiciary. The two men were detained in December 2018, days after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, senior executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, under a U.S. warrant to have her extradited for alleged bank fraud. Other victims include Canadian businesswoman and Falun Gong practitioner Sun Qian, who is now two years into her eight-year sentence after CCP authorities forced her to renounce her Canadian citizenship, Canadian businessman Xiao Jianhua, and Canadian Uyghur rights activist Huseyin Celil. Canadian Sen. Leo Housakos said he agree[s] wholeheartedly with Cotler that its long past due for our government to accept that there is no normalizing of relations with an out of control authoritarian regime like that in Beijing. Its time for our government to do more than just express concern over the CCPs increased aggression, he said. Housakos called for parliamentary support for several bills, including Senate Bill S-204, S-211, S-237, and S-247, to create a reporting mechanism that allows the public to hold companies accountable if they are complicit in the use of forced labour in the manufacture of goods, which could be used to sanction China for its genocide against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and persecution of other minorities groups. We have the tools available to us to do more than just stand by. The question is, does the current government have the will? he said. Delta Air Lines planes are seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport on the July 4th weekend in Queens, New York, on July 2, 2022. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters) US Allows Delta to Temporarily Cut Some New York, Washington Flights WASHINGTONDelta Air Lines can temporarily cut some flights at New Yorks LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday. The FAA said as a condition of approval that Delta should offer customers a refund or rebook them on Delta or another carrier as needed for canceled flights at the three airports. Delta had asked the FAA to waive minimum slot requirements at the congested airports because of issues including New York airport construction, significant crew sick time, severe weather and air traffic control delays and cancellations. The FAA said the approval will support Deltas steps to make schedule adjustments and staff assignments to increase the reliability of its operations and minimize disruptions to travelers. The relief covers flights June 1 through Sept. 5. Airlines can lose their slots at some congested airports if they do not use them at least 80 percent of the time. Delta said in a statement the FAA approval will allow us to continue improving shared challenges and service reliability with minimal impact to customers. An airline spokeswoman declined to say how many flights were covered by the waiver. The FAA disclosed in May that Delta pilots missed 19,985 days due to sickness, up 45 percent from 13,786 days in May 2019. In June, pilot sick days rose 50 percent from June 2019. Delta also reported in May its flight attendants missed 43,908 days due to sickness, up 23 percent, the FAA said. Delta stated that due to the unforeseen spike, its workforce and flight operations are under extraordinary strain, leaving little margin for operational challenges caused by construction, ATC delays, and weather, the FAA said. The FAA said its preference is for Delta to reduce flights from sale to minimize disruptive, close-in cancellations. In May, Delta said it would cut flights through August to improve operational reliability amid soaring travel demand. Delta said from July 1 through Aug. 7 it would cut about 100 daily departures, primarily in U.S. and Latin America markets. By David Shepardson Indonesian army soldiers take part in Garuda Shield Joint Exercise 2021 at the Indonesian Army Combat Training Center in Martapura, South Sumatra province, Indonesia on Aug. 4, 2021. (Antara Foto/Nova Wahyudi/via Reuters) US, Regional Allies Conduct Military Exercises in Indonesia Amid China Concerns The United States conducted a live-fire drill with Indonesia and allies on Aug. 12 as part of annual joint military exercises to advance regional cooperation amid Chinas destabilizing actions around Taiwan. The annual Super Garuda Shield exercise was conducted on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan from Aug. 1 to 14. More than 5,000 troops from the U.S., Indonesia, Australia, Japan, and Singapore participated in the drills, making them significantly larger in scope and scale than previous exercises, according to the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Indonesia. More than 200 paratroopers from the U.S., Indonesia, and Japan conducted trilateral airborne operations with the U.S. 36th Airlift Squadron for the Super Garuda Shield exercises on Aug. 3. Canada, France, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and the United Kingdom joined as observer nations. Washington has said that the drill wasnt focused at any nation. Adm. John C. Aquilino, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander, said the 14 nations were signaling stronger ties to achieve stability in the Indo-Pacific region and indicate they are prepared to respond to any contingency. The destabilizing actions by the Peoples Republic of China as it applied to the threatening activities and actions against Taiwan is exactly what we are trying to avoid, Aquilino said at a press conference. The expanded drills were held against the backdrop of Chinas military threat against Taiwan following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis recent visit to the self-ruled island. China views Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunited with the mainland. Indonesias Security Concerns Beijing has also increased military presence in the South China Sea, where it claims a large portion of the waters under its so-called nine-dash line. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam, all have competing claims against China. While Indonesia and China enjoy generally positive ties, Jakarta has expressed concern about what it sees as Chinese encroachment in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. Despite its official position as a non-claimant state in the South China Sea, Indonesia has been dragged along into the territorial dispute since 2010 after China claimed part of Indonesias exclusive economic zone in the Natuna Islands, according to Connie Rahakundini Bakrie, a security analyst at the University of Indonesia. Bakrie said that Indonesia sees the current exercises with the U.S. as a deterrent in defense of the Natuna Islands, while for Washington, the drills are part of efforts to forge a united front against Chinas military buildup in the South China Sea. Indonesia wants to send the message that it is fully prepared for any high-intensity conflict in the South China Sea area, Bakrie said. Indonesia deployed seven Black Hawk helicopters, 41 armored vehicles, and 618 weapons for this years Super Garuda Shield exercise, according to Indonesian military chief Gen. Andika Perkasa. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) In the six years since he resettled in the United States from Afghanistan, the primary suspect in the slayings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque has been arrested several times for domestic violence and captured on camera slashing the tires of a woman's car, according to police and court records. The lengthy pattern of violence which began not long after Muhammad Syed arrived in the states has shocked members of the citys small, close-knit Muslim community, some of whom knew him from the local mosque and who initially had assumed the killer was an outsider with a bias against the Islamic religion. Now, they are coming to terms with the idea that they never really understood the man. I think based on knowing his history now and we didnt before hes obviously a disturbed individual. He obviously has a violent tendency, said Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico. Police say Syed, 51, was acquainted with his victims and was likely motivated by interpersonal conflicts. He was arrested Monday night and remains in custody. Prosecutors say he is a dangerous man and plan to ask a judge next week to keep him locked up pending trial on murder charges in connection with two of the shooting deaths. Syed is also the primary suspect in the other two homicides, but police say they will not rush to charge him in those cases as long as he remains in jail and doesnt pose a threat to the community. The married father of six has denied involvement in the killings; his defense attorneys have declined to comment. Few details have emerged publicly about Syeds life before he and his family came to America in 2016, but a U.S. government document obtained by The Associated Press says he graduated from Rehman Baba High School in western Kabul in 1990. Between 2010 and 2012, he worked as a cook for the Al Bashar Jala Construction Company. In December 2012, Syed fled Afghanistan with his wife and children, the report states. The family made its way to Pakistan, where Syed sought work as a refrigerator technician. A native Pashto speaker who was also fluent in Dari, he was admitted to the United States in 2016 as a refugee. The very next year, according to court records, a boyfriend of Syed's daughter alleged that Syed, his wife and one of Syed's sons pulled him out of a car and punched and kicked him before driving away. The boyfriend, who was found with a bloody nose, scratches and bruises, told police he was attacked because Syed, a Sunni Muslim, did not want his daughter in a relationship with a Shiite man. In 2018, Syed was taken into custody after a fight with his wife about her driving. Syed told police that his wife had slapped him in the car, but she said he pulled her by the hair, threw her to the ground and made her walk two hours to their destination. Months later, Syed allegedly beat his wife and attacked one of his sons with a large slotted metal spoon that left his hair blood-soaked, according to court documents. Syeds wife told police everything was fine. But the son, who was the one who called them, told officers that Syed routinely beat him and his mother. Two of the cases were dismissed after the wife and boyfriend declined to press charges. The third was dismissed after Syed completed a pretrial intervention program. In 2020, Syed was arrested after he allegedly refused to pull over for police after running a traffic light, but that case was also eventually dismissed. If youre trying to understand how violence in a particular person evolves, you just have to know that he didnt wake up last year and become a serial killer, said former FBI profiler Mary Ellen OToole. He had experience with violence. And thats the challenge of law enforcement ... to identify what is your experience with violence and when did it start? Syed told detectives that hed served with the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command, a small, elite group of Afghan soldiers who fought the Taliban. He said he likes the AK-47-style weapon police found at his house because hed used one in Afghanistan. Yet the U.S. government profile the AP reviewed did not list any military experience, and Syed turned 40 the year the elite force was formed in 2011 likely too old to be selected for combat in the heaviest fighting. That sounds a little fishy, said Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, who served two tours in Afghanistan and is a senior fellow and military expert at the Defense Priorities think tank. He said while Syed may have been a soldier, special forces guys are usually 22, 25 years old, maybe 30, because it is so physically demanding. The Syed family lives in a small duplex on the citys south side, a working-class part of town where many of the older homes and apartments have security bars affixed to their doors and windows. The area has become a magnet for Afghan refugees and other immigrants looking to make a new home in New Mexicos largest city. The slayings of the four men the first in November and the other three occurring in rapid succession over a period of less than two weeks in July and the first week of August set off ripples of terror in Albuquerque's Muslim community of about 4,500. Residents were afraid to go out of their homes to the point where city officials offered to deliver meals and some considered leaving town. That was what Syed told investigators he was doing when he left in his Volkswagen Jetta on Sunday: heading out of state to find a safer place for his frightened family. Police say he was, in fact, skipping town after killing Naeem Hussain just days before. Syed is the primary suspect but hasn't been charged in the death of Hussain, a 25-year-old man from Pakistan who was fatally shot on Aug. 5 in the parking lot of a refugee resettlement agency in southeast Albuquerque; and the slaying of Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi, a 62-year-old Afghan immigrant who was fatally shot in the head last November behind the market he owned in the city. Ahmadi is the brother-in-law of the woman whose tires Syed slashed in 2020, while Syed and Hussain had known each other since 2016, police said. Syed has been charged with murder in the deaths of Aftab Hussein and Muhammad Afzaal Hussain. Hussein, 41, was slain on the night of July 26 after parking his car in the usual spot near his home. Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who had worked on the campaign of a New Mexico congresswoman, was gunned down on the night of Aug. 1 while taking his evening walk. While Syed told police he recognized Hussein from parties in the community, it was unclear how he knew Afzaal Hussain. Despite the violence he allegedly inflicted on his wife and children, Syed's family is standing by him. My father is not a person who can kill somebody, his daughter recently told CNN, which did not disclose her identity to protect her safety. My father has always talked about peace. Thats why we are here in the United States. We came from Afghanistan, from fighting, from shooting. ___ Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Watson from San Diego. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) The family of country singer Naomi Judd filed an amended court petition Friday to seal police reports and recordings made during the investigation into her death. The family filed the petition in Williamson County Chancery Court, saying the records contain video and audio interviews with relatives in the immediate aftermath of Judds death and releasing such details would inflict significant trauma and irreparable harm. The petition was filed on behalf of the singer's husband Larry Strickland and her daughters Ashley and Wynonna Judd and was a more detailed follow-up to an earlier request made by the family last week. A representative provided it to The Associated Press with the familys permission. Judd, 76, died on April 30 at her home in Tennessee. Her daughter Ashley has previously said that her mother killed herself, and the family said she was lost to the disease of mental illness. The court filing on Friday also included details about how Ashley Judd found her mother alive after she shot herself. Ashley stayed by her mothers side, waiting for 30 minutes until help arrived. The petition asks the court to prohibit the Williamson County Sheriffs Office from releasing the records for several reasons, among them that the disclosure would include her medical records and that the family has a right to privacy. Tennessee public records law generally allows local law enforcement records to be released, but police have the discretion to hold records while an investigation is ongoing. Once an investigation is closed, that exemption no longer applies. The AP left a message for the sheriff on Friday seeking comment. Strickland, Wynonna and Ashley Judd submitted statements outlining their concerns about the records. Strickland said in the court filing that he was unaware that his interviews with law enforcement were being recorded, adding that he shared personal and private information to assist in the investigation. Ashley Judd said she was in clinical shock, active trauma and acute distress when she spoke with law enforcement and that she did not want those records, including video, audio and photos, to permanently stay in the public domain and haunt the family for generations. The petition said that media outlets in Tennessee had already filed public records requests in her case. Judds death the day before she was due to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame has garnered intense national media attention surrounding the cause of her death, but also the filing of estate and will paperwork. A family statement said that misinformation about the Judds was being spread and they wanted to state the facts, while also protecting their privacy amid the grieving process. Our family continues to grieve together privately, in unity and community, recognizing our mothers beauty and talents as a gift to the world, the statement said. There has been misinformation circulated as we continue to mourn and we lament that. We ask news organizations only to cover facts. And as we recognize other families struggling as a loved one faces mental health crises, we encourage them to seek help through NAMI: The National Alliance on Mental Illness at 800-950-6264 or call 988 available 24 hours a day . Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. The red-headed duo combined the traditional Appalachian sounds of bluegrass with polished pop stylings, landing hit after hit in the 1980s. Wynonna led the duo with her powerful vocals, while Naomi provided harmonies and stylish looks on stage. The Judds released six studio albums and an EP between 1984 and 1991 and won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music. They earned a total of five Grammy Awards together on hits like Why Not Me and Give A Little Love, and Naomi earned a sixth Grammy for writing Love Can Build a Bridge. Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), the kingdoms mining champion, has recorded solid results for the second quarter netting a 85% jump in its net profit which surged to hit SR4 billion ($1.06 billion), while its sales for the period rose 95% to SR11.9 billion ($3.16 billion). Announcing its results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2022, Maaden said its ebitda rose to SR6.9 billion, reflecting robust sales performance. The company's H1 2022 ebitda increased by 128%, compared with the same period in the prior year, to SR11.3 billion. Maaden said its growth during the period was driven by increased production volumes from new projects and improved efficiency in existing operations. Its Ammonia III ramped up production, contributing to overall sales. The Ammonia III plant has an output capacity of 1.1 million tonnes per year and is part of an ongoing expansion that will strengthen the kingdoms position as one of the top producers of phosphate fertilizers in the world. Production at Maaden Waad Al Shamaal Phosphate company continued to ramp up, leading to a 15% increase in phosphate fertilizer sales volumes at the plant compared to Q2 2021. The aluminium business also continued its strong performance, on the back of stable efficiency in operations and increased sales, it added. The Saudi mining giant said its net profit increased by 85% quarter on quarter to SR4 billion and by 232% for H1 2022 against same period last year to reach SR6.2 billion. Sales rose 95% q-o-q to SR 11.9 billion bringing H1 2022 sales to SR20.8 billion, an 80% improvement on H1 2021, it added. Commenting on the results, CEO Robert Wilt said: "Maaden delivered a record first half, driven by enhanced operations leading to increased sales. This record performance was supported by favorable market dynamics, delivered while maintaining the highest safety standards and making progress towards our ESG goals." "Our success could not have been achieved without the over 6000 employees who remain committed to Maadens values and operational excellence," he added. According to him, Maaden continues to invest in long term growth and is on track to increase its current gold mining capacity by 70% with a new plant in Mansourah Massarah. The plant, which is in the commissioning phase, will be the largest gold project in the kingdom, once operational. "As we look to the rest of 2022, we will continue to invest in our production capacity across our current portfolio to meet demand, whilst exploring Saudi Arabias untapped mineral resources to ensure long-term sustainable growth," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Even when the regular mischievous people come on air and try to push my red, green or orange buttons, me, Sandra Ijeoma Okoye, will remain unruffled. However, with the recent death of Chidiebere Iloka, in a mysterious and suspicious circumstance, and who was reported to have slumped and died on Sunday morning, after serving her husband breakfast, the bitter taste of swallowed tears and the lump inside my throat fought against the words and I choked like a politician speaking the truth. It was a graphic tale, and just one too many. Without any scintilla of hyperbole, there have been incidences of mysterious deaths across the length and breadth of the country in such a manner that fits the description of a whirlwind. For instance, towards the end of last month, July 2022, the Bayelsa Police Command paraded a murder suspect, Joseph Fekala, 27, who reportedly strangled 25-year-old Kate Ogwoh and buried her in a shallow grave at his apartment at Okaka, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital. Police spokesperson SP Asinim Butswat, who briefed reporters during the parade at the Commands headquarters in Yenagoa, said, according to an investigation, the murder is linked to a certain amount of money the victim owed the deceased. In a similar vein, Edo Police Command, last month, arrested the husband of 27-year-old Cynthia Agho, who allegedly committed suicide in Benin City, the Edo State capital. As gathered, the woman was found dangling on a rope twisted around her neck, and tied to the ceiling fan in her bedroom. It was further gathered that the incident happened in the Lucky Way area of Aduwawa, Benin City. Her husband, Emmanuel Omoru, was arrested following rumour that he may have killed the wife but faked it as suicide. A spokesperson for the Command, Chidi Nwanbuzor, who confirmed the incident, said, it happened at no 10, Omozese Street, off street 2, off Lucky way, Aduwawaarea of Benin City. He said: It is a case of suspected suicide, on July 7, the control room of Aduwawa police station received a distress call that a certain woman committed suicide by hanging at No 10, Omozese Street, off street 2, off Lucky Way, Aduwawa Benin City. When the police visited the crime scene, they met a certain woman, who was later identified by her husband, one Emmanual Omoru as Mrs Cynthia Agho, 27, dangling in a rope tied to the ceiling fan inside her bedroom. A stool was found under the ceiling fan, the corpse was photographed, lowered down and evacuated to the polices hospital morgue for autopsy. No written note was found at the scene. Preliminary investigation has commenced identifying or find out whether it is a case of suspected suicide or murder. Rumour is flying that it is a case of suspected murder and that is why the investigation has commenced unravellingthe truth. The husband of the woman is in custody undergoing investigation at Aduwawa police station and would be transferred to the commands Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID) for a thorough investigation. As regards the mysterious and suspicious death of Chidiebere Iloka, the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has suspended the husband of the deceased, Hon. Mbazulike Iloka, who is also the transition committee chairman of Nnewi North Local Government Area. As gathered, Iloka, who is popularly known as MbaMba, was suspended over the circumstances surrounding his wifes death last Sunday morning. The suspension of Iloka may not be unconnected with the strong suspicion that stemmed from the circumstances surrounding the death of Chidiebere, particularly as those who know the couple insisted that Iloka may have killed his wife, as he has a record of consistently battering her, and the suspicion becomes stronger as signs of violence was also found on her body, while a huge wound on her head aroused suspicion, leading to public outcry over her death. In a letter of suspension, which was signed by Anambra State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affair, Tony Collins Nwabunwanne, the chairman was asked to hand over to the head of Local Government administration, to avoid interfering in investigation. The letter read: Following the sad news of the death of your wife, late Mrs Chidiebere Iloka on 7th August 2022, there have been a massive outcry over the circumstances leading to her death, including alleged possible homicide. While you are presumed innocent until the completion of investigations, it has become imperative that you step aside to allow unfettered investigation and justice. Consequently, you are directed to step aside and to hand over the affairs of the local government to the head of local government administration, not later that 12th August 2022, until further notice. Iloka has only recently been appointed chairman of the local government. He has only been in office for about a week before his eventual removal. Be that as it may, to my view, I am through this medium calling on the relevant authorities in Anambra State to ensure that they bring the perpetrator (s) of this murder to book and give justice to her. I believe Soludo should go beyond suspending the bereaved husband of Chidiebere, and take the investigation beyond that level as the Bible in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 11 says, When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil. Actor Anne Heche legally dead after crash LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Anne Heche has been declared legally dead, one week after she crashed her car into a Los Angeles building, a spokeswoman said yesterday (Aug 12). accidentsdeathdrugs By AFP Saturday 13 August 2022, 06:45AM In this file photo taken on April 4, 2019 US actress Anne Heche attends The Best of Enemies premiere at AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York City. Photo: AFP Heche, 53, had been comatose in hospital with a severe brain injury since the fiery collision on Aug 5. Having lost all brain function, she is legally dead according to California law, though her heart is still beating as her family keeps her body on life support while exploring organ donations, spokeswoman Holly Baird told AFP. Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend, the family said in a joint statement. Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact. Heche, best known for 1990s movies Donnie Brasco and Six Days, Seven Nights as well as a high-profile relationship with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, crashed her car into a two-story house in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles. The violent collision resulted in structural compromise and... heavy fire at the scene, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The ensuing blaze took 59 firefighters more than an hour to contain and fully extinguish, the department said. Local media reported Thursday that preliminary tests of Heches blood had come back positive for narcotics, though more were needed to ensure the drugs had not been administered in the course of her treatment. Celebrity gossip outlet TMZ, citing unnamed police sources, said Heche had tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl, with the latter sometimes used for pain relief in clinical settings. Heche rose to fame with her role on the soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy in 1991. She was nominated for a Tony award for her appearance in Twentieth Century on Broadway in 2004. My brother Atlas and I lost our Mom, Heches son Homer Laffoon said in a separate statement. Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom, he wrote. Bullet Train: One fun, fast ride Strap yourself in because Brad Pitt is about to take you on one of the wildest rides of 2022 with Bullet Train. Just at the time when many have thought that there was nothing original left to explore in the action genre, John Wick director David Leitch has returned with one of the most creative and action-packed films that you are ever likely to see. World-Entertainment By David Griffiths Saturday 13 August 2022, 01:46PM Brad Pitt in Bullet Train (2022). Image: IMDb The film itself is a kaleidoscope of stories coming together. Former assassin now turned relaxed hippy named Ladybug (Pitt Oceans Eleven) has been tasked with boarding a bullet train in Japan and retrieve a briefcase full of cash. It seems like an easy job but he is unaware that the case belongs to violent thugs Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson Kick-Ass) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse) who have been placed on the train to do a task of their own for the cruel White Death (Michael Shannon Take Shelter). Meanwhile, another assassin, Kimura (Andrew Koji Fast & Furious 6), has boarded the train eager for revenge for his son being left in serious condition in hospital thanks to the notorious Prince (Joey King White House Down). Soon all the missions that are to occur on the train begin to intercede and nobody knows whether the person they are about to meet is friend or foe. A quick read of the plot may leave you thinking that it would be very easy to lose your way with this film, but the good news is that screenwriter Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street Part Two) never allows that to happen. In fact that is one of the special things about this film. Normally an action film this manic has so many plots going at once it becomes a mess, but here Olkewicz and Leitch make sure that the film always remains watchable and never becomes a matter of style and substance. Of course the stylistic feel of this film should also not be discarded. If you loved the look and feel of the original John Wick film, then you will be happy to know that Leitch continues it with Bullet Train. There are no dull moments throughout the film and for the most part the film keeps a frenetic pace for its entire run scene. Even dialogue-driven scenes take a leaf out of Guy Ritchies playbook dialogue is delivered at a frightening pace and it is normally witty and to the point. In fact, some of the dialogue-heavy scenes between Lemon and Tangerine are the highlights of the film. Likewise, the action sequences throughout this film are top notch. Leitch borrows heavily from the Japanese culture that this film so heavily borrows from and the result is a lot of martial arts and hand-to-hand combat rather than the film just becoming a traditional shoot em up. The fact that the audience is often kept in the dark about each characters true intentions means that they are constantly left on the edge of their seat as the film keeps lifting the suspense to ridiculously high levels. There is also a great amount of wit and intelligence to this film. Despite nearly always being kept in a mood of suspense, the audience will find that there are times they laugh hysterically, while the screenplay never allows for the film to become absurd. It has just the right amount of realism to keep everything believable. Unlike a lot of action films, this film also requires its actors to deliver some pretty intense scenes emotionally. Brad Pitt and Andrew Koji deliver the bulk of the emotion while Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry deliver the laughs. Everyone steps up when it comes to the action, with the biggest surprise being how easily Joey King warms to the genre. Bullet Train is one of those films where you never really know what is going to happen next. It is action packed and full of suspense with just the right amount of humour. There are cameos galore which never fail to surprise and just simply add to the already star-studded cast. It may come as a surprise but Bullet Train is one of the best action films of the year. Bullet Train is currently screening in Phuket and is rated 18. 3.5/5 Stars David Griffiths has been working as a film and music reviewer for over 20 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. You can follow him at www.facebook.com/subcultureentertainmentaus Cops sorry for missing body in car BANGKOK: The Highway Police Division (HPD) has expressed regret over an incident in which its officers were accused of failing to notice a body trapped inside a wrecked car for 12 hours in Pattaya earlier this week. accidentstransportpolice By Bangkok Post Saturday 13 August 2022, 11:56AM An emergency response worker examines a car that crashed on Motorway Route 7 in Si Racha, Chon Buri on Tuesday morning. The dead driver was not discovered inside the car until almost 12 hours later. Photo::@fm91trafficpro / Twitter, Thai Truck Laemchabang / Facebook, via the Bangkok Post The family of Phattharachai Atthaporn, 68, is suing the HPD and the rescuers for their part in the oversight, reports the Bangkok Post. Mr Phattharachai was driving along a motorway heading to Pattaya on Aug 9 when his vehicle veered off the road and crashed. When police and rescuers arrived and approached the mangled wreckage they failed to notice whether Mr Phattharachai was still in the vehicle. The car was towed to the police station with the victim still inside and left there for 12 hours before the police returned and discovered the body. The HPD and the rescuers came under heavy fire for their alleged negligence, prompting the division to hold a joint press conference with the Highways Department to explain the matter on Friday (Aug 12). HPD Commander Pol Maj Gen Ekkarat Limsangkan offered his regret over the incident and said a fact-finding panel has been set up jointly with the Highways Department to investigate the oversight. He said officers initially did not see the driver and thought he may already have been taken to hospital. It was not until investigators found no hospital had admitted Mr Phattharachai that they returned to the wrecked car and discovered his body inside. Mr Phattharachais family indicated earlier that if he had been taken to hospital promptly he might have survived. Dr Pakorn Wasinrat, from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the man suffered serious injuries which may have caused death minutes after the crash. Death toll from Mountain B pub inferno rises to 18 CHON BURI: The death toll from a fire at Mountain B pub in Sattahip district rose to 18, as one more seriously injured victim was pronounced dead on Friday night (Aug 12). Saturday 13 August 2022, 12:14PM Firemen put out the fire at the Mountain B pub in Sattahip district, Chon Buri province, on Aug 5. Photo: @sawangrojana Sattahip rescue / Facebook, via Bangkok Post Siriwan Mind Wongsuk, 17, of Sattahip district, succumbed to her injuries at Thammasat University Hospital in Pathum Thani province at 9:14pm, reports the Bangkok Post. Her elder sister Sawaros Wongsuk, 27, said Siriwan had been transferred to the hospital two days after the inferno. Her younger sister had been on a ventilator and did not respond to treatment on Friday. Siriwan died peacefully on Friday night, said Ms Sawaros. The teenager had gone to Mountain B with two other friends on Aug 5. One of her friends, Phromporn Phoolsawat, 18, died at the fire-gutted pub. Siriwan sustained serious injuries and her other friend, 18, managed to escape the fire, according to Ms Sawaros. The family would bring Sriwans body for funeral rites at Wat Ransisunthorn in Sattahip. The nightclub caught fire about 1am. Thirteen people died at the blaze scene, and many were injured. Now, 28 injured people remain at hospitals, with 11 seriously hurt with extensive burns and dependent on ventilators. The death toll had increased to 17 on Thursday. King bestows royal pardons BANGKOK: More than 100,000 inmates serving time in jails nationwide will be released early or see their sentences reduced on Saturday (Aug 13) under a royal decree to mark His Majesty the Kings 70th birthday on July 28 and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mothers 90th birthday on Friday (Aug 12). By Bangkok Post Saturday 13 August 2022, 12:05PM His Majesty the King presides over a ceremony commemorating Her Majesty Queen Sirikit The Queen Mothers 90th birthday inside the Grand Palace. Photo: TV Pool, via Bangkok Post According to the decree published in the Royal Gazette on Friday, His Majesty the King has granted royal pardons on these two auspicious days to help inmates reintegrate into society as good citizens, reports the Bangkok Post. Ayuth Sintoppant, director-general of the Department of Corrections, said a total of 103,613 inmates are eligible for the royal pardons. Of them, 80,791 will have their sentences reduced and continue to serve time in jail while the rest will be released early, he said. He was also responding to reporters questions about whether some high-profile inmates such as former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom, former Democrat MP Thepthai Senpong and Pol Col Thitisan Joe Ferrari Utthanaphon are also eligible for the pardon. Boonsong was sentenced to 48 years by the Supreme Court over bogus government-to-government rice deals. In July, the Supreme Court upheld a two-year prison sentence and 10-year election ban for Thepthai for vote buying during a 2014 local government election. Thitisan was Chief of Nakhon Sawan Police Station when charged last year with murdering Chiraphong Thanapat, a 24-year-old drug suspect. The Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct initially gave him the death penalty on June 8 but commuted the sentence to life because he confessed to some charges. Mr Ayuth said that the decree stipulates the criteria and conditions for those eligible for a royal pardon or reduced sentence. Under the decree, those currently incarcerated are required to have served one-third of their sentence or a minimum of eight years, whichever occurs first, before they can be selected for consideration, Mr Ayuth said, adding that these inmates must also be categorised as excellent, very good, and good to qualify. Those who were formerly sentenced to death but later had those sentences commuted to life in prison, but have still only served less than 15 years, are not eligible for a royal pardon, Mr Ayuth said. Drug offenders sentenced to more than eight in jail or life after the decree takes effect, and repeat offenders and intermediate-grade prisoners are also not eligible to receive the dispensation, Mr Ayuth said. As for those high-profile inmates mentioned above, they are not eligible based on the conditions specified in the royal decree, Mr Ayuth said. For excellent-grade inmates convicted on general criminal offences, they will have the length of their jail term reduced by one quarter while very-good-grade inmates will have their jail term shortened by one-fifth and good-grade inmates will have theirs reduced by one-sixth, he said. Mr Ayuth said the Department of Corrections has been working with other state agencies and the private sector to rehabilitate prisoners, provide them with education and career training to prepare them for life after their release. Before their release, inmates will take part in a training programme initiated by His Majesty the King, known as Khok Nong Na: Kindness and Hope, said Mr Ayuth. The project is an agricultural model based on the New Theory of Agriculture and the Sufficiency Economy philosophy made known by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great. Senator Somchai Sawangkarn posted on Facebook on Friday, welcoming the toughened criteria for royal pardons which were recommended by a special committee recently. Set up at the behest of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and headed by Khemchai Chutiwong, a former attorney-general and chair of the committee on national reform in justice affairs, the review was a reaction to controversy over a number of high-profile inclusions on the list of inmates to have recently had their terms reduced by royal pardon. The department came under fire last year when it revealed that five high-profile figures in corruption cases including Boonsong had received substantial reductions to their sentences. Phuket marks Mothers Day with merit-making PHUKET: The formal celebrations to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother, yesterday (Aug 12) concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony at the Auditorium at Phuket Provincial hall last night. culture By The Phuket News Saturday 13 August 2022, 11:30AM The ceremony, led by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, was attended by a host of Phukets top-ranking officials and leading business people, as well as Royal Volunteers and other members of the public. At the auspicious time of 7:19pm, the governor led the offering of blessings, the lighting of candles and the singing of a song in praise of Her Majesty. The formal celebrations began yesterday with the offering of alms to monks at 7:19am, followed by a multifaith ceremony honoured by representatives of five religions at 9:09am. Among the many other activities held to honour the auspicious occasion of Queen Sirikits birthday, also celebrated throughout the country as Mothers Day, were Big Cleaning Day activities held at main beaches and popular tourist areas. The donating of blood, for many years now a tradition among many Thaias as a form of making merit, was also encouraged with a mobile blood donation clinic set up at Limelight Avenue shopping mall in Phuket Town. A special event organised for Mothers Day this year was the 30-kilometre Ride for Mom big bike ride from the Phuket Check Point at Tha Chatchai to Phuket Boat Lagoon Marina in Kow Kaew, where celebrations continued with a Mothers Day Dinner and a concert by Thai folk rock legends Carabao. More than 1,500 vehicles joined the motorcade, said Wittaya Singkala, secretary of the Phuket Bike Week Association. Proceeds from the event, which also included a fashion show featuring traditional Thai fabrics, saw proceeds go towards buying heart surgery medical equipment for Vachira Phuket Hospital. Public warned against fake government websites BANGKOK: People are being warned to remain vigilant against websites imitating the homepages of government agencies with the intent to steal sensitive data and carry out financial scams. crimetechnology By Bangkok Post Saturday 13 August 2022, 06:31AM A screenshot shows a fraudulent website that was set up to intercept traffic to the actual Revenue Department homepage. Photo / image: Bangkok Post Cybercriminals are hosting fake government websites to intercept peoples data or even hack into their mobile devices, deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said yesterday (Aug 12). Thai government website URLs only end in .go.th and not .com, she said. She presented an example of one fraudulent website with the URL https://afdw7.com, where users are urged to perform a download. Its creators were attempting to intercept traffic to the actual Revenue Department homepage, www.rd.go.th, reports the Bangkok Post. A fake Department of Special Investigation (DSI) website with the URL www.dsi-th.com was also pointed out. The page includes a link to download and install an application named DSI Security System that requires users to enter their personal information and receive a One-Time Passcode (OTP). The application itself begins siphoning user data upon installation and can even be used by its creators to take control of a users device. The actual DSI website is www.dsi.go.th. Victims of these fake websites or any online financial scam may file a report with the Royal Thai Polices Police Cyber Taskforce at thaipoliceonline.com and they will coordinate with the relevant police agencies to block any financial transactions and prepare further legal action, Ms Rachada said. All online crimes, including violations of the Computer Crimes Act, sexual offences or gambling may also be reported to the task force via the hotline 1441 and to the 08-1866-3000 call centre, which both operate 24 hours a day, she added. Singaporean tourist killed in collision with tour bus PHUKET: A Singaporean woman has died after the car she was driving collided head-on with a small tour bus carrying tourists back from Kata Beach last night (Aug 12). tourismtransportaccidentsdeathpolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Saturday 13 August 2022, 09:36AM UPDATE: Lt Col Ekachai Siri of the Phuket Tourist Police later identified the driver of the Toyota Yaris who died in the accident as Miss Ho Jia Hui Renee, 21, from Singapore. The other passengers in the car, all Singaporean nationals, were named as Mr Bryan Teo Li Yan, 30; Mr Poh Mao Xin, 23; Miss Pang Jing Ning Eliana, 21; and Ms Ng Ja Xin, 66. Of the three injured on the white Toyota minibus were the driver Mr Anirut Chomcherd, 32, of Chalong; Thai national tour guide Miss Nuengruethai Raknawa, 43; and Korean national Mr Sangmin Lee, 41. Police and rescue workers were called to the scene, on Patak Rd in Moo 4 Karon, on the west side of Kata Hill, at about 10:50pm. Police and rescue workers arrived to find a silver Toyota Yaris with its front destroyed by the impact. A small white bus had also sustained heavy damage to its front right. Four tourists, all from Singapore, were travelling in the car, police reported. The woman, who was the driver of the car, was unconscious and responsive. She was initially rushed to Chalong Hospital along with the other three Singaporeans in the car, but was pronounced dead on arrival. The driver of the bus and two guides also suffered injuries in the collision. Some of the injured were taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, police said. According to the preliminary investigation by police, the woman lost control of the car while navigating the winding road down the steep hill, resulting in the head-on collision with the small tour bus. Police are continuing their investigation into the accident. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Cloudy. Periods of light rain this morning. High around 21C. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 16C. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. EDWARDSVILLE An Alhambra woman faces multiple DUI charges after a June 8 incident. Megan A. Helfrich-Gress, 43, of Alhambra, was charged Aug. 10 with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence, both class 2 felonies; and aggravated driving under the influence while license revoked/suspended and aggravated driving under the influence, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Illinois State Police. According to court documents, on June 8 Helfrich-Gress allegedly was driving a 2004 Saturn Vue while under the influence of alcohol with a revoked license and no insurance. She has prior convictions or received court supervision for similar crimes in 2004, 2012 and 2019. Bail was set at $50,000. Other felony charges filed Aug. 11 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include: Tyrone G. Hopson, 64, of Alton, was charged with burglary, a Class 1 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on Aug. 10 Hopson allegedly entered a home in Alton to commit theft. Bail was set at $60,000. Allyson S. Vanost, 23, of Collinsville, was charged with theft over $500, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on June 29 Vanost allegedly took $7,300 from Argosy Casino Alton. Bail was set at $30,000. Kierra A. Brown, 29, of Alton, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Aug. 10 Brown allegedly took clothing valued at less than $300 from the Godfrey Walmart. She has a 2016 conviction for retail theft out of Madison County. Bail was set at $25,000. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALTON A woman was arrested Friday night in Alton following a lengthy police pursuit through the Riverbend. At about 6:30 p.m. Friday, a woman driving a Hyundai Elantra with California license plates crashed in Alton after leading police on a 45-minute pursuit. According to authorities, an East Alton Police officer tried to stop the Elantra driver who was reportedly wanted on an outstanding warrant from Woodford County. Illinois State Police broadcasts stated the driver also was wanted for aggravated battery to a police officer. For about 30 minutes the pursuit traveled through East Alton and Wood River with the Elantra doubling back onto roads it had been on. Eventually the driver entered Illinois 255 from Illinois 143 and headed north with multiple police agencies joining the pursuit. The vehicle exited Illinois 255 at Fosterburg Road and went south before crashing near the BP station at College Avenue and Fosterburg Road. At least 22 police cars surrounded the stopped vehicle. Alton firefighters called to the scene initially staged nearby because the driver had reportedly barricaded herself in her car and would not get out. With guns drawn, police surrounded the vehicle and broke out a passenger side window. Some officers used a ballistic shield to approach the car. The driver eventually allowed police to remove her from the car. She was handcuffed and examined by firefighter paramedics at the scene before being taken away. No additional information was available Friday night. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images CARLINVILLE Macoupin County State's Attorney Jordan J. Garrison on Friday announced that Joseph V. Greear, 50, of Girard was sentenced by Judge Joshua A. Meyer to 11 years and six months in prison for the Class 1 felony of unlawful possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver. At the sentencing hearing, Macoupin County prosecutors played a video of Greear admitting he supplied methamphetamine to other dealers in Macoupin County. ALTON What kind of gift do you get for a 50th birthday celebration when the recipient already has more than 225,000 items? Just your patronage, thank you very much. The Hayner Public Library District celebrated its 50th anniversary over the weekend by handing out free cookies from Altons My Just Desserts to library patrons on Friday and Saturday. It was one small way to thank the Alton area for its support over the past five decades, according to executive director Bernadette Duvernoy. The Hayner Public Library District has come a long way in the first 50 years, and we look forward to serving the Riverbend community long into the future, Duvernoy said. We are so grateful that the support of this community allows us to provide our patrons with a very high level of service. Duvernoy said the Hayner Public Library District collection contains more than 225,000 items and nearly ten million items are available through interlibrary loan within the Illinois Heartland Library System. The district also offers free e-books and audiobooks, databases and digital archives, computers and internet hotspots at all library locations, and unique learning items that can be checked out by patrons. Dedicated areas and programming for children and teens are also offered. There has been an Alton public library in some form since 1852. The Jennie D. Hayner Memorial Library opened in 1891 in the building that now houses the Genealogy & Local History Library. But what is now known as the Hayner Public Library District was formed on Jan. 25, 1972 when Alton voters approved a referendum to establish the independent library district. Prior to this election, the library had operated first as a subscription library and then a city library, said Mary Cordes, Assistant Director of Circulation and Strategic Services. During the districts 50 years, weve had to adapt to all kinds of trends and technological changes in order to maintain our relevance and usefulness to our patrons. And were excited to see what the next fifty years brings. A library center with more than 1,500 items opened in the spring of 1972 in the Godfrey Town Hall, and the new Hayner Public Library District began operating on July 5 that year. The Godfrey center featured in-person book lending, bookmobile services, childrens programming and mail-order paperback services. Ironically, just several weeks after the Godfrey library centers opening, voters in Godfrey joined Foster Township in overwhelmingly rejecting library district participation. By 1973 the library districts collection had grown to 80,000 books and periodicals, 3,000 recordings, 300 films, and subscriptions to 200 magazines and 15 newspapers. In October 1974 an open house was held to celebrate the newly-refurbished Hayner Memorial Building as the Hayner Childrens Library. The former Tri-City Grocery building at 326 Belle Street was purchased in 1978, and that building houses the current Downtown Library. The librarys Alton Square Mall branch opened in 1985. Godfrey and Foster Township finally jumped on board in March 1986 when voters approved a new referendum to join the district. The Hayner Public Library District has sought to keep patron interest fresh through the years with many innovative programs. The annual Food for Fines drive began in the late 1980s, where anyone returning an overdue item during the drive can bring a nonperishable item to donate and the fine will be erased. The program was expanded in 2001 with the annual Food for Fido program, where overdue fines can be paid with pet food donations. The Hayner Youth Library in 1995 became the first site in Illinois to launch the rod and reel loaner program in a partnership with the Urban Fishing Program of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Hayner Library is still part of the program. The Bow Wow Pow Wow program started in 2003 and allows children to read an age-appropriate short story of their choice to a certified pet therapy dog. The renovated Hayner Memorial building opened as the Genealogy & Local History Library in May 2011. The yoke of the printing press thrown into the Mississippi River the night that an angry mob murdered Elijah P. Lovejoy on Nov. 7, 1837 can be seen in the buildings lobby. The COVID-19 pandemic forced all public libraries to re-think their services, and Hayner responded by developing innovative ways to serve patrons while maintaining a safe distance. Dial-A-Story, which had first been popular in the 1970s, made a comeback. The Downtown Library and Hayner Library at Alton Square Mall started offering curbside pickup. The Genealogy & Local History Library digitized hundreds of books and photographs, and all databases were accessible remotely. The Hayner Public Library Districts half-century milestone is the result of a lot of effort by dedicated staff, volunteers and donors, including the Jennie D. Hayner Library Association, the Hayner Public Library District Board of Trustees, the Friends of Hayner Library, and patrons. The amount of strategy, effort, and creativity that has gone into the success of this library district is truly inspiring, said Lacy McDonald, Genealogy & Local History Manager. Getting to expand on the work of those who have come before me and help patrons connect to their history in this area is my absolute pleasure and feels like such an honor. WARSAW, Poland (AP) Laboratory tests following a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River detected high levels of salinity but no mercury poisoning its waters, Polands environment minister said Saturday as the mystery continued as to what killed tons of fish in Central Europe. Anna Moskwa, the minister of climate and environment, said analyses of river samples taken in both Poland and Germany revealed elevated salt levels. Comprehensive toxicology studies are still underway in Poland, she said. She said Poland's state veterinary authority tested seven species of the dead fish and ruled out mercury as the cause of the die-off but was still waiting for results of other substances. She said test results from Germany had also not shown a high presence of mercury. The Oder River runs from Czechia to the border between Poland and Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Some German media had suggested that the river have been be poisoned with mercury. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday that huge amounts of chemical waste were probably dumped intentionally into his country's second-longest river, causing environmental damage so severe it would take years for the waterway to recover. On Saturday, Morawiecki vowed to do everything possible to limit the environmental devastation. Poland's interior minister said a reward of 1 million zlotys ($220,000) would be paid to anyone who helps track down those responsible for polluting the river. Authorities in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania warned people not to fish or use water from the Szczecin lagoon, as the river's contaminated water was expected to reach the estuary area on Saturday evening. The extent of the fish die-off is shocking. This is a blow to the Oder as a waterway of great ecological value, from which it will presumably not recover for a long time, said Alex Vogel, the environment minister for Germany's Brandenburg state, along which the river runs. The head of Polish waters, Poland's national water management authority, said Thursday that 10 tons of dead fish had been removed from the river. Hundreds of volunteers were working to help collect dead fish along the German side. German laboratories said they detected atypical levels of salts that could be linked to the die-off but wouldnt fully explain them on their own. Morawiecki acknowledged that some Polish officials were sluggish in reacting after huge numbers of dead fish were seen floating and washing ashore, and said two of them were dismissed. For me, however, the most important thing is to deal with this ecological disaster as soon as possible, because nature is our common heritage," Morawiecki said. His comments were echoed by Schwedt Mayor Annekathrin Hoppe, whose German town is located next to the Lower Oder Valley National Park. She called the contamination of the river an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale for the region. ___ Follow all AP stories related to the environment at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment. BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that's being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons (205,000 liters) of fuel, state regulators and a company representative disclosed Friday. Cleanup work is ongoing from the spill that was discovered by the pipeline's operator on July 27, said Joe Hunter, Emergency Response Coordinator with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The fuel spilled into sandy soil on private ranchland near the small community of Sussex in eastern Wyoming and did not spread very far, he said. Contaminated soil was being excavated and placed into a temporary staging area, and it will be spread onto a nearby dirt road where the fuel is expected to largely evaporate, Hunter said. The line is operated by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True companies, according to an accident report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center. The company initially reported only 420 gallons (1,590 liters) had spilled, but later revised its estimate to 45,150 gallons (205,250 liters), according to a National Response Center database. Bridger Pipeline spokesperson Bill Salvin said the initial figure was based on what company personnel saw on the ground and reported immediately. The volume estimate increased as the site was excavated, he said. True and its subsidiaries have a long history of spills. In May, federal prosecutors in Montana alleged that representatives of Bridger Pipeline had concealed from regulators problems with a pipeline that broke beneath the Yellowstone River near the city of Glendive in 2015. The break spewed more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude into the river and fouled Glendive's drinking water supply. In North Dakota, federal prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office are pursuing parallel claims of environmental violations against a second True companies subsidiary responsible for a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary. Representatives of the companies have denied violating pollution laws and rejected claims that problems with the Montana line were concealed from federal regulators. The Wyoming spill was caused by a crack at a weld in the line, said Hunter, who did not know how long it was leaking before being discovered. The spilled fuel did not appear to reach any waterways and no enforcement actions for environmental violations were planned, he said. I'm not saying there wouldn't be any down the road but for right now there won't be" any enforcement actions by the state, Hunter said. It's an older pipeline and it's one of those things that happen. The 6-inch (15 centimeter) diameter steel line was installed in 1968 by the original owner and later acquired by Bridger Pipeline, Salvin said. It was last inspected in 2019, using a device that travels inside the pipe looking for flaws, and no problems were detected, he said. We're focused on minimizing the environmental impact and we're going to replace the soil and restore the land as close as possible to its original condition, Salvin said. Kenneth Clarkson with the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based group that advocates for safer pipelines, said a thorough investigation into the spill's cause needs to conducted. Its frustrating to hear of another spill by Bridger Pipeline LLC," Clarkson said. "This spill of 45,000-plus gallons of diesel into rural Wyoming negatively impacts the environment, wildlife, and surrounding communities. Violations of pipeline safety regulations would be handled separately and fall under jurisdiction of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Salvin said the agency has been notified about the spill, but officials did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. Bridger last year reached a $2 million settlement with the federal government and Montana over damages from the Yellowstone River spill. The company was previously fined $1 million in the case by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. ___ Follow Brown on Twitter: @MatthewBrownAP Fire Department breaking the law? Mari anna city officials are studying information that possibly indicates it is illegal for the city fire department to provide fire protection outside the city limits. Each city commissioner last week received a copy of a recent attorney generals opinion holding that there is no authorization under state law for a city to extend fire protection outside its boundaries. City Attorney Wayne Grant told commissioners he was in the process of determining if the opinion applied to Marianna; the opinion from Attorney General Robert Shevin was made for the city of Avon Park. In the absence of specific statutes or a court ruling, the opinion of an attorney general carries the force of law. The Marianna Fire Department answers many calls outside the city limits. A minimum charge plus an hourly rate is charged to those receiving the service. City officials recently asked the county commission to appropriate money to help pay for service. The county declined. Jackson County Floridan, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1974 Sheriff charged with unfairness by auto dealers The Marianna Automobile Dealers Association has charged Jackson County Sheriff Ronald H. Craven with improper practices, relative to the Departments purchase and sale of vehicles. The Association also alleged that the rotation of wrecker call awards is not being handled fairly. Craven was notified of the charges shortly before press time today and said he would provide a response soon. A spokesman in the Auditor Generals office said this morning that state law does not require the sheriff to purchase or sell vehicles on a bid basis (as the dealers would like), but added that an Attorney General opinion advised such transactions be handled by bid in the interest of good business. Jackson County Floridan, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1974 None killed, one injured in 15 holiday accidents No fatalities and only one serious injury in area Labor Day weekend automobile accidents were reported by FHP this morning. A Dothan, Alabama man was sent to an area hospital with a broken leg and serious cuts after his 1971 Toyota sedan overturned 10 miles north of Marianna. He was charged with driving while intoxicated. Jackson County Floridan, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1974 File pic EDWARDSVILLE A seminar geared towards family law practitioners held in May was the first in-person meeting of the Third Judicial Circuits Pro Bono Committee since 2020, and brought a large number of legal professionals who serve as volunteers in the Legal Advice Clinic in the Madison County Law Library and other legal aid organizations. The Public Interest Law Initiative and Madison County Bar association helped put on the program. I should have seen it coming. Whenever I write anything regarding President Lyndon B. Johnson, a conservative is sure to make such a remark. Youll recall in last weeks column I mentioned LBJ making the observation that Republicans are "so busy operating the trickle-down theory, giving the richest corporations the biggest break, that the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket. An irate reader posted the following statement in the comments section that follows my column on line: Hey John Dunphy: remember when your hero LBJ commented the following after the Civil Rights Act passed (which he opposed when he was in the senate, along with another one of your heroes Al Gore's father - who actually filibustered against its passage): " I'll have them [racial epithet] voting Democrat for 30 years." Wise guy that I am, I opened my rebuttal with the correction, You people can't even get misinformation right. The claim is that LBJ said, I'll have those [deleted] voting Democratic for 200 years." According to Snopes, I continued, this alleged quotation was first cited in Ronald Kessler's 1995 book "Inside the White House." Snopes investigated this purported LBJ quotation and concluded, "It wouldn't have been entirely out of character for LBJ to have said" something as crude and cynical as this, "but on balance we have to question its authenticity." While researching my reply to this readers comment, I found a fascinating article on MSNBC titled "Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist." The articles opening sentence reads: "Lyndon Johnson used the word a lot." Adam Serwer, the articles author, provides ample proof of this accusations truth as well as the political irony of LBJs use of this epithet. For example, when discussing a civil rights bill with southern politicians such as Mississippi Democrat James Eastland, who vehemently opposed such legislation, he'd simply call it the [deleted] bill. But Johnson, as Senate majority leader, helped to get that very bill the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed during Johnsons presidency. LBJ in 1967 appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Courts as its first black justice. However, in Flawed Giant, LBJ biographer Robert Dallek wrote that Johnson said he appointed Marshall rather than a less well-known black judge because when I appoint a [deleted] to the bench, I want everybody to know hes a [deleted]." I detest this word. I honestly cant recall the first time I heard it as a child, although I have a pretty good idea which relative I heard use it. Long deceased, he was an old-time Irish Catholic who, like many Irish Catholics of his generation, had little use for black people. My parents didnt particularly like the word and generally refrained from using it. I also remember hearing an expression used by members of the generation that preceded my parents. If someone was perspiring heavily, that person was said to be sweating like a [racial epithet] at election. When I grew older, my study of American history led me to assume this expression had something to do with elections that could deprive black Americans of their civil rights and possibly even endanger their lives. A bit of research proved that my suspicions were correct. In an article by Mary Jourdan Atkinson titled Familiar Sayings of Old Time Texans, which was included in Publications of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, Number IV (1925), I read Sweating like a [deleted] at election is a commentary on Reconstruction days that every Southerner understands. The Reconstruction period followed the Civil War. For a time, former Confederate states were governed by Republican coalitions of newly-enfranchised ex-slaves, white southerners who had remained loyal to the Union and white northerners who had moved South. Ex-Rebels resolved to re-establish white supremacy in their states and formed terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate black men from voting. Casting a ballot could cost a black voter his life. This white baby boomer resolved long ago not to use the word. Yes, I know it often appears in song lyrics. Yes, its replete in the dialogue of films such as Pulp Fiction. But I choose to refrain from saying it. Why? Because its hate speech distilled into just two syllables and six letters. The Government is set to rebrand nuclear power as green energy to lure reluctant investors to get behind Sizewell C. Nuclear power is included in a draft report from the Treasury laying out which energy sources are classed as eco-friendly, a sources told The Mail on Sunday. This may clear the way for big City investors, including pension funds, to invest in nuclear power, such as the planned 20billion power station on the Suffolk coast. The future: The Government is set to rebrand nuclear power as green energy to lure reluctant investors to get behind Sizewell C The issue could be one of the first big industrial decisions the new Prime Minister has to take in their first weeks in office. A consultation was expected in the summer, but was delayed. Industry sources say Britain risks falling behind other nations. Some countries in the European Union which has already classified nuclear power as environmentally friendly are scrambling to launch nuclear projects after the invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices surging. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng gave initial approval for Sizewell C in July. A final decision is due early next year. France's state-owned energy giant, EDF, is lined up to take a 20 per cent stake, with the Government expected to commit a similar amount. British Gas owner Centrica is understood to be willing to join as an equity investor. But some potential backers are wary of investing in nuclear power because of ESG environmental, social and governance concerns. Big asset managers now vie over their ESG credentials and are fearful of ploughing money into large, long-term projects such as Sizewell C while under pressure to purge their portfolios of dirty energy. But the Ukraine war and soaring energy prices have challenged the conventional ESG agenda. There is now a debate over whether previously shunned sectors such as defence and even some fossil fuel production should be rehabilitated. However, City investors want clarity from the Treasury about nuclear's official 'green' status before committing cash. Fans of nuclear power argue it is one of the most reliable forms of energy generation and, crucially, that it is low-carbon. Kwarteng, tipped to be Chancellor if Liz Truss becomes PM, is supportive of the sector. In May, the Government set up the Great British Nuclear body, which includes a 120million fund to support new programmes. Ministers want to approve eight new reactors by 2030. A source said: 'When a project the size of Sizewell C is on the table and investors want to move to 100 per cent green portfolios, they want to know if it's 'in' or if it's 'out' before they put any money in.' The Suffolk plant could power six million homes and generate electricity for 60 years though it would take nine to 12 years to build. The Mail on Sunday understands several pension funds are already considering backing it. When pressed on a Sizewell C investment last year, Phoenix Group said in correspondence seen by the MoS it had 'no plans' to back it directly, in part because its ESG rating was unclear. But the FTSE100 firm, which owns Standard Life, now says: 'If the right conditions are met and the debt has an investment grade within our risk appetite this is something we may consider.' It added that one of the major issues was still the 'wider environmental impact' of nuclear power and how it was classified. The Universities Superannuation Scheme, which manages more than 80billion of academics' pensions, said it was looking for investments in the sector. A senior industry source was 'pretty certain' the Government would classify nuclear as 'green' adding: 'Great British Nuclear will be the solution to building at scale, on time and on budget. This is the last chance for the UK. 'If we don't follow through now, we'll rapidly fall to the back end of the queue. It's scary stuff.' Alison Downes, of the campaign group Stop Sizewell C, said: 'Even if the Government pretends nuclear is green and bribes investors with guaranteed income from stretched households, Sizewell C remains high risk. 'Investors should pay more attention to EDF's financial woes, a plagued reactor design, escalating costs, lengthening build schedules and local opposition.' A Treasury spokesman said it would consult on classifying nuclear as eco-friendly 'in due course' adding: 'The Government's Energy Security Strategy made clear that nuclear energy is, and will continue to be, a key part of the UK's low-carbon energy mix alongside solar, wind and other energy sources.' The future of The Wolseley restaurant in London's Mayfair is again in doubt following the sudden closure of its sister cafe. The Wolseley counts writer Stephen Fry, model Kate Moss and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney among its many celebrity diners. It was put into administration earlier this year amid a bitter battle for control between Jeremy King, co-founder of Corbin & King, and Thailand-based Minor International, its majority shareholder. Style: Model Kate Moss is one of the celebrities who dines at The Wolseley in Piccadilly Minor eventually won with a 60million bid and Corbin & King was rebranded The Wolseley Hospitality Group. In addition to The Wolseley, it has seven other upscale restaurants in London, including The Delaunay, Colbert and Brasserie Zedel. Another, Cafe Wolseley at Bicester, Oxfordshire, closed last week. The Wolseley Hospitality Group said it had been 'forced' to shut the cafe after four years because its landlord, Value Retail, had 'taken advantage of a technicality in the lease'. The Mail on Sunday understands this relates to a 'change of control' clause that was triggered when Minor bought the business from administrators FRP Advisory. Crucially, the move means that the landlord at The Wolseley in Piccadilly, STJ Investments, could also take back its lease at some stage and even install new management if it decides to keep the flagship open. The news comes just days after The Wolseley's new owners poached Albanian-born Baton Berisha from rival D&D London, formerly Conran Restaurants, to be its new chief executive with a brief to expand in the UK and overseas. Critics say plans to franchise The Wolseley would compromise the brand. Jersey-based STJ Investments is run by the Russian-born Belgian oligarch Vladimir Zemtsov. He was also recently embroiled in a public spat with King, this time over unpaid rent built up during the pandemic. The Wolseley Hospitality Group said shutting Cafe Wolseley in Bicester was 'highly regrettable'. It declined to say what the 'technicality' in the lease was that triggered the closure but added that it did not face the same situation at its other restaurants. King, who The Wolseley Hospitality Group says is still an employee, declined to comment. STJ was also contacted. King and co-founder Chris Corbin are veterans of the London restaurant scene, having run Langan's Brasserie, Le Caprice and The Ivy before taking over The Wolseley in 2003. Glencore's former chief executive has seen the value of his shares in the commodities giant rise by more than 1.7billion. Former boss: Ivan Glasenberg Ivan Glasenberg's stake in Glencore has soared to 5.7billion in the past year as commodities prices have spiked. The surge in the value comes amid a wave of recent bribery convictions. The 65-year-old South African is the company's largest shareholder, with a 9.3 per cent stake, according to Refinitiv data. Since he retired in June 2021, the Anglo-Swiss company has pleaded guilty to a string of offences relating to a corruption scandal. A Glencore subsidiary admitted in June to shelling out 23million worth of bribes to officials in Africa to obtain preferential access to oil. A probe by the Serious Fraud Office revealed the FTSE100 firm's palm-greasing, which spanned Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and South Sudan. Glencore admitted similar offences in the US, with its global corruption fines totalling nearly 1billion. The firm's chief executive, Gary Nagle, has said he wanted to draw a line under the cases. Earlier this year, he said 'this type of behaviour has no place in Glencore'. Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said it was 'not the company it was when the unacceptable practices behind this misconduct occurred'. The investigations into Glencore kicked off under the tenure of Glasenberg, who was appointed chief executive in 2002. He took the firm public in 2011 and has since seen his net worth skyrocket. Glencore's share price stands at 4.72 after rising by more than 40 per cent in the past year. The company declined to comment. MONTGOMERY Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's office released photos of her greeting South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at an airport on Friday a day after it dismissed rumors that Ivey was having health issues just months ahead of the general election. The four photos showed Ivey, 77, with Noem beside a small jet that landed at the regional airport in Montgomery, where Noem was among the speakers scheduled to address an Alabama Republican Party fundraising dinner. Ivey was last seen in public on Aug. 2 at a groundbreaking ceremony. On Thursday, Iveys office said she remained healthy and cancer-free as it knocked down rumors that she was having medical problems. Still, the governor's office did not respond to questions asking about Iveys upcoming schedule, her whereabouts this week and whether she had been in the hospital in the past four weeks. Ivey, who easily won the GOP gubernatorial nomination without a runoff in May, announced in 2019 that she had been diagnosed with early stage lung cancer and would undergo radiation treatments. In 2020, she said the cancer appeared to be gone and that her doctor considered her free of the disease. Ivey is a heavy favorite over Democratic gubernatorial nominee Yolanda Flowers in the November general election. FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trumps Florida home this week removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday while also disclosing that prosecutors had probable cause to believe Trump may have violated the Espionage Act. The bombshell disclosures were made in a search warrant and accompanying legal documents released four days after FBI agents carried out the search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach based on a warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge. Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records at issue were all declassified and placed in secure storage. They didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago, the Republican businessman-turned-politician said. The Justice Department said in the warrant application approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart that it had probable cause to believe that Trump may have violated the Espionage Act, a federal law that prohibits the possession or transmission of national defense information. The department also said it had concerns he may have broken several other statutes related to the mishandling of government records including one that makes it a crime to try to hide or destroy government documents regardless of whether they are classified. FBI agents took more than 30 items including more than 20 boxes, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trumps ally and longtime adviser Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property showed. Also included in the list was information about the President of France. The warrant showed that FBI agents asked to search a room called the 45 Office Trump was the 45th U.S. president as well as all other rooms, structures of buildings on the estate used by Trump or his staff where boxes or documents could be stored. There are three primary levels of classification for sensitive government materials: Top secret, secret, and confidential. Top secret is the highest level of classification, reserved for the countrys most closely held national security information. Such documents usually are kept in special government facilities because disclosure could cause grave damage to national security. FBI agents on Monday collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, the documents showed. They also showed that agents collected a set of documents labeled classified/TS/SCI documents a reference to top secret and sensitive compartmented material. While a sitting president has authority to declassify materials, there was no indication in any of the documents released on Friday that Trump had done so prior to leaving office in January 2021. Aug 12 (Reuters) FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trumps Florida home this week removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday while also disclosing that prosecutors had probable cause to believe Trump may have violated the Espionage Act. The bombshell disclosures were made in a search warrant and accompanying legal documents released four days after FBI agents carried out the search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach based on a warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge. Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records at issue were all declassified and placed in secure storage. They didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago, the Republican businessman-turned-politician said. The Justice Department said in the warrant application approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart that it had probable cause to believe that Trump may have violated the Espionage Act, a federal law that prohibits the possession or transmission of national defense information. The department also said it had concerns he may have broken several other statutes related to the mishandling of government records including one that makes it a crime to try to hide or destroy government documents regardless of whether they are classified. FBI agents took more than 30 items including more than 20 boxes, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trumps ally and longtime adviser Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property showed. Also included in the list was information about the President of France. The warrant showed that FBI agents asked to search a room called the 45 Office Trump was the 45th U.S. president as well as all other rooms, structures of buildings on the estate used by Trump or his staff where boxes or documents could be stored. There are three primary levels of classification for sensitive government materials: Top secret, secret, and confidential. Top secret is the highest level of classification, reserved for the countrys most closely held national security information. Such documents usually are kept in special government facilities because disclosure could cause grave damage to national security. FBI agents on Monday collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, the documents showed. They also showed that agents collected a set of documents labeled classified/TS/SCI documents a reference to top secret and sensitive compartmented material. While a sitting president has authority to declassify materials, there was no indication in any of the documents released on Friday that Trump had done so prior to leaving office in January 2021. AN ESCALATION Mondays search of Trumps home marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations he is facing from his time in office and in private business, including a separate one by the Justice Department into a failed bid by Trumps allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election by submitting phony slates of electors. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced that the department asked Reinhart to unseal the warrant. This followed Trumps claim that the search was political retribution and a suggestion by him, without evidence, that the FBI may have planted evidence against him. The investigation into Trumps removal of records started this year, after the National Archives and Records Administration, an agency charged with safeguarding presidential records that belong to the public, made a referral to the department. On Friday, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee called on Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray to release the affidavit underpinning the warrant, saying the public needs to know. Because many other options were available to them, were very concerned of the method that was used in raiding Mar-a-Lago, Representative Michael Turner, the committees top Republican, told reporters. If the affidavit remains sealed, it will still leave many unanswered questions, Turner added. In February, Archivist of the United States David Ferriero told House lawmakers that his agency had been in communication with Trump throughout 2021 about the return of 15 boxes of records. He eventually returned them in January 2022. At the time, the National Archives was still conducting an inventory, but noted some of the boxes contained items marked as classified national security information. Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it an ordinary and routine process. He also claimed the Archives did not find anything. Since Mondays search, the Justice Department has faced fierce criticism and online threats, which Garland have condemned. Trump supporters and some of his fellow Republicans in Washington have accused Democrats of weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to target him even as he mulls another run for the presidency in 2024. In another matter, Trump on Wednesday declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York states attorney general in a civil investigation into his familys business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination. Earlier on Friday, Trump denied a Washington Post report that the FBI search of his home was for possible classified materials related to nuclear weapons, writing on his social media account that the nuclear weapons issue is a hoax. Reuters could not immediately confirm the Washington Post report. Garland has declined to publicly detail the nature of the investigation. SOURCE: REUTERS TROY - WMHT Public Media has hired a new multimedia reporter and engagement producer, Alexis Young, who started last week. She has experience with in-depth reporting, podcasting, and documentary filmmaking. Young will bring her journalistic experience to WMHTs statewide public affairs show, "New York NOW," along with creating further multi-platform media for WMHTs broadcast and digital content. Originally from Georgia, Young most recently lived in Phoenix, where she received a master's degree in mass communication at Arizona State University. She also worked as an investigative journalist at The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism; as founder, host, and engineer of the podcast A Pinch of Perspective; and at Cronkite News in Arizona as a production engineer. Shes also been a TV graphics specialist, a broadcast and audio reporter, and a video editor. The multimedia role at WMHT offers an opportunity to engage in community and political reporting. The former gives me a chance to exercise the type of journalism I entered the field for and the latter will allow for growth in a niche Im less familiar with. Im truly looking forward to utilizing all the tools political reporting equips a journalist with to further the reach of stories and voices within the surrounding communities, said Young. Her responsibilities at WMHT will include field production, digital creation, and post-production work for broadcast and digital distribution. The "New York NOW" team was just nominated in the 65th annual New York Emmy Awards for an Aug. 6, 2021 episode titled Cuomos Harassment Conundrum, AGs Report, Senate Leader Stewart Cousins. "We're thrilled to continue growing the team at 'New York NOW' to provide our viewers with the in-depth news and analysis they've come to depend on across the Empire State," said Dan Clark, managing editor of "New York NOW." "I know Alexis is going to thrive at the state Capitol, and across New York, and we're so excited to have her." ALBANY Did you remember to celebrate the anniversary of Andrew Cuomo's resignation? There was no need for a big bash. Something small would have done the trick an extra scoop of ice cream after dinner, perhaps, or a few quiet minutes enjoying the serenity that comes with knowing that a certain someone is no longer governor. Don't we all deserve a reward after his 11-year reign? Cuomo, as it turns out, marked the day by filing a lawsuit demanding that taxpayers fund his defense against sexual harassment allegations. That, apparently, is his idea of an anniversary gift. Surprise! The former governor is irked that Attorney General Letitia James rejected his request for counsel to defend him against a female trooper's sexual harassment lawsuit. His attorney, Rita Glavin, claims the refusal is another example of James' unprofessional antipathy toward the once-formidable politician. Glavin also uses the occasion to assert, once again, that James' damning report the one finding that he sexually harassed women, I mean, not the damning report about nursing home deaths amounted to a "one-sided, deeply flawed ambush" that brought on his Aug. 10 resignation, effective two weeks later. Oh, man. Do we really need to go through all this again? OK, one more time: Nobody forced Cuomo to quit. He could have remained in office and made his case to the voters, even if his fellow Democrats went ahead with impeachment hearings. Instead, he walked away, thus preventing unflattering public testimony and, perhaps, additional revelations. No matter how much the man whines and wails about the unfairness of it all, he is not a victim. I mean, please. The notion that the most powerful elected official in modern New York history could be brought down by the scheming of an attorney general is laughable. In truth, Cuomo's downfall resulted from his own arrogance and misbehavior. If he's still looking for the person to blame, there's a helpful device he can find above most bathroom sinks. More to the point, though, is the question of why New Yorkers should be asked to attempt to beat back a lawsuit also filed against State Police and top aide Melissa DeRosa, whose legal fees are being paid by the state. Cuomo could afford a top lawyer even without the earnings from that $5.1 million book deal. He's been using his campaign account to fund Glavin's work and still has more than $10 million left there. Why should we pay? Well, in the lawsuit Glavin notes 1.) that Cuomo was the governor at the time of the alleged harassment, which is obviously true, and 2.) that his alleged misconduct was "related to activities and events within the scope of his employment," which seems, to be generous, debatable. The trooper isn't suing Cuomo because of some policy decision that he made or anything he did in his official capacity as an elected official. The trooper is suing because of alleged personal behavior that, in her opinion, "came off as creepy." Here's just one example: According to the James report, the trooper says Cuomo once ran the palm of his left hand across her abdomen, to her belly button and then to her right hip, while she held a door open for him. A senior police investigator fully corroborated that account, the report also said. "I felt, like, completely violated," the trooper told investigators, "because to me, like, thats between my chest and my privates, which, you know, if he was a little bit north or a little bit south, its not good." Cuomo apologized to the trooper and her family in the video announcing his resignation. He also said he didn't remember touching the woman but said he didn't do so with sexual intent if indeed he did. "I did not mean any intimacy by it," he said then. "I just wasnt thinking. It was a mistake, plain and simple." It seems odd that Cuomo would choose the precise anniversary of those words to file the suit against James who, as it happened, spent the day deposing Donald Trump. Cuomo learned about her rejection of his request months ago, after all, but waited until the special day to make his case. Why? Could he think the timing would somehow amplify the claim that he was wronged? Could he really have believed that New Yorkers, with a year now gone, would look fondly upon a wealthy man's demand for their money? Or is he just painfully bad at anniversaries, like the misguided husband who presents his poor spouse with a romantic vacuum cleaner? Happy twentieth, sweetheart! Gee, thanks. A word of advice, Mr. Former Governor: Next year, send flowers. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill Katherine Kiessling/Times Union COLONIE An apparent flooding issue forced Barnes & Noble at Colonie Center to close until further notice Saturday morning. The cause of the flooding and the extent of damage couldn't be learned. Janitronics Facility Services, a commercial cleaning company, was working at the site Saturday afternoon. On its social media, the store apologized for any inconvenience due to the "unfortunate events," as it encouraged customers to shop online or at the Saratoga branch. The store said in a tweet it will continue to post updates on its social media channels so customers can watch for updates on reopening. NEW YORK (AP) Jon Batiste, his career soaring after winning multiple Grammys this year, is leaving his perch as bandleader of The Late Show after a seven-year run backing up host Stephen Colbert. Weve been so lucky to have a front row seat to Jons incredible talent for the past seven years," Colbert said on Thursday's show. "But were happy for you, Jon, and I cant wait to have you back on as guest with your next hit record. Louis Cato, who has served as interim bandleader this summer, will take over on a permanent basis when the show returns for its eighth season. He has been with the show since its launch. Cato has worked with the likes of Beyonce, Mariah Carey and John Legend and is working on a new album. Colbert called him a musical genius. He can play basically every instrument over there, Colbert said. Give him an afternoon, hell learn how to play Mozart on a shoehorn. Batiste has toured globally with his band Stay Human and made a memorable stop at Comedy Centrals The Colbert Report in 2014. When producers of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert were considering having a house band the following year, Batiste and Stay Human were a natural fit. The mutual respect Colbert and Batiste shared was obvious. The bandleader often cheered the comedians nightly monologue from the piano, appeared in segments and accompanied the musical guests. Batiste stuck with the gig even during the pandemic, coming up with tunes, both original and covers, on the spot. The multi-instrumentalist won five Grammys this year. Batiste composed music, consulted on and arranged songs for Pixar's animated film Soul, a mid-life crisis movie mixed with a New York jazz fantasia and a body-swap comedy. He won a Golden Globe for the music alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails; and the trio also earned the Academy Award for best original score. For their work on Soul, Batiste, Reznor and Ross won the Grammy for best score soundtrack f or visual media. ___ AP Media Writer David Bauder contributed to this report. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Public schools may soon have to provide lactation rooms for students and make other modifications to support students who get pregnant before earning their high school diploma. In new proposed regulations for Title IX, which began 50 years ago with equality in sports, pregnant students and employees would be specifically protected. The proposed regulations would strengthen requirements that schools provide reasonable modifications for pregnant students, reasonable break time for pregnant employees, and lactation space, the proposal reads. It would apply at all public schools, but only at private schools that accept federal funding. Some private schools expel pregnant students, ban them from walking at graduation or describe them as a bad example to others. But it's not just a private school battle: A New York University student said she was unable to get accommodations when she was pregnant this spring. Pregnant young women used to feel similarly ostracized at public high schools and middle schools. But in recent years, some public school officials have tried to change that, and Title IX has helped even before the proposed specific regulations about lactation rooms and other accommodations. Pregnancy was, in general, always protected because the law protects against discrimination based on gender. Babies at graduation Schenectady encourages students to bring their children to school events so that the student can attend. Children have come to the prom walk-in and graduation with their student parents; this year, at least three children posed with their student parents at the prom walk-in. While students are on maternity leave, the school provides home tutoring for six to eight weeks. At the high school, all students can make confidential appointments at the on-site Hometown Health office to get medical care. The school also has a partnership with Planned Parenthood, which offers programs. The schools dont have lactation rooms, even for teachers. And so far, no student has wanted one, said social worker Tymesia Nabors. Wed find a place to find that privacy, she said. I often give up my office for half an hour for someone (a staff member) to pump. We can work things out. One of the big issues is finding day care so students can go to school. Theres no day care at the high school, though some private day cares are within walking distance, Nabors said. There has been discussion in the past about having a day care in the building. We dont have the room, she said. That lack makes it hard for some students to participate in after-school activities or get extra help. (One student) has to leave immediately after school to pick her baby up. She cant stay after if she needs extra help, Nabors said. Every pregnant student she has worked with has graduated, she added. There are usually about seven or eight students parenting while attending Schenectady High School, she estimated. Shenendehowa created a policy to support pregnant students in 2007, with the goal of ensuring those students still had access to education. Each student can receive tutoring at home, a modified schedule for in-person school, a mix of both or any other schedule that allows them to learn. The policy also encourages students to stay in school for as long as possible before giving birth, and get homebound education when theyre unable to come to school. We do not discriminate against any student, period, and will not do so due to pregnancy, said spokeswoman Lindsay Valenti. New rules If the new regulations go into effect a process that may take more than a year every public school would have to comply with specific accommodations. Until now there werent any real protections for them, said Michael Ginsberg, the managing partner of Pattison, Sampson, Ginsberg & Griffin in Troy. The law firm has developed and implemented Title IX policies since the law passed, 50 years ago, and Ginsberg is a certified Title IX investigator. Every president usually formulates new regulations for Title IX, from greater protection for LGBTQ students to rules for college disciplinary hearings regarding sexual assault. Ginsberg called it a pendulum swinging back and forth, sometimes to the frustration of officials trying to keep up. But he sees the regulations around pregnancy as more permanent than the back-and-forth rules on transgender students and sexual assault hearings. Something like that might be more difficult to roll back than how a college or university has to handle a certain (disciplinary) hearing, he said. Teachers The proposed policy has caught teachers attention because it calls for reasonable break time for employees. In New York, employers have been required since 2007 to provide unpaid lactation time. Many states have similar laws. But teachers continue to report that in practice, that time depends on whether there are aides to help in the classroom, supportive administration and an unused space in the school. A lactation room could resolve some of the issues, but space is at a premium in most schools. Some local teachers said they have pumped in closets. Teachers have created a series of social media videos on the topic, showing the various encounters hilarious or creepy that theyve had as they try to express milk in various locations. One shows people ignoring or questioning a sign that explains why the room is unavailable. Others detail awkward conversations with students about why the teacher needs privacy in her classroom at lunchtime. Still, the New York State United Teachers said that state laws, like the 2019 law that specified that lactation is a pregnancy-related condition, have helped the union any time a school administration objected to the time or space needed for lactation. SCHENECTADY Schenectady County is reporting its first presumed case of monkeypox. The case represents the second county to have a case in the immediate Capital Region. Albany County previously reported two, the first on July 19. Ulster, Dutchess and Columbia county health officials have also reported cases of the virus. Schenectady County's public health staff are investigating and following up according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health department guidelines, a county statement Friday evening said. "Based on the information available at this time the risk to the general public is low and all potential contacts are being notified," the statement said. The county is coordinating with state and CDC "to stay up to date on monkeypox and ensure readiness should the virus spread within our community, said Legislator Michelle Ostrelich, chair of the Health, Housing & Human Services Committee. She encourages residents to learn the signs and symptoms of monkeypox, how it spreads and what to do if exposed, so they can protect themselves and their families. Symptoms can include rashes, bumps or blisters around the genitals or areas like hands, feet, chest or face. It can also lead to flu-like symptoms. Asymptomatic cases have hampered state response. Gov. Kathy Hochul declared monkeypox a state of emergency late last month to help expedite resources. The federal government has since followed suit. As of Thursday, there have been over 2,100 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the state, mostly in the New York City area. For more information about monkeypox, including symptoms, prevention strategies, and how to get tested, visit schenectadycounty.com/monkeypox. COEYMANS The state Public Service Commission this week allowed two sizable solar farms, in Schoharie and Albany counties, to move forward. At the same time, opponents of a proposed solar farm in Columbia County are appealing a lower court decision that upheld that project. They are also contesting the way the states new solar and wind projects are being approved, saying its an attack on local control. PSC members Thursday approved compliance filings for the 40-megawatt Hecate Albany farm in Coeymans and the 50-megawatt Eastpoint facility slated for Sharon, Schoharie County. Compliance filings are designed to answer questions about the impact of construction and are among the last steps before work can start or before a plant can become operational. For the Albany project, the filings were related to noise modeling as developers prepare to start work on project substations and interconnection facilities. The East Point filings will also allow the developer to move ahead with substations and interconnections. Commission members also approved filings for wind farms slated to go in Seneca, Steuben and Lewis counties in western and northern New York. The Albany project, which will be in two phases, is being built by the Chicago-based Hecate energy company while the Schoharie County project is from NextEra Energy based in Juno Beach, Fla. In another development, the town of Copake, Columbia County, is suing the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting, or ORES, over the way that office approves new solar projects. Solar and wind farms must also be approved by ORES as well as the PSC. ORES was created by the Legislature in 2020 to streamline the approval process for renewable energy projects, in order to meet state mandates for greenhouse gas reduction. Under that law, the ORES office, rather than local communities, can approve or deny a planned project. But Copake, along with other petitioners including bird-watching groups and western New York towns, contends that the ORES law is flawed. The legislation delegates rule-making power to ORES without expressly withdrawing power from political subdivisions, Copakes lawyer, Benjamin Wisniewski, argues in his filing with the states appellate court. The filing also notes that the ORES regulations were largely drafted by a company that advises solar companies, Tetra Tech. The lawsuit also references wind projects. ORES officials said they can't comment since the matter is being appealed. Some bird-watching organizations worry that massive wind towers kill too many birds who fly into them. Copake is filing an appeal after state Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch last October denied their request for a preliminary injunction to halt progress on the project. Lynch in his ruling at the time said that home rule is not unlimited. rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU TROY - Production crews for HBOs The Gilded Age will be spending the week ahead here on River and Second streets as well as continuing to have a presence filming in Albany. River Street was getting a late 19th century makeover as signs went up to recreate what Brooklyn looked liked during the Gilded Age. While storefronts were transformed along River Street between Second and Third streets, equipment was being moved into the 1888 Building at Congress and River streets for interior filming. Attention will be paid to Second Street where its anticipated that filming will be occurring at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and The Castle. Kathy Sheehan, the Troy and Rensselaer County historian, said she will be keeping an eye on locations to see if she can spot some of the series stars. Sheehan, who is based at the Hart Cluett Museum, has served as a historical source for the production providing information about Troy during the late 19th century and recommending potential filming sites. The Gilded Age was created and is written by Julian Fellowes, who also is the originator of Downton Abbey, which is set in early 20th century England depicting the British nobility. Fellowes was in Troy checking out the filming. The Gilded Age turned into a popular show for HBO during its first season that aired in January. The second season is now being filmed. While The Gilded Age crews will be in the Capital Region through the end of the August, local extras will be bussed to Philadelphia for filming of additional scenes there at the beginning of September. Extras said theyll be paid and their expenses covered for the time theyre in Philadelphia. Part of the storyline is expected to be set in Philadelphia. Traffic changes The city of Troy announced street closures that indicate where The Gilded Age will be doing its location shooting. The production is based at the Troy Atrium where actors are costumed, made up and then set out to the locations in Albany and Troy. Theyve been bussed to Albany from Troy for filming at State and Willett streets. The Troy street closures are River Street, between Third Street and Broadway, from 3 p.m. Saturday to noon Tuesday, Aug. 16. Road closures beginning Monday, Aug. 15 are Second Street, between Congress Street and Broadway, from 5 a.m. Monday to 10 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 16, Second Street, between Division Street and Congress Street, from 8 a.m. Monday to 10 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 16, State Street, between First and Second streets from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday and Division Street between Second and Third streets, 1 to 8 p.m. Monday. Then from 8 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 17 until 6 p.m., Thursday, Aug.18, the streets closed are Washington Place, between Second and Third streets, Second Street, between Adams and Liberty streets, Third Street, between Adams and Liberty streets and Second Street, between Division and Congress streets. Crews will be back in Albany at various locations for the production, city police said. The announced parking restrictions for production work are 8 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 16 until 9 p.m. Wednesday Aug. 17 on both sides of Madison Avenue from Quail Street to North Lake Avenue and both sides of North Lake Avenue from Madison Avenue to Hudson Avenue. The production resumes at Washington Park from 7 a.m. Tuesday Aug. 16 until 6 p.m. Thursday Aug. 18 with parking restricted on both sides of State Street from Henry Johnson Boulevard to Lark Street and both sides of Willett Street from Lancaster Street to State Street. Then from 7 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16 until noon Saturday Aug. 20 parking will be restricted on both sides of State Street from Lark Street to South Swan Street, both sides of Dove Street from Washington Avenue to Chestnut Street and both sides of Chestnut Street from 85 Chestnut Street to Dove Street. Finally, near the Palace Theater beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17 until 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18 parking will be restricted on the east side of North Pearl Street from Clinton Avenue to Wilson Street, the north side of Clinton Avenue from North Pearl Street to North Hawk Street and the west side of Ten Broeck Street from Second Avenue to Clinton Avenue. Filming is expected to begin in Cohoes the week of Aug. 22. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was missing in action for 10 days, and her office is being cagey about where she was and why. And its not the first time. Ivey ascended to governors office in 2017 following the resignation of scandal-ridden Robert Bentley, and soon began assembling a campaign to seek a full term in the 2018 election. Within a year of winning that race, Ivey quietly slipped out of public view, prompting the capital press corps to inquire of her whereabouts. The governors office issued a statement saying Ivey was fine. Some time later, Ivey announced shed been diagnosed with lung cancer. Three months after surgery, her doctors stated she was cancer-free. Since Aug. 2, Ivey, who turns 78 in October, has had no public appearances, and Goat Hill has been abuzz with conjecture about the governors health. Kyle Whitmire, a political reporter with al.com, wrote that hed inquired about the governor repeatedly, getting no response from the governors office. On Thursday, Iveys communications director Gina Maiola issued a statement to set the record straight: Governor Ivey is doing great, Maiola said. On Friday, Ivey surfaced to greet South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at the airport. The people of Alabama need more than the same vague assurances that preceded an announcement of a cancer diagnosis three years ago. In less than three months, voters will go to the polls to choose between Ivey and two challengers to determine who will warm the governors seat for the next four years. Before Alabama voters go to the polls, they deserve to know where Ivey was, why she was incommunicado, and whether shes physically and mentally capable of fulfilling the duties of the governors office. ALBANY When Noteworthy Resources founder and executive director Tatiana Gjergji first toured the warehouse space on 930 Broadway that would become the nonprofit's new community center, she had doubts. She couldnt picture an indoor skate park fitting into the space as she snaked through the tight paths past stacks of construction supplies stored by Redburn Development. But with the growing popularity of Noteworthys monthly Skate Albany program held at Albany Skate Park in Washington Park, and no indoor park within a 100-mile radius since Shelter Skate an indoor park on Commerce Avenue in Albany went out of business in 2011, she felt the park was a must. Now the warehouse is filled with a loading-dock concert venue, communal workshop space and the framework of the future Endure Skate Park. Gjergji hopes the skate park the major unfinished element of the volunteer-led organizations ambitious new community center can open in mid-October, pending funding. Noteworthy Resources provides community resources through support groups, workshops and events, including clothing swaps; business seminars; "You Are Worthy," a self-esteem building program for students; and Skate Albany, which began in 2020 as a meet-up and evolved to monthly skate sessions and lessons. An indoor park would give Noteworthy's skaters a place to go when winter hits. Noteworthy committee member Tiger Coleman was contracted to build the park. Hes not totally a one-man team; volunteers lend a hand, like skateboard fan and handyman Dan The Ramp Man King who helps out for free whenever he can. Most days, though, its just Coleman until funds disappear. We've raised enough money through donations and sponsorships and other great little grants here and there that I have been able to pay Tiger, Gjergji said. But once the money runs out, hell have to stop. The skate park will cost $95,000 in total, but that only covers the cost of materials and Colemans labor. Once the park is built, it needs to be insured. If Noteworthy Resources wants the park to be available to both skaters and bikers, the organization will need to pay for two separate insurance policies. Because bikers ride alongside skaters at Skate Albany events, Gjergji wants them to be included at Endure, but she worries both policies will be too expensive together in the early stages. Gjergji hopes the Adopt-A-Ramp Skate Soiree fundraiser on Aug. 20 will attract investors. The event will take place at the new center, and tickets cost $125. Itll feature food and drinks, live music, raffles and five local artists using recycled material from the skate bowl to create artworks inspired by the word endurance, a nod to the future skate parks name, which was created by committee member and skate instructor Andrew Donnelly. Once I heard endure I was like, That sounds like indoor, and you have to endure skateboarding to be a part of it, Donnelly said. Noteworthy hasnt had to endure the challenges of transitioning to a larger space alone. Assemblymember Patricia Fahy worked to secure $125,000 in state grants to support the new center. Rare Form Brewing in Troy and Saratoga Eagle beverage distributor donated beer and water respectively for the fundraiser, and sound equipment, furniture and snacks were donated by people in Noteworthys network. Redburn Development, which owns the warehouse, is waiving rent for the first year to help the organization find its footing in the new space. Gjergji, a first-generation Albanian-American and daughter of refugees, didnt expect skateboarding to become a part of Noteworthys programming when she founded it in 2017. She grew up in the Bronx and the Catskills, working in the restaurant industry with two parents pursuing the American dream. My parents were constantly working, she said. They couldn't afford having a manager to help them (with the restaurant), so they really relied on community resources. That motivated her to found Noteworthy Resources, which initially focused on mental health support groups and educational workshops. Skating always interested her, though stereotyping, gender discrimination and protective parents made it hard for her to skate growing up. She finally bought her first board from Seasons Skate Shop on Lark Street in 2013, and when she met her then-boyfriend, now fiance in 2018, she found her skating community. In June 2020, a skater from East Greenbush reached out about organizing an LGBTQ and womens skate event with Noteworthy with two days notice. Gjergji didnt expect many people to show up to a last-minute event, but it ended up being a hit and evolving into Noteworthys Skate Albany program and now Endure. [Skate Albany] is getting the most attention because it's different, Gjergji said. No one else around here implements mental, emotional and social support through skateboarding. This article was updated on Aug. 15, 2022 to include Assemblymember Fahy's involvement. SARATOGA SPRINGS Jockey Dylan Davis has drawn a suspension of seven racing days for his ride aboard Montatham in the seventh race at Saratoga on Wednesday. The 27-year-old journeyman, who is a native of Saratoga Springs, will be absent from the track from Aug. 17-25. The stewards ruled Davis was careless while riding Montatham when the horse crossed over on On Our Way Boyz, causing the horse to clip heels. The sentence was reduced from nine days to seven when Davis waived his right to appeal. Sackatoga Stable gets win New York-breds that compete slightly below the state-bred stake level also had their opportunities to visit the winners circle on the Friday card. Sackatoga Stables daughter of Tonalist, Tapple Cider, took the fourth race for trainer Barclay Tagg and jockey Dylan Davis, getting managing partner and Saratoga Springs resident Jack Knowlton back in the winner's circle. He spent plenty of time there with Funny Cide and Tiz the Law in past years. In the first race, Im Just Kiddin, a daughter of Justify, justified her backers faith when she won at odds of 4-5 for jockey Jose Ortiz and trainer John Kimmel. Preferred Partners stable and trainer Linda Rice took the ninth race with Smokin Hot Kitty, a daughter of Kittens Joy from Smoke Signals. It was Rices fifth win of the meet and Jose Lezcanos third of the afternoon and eighth of the meeting. Brown captures pair Mechanicvilles Chad Brown scored a training double when Klaravich Stables Run Up the Score took the second race under Manny Franco and Peter Brants Bahamian Club took the seventh for leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. Brown, a four-time national training champion, has 25 victories so far this season. Saratoga Special Gulfport is the 4-5 morning-line favorite in a field of five classy 2-year-olds entered for Saturdays $200,000, Grade II Saratoga Special. The regally bred son of Uncle Mo from Fame and Fortune will be seeking his third straight win. Joel Rosario will take the riding assignment from trainer Steve Asmussen. Gulfport got his name from owner Terry Greens hometown in Mississippi. Green, a casino operator, uses the nom de course Jackpot Farm. The colt debuted with a seven-length win at Churchaill Downs and the repeated with a 12 1/4-length victory in Churchills Bashford Manor. Love Reigns mended Love Reigns has fully recovered from a minor illness she contracted after a trip to the Royal Ascot meeting in England early this summer. The daughter of U.S. Navy Flag breezed a half-mile over the turf course at the Oklahoma Training Track in 48.66 seconds Friday morning in preparation for a start in the $150,000 Bolton Landing on Aug. 21. The work was her fourth since her return from Ascot for her regular trainer, Wesley Ward. The Kentucky based trainer also was on hand to supervise the work of Illegal Smile as she tuned up for the $150,000 Smart N Fancy, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for older fillies and mares that is carded for Aug. 20. Kingsley Creek scratched Kingsley Creek balked at being loaded into the starting gate for Fridays first race. After she reared up and threw apprentice rider Jose Gomez to the track, the stewards ordered the filly scratched. Gomez bounced up and fulfilled his riding engagements for the rest of the day. In this quick post we check local public safety reports that increasingly impact the NEXTGEN along with info on recent police action and crime reports from across the metro. As always, we try to find a bit of good news to finish the compilation. Check TKC news gathering . . . Man convicted of dragging Iowa police officer with car charged with assaulting KC officer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A man previously convicted of dragging an Iowa police officer with a car is facing new charges in Jackson County. Daton Petrey is accused of assaulting a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer on Monday near 22nd and Vine streets. Jackson County prosecutors charged Petrey with felony assault and resisting arrest. Gunfire sends one man to hospital with life-threatening wounds. KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One man is in critical condition after being shot about 9:45 Friday night in the 3500 block of Spruce Avenue in KCMO. No word on what led to the violence. Detectives were at the scene late Friday gathering information and looking for evidence. Kansas City, Missouri, detective alleges he was demoted after reporting coworker for conducting illegal search KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A detective in the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department alleges he was retaliated and discriminated against for reporting a coworker for conducting an illegal search. Arthur Willingham, who worked as a KCPD narcotics detective from September 2005 until Feb. 3, 2022, filed a lawsuit against the Board of Police Commissioners of Kansas City. Shawnee, Kansas, City Hall struck by gunfire early Friday morning Workers arriving at City Hall in Shawnee, Kansas, were in for an unfortunate surprise early Friday morning. They found a window and glass door both damaged from apparent gunfire.Police said officers were first called to a home in the 13400 block of Johnson Drive around 1 a.m. Authorities increase reward for information in 2021 homicide at Matney Park in KCK KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Nearly one year after Skylar Needham was fatally shot at Matney Park in Kansas City, Kansas, authorities still need the public's help with information that can lead to an arrest in his death. Police found Needham shot to death inside a car early in the morning of Aug. Kansas City mothers who have lost children to homicide gather and share grief, hope Raven Bridges lost her son Kamari Bridges on Halloween night 2021. He was shot and killed near Prospect Avenue and East 54th Street. "A friend of mine came and started banging on the door, telling me that Kamari got shot in the chest, and he's on his way to St. To keep students safe, Johnson County schools get new emergency buttons and door locks The Shawnee Mission School District is adding an extra layer of security to its buildings this school year after recent mass shootings that heightened anxieties over school safety. At its meeting Monday, the Shawnee Mission Board of Education unanimously approved spending up to $250,000 to install hard wired, button-controlled door locks at the main entrances of the district's elementary and middle schools. PAL Center Provides Hundreds With School Supplies In addition to receiving notebooks, calculators, and traditional supplies, students ranging from elementary school to high school received haircuts, physicals, and pizza. A BookMobile also provided books. This was the 9th year that PAL handed out school supplies. Developing . . . Recently . . . Kansas Catholic dioceses took an embarrassing "L" on an abortion ballot issue and the faithful might be just a bit peeved about their churches spending hundreds of thousands of bucks on culture war politics whilst so many houses of worship crumble. Meanwhile . . . Southern Baptists claim the feds are knocking at their doorstep over abuse allegations. As the American culture war intensifies there's no doubt that religion is no longer sacrosanct despite constitutional protections. And so we turn to a local scribe on the topic of faith & morals to unpack his perspective on the constant struggle to render unto Caesar with hopes that something sacred can be spared . . . The idea of church-state separation in the U.S. should not keep religious voices out of the public square. Rather, it should keep the government from interfering in religion. That said, there are -- and should be -- restrictions on what houses of worship can do politically if they are to retain their non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service. Pastors, for instance, should not endorse specific political candidates from the pulpit. And yet in many ways faith communities are inevitably engaged in politics. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . And so . . . Once again Kansas City, Missouri continues along a historically deadly path as the quotient of local killing steadily trends upward. A quick question . . . WHAT DID YOU NOTICE KCMO POLITICOS TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK??? IT PROBABLY WASN'T THE ONGOING HOMICIDE CRISIS!!! In fact, most of what we heard was connected to bike lanes, midterm election politics and delightfully snarky comments about the former Prez and his followers. Sure . . . There's an ongoing debate with the Missouri GOP about police funding but most residents realize that money alone won't solve this crisis . . . And, in fact, Missouri Republicans claim that they're advocating more funding for embattled KC police who continue to suffer staffing shortages. All of these topics are worthy of consideration as our elected leaders in KCMO are have some culpability amid 4 YEARS OF HISTORICALLY HIGH HOMICIDE NUMBERS WITH NO NEW PLAN TO CURB THE TREND and our local media is only willing to blame faraway Republicans in Jeff City & D.C. for this deadly crisis. For now . . . Let's consider the latest report regarding a shooting turned deadly this morning . . . Homicide 1900 block of Independence Ave. This morning just before 10am officers were dispatched to the convenience store at 1900 Independence on a shooting call. On arrival officers located two adult shooting victims in the parking lot of the business. EMS responded as well for treatment. One victim, an adult male, was transported to the hospital for treatment of what is thought to be non-life threatening injuries. The second victim, an adult female, was declared deceased at the scene by EMS. Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred outside the business in the parking lot. There is no suspect or suspect vehicle information available at this time. Detectives are canvassing for witnesses and crime scene investigators are processing the scene for evidence. If anyone was in this area and saw anything and has not talked to detectives yet,they are asked to call the Homicide Unit directly at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in this case. Independence Avenue is closed in both directions (in the vicinity of this crime scene) for this investigation and scene processing. ######################### Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . 1 dead, 1 injured following shooting at gas station in KCMO KANSAS City, Mo. - The Kansas City Police Department is investigating a shooting that left one person dead and another injured. Police were called to a BP Gas Station located at Independence Ave and Maple before 10 a.m. on a shooting call. This is breaking news and FOX4 will keep you updated when information becomes available. One dead in double shooting at Indep/Maple Blvds Kansas City MO police are reporting a double shooting that left one person dead at the BP station at Independence and Maple Boulevards. Woman dead, man at hospital after shooting outside KC gas station SOURCE: KMBC A woman is dead and a man is injured after a deadly shooting at a Kansas City gas station. Officers were called to a convenience store on Independence Avenue Saturday morning around 10:00 for a shooting call.They found two adults shot in the parking lot of the business. Developing . . . Vietnams fuel reserves are too meager to meet actual demand, and a large increase is needed to ensure fuel security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has warned. The country maintains a reserve of 370,000 cubic meters, which translates into 6.5 days consumption, and this is too low, it said in a recent report. The fuel is kept at 24 locations by the countrys biggest fuel distributors since the government does not have its own storage. For the last five years Vietnam has never needed to use this reserve, but the ministry cautioned about unpredictable and urgent regional and global developments. It wants to quadruple the reserve into a months requirement by 2025. Fuel distributors are required to maintain stocks to meet 20 days demand. But in January-February this year, when one of the countrys two refineries had to cut production due to a cash crunch, they were not maintaining the 20-day supply and this led to a shortage in the market, the ministry said. Gasoline prices surged by nearly 38 percent for the year by June to VND32,870 ($1.40) per liter. It has now dropped to the same level as in January, VND24,660. People are seen at a Manulife event. Photo courtesy of Manulife Manulife Financial Corp saw the number of agents in its China and Vietnam businesses drop in the second quarter to the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2019, due to increased regulation and lingering pandemic challenges, contributing to a decline in sales in the key region. The number of agents in Manulife's "Asia Other" segment, which consists of mainland China, Singapore, Vietnam and other emerging markets, fell to 99,567 in the three months ended June 30, from 114,309 in the previous quarter. These markets accounted for 87% of all agents in Asia. Talent shortages that have hit most sectors globally have been exacerbated in some markets in Asia - where Manulife, Canada's biggest life insurer, aims to derive half of all core earnings from by 2025 - by local factors including more stringent regulations. Manulife Asia Chief Executive Damien Green attributed the decline to economic headwinds due to the pandemic, a push to boost the professionalism of agents, and the introduction of new product and sales practice regulations in China. Attorneys are now trying to determine what action, if any, can be taken in response to the g Russian invaders launched yet another missile attack on Kramatorsk, killing at least two civilians and injuring 13 more. "Yet another attack on Kramatorsk: it is known for certain about two killed and 13 injured civilians. At least 20 buildings were damaged in the strike, and a fire broke out in the private sector. Law enforcement officers and rescuers work at the scene," Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, posted on Facebook. Kyrylenko released a video from the scene. He noted that the final consequences of the strike had yet to be established and again called on the residents of the region to leave. "I ask everyone: don't be a target for the Russians! Evacuate in time!" the head of the region urged. As reported, the aggressor shells Donetsk region, killing and injuring citizens, destroying civilian infrastructure of the populated localities of the region. The enemy hits schools, hospitals, shopping centers, markets, kindergartens, and residential buildings. There has been no gas supply in the region for a long time, and water supply in many localities. On August 11, the Russian army attacked Donetsk region 37 times, targeting a residential sector and the territory of a coke and chemical plant. Civilians were killed and injured. Illustrative photo ol Russia is attempting to restart or expand the operation of its military-industrial complex to wage a prolonged war in Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said this in its latest report published on its website, according to Ukrinform. The American experts say that the Kremlin is reportedly attempting to mobilize industry to support prolonged war efforts in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that the Kremlin initiated the industrial mobilization of the defense enterprises in early August, banning some employees and the entire leadership at the Russian state industrial conglomerate company Rostec from taking vacations. The military-industrial commission of the Russian Federation, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is preparing to change the state defense order program by early September to increase expenditures by 600-700 billion rubles (approximately $10 billion). At the same time, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu likely visited the Uralvagonzavod factory, the largest tank manufacturer in Russia and the producer of Russias T-72 main battle tanks, on August 12. It is noted that Uralvagonzavod faced financial issues due to Western-enforced sanctions and failure to meet state contract obligations. If true, Shoigus visit could suggest that the Kremlin is attempting to restart or expand the operation of the military-industrial complex, the ISW said. In addition, on June 30, an amendment to the federal laws on Russian Armed Forces supply matters was submitted to the Russian State Duma. The amendment obliges Russian businesses, regardless of ownership, to fulfill Russian military orders and allows the Kremlin to change work conditions for employees. Putin signed the amendment on July 14, which indicates that the Kremlin will continue to introduce more measures to expand the Kremlins direct control over the operations of Russias military-industrial complex. On February 24, Russia began a new phase of the eight-year war against Ukraine a full-scale offensive. The enemy massively shells and bombs Ukrainian cities and villages. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Territorial Defense Forces, and the entire Ukrainian people effectively resist the Russian troops and inflict heavy losses on them. iy Russian troops killed five civilians and injured 35 more in Donetsk region on August 12. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, said in a Telegram post, Ukrinform reports. "On August 12, the Russians killed five civilians in Donetsk region: two in Kramatorsk, one in Bakhmut, one in Kurakhove, and one in Kodema. 35 more people were injured," he wrote. Overall, total of 728 civilians have been killed and 1,880 injured in Donetsk region since the Russian full-scale invasion started. The regional governor noted that it is currently impossible to determine the exact number of casualties in Mariupol and Volnovakha. iy Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said he initiates an appeal through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the participating countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the Ramstein format) with the request to send experts in military justice and specialists in countering war crimes to Ukraine. According to Ukrinform, the minister said this in a Facebook post. He said the responsibility of the Russians for war crimes would be inevitable. Reznikov recalled that the defense forces of Ukraine issued a joint statement on August 12 to draw the attention of the world to the situation with Ukrainian POWs, first and foremost, the defenders of Mariupol, as the Russian authorities are committing their massacre in violation of all laws and customs of war. "The brutal mass killing of Ukrainian POWs by Russian invaders in Olenivka once again demonstrated the criminal and inhuman nature of everything that the Kremlin is trying to bring upon our land. The nature from which we are protecting not only Ukraine, but the entire free world," he wrote. "I have no doubt that after Ukraine's victory in this war, we will, one way or another, catch all those involved in these barbaric killings and tortures. Representatives of the Ukrainian defense forces have repeatedly and very clearly expressed their position on this matter. Sooner or later, it will happen," he said. At the same time, Reznikov said, the response should be not only fundamental, but also systematic. A demonstration that punishment will be inevitable and without any statute of limitations must become an important component of combating war crimes. First of all, this applies not to ordinary executors, but the persons who give orders, encourage or justify those crimes, he said. Also, no one has canceled the responsibility of those who spread lies and hatred. Nuremberg practices are extremely helpful in this regard. Reznikov also added: "For this to become reality, among other things, we must remain cool-headed and propose a system of legal measures to respond to war crimes in a war the likes of which Europe has not seen in 80 years. A system containing elements which may not be fully covered by current legal norms." He said that having deliberately committed mass murder in Olenivka, Russia intentionally violated Hague Convention IV respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (with annexed Regulations); Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This crime, apart from the reaction of such institutions as the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, requires a decisive reaction of the United Nations, Reznikov said. "That is because we are talking about intentional disregard of recognized international customary law, to which all the Geneva Conventions belong under UN Security Council resolution of 1993. It is the UN that must force Russia to allow Red Cross representatives to visit Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka," he added. According to the minister, bringing criminals to justice should become part of the common efforts of the international coalition that opposes Russian aggressors. That is why he initiates an appeal through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the participating countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the Ramstein format) with the request to send experts in military justice and specialists in countering war crimes to Ukraine. The goal is to establish international groups that will help with the work on specific cases of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and also analyze the practical aspects of punishment for war crimes containing many hybrid elements. "Coordination in the sphere of punishing Russian criminals may become an important addition to the work on weapons assistance, where Ramstein has already demonstrated outstanding results thanks to the leadership of a great friend of Ukraine and my friend, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III," Reznikov wrote. In the same way, he said he had addressed the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Robert Spano, on the need to interpret Articles 2-3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms given the existing conditions and circumstances of terrible crimes of the Russian Federation against Ukrainian POWs. Such interpretation may take place in the context of considering the particular case of Ukrainian POWs. A decision in that case may become a pilot case for all future cases. "Russia is being rebuffed on the battlefield, in the informational, economic and energy spheres. The legal front should send a clear signal to the kremlin and all those involved in the aggression against Ukraine that will not be able to sneak away or hide. The only chance to save at least some future perspective for the relevant persons in Russia is to immediately stop the participation in this criminal aggression and mitigate the consequences with concrete actions. Its not worth hesitating. After another savage act of the Russian invaders or a public outrage against our soldiers, like the 'trial' which is planned in Mariupol, are reducing the chances to insulate yourself from this barbarism and increasing the risks of assuming full responsibility," Reznikov said. Finland will take part in the reconstruction of the Chernihiv region. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said this in a Telegram post following a video call with Finnish Ambassador to Ukraine Paivi Laine, Ukrinform reports. "We agreed on the specifics, in particular, Finland's participation in the reconstruction of the Chernihiv region. [...] Finland sincerely wants to help the Chernihiv region. The government and private companies are working on this. We are ready to provide our partners with all the necessary information on objects that need to be rebuilt. First of all, these are residential houses, schools, hospitals and utility networks," Tymoshenko said. He specified that the Chernihiv region needs the rapid restoration of more than 4,479 residential buildings - 1,029 apartment buildings and 3,231 private houses. Tymoshenko presented Laine with a plan for the construction of housing for displaced persons. According to Tymoshenko, this plan was developed together with several well-known architectural bureaus, and the relevant documentation has already been prepared. It foresees the construction of five-story residential buildings within five to six months in 16 regions of Ukraine - 2,000 apartments in each region. "Their cost, including all the furniture and equipment, will be about $7,000 per square meter. After the de-occupation of the territories and reconstruction of the housing stock, people will be able to return to their homes, and these apartments will be handed over to the military, medics, and police officers," he added. He thanked the friends of Ukraine for their joint work on the reconstruction of the state. The Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the Chernihiv region from Russian invaders in April. August 12, 2022 | 06:00 pm PT Through adversity and two years of sheer resilience, every IB Diploma student from International School Ho Chi Minh City's class of 2022 has flourished in their own way. As one of the leading international schools in Vietnam, ISHCMC has a rich 28-year history of student achievement. The class of 2022 was no exception, with one student, Seoyeon Hong, achieving a perfect score of 45 points in the IB Diploma. Mike Hebert, ISHCMC director of admissions and market growth, said: "The result puts her in the 99.7th percentile among students studying the IB Diploma Program globally. That is a true testament to the education students at ISHCMC are receiving and one that the whole community is proud of." Seoyeon Hong, who achieved a perfect score. Photo courtesy of ISHCMC Another student that has flourished under ISHCMC's educational environment is Junsoo Chung. Junsoo Chung joined ISHCMC in grade 2. Junsoo recounts: "I arrived at school with no English language. On my first day, a classmate shared with me a copy of "Star Wars," that book helped me kickstart my English skills." Junsoo is one of many recent graduates from ISHCMCs class of 2022 and is a shining example of the ISHCMC learner. As the president of the ISHCMC Entrepreneur Society, he has networked with people from different backgrounds and engaged with diverse perspectives. Having received 42 points in the IB Diploma Program, scoring a 7 (the highest grade possible) in Biology, Mathematics Analysis & Approaches, and Business Management, Junsoo hopes to take what he has learned at ISHCMC and apply it to his further education at Boston College. His ultimate goal is, "to work with an NGO and institutionalize climate education in Southeast Asia. "I want to make sure every school has a climate curriculum," he explains. Junsoo Chung. Photo courtesy of ISHCMC The IB Diploma Program also allowed Japanese student, Karen Oda, the opportunity to flourish. Joining in grade 9, Karen found life at ISHCMC to be incredibly rewarding. "Art was my favorite subject - it allowed me to express not only myself but my individual culture." Scoring a total 30 points means Karen has been given an unconditional offer to the University of Adelaide, ranked in the Top 100 universities in the world, to study Nutrition. As she looks back on her education she says: "I am very grateful that ISHCMC gave me the opportunity to discover my passion." Karen Oda. Photo courtesy of ISHCMC A member of ISHCMC's swimming team and long serving house captain, Drew Moreno explains, "there's always been a culture of care at ISHCMC and I think that's really important when you move to a new school. The school has changed so much since I arrived 11 years ago but its sense of community has stayed the same." Having achieved 37 total points and a 7 in his Environmental Systems & Societies subject, Drew has accepted an offer to Wheaton College where he will be furthering his passion for environmental sustainability. "ISHCMC allowed me to discover passions I didn't think I had and the teachers have always made it really easy to reach out to them," he said as he reflected on his time at school. Graduation day for the ISHCMC class of 2022. Photo courtesy of ISHCMC ISHCMC, an international school in HCMC offering the full International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, recognizes the important role education plays in allowing students to make choices in often complex and ambiguous environments. ISHCMC utilizes the flexibility of the International Baccalaureate programs to encourage an inclusive, broad and balanced approach to learning through inquiry, exploration of concepts, principled and caring citizenship, creative problem solving, collaboration, communication and connectivity. Through the Primary Years Program, Middle Years Program and Diploma Program, students like Seoyeon, Junsoon, Karen, Drew and others develop the foundational skills that prepare them for excellence long after they leave school. The IB programs provide an education that enables learners to make sense of the world around them resulting in internationally-minded people, equipping them with the skills and dispositions needed for taking responsible action for the future. Furthermore, the education at ISHCMC at all grades crosses disciplinary, cultural, national, and geographical boundaries. Kim Green, ISHCMCs head of school, explains: "Students are encouraged to learn the skills and attitudes necessary to have ownership and take responsibility for their learning and their lives." Green goes on to say that "Through learning in a collaborative, constructive environment our students deepen their understanding and create new perspectives that prepare them for life beyond ISHCMC." Rostyslav Smirnov, Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, supposes that the invaders may go on a counteroffensive to try to seize the entire territory of Kherson region ahead of the "referendum" in the temporarily occupied territories of the region. As Smirnov said during the nationwide news telethon, the invaders have no intention to hold "referendum" in Kherson region in an online format. "That's what they call it, online. They will just show the number of votes and that's it. Therefore, they need to prove a certain victory. And precisely for this purpose, we think that the enemy may try to go on counteroffensive just ahead of the referendum and capture Kherson region in its administrative borders as they have not yet captured the entire region," Smirnov explained. In this regard, he stated that "its always easier to defend than to attack." "Against the background of [our] defensive actions and offensive actions of the enemy, we will be able to inflict significant losses on them, and then, indeed, to go on counteroffensive and regain the south," the adviser to the interior minister noted. According to him, in the near future, the south will be the hottest region on the front. Smirnov noted that the Russians had redeployed up to 90% of its assault troops to the south of Ukraine because they were afraid of losing their positions. Moreover, since the bridges in Kherson region were damaged, the logistics of the Russians in this area of the front are extremely difficult. "We know that they set a pontoon crossing near the Antonivka Bridge. But we have to understand that a pontoon crossing does not replace a bridge and the speed of redeploying equipment is much slower. We know that the personnel are transported by barges among other means... This will definitely not replace the logistics that existed when the bridge functioned," he said. ol Border guards and the Defense Forces members destroyed two Russian trucks and personnel in Slovyansk direction. "The border guards and the Defense Forces members detected the movement of Russian equipment on the opposite bank of the Siverskyi Donets River. The service members destroyed two trucks and personnel of the occupiers with anti-tank grenade launchers," the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine posted on Telegram. At an observation post, the fighters spotted an enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group that was trying to cross the river. The border guards opened fire, after which the enemy retreated with losses, the State Border Guard Service informs. As reported, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 43,400 Russian soldiers from February 24 to August 13. ol It is necessary to convince the United Nations to send its mission to the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, while the member states should determine who is ready to deploy forces to stabilize the situation and make Russia pull its military from the nuclear facility. Thats according to James Bezan, Member of the Canadian House of Commons, who spoke with Guildhall, Ukrinform reports. Im not surprised to again see them threatening to bomb the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, they did it in Chornobyl at the beginning of the war. They dont care about the humanitarian disaster they are about to create by bombing nuclear facilities, they dont care about the environmental impact. All he (Vladimir Putin - ed.) cares about is inflicting as much pain and misery as possible on people of Ukraine, MP said. Noting the highly sensitive nature of the latest developments around the ZNPP, the legislator said the UN, OSCE, and IAEA have to intervene and get Russia to back out. Bezan added that the UN must be convinced to send a peacekeeping mission to the ZNPP to resolve the situation. It should then be voted to determine which countries are prepared to provide peacekeeping troops to secure that facility, the lawmaker noted. Earlier, reacting to the threat around the ZNPP, members of the British Parliament, French Senate, German Bundestag, as well as the parliaments of Finland and Estonia, advocated the introduction of a special UN security mission to the ZNPP. The head of the Defense Committee of the French Senate, Guillaume Gontard, said that Russia is using the ZNPP as a weapon of war, and called for an immediate UN special security mission to be sent to the site to resolve the situation. Member of the Bundestag with the CDU/CSU Roderich Kiesewetter stressed that the accident at the ZNPP could lead to an unprecedented nuclear disaster and catastrophic consequences for the whole world, and called on the UN to consider the introduction of a special security mission at the ZNPP, adding that Russia should be stripped of its veto right at the UN. Member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament, Lord Meghnad Desai, also said that in the face of the threat of a nuclear catastrophe due to Russia's actions at the ZNPP, a special UN security mission should be introduced there. Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) Marco Michelson said that Russia's actions at the ZNPP are acts of nuclear terrorism. He noted that the Russian Federation should immediately stop such activities and give the UN or the IAEA access to the facility to ensure nuclear safety. Member of the Finnish Parliaments Defense Committee, Anders Adlercreutz also demanded that the Russian armed forces immediately leave the ZNPP and provide access to the site for the IAEA. Memo. On August 5, Russian invaders fired at the Zaporizhia NPP, hitting a high-voltage power line and causing an emergency fuse to go off at one of the power units. Three strikes were recorded at the station site, close to a power unit where the nuclear reactor is located. The Russian armed forces seriously damaged the nitrogen-oxygen station and the joint auxiliary building. On August 6, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that the Russian invaders had mined the ZNPP site. On August 8, a Russian military official in a statement said the invasion forces would blow up the mined ZNPP if forced to retreat, as the Energoatom nuclear operator reported. The Office of the President of Ukraine called on the UN and IAEA to send special missions to the ZNPP to stabilize the situation. The Russian Federation treats residents of the occupied Donbas as inferior people. Mobilization in the puppet republics has turned into slavery as men who are being deployed to the front lines are literally being sent for slaughter. Thats according to MoD spokesperson Andrii Yusov, the Ukrainian defense intelligence reported on Telegram, as seen by Ukrinform. "We clearly see the attitude of both the Russians and the Russian Federation towards the residents of the occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions as to inferior people. While concealed mobilization is continuing in Russia, where they try to motivate someone with money, stimulate people with some illusory payments or campaign with some ideological mottos, through propaganda channels, everything is quite simple in the occupied Donbas. There is no agitation there as people are simply snatched from streets. There are reports that, for example, occupation authorities recently met with local businesses in Luhansk, where the latter were told that another 8,000 men under the age of 60 will soon need to be drafted," the report says. Of course, these are colossal numbers," Yusov said. According to the spokesman, this is done in order to replenish Russian military losses and restore the combat capability of their units. First of all, this is about the so-called 2nd Army Corps. Yusov noted that from the very beginning, residents of the occupied Donbas - even holders of Russian passports - were exploited as cannon fodder in combat reconnaissance missions. Badly trained and with poor gear, they would be thrown into the most difficult areas of the front. Instead, the Russians were treated in a completely different way. According to a Ukrainian intelligence spox, there is no possibility of any public opinion to be voiced or public opposition to be active in the occupied Donbas. Theres even less of it than in the Russian Federation itself. As noted, forcible military conscription in its worst and most heinous form forces some locals to put up silent resistance. Enterprises literally hide qualified employees otherwise the production cycle would stop. Mothers hide their children and husbands, realizing that certain death awaits them in the war against Ukraine. Nevertheless, Putin's punitive occupation machine is strong, so local men still get detained from the streets, sometimes pulled from their cars. Yusov also reported that the pace of Russias mobilization campaign on their own territory, as well as in the occupied Crimea, remains unsatisfactory. The only place where the Russians are able to fairly quickly draft men without any regard for or fear of public opinion, remains the occupied Donbas. "There are no civil rights and freedoms there, no laws are enforced there. Therefore, the most brutal mobilization campaign is taking place there. It's not even a military draft, it's just slavery. People are literally sent for slaughter. This is genocide," the press service quotes Yusov as saying. As reported by Ukrinform, concealed measures of the so-called "industrial mobilization" of Russias defense sector are ongoing. In particular, at Rostec, since early August, a vacation ban has been introduced for the entire management team and a large part of the workers. In some companies that are part of Rostec, "indefinite leave postponement" has been applied to 100% of employees. Also, the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation (led by Vladimir Putin personally) is preparing amendments to the state defense order program for 2022, providing for an increase in costs by RUB 600-700 billion. The changes are to be approved in September. The purpose of the concealed "industrial mobilization" is to provide for continued hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. Similar measures are expected to be introduced at other defense enterprises across Russia. Zuzana 2 self-propelled artillery units have arrived in Ukraine. Thats according to the chief of the Ukrainian Presidents Office, Andriy Yermak, who reported the news on Telegram, as seen by Ukrinform. "Zuzana 2 self-propelled guns have arrived in Ukraine. Thats 155-mm caliber for purging the territory of Ukraine of the devils hordes under tricolor flags," Yermak noted. Read also: Ukrainians showcase custom gun assembled from captured Russian equipment As reported, in early June, the Minister of Defense of the Slovak Republic, Jaroslav Nad, said that Slovakia had signed with the Ukrainian side a contract for the supply of eight Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers to counter Russian aggression. Photo: Andriy Yermak / Telegram In the south of Ukraine, the Russian military leadership is moving across the Dnipro River, leaving the personnel on the right bank cut off by the strikes of the Armed Forces. Head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitaliy Kim said in a Telegram post, Ukrinform reports. "Not much but its even a little pity for the stupid orcs as they were abandoned on the right bank of the Dnipro. Their entire leadership is fleeing across the Dnipro," Kim wrote. As reported by Ukrinform, the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck the road bridge over the dam in Nova Kakhovka, which the enemy used to transfer equipment onto the right bank. Previously, the Antonivka Road Bridge over the Dnipro River in Kherson city was seriously damaged. The Daryiv Bridge over the Inhulets River in Kherson region was also destroyed. iy Ukrainian diplomats and representatives of partner states will do everything to ensure that the new sanctions block the Russian nuclear industry. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a nightly video address, Ukrinform reports. Dear Ukrainians! And today I would like to address the residents of Nikopol, Marhanets, Enerhodar, Kryvy Rih, Zaporizhzhia and all our other cities and communities of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The occupiers are trying to intimidate people in an extremely cynical way, using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They actually hide behind the plant to fire at Nikopol and Marhanets. They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more. If someone over there in Russia thinks that it can give them something, then they are wrong. Russian blackmail only mobilizes even more global efforts to confront terror. Every day of the stay of the Russian contingent on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and in the neighboring regions of our country increases the radiation threat to Europe so much that even at the peak moments of the confrontation during the Cold War, this did not happen. Of course, there should be a robust response to this. Ukrainian diplomats and representatives of partner states will do everything to ensure that the new sanctions against Russia necessarily block the Russian nuclear industry. And absolutely all officials of the terrorist state, as well as those who help them in this blackmail operation with the nuclear power plant, must be tried by an international court. It will definitely be. And every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots under the cover of the plant, must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence, for our secret service, for our army. I am especially grateful to everyone who defends this direction, who withstands the pressure of Russian terrorists and protects Ukraine and the world from the nuclear threat created by the occupiers. I am grateful to all our energy workers who support the stable operation of the energy system of Ukraine and the Zaporizhzhia plant itself. And we are doing everything possible to restore peace and security to this part of our state, and to all other cities and other regions of our beautiful Ukraine. Fierce fighting continues in Donbas. The hottest points of the front in this direction remain unchanged Avdiyivka, Maryinka, Pisky, Bakhmut and the entire relevant area. Russia sent there a simply colossal amount of its military resources artillery, equipment, people. All our defenders there are simply heroes. Ukrainian defense is strong in Kharkiv region, and the invaders' attempts to attack all the time fail. The struggle in the south of the country gives good news about the destruction of the forces and means of the Russian army. We do not lose a single day we reduce the potential of the occupiers. It is very important that the export grain initiative gives results. Since the start of its implementation, a total of 16 vessels with grain for seven countries on three continents have left Ukrainian ports. These are Europe, Asia, Africa. Almost half a million tonnes of agricultural products were on board: corn, wheat, sunflower oil, soybeans and other goods absolutely necessary for the global market. This has already made it possible to reduce the severity of the food crisis, and has given some hope of peace to the countries that consume our agricultural products. And in the long run, it can help to completely remove the food crisis from the global agenda. Of course, if the partners ensure the implementation of the security part of the initiative and prevent Russian provocations and terror at sea or against our ports. The first vessel to be loaded within the framework of the UN World Food Program has already arrived. It is the supply of grain, in particular for Ethiopia, where the situation with hunger is particularly severe. Now the vessel is being prepared for departure from the Pivdenny port. For Ukraine, this has significant benefits. In less than two weeks, three of our ports Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny managed to export such a volume, which is equal to the entire agricultural export by road for July and more than two-thirds of the export by rail for the past month. I want to emphasize once again: these are jobs for our people, these are the funds needed for our sowing season next year, and these are the revenues of our state budget. Increasing economic activity is a necessary element of the path to victory. I am grateful to everyone who defends our country! Grateful to everyone in the partner countries who help fight against terror! Glory to Ukraine! United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Amir Mahmoud Abdulla of Sudan as United Nations Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. This is said in a statement posted on the UN website, Ukrinform reports. Abdulla replaces Frederick Kenney of the United States who was on loan by the International Maritime Organization as interim Coordinator for the United Nations at the Joint Coordination Centre. Abdulla brings over 30 years of experience in the areas of humanitarian response and management with the World Food Programme (WFP) as well as specialized expertise in emergency operations, supply chain and security, the UN said. On July 22, an international agreement was signed in Istanbul to enable the resumption of exports from Ukraine of grain and foodstuffs. Ukraine signed a document with Turkey and the UN. Russia also signed a mirror agreement. iy The first ship that entered Ukrainian ports to be loaded with agricultural products has departed from the seaport of Chornomorsk. It joined the Thoe bulk carrier to form a caravan. Thats according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, Ukrinform reports. "The first vessel that entered Ukrainian ports to be loaded with agricultural products left the port of Chornomorsk. This morning the Fulmar S bulk carrier (Barbados flag) departed for Turkey. The vessel joined the caravan with the Thoe bulker," the message reads. It is noted that a total of 14,500 tonnes of agricultural products is on board the two vessels. In general, since the launch of the Initiative on the safe exports of Ukrainian agricultural products, 16 vessels have already left Ukrainian ports, carrying 450,000 tonnes of cargo. Read also: Fifth caravan of grain ships leaves Ukrainian ports As reported, on July 22 in Istanbul, at the UN proposal, Ukraine, Turkey, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres signed the Initiative on the safe transportation of grain and food products from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi. Ships carrying grain for export from Ukraine via the Black Sea are protected by a special buffer zone of 10 nautical miles (about 18.5 km). A march and rally in support of Ukraine were held in Paris on Saturday, August 13. Volodymyr Kogutyak, vice president of the Union of Ukrainians in France, posted photos from the event on his Facebook page, Ukrinform reports. The demonstrators demanded that Russia be designated as a terrorist state and that Azov battalion fighters be rescued. They also called on French companies that have not yet exited the Russian market to do so. Earlier, rallies in support of Ukraine in Paris were held on July 27, August 3 and 11. Photo credit: Volodymyr Kogutyak, Facebook Major hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are running out of protamine sulfate medicine to reverse the anticoagulant effects of heart surgery. Nguyen Sinh Hien, director of Hanoi Heart Hospital, said the hospital will use up its protamine sulfate in a few more weeks and in case new orders do not arrive in time, the hospital would have to halt heart surgeries. Protamine sulfate is a medication that is used to reverse the effects of heparin, which is used to prevent blood clotting during open-heart surgery, bypass surgery, kidney dialysis, and blood transfusions. Hien said several other hospitals in Hanoi had also run out of protamine sulfate, which is irreplaceable in heart surgeries, and have had to borrow from other hospitals. He said for a typical heart operation, patients use up about three ampoules of protamine sulfate and the hospital consumes about 600-700 tubes per month. Due to a lack of this medicine, the hospital is reducing the number of surgeries and prioritizing only life-threatening cases. Hanoi Heart Hospital had planned to acquire this drug, which is currently out of supply. This is a drug that Vietnam cannot yet produce and so far, there has been just a few pharmaceutical companies that import and distribute it in the country, as approved by the Health Ministrys Drug Administration. "The hospital cannot do anything but wait," Hien said, adding that the hospital also lacks several drugs but they can be replaced by others. In recent times, some hospitals have used Prosulf, which can also counteract the anticoagulant effect of heparin, as a replacement. However, the medicine cannot be used for children and for adults, it cannot be used for certain cases as it can cause anaphylaxis, hypotension or cardiac arrest. Yet this drug is also out of stock. A representative of HCMCs Cho Ray, the biggest public general hospital in southern Vietnam, said the facility still has about 300 tubes of protamine sulfate, while its monthly demand is about 500 tubes. Recently, the hospital has applied for a quota of 2,800 ampoules of Prosulf, but there are no participating bidders. "Normally the approval process can exceed two months, while the drug only lasts less than a month," the representative said. Cho Ray Hospital is considering borrowing the medicine from other medical facilities. An unnamed cardiovascular surgeon at a major hospital in HCMC said the hospital only has two tubes of protamine sulfate for surgery on children. Prosulf alone is only enough to last about one or two weeks. "If we run out of the medicine and we can't borrow from another hospital, we have only one option left: suspend operations," the doctor said. Nguyen Quynh Hoa, head of the drug department at Hanois Bach Mai Hospital, one of the largest public facilities in Vietnam, said the hospital still has enough medicine for about a month. In order to maintain enough drugs for surgery, Bach Mai is "rushing" to restock, she said. Shortages of drugs and medical supplies have swept hospitals across the nation. Many facilities have lacked antibiotics to treat severely ill patients, narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, cardiovascular drugs, those for hypertension, and anti-inflammatory drugs, for several months. The reason for the shortage is partly due to the expiration of the circulation registration numbers of some drugs, a severe shortage of state management personnel, and difficulties in processing dossiers, it has been reported. The delay is also attributed to national centralized bidding and drug price negotiations. Some localities have assigned hospitals to organize bids on their own rather than rely on centralized bidding, but the hospitals have been fearful of this, resulting in a drug shortage. Several health officials and hospital leaders have said that complicated bidding procedures and low financial capacity after two years of Covid-19 were major reasons for the current supply crisis. At the seminar on solutions to overcome drug shortages held Friday in Hanoi, Nguyen Huy Quang, former head of legal department under the Ministry of Health, said there is currently a disruption in the global drug supply chain and in addition, with the pandemic under control, people have flocked to hospitals to have their health checked and their conditions treated, contributing to the drug shortage. The Ministry of Health had last week formed teams to inspect the current supply and use of medicine, as well as survey drug and medical supply shortages across the country. A land of temples, mosques and pagodas, An Giangs festivals attract millions of pilgrims; and its palm-fringed rice fields and other natural delights have become a tourism draw. BEST TIME TO VISIT Between March and May is the busiest time in An Giang, highlighted by the Ba Chua Xu (Lady of the Realm) Festival, one of the largest in the Mekong Delta, that takes place every lunar April, attracting millions of pilgrims. Between September and November, the flooding season in the Mekong Delta creates great opportunities for boat rides through cajuput forests along canals covered with green water-ferns. WHAT TO EXPLORE The Lady of the Realm Temple at the foot of Sam Mountain, around six kilometers from Chau Doc Town, has been a spiritual site for generations of Mekong Delta residents. The Lady of the Realm Temple at the foot of Sam Mountain in Chau Doc Town. Photo by Bui Thuy Dao Nguyen The protector deity has become even more popular in southern Vietnam since the 1990s. Millions believe that the Lady of the Realm blesses the devout with business success, health and fertility. The deity and her temples rising popularity has been a blessing for local residents. The road leading to the temple is now dotted with an array of budget motels, hotels, food stalls and shops that specialize in selling offerings for the deity. Bao Hoa, owner of a motel in Chau Doc, said the peak tourism season in the area is from the Lunar New Year festival until the end of April. Most hotels and budget motels here are overcrowded during this period. "I started my motel business seven years ago as the number of pilgrims kept increasing. Most pilgrims choose to hire motels at cheap prices and rest for several hours before visiting the Ladys temple to burn incense and pray," Hoa said. A unique ritual to witness here is that of businessmen and traders "borrowing money from the Lady" while praying for their efforts to bear fruit. They will return to the temple at the year-end and make offerings to the Lady and repay a debt of gratitude. Another spiritual site in Chau Doc is the Phuoc Dien Pagoda, also called the "Snake Pagoda" by locals. Just around five kilometers from the Temple of the Lady of the Realm, the pagoda was first built by a local woman who struggled with family crises and decided to spend the rest of her life engaged in Buddhist practices. Buddhist statues inside Phuoc Dien Pagoda in Chau Doc Town. Photo by Van Thai The pagoda features typical Vietnamese architecture with brick red tiles and curved roofs. Inside the temple there is a main hall with Buddha statues and two caves, the first of which is said to have housed a pair of large snakes that are believed to have subsisted on vegetarian food and listened to prayers. This cave is today barricaded for about 10m for safety reasons. The statues of two snakes inside the cave are still worshipped. From the entrance gate one needs to climb to a height of about 300 meters to get to the temple. "Its a fairly steep climb, but there are lots of stops along the way with beautiful views of rice fields while looking towards the Cambodia border which is not far," John from South Africa wrote on Tripadvisor. Situated in Nhon Hoi Commune in An Phu District, the Mas Jid Khay Ri Yah mosque is where devout Cham Muslims come to pray. A crescent moon and a five-pointed star atop its dome signify that it is an Islamic monument. Like other mosques, the interior is simple and almost empty, helping the faithful to focus on prayers. Cham Muslims face mihrab, a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque, when praying. Photo by Kieu Duong On a two kilometer stretch of the Hau River, the Long Xuyen floating market remains a repository of traditional culture and lifestyle. To see the floating market at its busiest, visitors need to be up early. The market gets very busy from 5 a.m. onwards as hundreds of boats gather to trade agricultural produce including fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish. Boats gather along Long Xuyen floating market in An Giang in the early morning. Photo by Phong Vinh The best way to explore the daily waterway life of Mekong Delta residents is to hire a boat and get close to the action as traders strike bargains. A visit to the floating market gets memorable when partaking of breakfast dishes like banh tam bi (Vietnamese thick noodles with coconut cream) or bun thit nuong (rice noodles with charcoal grilled pork on skewers) served by boat vendors. Around 50 kilometers from Chau Doc Town, the Ta Pa Mountain in Tri Ton District, one of seven mountains in An Giang that locals refer to as That Son, is surrounded by forests of palmyra palms and rice fields. During the harvest season, the rice fields become a soft, wavy yellow carpet adorned by the palms, attracting hordes of photographers, pros and amateurs alike. Ta Pa Mountain is surrounded by forests of palmyra palms and rice fields. Photos by Kieu Duong The area is also home to a Theravada Buddhist pagoda that was built in the Khmer style. The road to the top of the hill is quite bad and difficult so it can only be reached by motorbike or on foot. An emerald green lake next to the mountain adds the natural glitter. Ta Pa Lake with green emerald water. Photo by Hachi8 During the flooding season between September and November, a boat ride through the Tra Su cajuput forest covered with green water-ferns in Tinh Bien District, around 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Chau Doc, is another special feast for the senses. Tourists take a boat tour along the Tra Su cajuput forest covered with green water-ferns. Photo by Phan Loc A trip in Tra Su typically starts with a composite motor boat, that departs from a pier in the forest and goes through the cajuput forest for visitors to admire the lush greenery including lotus and water lilies. Then visitors are transferred to a small wooden rowboat that makes its way through green duckweed deeper into the forest for around 30 minutes. Tra Su is home to 140 plant species and more than 120 species of water birds, bats, reptiles, animals, and fish, many of them rare and endangered and a few listed in the Red Book. The Cham village of Chau Giang is about 10 minutes by ferry from Chau Doc Town. An Giang has nine Cham villages with about 5,000 households. A distinct local feature is Islamic architecture, including large mosques. Life inside Cham village of Chau Giang. Photos by Minh Duc The Chams have three major holidays according to the Islamic calendar: Roja on December 10th; Ramadan from September 1-30; and Muhammads birthday on March 12. The main occupations of the Cham people in An Giang are trading, weaving, fishing and farming. Chau Doc and Tinh Bien are the most popular markets in the province, mainly selling Mekong Delta specialties like fish sauce and salted and dried seafood. Vendors sell hundreds of varieties of salted fishes, crustaceans and turtles inside Chau Doc Market in An Giang. Photo by Quynh Tran WHAT TO EAT Bun ca Chau Doc, or Chau Doc fish noodle soup, originated in Cambodia before people in the Mekong Delta tweaked it to fit their taste. Now it can be found almost everywhere in Chau Doc. The main ingredients are snakehead fish, broth and noodles. After cleaning and boiling the fish, the chef fillets it, marinates it with spices and fries it briefly on a pan with turmeric to give it a golden color and nice aroma. The success of the dish lies in the broth that is made with fermented carp, shrimp paste and pork or beef bones. It has a pale yellow color from crushed turmeric. Fried fish is added to enhance its flavor. A bowl of fish noodle soup accompanied with a plate of roasted pork is served at a stall in Chau Doc Town. Photo by Quang Thien The dish that can be found at the Chau Doc Market is served with a plate of roasted pork and dien dien or sesban flowers from a plant that grows abundantly in the region. It has a unique aroma and subtle fatty taste. The dish costs VND10,000-20,000 ($0.43-0.86) a serving. Banh hoi is similar to rice vermicelli. It is most delicious when it is soft and covered with a thin layer of oil that removes the raw flour flavor. Locals have banh hoi with slices of marinated, fragrant charcoal-grilled pork. A bowl of banh hoi with charcoal-grilled pork. Photo by Quang Thien The dish is topped with fatty onion and crushed peanuts. Some stalls add spring rolls and fish cakes to the dish. The dish is accompanied by a sweet and sour fish sauce dip. A bowl of banh hoi thit nuong costs VND25,000 ($1.08). Banh tam bi (thick noodles with coconut cream) is another popular street food in An Giang. The noodles are different across the Mekong Delta, depending on the type of rice available in the area and the noodle-making process. No one knows the exact origin of the dish but many people in the delta believe it originated from Bac Lieu Province. A street vendor sells banh tam bi, a popular breakfast in An Giang. Photo by Thanh Bui Its main ingredients are thick noodles made of rice and tapioca flour, shredded pig skin (bi), herbs, coconut cream and sweet fish sauce. The protein component of the dish is a mix of lean pork sliced into thin strips, shredded pig skin and thinh, a fragrant powder made of toasted rice. The soul of the dish lies in coconut cream cooked in a small charcoal pot and served with a little salt, sugar and tapioca flour (or cornstarch). A bowl typically contains fresh herbs and bean sprouts placed at the bottom, thick noodles, shredded pig skin, pork meatballs, spring rolls, a little pickled daikon and carrots, along with sweet fish sauce. It is topped with coconut cream. A bowl of banh tam bi is normally priced from VND15,000-25,000 ($0.65-1.09) depending on toppings ordered. The dish can be enjoyed at a stall on Le Minh Nguon Street in Long Xuyen Town or a street-side eatery near the Long Hung crossroads in Tan Chau Town. Chau Doc is the kingdom of salted seafood and fermented fish; therefore, lau mam (fermented fish hotpot) is also a must-try dish. The broth is made with fermented fish paste and seasoned with sugar, minced lemongrass and green onion. A fermented fish hotpot is served with herbs that are only grown in the Mekong Delta. Photo coutersy of An Giang Travel To further enhance the flavor of the dish, shrimps, squids, and roasted pork are added. The hotpot is served with herbs including water lilies, banana flower, water spinach and a small bowl of dipping sauce with lemon juice and minced chili and lemongrass. Some places to try this dish are the Sam Mountain hotpot restaurant and Bay Bong 2 restaurant. Banh bo thot not (palm sugar honeycomb cake), made with rice flour, tapioca starch and palm sugar, is a favored street food in the Mekong Delta province. Banh bo thot not (palm sugar honeycomb cake), made with rice flour, tapioca starch and palm sugar, is a popular street food in the Mekong Delta. Photo courtesy of An Giang Travel WHERE TO STAY Most budget motels and hotels are located at the foot of Sam Mountain near the Temple of Lady of the Realm with prices ranging from VND100,000 to 500,000 a night. On the banks of the Hau River, Victoria Chau Doc or Victoria Nui Sam Lodge on Sam Mountain are two luxury resorts in An Giang that overlook verdant rice fields. Rooms cost from VND1.2 million a night. Victoria Nui Sam Lodge on Sam Mountain. Photo courtesy of the resort HOW TO GET THERE From Hanoi visitors can fly to the Can Tho Airport. From the airport, its a three-hour drive to Chau Doc. After the HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway opened to traffic in 2010, the road from HCMC to Mekong Delta provinces has become easier. Direct bus services from Ho Chi Minh City to Chau Doc can be availed at the Mien Tay bus terminal. The six-hour journey costs VND170,000-200,000. A man sails on a pristine lake in An Giang Province. Photo by Nam Chay Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Saturday lead an awareness and clean up walk at Trail-5 of the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) in connection with 75 years of independence of Pakistan ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Aug, 2022 ) :Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Saturday lead an awareness and clean up walk at Trail-5 of the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) in connection with 75 years of independence of Pakistan. The Minister was flanked by Chairperson Islamabad Wildlife Management board (IWMB) Rina Saeed Khan, Joint Secretary Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) Syed Mujtaba Hussain, xitizens, school children and IWMB Rangers who participated in the walk and picked up trash from the trail. Federal Minister Senator Sherry also participated in the cleaning campaign of Margallas. Sherry said, "Margalla Hills National Park is our national asset, where wildlife officials remained active during the fire season to protect this precious natural resource." She added that Islamabad was the only capital in the world that was close to such a large national park. "Trees are our national capital. The natural beauty of Islamabad is due to the National Park. Littering in Margalla Hills is also harmful for our health and the natural environment," Sherry Rehman said. She added trees not only provided us shade but were also important for our environment. She urged the masses saying, "People are requested not to bring plastic bottles and bags while coming for recreation and trekking on the trails." After recreation and trekking the visitors and tourists were advised to dump the waste at the designated place, she said, "Cleaning the Margallas is the shared responsibility of all of us." She announced that the MoCC was going to commence Monsoon Plantation Drive tomorrow with the Prime Minister. The MoCC was establishing sanctuaries so that masses could see wildlife from afar, Sherry Rehman said, adding, "I was glad that the cages are gone from Islamabad." "Smog in Punjab is also caused by chemical burning and reducing pollution is our responsibility," Sherry Rahman added. Global warming has also increased due to human activities whereas Pakistan was also facing many environmental threats this year, the minister recalled. "There has been a lot of loss in Balochistan, and the federal government is providing aid to everyone without discrimination," Sherry Rehman underlined. She mentioned that the detailed report on the Monsoon rains damages and relief provided for Sindh along with PDMA and NDMA has been submitted to the Prime Minister. (@Abdulla99267510) Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar has asked Attaullah Tarar to appear before (the authorities concerned if he believes in supremacy of law. LAHORE: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Aug 13th, 2022) The police delivered a notice at the Lahore residence of Special Assistant to Prime Minister Attaullah Tarar in the wee hours on Saturday. Taking to Twitter at around 3:29 am, Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar while addressing Atta Ullah Tarar wrote, "Atta Tarar you should appear as law is awaiting you. The police have delivered notice today at your residence. If you believe law has supremacy then you should come to Lahore for appearance (before the competent authorities). Police, however, said that Attaullah Tarar, the PML-N leader and former provincial minister, was not present there at the time of delivery of the notice. In response to Dogar's statement, Attaullah Tarar addressed the Punjab home minister in a tweet, saying, "Mr Hashim Dogar, I believed you were a minister, but you turned out to be a very non-serious character." "What do you want to prove by sending the police to a house where I lived 15 years ago?" He said that if this is your situation, how are you managing the ministry, he continued. The SAPM asked Dogar to not cross limits in defending the anti-national narrative of his party. (@FahadShabbir) Somalian Ambassador to Pakistan Shirwa Abdullahi Ibrahim on Friday met with Vice Chancellor Nishtar Medical University (NMU) Dr Rana Altaf Ahmad to discuss the matters pertaining to studies and security of doctors in Pakistan MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Aug, 2022 ) :Somalian Ambassador to Pakistan Shirwa Abdullahi Ibrahim on Friday met with Vice Chancellor Nishtar Medical University (NMU) Dr Rana Altaf Ahmad to discuss the matters pertaining to studies and security of doctors in Pakistan. The meeting was also attended by a good number of foreigner students as well as the varsity faculty. The VC ensured the envoy to resolve all the problems faced by Somalian students studying at the NMU on priority. The envoy thanked the VC for his cooperation in this connection. On the Solemnity of the Assumption, the Dominican Church closes the Altagracia Virgin Jubilee celebrations. Joining the closing event on August 15 will be Pope Francis Special Envoy, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. By Sebastian Sanson Ferrari and Lisa Zengarini Catholics in the Dominican Republic are preparing for the Solemnity of the Assumption, on August 15, which this year concludes the special Altagracia Jubilee celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the Canonical Crowning of the image of the Virgin of Altagracia, known as the Mother and Patron of the Dominican people. Dominicans' devotion to Our Lady of Altagracia Dominicans are very devoted to the Virgin of Altagracia, and every year a special pilgrimage takes place on 10-14 August from the National Shrine of Christ of the Miracles, in the municipality of Bayaguana, to the Basilica de la Altagracia in the eastern city of Higuey where the image is enshrined. During the five-day walk pilgrims travel 114 kilometres. Read also 16/07/2022 Pope to Dominicans: 'Do not be afraid to walk together united in fraternity' Pope Francis sends a message to the people of the Dominican Republic, as they prepare to mark the Altagracian jubilee year, and urges each person to entrust themselves to the care ... Pope Francis' message for the Jubilee In a message addressed to the Dominican people on July 15, as they celebrate the Jubilee year, Pope Francis noted , hat their deep devotion to the Virgin of Altagracia is a sign of the Christian roots that characterize and give life to their land and, therefore encouraged them "not to lose heart in their witness of faith, to care for and strengthen, through the example and intercession of the Virgin Mary, their love for Jesus and for the Church. The Pope remarked that the image showing the loving gaze of the Mother contemplating the Child who sleeps confidently on her lap "is an invitation to learn to see, through her eyes, Jesus present in our neighbours, and to remember that we are part of the same human family called to live together in fraternity and solidarity. In this way, he said, the Virgin of Altagracia has been for the Dominican people a source of unity in difficult moments and a sure hand that supports them in the setbacks that arise in their daily lives". The appointment of Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra as Papal Envoy As a token of his affection to the Dominican people, Pope Francis has sent Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, Substitute of the Secretariat of State, as his Special Envoy to the closing Jubilee event, on August 15, who will pay homage to the Virgin of Altagracia, on his behalf, by laying a Golden Rose at her feet. The events on August 15 The day will begin with the recitation of the Rosary of Dawn in the Shrine of Our Lady of Altagracia, followed by a Patriotic Act presided over by civil authorities, and attended by the Vatican Special Envoy alongside the Dominican Bishops, at the Puerta del Conde, where the Coronation on the Virgin took place a century ago. The closing of the Jubilee will be marked by a solemn Mass presided by Archbishop Pena Parra in the Olympic Stadium, with about 700 concelebrants, and a Marian concert. High-end hotels in the country have not been able to deal adequately with the loss of well-trained staff during the Covid-19 pandemic and remain mired in a human resource crisis. According to the Vietnam Hotels Association, there are over 550 luxury hotels that accounts for about 18% of the total number of rooms in the country. Hence the shortage of trained staff in this segment is concerning, industry insiders say. Dao Manh Hung, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Education Association, said that in the first seven months of the year, the number of domestic tourists reached 71.8 million arrivals, exceeding the target of 60 million. But this has not proved very advantageous for luxury hotels. "The rise of domestic tourism post Covid-19 has had a great impact on middle-level hotels and the hiring of staff in this segment has increased rapidly. But, due to the slow return of international visitors, luxury hotels haven't been able to do the same. Well-trained staff in these hotels might have changed their careers and may not return after Covid-19," Hung said at a conference held Tuesday. The dire need for staff has seen high-end hotels lower their qualification requirements. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Sales Director of Silk Path Hotels & Resorts, said that major hotels are so short of people that they are accepting even inexperienced staff. In fact, hiring of staff has become a competition between luxury hotels, she said. "About 7-8 years ago, [luxury] hotels only had full-time staff. If someone could find work part-time, they would consider themselves lucky. But after Covid-19, part-time became a trend. In the past, it was considered lucky to get a chance to gain some valuable experience. Now they not only get to work and learn but also get paid for it. During this staff crisis, we don't really require experienced candidates. And it has become common for big hotels to steal staff from competitors," Thuy said. Thuy also said there were cases where candidates made "unbelievable" demands, like a monthly salary of VND18 million for the concierge position, VND15-20 million for the position of duty manager. Then there were some applying F&B service positions but not wanting to work in shifts. Not well paid Nguyen Quang, Chairman of Vietnam Executive Housekeeper Association, cited a survey by Hoteljob in June that found 48% of hotel workers were dissatisfied with their income. Quang said that in most domestic and international hotels, the average salary is only about VND5-6 million ($213-256), plus about VND2-3 million in tips and bonuses, which takes the total income to nearly VND8 million ($342). Compared to industries that do not require foreign language skills and knowledge, like leather, footwear and apparel, the average salary is also around VND6-7 million. "In the banking industry, the average salary is also VND7-8 million and if you do well, you can go up to VND10-15 million in a few years. Meanwhile, in the hotel industry, if you don't get promoted, the salary won't change much," he said. High-quality human resource comprises people with the ability to do an assigned job in the best way, Quang said, adding that Covid-19 created an opportunity for such staff to change their jobs, and when they find a better place, they wouldn't want to return. Additionally, even if the high-end hotels recruit students, it will be difficult to keep them because of low remuneration, especially for those who are studying or have graduated from top universities, he noted. Hung said that human resources in Vietnam's hotel industry lacked adequate foreign language and communication skills. These skills need to be sharpened as the tourism industry faces challenges posed by the technology era, requiring staff to have certain qualifications and professionalism. Reduced interest From a training perspective, Nguyen Quyet Thang, Head of the Faculty of Tourism, Restaurant and Hospitality Management at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said that the university tries hard to connect with enterprises and create a favorable environment for students to train, but the number of students in the tourism field was reducing as they were taking the cue from those who quit the industry during Covid-19 times. "This is troubling because the tourism industry really needs trained employees in the coming years," Thang said. Hung said that in order to develop human resources of international quality, it was necessary to have an international organization granting and recognizing degrees awarded by local universities. He suggested adoption of the hotel school model, where in a training facility is set up within the hotel, giving students, who are prospective employees, the opportunity to gain direct, practical experience. Thang said Vietnam can learn from Thailand. "In the 1980s, Thailand had a project to improve their domestic tourism staff, promoting Thais from staff positions to middle and senior managers. After 20 years, they were able to export quality staff in the hotel and restaurant industry to the world." Vietnam had more than 2.5 million employees working in the tourism sector in 2019. In 2020, many enterprises were forced to cut their staff strength by 70 to 80%. In 2021, the number of full-time employees accounted for just 25% of the total. At present, the industrys human resource strength meets just 50-60% of the demand. The Vietnam Tourism Association has said that the industry will create about 8.5 million jobs by 2030. Given the current human resource problems, this should be seen as an opportunity for Vietnam to create a new generation of tourism workers, Thang said Michelle Bachelet is to make the first visit by a UN rights chief to Bangladesh next week, including to the sprawling refugee camps home to nearly a million Rohingyas. Bachelet's office announced Friday that the trip from Sunday to Wednesday was at the Dhaka government's invitation. It will be one of the former Chilean president's final acts as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights before her four-year term expires at the end of the month. During her visit to the capital Dhaka, the UN rights chief is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other ministers. "The high commissioner will also travel to Cox's Bazar where she will be able to visit camps housing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and meet with refugees, officials and non-governmental organisations," her office said in a statement. The visit comes ahead of the fifth anniversary this month of the Rohingya exodus into the southeastern tip of neighbouring Bangladesh. The camps house nearly one million Rohingya refugees that fled a military offensive in Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya left Rakhine State in August 2017 after the crackdown, which the UN is investigating over genocide charges. Bangladeshi authorities have become increasingly impatient about hosting the refugees while criticising the rest of the world for not providing more assistance. Bangladesh bans the 920,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees from leaving camps surrounded by barbed wire. The Rohingya are loathed by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, who see them as illegal immigrants and refer to them as "Bengali". They have refused to go back until assured of security and equal rights -- which Myanmar has refused to promise -- so remain stuck in bamboo-and-tarp shacks with no work, poor sanitation and little education. 'Serious abuses' Bachelet "should publicly call for an immediate end to serious abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances", nine human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "This is a key opportunity for the high commissioner to call for a halt to the Bangladesh government's further descent into authoritarianism by ceasing the harassment and reprisals against critics. "Bachelet should press the government to ensure full accountability for the serious human rights abuses that persist in the country." She is due to meet with the National Human Rights Commission in Bangladesh. The UN's highest court ruled last month that a landmark case accusing military-ruled Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya can go ahead. The International Court of Justice in The Hague threw out all of Myanmar's objections to the case. It could, however, take years for full hearings and a final judgement in the case. The International Criminal Court has also launched an investigation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in March that the Myanmar military's violence against the Rohingya amounted to genocide. A United Nations-chartered ship loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian grain set sail Sunday for Ethiopia in the first such shipment from war-ravaged Ukraine, aimed at helping a nation facing famine. The Brave Commander left from the Ukrainian port of Yuzhne, east of Odesa, and plans to sail to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and transferred to Ethiopia under the U.N.s World Food Program initiative. Ukraine and Russia reached a deal with Turkey and the United Nations three weeks ago to restart Black Sea grain deliveries to end major export disruptions occurring since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. Ethiopia is one of five countries that the U.N. considers at risk of starvation. "The capacity is there. The grain is there. The demand is there across the world and in particular, these countries," WFP Ukraine coordinator Denise Brown told The Associated Press. "So, if the stars are aligned, we are very, very hopeful that all the actors around this agreement will come together on what is really an issue for humanity. So today was very positive." Separately, tensions remained high around Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where Ukrainian officials accuse Russian forces of repeatedly firing rockets at the facility, threatening a disastrous nuclear accident. Ukrainian forces will target Russians troops who shoot at the plant or from it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Saturday night video address. "Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army," Zelenskyy said. The two sides continue to accuse each other of firing weapons near the plant, which Russia captured in March, shortly after it invaded Ukraine. A Russian diplomat, Mikhail Ulyanov, called for Ukraine to offer security assurances so that international inspectors could visit the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europes largest nuclear facility. "It is important that the Ukrainians stop their shelling of the station and provide security guarantees to members of the mission. An international team cannot be sent to work under continuous artillery shelling," Ulyanov was quoted as saying Sunday by Russian state news agency Tass. The plants operator reported the facility was at risk of violating radiation and fire standards after a surge in rocket fire in the last week. Ukrainian nuclear power operator Energoatom said the nitrogen-oxygen station, the domestic sewage pumping station, and the combined auxiliary building were seriously damaged during the shelling, as well as three radiation monitoring sensors around the dry storage of a spent nuclear fuel site. The operator said the fire department located outside the power plant was fired upon. Officials also said a shell hit a power transformer, threatening the countrys power grid. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said there's "a real risk of nuclear disaster" unless the fighting stops, and inspectors are allowed inside the facility. The United Nations is calling for immediate access to the nuclear power plant, as Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired more than 40 rockets at the city of Marhanets, which is across the Dnieper River from the power plant. Russian forces who occupy the plant have been accused of using it as a shield to fire at Ukrainian army positions. Heavy shelling in areas near the plant has been reported over the past two weeks. Russian soldiers control the facility, but Ukrainian staff are continuing to operate the plant. "We know that the Russians have been there for some time. We also know that the Russians have fired artillery, I think specifically rockets, from around the power plant," a senior U.S. military official told reporters Friday, refuting Russian allegations the plant has been targeted by Ukrainian forces. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. The Egyptian parliament approved a major government reshuffle Saturday involving 13 ministerial changes. It was the largest change since current Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli was appointed in 2018. None of the major cabinet posts, including the interior minister, foreign minister, finance minister or defense minister were affected. Egypt's parliament speaker Hanafi el Gebaly asked members of the assembly Saturday to approve a government reshuffle submitted to the body by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, involving 13 new cabinet ministers. It was the largest ministerial makeover since the current prime minister was named in 2018. Egyptian TV announced the names of the new cabinet ministers, noting that discussions over the new appointments have been taking place behind the scenes for the past several weeks, culminating in Saturday's announcement. The official appointment of the new ministers is expected to be made by President el-Sissi at the presidential palace Sunday. The Egyptian constitution gives the president the authority to name members of the government. The shuffle included the ministers of Education, Culture, Health, Military Production, Irrigation, Expatriates, Tourism, Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, and Employment. Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek tells VOA the changes have been "expected for a long time" and are aimed at appeasing public opinion over economic issues like increases in the costs of food, fuel and electricity, as well as the devaluation of the Egyptian pound. It seems the government wanted to please everybody by doing some changes that are cosmetic, [but] do not affect what people complain about, which is the economy, [including] the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, he said. Sadek went on to say that a new Health minister was named after the husband of the outgoing minister was accused of corruption. He noted complaints about the lethargic performance of the ministers of Commerce and Industry and War Production appear to have prompted their replacement. During U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taiwan, she visited the National Human Rights Museum in Taipei and met with prominent human rights advocates once imprisoned in China, as a way to highlight Taiwans democratic reform and contrast its human rights practice with that of Beijing. One of the three activists she met was Lee Ming-che, a Taiwanese activist released in April this year after five years in a Chinese prison. VOA Mandarin sat down with Lee this past week to learn about his prison experience and his plans now that hes back in Taiwan. Lee was a college administrator at the Wenshan Community College in Taipei and was working for Taiwanese NGOs to free political prisoners in China. His nightmare began on March 19, 2017, when he entered the mainland via Macao and was subsequently detained by Chinese police on charges of subverting state power, making him the first Taiwanese citizen detained on such charges. The charges have become a catchall term for anyone critical of the Chinese government. I was detained on March 19, and until my formal arrest on May 26, the two months were more painful than being in prison itself, Lee told VOA Mandarin in an interview. Why because I had no way of contacting my family. I had no idea of what they would do to me. For two months, Lee was detained in one of Chinas secretive detention centers for those without a formal charge. During those two months, there were two people watching me 24 hours a day, even when I was taking a shower or using the toilet. Also, all the windows were covered by black curtains, so I had no idea if its day or night, Lee recalled. Taiwanese media reported on Lees court case and said he criticized the Communist Party and promoted democratic ideas in private chat groups and on Chinese social media. He also sent books on similar topics to some of his contacts and reportedly helped the families of jailed Chinese dissidents. The Los Angeles Times reported that according to Taiwanese officials, Lees colleagues said he used social media to tell at least 100 people in China about Taiwans growth as a democracy. China sees Taiwan as a renegade province that will eventually return to Beijings control, but as a self-ruled island, Taiwan sees itself as independent from the mainland. The five years in Chishan Prison were tough on Lee mentally and physically. You have almost no basic rights in prison, living conditions are extremely poor. Cooking oil is soiled, so your food always has a stinky smell. The water is from a nearby muddy lake, no prison officer would drink that, Lee recalled. The prisons philosophy, according to Lee, is that it can change ones thinking through high intensity forced labor. Everyone there works from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. You have to do it even if you dont want to, because if you didnt meet your quota, you would be punished, Lee said. Lee Ching-yu, Lee Ming-ches wife and a researcher on Taiwans democratic movement, immediately became his biggest advocate after his arrest. She held a news conference two days after his disappearance in mainland China and launched multiple campaigns calling for Lee Ming-ches release. Her advocacy had attracted international attention for Lees fate, leading to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen saying shes personally monitoring the case. Lee Ching-yu brought her husbands case to multiple high-level entities, including the U.S. Congress, the U.N. and the EU parliament to pressure Beijing. Lee said he remains immensely grateful for his wifes advocacy and not bending to Chinese Communist Partys pressure. Otherwise, he said, its telling the party that intimidation and suppression are effective tactics. In the beginning, a lot of people (in Taiwan) criticized Ching-yu. They told her that she should keep a low profile, she should not provoke China. Some say that she just wants to get into politics, Lee Ming-che recalled. What I want to say to these people is: Do you realize that you enjoy freedom? Or are you a slave to your own fear in a free country? Lee Ming-che said it is precisely his wifes tough posture that had caused the Chinese government to treat him within the boundary of law. He told VOA Mandarin that according to his knowledge, since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, all those charged with subversion of state power were tried in secret on grounds of national security, and family members were kept in the dark. But he received a public trial. Lee Ching-yu and Lee Ming-ches mother were able to attend. Lee Ching-yu was able to visit Lee Ming-che regularly when he was in prison. He said through these visits, he was able to convey his experience in a Chinese prison through his wife to the outside world. And that made him feel like he was not only a prisoner, but a human rights worker doing field research in a Chinese prison. He said the ability to keep in contact with the outside world gave him hope, and he secretly promoted the concept of human rights to his inmates, explaining the different legal systems between Taiwan and the mainland. What is a truly successful rescue operation? Bringing me back is not the point, he said. But bringing me back, where I could continue to do human rights work, where I could bring my observations over the past few years in prison and share it with news media to expose the systematic problem in China, thats the real meaning of my rescue. I want to say to the Chinese Communist Party: You have failed. You did not achieve anything you wanted via my case. I am back. I will continue my pro-democracy and human rights work, Lee added. I think this is the real meaning of my return. A year into the Talibans de facto government in Afghanistan, the war-torn country has experienced an economic crisis that has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation there. The economy collapsed after the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and the international community placed sanctions on the Islamist group and suspended non-humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The sanctions and frozen assets, as well as drought, are contributing significantly, bringing hardships in the form of higher prices, said Shah Mehrabi, a member of the Supreme Council of the Central Bank of Afghanistan and a professor of economics at Montgomery College in Maryland. He added that the situation was compounded by increasing global energy and food prices that are exacerbating the poverty for many ordinary Afghans. According to the United Nations, half of the Afghan population, about 19 million people, experience acute food insecurity. Ninety percent of the population faces insufficient food consumption. The World Bank reported in July that the prices of consumer products such as diesel, flour, rice and sugar in Afghanistan increased 50% from the previous year. Afghanistans humanitarian crisis has economic causes, Mehrabi said. It all boils down to how the economy has been affected since the new regime came into power. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control. Many businesses were closed, and most of the social services were suspended. Just two months after the fall of Kabul, the International Monetary Fund predicted the Afghan economy will contract up to 30% by the end of 2021, as nonhumanitarian aid was suspended and foreign assets were frozen. The resulting drop in living standards threatens to push millions into poverty and could lead to a humanitarian crisis, IMF said in October 2021. Humanitarian assistance U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing a virtual pledging conference in March 2022, said that without immediate action, we face a starvation and malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan. International donors pledged more than $2.4 billion in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, in addition to $1.2 billion that was pledged in September 2021. The U.S. Treasury Department issued two licenses in September 2021 to authorize humanitarian activities and the delivery of food and medicine to Afghanistan. In February, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order authorizing the use of $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank reserves for humanitarian purposes via a trust fund, while the remaining half was subject to ongoing litigation by U.S. victims of the September 11 attacks. We are urgently working to address concerns about the use of the licensed $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank reserves to ensure, to see to it, that they benefit the people of Afghanistan and not the Taliban, Ned Price, U.S. State Department spokesperson, said in a news conference on July 19. Banking crisis About $9 billion in the Afghan Central Bank assets $7 billion in the U.S. and $2 billion in Europe were frozen as part of the sanctions on the Taliban. The group has urged the U.S. to unconditionally release the frozen assets of Afghanistan held in the U.S. Mehrabi said that not having access to the reserves hurt Afghan businesses, as it resulted in a liquidity crisis in the banking sector there. The commercial banks do not have adequate, again, USD and Afghanis to be able to disburse for import or other purposes that ordinary Afghans or businesses would like to go ahead and engage in, Mehrabi said. Ahmad Wali Haqmal, the Talibans spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, told VOA the sanctions on the banking system are the countrys key economic issue. Our main problem is the sanctions on our banking system. Most businessmen and ordinary people suffer because they cannot send money in and out [of Afghanistan]. This is a major problem that has to be solved, he said. A former employee of the Afghan Ministry of Finance told VOA the Taliban do not have the technical staff to run the economy. Most of the educated and skilled Afghans working in the ministry left the country, and the Taliban brought their own people with no skills and even education, said the former employee of the Afghan Ministry of Finance, who requested anonymity for his safety. He noted the Taliban are thinking it is the 1990s when they could run the government on their own. William Byrd, senior Afghanistan expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told VOA the situation is completely different from the 1990s when the Taliban were in power. The challenge for the Taliban in a way is much greater than it was in the 1990s, because the economy has developed in many ways. Social service is much developed since the '90s, and there is a lot more room for decline and for things to go wrong, Byrd emphasized. International engagement The donors are facing a dilemma, according to Roxanna Shapour of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, adding that they want to assist Afghanistan, but they are not sure how to engage with the Taliban. Shapour noted that the international community does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government. This has made the economic and development assistance to the country difficult, and to an extent, impossible, she said. She pointed out that many countries provide humanitarian assistance, but it would not help in changing the economic conditions. I do not think that the economy is going to get better in the future, she said. The World Banks latest report stated that Afghanistan will face a smaller economy, significantly higher rates of poverty and more limited economic opportunities for the 600,000 Afghans reaching working age every year. Afghanistans economic outlook is stark, the World Bank report stated. This story originated in VOAs Afghan Service. Pope Francis recent visit to Canada featured a widely reported apology for decades of horrific abuses at church-run residential schools for Indigenous youth. But it remains to be seen how much the papal visit accomplished in reconciliation between the Catholic Church and Canadas First Nations. The catalyst for the recent visit to Canada by Pope Francis arose over a year ago, when ground-penetrating radar found more than 200 grave-like impressions outside a now-closed residential school in the town of Kamloops, about 250 kilometers east of Vancouver. It was one of 139 such schools that existed across Canada from 1828 to 1996. Paid for by the Canadian government and run principally by the Catholic Church, approximately 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children were taken from their families and local communities and forced to attend the schools. Investigations have found that verbal, sexual and physical abuse were common, even rampant, at many schools. Pope Francis officially apologized for the churchs role in the abuse in a visit to a site outside Edmonton, Alberta. Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller stood beside or behind the pope for much of the visit. Miller said a fund of $23.5 million U.S. ($30 million Canadian) has been established to promote healing and reconciliation. He said the next step for the church is to listen to former students. And our first task is to listen to victims. And let them express to us what they would like from us, Miller said. You know, sometimes it's counseling, it could be compensation and other ways and so on that, all of that we have to take our cues from those who come forward. Angela White is executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society, which provides various types of support to former students. She said many survivors remain traumatized after the popes visit, while others accepted the apology and want to move forward. She said it will be difficult to replace the people, language and culture that the church-run schools tried to suppress. White would like to see complete access to all records the Vatican and Catholic organizations have regarding the schools, the return of cultural artifacts to their original communities and the prompt allocation of all the money and resources the church has set aside for reconciliation. White said many survivors and their families are hoping for a rebirth of their traditional languages. Maybe they can look at things like putting more action towards the revitalization of the language that was taken away, White said. And survivors talked about wholeheartedly how they were punished severely for even speaking a word of their language. Not everyone is satisfied. Greg Gabriel, chief of the Penticton Indian Band, called the popes visit a complete waste of time and money. He said further investigations are needed. Because what happened to our people and those children that are still lying in those graves, those were actual criminal actions, criminal activity that needs to be fully investigated, he said. Those were children. The first volume of a report released in May by the U.S. Interior Department said that 408 similar schools existed in 37 U.S. states. The report found both marked and unmarked burial areas at approximately 53 sites, and that number is expected to increase. The Chinese air force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military on Sunday. The training will include air support, strikes on ground targets and small- and large-scale troop deployment, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its website. China's expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the United States and its allies and form part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the world's two largest economies. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Thailand in June as part of an effort to strengthen what he called America's "unparalleled network of alliances and partnerships" in the region. The Falcon Strike exercise will be held at the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in northern Thailand near the border with Laos. Thai fighter jets and airborne early warning aircraft from both countries will also take part. The training comes as the U.S. holds combat drills in Indonesia with Indonesia, Australia, Japan and Singapore in the largest iteration of the Super Garuda Shield exercises since they began in 2009. It also follows China's sending warships, missiles and aircraft into the waters and air around Taiwan in a threatening response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its territory. Kurt Campbell, a top adviser to President Joe Biden on the Indo-Pacific, said Friday that the U.S. would take resolute steps to support Taiwan, including sending warships and aircraft through the 160-kilometer-wide waterway that separates Taiwan and China. "We'll continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows, consistent with our longstanding commitment to freedom of navigation," he said in a call with reporters. "And that includes conducting standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks." French firefighters tackled wildfires raging in the country's southeast Saturday as officials kept a wary eye on a huge blaze that appeared to be contained farther west. France has been buffeted this summer by a historic drought that has forced water use restrictions nationwide, as well as a series of heatwaves that experts say are being driven by climate change. On Saturday, a reignited "virulent" fire in the Aveyron department near Toulouse forced the evacuation of more than 130 people, officials said, while another blaze in the department of Drome, south of Lyon, progressed. The Aveyron and Drome fires have destroyed more than 1,200 hectares (3,100 acres). A fire in the legendary Broceliande Forest in the northwestern region of Brittany, where King Arthur roamed, devastated nearly 400 hectares but officials said Saturday the fire was no longer progressing. A 40-kilometre (25-mile) fire front in the Gironde and Landes departments around Bordeaux also "did not significantly progress overnight. Firefighters are working on its periphery," police said in a statement. But officials said it was premature to say that the blaze which has already reignited once was under control. "We remain vigilant" because "while we can't see huge flames, the fire continues to consume vegetation and soil," Arnaud Mendousse, of Gironde fire and rescue, told AFP. Officials suspect arson may have played a role in the latest flare-up, which has burned 7,400 hectares since Tuesday. Weather forecasters are expecting thunderstorms with wind gusts of up to 60 kilometers (40 miles) an hour in the region in the evening. The wind "could reignite the fire" that "is in a state of pause," Mendousse warned. In a bid to keep the situation contained, firefighters in Gironde on Saturday were busy dousing the hot and still smoking earth with water. Fireworks banned Authorities Saturday reopened a highway linking Bordeaux and Spain after closing a 20-kilometer stretch Wednesday. Traditional firework displays for the Catholic Feast of the Assumption on Monday, when Mary is believed to have entered heaven, have been banned in several areas. Corsica was lashed by winds traveling at 95 kilometers an hour overnight and hit by hail, Meteo-France said. Forecaster Claire Chanal said the storms expected this weekend could lead to flooding and hail. EU members including Germany, Poland, Austria and Romania have pledged reinforcements totaling 361 firefighters to join the roughly 1,100 French ones on the ground, along with several water-bombing planes from the European Union fleet. Most of the reinforcements had arrived on the ground, with the last 146 firefighters from Poland arriving late Saturday afternoon. "Here we are all volunteers. We're trained, we want to help," said Tone Neuhalfel, a German firefighter aged 36. The Atlantic port of Brest hit 35.9 degrees Celsius (96.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a record for the month of August. Forests off limits In eastern France, police said Saturday they were banning entry to most forests in the Bas-Rhin region near the German border. Cars, cyclists, hikers, hunters and fishermen are prohibited from entry until Tuesday, police said in a statement. Only residents will be able to access the area. "It's an extreme step in the face of an exceptional situation," said Pierre Grandadam, president of a group that includes the Alsace forested communities. "Everything is dry, the slightest gesture can lead to a conflagration. I've never seen anything like it," said the 74-year-old. "We're praying for rain." The blaze near Bordeaux erupted in July the driest month seen in France since 1961 destroying 14,000 hectares and forcing thousands of people to evacuate before it was contained. But it continued to smolder in the tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil. Fires in France in 2022 have ravaged an area three times the annual average over the past 10 years, with blazes also active in the Alpine Jura, Isere and Ardeche regions this week. European Copernicus satellite data showed more carbon dioxide greenhouse gas over 1 million tons had been released from 2022's forest fires in France than in any summer since records began in 2003. A U.N.-chartered vessel being loaded with grain is set to transport the first shipment of humanitarian food from Ukraine to Africa. The vessel, which docked in Ukraine Friday, will carry 23,000 tons of grain bound for Ethiopia. Its part of a U.N.-backed plan to move grain trapped by Russias war on Ukraine and to help relieve a global food crisis. Previous ships with grain were allowed to leave Ukraine under the deal but were not humanitarian, and their cargoes had been purchased by other nations or vendors. Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraines minister of infrastructure, wrote in a tweet that the newly docked vessel would also supply grain for Somalia and Kenya, which are also facing the worst drought in four decades. The wheat grain will go to the World Food Programs operations in Ethiopia, supporting WFPs Horn of Africa drought response as the threat of famine stalks the drought-hit region, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday. The ship MV Brave Commander arrived Friday in Yuzhne, Ukraine, east of Odesa on the Black Sea coast. After being loaded with wheat it will travel to Djibouti, where the grain will be unloaded and sent to Ethiopia, according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, two more ships left from Ukraine's Black Sea ports Saturday, said Turkey's defense ministry. So far, 16 cargo vessels have left the county under the U.N.-brokered agreement. The Barbados-flagged Fulmar S left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port, carrying 12,000 tons of corn to Turkey's southern Iskenderun province, it said. The Marshall Island-flagged Thoe departed from the same port and headed to Turkey's Tekirdag, carrying 3,000 tons of sunflower seeds. The statement added that another ship would depart from Turkey on Saturday to Ukraine to buy grains. Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said Saturday that 16 ships carrying 450,000 tons of agriculture products had departed from Ukrainian sea ports since early August under the deal, which ensured safe passage for the vessels. About 20 million tons of grain has been unable to leave Ukraine since Russia's February invasion of the country. Ukraine hopes to increase its maritime exports to more than 3 million tons of grain and other agriculture products per month in the near future. On July 22, Kyiv and Moscow signed a landmark agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Black Sea grain deliveries. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. Drag performers shimmied up and down a walkway between cafe tables, as enthusiastic patrons took photos, waved cash and filled out ballots ranking the shows. The mock election, fueled by performances that brought the din of an Anchorage, Alaska, cafe to a roar, was aimed at teaching voters about the state's new ranked choice voting system. The first ranked voting election under a suite of elections changes approved by Alaska voters in 2020 will be the Aug. 16 special U.S. House election featuring Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. Organizations have gotten creative in trying to help voters understand how to cast their ballot, as the mock election featuring drag performers shows. Under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more than 50% of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the most votes wins. Leaders of some of the efforts see their work as critical to getting voters comfortable with ranked voting, whether they like the system or not, and to helping voters avoid errors in casting their ballots. "In the spirit of democracy, you need to at least understand how this works," said Bernadette Wilson, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Alaska. The group opposed the 2020 ballot initiative but "we lost," she said. The new system is "the law of the land, and we have an election coming up." While Americans for Prosperity Action-Alaska has endorsed Begich, Wilson has avoided using the actual candidates as examples in videos she's posted on Facebook explaining the system, opting instead to demonstrate with colorful sticky notes on a whiteboard. She also did a presentation and Q&A at an Anchorage theater, an event sponsored by an education wing of the group, Americans for Prosperity Foundation. A commenter on one of Wilson's posts said: "I am glad she understands. Clear as mud to me." Wilson said she wonders how many people risk incorrectly filling out their ballot and having it rejected because "they read a comment on Facebook somewhere" or got bad information from a friend. Maine uses ranked voting in state-level primaries and in general elections for federal offices. But Alaska's unique system combines open primaries with ranked vote general elections. The top four finishers in each primary race, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. Supporters see ranked choice as a way to give voters more choice and to have candidates seek support from beyond their traditional bases. Three candidates are in the House special election after elections officials and courts determined that independent Al Gross, who finished third in the special primary, withdrew from the race too late for fifth-place finisher Republican Tara Sweeney to make the ballot in his place. The winner will serve the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young's term, which ends early next year. Young died in March. The special election will be on one side of the ballot. The other side will feature regular primary races, in which voters select one candidate per race. Palin at a recent forum called ranked voting "convoluted" and complicated and said it should be changed. Former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Palin, at a rally in Anchorage last month called ranked choice a "rigged deal." Palin's campaign did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about whether the campaign is trying to help voters understand the system or encouraging them to rank a certain way. Neither did Peltola's. Peltola, at the forum, said she was hopeful about the new system. Begich said his job is to make sure voters mark him first. Begich, who said he would like to see Alaska return to its old system, said he's focused on campaigning and leaving education around the process to others. The Alaska Division of Elections, which oversees elections, has produced ads, videos, fliers and online explainers. But a candidate for governor, Democrat Les Gara, said one of its mailers risks confusing people because it uses a mock state Senate race as a ranked choice example when no state legislative races will be ranked in August. A division spokesperson did not respond to the criticism. Some of the outreach efforts are political. For example, the National Republican Congressional Committee in a video encourages voters to "leave the Democrat blank" and only rank the Republicans in the House special election. The Alaska Democratic Party is urging voters to "rank the candidate(s) that most closely align with their values." The Alaska Center Education Fund, a nonpartisan arm of the progressive-leaning The Alaska Center, helped sponsor the recent "Drag out the Vote" event in Anchorage. Kyla Kosednar, the fund's advocacy director, said the fund's work is focused this year on young and first-time voters. "We try to add those fun elements into these voting events so that folks are more likely to take time out of their busy summer schedule and come learn about ranked choice voting," Kosednar said. Kosednar said Young's death accelerated the timeline for educating voters. She said some people don't realize an election is happening or are unfamiliar with the new system. She said practicing helps. "Once people do practice it they're like, 'Oh, this makes total sense,'" she said. Sarah Erkmann Ward, who owns a communications agency in Anchorage, has a contract with Alaskans for Better Elections and is doing outreach to help conservatives understand the system, she said. Alaskans for Better Elections backed the new elections system and has been working with a variety of groups in efforts to help voters understand it. Ward said she hasn't seen any ranked voting skeptics leave her presentations an advocate. "It's more of a realization that, 'OK, this is not as hard as I thought, still not wild about the idea but I know how to vote.' And that's really the goal here, just to get people comfortable with how you vote." Visitors walk on the Golden Bridge in Da Nang City. Photo by Ngan Duong The image of a bridge appearing in "The Sandman," an adaptation of Neil Gaimans comic series, was inspired from the Golden Bridge in Da Nang, the moviemaker has confirmed. Ian Markiewicz, a visual effects supervisor, told VnExpress that Vietnam's Golden Bridge was the source of inspiration for the design of the two-handed bridge that character Martin Tenbones rows across in the opening scenes of the film. Many Vietnamese viewers were surprised to see the bridge with two supporting hands that connects with the castle of Morpheus, because it seemed similar to the Golden Bridge in Da Nang. Vietnamese netizens were also happy about it, saying it would promote Vietnams tourism image among the international community. The bridge with two supporting hands appears in the opening scene of American TV series "The Sandman". Photo courtesy of Netflix Designed by architect Vu Viet Anh and his team, the bridge at the Ba Na Hills Resort in the Truong Son mountain range, is 150 meters long and 12.8 meters wide. It is held up by giant hands made of fiberglass and mesh wire. The bridge gained global fame soon after it opened in June 2018, attracting extensive media coverage and drawing visitors from all over the world. "The Sandman" is an American fantasy drama television series produced for Netflix, based on the comic book of the same name written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. All 10 episodes of "The Sandman" were released on August 5 and it was one of the most-watched productions on Netflix last week. "The movie follows the king of dreams Morpheus, played by a brooding, gothic Tom Sturridge, as he travels to Hell and back again, discovering how fears, pain and hope drive the paradoxical essence of humanity," a movie blurb says. Native American language experts have been in Central Australia to try to save Indigenous languages from extinction. Only around 20 people speak Pertame Southern Arrernte, which originated near the city of Alice Springs in Central Australia. Government policies had tried to eradicate Indigenous languages until the 1970s. The consequences are still being felt. Recent census data shows that 167 First Nations languages are spoken in Australia, but more than 100 are either severely or critically endangered. North American experts have traveled to the Australian desert to share their experiences of reviving traditional expression. Julian Lang is from northwestern California in the United States. He has seen his Karuk language thrive under an immersive teaching method called "language hunting, in which an elder teaches a student, or an apprentice, over three years. Lang told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the system has worked well. One person teaches another person and that person becomes a seed for so many more," said Lang. "The apprentice, well, learns how to elicit more knowledge from the elder. We call it language hunting. So, they seek out more and more language and as you get to a certain level you finally get to that point where you are conversing relatively easy. The so-called North American master-apprentice program was developed more than 30-years ago. There are no books or curriculum. Instead, teaching is based on everyday activities, and words and understanding are acquired gradually. Lang says the process takes about 900 hours over three years. The United Nations has declared the next 10 years as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. For First Nations Australians, learning their ancestral language helps them to reconnect with their identity and culture. Indigenous languages are not just a means of communication, they express knowledge of all aspects of society; from history and family relationships to astronomy and food. In 2019, history was made in Australia after a politician in the Northern Territory spoke an Aboriginal language with an interpreter for the first time in Parliament. The fight to use Indigenous languages in the chamber had lasted for years. In the past, politicians were told to speak only English in Parliament, and that it would be disorderly if they didnt. Paraguay Vice President Hugo Velazquez Moreno said Friday he would resign next week, shortly after he was included on a U.S. corruption list for his alleged involvement in offering bribes to a public official. The inclusion of Velazquez on the corruption list, announced by U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay Marc Ostfield on Friday morning, rocked Paraguay's political world not only because of Moreno's role in President Mario Abdo Benitez's administration but also because he is seen as a leading contender to become a presidential candidate for the Colorado Party in next year's elections. Minutes after Ostfield spoke at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, Velazquez expressed his innocence but said he would drop his presidential candidacy and present his resignation to Congress next week so he could defend himself against the allegations. "It really hit me like a bucket of cold water," Velazquez said during an interview with a local radio station. "I don't know what he's referring to because he didn't give too many details." Juan Carlos Duarte, a former prosecutor who is a close personal and business associate of Moreno, was also included on the corruption list, Ostfield said. Ostfield said Secretary of State Antony Blinken "received credible information" that showed how "at the request of Vice President Velazquez, Duarte, his close personal and professional partner, offered a bribe of more than $1 million to a public official." 'Pattern' of corruption This offering of a bribe was "consistent with an apparent pattern of corrupt activity," and in this case, it was carried out to "obstruct an investigation that threatened the vice president and his financial interests," Ostfield said. As a result of the designations, Velazquez, Duarte and their immediate family members will no longer be allowed to enter the United States. Velazquez said he was "completely and totally" in the dark about the allegations detailed by Ostfield. Paraguay's vice president said he would resign because he wanted to "go out like a common citizen to defend what I think is an injustice." President Abdo said the U.S. allegations "surprised us all" but congratulated Velazquez for his quick decision to drop out of the presidential race and announce he would be stepping down as vice president. "I congratulate him for his mature attitude in prioritizing the interests and the construction of credibility of our nation in announcing to the Paraguayan people that he will resign as a candidate and as vice president," Abdo said. In addition to his close relationship with Velazquez, Duarte is also legal counsel for the entity that runs the binational Yacyreta Dam that is jointly owned by Paraguay and Argentina. "Duarte's act of corruption abused and exploited his powerful and privileged public position within the Yacyreta Bi-National Entity, risking public confidence in one of Paraguay's most vital economic assets," the State Department said. Duarte has been removed from his post at Yacyreta, Abdo said. The designation comes mere weeks after a former president of Paraguay, Horacio Manuel Cartes, was also included on a U.S. corruption list for his "involvement in significant corruption." He served as president of Paraguay between August 2013 and August 2018. Ostfield emphasized that the designation "has nothing to do with politics" and that Washington "will continue working closely with President Mario Abdo Benitez and his government in a variety of issues, including the fight against corruption, impunity and against money laundering and terrorism financing." Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdie's attacker, identified by police as Hadi Mattar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Iran's capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. "I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. "This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities." Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. "I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. "This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China." Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the country's economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammad's life. "I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled 'Satanic Verses' ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death," Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: "Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven." Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hardline Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: "A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie." The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: "Salman Rushdie in neighborhood of death?" But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Iran's former shah by Khomeini's supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as "bonyads" in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shah's time, often serve the political interests of the country's hardliners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the country's Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the country's government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami's foreign minister in 1998 said that the "government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it." Rushdie slowly began to reemerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a "good feeling" after seeing Rushdie attacked. "This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people," he said. Others, however, worried the attack regardless of why it was carried out could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. "It will make Iran more isolated," warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. "The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid," Khamenei said in 1989. "As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target." As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: "Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslim's duty in this regard?" Khamenei responded: "The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued." Supporters of Iran-backed Shiite groups rallied in Baghdad on Friday to denounce their rivals, followers of an influential Shiite cleric who stormed the parliament last month and have since been holding a sit-in outside the assembly building in the Iraqi capital. The rivalry between the two sides shows the deep divisions within Iraq's Shiite community, which makes up about 60% of Iraq's population of over 40 million people. Unlike Iran-backed groups, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr wants better ties with Arab countries, including Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which is Shiite Iran's main rival in the region. Al-Sadr has also been a harsh critic of widespread corruption in the oil-rich country torn by decades of violence, with a crumbling infrastructure, an impoverished majority and lack of basic services. During their rally Friday, the protesters from the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-backed parties, did not try to enter Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq's parliament, government buildings and foreign embassies and where al-Sadr's followers are camped out. Ahead of their gathering, authorities had closed off the road leading into the Green Zone with giant cement blocks. The counterprotest came after al-Sadr issued a deadline on Wednesday to the judiciary, giving it a week to dissolve the legislature. Al-Sadr, whose camp won the most votes in last October's parliamentary elections, has not been able to form a majority government and after eight months of stalemate and jockeying with rival, Iran-backed Shiite factions, he abandoned those attempts. Members of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc resigned but instead of allowing his rivals the Coordination Framework to try to form a government, al-Sadr has demanded the parliament be dissolved and that early elections be held. It's unclear whether he has any legal basis for those demands. The inter-Shiite power struggle has left Iraq in political limbo and exacerbated the economic crisis. The impasse, now in its 10th month, is the longest in the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion reset the political order. "We are protesting against the occupation of parliament and those who threaten the judiciary," said university student Abbas Salem, who was part of the rally Friday by Iran-backed groups. Salem carried a poster of a top Iranian general, Qassim Soleimani, and a top Iraqi Shiite militia leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who were killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020. He said he worries that if al-Sadr forms a government, he will disband the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella of mostly Iran-backed Shiite militias. Another protester, Ahmad al-Maliki, 52, said they are opposed to al-Sadr followers' "occupation of parliament" and added that Iraq needs a new government as soon as possible. Meanwhile, al-Sadr's supporters in Baghdad and most Iraqi Shiite-dominated provinces except for the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala held their own rallies and performed Friday prayers outdoors in a show of strength. Ukraines health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not [allowed] proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them, Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday. We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized, the minister said. The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials. The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the countrys state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24. The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries. But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe. When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces ... it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital, he said. Sometimes, we cant make it in time, the ambulance cant get there in time. Thats why war causes many more casualties [than those killed in the fighting]. Its a number that cannot be calculated. The United Nations is calling for immediate access to a nuclear power plant as Russia and Ukraine again Friday accused the other of firing weapons near the plant. Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired more than 40 rockets at the city of Marhanets, which is across the Dnieper River from the power plant. The region's governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said three civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were wounded in the attack. Russia accuses Ukraine of firing at the plant. Heavy fighting and artillery shelling in the area of the plant were reported Friday. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said there's "a real risk of nuclear disaster" unless the fighting stops and inspectors are allowed inside the facility. "This is a serious hour, a grave hour," IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi said late Thursday during a U.N. Security Council meeting. "The IAEA must urgently be allowed to conduct a mission to Zaporizhzhia." Russian forces who occupy the plant have been accused of using it as a shield to fire at Ukrainian army positions. Heavy shelling in areas near the plant has been reported over the past two weeks. Russian soldiers control the facility, but Ukrainian staff are continuing to operate the plant. "We know that the Russians have been there for some time. We also know that the Russians have fired artillery, I think specifically rockets, from around the power plant," a senior U.S. military official told reporters Friday, refuting Russian allegations that the plant has been targeted by Ukrainian forces. "I don't have any belief that the Ukrainians, who know very well what the impacts of hitting that power plant would be, have an interest in hitting the power plant," the official added. Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a statement that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "must not be used as part of any military operation." "Urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area," he added. In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday urged the United States and other countries to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, saying in his nightly video address, "After everything that the occupiers have done in Ukraine, there can be only one approach to Russia as a terrorist state." A senior Russian official said Friday that ties between Moscow and Washington would be badly damaged if the U.S. Senate were to pass a law labeling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The action would be "the most serious collateral damage for bilateral diplomatic relations, to the point of downgrading and even breaking them off," Russia's Tass news agency quoted Alexander Darchiyev, head of the North American department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, as saying. Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official claimed 60 Russian pilots and technicians were killed and 100 people were wounded at the Russian-operated Saki military air base in western Crimea on Tuesday. Russia claims that only munitions stored at the airfield exploded, but Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, told The New York Times on Friday that was "a blatant lie." The U.S. on Friday said its own assessment indicated that several Russian fighter jets, several Russian fighter-bombers and a Russian surveillance aircraft were destroyed, along with a "pretty significant cache of munitions." Satellite images taken earlier this week showed several fighter jets and at least five bombers destroyed at the base, according to a British military intelligence report. The British defense ministry said Saturday on Twitter that Russia is likely having trouble providing supplies to its military in Ukraine on the west bank of the Dnipro in Kherson Oblast because two of the areas primary road bridges are out, following damage by Ukraine. The ministry said Russia has been using a pontoon ferry to provide supplies to several thousand troops stationed on the west bank since late July. Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, the ministry said, they will remain a key vulnerability. Some information for this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. Somali Federal government leaders have called upon the political leaders in Somaliland to maintain stability and resolve differences through dialogue. Recent protests and clashes in the breakaway region killed five people. In a short video released by the presidents office Friday night, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called on the Somaliland ruling party and opposition leaders to resolve their political differences through dialogue to avoid instability. Mohamud urged the leaders to avoid further violence and resolve their differences themselves using processes they have in place, or the region will require foreign intervention to stem the election dispute. He says there must be peace, administration, law and order, and that is something very valuable - a value that becomes even more important when its lacking. He says he is calling on the political leaders on both sides, traditional leaders, religious leaders, civil society leaders and different public groups to resolve the outstanding issues through negotiations. He called on the upper house of Somaliland, known as Guurti, to stand up in resolving the election dispute that resulted in a massive protest against the current president Muse Bihi Abdi. Thursdays protests and clashes between opposition supporters and the security forces claimed the lives of at least five people and wounded 100 others, including numerous security officials. Although the situation appears to have calmed down a bit since late Thursday, the opposition says the protests will continue. The constitutional mandate of the regions upper house already has expired, and the presidents term in office is about to end in November, but the prospect is slim of holding the election. Civil society activists in Somaliland who spoke with VOA Saturday called on the government to respect the rights of citizens in accordance with national and international law and to resolve the dispute through political means. Guleid Ahmed Jama, is a Hargeisa-based law practitioner and civil society activist. He told VOA that lawmakers from the House of Representatives are returning from recess to seek a political solution to the election dispute. Jama said he is calling upon the disputed sides to come together via a political dialogue and enter negotiations that Somaliland is known for in order to create political tolerance. He says he is seeking the protection of rights in accordance with the Somaliland constitution and international law, that no harm comes to civilians and that peace and stability is maintained. Somalilands international partners include the U.S. and Denmark, who are also calling for dialogue and a peaceful solution in the breakaway region. Somaliland is a self-ruled region of northern Somalia that declared independence in 1991 but has not received recognition from the international community. Sri Lanka said Saturday it has agreed that the Chinese survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 can dock at its southernmost port, the Chinese-run Hambantota on August 16, despite security concerns raised by neighboring India and the United States. Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China's latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Both China and India have tried to expand their influence in Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst economic crisis in its post-independence history. India has provided more help to Sri Lanka this year than any other nation. But it fears its bigger and more powerful rival China will use the Hambantota port near the main Asia-Europe shipping route as a military base. Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities at the port to a Chinese company in 2017 on a 99-year lease after struggling to repay its debt. The Pentagon says Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People's Liberation Army. On Friday, India rejected claims it has put pressure on Sri Lanka to turn the vessel away. "We reject categorically the 'insinuation' and such statement about India. Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and makes its own independent decisions," Arindam Bagchi, a foreign ministry spokesman, said. Security forces in Kabul fired shots into the air and beat women protesting Taliban rule Saturday as dozens demanded the right to education, work and political participation on the eve of the first anniversary of the Islamist groups takeover of Afghanistan. Rally participants chanted we want work, bread, and freedom as they marched toward the Education Ministry in the Afghan capital before Taliban forces responded violently to the rare anti-government rally. August 15 is a black day, read a banner protesters were carrying as they demanded the right to work and political participation, chanting "Justice, justice. Witness accounts and social media documented many women at the rally not wearing face veils. Some of the female protesters who took refuge in nearby shops were chased and beaten by security forces with their rifle butts, witnesses said. Heavy gunfire could be heard in social media video of the rally, with Taliban men assaulting female protesters. They also violently prevented Afghan journalists from covering the rally. Amnesty international expressed concern on Twitter about reported use of excessive force by the Taliban to disperse women who were protesting peacefully. Taliban officials did not immediately comment on the allegations. The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August 15 from the internationally backed Afghan government as U.S.-led and NATO allies withdrew their troops from the country after almost 20 years of war with the Taliban. The hardline groups all-male interim government in Kabul has since significantly rolled back womens rights to work and education, barring most teenage girls from resuming secondary school in a breach of promises the Taliban made to respect rights of all Afghans. Women employed in the public sector have been told to stay at home, except for those who work for the ministries of education, health and a few others, and must use face coverings in public. They have also banned women from traveling alone on long trips and require them to fully cover themselves, including their faces, in public. The restrictions angered female activists and they initially staged small demonstrations against them, but the Taliban used violence and detained organizers, effectively deterring such rallies for months. The Taliban defend their policies as being in line with Afghan culture and Shariah or Islamic law. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, is to resume contingent rotations starting Monday under fresh approval procedures, the Malian foreign minister and a U.N. spokeswoman have said. "MINUSMA agreed to the new procedures and communicated them to all countries contributing troops. There will be no exception," Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said Saturday, after the Sahel state suspended the rotations last month for "national security" reasons. The peacekeeping force's spokeswoman Myriam Dessables confirmed the news and said: "Rotations are to resume from Monday." The announcement came after Germany said Friday it had stopped reconnaissance operations and helicopter transport flights in Mali until further notice after Bamako denied flyover rights to MINUSMA. Those rights were refused despite assurances to the contrary from the Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara in a call with his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht Thursday, the German defense ministry spokesman said. Diop said the various contingents previously had to seek approval directly from the Malian authorities. But now "all requests must go via MINUSMA, who will then pass them on to the foreign ministry," the minister said. The July 14 suspension of rotations came four days after Mali arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers it later described as mercenaries intent on toppling the country's military-led government. Ivory Coast said the troops had been sent to provide backup to MINUSMA. The peacekeeping mission acknowledged there had been what it called dysfunctions in deploying the Ivorian troops. Former MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado was expelled from the country for publishing what the authorities deemed unacceptable information on Twitter following the arrest. MINUSMA, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, was launched in 2013 to help one of the world's poorest countries cope with a bloody jihadi campaign. It is one of the U.N.'s biggest peacekeeping operations, with 17,609 troops, police, civilians and volunteers deployed as of April, according to the mission's website. Mali has been ruled by a military junta since 2020. The junta has turned away from France and toward Russia in its fight against the jihadi insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. France is pulling out the last of its military equipment from the country. On Saturday, residents in the southeastern Menaka region said Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) jihadis had attacked the Assaylal district, "killing seven civilians and taking with off their cattle." It comes after a suspected jihadi attack in the town of Tessit, near the borders with Niger and Burkina Faso, killed 42 Malian soldiers on Sunday last week. The army blamed ISGS. A newly released white paper on the Taiwan question and China's reunification has offered a scientific grasp of a new starting point for the country's reunification. It demonstrates the confidence of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government in realizing complete reunification, their resolve in opposing separatist activities and external interference, and their unchanging original aspiration to seek happiness for people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. Realizing China's complete reunification is indispensable for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China has achieved a historic transformation from standing upright to becoming prosperous and growing in strength, and national rejuvenation is driven by an unstoppable force. This marks a new starting point for reunification. The CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core has affirmed the basic policy of upholding "one country, two systems" and promoting national reunification. It proposed five major policies to advance the peaceful reunification of China in the new era, made clear that upholding and improving "one country, two systems" and promoting peaceful reunification of the motherland are important components of upholding and improving the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and modernizing China's governance system and capacity, and has developed the overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era. The efforts have effectively safeguarded peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and promoted progress toward national reunification. The fact that China has not yet been reunified is a scar left by history on the Chinese nation. China's development and progress are key factors in determining the course of cross-Straits relations and the realization of complete national reunification. China's development and progress, and in particular the steady increases in its economic power, technological strength, and national defense capabilities, are effective curbs against separatist activities and interference from external forces. They also provide broad space and great opportunities for cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation. Grounding its effort in the new development stage, the mainland is committed to applying the new development philosophy, creating a new development dynamic, and promoting high-quality development. As a result, the overall strength and international influence of the mainland will continue to increase, and its influence over and appeal to Taiwan society will keep growing, thus facilitating a more solid foundation for resolving the Taiwan question. This will give a significant boost to national reunification. The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and reunification of the country are the trend of our times. It is where the greater national interest lies, and it is what the people desire. As long as the Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Straits stand on the right side of history, devote their energy to the same goal, grasp their fate and future in their own hands, the historic goal of reuniting the motherland and rejuvenating the Chinese nation will definitely be realized. Here's a summary of Uyghur-related news around the world: China's anti-crime campaign targets some Uyghurs Beijing's "Hundred Days Action" campaign, which aims to crack down on criminals and fugitives across the country, has also been targeting Uyghurs in Xinjiang considered "religious extremists," "separatists," "terrorists" and "two-faced persons." According to Radio Free Asia, the Chinese Communist Party often applies the term "two-faced" to Uyghur officials who want to carry on their cultural and religious traditions. Rights organizations and governments in the West have accused China of genocide and crimes against humanity, which Beijing has denied. Uyghur who studied in Turkey arrested upon return to Xinjiang A Uyghur who went to study in Turkey in 2010 returned to China last year to work in an international company's Guangzhou branch in southern China. Last month, Chinese police arrested him, RFA reported. Both where he was arrested and why are unknown. Xinjiang lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak Xinjiang authorities have imposed new lockdowns in the region because of a new outbreak of COVID-19. The number of people infected with COVID-19 in Xinjiang rose to 274 from July 31-Aug. 6. Chinese government officials in the region told RFA that Chinese tourists coming from Gansu province are believed to be the source of the outbreak. Top Chinese solar panel companies' shipments to US detained or sent back The Wall Street Journal reported that shipments from Chinese solar-panel companies such as Longi Green Energy Technology, Jinko Solar and Trina Solar had been detained or sent back in recent weeks. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which had gone into effect in June, requires companies to prove that imports are not made by Uyghur forced labor from Xinjiang. China targets Canadian professor for research on Uyghurs Darren Byler, a professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University in Canada and author of two books on the Uyghur human rights situation in China, was labeled by Chinese state media as an agent of the U.S. government, an accusation that he denies. In brief Amid China's pressure on Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. human rights chief, to stop the release of the long-anticipated Xinjiang human rights report, her office told VOA that she was committed to publishing the report in August. "As we have said, the high commissioner has committed to publishing the report before her term finishes at the end of the month," Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Liz Throssell told VOA. Quote of note "As you approach your departure as high commissioner on August 31, the report remains buried while CCP diplomats reportedly conduct a flurry of confidential lobbying to halt its release. Do not let the CCP further taint your tenure as commissioner by withholding the report a minute longer." U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, demanding that OHCHR's Bachelet release Xinjiang human rights report immediately Laboratory tests following a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River detected high levels of salinity but no mercury poisoning its waters, Poland's environment minister said Saturday as the mystery continued as to what killed tons of fish in Central Europe. Anna Moskwa, the minister of climate and environment, said analyses of river samples taken in both Poland and Germany revealed elevated salt levels. Comprehensive toxicology studies are still underway in Poland, she said. She said Poland's state veterinary authority tested seven species of the dead fish and ruled out mercury as the cause of the die-off but was still waiting for results of other substances. She said test results from Germany had also not shown a high presence of mercury. Pollution suspected The Oder River runs from Czechia to the border between Poland and Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Some German media had suggested that the river had been poisoned with mercury. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday that "huge amounts of chemical waste" were probably dumped intentionally into his country's second-longest river, causing environmental damage so severe it would take years for the waterway to recover. On Saturday, Morawiecki vowed to do everything possible to limit the environmental devastation. Poland's interior minister said a reward of 1 million zlotys ($220,000) would be paid to anyone who helps track down those responsible for polluting the river. Authorities in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania warned people not to fish or use water from the Szczecin lagoon, as the river's contaminated water was expected to reach the estuary area on Saturday evening. "The extent of the fish die-off is shocking. This is a blow to the Oder as a waterway of great ecological value, from which it will presumably not recover for a long time," said Alex Vogel, the environment minister for Germany's Brandenburg state, along which the river runs. The head of Polish waters, Poland's national water management authority, said Thursday that 10 tons of dead fish had been removed from the river. Hundreds of volunteers were working to help collect dead fish along the German side. Salt, no mercury German laboratories said they detected atypical levels of salts that could be linked to the die-off but wouldn't fully explain them on their own. Morawiecki acknowledged that some Polish officials were slow to react after huge numbers of dead fish were seen floating and washing ashore, and he said two of them were dismissed. "For me, however, the most important thing is to deal with this ecological disaster as soon as possible, because nature is our common heritage," Morawiecki said. His comments were echoed by Schwedt Mayor Annekathrin Hoppe, whose German town is next to the Lower Oder Valley National Park. She called the contamination of the river "an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale" for the region. Illustrative image (Photo: AP) He cited data from the Rubber Authority of Thailand as saying that this years total export of natural rubber is expected to reach 4.27 million tonnes, up 3.41% from last year. In the first half, Thailand exported 167.2 billion THB worth of natural rubber and rubber products, he added. Almost half of the exports went to China, which is the largest market for Thailands rubber and rubber products, according to him. Malaysia was second on the list with 10%, followed by the US (7%), Japan (6%), and the Republic of Korea (4%). The Rubber Authority of Thailand estimated that Thai rubber production this year will total 4.79 million tonnes, up 0.88% from last year./. Angela was a much-loved and respected figure in Italy. Piero Angela, the celebrated Italian television host, science journalist and writer, died on Saturday aged 93. The news was announced on Twitter by his son Alberto, also a well-known face on Italian television, with the simple message "Buon viaggio papa". Widely considered as Italy's David Attenborough, Angela wrote 33 books, which sold three million copies, and made more than 60 documentaries and hundreds of television episodes, winning multiple awards. Italy's president Sergio Mattarella led tributes to Angela, who began working for state broadcaster RAI in 1952, first as radio reporter and a foreign correspondent, then as a presenter of acclaimed documentaries focusing primarily on science, culture and history. Mattarella described Angela as "a refined intellectual, journalist and writer who has shaped the history of television in Italy in an unforgettable way, bringing ever wider audiences closer to the world of culture and science, promoting its diffusion in an authoritative and engaging way." The president expressed his deepest condolences to Angela's family and underlined his "great sorrow" at the loss of "a great Italian to whom the republic is grateful". Placeholder while article actions load Donald Trump has taken lots of public flak for invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions during his recent deposition by New York prosecutors looking into his finances. To the extent that critics have pointed to the former presidents hypocrisy, theyre entirely on the mark.(1) But to the extent that theyre suggesting that Trump must have something to hide because he refused to answer questions, theyre following in a longstanding yet unsavory American tradition one that Senator Joseph McCarthy would readily recognize. Although lawyers routinely advise their clients not to say a word to prosecutors, we tend to look askance at those who, in the parlance, take the Fifth. But one neednt be a Trump fan Im certainly not to understand that invoking the right to remain silent isnt evidence of guilt; its a vital part of the relationship between the citizen and the state. Nevertheless, although the historical origin of the privilege itself remains contested, its fair to say that long before the phrase take the Fifth existed, a witnesss silence was taken by the public as evidence of wrongdoing. Advertisement Back in the 1820s, when the New York legislature held hearings on whether certain banks had engaged in wrongdoing, a witness who refused to discuss his involvement in crafting a particular document was arrested and carted off to Albanys city jail. During a 1911 probe of the role of Texas breweries in battling local prohibition laws, newspapers decried the refusal of several witnesses to say under oath whether they took bribes. The investigators announced plans to force answers. An unsigned 1922 article in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review captured the view of many critics in coldly rejecting the notion that the right to avoid self-incrimination possessed any value: The privilege which exempts the accused from being compelled to give evidence is extremely undesirable at this time in that it unquestionably shields crime and offers protection for the guilty criminal. But it was the Communist witch-hunts that followed World War II that firmly fixed in the popular mind the notion that asserting ones privilege against self-incrimination was the pusillanimous act of the guilty. In 1948, for example, the House Un-American Activities Committee warned that invoking the Fifth Amendment was part of the new and clever conspiratorial tactics used by Communists to conceal their espionage activities and their disloyal purposes. Advertisement Leading members of the bar pronounced similar views. A prominent California lawyer argued that a witness could not use the Fifth Amendment in response to being asked if he was a Communist, because being a member of the Party was not a crime: [H]e cannot use the Fifth Amendment to save himself from a personal ordeal, no matter how trying or repulsive, unless the answer to the question would actually tend to incriminate him. So if the worst that might happen was that the witness would, say, become unemployable, the privilege did not apply.(2) The actual phrase taking the Fifth and its equivalents date to that era. Although its earliest usage seems to have been by witnesses who tired of repeating I invoke, the term quickly became derisive. In April 1954, for instance, Senator Joseph McCarthy complained in an interview that many people who have backgrounds of Communist activities would refuse to testify before congressional committees. If they act like those in the past, McCarthy lamented, they will even take the Fifth Amendment. The frustration of congressional investigators often led to sharp exchanges, as later that same year, when a publicist named Alexander Sherman was asked by HUAC about his work on behalf of the Hollywood 10. Sherman responded: Im afraid I must take the Fifth Amendment on that to which Harold Velde, the committees chair, shot back: You are afraid to take the Fifth Amendment?(3) Advertisement Those who relied on the privilege back then were often persecuted. They could face loss of employment and financial ruin. Happily, a few civil libertarians raised their voices in protest. The most prominent was Erwin Griswold, the dean of Harvard Law School, who published a series of articles in an effort to educate the public about the virtues of the Fifth Amendment. The privilege against self-incrimination, he argued in one essay, is a part of the right to be left alone, designed to tip the scale in favor of the individual against the weight of the state. In another article, Griswold criticized Congress for calling witnesses they knew planned to give no testimony: [A] legislative investigation is improper when its sole or basic purpose is to expose people or to develop evidence for use in criminal prosecutions. To be sure, the great arguments of the McCarthy Era over the right to remain silent largely revolved around legislative overreach. But the same lesson apples when questions are being put by prosecutors: A refusal to testify shouldnt be considered evidence that the witness did anything wrong, a rule that the Supreme Court in 1965 formalized for criminal trials. The rest of us should adhere to the same principle. Advertisement Again, none of this is special pleading for Trump. My fear, rather, is that whenever we deride the invocation of Fifth Amendment rights, we risk trampling on a vital pillar of our democracy. More From Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: How the Democrats Big Bill Finally Succeeded: Jonathan Bernstein Bolton Plot Should Be a Warning on Iran Nuclear Talks: Bobby Ghosh The Feds Damage to the Housing Market May Last Years: Allison Schrager (1) Yes, theres plenty of hypocrisy to go around. (2) Confession of bias: It was around this time that my great-uncle was imprisoned for contempt after asserting his fifth amendment rights. And, yes, he subsequently became unemployable. (3) For my fellow nitpickers: Google Books incorrectly dates this exchange as having occurred in 1949. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Yale University, he is author, most recently, of Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down Americas Most Powerful Mobster. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion 2022 Bloomberg L.P. GiftOutline Gift Article Placeholder while article actions load 10 killed in rampage; gunman also dead Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Ten people, including two children and their mother, were killed in a mass shooting in Montenegro on Friday, and six others were wounded, a state prosecutor told Vijesti TV after an initial investigation. The gunman was also killed. Montenegro Police Director Zoran Brdjanin said that about 3:30 p.m., a 34-year-old man with a hunting rifle fatally shot two siblings, ages 8 and 11, and wounded their mother, who died later at a medical facility. He said the family were tenants in the gunmans house. The gunman then went outside and fatally shot seven other people. A police officer was wounded in an ensuing shootout, Brdjanin said. When we arrived ... we saw nine dead bodies, including two children, said state prosecutor Andrijana Nastic. ... I can only say that the shooter was killed by a citizen. Advertisement Montenegros Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said three days of mourning would be declared starting Friday evening. Reuters Deadly prison violence spills into border city A gang riot in a border prison that left two inmates dead quickly spread to the streets of Ciudad Juarez, where alleged gang members killed nine people, including four workers at a radio station, security officials said Friday. The governments security undersecretary, Ricardo Mejia Berdeja, said the violence started in the state prison after 1 p.m. Thursday when a member of the Mexicles gang attacked members of the rival Chapos. Two inmates were killed and 20 injured. Then suspected gang members outside the prison began burning businesses and shooting up Ciudad Juarez. Mejia Berdeja said four MegaRadio employees who were broadcasting a live promotional event outside a business were killed in the shooting. Advertisement Associated Press Officials probe die-off of fish in Oder River Authorities in Poland and Germany are working flat out to establish the cause of a mass fish die-off in the Oder River, German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said Friday, warning of an environmental catastrophe. Tons of dead fish have been found since late July in the Oder, which runs through both nations. Officials have said they think a toxic substance is to blame but have yet to identify it. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the river would take years to return to normal. It is likely that enormous amounts of chemical waste have been dumped, he said, adding that those responsible would be held accountable. Reuters 5 Congolese police officers killed in protest over jailbreak: Five police officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo were killed, local authorities said, as public frustration mounted in the eastern city of Butembo over the freeing of more than 800 prison inmates by suspected Islamist militants. Protesters demanded to know how a prison in the middle of the city could be attacked with such apparent ease, said Van Germain Katsiwa, a representative of a local civil society group. Congolese troops were able to quell Wednesday's unrest, but the mood in the city remained tense, an army spokesman said. Advertisement Sierra Leone leader says protesters sought overthrow: Sierra Leone's president, Julius Maada Bio, said this week's anti-government protests, which led to the deaths of six police officers and at least 21 civilians, were an attempt to overthrow the government. On Wednesday, police used tear gas and guns to disperse large crowds of protesters throwing rocks and burning tires in Freetown, the capital, and other cities. "The chant of the insurrectionists was for a violent overthrow of the democratically elected government," Maada Bio said in an address to the nation. Former Grenada minister tapped as next climate chief: The former climate resilience minister for the Caribbean nation of Grenada has been tapped to be the next U.N. climate chief, according to sources familiar with the selection. Simon Stiell will replace Patricia Espinosa, who finished her second term as executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in July. From news services GiftOutline Gift Article At the reception (Photo: PANO) He made the statement during his reception for a delegation from Lao capital Vientiane led by Anouphap Tounalom, Secretary of the Vientiane Party Committee and Chairman of the Vientiane Peoples Council. At the reception, Mr. Thanh affirmed that the visit was of great significance as this was the first official local-level high-level delegation to visit the capital Hanoi after the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized that through the past commemorative activities, it is necessary to widely disseminate the meaning and special nature of the relations between Vietnam - Laos and Hanoi - Vientiane to the young generation, so that they build ever-growing relationships that will last forever; are aware of the deep meaning of the close relationship between the two countries. Hanoi always aims to closely and comprehensively cooperate with the capital Vientiane, he said, affirming that Hanoi will strictly implement cooperation commitments between the two capitals in the period of 2022-2025. Regarding the cooperation between the two cities, including the organization of a trade promotion mission of Hanoi to visit Vientiane; supporting the construction of the headquarters of the Department of Justice and the Procuracy of Vientiane, Chairman of the City People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh suggested relevant departments and branches focus on urging the implementation for the most efficient and effective progress. Thanking the leader of Hanoi city for the respectful and affectionate welcome, Mr. Anouphap Tounalom affirmed that the pillar in the relationship between the two Parties, the two States as well as the two capitals is the great friendship and comprehensive cooperation. Accordingly, the authorities of the two sides are coordinating to implement extensive cooperation in all fields. Laos aims to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam at all levels from the central government to grassroots levels, including many potential areas of cooperation, he said. The two sides can promote cooperation in economic relations, investment, search for goods and products for exchange and trade, and regional tourism development. Expressing gratitude for Hanoi's support for development projects of Laos in general and Vientiane in particular in the past and in the future, he expected the year of friendship and solidarity 2022 will open a new chapter in the relationship between the two sides, making the cooperation more and more sustainable and in-depth./. Placeholder while article actions load MEXICO CITY Hundreds of Nicaraguans attended a Mass under a heavy police presence Saturday after the government prohibited a religious procession in the capital amid tensions with the Roman Catholic Church. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Church leaders announced a day earlier that the National Police had banned the planned procession for Our Lady of Fatima for reasons of internal security. Instead, the church called the faithful to come peacefully to the cathedral. On Saturday, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes said they gathered with a lot of happiness, but also with a lot of sadness due to the situation we have lived in our parishes. Forgive them Lord, because they know not what they do, Brenes said. Earlier this month, the government of President Daniel Ortega closed seven radio stations owned by the church and announced an investigation of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who has been confined to the churchs compound in Matagalpa by police for nearly two weeks. Advertisement The government acuses Alvarez, a vocal government critic, of promoting hate and inciting violence. Before confining Alvarez, police had encircled a priest in Sebaco, also part of the Matagalpa diocese, for several days before eventually allowing him to leave. On Saturday, a representative from the Matagalpa diocese presented Brenes with an image of the Lady of Fatima. On Friday, the Vatican spoke out publicly for the first time about the recent moves against the church in Nicaragua. The Vaticans permanent observer to the Organization of American States expressed concern during a special session of the bodys permanent council. Monsignor Juan Antonio Cruz called for finding paths of understanding based on reciprocal respect and trust, looking above all for the common good and peace. During the session, 27 countries approved a resolution condemning the forced closure of nongovernmental organizations and the harrassment and arbitrary restrictions placed on religious organizations in Nicaragua. There was one vote against and four abstentions. Advertisement Police have not allowed large public gatherings, except those sponsored by the government or the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front party, since September 2018. Earlier that year, in April, huge street protests became a call for Ortega to step down. Ortega has maintained that it was a coup attempt carried out with foreign backing and the support of the church. Since then his government has moved against voices of dissent, including political opposition leaders and more than 1,000 nongovernmental organizations. GiftOutline Gift Article Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Theyre the slick orange-and-white cartons that have become a mainstay in Australian coffee culture. Championed by baristas, chosen by McDonalds, Starbucks and Muffin Break, and beloved by lactose-avoiding consumers, Milklabs plant-based products are a common sight in cafes across the nation. But few coffee drinkers would know that Milklabs manufacturer is at the centre of one of the most spectacular corporate implosions in recent Australian history. The future of cult favourite MILKLAB is in the hands of a Noumi shareholder vote on Wednesday. Credit:Janie Barrett/SMH Milklabs maker, an ASX-listed company once known as Freedom Foods, is still struggling to recover from revelations two years ago of significant accounting irregularities worth over half-a-billion dollars. The irregularities, preceded by the sudden resignations of two top executives, forced the company into a nine-month trading halt. Two class action lawsuits and an investigation by the corporate regulator, ASIC, have followed. Freedom Foods has changed its management team, secured support from a new cornerstone shareholder - the billionaire Perich family, one of western Sydneys biggest landowners - and rebranded itself as Noumi (pronounced new me). Despite this, the company behind a wide range of dairy and plant-based milk products and health supplements has failed to win back the trust of investors. Advertisement Noumi was a market darling as recently as a few years ago, class action law firm Phi Finney McDonald associate Muhammad Arayne says. The financial irregularity revelations made in mid to late 2020 genuinely shocked the market and caused the company to lose a substantial amount of trust from investors. The share price collapse ... was catastrophic. Noumi shares, currently hovering around 28 cents, are about 90 per cent below a September 2018 peak price of $5.30. With a market value of $78 million, Noumi is worth less than 5 per cent of a company once valued at nearly $2 billion. Loading Throughout this turmoil, Milklab has been one bright spot for the company, enjoying stratospheric growth and strong customer loyalty among baristas. But now, even Noumis most prized brand, and the companys future prospects, are hanging on a knifes edge. And this week, the company disclosed that a separate legal battle has been launched by French tea and coffee company Sunday Collab over rights to distribute Milklab in Europe, claims Noumi says are without merit. Noumi had already been accused of fraud by its former supplier, Californian almond grower Blue Diamond, which sued Noumi for breaching a licensing agreement between the two parties relating to Milklab. Advertisement The pair of companies have reached a settlement of $US35 million ($49 million) more than the embattled Noumi can afford. So to pay it all off, Noumi wants to sell its stake in a separate company but this needs shareholder approval. The future of Milklab rests in the hands of these shareholders, who will vote on whether to approve the stakes sale at an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday. Spilt milk The first sign something was wrong at Freedom Foods came on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, when then chief financial officer Campbell Nicholas suddenly resigned. Milklab has seen success amid the booming popularity in non-dairy milk drinks. Credit:TRIBUNE The following morning, CEO Rory Macleod went on leave. Trading on the ASX was suspended, pending a further announcement, but not before shares dropped to a five-year low. An unusually high volume of 21.5 million shares traded hands (there have been no allegations of insider trading). Then on Thursday of that week, the company released a statement to the ASX revealing that its estimated value of useless assets, $25 million, had blown out to $60 million. A review of inventory levels showed there was more out-of-date stock, some from cancelled orders, than originally thought. Sixty-one staff positions were made redundant. Advertisement Almost simultaneously, the company held a conference call. With the CFO and CEO gone, the unenviable task of hosting it fell to then-chairman Perry Gunner. The most pressing question from investors and stakeholders was: where did things go wrong? The outdated stock and cancelled orders went as far back as 2017. Why wasnt it picked up earlier? The company had been shifting stock from five external warehouses into its own facility, the chairman explained that. They knew there was some amount of stock that needed to be reworked (for instance, turned into dry powder) but didnt realise just how much there was. Over the years, vast amounts of milk had been going off in warehouses, and either no one had noticed or no one had reported it. Loading But getting rid of it was expensive. Simply put, there was so much milk that had gone off that it was cheaper to write it off than to rework it. The difficulty is the cost of getting that milk out of the packages and into a vat ... to allow it to be processed, does not justify the protein or the value of the milk powder that you would obtain from doing it, he said, according to transcripts of the investor call. Thats why the ... likely provision has been increased from $25 million to $60 million. Advertisement Gunner was pressed by investors on why the company hadnt identified issues of such a scale with its inventory during a regular stocktake, and whether the company suspected fraud. His answers did little to defuse the investor unease. The revelations seemed as startling to him as they were for everyone else. This has only come to the attention of the board today effectively, said Gunner. Weve still got a lot of further investigation to undertake. Hitting rock bottom The trading halt in late June 2020 that was only supposed to last for a fortnight was extended until October 30, and then again. By the time trading eventually resumed in March 2021, the company was nearly unrecognisable. The wealthy Perich family and Freedom Foods key backer, owning 52.5 per cent of company shares stepped in to play a central role in the companys reformation. Advertisement Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When I start to read about actress, comedian and author Jenny Slate, one small biographical detail stands out. In the midst of the pandemic, when the world was locked indoors, she managed to marry her husband, art curator (and general store owner) Ben Shattuck, and give birth to a daughter. All in all, not a bad pandemic. Introducing myself to her, I explain that I too had a good pandemic I lost weight, while everyone else claimed to gain it and I wonder if the first sod of earth on common ground we can jointly turn is that strange sense of survivors guilt. That somehow, in the middle of something awful, we experienced something positive. Whats lovely about it, and what is real, is that you can feel the hard things as majorly as youre going to feel them, you can feel the isolation, you can feel the disbelief, you can feel the powerlessness and the fear of being ill, or of your loved ones dying, or of collective suffering, and still be able to, if youre lucky, make the most of what you still have, Slate says. A scene from Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. Credit:A24 For me, I still did have the health in my physical body, and I had this partner who now is my husband, who I love so much. And its an interesting study in how much do you have to do in order to show everybody else that you are aware that we are all at a collective disadvantage, that we are all suffering. Is there a way to do both at once? I think for me there was. Slate, who is coming to Australia next month to appear at the Melbourne Writers Festival, lives in a small town in Massachusetts, on Americas east coast. Her husband, whose occupation is listed on Wikipedia as art curator, is also a small business owner, running the towns general store which, she says, sells groceries and books and beer. We had a very connected experience. So, all of the good things that happened to us, happened privately. And I feel really grateful for them, Slate says. Youre allowed to ask yourself, is what I am doing taking me away from others? And for me, the answer was no. I can definitely get married in my living room. I dont think thats a bad thing. Advertisement I walk through the world with a certain shyness ... My loneliness feels very connected to the absolutely nonstop way that I am hopeful. Jenny Slate The 40-year-old comedian-turned-filmmaker will be in Melbourne to discuss her creative ambitions and chameleonic career, according to marketing for the festival. She will also appear at Sydneys Antidote Festival. And to prove that good things come in threes, her film, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, is at the Melbourne International Film Festival this month. Coming off the back of her 2019 book Little Weirds which The New York Journal of Books called a beautifully written, free-flowing meditation on the comforts and discomforts of being and a role in the critically acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All at Once, you could be forgiven for thinking that Slate was having a moment. It is strange to have so much happen at one time, and it wasnt a planned thing to have Everything Everywhere All at Once and Marcel come out, really, within months of each other, she says. Maybe, she says, shes having a moment of reiteration, something shes sure everyone in the pandemic era can relate to. Jenny Slate in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Credit:AP I think the pandemic forced us all, both physically and emotionally, to really go inside, Slate says. So everybodys having a moment right now, everybody is reemerging, and most people have changed in one way or another after the collective experience that weve all had. The theme for the writers festival ambition opens up a bunch of complicated thoughts for her. Ambition has a very toothy edge to it that, eventually, can just bite back at you, she says. But you have to have a drive, and that drive, the engine behind how you do your creative thinking, it has to change as you change. Advertisement That drive has taken her from stand-up comedy to acting she notably lent her voice to The Lorax (2012), Zootopia (2016) and The Secret Life of Pets film franchise (2016-2019). But it has also seen a different, authentic but also wholly eclectic side of her emerge. Persistent in her work, and deeply felt in both Little Weirds and Marcel, is a vein of melancholy. You get a sense, perhaps, that shes the kind of person who can feel lonely in a crowded room. I relate to it, I say, a by-product perhaps of working in an industry populated by overly familiar but fundamentally impersonal professional relationships. Loading Its easy for me to feel that way, Slate says. No matter what you do, you have a spotlight on you, but whatever that thing is, it takes place in a big empty theatre or an airport hangar in Los Angeles. Its confusing, and theres a dissonance there. Its often impossible to connect to people honestly. But what is in that loneliness is a desire for closeness, and a plea for understanding, and a request for a comfortable seat in a community, Slate adds. I dont think thats something that Ive outgrown. I walk through the world with a certain shyness, and a love of chatting and talking to people. My loneliness feels very connected to the absolutely nonstop way that I am hopeful. Unpicking the knotty mess of comedy in 2022 a world where everyone seems convinced that edgy comedy is under threat, and the world is risk-averse feels like wading into quicksand. But when I invite Slate to offer her thoughts, as with most things, she leaps in smile first. You have art itself, then you have artists, she says. And art itself, if I can make such a grand statement, thrives on extremes. Big darkness, big joy, big sexual feelings, big fear, big confusion, big excitement. Art wants that, it wants that richness to plant itself in. Advertisement But then, she says, you have the artist. Some artists are looking for darkness. Thats the creature that they are. Other artists are looking to prove that theyre light, and some people need to do both. Theres a bazillion ways that one can be that thing. The times are troubled, Slate says. In the United States, the Supreme Court has abandoned any human being that has a reproductive system. And living in a place where children are getting repeatedly murdered in their schools, and people are getting murdered while theyre trying to pray. Its hard to live in that every day. Of course, you can make comedy still, [and] I think some great comedy, at least for me, comes from what Im afraid of, she says. You can be afraid of such a real thing, but your fear itself can tell such a weird, silly story. There are ways to filter it. But, if youre going to play with the darkness, you have to keep clear lines about who is the fool, and what is the danger, and at least in your opinion as the artist, she adds. Because the second you blur the line between satire and reality, you end up with a president like Donald Trump. Everybody thinks its just a joke, but then the joke is on us. Slates speaking tour serendipitously follows the release of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On at the Melbourne International Film Festival. The stop-motion film is based on two short films Slate wrote (and voiced) in 2010 and 2011, about Marcel, a creature of exquisite beauty, whose relative tininess manifests in unexpected and delightful ways. I nibbled on a piece of cheese and my cholesterol went up to 900, he observed in the 2010 short. The Marcel the Shell with Shoes On team: Slate, right, with animation director Kirsten Lepore and director/co-writer Dean Fleischer-Camp. Credit:AP Advertisement Hes hard to unpack for Slate, perhaps because she has had such a long relationship with him. I think that theres something about how hes so small, but he still completely believes in what he has to say, and hes not grandiose about it at all, Slate says. Hes just totally honest, and takes himself seriously. And while they are not the same, Slate concedes that perhaps like a lot of art Marcel is in some ways autobiographical, a talisman for her exploration of her own sense of loss. Marcel shuts down because he cant deal with the idea that he might lose more than hes already lost. In the end, he learns thats not up to you. And thats something that Ive had to learn, Slate says. Its the autobiography of accepting myself more for my beautiful smallness in this gigantic universe. Loading Big thoughts, for someone so beautifully small. And perhaps a glimpse into the wisdom she plans to impart on her Melbourne and Sydney stages. Or not, Slate smiles wryly. Thats a really, really hard one. Im 40 years old, Im not 25, Im hitting maybe the midpoint of what my life is, she says. I know what I want to give and how I want to live. My best friend said to me during the pandemic, protect everything that you can and at the same time, give away everything that you can, Slate says. When you do that type of sorting, you see what is left, what youve really, really kept for yourself. And I know now, in a way, what I have kept for myself, and I hope to give that to other people, she adds. I would like to leave the people who are kind enough to come and be my audience with the true belief that I am one of the people out there that wants to help them feel happy. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On is at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 16 and 21. Jenny Slate appears at the Melbourne Writers Festival on September 9 and 10 and at Antidote at the Sydney Opera House on September 11. Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Judith Carter had been rescuing animals for WIRES for five years when she fell into dispute with the organisation, which suspended her carers license and took the two possums she still calls my girls. When the little orphans had come into her care they could sit in the palm of her hand and shed raised them waking through the night for feeds during the first months until they were robust juveniles healthy enough for their pending release. The co-ordinator had signed off on their release and a location had already been selected for the big day. But shortly before their release date a dispute with head office deepened. Judith Carter with a possum she cared for. Not one of the ones that was taken away. Carter and another carer from the organisations Blue Mountains branch had complained about what they saw as poor practices by some of their volunteer colleagues WIRES has over 3000 volunteers across NSW who are members of 28 regional branches. Carter, a retired teacher, and her friend believed some other volunteers were not taking proper care of animals in their charge. Advertisement The way she tells the story, head office failed to respond to their concerns until finally the two volunteers told chief executive Leanne Taylor that if she did not act they would report the situation to National Parks and Wildlife, which has regulatory authority of WIRES animal welfare practices. As the dispute continued, Carter raised the issue of reimbursement for $4000 in expenses that she says WIRES had failed to provide. Money was tight at the time as Carters partner Julian was battling cancer. So what they then did was they turned around and started targeting us, Carter says. A complaint made by a less experienced volunteer who had an issue with Carters mentoring months earlier was raised with her. A WIRES volunteer carer holds a baby brush tail possum before it is to be released into the wild again. Credit:Wolter Peeters Then head office took issue with her record keeping. (Carter says she relied on paper rather than electronic logbooks after she had internet problems.) It raised concerns that she was not following instructions from her branch co-ordinator. Eventually, Carter and her friend were told WIRES wanted to make inspections of their facilities. Then their carers licences were suspended and the animals removed. Numerous animals were taken from the care of Carters friend, who had years of experience as a trained volunteer, work that she juggled with her nursing career. Advertisement Asked what she believes became of the possums she raised, Carters voice breaks. Theyre dead! Theyre dead! I know they are, she says. I hate myself for what happened. I never should have let them take them. I put my heart and soul into them. In fact, Carter cant be sure what happened to the animals because WIRES did not respond to the emails she sent asking after them. But she does know that according to WIRES own guidelines ringtail possums cannot be released outside the area from which they were rescued. Theyre dead! I know they are. I hate myself for what happened. I never should have let them take them. I put my heart and soul into them. WIRES volunteer Judith Carter fell into dispute with the organisation, which suspended her carers license and took two possums. She believes they are now dead Without an appropriate release site or care, euthanasia is often the next option. Both women believe their care for the animals in their charge was questioned not because of evidence of neglect or mistreatment, but as a method of control by head office. It is an allegation that has been repeated by carers across the state, who tell stories of bullying and harassment that they say occurs both within the organisations branches, but also by the organisations executive leadership. Another common thread is the fear that carers will be accused of mistreating animals, that animals in their care will be removed and that some of those animals will then be euthanised. Advertisement The voice on the recording is sombre and poised. It is that of one of four WIRES volunteers who have recorded their stories and shared them on a Facebook page hosted by a WIRES critic. The woman does not name herself but the Herald and The Age are aware of her background. In the wake of the 2019-20 summer fires wildlife rescuers conducted black walks, during which they explored the charred forests to euthanise those few animals that survived. Credit:Dean Sewell We have no assistance with fuel or car expenses, she begins. No assistance with basic triage and first aid supplies. No assistance with that help. No help with enclosures or housing, or even emotional support. It is traumatic dealing with a weeping human whos just hit a kangaroo with their car, traumatic when they hug you after you say that, Yeah, this one I can save, and you know how many hours it will take out of your day, five or six hours, only to have a vet euthanise the animal because theyre really just too busy that day, and its easier to euthanise than to treat. Its traumatic when you bring an animal home for rehab, and they die. The small percentage of animals that you can help is enough to keep you going. Imagine the elation when that treatment goes well, their wounds heal, and they begin the long process to be well enough for release? Advertisement Now imagine what happened to me. With no warning WIRES unexpectedly turned up at my house with the RSPCA in tow, to charge me with animal cruelty ... Imagine the trauma of having those animals you work so hard to save taken away from you on the cusp of their release. And all you hear for months afterwards is rumours that those animals were euthanised. The weeks after fear and trepidation of just being in my own home feeling unsafe and vulnerable. I cant sleep. I go over and over everything in my head and I cant work, an acquaintances car turns up unexpectedly and my heart starts hammering, and my chest tightens. With no warning WIRES unexpectedly turned up at my house with the RSPCA in tow, to charge me with animal cruelty. Unnamed WIRES volunteer Whats happened to my animals, they will never cope with being handled by someone else. Trust is built between carer and animal. I feel so sorry that I let them down. Im trying to do the best I can. Where was my offer of help when I was rehabilitating my animals? Couldnt WIRES afford a vet to visit carers or provide centralised care facilities? When it comes to wildlife rescue, there are few organisations better known than WIRES. The charity has been the first port of call for Australians across greater Sydney, south-east Queensland and Tasmania for help with an injured or sick wild creature for more than 35 years. During the Black Summer bushfires, its name recognition saw it harvest $100 million in donations that flowed in from around the world. And yet, according to a Herald investigation, the organisation so many trust to care for injured native creatures, stands accused by some of the very people who are its bedrock its volunteers of causing harm. Both to those who care for animals and to some of the animals they have cared for. This masthead has spoken to more than a dozen sources who allege bullying and controlling behaviour and a culture of silence within the organisation. The critics include three members of the organisations state council, part of the groups governing structure. The WIRES board is drawn from the state council, and in turn its members represent each of the states branches. Advertisement Its been three years since thousands of Sydneysiders last hit the streets for the City2Surf together, and its easy to forget just how big an event the worlds largest fun run is on the citys calendar. More than 60,000 people will take part in Sundays race, which returns to its iconic Hyde Park to Bondi route after two years of taking place virtually due to pandemic restrictions. Williams St closed off in 2019, the last time participants ran the iconic CBD to Bondi course. Credit:Brook Mitchell In the elite field, Australias fastest electrician Liam Adams is coming off a fourth-placed finish in the Commonwealth Games marathon, while 24-year-old Sydneysider Ed Goddard will be looking for a third win in a row after taking out the 2020 and 2021 virtual runs. Goddard said the atmosphere created by supporters and fellow runners would bring out the best in the athletes. Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son receives Norwegian Ambassador Grete Lochen. (Photo: CPV) On August 10, Minister Bui Thanh Son received Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Grete Lochen by the end of her working term in Vietnam. At the meeting, Minister Bui Thanh Son congratulated Ambassador Grete Lochen on successfully completing her term of office in Vietnam and highly appreciated the active role and effective contribution of the Ambassador personally to the development of the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Norway. In the past time, the two countries have maintained visits and contacts of senior leaders; organized many activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations; and cooperated actively and effectively at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations during the two countries' tenure as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for the 2021 period. Minister Bui Thanh Son also emphasized that the two sides need to continue working closely to exploit the potential of cooperation in fields where Norway has strengths and Vietnam has needs, such as marine economy, green energy transition, development, supply chain development, energy response, climate change response, and human resource training; while maintaining the momentum of development achieved in economic cooperation, development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. Noting that on the basis of the potential of economic cooperation between Norway and Vietnam, as well as the role of Norway as the coordinator of the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the EFTA, including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, he suggested Norway accelerate the negotiation and signing of the FTA between Vietnam and the EFTA. Ambassador Grete Lochen expressed her honor to assume the position of Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam and will keep good feelings about the country and people of Vietnam. She affirmed she will always support and make efforts to cultivate the ever-growing friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Norway./. The sum of the linguistic and military signalling from Beijing in the past week, he tells me, was to communicate that we are moving to do this. Theres more of a tone of inevitability about it now, Barme says, with this being the seizure of Taiwan, by force if necessary. Nancy Pelosi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during their meeting in Taipei. Credit:AP The military drills freaked everyone out. They have given every indication that they have the capability to invade and to blockade Taiwan. They have obliterated the median line, which since 1955 bisected the Taiwan Strait into a mainland zone and a Taiwan zone, as Beijings forces refused to recognise it, and by firing missiles over the island theyve shown that they do not recognise Taiwans airspace thats a big deal. Theyve indicated more aggression, no doubt. As it did so, the US navy kept a respectful distance. In the 1996 Taiwan crisis, the US sailed an aircraft carrier battle group through the Taiwan Strait in a stark warning against any Beijing adventurism. This time, it made no effort to intervene. The Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) had spent a long time preparing this weeks operations. The South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed retired senior colonel and a military historian as saying Pelosi had given the PLA the chance for full-scale real combat training for a Taiwan contingency: The PLA Air Force and Navy finally got the legitimate chance to stage their close reconnaissance along the coastline of Taiwan. Loading The US House Speaker, in conducting her own political campaign for re-election in the November mid-term elections, had walked into it. The US military had advised that she not make the trip at this time, President Joe Biden revealed. She did it anyway. Pelosis project of political vainglory made the US the destabiliser, not China. It handed the Chinese Communist Party an opportunity to tighten its grip on Taiwan under the pretext of an outraged response to an American provocation. On her return to Washington, Pelosi told reporters: What we saw with China is that they were trying to establish sort of a new normal. And we just cant let that happen. Oh yes? What is the US going to do to prevent it? Answer: Nothing. Anything it might attempt would be a further inflammation. Barme also points out two changes to Beijings rhetoric this week. One was a change in the mainlands White Paper on Taiwan. Previous versions have promised that Beijing would not station military forces on Taiwan once it had been reunified. That undertaking has been removed. The Chinese Communist Party may be planning to rule Taiwan under martial law, or use it as a base for military operations, or both. The other was when Chinas ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, confirmed a statement by Chinas ambassador to France that the people of Taiwan might need to be re-educated, meaning brainwashed, once theyd fallen under CCP rule. All of this talk is designed to convey that this is not some distant, far-off day but that plans are advancing, says Barme. Loading He says Beijing is being driven towards action, at least in part, by its own rhetorical momentum: The contempt and fear of Taiwan as a China that cannot be allowed to exist has built up for 73 years and has reached fever pitch. Its an existential issue for the CCP: What is China? Who are Chinese and who are not? The existence of the Republic of China is an affront to them, because it is living proof that Chinese people can live and flourish in a free and democratic society. And have no need of the Chinese Communist Party. In recent weeks, Xi Jinping has given a series of long speeches about Chinese culture. Barme says his central message is that China is a unique civilisation, and that Chinese people are uniquely built for autocracy. The existence of democratic Taiwan just 160 kilometres offshore makes a mockery of Xis claims. Of course, Xi would prefer to win without firing a shot, but if theres going to be a conflict at great human cost, he will accept it as inevitable and acceptable. The CCP has overseen policies that have resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. Loading And Xi is every bit as ruthless as Mao Zedong, he contends. He is the first Chinese leader to grow up during the Cultural Revolution, a time of ceaseless political purges and mass violence. He is the son of Mao, ideologically speaking. The Taiwanese people increasingly recoil from Xis thuggishness. A poll published this week found that 65 per cent of Taiwanese voters want to keep the status quo. Another 23 per cent favour formal independence. Just 7.7 per cent said they wanted unification with the mainland. And the poll was conducted by the Foundation for the People, founded by a politician of the pro-Beijing Kuomintang party, Johnny Chiang. The more violently Xi threatens Taiwan, the more likely hed need to use violence to annexe it. Fifty-three per cent of Taiwanese said theyd be willing to take up arms to fight any mainland Chinese attack. Ambassador Xiao told the National Press Club in Canberra this week that Beijing wanted to reset relations with Australia to be more constructive and that substantive measures were required. But, when probed by reporters, it became clear that China was not offering any such measures. Beijing had no intention of removing its punitive trade boycotts on more than $20 billion of Australian exports; no intention of releasing the Australian citizens held for trumped-up national security violations; no intention of expressing regret over the dangerous interception of a RAAF plane in international airspace, where a PLA jet released small pieces of aluminium chaff at the Australian aircraft. Adding insult to injury, Xiao likened the RAAF plane to somebody driving around, carrying a gun and trying to peep into your windows to see what youre doing with your family. And he reiterated that Beijing was ready to take Taiwan by force if necessary: When compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means. As to what does it mean all necessary means? You can use your imagination. Not much need for that, ambassador. If your appearance at the press club was supposed to be a peace offering, it was more like a gift of flowers from the mafia. Beijing has made its intentions very clear. We must take the rhetoric seriously, and the military intimidation, too. Loading The head of the ANUs National Security College, Rory Medcalf, concluded of the weeks activity: Theres no inevitability of all-out conflict, but China has shown a disconcerting willingness to play with risk. Whats changed is that we have a permanently heightened level of risk. Australias political class, to its credit, responded with unity and calm resolve. But Australia is poorly prepared for heightened Beijing aggression. It is just as reliant on China for its export income as it was two years ago, and just as under-equipped militarily. If war breaks out in the Indo-Pacific, Edgars Rinkevics will not be surprised. Unless democracies worldwide combine energetically to confront both Russia and China, he says, there will be a lot of challenges in this region, believe me. Military force could be used more and more. Energy regulators will be forced to focus on reducing emissions alongside their existing goals of keeping power affordable and reliable after a rewriting of the rules governing the electricity market agreed to by state and federal energy minsters. In the latest sign of accelerating political momentum on climate change since Labor won the federal election, energy ministers met in Canberra on Friday and agreed to change the electricity markets official objectives for the first time in 15 years to enshrine the environmental clause. State and federal energy ministers met in Canberra on Friday and agreed on reforms to drive the clean energy transition. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the measure would provide greater certainty to drive large-scale clean energy investments that would be vital to achieving targets for net zero emissions. Australia is open for business, Bowen said on Friday afternoon following the meeting. An increasing number of GPs across Australia are opting to charge disadvantaged people a fee instead of bulk billing them because the Medicare rebate doctors receive to see patients isnt covering rising costs. Up until recently, those practices that didnt bulk bill everyone, they would as a routine policy bulk bill pensioners and health care card holders, said Leanne Wells, chief executive of the Consumers Health Forum. But now some are starting to say Look, we cant even afford that guarantee any more. Kathy Barr and her family love their local GP clinic, which has bulk billed them for the last five years. It recently started charging to see them. Credit:Nick Moir Bulk billing is where medical practitioners charge the federal government for providing a service to patients, instead of the patient paying up front. Health Minister Mark Butler on Friday said primary care was in its worst shape since Medicare began in 1984, and that stories were now common of Australians not being able to see a bulk billing doctor, or of GPs changing from bulk billing to charging a small fee, as well as getting the rebate. Florida has become a rumbling American fault line, the epicentre of a string of political quakes. It was the scene in the 2000 presidential election of an early 21st century attack on democracy, when a chino-clad militia, orchestrated by a right-wing political provocateur named Roger Stone, tried to storm an office in Miami-Dade County in an attempt to shut down the recount of disputed ballots that might have shown Al Gore was the true victor. The Brooks Brothers Riot, as this act of election subversion became known, was only a foreshock. The major eruption came a few weeks later when five right-wing jurists, dressed in flowing black Supreme Court robes, blocked the Florida recount and effectively handed George W. Bush the presidency. US Secret Service and Mar-A-Lago security members at the entrance of former US president Donald Trumps residence in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. Credit:Bloomberg From this democratic convulsion, America has been suffering aftershocks ever since. Last week, the Sunshine State witnessed another volcanic event the FBIs raid on Donald Trumps coastal mansion, Mar-a-Lago at Palm Beach, which inevitably registered high on the Republican Richter scale of outrage. As the news choppers circled above, much of the immediate speculation focused on the electoral ramifications for the former president, who has seen himself weakened in recent months by the revelations from the January 6 hearings, and watched as his Republican rivals like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis surged past him in some polls. FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago home in Florida this week removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the US Justice Department said, while also disclosing it has probable cause to believe he violated the Espionage Act. The bombshell disclosures on Friday (US time) were made in a search warrant and accompanying legal documents released four days after FBI agents carried out the search of Trumps residence based on a warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge. An aerial view of former president Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. Credit:AP Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records at issue were all declassified and placed in secure storage. They didnt need to seize anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago, the Republican businessman-turned-politician said. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdies courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world, and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom hes shown incredible warmth. President Joe Biden said on Saturday in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were shocked and saddened by the attack. Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals, the statement read. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. Rishi Sunak, one of two candidates seeking to become Britains next prime minister, told Londons Telegraph that the attack should serve as a wake-up call to the West over Iran. Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the US, is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnights Children, in which he sharply criticised Indias then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdies book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Irans Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdies death in 1989. Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie. Credit:AP Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Irans current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasnt focused on the writer. In an interview with German magazine Stern in recent weeks, but Rushdie said he believed the danger was over. My life is very normal again. I was 36 when I started The Satanic Verses. Im 75 now. Its been four decades. Investigators were working to determine whether the suspect, born a decade after The Satanic Verses was published, acted alone. Law enforcement officers detain Hadi Matar (centre) following the stabbing of Salman Rushdie. Credit:AP District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing against bail. Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met, Schmidt said. His resources dont matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and its sanctioned by larger groups and organisations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County, the prosecutor said. Barone, the public defender, said after the hearing that Matar has been communicating openly with him and that he would spend the coming weeks trying to learn about his client, including whether he has psychological or addiction issues. Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. Rosaria Calabrese, manager of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tightly knit gym in nearby North Bergen, said Matar joined April 11 and participated in about 27 group sessions for beginners looking to improve their fitness before emailing her several days ago to say he wanted to cancel his membership because he wouldnt be coming back for a while. Gym owner Desmond Boyle said he saw nothing violent about Matar, describing him as polite and quiet, yet someone who always looked tremendously sad. He said Matar resisted attempts by him and others to welcome and engage him. He had this look every time he came in. It looked like it was the worst day of his life, Boyle said. Matar was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe said. Flags of the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah are visible across the village, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Journalists visiting Yaroun on Saturday were asked to leave. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. On Friday, on AP reporter witnessed the attacker stab or punch Rushdie about 10 or 15 times. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriffs deputy were assigned to Rushdies lecture, and police said the trooper made the arrest. But afterward some longtime visitors to the Chautauqua Institution questioned why there wasnt tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. On Saturday the centre said it was boosting security through measures such as requiring photo IDs to purchase gate passes, which previously could be obtained anonymously. Patrons entering the amphitheatre where Rushdie was attacked will also be barred from carrying bags of any type. Loading The changes, along with an increased presence of armed police officers on the bucolic grounds, came as something of a shock to Chautauquans who have long relished the laid-back atmosphere for which the nearly 150-year-old vacation colony is known. The Vietnam People's Army delegation members take a photo at Uncle Ho Monument. (Photo: PANO) In a dignified atmosphere, Colonel Ta Quang Thao and his comrades, who are officials and officers of functional agencies of the Ministry of National Defense, Vietnam's Defense Attache Agency in Russia, and representatives of Vietnamese teams to the Army Games 2022, respectfully offered Uncle Ho fresh flowers and touching lyrics, remembrance of his great merits for the glorious revolutionary cause of the nation. The Vietnam People's Army delegation vowed to continue to study and follow Uncle Ho's thought, morality and style; and promised him to continue promoting the good qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers in overcoming difficult conditions in competing with the spirit of friendship, setting the highest achievements, contributing to the glorious tradition of the heroic Vietnam People's Army, at the same time promoting the image of the country and Vietnamese people actively integrating and developing with international friends. The delegation members also expressed their high determination to ensure health and safety in all aspects and successfully complete assigned tasks. The Army Games 2022 is scheduled to be held from August 13 to 27, with the participation of more than 270 teams from nearly 40 countries. The events will take place in the territories of 12 countries./. Over past day, as result of shelling in Donetsk region, five people killed, 35 injured Over the past day, as a result of shelling of settlements in Donetsk region, five people were killed, another 35 civilians were injured, head of the regional military administration Pavlo Kyrylenko said. "During August 12, the Russians killed five civilians of Donbas: two in Kramatorsk, one in Bakhmut, one in Kurakhove and one in Kodema. Another 35 people were injured," Kyrylenko wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday morning. According to him, it is currently impossible to establish the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, CC BY-NC-ND The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea The worlds largest multinational tobacco companies are advertising cigarettes to kids near playgrounds and schools in 42 majority low- and middle-income countries. Thats the key finding of our recently published paper. Through our on-the-ground data collection at 19,500 points of sale, we identified tobacco industry advertising and promotions demonstrating four common tactics. These include displaying cigarettes near snacks, sweets and sugary drinks; placing cigarette advertisements near childrens eye level; marketing flavored cigarettes through ads and/or product displays; and selling single cigarette sticks. We collected data on how cigarettes are marketed and sold within 250 meters, or about 820 feet, of one or more schools and/or playgrounds in more than 100 cities around the globe. The locations included most capital cities and spanned Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, North America and South America. Our findings correspond with similar research conducted in high-income countries. Taken together, our research and that of others suggests that in the absence of strong restrictions and enforcement, the tobacco industry is employing similar marketing strategies all around the world with what we believe is the specific intention to attract and addict children and youth. Why it matters Many jurisdictions throughout the world have implemented laws prohibiting advertising of tobacco products on radio, television and billboards. As a result, comparably less restricted point-of-sale opportunities have become a critical component of tobacco company marketing strategies. This includes the Big Four global giants: Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Tobacco. Previous research has established that in the face of advertising restrictions, the tobacco industry will refocus its marketing efforts and dollars on unregulated channels such as the point of sale. Tobacco companies themselves have acknowledged the effectiveness of the point-of-sale channel, developing effective marketing strategies and resources geared toward maximizing potential sales. Tobacco companies provide incentives to retailers to market their products in this manner. Our findings, summarized below, show that the tobacco industry uses point-of-sale advertising widely, and consistently targets youth. In 90% of the countries we studied, cigarettes were displayed near junk food or sugary drinks, including some self-serve displays within childrens reach. We found ads or displays promoting flavored cigarettes, which are known to appeal to minors, in 76% of the countries we studied. Stores selling tobacco in 78% of countries sold single cigarettes, making the product more affordable. Points of sale in all 42 majority low- and middle-income countries displayed cigarette advertising at kids eye level, featuring Big Four tobacco products or ads. Research is clear that kids who are frequently exposed to tobacco advertising and promotion at points of sale have higher odds of trying smoking and are more likely to be susceptible to smoking in the future compared to those who are less frequently exposed. Smoking kills 8 million people worldwide each year and is the leading cause of preventable death. Experts have also established links between point-of-sale advertising and smoking-related behaviors and beliefs, like misperceptions that smoking is less harmful than it really is and a lower likelihood of quitting smoking. Whats next Our work focused on what consumers see and did not differentiate between products that were on sale legally versus those sold illicitly. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty ratified by 182 parties and covering more than 90% of the worlds population, recommends a variety of evidence-based strategies to counteract these marketing tactics. These include comprehensive bans on tobacco advertisement, promotion and sponsorship, plain tobacco packaging, large graphic health warnings on tobacco packs, bans on single-stick cigarette sales, and regulation of flavors. ___ This work was supported with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies' Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (bloomberg.org). Jennifer Brown consults with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. ___ The 15 cities with the worst e-cigarette problem Intro Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo Between 2017 and 2018, e-cigarette use among middle and high school students increased by a shocking 70 percent, representing 1.5 million new smokers, according to data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered vaporizers that create an aerosol usually containing nicotine, flavorings, and various additives. Experts originally believed that smoking e-cigarettes (or vaping) was less harmful than using regular cigarettes. However, a series of recent incidents, in which otherwise healthy young adults developed severe lung ailments, is changing this attitude. Unlike traditional cigarette use, which has largely been trending down for decades, use of e-cigarettes has grown. From 2012 to 2016, e-cigarette unit sales in the U.S. increased by 132 percent, from 667 units to 1,547 units per 100,000 people. New data suggests that sales of JUULa USB-shaped e-cigarette device popular among teensincreased by approximately 600 percent during 2016-2017 and even more through 2018. Cigarette smoking, on the other hand, recently reached its lowest level ever recorded. The sharp uptick in e-cigarette use among teens is especially troublesome as it has led to a net increase in overall tobacco use despite declining cigarette sales. Between 2017 and 2018, use of tobacco products increased by 38.3 percent among high school students and by 28.6 percent among middle school students, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey. E-cigarette use among the adult population, on the other hand, remained flat in 2017 at 4.6 percent. In 2018, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school students at 13.5 percent, followed by traditional cigarettes (5.2 percent), cigars (4.9 percent), chewing tobacco (3.0 percent), and hookah (2.8 percent). Among the adult population, regular cigarettes still dominate peoples tastes at 16.1 percent, followed by e-cigarettes (4.6), and smokeless tobacco (4.1 percent), according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BRFSS Survey. One reason e-cigarettes are gaining ground among young adults is that they are significantly less expensive than traditional cigarettes. Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day comes out to almost $2,300 a year on average, while the figure could be as low as a few hundred dollars with e-cigarettes. The CDC reports that increasing the price of tobacco products is the single most effective way to reduce consumption, especially among young adults who are two to three times more price sensitive to tobacco prices than adults. Tobacco companies today offer such a wide range of products that appeal to a variety of preferencesa trend thats a major challenge in slowing the growth of overall tobacco product use. For example, while e-cigarettes are most popular among teens, this analysis finds that among adults, the current use of e-cigarettes is positively correlated with the proportion of whites in a metropolitan area (correlation of 23 percent), while it is actually negatively correlated with the proportion of blacks (-7 percent), who, on average, prefer regular cigarettes (a positive correlation of 17 percent). The analysis also finds a statistically significant relationship between the usage of electronic cigarettes and depression. This is consistent with CDC data reporting that among adults who report serious psychological distress, more than 40 percent used any tobacco product, compared with less than 20 percent of the population without serious mental distress. The relationship between tobacco use and mental illness may suggest that those who suffer from psychological ailments are more likely to use e-cigarettes to alleviate stress; worse so, one could postulate that the actual use of e-cigarettes or other tobacco products increases the likelihood of mental health issues. Furthermore, this analysis discovered that smaller metropolitan areas are experiencing higher e-cigarette usage compared to larger ones. Coupled with smaller budgets for awareness campaigns and mental health care, small metropolitan areas might be the most vulnerable to the surge in e-cigarettes. Given large differences across U.S. metropolitan areas and the skyrocketing e-cigarette usage, researchers at HeyTutor wanted to find areas with the highest e-cigarette smoking rates and identify communities, which could be most vulnerable to lung ailments experienced across the nation. The researchers used data from the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (SMART Survey), data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, and the National Youth Tobacco Survey in its analysis. Due to data limitations, the metro-level data shown is for adults only. Here are the metropolitan areas with the highest e-cigarette usage. 15. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.4% 6.4% Growth in e-cigarette use: 15.8% 15.8% Rate of depression among all adults: 16.6% 16.6% Percentage of total population thats white: 78.6% 78.6% Population: 3,091,399 14. Cleveland-Elyria, OH Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.4% 6.4% Growth in e-cigarette use: 20.1% 20.1% Rate of depression among all adults: 21.6% 21.6% Percentage of total population thats white: 73.3% 73.3% Population: 2,058,844 13. Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.6% 6.6% Growth in e-cigarette use: -17.8% -17.8% Rate of depression among all adults: 24.6% 24.6% Percentage of total population thats white: 88.0% 88.0% Population: 564,291 12. Oklahoma City, OK Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.6% 6.6% Growth in e-cigarette use: No significant change No significant change Rate of depression among all adults: 23.1% 23.1% Percentage of total population thats white: 73.5% 73.5% Population: 1,383,737 11. South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.7% 6.7% Growth in e-cigarette use: Data not available Data not available Rate of depression among all adults: 23.1% 23.1% Percentage of total population thats white: 80.4% 80.4% Population: 321,815 10. Reno, NV Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.8% 6.8% Growth in e-cigarette use: 9.4% 9.4% Rate of depression among all adults: 19.5% 19.5% Percentage of total population thats white: 78.0% 78.0% Population: 465,208 9. Ogden-Clearfield, UT Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.8% 6.8% Growth in e-cigarette use: 8.0% 8.0% Rate of depression among all adults: 24.0% 24.0% Percentage of total population thats white: 89.7% 89.7% Population: 666,547 8. Tulsa, OK Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.9% 6.9% Growth in e-cigarette use: No significant change No significant change Rate of depression among all adults: 24.6% 24.6% Percentage of total population thats white: 71.2% 71.2% Population: 990,773 7. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 6.9% 6.9% Growth in e-cigarette use: 69.5% 69.5% Rate of depression among all adults: 24.0% 24.0% Percentage of total population thats white: 82.5% 82.5% Population: 886,188 6. Panama City, FL Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 7.7% 7.7% Growth in e-cigarette use: 47.8% 47.8% Rate of depression among all adults: 22.8% 22.8% Percentage of total population thats white: 80.7% 80.7% Population: 202,236 5. Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 7.7% 7.7% Growth in e-cigarette use: 97.7% 97.7% Rate of depression among all adults: 29.7% 29.7% Percentage of total population thats white: 94.7% 94.7% Population: 305,914 4. Lexington-Fayette, KY Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 8.7% 8.7% Growth in e-cigarette use: Data not available Data not available Rate of depression among all adults: 16.5% 16.5% Percentage of total population thats white: 81.2% 81.2% Population: 512,650 3. Evansville, IN-KY Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 8.9% 8.9% Growth in e-cigarette use: Data not available Data not available Rate of depression among all adults: 29.8% 29.8% Percentage of total population thats white: 87.9% 87.9% Population: 315,669 2. Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 9.1% 9.1% Growth in e-cigarette use: Data not available Data not available Rate of depression among all adults: 23.3% 23.3% Percentage of total population thats white: 70.1% 70.1% Population: 738,082 1. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo E-cigarette use among adults: 9.6% 9.6% Growth in e-cigarette use: 57.0% 57.0% Rate of depression among all adults: 16.3% 16.3% Percentage of total population thats white: 80.5% 80.5% Population: 271,346 Methodology and full results Data on the proportion of adults who currently use e-cigarettes comes from the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention SMART Survey (Selected Metropolitan Area Risk Trends) conducted in 2017 and it is based on more than 400,000 interviews nationally. The growth in e-cigarette use was calculated as the percentage change between 2017 and 2016, which also came from the SMART survey. The SMART survey also contains information on the rates of depression by metropolitan area. Demographic data is from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates. Furthermore, statistics on middle and high school tobacco use are from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention National Youth Tobacco Survey. This survey does not contain information about the adult population. For a complete list of results across all available metropolitan areas, see the original version on HeyTutor. Health-med-fit From smoking to vaping: Why do we abuse our lungs? MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in upstate New York. Rushdie remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was off the ventilator and talking (and joking). Rushdies agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without offering further details. Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center, 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. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him. A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr. Rushdie, Schmidt said. Public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge while leaving him hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks. He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence, Barone added. Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said Friday evening. He was likely to lose the injured eye. The attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for The Satanic Verses. Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world, and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom hes shown incredible warmth. President Joe Biden said Saturday in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were shocked and saddened by the attack. Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals, the statement read. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight's Children, in which he sharply criticized India's then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdies death in 1989. Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Irans current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasnt focused on the writer. Investigators were working to determine whether the suspect, born a decade after The Satanic Verses was published, acted alone. District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing against bail. Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met, Schmidt said. His resources dont matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and its sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County, the prosecutor said. Barone, the public defender, said after the hearing that Matar has been communicating openly with him and that he would spend the coming weeks trying to learn about his client, including whether he has psychological or addiction issues. Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. Rosaria Calabrese, manager of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tightly knit gym in nearby North Bergen, said Matar joined April 11 and participated in about 27 group sessions for beginners looking to improve their fitness before emailing her several days ago to say he wanted to cancel his membership because he wouldnt be coming back for a while. Gym owner Desmond Boyle said he saw nothing violent about Matar, describing him as polite and quiet, yet someone who always looked tremendously sad. He said Matar resisted attempts by him and others to welcome and engage him. He had this look every time he came in. It looked like it was the worst day of his life, Boyle said. 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 Associated Press. Flags of the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah are visible across the village, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Journalists visiting Yaroun on Saturday were asked to leave. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no motive for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. On Friday, on AP reporter witnessed the attacker stab or punch Rushdie about 10 or 15 times. Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriffs deputy were assigned to Rushdies lecture, and police said the trooper made the arrest. But afterward some longtime visitors to the Chautauqua Institution questioned why there wasnt tighter security given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty of more than $3 million on his head. On Saturday the center said it was boosting security through measures such as requiring photo IDs to purchase gate passes, which previously could be obtained anonymously. Patrons entering the amphitheater where Rushdie was attacked will also be barred from carrying bags of any type. The changes, along with an increased presence of armed police officers on the bucolic grounds, came as something of a shock to Chautauquans who have long relished the laid-back atmosphere for which the nearly 150-year-old vacation colony is known. News about the stabbing has led to renewed interest in The Satanic Verses, which topped best seller lists after the fatwa was issued in 1989. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked No. 13 on Amazon.com. The death threats and bounty Rushdie faced over the book after its publication led him to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. After nine years of seclusion, Rushdie cautiously resumed more public appearances. In 2012 he published a memoir about the fatwa titled Joseph Anton, the pseudonym he used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk that year that terrorism was really the art of fear: The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid. Italie reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut. (The Center Square) The Pennsylvania General Assembly has spent a lot of time in committee meetings discussing whether to legalize recreational marijuana, but federal holdups may matter more than state-level action. Even if state politicians strike a deal to approve recreational use, federal prohibition and the risk that follows causes trouble for marijuana-related businesses and private citizens. Though Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program has existed since 2016, its operation depends, to a certain extent, on federal law enforcement declining to prosecute users. One issue that complicates legalization relates to the Second Amendment. The Department of Justice continues to argue in federal court that medical marijuana patients should be barred from owning guns because it is dangerous to trust regular marijuana users to exercise sound judgment, as a recent filing in Florida demonstrated. Gun owners who use marijuana, for medical or recreational purposes, are liable to federal prosecution. As the law stands, possessing a medical marijuana card makes it unlawful for Pennsylvanians to apply for a license-to-carry firearm. Beyond the Second Amendment, banking and insurance issues linger. Marijuana-related businesses cannot access the banking system due to the risk of federal penalties. The problem is serious enough that the National Conference of State Legislatures announced a policy change to support cannabis banking reform. While the General Assembly has seen some proposed bills to expand banking and insurance access for cannabis businesses, state law does not supersede federal law. Impaired driving and worker safety have also been roadblocks. Sen. Judy Ward, R-Hollidaysburg, has warned of the risks in the workplace with impaired employees operating heavy machinery, as The Center Square previously reported. State law classifies any driver as impaired with any trace of cannabis in their system, even though marijuana users can test positive days after smoking or ingesting a substance. In June, a bill was introduced in the General Assembly to change the law, but it awaits action in the Senate Transportation Committee. Despite the lingering problems, state political leaders have expressed support for legalization. Gov. Tom Wolf supports legalizing recreational marijuana. You want to #LegalizeIt. Ive said Ill sign it into law, Wolf tweeted in August. But first, we need the legislature to get a bill to my desk. Like Wolf, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro also supports legalizing marijuana. However, Republican nominee Doug Mastriano has called it a stupid idea. Not all Republicans oppose recreational legalization. Sen. Mike Regan, R-Dillsburg, has been a vocal proponent of legalization. In the simplest of terms, our choices are between safe or unsafe; tested or untested; age controlled or available to all; and tax revenue or criminal gain, Regan, who chairs the Senate Law & Justice Committee, wrote in an op-ed. And that is why I have come to my current belief that we must legalize adult-use marijuana, also known as cannabis to protect our communities. Federal marijuana legalization would simplify some issues on the state level. A federal bill to do so has been proposed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, but its unlikely to pass in the current session. Despite the challenges, a significant majority of Pennsylvanians support legalization for recreational use. The potential tax revenues have attracted the attention of Republican legislators. Some estimates predict the commonwealth could see $5 billion or $6 billion annually if it were to legalize marijuana. Public support and the economic potential may spur the General Assembly into action despite the risks and problems that remain. Pentagon highly appreciates the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in confronting the Russian occupiers. The US Department of Defense does not confirm the use of the Army Tactical Missile System to attack the air base in Saky. "On a scale of zero to ten, the effectiveness of Ukraine's armed forces would be a 12, just based on how impressive they've been to us in so many different ways They have found ways to do things that we might not have thought were possible," the US Department of Defense said on the website on Friday. Also, Pentagon stated that the Ukrainian forces in the north of the country have achieved some success in the reclaimed territories, including areas near Kharkiv. In addition, in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to exert strong pressure on the Russians. For example, they damaged bridges used by the Russians. "On August 9, Ukraine bombarded Russia's Saky Air Base, located in an area of Crimea that was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014. The bombardment significantly impacted Russian airpower and personnel. The bombing did not involve the Army Tactical Missile System, which the United States has not supplied to Ukraine," the report said. "That system can hurl projectiles 190 miles, which is farther than the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rounds the US is supplying to Ukraine," it said. Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov initiates through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an appeal to member countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group with a request to delegate experts in military justice who will help with work on specific cases of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. According to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, he is convinced that bringing criminals to justice should become part of the joint efforts of the international coalition counteracting Russian aggression. "That is why I am initiating an appeal through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the participating countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group [known in Ukraine as the Ramstein format] with a request to delegate experts in military justice, experts in combating war crimes. The goal is to create international groups that will help work on specific cases of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, as well as analyze the practical aspects of punishing war crimes committed during a war containing many hybrid elements," he wrote on Facebook on Saturday morning. In his opinion, coordination in the sphere of punishment of Russian criminals can be an important addition to the work on providing assistance with weapons, in which Ramstein, thanks to the leadership of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, has already shown results. In addition, Reznikov appealed through the Foreign Ministry to the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Robert Spano, about the need to interpret Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, taking into account the current conditions and circumstances of the terrible crimes of the Russian Federation against Ukrainian prisoners of war. In particular, in the context of consideration of a specific case of Ukrainian prisoners of war, the decision on which may become an indicator in the consideration of other cases, the minister noted. Reznikov stressed that the responsibility of the Russians for war crimes would be irreversible. Thus, the Defense Forces of Ukraine issued a joint statement on Friday to draw the attention of the world to the situation of Ukrainian prisoners of war, primarily the defenders of Mariupol. "I have no doubt that after Ukraine's victory in this war, we will in one way or another 'catch' each of those involved in the barbaric murders and abuses. Representatives of the Ukrainian defense forces have repeatedly and very clearly spoken out about this. Sooner or later, but this will happen. At the same time, our response must be not only principled, but also systematic," the Minister of Defense added. According to him, an important component of combating war crimes should be a demonstration that the punishment will be irreversible and not limited in time. However, as Reznikov said, in order for this to become a reality, it is necessary "with a cool head to propose a system of legal measures to respond to war crimes during the war, which Europe has not seen for 80 years, and which contains elements that may not be fully covered by the current rules of law." He noted that the crime of the Russian Federation in Olenivka, in addition to the reaction of such institutions as the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the ECHR, requires a decisive reaction from the UN, since we are talking about a conscious disregard for recognized international legal customs, to which, according to the UN Security Council resolution of 1993, all Geneva Conventions belong. "It is the UN that should force the Russian Federation to allow representatives of the Red Cross to the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka," the minister wrote. The Minister of Defense also stated that the only chance for saving at least some prospect for the relevant persons in the Russian Federation is to immediately stop participating in criminal aggression and mitigate the consequences by concrete actions. "After another brutal act by the Russian occupiers or after a public outrage against our soldiers like a 'trial' that they planned to commit in Mariupol, the chances of dissociating themselves from this barbarism are decreasing and the risks of taking full responsibility are increasing," he stressed. Beaver Dam City Council will soon be looking for a new member. Ald. Jaclyn Shelton informed city leadership in an email Thursday night that she will be resigning from her position Aug. 31. Shelton is moving to Toronto, Canada, to take a new job. It has been an extreme honor to represent the people of District 9 and to be part of the leadership of Beaver Dam, she wrote. I am so proud of the work we have done during my tenure on Council and all of the growth that has happened in the city. Shelton was first elected to City Council in April 2019 and her most recent term expires in 2023. She served as chairperson of the administrative committee from April 2021-22. Her final council meeting will be Monday night. An advertisement for a District 9 representative will be posted following its approval at the Sept. 19 City Council meeting. City Council meetings take place most first and third Mondays at 7:30 p.m. District 9 encompasses city wards 17 and 22. It borders Industrial Drive on the north, Grove Street on the west, N. Spring Street on the east and Winn Terrace on the south. MADISON Prosecutors charged a Weyauwega man Friday with killing a woman and her boyfriend 30 years ago in apparent revenge for a snowmobile accident. Fifty-two-year-old Tony Haase faces two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the stabbing deaths of Tanna Togstad and Timothy Mumbrue in March 1992. According to the criminal complaint, Tongstad's father was involved in a snowmobile accident in 1977 that left Haase's father dead. Investigators wrote in the complaint that they've been working the case for decades and identified Haase as a possible suspect. They did not say in the complaint how they learned about him. Officers took a DNA sample from him during a traffic stop on July 6 that matched DNA found on Tongstad's body. He told detectives on Thursday that on the night the couple died he got drunk and started thinking about the snowmobile accident, the complaint said. He went to Tongstad's rural farmhouse, where he said he fought with Mumbrue and punched Tongstad in the face, knocking her out. He described moving his arm in a stabbing motion toward Mumbrue's chest and stabbing Tongstad in the chest as she regained consciousness, according to the complaint. Online court records indicate Haase made his initial court appearance Friday. Waupaca County Circuit Judge Raymond Huber set cash bond for Haase at $2 million. Haase's attorney, Alex Gelhar, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the case. A 17-year-old has been charged with sexual assault, after reportedly raping a 12-year-old girl who he supposedly was going to give a snowboard lesson to in February at Alpine Valley Resort, just outside East Troy in Walworth County. A lawsuit has also been filed against Alpine Valley Resort, where the suspect was reportedly employed at the time, as well as against the resorts insurance company, the teen and his parents. Fintan Jarvis St. Clair, of the Eagle area, who was 16 at the time and is now 17, is charged with first-degree child sexual assault sexual intercourse with a child under 13. According to the criminal complaint, a girl who was 12 at the time visited the ski hill and lined up a lesson with St. Clair. At the ski hill, the defendant reportedly texted the girl that he was in his car. The girl was reportedly coerced in his car where he attempted to kiss her and then reportedly drove her to an area in the parking lot by the woods where he reportedly raped her. Criminal charges were filed against St. Clair in June. St. Clair has pleaded not guilty and a status conference on the case is scheduled for Sept. 15 in Walworth County Circuit Court. A lawsuit was also filed Monday, Aug. 8 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on behalf of the victim and her family by attorneys Mackenzie J. Mahony and Colleen Mixan Mikaitis of Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC. According to the lawsuit and a news release from the law firm, the Alpine employee reportedly drove the 12-year-old to an isolated area of Alpines parking lot. The employee had been to that location many times before February 6, 2022 and knew that the area was unlit and lacked security or video-surveillance. .The Alpine employee proceeded to rape Joan Doe in his vehicle in the Alpine parking lot, the release summing up the case states. The girls sister was able to reportedly find her by using a geolocating app Life360. They traveled to her location and observed St. Clair in the backseat with the 12-year-old. The girl immediately fled the car and left with her sister. According to the firm that filed the lawsuit, the area where the assault occurred was frequented by Alpine employees and was known to lack lighting and video surveillance. Despite this, Alpine failed to take steps to add lighting or cameras to the area, the law firm stated in a news release on the case. The firm, on behalf of the family, also alleges Alpine failed to cordon off or limit access to the auxiliary parking area that was not secured by lighting or cameras. Alpine carelessly and recklessly created an environment where one if its employees was able to exploit Alpines security failings and sexually assault, abuse, and rape a minor child on its property, the firm stated. The conduct that led to this occurrence is inexcusable. Alpine invited Joan Doe onto its property even boasting on its website that she could learn to snowboard from a qualified, enthusiastic instructor in a safe environment. Instead, the environment at Alpine was anything, but safe Those who are responsible must be held accountable, and Alpines security and employment practices must be reviewed and changed. The family has also sued St. Clairs parents alleging that the day of the incident the teen boy had reportedly been drinking alcohol that he acquired at home. The lawsuit also alleges the boys family should have known that he drank alcohol and smoked marijuana regularly and should have been able to control the boy and prevent him from harming others. The victims family is asking for $50,000 from Alpine Valley, $50,000 from St. Clair and $50,000 from his family from damages. The defendants in the lawsuit, including Alpine Valley, have 45 days from receiving their summons to respond to the lawsuit. Alpine Valley Resort management did not immediately return a call for comment on the case to a reporter. Republicans have consistently criticized the states election administration system since the 2020 presidential election, but they disagree on whether to alter the current bipartisan system or transfer election duties to the partisan secretary of state. The issue is front and center in the upcoming gubernatorial election, with a Republican win all but assuring some kind of changes ahead of the 2024 election. The winner of the secretary of state election could also affect how the discussion plays out. The debate has largely been driven by Republican opposition to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, an election panel of three Republican and three Democratic appointees. The commission is under fire for issuing guidance and creating rules intended to ensure a free and fair election during an unprecedented health crisis, though courts have ruled some of that guidance is not permitted under state law. Some Republicans contend the guidance cosigned by at least one Republican by design benefited Democrats and opened the door to fraud. One emerging alternative to having the Elections Commission conduct elections is to transfer those duties to the office of the secretary of state. Republican secretary of state nominee Rep. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, wants the office shes seeking to have a greater role in overseeing elections. But Democrats and top Republicans have opposed that idea, making it unclear whether such a move has the necessary support to ever become law. Republican Tim Michels, who will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the Nov. 8 election, wants to replace the Elections Commission with what he has called WEC 2.0, an agency made up of appointees from each of the states eight congressional districts. Michels has not provided specifics on who would appoint the new agencys members or what the partisan makeup of any new board would be. Any effort to alter elections administration would have to be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and enacted by the governor. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he opposes the secretary of state controlling election duties because the office, currently controlled by a Democrat running for reelection, could remain under Democratic control. Secretaries of state administer elections in 24 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In two states, theyre run by the lieutenant governor, while three use a chief election official picked by the states legislature, five have officials appointed by the governor (in four of those, the position is known as the secretary of state), seven use a chief election official combined with a board of elections and nine, including Wisconsin, have a board that oversees elections. Wisconsins secretary of state hasnt had a hand in elections for decades. Former Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers created the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2016 to replace the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board, made up of appointed retired judges. The GAB was created in 2008 in the wake of the 2001 legislative caucus scandal in which lawmakers from both parties were convicted of using taxpayer resources to campaign. It came under fire from Republicans for its role in an investigation into coordination between Walkers 2012 recall campaign and supposedly independent political groups. I dont want to simply say were going to brush this away and go back to what we had 50 years ago, Vos said. I want to be open-minded enough to say if somebody comes up with a better idea, Im certainly open to it. But the idea of trusting an elected official to be nonpartisan in their application of the law, I just dont know if thats possible. Id certainly be open to it, but as of right now Im not convinced. Vos this past legislative session oversaw the passage of several bills that would have altered elections administration and the Elections Commission. Evers vetoed all of them, saying they would make voting harder. If Michels defeats Evers in November, Vos said bringing back the election bills would be one of several priorities for the next legislative session. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieus office declined to comment for this story, though he has opposed dissolving the Elections Commission in the past. Still, LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, has made clear his ongoing frustrations with the commission, including seeking to join an ongoing Waukesha County lawsuit that asks a judge to eliminate Elections Commission guidance permitting clerks to correct errors or fill in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes. Lawless ballot curing cannot and will not be allowed to continue, LeMahieu said in a statement Thursday. Were putting the full weight of the Legislature behind this lawsuit to shut down WECs defiant and flagrant abuse of the law. That legal move came after the Legislatures Republican-controlled rules committee last month struck down a recently created rule authorizing election clerks to correct or fill in missing information on absentee ballot envelopes before the ballots are accepted. But the Elections Commissions separate guidance, first issued in 2016, remains intact. After the legislative move last month, the Elections Commission deadlocked on a motion supported by the agencys three Republican appointees that would have eliminated the commissions 2016 guidance. The commissions three Democratic appointees opposed the motion. Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley, D-Mason said she would have to see specifics of alternatives to the Elections Commission but added, Im pretty sure that the people who have wasted over a million taxpayer dollars on disgraced former Supreme Court Justice (Michael) Gablemans farce of an investigation arent going to propose anything that would actually improve on the current model. She added that she thinks concentrating elections administration power in one individual is a bad idea that would lead to lapses in the monitoring of our elections. Doug La Follette, the Democratic incumbent who has served as secretary of state for over 40 years, is against his office taking charge of elections administration duties. The critical issue in this campaign for Secretary of State is maintaining the independence of Wisconsin elections system, he said on Facebook. My opponent in this election wishes to turn the election supervision over to the Secretary of State making it dependent on the whims of partisan politics. Saying on her website that WEC is broken and must be replaced, Loudenbeck has said the secretary of state would be held accountable by voters unlike the Elections Commission commissioners, who are appointed. We need a board of election of officials one way or the other, said Sen. Kathleen Bernier, R-Chippewa Falls, who is chair of the Senate Elections Committee but isnt running for reelection. I would not be comfortable with the administration of elections being under one individual, whether Democrat or Republican, said Bernier, a former elections clerk who is not seeking reelection this fall. Bernier has been one of the few legislative Republicans to defend the 2020 election results. She added that she would be OK with putting that election board under the secretary of state with an open seat reserved for whomever is serving in that office. State Journal reporter Mitchell Schmidt contributed to this report. Right to say no must be enshrined in binding treaty Last month, the Alternative Information and Development Centre together with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies and Lawyers for Human Rights hosted a two-day indaba on the UN binding treaty on business and human rights in Johannesburg. The theme was: Towards a legally binding instrument on corporate accountability for human rights: Lessons learnt from the pandemic. The Indaba brought together activists, academics and trade unionists working towards dismantling corporate power in Southern Africa to unpack the importance of a legally binding mechanism on business and human rights. According to Boa Monjane, Coordinator of the Southern African Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power, its important to have a legally binding instrument because corporations have consolidated their power in a way that has granted them impunity. This means that they can violate human rights because currently there is no instrument to hold them accountable. International delegate, Brid Brennan from the Transnational Institute (TNI) said civil society is excited about the #BindingTreaty because it will open new possibilities to protect human rights. In June 2014, the UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution 26/9, elaborating an international and legally binding instrument that regulates the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The resolution was put forward by Ecuador and South Africa and adopted by a recorded vote of 20 to 14, with 13 abstentions. Out of 20 countries that voted in support, ten were African countries; an indicator that the continent is ready to curb corporate impunity and hold corporations accountable. However, according to Dr Francis Moloi from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, they are struggling to lobby other African governments to participate in the negotiations for a #BindingTreaty. Former CEO of the South African Human Rights Commission, Tseliso Thipanyane, accused the government of aiding and facilitating the violations of human rights by multinational companies. He said the #BindingTreaty will help to deal with violations in cases where corporations have captured the state. When it comes to consultations, Dr Moloi said the government does not do enough consultations with social partners. Nonhle Mbuthuma, the spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee, said public consultations are not enough communities need to give consent. The two-day event concluded with a session led by CALS director, Professor Tshepo Madlingozi, that finalised resolutions to be used in lobbying all role players to advance an African voice on the Binding Treaty. According to Maxine Bezuidenhout, Programme Officer in the Dismantling Corporate Power Campaign, the Campaign will host a series of activities in the lead-up to the Geneva negotiations. It will also continue to put pressure on SADC states to push for a legally binding instrument that will protect the rights of people and nature and provide mechanisms which can hold corporations accountable. Download the binding treaty indaba resolutions here. The Ukrainian military destroyed an enemy Su-25 attack aircraft and four Orlan-10 UAVs in eastern Ukraine, the Joint Forces Command reports. "Over the past 24 hours, the Air Defense Forces of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in eastern Ukraine destroyed four UAVs of the Orlan-10 type, one of them at night, and a Su-25 attack aircraft," the Facebook post said. In 2010, Wang Yun, who was born in the 1990s, quit her stable job in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, and returned to her hometown, Jiande, a city near Hangzhou. Why? She wanted to help ease the burden of her father, Wang Jiankun, who operated an agricultural development company. During the past 12 years, the company has witnessed remarkable development. It grows crops on fields covering 2,300 mu (153.3 hectares), and it has become a leading agricultural business in Hangzhou. It is also a base for training e-commerce talents. The 82 salespeople who have been trained by the company have sold agricultural products worth more than 11 million yuan (US $1.69 million) through e-commerce. As general manager of her father's company, Wang Yun has sought new ways of integrating agriculture and tourism. With the support of the government of Jiande, Wang Yun launched a rural tourism project when Hangzhou hosted the G20 (Group of Twenty) Summit, in 2016. In addition to sightseeing, visitors could learn to recognize crops in the fields and see exhibitions of farming tools. Wang Yun has other roles. As president of the women's federation of Putian Village, she has helped rural women increase their incomes. She has organized modern agriculture training for 8,000 women, and she has offered jobs in her company to women, especially those from households entitled to the subsistence allowance. She has been honored as one of the national talents in science and technology who gained wealth and led rural people to become wealthy. She has also been named one of Zhejiang's top 10 agricultural makers and a March 8th Red-Banner Holder of Hangzhou. During spring plough each year, Wang Yun organizes women volunteers to hold farming contests among students and their parents. The aim is to help children learn the hardship of farming. After Wang Yun joined her father's company, she attended many courses in agriculture management and forestry and agricultural technologies. She realized science and technology can help improve the quality and efficiency of agriculture, and she realized the company could benefit from advanced equipment and technologies. Initially, Wang Jiankun didn't think it was necessary to spend much money to buy advanced equipment for farming. Wang Yun convinced him. In the company's demonstration fields, covering 400 mu (26.7 hectares), there are small weather stations, pest-monitoring lamps and other intelligent equipment. Staff can use their mobile phones to monitor the fields, and they can directly transmit the data collected by the equipment to the local department of agriculture. Wang Yun has also researched technologies for raising ducks in rice fields, to reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This technology has improved both the quality of the rice and the efficiency of growing the rice. Modernization and digitization have accelerated the growth of Wang Jiankun's company. "In recent years, our company has invested 5.6 million yuan (US $861,538) to buy agricultural machines. My father has been supportive of purchasing the machines," Wang Yun says. She set up a demonstration field for the application of an intelligent rice seedling raising technology. The technology has largely improved the efficiency of growing the rice. Every year, the company helps nearby farmers raise seedlings in fields that cover 5,000 mu (333.3 hectares). Wang Yun has shared her experiences in applying science and technology in agriculture with other farmers. She is head of the agriculture makers association in Jiande. "I know the great importance of the application of science and technology in agriculture. When members of the association have problems concerning agricultural technologies and policies, I will invite experts to help solve their problems. If their problems are solved, they will help farmers around them," Wang Yun says. "Filling the rice bowl of Chinese people mainly with Chinese grains" is her primary objective. Wang Yun has a deep affection for agriculture. She has accumulated rich experiences in management of fields and marketing, and she is skilled at operating big machines for agricultural use. She will continue to explore the application of technologies and machinery in agriculture, and she will always strive to produce safe, healthy grains. She plans to develop more projects that will promote the integration of agriculture and tourism. She hopes this will encourage more young people to start their own businesses in their hometowns. Photos Supplied by Hangzhou Women's Federation and Jiande Women's Federation (Women of China English Monthly July 2022 issue) The Paducah Police Department provided this photo of a Honda motorcycle reported stolen from a home in the city. One of former President Donald Trump's attorneys signed a letter in June asserting that there was no more classified information stored at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, pictured here, in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 8, 2021 according to two sources familiar with the matter. Russian invaders are shelling the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (NPP), in particular, from the territory of the village of Vodiane, and are preparing provocations under the Ukrainian flag, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reports. "One of the Russian artillery strikes damaged the first unit of a pumping station of the Thermal and Underground Communications Workshop. Another 'arrival' led to the partial destruction of a fire station responsible for the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Also, as a result of enemy shelling, forests and grass caught fire in nearby areas, which caused significant smoke. Extinguishing fires caused by shelling is difficult due to the shelling of the fire station," the report said. At the same time, the occupiers are actively creating a "picture" for their own propaganda; for this, two "extra" buses were recently brought to the plant, which should play the role of "local residents and staff." Intelligence emphasized that real local residents and staff refuse to participate in such productions. "To the Enerhodar stele at the entrance to the city, the rusists drove a Pion self-propelled artillery mount with the letter 'Z' painted in white. A blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag was hoisted on the self-propelled guns. Obviously, it will be used for yet another provocation to accuse the Armed Forces of Ukraine," intelligence said. Woman contracted to work in McCracken County Jail kitchen charged with third-degree rape of an inmate An FBI informant who infiltrated the militia group that was plotting to kidnap and kill Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 testified for the prosecution on Friday in US District Court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Top from left, Brandon Caserta and Barry Croft; bottom from left, Adam Dean Fox and Daniel Harris. All four were accused in a plot to abduct Michigan's Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, right, in 2020. (Kent County Sheriff, Delaware Department of Justice, and AP Photo/Paul Sancya) On the fourth day of the retrial of two leading members of the right-wing Wolverine Watchmen group, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., FBI Special Agent Mark Schweers gave a first-hand account of the activities of the militia group as it prepared to take the governor hostage in pursuit of political objectives. Schweers, who pretended to be a supporter of the group from Michigans Upper Peninsula going by the name of Mark Woods, told the jury that he tagged along for shooting drills at a makeshift kill house and a nighttime surveillance of Governor Whitmers summer residence near Elk Rapids. Fox, 39, from Wyoming, Michigan, and Croft, 46, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, are being retried on kidnapping conspiracy and weapons charges which, on conviction, can result in life sentences. In April, a jury failed to reach a verdict in the first trial while acquitting two other men, Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris. In all, 14 men were arrested on October 8, 2020, for plotting to kidnap and potentially kill the governor. Six menincluding Ty Garbin and Caleb Franks who have pleaded guilty and testified in the first trial and are scheduled to testify in the second trialwere charged with federal crimes, and eight others were charged with state offenses. The state trials are still pending. Two months before they staked out the governors summer residence, Schweers met Fox for the first time at his apartment in the basement of the Vac Shack where he worked in Grand Rapids. During this meeting, the agent recorded their conversations. Fox said of the groups plot, We want her flex-cuffed on a table while we all pose and get our pictures taken like we just made the biggest drug bust in history. Laughing and using profanities, Fox continued, Then you lock her up, even if we gotta go with her. Speaking of the Vac Shack and revealing the political motivation behind the kidnapping plot, Fox said, We have many meetings here. Our sole purpose is to restore the constitutional republic. For security reasons, Fox also told Schweers to leave his phone upstairs in the Vac Shack before going into the basement apartment. If I said I want to kill the fucking governor, and they hear that, they could come get me, Fox said during Schweers secret audio recording. Schweers said in September 2020, after a day of gun drills, about a dozen people, including two informants, drove to Elk Rapids in three vehicles to look at Whitmers second home and a boat launch. Each truck was given a separate assignment, he said. Schweers also said no when the federal prosecutor asked him if it was the agent who proposed attacking the state Capitol, kidnapping Whitmer or blowing up a bridge in Elk Rapids. Earlier on Friday, FBI Special Agent Christopher Long, a coordinator of the governments investigation, was cross-examined by Crofts attorney, Joshua Blanchard. The defense lawyer questioned Long about the informants that had infiltrated the Wolverine Watchmen. Long said there were five undercover informants who had contact with Croft at various times during the investigation. Blanchard also questioned Long about the role of FBI informants Steve Robeson and Jenny Plunk who had contact with Croft and posed as political sympathizers from outside of Michigan. Long told the jury that Robeson and Plunk traveled with Fox and Croft to a July 2020 Cambria, Wisconsin, field training exercise. It was at this event that Croft unsuccessfully tried to detonate explosives using pennies and BBs as shrapnel. Defense attorneys for Fox and Croft are pursuing the same strategy used in the first trial to make the case that their clients were entrapped by the FBI and had no intention of ever going through with the things they discussed. They are painting a picture of the two men as down and out and big talkers who were incapable of carrying out a kidnapping. Long revealed that agents Robeson and Plunk were present at five of the militia gatherings that Croft attended, in Dublin, Ohio; Cambria, Wisconsin; Peebles, Ohio; Luther, Michigan; and at a tavern in Delaware. Attorney Blanchard then said, Everywhere that Barry [Croft] went, Robi [Robeson] was there; everywhere that Barry went, Plunk was sure to go. However, Long said that Robeson and Plunk recorded Croft and Fox talking about building explosives and violently overthrowing the government during a meeting of national militia groups in Dublin, Ohio, on June 6, 2020. The agents went to Ohio because Croft was planning something really big and we didnt know what it was, Long testified. Blanchard also focused in on the fact that Robeson has been called a double agent by prosecutors who accused him of helping the kidnap plotters, including letting Croft know that he was going to be arrested in October 2020. The defense attorneys subpoenaed Robeson to testify, arguing prosecutors selectively used hundreds of hours of his recordings at trial. However, just as he did in the first trial, Robeson is expected to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination if he is called to the stand. Blanchard said Robeson has all sorts of issues. I dont think were going to hear from Robeson, we just get these snippets from him. Another issue confirmed by agent Long is that Plunk knew Robeson before she became an FBI informant. Plunk also sold a Taurus 9mm pistol to Robeson at some point while they were working as informants, which is illegal since Robeson is a convicted felon. Long confirmed that the FBI reimbursed Plunk about $8,000 during the investigation for travel and food expenses. As opposed to the first trial, the prosecution has presented a timeline that shows the political hostility to Governor Whitmer before the FBI ever got involved. In their opening arguments, prosecutors presented evidence, including hundreds of videos and social media posts that revealed how Fox and Croft wanted to kidnap several people they called government tyrants, including Whitmer, and they recruited other extremists to carry out the plan. On Thursday, Crofts attorney claimed one juror told co-workers they decided the case and verdict they would deliver. The judge entered an order on that, and I cant comment on that, Blanchard said Friday. US District Court Judge Robert Jonker indicated he met with the juror twice and said he would handle the matter privately to avoid a mistrial, according to a restricted access order issued on Friday. Another FBI informant, Dan Chapel, is scheduled to testify in the trial. Chapel is a retired Army sergeant and combat veteran who joined the Wolverine Watchmen and then reported the group to law enforcement in March 2020. He agreed to remain in the group, record their conversations and report their activities to the FBI. On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines for COVID-19 which remove or reduce recommendations for quarantine, isolation and testing of exposed and infected individuals. The changes are the latest in a long series of anti-scientific policies from the agency. They mark a deepening of the Biden administrations forever COVID policy that has been forced on the American population. Echoing the refrain from White House officials in July, CDC official and co-author of the new guidelines Greta Massetti stated in a news briefing that COVID-19 is here to stay. The changes come amid the months-long wave of four different Omicron subvariants, with the most dangerous BA.5 subvariant now dominant. Over the past three months, an average of over 100,000 people have officially been infected each day, with the real figure between half a million and 1 million, while the seven-day average of daily new deaths has once again surpassed 500. At the same time, virtually no measures are being taken to contain the unprecedented global outbreak of monkeypox, which has already infected over 11,000 Americans, including at least eight children. The timing of the CDC guidelines was clearly intended to coincide with the new school year and to provide pseudo-scientific cover for keeping schools open no matter the level of transmission. Notably, in January 2021 Massetti participated in a town-hall event with economist Emily Oster, one of the foremost school reopening zealots, to advocate for reopening schools before the vast majority of the American population had even been vaccinated. Just days later, Oster held a similar event with Great Barrington Declaration co-author Jay Bhattacharya. The CDC now recommends against quarantine for exposed individuals and against contact tracing and surveillance testing in most settings. The guidelines reaffirm the arbitrary five-day isolation period for infected individuals. In line with this, the CDC has scrapped its test to stay program, which encouraged exposed students to remain in school as long as they tested negative. Though the program was unscientific to begin with, the new guidelines discourage both testing and quarantining of exposed students. Instead, according to Massetti, exposed individuals should simply wear masks. On the same day the guidelines were released, Senator Bernie Sanders interviewed White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha, who demanded that schools remain open, stating, We should look forward to a school year in which every child is in school, is in person, full-time, for the whole year. I think we have all the ability to do that, and that should be the only acceptable standard. When Sanders made the preposterous claim that children are not dying of COVID-19, Jha did not correct him. In fact, during the 2021-2022 school year, when there were some, albeit minimal, mitigations in Democratic Party-led school districts, the CDC recorded over 1,000 pediatric deaths from COVID-19. This summer alone, over 200 children have officially died from the virus. Even before school has resumed, child hospitalizations have recently reached the same levels as during the height of the Delta wave last September. The CDC guidelines rest on a foundation of misinformation, omission and lies. The central claim by the agency, in line with the White House, is that public health measures to stop transmission are not necessary because the tools exist to prevent severe illness and death. Throughout the document, emphasis is placed on preventing medically significant illness, which is defined as severe acute illness or post-COVID-19 conditions (i.e., Long COVID). From the CDCs own data, it is clear that every infection should be considered medically significant. The agency released a study last week on the effects of COVID-19 on children, which found that those previously infected were at substantially greater risk for multiple life-threatening conditions, including acute pulmonary embolism, myocarditis and cardiomyopathy, venous thromboembolic events, acute renal failure and Type 1 diabetes, in addition to debilitating symptoms such as smell and taste disturbances, circulatory problems, fatigue and pain. Alarmingly, a hypothetical projection done by government analyst Stuart Jones, using the CDCs estimates of Long COVID prevalence, found that after 20 to 30 years under the current forever COVID mass infection policy, 70-90 percent of the population would have severe Long COVID and be considered disabled. As for the tools the Biden administration claims make it possible to co-exist with the virusvaccination and therapeuticsthese are increasingly ineffective against hospitalization in the face of repeated mass infections, waning immunity and viral evolution. Studies have already demonstrated that the virus is mutating in response to the antiviral Paxlovid, and scientist Dr. Eric Topol recently stated that viral resistance to the drug is inevitable. Another study published by the CDC in July found that during the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 waves last winter and spring, respectively, vaccine efficacy (VE) against hospitalization dropped precipitously. For individuals who received two doses, VE against hospital admission dropped from 61 percent in the BA.1 period down to 24 percent during the BA.2 period. For those who had received a third shot more than 120 days prior, the efficacy dropped from 85 percent to only 52 percent. This knowledge makes all the more criminal the fact that the CDCs latest guidelines maintain that two doses constitute a full primary series. The immense danger posed by viral evolution, including variants that develop to be more transmissible, more immune-resistant, more virulent, or any combination of the three, is well understood by the CDC and White House. In the same interview with Bernie Sanders, Dr. Jha acknowledged that The virus right now is evolving very rapidly, with subvariants every few months, major variants every 6-9 months. He continued, were updating our vaccines, were going to have a whole new generation of vaccines this fall that are going to be very specific to the variant thats out there right now... Now, we may get a curveball a more serious virus, a more contagious one. But I think over the long run, senator, with the tools we have, we keep updating them, getting better treatments, Im confident well be able to stay ahead of this virus. The claim that the government will be able to stay ahead of this virus through updated vaccines is contradicted by the fact that the virus is evolving very rapidly. The vaccines being designed for the current variants will have reduced efficacy against whatever new variant is dominant when the new vaccines are distributed. Meanwhile, the behaviors encouraged by the CDC and Biden administration officials, which will result in rapid and widespread transmission, only accelerate the process of viral evolution that will sooner or later produce such a curve ball. The entire political establishment and corporate media have hailed the new guidelines. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), issued a press release stating, We welcome these guidelines COVID-19 and other viruses are still with us, but with multiple prevention and treatment options available, now is not the time for new mandates. Bourgeois commentators claim that the guidelines complement public opinion and existing behavior, but a public health body has the responsibility to make scientific recommendations based on disease control and prevention, not so-called public opinion. Further, the confusion and pandemic fatigue that exist in the population are a direct product of the incessant propaganda campaign from the media and the series of catastrophic policies of the CDC itself. These include, to name a few, reducing isolation times for infected people to meet the workforce demands of the corporations, manipulating the community mask-guidance map to downplay transmission rates, and allowing mask mandates on public transportation to expire. The CDC stands exposed as a political instrument of the ruling class, aligned with the Democratic Party and the Biden administration. The language of its guidelines and press statements draws directly from a public relations directive sent to Democratic officials from polling firm Impact Research, which prioritizes midterm election votes over human health. Since the Omicron surge last winter, the Biden administration has ever more brazenly abandoned its mitigationist approach and aligned with the herd immunity strategy championed by Bidens fascist predecessor Donald Trump. While the capitalist class has tactical differences on how best to maintain its rule, it is entirely unified on the policy of perpetual mass infection and social murder. Worldwide, nearly every government outside of China has adopted the same homicidal policies towards the pandemic. Those who are making these decisions, including officials at the CDC and White House, have proven they have no right to dictate public health. The demand for forever COVID is a precursor to forever monkeypox and whatever pathogen next emerges. This is not a matter of replacing individuals, but of changing which class runs society. Only the working class, armed with a revolutionary socialist perspective, can put an end to this nightmare. This requires that the political lessons be drawn: Above all, the urgent need to develop a mass movement of the working class in opposition to the Democratic Party and outside of the control of the pro-corporate trade union apparatus. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) must be expanded into every workplace, region and country in order to lay the groundwork for mobilizing the working class in defense of human life and for reorganizing society in the working class own interests. After wildfires devastated Frances Gironde region and much of Europe last month, they are again engulfing southwestern France. According to Gironde police prefect Fabienne Buccio, the fire is a continuation of Julys fire in Landiras, which didnt go out but went underground. The fire has reportedly rekindled due to heat, dry air, record drought and the fact that there is a lot of peat in the ground. Since August 9, the fire has burned an additional 7,400 hectares of vegetation. It is fuelled by extremely dry vegetation amid a record-breaking drought and another heat wave with successive days of temperatures above 35C (95 degrees F). Around 10,000 people, mostly in the municipalities of Hostens and Belin-Beliet, have been evacuated. Over 1,100 French firefighters are currently tackling the blaze. On Friday, Girondes deputy prefect, Ronan Leaustic, said that although the fire had not expanded on that day, the weather conditions are pushing us towards extreme vigilance. A burnt out car is seen at Les Flots Bleus camping site in Pyla sur Mer, near Arcachon, southwest France, Tuesday, July 19, 2022. [AP Photo/Bob Edme] Emergency measures against the fire included the arrival of around 300 firefighters from Romania, Germany, Poland, and Austria, and 6 additional Canadair water bombers from Greece, Italy and Sweden. On Friday evening, French president Macron tweeted that firefighters had even been flown in from French Polynesia16,000 kilometres awayto tackle the blaze. The government has also requested that companies give employees with volunteer firefighter training time off to help battle the blaze. Volunteers brought in at short notice are being thrown into the fight against the Gironde blaze alongside better-trained professionals. However, these measures fall short of those requested by Gregory Allione, president of National Federation of French Fire Fighters, who after Julys fires in Gironde told Le Monde that the government must cover the wages of the volunteers so companies can deploy them more easily to fight fires. He also added that the measures taken by the government after Julys fires just arent enough. In July, wildfires in the Gironde region led to the loss of 19,000 hectares (46,950 acres) of vegetation in the Landiras forest area and 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) at La Teste-de-Buch, as well as the evacuation of around 40,000 residents and tourists in the region. Francis Cros, vice-president National Federation of Forest Communities, told Le Monde that the high toll in La Teste-de-Buch was due to the failure to implement standard forest fire safety protocols. Due to the fire, the A63 motorway, which runs from Bordeaux to the westernmost point of the French-Spanish border, was closed in both directions on Thursday, before partially reopening on Friday. Dozens of trucks from Spain were blocked from entering France on Thursday. Le Jura, a commune bordering Germany in Frances Burgundy region, has also been hit by significant wildfires in the previous two days, with 660 hectares (1,630 acres) lost to two fires. Several smaller fires are still burning elsewhere in France, including in Brittany, Anjou, and in the Ile-de-France region, and have impacted transportation services there. The expansion of the fire comes amid another heatwave, the fourth of 2022, with temperatures in the high 30s Centigrade (upper 90s Fahrenheit) in the South and West of France from Thursday to Saturday. Wave after wave of extreme heat with little precipitation in-between has caused a record-breaking drought in France and across Europe that is driving a record European wildfire season. At least 17 homes in Belin-Beliet had been destroyed by Tuesday night. This is the second time in less than three weeks that the village had to be evacuated. A local resident, Karine Monjeau, said: The nightmare is starting again. When are we going to get out of this? Since the beginning of the year, 60,901 hectares (150,490 acres) in France have been lost to wildfiresthree times the national average for an entire year and a new record. Recent years with very dry temperatures have seen major wildfires throughout August and into September and October. The entirety of the Europe has experienced record wildfires in 2022. According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), on August 6, 615,341 hectares (1,520,541 acres) had been burned across Europe; the previous maximum for this date was 380,742 hectares (940,834 acres) burned. As of writing, the EFFIS estimates that 740,583 hectares (1,830,020 acres) have been lost, an increase of 125,000 hectares (308,882 acres) in just one week. According to a Reuters tracker, 7 people have been killed, 211 injured, and at least 65,000 displaced by wildfires in Europe in 2022 so far. Over the summer months, thousands in Europe have died from successive waves of extreme heat that drove fires across the continent. These totals are likely to grow further in coming weeks. In Portugal, the Serra da Estrela national park has also been engulfed by a wildfire this week. The fire has destroyed 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) of woodland so far and is currently being fought by 1,500 firefighters and 12 planes. Britain, which also saw a record wave of fires in July, is facing a new round of extreme heat, with temperatures predicted to reach 36C (97 degrees F) in coming days. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne visited Gironde on Thursday. Speaking near Landiras, she claimed that the governments mobilization on wildfires was total and that the government had never before made available so many resources. She pointed to the governments purchase of seven water-bombing helicopters since Julys fire as evidence of this fact. However, the current situation in Gironde shows that the Macron government has failed to protect the population from wildfires. Well before the peak of wildfire season, events in July showed that drastic measures were needed instantly to protect the population of Gironde from fires in the proceeding weeks. It is well-known what measures are necessary. Leading firefighters and ecology experts have made clear that improved systems of firewalls, fire surveillance, more professional firefighters, and development of transportation infrastructure in high-risk areas can prevent wildfires spreading out of control. Amid record drought and yet another heatwave, more wildfires were clearly inevitable before the end of the summer, yet no adequate action was taken by the Macron government. The renewal of the deadly fire in Gironde once again, shows that the ruling class in France and across the world are unable to tackle global warming and its effects. Record wildfires are ripping through Europe and Alaska, and significant fires continue to burn in California and North Africa. Since 2020, wildfires have destroyed large parts of Australia, Russia, North Africa and California. The consequences of the current 1.2C (2.2 degrees F) of global warming since the pre-industrial age have already claimed uncountable lives in myriad extreme weather events, as well as causing the exodus of millions of climate refugees. Capitalist governments efforts to address climate change, such as the toothless Paris Accord, which only seeks to limit global warming to 2C (3.6 degrees F) from pre-industrial times, are insufficient to reverse the deadly effects of climate change that are visibly worsening year on year. Global warming and its effects, including wildfires, can only be managed and reversed by the overthrow of capitalist property relations and its replacement with centralized scientific planning of production. Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of internal affairs, claimed on Thursday that 60 pilots and technicians had been killed and 100 people wounded in a series of explosions at a Russian Saki air base on the Black Sea Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday. Since Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014, the air base has housed the Russian 43rd Independent Naval Assault Air Squadron. As of this writing, there has been no official denial of this claim by Russian officials, which have only acknowledged that one person had been killed and 14 wounded. While the Kremlin has deliberately sought to downplay the significance of the incident, more and more information has emerged indicating that it was far more serious than Russian officials have been willing to admit. The blasts on Tuesday occurred close to a tourist resort, prompting panic among thousands of tourists, some of whom sought to leave the peninsula immediately. The Associated Press quoted one local resident who had heard a roar and saw a mushroom cloud from his window: Everything began to fall around, collapse. Crimean officials have acknowledged that 62 apartment and 20 commercial buildings were damaged, and at least 250 people had to be temporarily evacuated. Satellite images appear to show that about 2 square kilometers (0.75 square miles) of grassland were burned at the air base, and two buildings destroyed. These images also indicate that at least seven Russian war planes were destroyed and two damaged. This would mark the biggest loss of Russian military aircraft in a single day since World War II. Based on the satellite images, the destroyed aircraft were Su-24 and Su-30 fighter jets, each of which cost over $24 million. There has been no official acknowledgment from Ukraine that it conducted strikes on Crimea. However, Oleksyi Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, effectively claimed Ukrainian responsibility for the blasts, stating that they had been caused either by Ukrainian-made long-range weapons or by Ukrainian guerrillas operating in Crimea. Without explicitly referring to the blasts, Zelensky stated on Tuesday, Crimea is Ukrainian and we will never give it up. The Kremlins response to the blasts on Crimea was reminiscent to its reaction to the humiliating sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, in March. Clearly seeking to downplay what would represent a grave military setback and the basis for a potentially major escalation of the war, the Russian government has vehemently denied that the blasts were the result of an attack by Ukraine. Instead, the Kremlin claims that the blasts were caused by the detonation of stored ammunition. The Russian media, which is only allowed to refer to the war as a special military operation, has virtually ceased all coverage of the incident. The Saki air base is at least 125 miles or 200 kilometers from the closest Ukrainian military position and none of the weapons and ammunition officially in the arsenal of the Ukrainian army can strike targets that far away. The ammunition for the American-made HIMARS rocket system, which the US has been officially delivering since May, can only hit targets of a distance of up to 50 miles. The German magazine Spiegel surmised that the blasts could have been caused by a Ukrainian Grim-2 short range missile, which has been in development since 2003 and could strike targets at a distance of up to 280 kilometers. Alternatively, the Spiegel noted, Ukraine could have used a modified Neptun missile which may have also caused the sinking of the Moskva. In either scenario, Russian missile defense systems on Crimea could have only been circumvented by American AGM-88 anti-radar missiles. Remnants of such a missile were recently found on Ukrainian territory even though the US has not confirmed that AGM-88 missiles were among the weapons and ammunition that Washington has officially delivered to Ukraine. The Spiegel wrote, This could mean that Kievs most important partners may have delivered also other weapons to Ukraine in secret, such as the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The ATACMS can be used by the American HIMARS as well as the German and British M-270 multiple launch rocket systems, which have been deployed in Ukraine for the past several weeks and have been causing serious problems, especially for Russian logistics. Currently, they [these rocket systems] can only reach up to 80 kilometers with the GMLRS-rockets, but with ATACMS they could reach up to 300 kilometers, which theoretically could make strikes on Crimea possible. The blasts on Crimea occurred against the backdrop of ever more aggressive threats by the Ukrainian military and President Volodymyr Zelensky, that they were determined to recover Crimea. The US-backed adoption of the recovery of Crimea as Ukraines official military doctrine in March 2021 was a major factor in provoking the Russian invasion of February 24 and Russian officials have repeatedly warned that they could respond with nuclear weapons to any attack on Crimea. In July, a Pentagon spokesman has notably refused to preclude that American missiles will be used to strike the Russian-built Kerch bridge, which connects Crimea with the Russian mainland. Writing for the Washington Post, David Ignatius interpreted the presumed Ukrainian attack on Crimea as the beginning of a long-announced southern offensive. Russian troops have now occupied about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including most of the East and significant parts of the south. It is expected that the Kremlin will organize referendums in these territories about joining Russia in the coming weeks, and an offensive by Ukraine would not least of all be aimed at preempting such a development. There is little question that any offensive, as well as any strike on Crimea, are not only carried out with the weapons and ammunition delivered by the imperialist powers, but also discussed and prepared in the closest consultation with Washington. Having staged a coup in Kiev in 2014 to install a NATO-compliant regime in Ukraine and transform the country into a launching pad for war against Russia, the US, Britain, Germany and other NATO powers have delivered weapons and ammunition to Ukraine worth tens of billions of dollars since February alone. Just this Monday, the Biden administration approved the largest single military aid package to Ukraine yet, worth $1 billion, including for ammunition for the HIMARS rocket systems and 1,000 Javelin missiles. Only a week before the blasts on Crimea, Ukraines deputy head of military intelligence, Vadim Skibitsky, gave a provocative interview to the British Telegraph, acknowledging that every Ukrainian strike on Russian targets was preceeded by discussions with the US which would allow Washington to stop any potential attacks if they were unhappy with the intended target. Skibitsky also said that we use real-time information provided by the Americans to strike Russian targets. The imperialist proxy war against Russia in Ukraine has already claimed the lives of over 5,000 civilians, while the losses among troops on both sides are estimated in the tens of thousands. Over a fourth of the countrys prewar population of under 40 million has been turned into refugees. An offensive in the south and an attempt to recover Crimea by Ukraine would directly threaten the lives of thousands, if not millions more, even as US imperialism is escalating its war provocations against China over Taiwan in the Pacific. Last Sunday, Gustavo Petro, elected by the pseudo-left coalition Pacto Historico (Historical Pact), was sworn in as president of Colombia. Unlike previous years, the inauguration ceremony attracted crowds to the center of Bogota, in a celebration of Colombias first leftist president. The President of the Congress, Roy Barreras, places the presidential sash on Gustavo Petro, August 7, 2022. Bogota, Colombia (Credit: Nelson Cardenas - Presidencia de Colombia) Also attending, as guests of honor, were politicians from the Colombian right wing, major businessmen, and international bourgeois political leaders. Among them were Rodolfo Hernandez, the fascistic candidate defeated by the Petro, King Felipe VI of Spain, and leftist Latin American presidents Gabriel Boric of Chile, Luis Arce of Bolivia, and Alberto Fernandez of Argentina. Petro assumes the presidency of Colombia amidst a worsening political, social and economic crisis. He will take the helm of one of the most socially unequal countries in the world, marked by decades of bloody state violence, where class relations have reached a state of tension that threatens the continuity of bourgeois rule. As a candidate, Petro sought to respond to the massive rejection of Colombias corrupted political system, which led to a wave of national demonstrations and strikes throughout the terms of right-wing President Ivan Duque. When Pacto Historico coined the slogan politics of love, its voters understood it as a promise to end the intolerable violence and austerity policies. Surely, they recalled the false positives, the more than 6,000 citizens murdered by the state during the administration of Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) and falsely presented as guerrillas killed in battle, as well as the hundreds of protesters killed by the military while participating in demonstrations against Duques government. But they hardly thought that Petros love would in fact be substantially directed to the old right-wing politicians and the military, the hated enemies of the working class. His inauguration speech on Sunday, as well as his preparations to begin his government, make clear the fundamentally reactionary content of the Great National Accord he is pursuing. In the weeks since his victory on June 19, Petro has given an important signal to the Colombian ruling elite by meeting with Rodolfo Hernandez and Uribe. About the meeting with Uribe, the pseudo-left president declared on Twitter that We found the differences and the common ground. And as he posted a photo shaking Hernandezs hand, he announced, We are sure going for a national agreement. The new cabinet was chosen according to the same principle that the right-wing parties and politicians massively rejected by the Colombian people have the unquestionable right to take part in the decisions of the elected government. Key positions, starting with the finance minister, Jose Antonio Ocampo, were appointed because they are the consensus candidates within the Colombian bourgeoisie. In Petros inaugural speech, he was forced to address problems central to the Colombian masses, such as social inequality, state violence, the environmental crisis and the corruption of the political system, but the president made sure to clarify that solutions should not involve any challenge to the capitalist system and its state. Denouncing as nonsense and immoral the fact that 10 percent of the Colombian population holds 70 percent of the wealth, Petro insisted that equality is possible if we are capable of creating wealth for everyone. In his capitalist fiction, wealth distribution means simply the solidary payment that someone fortunate makes to a society that allows and guarantees his or her fortune. Petro, who has set himself the task of developing capitalism in Colombia, founds his progressive rhetoric on a myth disproved time and again by history: that the accumulation of wealth by the capitalist class leads to the rise of the economic levels of the whole society. Karl Marx concluded 150 years ago, Accumulation of wealth at one pole is therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole, i.e., on the side of the class that produces its product in the form of capital. This quintessential truth about the capitalist mode of production is more visible today than at any time in history. Brutal social inequality is not a Colombian aberration, as Petro characterizes it. In a world where the 10 richest individuals doubled their income amid a deadly pandemic, while 160 million were thrown into poverty, the Colombian reality is increasingly the general rule. Petros speech was unequivocally identified by the corporate media as a signal to big business. In a Sunday editorial, El Tiempo highlighted as key the promise of no confiscatory taxes and his insistence on the importance of society generating wealth by working and producing. Moreover, the tax reform drafted by Ocampo and presented by Petro earlier this week attests that his campaign promise, that his reform would hit only the richest 4,000 Colombians, was utterly false. The tax increase will hit those who earn from 10 million pesos a month (just over U$2,000), that is, sections of the working class and lower middle class, and consumer goods such as food and fuel. The bankruptcy of Petros pro-capitalist program, restricted to the limits of the bourgeois national state, is bluntly revealed by his approach to international politics. Claiming that climate change is an urgent reality that demands the world find a model that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable, Petro points to international finance capital as the agent of this transformation. If the IMF helps to exchange debt for concrete action against the climate crisis, we will have a prosperous new economy and a new life for humanity, he stated. Besides his friends at the IMF, Petro called for Latin American leadersincluding fascistic politicians like Brazils Jair Bolsonaroare to leave behind blocs, groups and ideological differences to work together. Petros project to maintain the foundations of capitalist exploitation in Colombia demands the complete disarmament of the working class in the face of immense dangers posed by its class enemies. Among the most nefarious passages of his inauguration speech is the one in which he addressed the armed forces. He declared: Army, society and production can unite in a new indestructible social ethic. Helicopters and airplanes, frigates, not only serve to bomb or shoot, they also serve to create the first preventive health infrastructure for the Colombian people. This criminal complacency has the unequivocal role of opening the path for the ruling class offensive against the working class. As numerous examples from Latin American history attestfirst and foremost, the coup in Chile in 1973as Petro bows more and more to the military, the generals are waiting for the best moment to impose a ruthless dictatorship and unleash a wave of violence against the working class. Petros first days in the Colombian presidency already confirm the essentially reactionary character of the so-called left-wing Pink Tide governments. While their promises to represent a new road to socialism quickly wilted in the face of the crisis of commodity prices, in their renewed form these governments have lost even the slightest hue of pink. From Boric in Chile to Pedro Castillo in Peru, they have taken upon themselves the task to implement capitalist attacks and escalate repression against the working class, strengthening the fascist forces preparing to seize power. The commitment to these governments by the pseudo-left organizationslike Jacobin, aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, which claimed that under Petro Colombia will be more fair and more peacefulunderscores the necessity of establishing the political independence of the working class and building its revolutionary leadership in Latin America, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy announced the arrival of the first ship from Ukraine to Ravenna with a cargo of corn and soybeans. "Great satisfaction for the arrival in Ravenna of the first ship carrying corn and soya from Ukraine. Italy keeps promoting every effort for food security globally and in the Mediterranean, the implementation of the agreement on grain export and support for Kyiv's resilience," the ministry said on Twitter. On Monday, Sri Lankas foreign ministry requested Beijing indefinitely postpone the arrival of the Chinese ship Yuan Wang 5 to Hambantota Port, located on the southern tip of the island. The ship was scheduled to dock at Hambantota from August 11 to August 17 for replenishing and refueling. Yuan Wang 5 Colombos decision, a result of pressure from the US and India, is another expression of Washingtons accelerating confrontation with China throughout the region. While China said the Yuan Wang 5 was a satellite-tracking research vessel, Washington and New Delhi have branded it a spy ship. Sri Lanka is caught in the middle of a geopolitical maelstrom over the Yuan Wang 5 with Washington backed by New Delhi determined to break Colombos relations with Beijing. Over the past decade Washington has increasingly intervened to bring Sri Lankastrategically located in the Indian Oceaninto line with its escalating economic and military buildup against China. According to media reports, the foreign ministry on July 12 cleared the Yuan Wang 5 to dock at Hambantota. It granted permission, stating that it was routine for commercial and military ships of friendly nations, such as India, Australia, Japan, and China, to visit Sri Lankan ports. On Monday, however, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said, that in light of the need for further consultations, it had asked the Chinese embassy in Colombo to defer the Yuan Wang 5s visit. Pointing to the real reasons, the Washington Post on Thursday reported that Indian and U.S. officials have strongly pressured the Sri Lankan government to revoke access to the port, infuriating their Chinese counterparts While the Chinese navy ship arriving at Hambantota is not strategically significant, the US and Indian officials argue that it would be viewed as Sri Lanka giving special treatment to China, a major creditor. In a July 29 media briefing, an Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi declared: The government carefully monitors any developments having a bearing on Indias security and economic interests, and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them, and added, I think that should be a clear message. The Indian media over the past weeks has churned out reports and articles portraying the Chinese vessel a threat to the countrys security. Defense analyst Rahul Bedi in New Delhi claimed that the ship was loaded with very advanced sensors that can be used for surveillance. On August 6, the Indian website Firstpost said the Yuan Wang 5 was a dual-use spy vessel, employed for space and satellite tracking and with specific usage in intercontinental ballistic missile launches. The ship, it continued was a highly sophisticated missile range instrumentation ship with top-of-the-line antennas and electronic equipment to support the launching and tracking of missiles and rockets. Indias Economic Times said the Chinese ship had a surveillance range of more than 750 km and claimed it was a security threat to strategic installations in the southern Indian states, including Indias largest nuclear plants situated in Kalapakkam and Koodankulam in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. None of these lurid allegations was substantiated. The deep-water Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka is located at the top of the main shipping route from Africa and the Middle East and East and Northern Asia and Australia. While it was built by a Chinese company via a $US1.5 billion loan, the Sri Lankan government was unable to repay the loan and leased it to China for 99 years in 2017 via a loan-swapping agreement. Washington and India immediately initiated a campaign against the arrangement, alleging that China had used the port project as a debt trap to increase its influence in the region and planned to use the port as a military base. While Beijing rejected these claims, declaring that it only has commercial interests, it is seeking to advance its own strategic and military interests amid the escalating US provocations against China. US accusations, and those of its strategic partners, such as India, are cynical and hypocritical. Washington alone has more than 700 overseas military bases around the world. China has sharply reacted against Washington and New Delhi pressuring Sri Lanka to stop Yuan Wang 5 docking at Hambantota. On August 6, pro-US President Ranil Wickremesinghe met Chinas ambassador Qi Zhenhong, at his request, in a closed-door meeting to discuss the issue. No details have been released about the talks. Following the Sri Lankan foreign ministry request that Yuan Wang 5s arrival be deferred, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin publicly called for an end to the senseless pressure on Sri Lanka over alleged security concerns. Without mentioning India by name, his criticism was clearly directed against it. Sri Lanka is a sovereign state. It can develop relations with other countries in the light of its own development interests, he said. It was morally irresponsible, he continued, to pressure the Sri Lankan government during the countrys current unprecedented economic and political crisis. New Delhi intervened in recent months to provide economic assistance as Sri Lankas crisis deepened. This includes $US4 billion in loans to import critical supplies of food, fuel, medicine, and cooking gas, prompting President Wickremesinghe to declare in his policy statement last week that Indian Minister Narendra Modi has given us a breath of life. This financial assistance, however, is not just to save the Sri Lankan ruling class but to strengthen Indias influence over Colombo. New Delhi is also keen to prevent the Sri Lankan political crisis from spilling over the Palk Strait into India where mass social opposition is mounting against the Indian government. The Modi government has systematically pressured Sri Lanka to distance itself from Beijing. Last year, China suspended construction of a renewable energy project in three northern Sri Lankan islands off the Jaffna Peninsula, 50 km from the southern Indian coast, after India raised concerns. While keen to secure financial assistance from China, Wickremesinghe, a longtime pro-US stooge, is acutely sensitive to US and Indias geopolitical demands. In opposition, Wickremesinghe and his United National Party backed Washingtons demands, particularly since the end of Colombos communalist war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, for the former President Mahinda Rajapakses government to distance itself from China. Behind the scenes, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, supported by Wickremesinghe, conspired to persuade Maithripala Sirisena to resign from Rajapakses ruling party, undermined Rajapakse in the January 2015 presidential election and helped install Sirisena into the presidency. The blocking of Chinese vessel to Hambantota Port is not an isolated incident but is another component of the Biden administrations aggressive provocations against China. In a blatantly anti-democratic attack on students, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and numerous student clubs have been arbitrarily disaffiliated at Sydneys Macquarie University. The IYSSE calls on all students and student groups to fight this assault and demand the reinstatement of all clubs. Macquarie University Chancellery building (Source: mq.edu.au) On May 30, without prior notice, Student Engagement Inclusion & Belonging, an arm of management that controls student clubs on campus, sent an email demanding all clubs reaffiliate within an 18-day period, or be disaffiliated. The email stated that affiliation applications opened on June 1 and closed on June 19. It proclaimed: This applies to all groups, whether currently affiliated or not. Regardless of whether your group is well established, long standing, or brand new, every group must register by 19th June 2022 if they wish to be affiliated. The email declared that student group requirements have now changed. Clubs now had to have 30 members, a 50 percent increase from the previous 20, with at least 80 percent currently enrolled at the university, up from 75 percent. Club executives had to have current Macquarie University students and of satisfactory academic standing. The email concluded: If you do not complete student group registration in time, your group will not be affiliated for at least the remainder of 2022. This edict resulted in the disaffiliation of several clubs on campus, including the IYSSE, which has been a registered club since 2010 and successfully reaffiliated last October. Many clubs were unable to complete the requirements within this deliberately restrictive time frame, with the email sent just before the beginning of the exam period at the end of Semester 1. Moreover, the email was not sent to members of club executives, as correspondence previously was, but instead sent to a single email address for each club. Until now, the requirements for affiliation had remained virtually unchanged for the more than a decade. Each year, clubs were required to hold an annual general meeting and then submit to Student Engagement a list of members and club office holders and endorsement of the club constitution, which was mirrored on recommendations from Student Engagement. This bureaucratic process thus required that all the names of club members be handed to the university management. While the IYSSE opposed this anti-democratic requirement, we complied with it each year. This latest development sets a dangerous precedent. University management can arbitrarily change the requirements for clubs and demand immediate reaffiliation. Comparing the list of registered clubs on the Macquarie University website between March 12 and today shows that 45 percent of the clubs that were affiliated at the beginning of the year are no longer listed. The total number of clubs in March was 148. As of August that dropped to 95, with 67 clubs from March no longer on the website and 14 new clubs being added. This preemptive attack on the right of clubs to exist and for students to join the club of their choosing is a transparent act of political censorship. There has clearly been a decision that the number of clubs on campus has to be culled. To do so the university has dispensed with due process by implementing measures which are designed to ensure clubs are given no notice and little time to meet the bureaucratically devised new requirements. Political or social clubs can be targeted if the management disagrees with their views. That was demonstrated on July 28, when campus security sought to use the disaffiliation of the pseudo-left group Macquarie Socialists to prevent it from campaigning on campus. The Macquarie Socialists is the student club of Socialist Alternative, to which the IYSSE is fundamentally politically opposed. It advances the interests of upper-middle class layers and utilises socialist phraseology while defending the pro-capitalist trade unions and lining up behind the US imperialist war operations against Russia and China. Nevertheless, the IYSSE defends its democratic right to campaign on campus. A video on Facebook shows campus security demanding that the group shut down a stall that the group said was set up to to defend and extend abortion rights. Within two hours, police were called to the scene. The police did not force the campaigners to leave but stood next to them in an intimidating operation. In a statement, the Macquarie Socialists said it spoke to a Student Engagement representative, who said the stall around abortion could not continue because its a sensitive issue and we have to take everyones beliefs into accounts. We need to make sure campus is a safe space for everyone. This is not the first time Student Engagement has shut down campaigns of student clubs. In June 2018, campus security blocked a campaign by the IYSSE against university funding cuts, calling for a united struggle of students and staff. The IYSSE has been the subject of similar attacks across the country. In 2015, the University of Melbourne blocked the IYSSEs right to affiliate, falsely claiming its aims significantly overlapped that of Socialist Alternative. In 2014, the University of Newcastle utilised the Students Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) laws, reinstated by the last federal Labor government, to try to ban clubs from supporting political parties such as the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). Similar attacks have taken place at Griffith University in Brisbane, the University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and the University of NSW. In the majority of cases, these attacks have been successfully defeated through a coordinated campaign led by the IYSSE and joined by students and clubs on the campuses. This latest assault on the basic democratic right of students at Macquarie University comes within the context of an accelerating social and political crisis in Australia and internationally, as the COVID-19 pandemic has been allowed to spread unchecked worldwide. On campuses the IYSSE has led the fight against the unsafe reopening of universities and return to face-to-face classes. Labor and Liberal-National governments alike have ended all basic public health measures in the interest of profits and big business. This has resulted in the mass infection of the population and more than 10,000 deaths this year alone. Just as the return to face-to-face classrooms in February transformed primary and secondary schools into Petri dishes of infection, university students and staff were placed on the frontline of the let it rip agenda. University managements join the chorus falsely claiming the pandemic was over. When leading health expert and Zero-COVID advocate Dr. David Berger was threatened with deregistration by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA), the IYSSE joined the SEP in launching a powerful campaign in his defence. After Twitter then shut down the @SEPAustralia twitter page, demanding the deletion of a video defending Berger and linking his defence to that Julian Assange and free speech, the IYSSE and the SEP mobilised widespread opposition to the ban. As a result, Twitter lifted the lock after six days. The IYSSE also has been in the forefront of opposition to the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and the parallel war drive against China in this region, in which the Labor government is playing a pivotal role. The IYSSE has opposed the accelerated drive to integrate the universities into servicing the needs of the military apparatuses. Throughout the past two years, sweeping cuts have taken place on campuses, as thousands of academics and staff members have been retrenched. The IYSSE has played a leading role in fighting these cuts, including by launching a campaign in defence of Dr Frank Valckenborgh at Macquarie University last year. The latest act of censorship by Macquarie University management must be opposed by all students and student clubs. Universities should be havens of discussion, not profit-driven hubs of censorship and war. The IYSSE is launching a campaign against this anti-democratic attack. We demand that all clubs, including the IYSSE, be reaffiliated immediately, with all affiliation rights restored. Student Engagement Inclusion & Belonging must explain under whose authority it has carried out this assault on student rights and why the attack was initiated. We urge all students and campus clubs to join our campaign. Get in contact with the Macquarie University IYSSE, give statements of support and fight this anti-democratic offensive. To get in contact with the IYSSE email at iysse.macquarie@gmail.com. Join the IYSSE Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/IYSSEaustralia Follow us on Twitter at @IysseA In June, the poliomyelitis virus was identified in wastewater in Rockland County, New York, north of New York City. The fact that this was no isolated occurrence was soon confirmed by additional detections from wastewater in June and July at two different locations in Orange County, New York, also a northern suburb of the city. The poliovirus has now been documented in wastewater samples from New York City as well, indicating that the infection has already spread widely in the metropolitan area, potentially affecting millions. Testing of wastewater for polio is not routinely done, because of the expense, and because the disease was declared eliminated in the US by 1988. Tests were initiated after an infected individual, who was unvaccinated, was identified in Rockland County. He has suffered paralysis. This outbreak coincides with reports that the virus had been detected in wastewater in London, the British capital. The failure of the decaying capitalist system to provide effective health care for the vast majority of the worlds population, including protection from the threat of infectious diseases, has been shockingly and criminally demonstrated by the total mismanagement of the response to COVID-19, followed by the rapidly developing monkeypox pandemic. Now, as if to emphasize the point, polio, also known as poliomyelitis, a dread disease that had been effectively eliminated in the United States and much of the rest of the world nearly a decade ago, has been detected in the northern suburbs of New York City. French clinic for polio victims, Paris 1948-1967 Following a now well-worn script, officials on both sides of the Atlantic immediately swung into action to declare that the re-emergence of polio is nothing to be worried about. Vaccinated people should not be concerned. Indeed, it is true that fully vaccinated individuals have long-lasting immunity to the disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, the duration of effective immunity for people who were vaccinated as children is unknown, possibly creating a large pool of vulnerable older individuals. There have been no domestically derived cases in the US since 1979 and none of foreign origin in the US since 2013. However, until the virus is totally eradicated worldwide, the potential exists for renewed spread, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. There is no cure for polio once contracted. Historically, polio, which has existed for thousands of years, primarily affected children, leaving about 1 percent of those who came down with the disease paralyzed for life, and in some cases causing death. However, it can affect people of any age. In some cases, muscle pain, weakness or paralysis can develop up to 40 years after infection. Before effective vaccines were developed, the disease, which is highly contagious, was widespread and much feared due to its often devastating effects. It can be spread via contact with the saliva, feces (either directly or via contaminated water or other materials), or by droplets or aerosols from an infected person. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, waves of polio, which tended to peak during summer, resulted in tens of thousands of cases of paralysis per year in the US alone. Parents feared letting their children go outside to play due to the danger. Travel restrictions and quarantines were imposed to help reduce the spread, with substantial public support. The introduction of vaccines, inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) in 1955 and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) in 1963, resulted in a dramatic reduction in US cases to an annual average of fewer than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. The oral vaccine contains live, but attenuated virus, which can reproduce, spread from person to person and, in some cases, cause disease. The inactivated vaccine contains only killed virus, which cannot reproduce. Both are highly effective in preventing disease in fully vaccinated individuals. While much progress has been made by the Polio Global Eradication Initiative since it was launched in 1988, insufficient funding and incomplete penetration in areas of extreme poverty and military conflict have prevented total eradication. Polio remains endemic in only two countriesAfghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan. In Afghanistan in particular, the decades-long wars and political upheavals fomented by the US and other imperialist powers have substantially hampered immunization efforts. In addition, based on data provided by the World Health Organization, cases continue to appear in multiple areas across Africa. For example, during the last 12 months, the most frequent occurrences have been 258 cases reported in Nigeria and 81 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, 119 were identified in war-torn Yemen, certainly an undercount. One case was identified in Israel this past February. According to the CDC, 72 percent of those infected are asymptomatic and another quarter experience flu-like symptoms. However, its high infectivity results in large numbers of severely affected individuals, despite the relatively low proportion of severe cases. As with COVID-19, polio can be spread by asymptomatic individuals, making testing, contact tracing, and quarantine essential tools in controlling and ultimately eradicating the disease. Without global eradication, the disease can continue to propagate, flaring up repeatedly in areas of insufficient vaccination. Recent detection of poliovirus in the wastewater in London and the northern suburbs of New York City clearly indicates the imminent danger posed by deficient public health measures. News reports reveal that the virus has been detected 116 times in the London area since February. Europe as a whole had been declared polio-free in 2003. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has concluded that genetic analysis of the samples suggests that spread of the virus has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals. In other words, community spread is taking place. As a result, the governments Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended a rapid booster campaign for children aged one to nine, suggesting an inadequate level of existing vaccination against a disease that has not been eradicated worldwide. In New York state, health officials described what has been seen so far as likely the tip of the iceberg. There could be hundreds or even thousands of undiagnosed cases in the state. Multiple hits in wastewater in two counties indicate that community spread is occurring. A CDC team has been dispatched to New York to participate in the investigation of the outbreak. Local officials are quoted by CNN as stating that the CDC personnel are the opposite of cautiously optimistic. The CDC recommends a minimum vaccination rate of 80 percent of the population to keep polio from spreading. Rockland and Orange counties have only 60.34 and 58.68 percent, respectively. Overall, 25 of the 62 New York counties have vaccination rates below 80 percent, according to the New York State Department of Health. One must ask, how can the clearly developing pattern, first with COVID-19, then monkeypox, and now, potentially with polio, not point to an underlying failure of the capitalist system as a whole? In many poorer countries, OPV vaccine is used because it is given orally and, therefore, easier to administer than the killed virus vaccine, which must be injected in two to four doses. Unfortunately, the attenuated virus in the oral vaccine can sometimes mutate and become infectious and cause disease, what is known as vaccine-derived polio. The oral vaccine has not been administered in the US since 2000. Genetic testing indicates that the infected individual in Rockland County had contracted vaccine-derived polio from someone who had received the oral vaccine. The 116 wastewater detections of poliovirus in London are also of the oral vaccine type. This window of opportunity for the virus created by the oral vaccine could have been closed if sufficient resources had been allocated to permit universal use of the inactivated virus vaccine. Again, the lack of proper funding to mount an effective, global eradication campaign has allowed the persistence of a dangerous pathogen. The vaccination campaign against polio has also been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Standard medical care, including required vaccinations for a range of diseases, has been disrupted, resulting in significant numbers of children failing to be immunized. This has been compounded by the promotion of misinformation by right-wing forces, which has led to vaccine hesitancy. Based on a recent study by UNICEF and the WHO, rates of routine vaccinations fell 5 percentage points between 2019 and 2021. As with COVID-19 and monkeypox, the failure to eradicate polio, thus permitting the current resurgence, demonstrates that such threats to human health can only be addressed on a global scale. There is no effective national or even regional approach. Only in a socialist society can the required resources be marshaled and deployed at the necessary scale. Information has been received about another provocation by the Russian occupiers, if possible, limit your stay on the streets of Enerhodar, mayor of the city Dmytro Orlov reports. "Be careful and, if possible, limit your stay on the streets of Enerhodar! Information has been received about another provocation by the occupiers. According to local residents, shelling is being carried out again from the park area towards the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and industrial territory. The interval between departure and arrival is three-five seconds!" he wrote on his Telegram channel. First four Slovak Zuzana howitzers already delivered to Ukraine Slovakia has delivered to Ukraine the first four Zuzana 2 howitzers out of eight stipulated by the contract, Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad says. "Slovakia helping to protect innocent Ukrainian lives! Happy to confirm, that first 4 Slovak Zuzana howitzers are in the hands of Ukrainian armed forces ready to be deployed in defence against the Russian aggressors," Nad said on Twitter on Saturday. As reported, on June 2, Ukraine signed a contract with Slovakia for the supply of eight Zuzana 2 howitzers. Slovak media also report that Braislava may transfer MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine in September. Next month, Slovakia will stop using its MiG-29 fighter jets, which it plans to transfer to Ukraine, Vysehrad 24 TV channel reported, citing a statement made by Slovak Defense Minister. Seven people died and 13 were injured when a microbus overturned on Ismailia Desert Road. The dead and injured were a family heading to Fayed to spend a day at the beach, the prosecution said in a statement published at Al-Ahram Arabic news gate on Wednesday. On June 2, Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, announced a conservative program for engaging with energy, climate and conservation with six policy pillars. Two of these pillars, American Innovation and Beat China and Russia, dovetail perfectly with an initiative known as a carbon border adjustment mechanism. A CBAM would set an import tariff on certain internationally traded goods carbon-intensive products like steel, paper, cement and fossil fuels. One version of this tariff would establish a domestic price on carbon emissions, requiring countries without such a price to pay a fee. Another version would base the tariff on average emissions, so domestic and foreign companies that emit more than the average would pay. Both strategies would incentivize U.S. industries to increase their efficiency, invest in new technology and reduce carbon emissions. They would also bolster Americas performance in the global market, for at least two reasons. Hear more Tennessee voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought-provoking columns. Noah Guthrie First, a CBAM would monetize the carbon reduction innovations that American businesses have made and will make in the future. This would give us an advantage when competing with countries like China and Russia, whose economies are much less carbon-efficient than our own. According to a 2021 study commissioned by the Climate Leadership Council, goods produced in America are 40% more carbon-efficient than the world average, and the U.S. economy overall is 4.2 times as carbon-efficient as that of Russia, and 3.2 times as carbon-efficient as that of China. Second, the European Union plans to initiate a carbon border adjustment in 2023, setting a fee on cement, steel, iron, aluminum electricity, and fertilizer by 2025 or 2026. For any of those products, U.S. businesses exporting to Europe may have to pay a tariff, depending on how their carbon footprints compare with those of the EU. Canada is also considering a CBAM. Together, the EU and Canada account for about $1.8 trillion of trade for the U.S., so if we do not initiate our own CBAM, we may place ourselves at a disadvantage when our trade partners do. Story continues Thus, a CBAM would promote at least two pillars of McCarthys program. It would reward and incentivize American Innovation, and it would help us Beat China and Russia in the global market. Regarding the latter point, Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer argued that this measure would cut global greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy security, and reduce Russias power to coerce Europe. Regarding innovation, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy stated, If we had a border carbon adjustment, it would help our workers, help our industry, incentivize them to do it right. Therefore, both Republican leadership and their policy pillars support a CBAM. This same measure would also help us meet the Biden administrations 2030 target for emissions reductions. CBAM is one example of an initiative that coincides with the environmental values of both conservatives and liberals in America, providing common ground for swift and effective action for the welfare of our economy and the planet. Although finding ways to conform a CBAM to the guidelines of the World Trade Organization may be difficult, there is widespread and bipartisan recognition of this initiatives benefits, which should provide sufficient political will to overcome those hurdles. Your state. Your stories. Support more reporting like this. A subscription gives you unlimited access to stories across Tennessee that make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Click here to become a subscriber. Citizens Climate Lobby volunteers have encouraged their members of Congress to pursue American innovation and climate action. Volunteers met with the offices of Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and Reps. David Kustoff, Steve Cohen, Diana Harshbarger, Jim Cooper and Mark Green. We met with Rep. Tim Burchett, and we will meet with the offices of Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and John Rose. Whether they advocate for the CBAM or for other forms of environmental legislation, there are abundant opportunities to support helping our communities and our planet flourish. Noah Guthrie is an undergraduate at Berry College and a member of the Middle Tennessee chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Carbon border adjustment mechanism would bolster US performance Ukraine's president has condemned a Russian strike that the region's governor said killed at least six people and wounded 16 in Ukraine's Kharkiv on Wednesday as "despicable and cynical". First he issued endorsements. Then Gov. Ron DeSantis began spending his own campaign money to help preferred down ballot candidates. Now DeSantis is going even further with a statewide "education tour" in advance of the Aug. 23 primary to tout candidates he endorsed in school board races. The tour will go through Sarasota, Ormond Beach, Jacksonville and Miami. Combined, DeSantis' actions are much further than past Florida governors have gone to put their imprint on local politics. School board races are technically nonpartisan, but DeSantis is weighing in to try and elect conservatives. The races often are decided in the primary. This invitation was sent out for the Sarasota stop on the "DeSantis education tour." DeSantis dishes out campaign cash: Florida governor spends time, cash on other races, showing his confidence in reelection prospects Million dollar donation follows gambling deal : Seminole Tribe gives $1 million to DeSantis after getting exclusive sports betting rights Billionaire donors: DeSantis has extraordinary billionaire support, with at least 42 backing him. Who are they? DeSantis is proving he is all in on trying to reshape Florida's education system, which has been a major focus of his time in office. He signed controversial bills that limit how race, gender and sexual orientation are discussed in schools. Some school districts have resisted DeSantis' education agenda, with the governor battling local school boards over policies such as mask mandates. Now he wants to install school board candidates who share his views. The governor endorsed 30 candidates for school board seats around Florida, donating $1,000 from his political committee to many of the candidates and spending his campaign money on mailers supporting them. Now DeSantis will campaign for many of the candidates in person in advance of the primary. Florida's Aug. 23 primary is partly a referendum on Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has endorsed in a number of down ballot races. His political committee even paid for this mailer and others supporting school board candidates. The Republican Party of Sarasota County sent out an email Friday with an invitation to a 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. event on Aug. 21 at Sarasota's Sahib Shrine Event Center. The invitation states that the event is part of the "DeSantis Education Agenda Tour." Story continues The Volusia County GOP also shared an invitation Friday for a "DeSantis Education Agenda Tour" rally on Aug. 21 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at a Harley Davidson dealer in Ormond Beach. DeSantis campaign sent out an email Monday saying there also will be tour stops in Duval and Miami-Dade counties. "These pro-parent, pro-student local school board candidates are committed to the DeSantis Education Agenda," DeSantis said in a press release about the tour. "Parental rights, curriculum transparency, and classrooms free of woke ideology are all on the ballot this election, and it starts with school board elections. Floridas school boards need members who will defend our students and stand up for parental rights and will ensure Floridas children are protected from woke ideology in their classrooms. I am proud to stand by each of them. The governor has endorsed school board candidates in Sarasota, Duval, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Manatee, Lee, Alachua, Pasco, Polk, Flagler, Indian River, Volusia, Martin, Brevard, Putnam, Hendry and Monroe counties. "Governor DeSantis is rallying support for the DeSantis Education Agenda the students first, parents rights plan for Florida which all our local candidates support," the Sarasota GOP said in an email announcing the governor's rally. DeSantis has endorsed three conservative Sarasota County School Board candidates in a contest that has become increasingly acrimonious and exemplifies the charged politics around education nationwide. 'Im at a loss for words': 'BABY KILLER': Attack message on mobile billboard shows rancor in Sarasota School Board races Conservatives have targeted school district's COVID-19 policies, and how schools approach race and gender identity issues, and made them a central aspect of the GOP's pitch in recent years. Emotionally-charged school board meetings have spilled over into emotionally-charged campaigns for school board seats. In Sarasota County, trucks are driving around with billboards calling a candidate who used to work for Planned Parenthood a "baby killer." Postcards went out calling three candidates endorsed by the local Democratic Party "BLM... ANTIFA RIOTERS" who "WANT GROOMING AND PORNOGRAPHY IN OUR SCHOOLS." Follow Herald-Tribune Political Editor Zac Anderson on Twitter at @zacjanderson. He can be reached at zac.anderson@heraldtribune.com This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gov. Ron DeSantis education tour to promote school board candidates In one of the few showbusiness divorces to be of real interest to readers of the worlds business pages and no doubt even more to his children, Rupert Murdoch has finalised the financial details of his split from Jerry Hall. In a joint statement issued by the former couple, Murdoch and Hall announced that legal proceedings had been aborted, and financial arrangements settled out of court. More from Deadline Following the end of their six-year marriage Murdochs fourth Hall is expected to receive a multi-million-pound settlement, as well as the couples 11m Oxfordshire mansion, Holmwood House. She is also expected to receive a villa in the south of France. This will not leave Murdoch empty handed. The 91-year-old media mogul will retain possession of his New York penthouse apartment, as well as his house in Londons Mayfair and the jewel in his property crown, his Moraga Estate vineyard in Bel-Air. The couple surprised media observers with news of their split, after Murdochs marriage to Hall in 2016 prompted him to call himself the luckiest AND happiest man in the world. Hall briefly appeared to be winning the PR battle, with her estranged husband photographed receiving divorce papers as he boarded a plane. In the papers, Hall described herself as a resident of California, where any property bought by a couple during the course of a marriage is deemed joint property. The pair went on a spending spree soon after their marriage including the $200m acquisition of a sprawling ranch in Montana but it is unclear whether this prompted Murdochs swift move to clear up any outstanding financial matters smoothly. The couples joint statement confirmed: Jerry and Rupert Murdoch have finalised their divorce. They remain good friends and wish each other the best for the future. Story continues Murdoch is well versed in paying out. He previously gave his second wife Anna a reported $1.7bn payout following the demise of their 32-year marriage, and his third wife Wendi Deng is also believed to have received a hefty sum. But, with a fortune estimated at $21.7bn, he can afford to be generous in such things. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty I have a confession: I sometimes get mistaken forgasp!a Republican. Its been happening, on and off, for the last 20 or 30 years. My former co-host of a Los Angeles radio show in the mid-1990s swears Im O.G. GOP. Ive worked for both liberal and conservative media outlets. I voted for Bill Clinton, and later voted for George W. Bushtwice. And admittedly, my positions on a dozen issues have a rightward tilt to them. But Im not a Republican. Im not a Democrat either. I just enjoy treating both parties like an 8-year-old with a broomstick and a sweet tooth treats a pinata. Undocumented Workers Feed Us. However You Feel About Immigration, They Deserve Health Care. Still, growing up in the conservative San Joaquin Valley of Central Californiasurrounded by conservative Mexican-Americanssomething about the Republican Party appealed to me. The GOP used to believe firmly in certain principles, and champion specific values. When I started paying attention to politics as a teenager in the 1980s, the GOP was the party of optimism, economic opportunity, a strong defense, law and order, free markets, small government, individual rights, love of country, and a warm welcome for immigrants. All that was music to my young ears. Today, all thats gone. Everything that appealed to me about the Republican Party has been corroded by the acidity of Donald Trump and his merry band of extremists. Republicans are turning themselves into pretzels to say theyre still the party of limited-government principle and rule of law, all while maintaining steadfast support of Trump through his latest embarrassing escapade. The politicization of our law enforcement agencies is deeply disturbing, conservative broadcaster Megyn Kelly said on her SiriusXM radio show and podcast this week after two dozen FBI agents searched Trumps private residence at Mar-a-Lago. While there is still very little we know about why and how the search was conducted, initial reporting suggests the agents were looking for classified documents that Trump allegedly took home as souvenirs from the White House without permission. According to The Washington Post, some of these documents were classified documents relating to nuclear weapons. Story continues Attorney General Merrick B. Garland made a very rare public statement on Thursday, in which he took the heat off the FBI agents who are being viciously smeared by Trump, right-wing commentators, and even elected GOP politicians. Saying that he wont stand by silently while the agents integrity is challenged, Garland made clear that he personally approved the raid at Mar-a-Lago after less intrusive methods of securing the documents failed. He also said that he will move to make public the search warrant that led to the raid to put to rest any suggestion of impropriety. At the risk of trying to put out this fire with gasoline, allow me to offer this reminder to my Republican friendsand I have more than my sharewho seem to be struggling with blatant hypocrisy, faulty memories, and situational ethics. Before a stampede of Republicans rush off to join the American Civil Liberties Unionan organization that, in 1981, was described as a criminals lobby by prominent Republican Ed Meese, then a senior advisor to President Ronald ReaganId like to remind them who they used to be. You back the blue and support law enforcement. You think cops have a really tough job and they should not be second-guessed. You think the innocent have nothing to worry about. You think anyone suspected of a crime is guilty of that crime. You dont believe in the right to privacy, either in or out of the womb. You think people should take responsibility for their actions and own up to bad decisions. You hate it when people play the victim. You dont put much stock in civil liberties or civil rights, as evidenced by a willingness of conservative Supreme Court justices to erode both. You support no-knock police raids, even when they result in the loss of life for innocent Americans. You respect law and order, above all else. You have no use for those who condone illegal activity or offer amnesty to lawbreakers. You believe in accountability, and wont tolerate excuses. Finally, you think no one is above the lawincluding former presidents who ought to be investigated to the hilt for alleged wrongdoing. Does this ring a bell, folks? Whats that? You want to plead the Fifth Amendment? Well, no thanks to the best efforts by conservative judges, there indeed still is in this country a right against self-incrimination. So have at it. Former President Trump availed himself of that constitutional privilege this week when he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 400 times to avoid answering questions during a deposition in Manhattan by the New York state attorney generals office. Officials are investigating Trump, his family and his company foramong other thingsallegedly overvaluing various real estate holdings to obtain loans with favorable terms then undervaluing those same assets to get tax breaks. Trump said in a statement that he chose to remain silent under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution. My Fatherly Advice to Kids Growing Up in a Divided Country And thats fine! Glad to hear it. The ex-president who hasalong with many other Republicansstood in staunch opposition to civil liberties and due process for his entire public life, has suddenly discovered the value of constitutional rights. But theres a truth that still eludes Trump and some of his supporters. Despite the rantings of politicians who want to be tough on crime, there is no binary choice between defending civil liberties and upholding the rule of law. Both of these things are essential elements of our criminal justice system. Under that system, all Americansincluding former presidentsmust adhere to the rule of law. Meanwhile, those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty and thus entitled to have their civil liberties protected. Lets hope that, when this spectacle is all over with, both parties remember that. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Lil Baby and 21 Savage paid it forward in their respective communities with a pair of back-to-school giveaways in partnership with Footlocker Atlanta. The events occurred on Sunday (Aug. 7) and saw the rap stars gifting thousands of local Atlanta children and families with various items and services as part of their respective charitable initiatives. 21 Savages Leading By Example Foundation teamed up with various sponsors including Amazon Music, Warner Chappell Music, PGA, Dicks Sporting Goods, Foot Locker Atlanta, Five Below, and Champions for his annual Issa Back 2 School Drive. More from VIBE.com Taking place in Decatur, Georgia, the drive saw attendees receiving free backpacks, sneakers, uniforms, school supplies, and various accessories, with free haircuts and hair braiding also available onsite. notebooks, and headphones. 21 Savage attends community giveaway at Foot Locker Atlanta on Sunday (Aug. 7). Each attendee also received a financial literacy guide created by 21 Savage himself, which resumes his ongoing Financial Literacy Campaign with educational non-profit organization Get Schooled. Launched in 2018, the campaign was followed by Bank Account at Home, which was created in light of the COVID-19 pandemic through a partnership with Chime in July 2020. In a separate giveaway at Atlantas West End Mall organized by Lil Baby, Foot Locker Atlanta, and the Goodr Foundation teamed up to gift over $300,000 in free clothing, sneakers and school supplies to the local, young students. The My Turn rapper also bought out the American Deli location at the mall to provide free meals for those in attendance, marking the latest instance of Atlanta looking out for its own. Lil Baby is currently on road for his One of Them Ones Tour alongside co-headliner Chris Brown. As for 21 Savage, he recently shared his thoughts about gun violence in Atlanta. Atlanta We Have To Do Better. Put The F Guns Down !!!!! he tweeted. Story continues Watch recap videos of both events below. DJ Khaled Lil Baby Drake Staying Related Story DJ Khaled, Drake, And Lil Baby Get Surgical In "Staying Alive" Music Video Click here to read the full article. Trees and fog in a forest in Rwanda Courtesy of Wilderness Safaris Gishwati Forest is part of Rwandas youngest national park. It is hard to imagine any greater thrill than seeing a primate in its native habitat, living by the rules of the animal kingdom. Even an environmentalist like Thierry Aimable Inzirayineza, who encounters wildlife for his work in Gishwati Forest every day, was beside himself when we spotted a L'Hoest's monkey, with its distinctive white neck ruff, sitting on a mound of earth on the forest floor. The sighting was a small victory for Inzirayineza's Forest of Hope Foundation, which runs the primate-habituation project in Gishwati the goal of which is to acclimate animals to human visitors. "He is not afraid," Inzirayineza said of the monkey, which would typically have hidden in the forest canopy when humans were nearby. "This is a sign that our efforts are working." The moment was made even more memorable by the fact that, with the exception of Inzirayineza and a tracker named Innocent Mutangana, my husband, Mark, and I had this jungle the fluting tropical boubou birds, the droopy red amaranthus blossoms, the crashing waterfalls entirely to ourselves. Gishwati is the newest park to join Rwanda's rapidly growing ecotourism circuit, and we were some of its first international visitors. The refuge is located along the Albertine Rift, a ridge that runs almost 1,000 miles from Zambia to Uganda and is one of Africa's most biodiverse regions. The forest once covered more than 250,000 acres; sadly, after decades of poaching and clear-cutting by farmers and cattle ranchers, it was further depleted following the 1994 genocide. In the aftermath of that tragedy, during which more than 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered, many who had fled to neighboring countries resettled in Gishwati, converting forest into farmland in the process. Twenty years ago, only 1,500 acres remained less than 1 percent of the forest's original footprint along with a handful of chimpanzees and L'Hoest's and golden monkeys. Story continues A golden Monkey in the Gishwati forest Courtesy of Wilderness Safaris Golden monkeys are one of several primate species in Gishwati. The tiny patch of surviving jungle drew the attention of Rwandan environmentalists who, with the support of international donors and grants, created Forest of Hope. In 2012, Inzirayineza, a conservation biologist fresh out of college, was hired to generate ideas, and funds, to help restore Gishwati. "I heard the history of this place, and I knew I had to do something to save it," he said. That work involved educating nearby communities about how they could benefit from conservation revenues if they would commit to fencing in their cattle herds and stop poaching animals for bushmeat. He led the push for the government to pledge resources to Gishwati and the nearby Mukura Forest. In 2019 the areas jointly opened as the country's fourth national park, Gishwati-Mukura. Around the same time, ecotourism pioneer Wilderness Safaris entered the picture. "We had one look and thought, we need to protect this forest," operations manager Ingrid Bass told me. The Rwandan government gave the company a 25-year lease to manage the tourism concession. Today, Gishwati Forest measures nearly 4,000 acres, and the hope is to grow it by another 2,500. The forest is still a fraction of its former size but, crucially, it is large enough for primate populations to happily roam and breed in. A decade ago, there were an estimated 10 chimpanzees in Gishwati; today there are 35. The golden monkey population is thriving, too: more than 172 now live there, according to the 2018 census, up from 100 in 2014. L'Hoest's monkeys are flourishing, as are 232 bird species, including 20 that are endemic to the Albertine Rift. On the four-hour drive to Gishwati from Kigali, the Rwandan capital, our SUV bumped through tidy concrete villages and fields of grazing sheep until we arrived at the two-room Forest of Hope guesthouse. Our quarters were basic but spotless, accented with kitenge-cloth bedspreads and Rwandan mats and baskets. As rain began to stir the forest, I sat on the terrace overlooking the blue-gray Mount Matyazo and sipped bitter Rwandan black tea as a purple-breasted sunbird whistled in the distance. Wilderness Safaris doesn't own or operate the guesthouse (it plans to construct a larger lodge in the park in the next few years), but it trains Forest of Hope in all areas of hospitality, from the design of the common area, with its mocha leather chairs, to the wonderful meals served on the sunlit patio. For lunch we ate roast chicken and potatoes, homemade bread, vinegary cucumbers, and a lemon posset tart. A guest room at the Forest of Hope guesthouse in Rwanda Courtesy of Wilderness Safaris A family-size room at the Forest of Hope guesthouse. Like many forests in Rwanda, Gishwati once consisted largely of eucalyptus trees, imported at the start of the 20th century by German and Belgian missionaries and colonial officials to prevent soil erosion and provide fast-growing timber. Though the trees make the air smell glorious, they bear no fruit for the primates to eat. Today, park workers are clear-cutting eucalyptus for firewood and building materials and replacing them with native myrianthus, ficus, and Dombeya trees, all of which provide food for indigenous wildlife. More than 10,000 have already been planted under Wilderness Safaris' stewardship, with the same number expected to be added over the course of 2022. In the morning, I set out to do my part in the primate-habituation process. Bass explained that the more humans with different hair and skin colors the animals encounter, the more relaxed they are around us and our wildlife-seeking cameras. "You are, actually, helping to develop this experience with your very presence," she said. Chimpanzees are traditionally more elusive (and fewer in number) than golden monkeys in this park, so we set out in search of the latter. After hiking an arduous hour on just-cut trails, Mutangana got word from the bush: the golden monkeys were in sight. Then we saw a large male, about the size of a big dog, fling himself from a giant carapa tree into a cluster of treetops. Another swiped a clutch of bamboo and swung across the forest canopy, his limbs long and powerful. We watched four males zigzag down a branch in single file as if the descent were choreographed, while two bronze-coated females hung side by side in a parasol tree. In all, we witnessed eight members of this group going about what was for them an ordinary day in the jungle. For us, the sight was truly extraordinary. We continued down toward a distant waterfall. As Inzirayineza led us along the trails he had helped carve out, he reflected on his vision for this unique place that, through his efforts, is returning to life. "Ten years ago, no one would have believed what we see today," he said. "I want a visitor to come and say, simply, 'I am here, alone, in this indigenous forest.'" My experience that morning was every bit as singular and profound as he had hoped. fharwanda.org; Forest of Hope guesthouse from $250 per person, including park permits. A version of this story first appeared in the August 2022 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "New Growth." With the Taliban searching their Kabul neighborhood, Tamim Bedars children cried as his wife urged him to board a U.S. evacuation flight alone. He was the target, she said. They would follow. Bedar, 42, in danger after years of work supporting U.S. goals in Afghanistan, reluctantly flew to the safety of a U.S. base in Qatar. Frantically working his contacts, he got his wife and four kids out a week later. But his 36-year-old brother, also at risk because of his security jobs with a U.S.-based organization and the Afghan government, failed to reach the airport before the evacuation ended and today is among thousands who supported U.S. goals but remain stuck in Afghanistan. Those who were lucky ... they made it, Bedar told USA TODAY at his home in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was resettled. Others, they were left behind. Tamim Bedar, who fled Afghanistan during the U.S. evacuation in 2021, sits with his children and a relative outside his home in Louisville, Kentucky. One year after the U.S. evacuated more than 76,000 Afghans to the United States at the end of its 20-year war, refugee advocates say tens of thousands of Afghan allies who would likely qualify for U.S. protection reaching into the hundreds of thousands when their family members are included are still struggling to reach safety. Despite recent U.S. efforts to speed relocations, their paths have been bogged down by bureaucratic backlogs, humanitarian parole denials and the logistical barriers of third-country visa processing in the absence of a U.S. Consulate in Afghanistan, advocates say. Bedar's brother, for example, lacks the means to travel to another country and to wait months or years for an uncertain U.S. admission decision. The stark reality is that we left a stunning number of Afghan allies behind, said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, who argued the U.S. is still struggling to keep its promise to those who served alongside us in America's longest war. Afghanistan, one year later: Story continues It's not clear exactly how many Afghans and their families remain at risk in Afghanistan or third countries after working for the U.S. government, media, and Western-backed aid groups or organizations supporting U.S. goals, such as democracy and womens rights. But there could be 200,000 to 300,000 people, including family members, who would qualify for special immigrant visas or a priority refugee resettlement program, said Shawn VanDiver, founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans, nonprofits, current and former national security and intelligence members, and congressional staffers. Many of those Afghans risked their lives during the war to work for the U.S. military as interpreters and in other roles. The Biden administration has sought to accelerate processing through various immigration channels, adding staff and easing several criteria that critics said were unnecessary barriers. Since late March, the U.S. has also supported travel for about 5,500 eligible Afghans on relocation flights from Kabul, according to the State Department. This week, lawmakers in Congress introduced the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would allow those evacuated to the U.S. a year ago under temporary humanitarian parole as the vast majority were a path to permanent status rather than having to apply for asylum in a backlogged system. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. remains committed to our Afghan allies. Refugees and other personnel from Afghanistan board an evacuation flight on Aug. 24, 2021, in Kabul. But refugee advocates say the efforts so far fall short of the need, with thousands still languishing in Afghanistan amid fear of the Taliban, joblessness and an economic crisis that has fueled widespread hunger. Since the Taliban`s takeover of Afghanistan, more than 100 former government employees, security guards and individuals who worked with U.S. or other foreign militaries have been killed by the militant group. Some U.S. veterans groups have scrambled to help their former Afghan friends and colleagues go into hiding. VanDiver and others said more needs to be done to accelerate the pace of U.S. relocations of at-risk Afghans and separated family members. While it's happening, he said, "it's not enough." 'A SELF-INFLICTED WOUND': US withdrawal still haunts Biden's presidency LATEST: Despite drone strike on al-Qaida leader, many fear Afghanistan remains haven for terror A difficult path to US Lailma Ibrahim Khil, a 34-year-old Afghan mother of eight, keeps a pair of childrens shoes in her apartment in San Diego that she got on a U.S. military base. Shes saving them for her 5-year-old daughter, Khalida, among four of her children stranded in Afghanistan with her husband. Whenever I see the shoes, it makes me all the time cry, she said by phone recently, translated by an Afghan community member. When the Taliban retook control last year, Ibrahim Khil feared retribution for working for BRAC, an aid group founded in Bangladesh with an arm in the United States. She and her husband took their children to Kabuls airport, ringed by panicked crowds, Taliban checkpoints and outbreaks of violence. Amid the chaos, her children were separated between her and her husband. She waited days before taking a flight, figuring her husband would follow. A year later, shes happy the four children with her are safe, can attend school and have other opportunities. But she worries about her other four children and doesn't know whether her attempts to bring her family to the U.S. will ever succeed. It's such a strain, she said, she sometimes wants to go back. Afghans can come to the U.S. through a series of programs, which include: The Special Immigrant Visa program for those who worked for the U.S. A priority refugee program for those with ties to U.S.-affiliated organizations, programs and media, multinational forces as well as others considered at risk from the Taliban. The regular refugee resettlement program. Through humanitarian parole, a temporary status that Khil and the majority of evacuated Afghans came through a year ago. But since the evacuation, a host of challenges have made those pathways difficult to access, said Spojmie Nasiri, an immigration attorney and board member of the Afghan-American Community Organization. Parole applicants have faced both long processing times and high denial rates. Of the 46,000 Afghans who have applied for parole since the evacuation, fewer than 5,000 of these cases were fully adjudicated by June, and only 297 were approved, according to the Migration Policy Institute. This year, the government expanded eligibility so that applicants could show they are part of a targeted group, rather than having to document an individualized threat. That could raise approvals, but the program still faces long backlogs, said Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. From last August through July, the U.S. has also issued visas to about 8,000 SIV applicants and their family members, according to the State Department, for a total of 15,000 since Biden took office. But more than 74,000 applicants are in some stage of the application process, a figure that doesn't include family members. While some are chosen for U.S.-supported relocation flights from Kabul, most SIV applicants need to reach a third country for processing and approvals that can take 18 months. Trying to flee Afghanistan now can be dangerous and difficult. Among the 44,000 referred to the priority refugee designation, about half have applications deemed complete, according to the State Department. But that's not the end of the process, which also takes up to 18 months after reaching a third country. As of last month, 971 Afghans had been admitted under the regular U.S. refugee resettlement program since last October. That program also requires long waits. Aside from a "golden ticket" on the relatively few U.S. relocation flights, those in Afghanistan must overcome the often prohibitively expensive obstacle of reaching a nearby country that will allow them in, and then endure long, anxiety-filled waits for interviews at swamped U.S. embassies, said Erol Kekic, senior vice president of Church World Service. "It becomes a difficult challenge," he said. "And a choice that is hard to make." US seeks to speed processing, aid parolees The Biden administration, which inherited a refugee program hobbled by the pandemic and slashed by former President Donald Trump, has taken steps meant to increase relocations of former Afghan allies. Along with changes impacting parole eligibility, the administration has bolstered staff and streamlined the SIV program and other processing. The Department of Homeland Security also announced several exemptions to avoid automatically barring admissions for certain Afghans under anti-terrorism rules, such as those who worked as civil servants under the Taliban before 2001. The State Department added consular staff in Qatar and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. And it set a goal of processing some refugee applications in as few as 30 days, though its not clear how often that goal is being met. A U.S. Marine grabs an infant over a fence of barbed wire during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021. While refugee advocates say those are positive steps, some said they haven't yet produced a big increase in arrivals. Processing times for SIV applicants fell by 20% between the first and second quarters of the fiscal year, federal figures show, but it still took more than a year and a half. "We need to resume the sense of urgency that we had a year ago," O'Mara Vignarajah said. VanDiver called for expanding relocation flights from Kabul, creating several new rapid-processing centers like the one in Qatar, and ramping up the number of family reunifications. Supporters of the Afghan Adjustment Act say that, along with creating a pathway to permanent status for Afghans already here, the measure would expand SIV eligibility to include omitted groups such as the Afghan Air Force and Special Operations Command. It also forms a task force to implement ways to support SIV-eligible Afghans outside of the United States. "There are allies and vulnerable Afghans who are desperately trying to leave their crumbling nation, and who live under great risk," said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a sponsor of the bill, in a statement. "The United States must ensure that we keep our promises to our Afghan allies, and provide certainty for those who fled to the United States and have no place to return." Chris Purdy, director of Veterans for American Ideals, part of the refugee advocacy group Human Rights First, said the need to accelerate efforts to bring Afghans who supported the U.S. mission to safety is underscored by the heart-wrenching emails he gets seeking help. We're talking about people who are starving, or being persecuted, who are suffering from economic collapse and not working, he said. For those who were left behind, its hell. And we have an obligation to do what we can to resolve it. Separated families face strains In Thessaloniki, Greece, a 39-year-old former Afghan NGO worker named Shokria, who did not want to use her last name for fear of retribution, said she spends her days waiting in painful limbo. When the Taliban regained control in Herat, she faced threats because she worked for the Afghan Womens Writing Project and its connection to womens rights and domestic violence awareness. Unable to reach Kabul before the last U.S. evacuation flight left, she got a seat on a charter flight to Greece in November funded by Amed Khan, an American refugee activist and philanthropist. Shokria and her husband are now living at a center that provides housing and other services. Greece allowed Afghans to stay temporarily while waiting to be resettled in other countries. Many of the 130 Afghans there, including Shokria, are waiting for answers to U.S. immigration applications, said Jumana Abo Oxa, who helps manage the center and assist with visa applications. "Nothing moves fast," Jumana Abo Oxa said. "Nothing. Every time we have people for the U.S., I say, minimum of two years, you will be staying here. No one believes it. You don't want to think you are losing two years of your life." Shokria wants to come to U.S. because she has three sisters here and sees opportunities after working with Americans. But the long wait leaves her with gnawing uncertainty. Sometimes, we start feeling depressed," she said. Back in Louisville, Bedar was worrying about his brother on a recent day as he sat in the backyard of a modest home with his kids Mustafa, 9; Zahra, 7; Ozair, 5; and Zenat, 1. Tamim Bedar, who fled Afghanistan during the U.S. evacuation in 2021, holds his child outside his home in Louisville, Kentucky. Bedar spent years working for aid and development organizations, including the U.S.-based Asia Foundation and the Danish Agency for International Development Assistance. Under various roles, he helped advise top Afghan government officials and worked on issues from reintegrating militia fighters to reconstruction. It allowed him to build a nice home in Afghanistan for his family, he said. But one he had to leave that and everything else behind. He's grateful to the U.S. military for evacuating him, he said, and the chance to reconstruct his own life despite the challenges of a new country. As a priority refugee, he was able to bring his family from Denmark. And he now works at a local refugee resettlement agency, where he helps Afghans and others. But the prospects for this brother making it here seem distant, he said. Bedar sends him $200 a month to help him and his family to survive. In Kabul, he rarely leaves his house for fear of being detected. Each time he doesn't respond to the cellphone, we are worried, Bedar said. His brother is waiting for a passport and a marriage certificate. Even then, he lacks the money to travel with his family to another country and start the long process of seeking admittance. Bedar said his brother often asks him to help but there's little he can do. If you're in Afghanistan, you have no passport, and there is no U.S. Embassy. ... I mean, it's really really tough, he said. I always advise him that he should not lose hope. One way or another, we will find a way. Tamim Bedar, who fled Afghanistan during the U.S. evacuation in 2021, talks with his children at his new home in Louisville, Kentucky. Chris Kenning is a national news writer. Reach him at ckenning@usatoday.com and on Twitter @chris_kenning. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Afghan allies left behind after US withdrawal find hard path to safety Jay Ellis in "Top Gun: Maverick." Paramount Ellis told Insider the cast lived up to their call signs the first night they went out together. The actor recalled what happened when he went out with Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, and Monica Barbaro. "We all earned our call signs that night," he said. It didn't take long for the cast of "Top Gun: Maverick" to realize they were similar to the fighter pilots they would portray in the hit movie. In fact, Jay Ellis, who plays pilot Ruben "Payback" Fitch in the movie, said it was the first night out with cast members that they all lived up to the pilot call signs they were assigned. Ellis told Insider when he was given the script he wasn't fully sold on the call sign Payback. Director Joseph Kosinski told him, and the rest of the cast, that if they could come up with better ones, he was happy to explore a change. "When we all heard that, we all felt this is my way to make my mark on the movie," Ellis said. While brainstorming, Ellis and fellow costars Monica Barbaro, whose call sign was "Phoenix," Lewis Pullman, whose was "B.O.B.," and Glen Powell, who was given "Hangman," all went to the actual Top Gun site in Nevada to meet the real pilots. Lewis Pullman in "Top Gun: Maverick." Paramount "We go out with all the officers," Ellis recalled. "Lewis doesn't speak to us the entire night. He was a total B.O.B. We were like, 'Is he being method?' He told us later he was just really nervous." "Monica was going to prove she could hang with everyone that night and then literally rose from the ashes like a phoenix the next day," he continued. "And there was a moment in the night when I got Lewis' phone, I told him my phone had died, and he gave it to me," he said. "Now, in the Navy, if you set your phone on a bar you have to buy drinks for the entire bar." Monica Barbaro in "Top Gun: Maverick." Paramount There is a scene in "Top Gun: Maverick" that mirrors this tradition. In the movie, Tom Cruise's character has his phone on the bar of Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) and must buy a round for all the patrons. "I put Lewis' phone on the bar, and the bartender rings the bell," Ellis said. "There are like 100 people in there that got a free beer. So ultimately I had to pay him back the tab he paid for." Story continues Glen Powell in "Top Gun: Maverick." Paramount "And Glen, as the Hangman, in the middle of the night, just disappeared," Ellis added with a laugh. "He just went back to his hotel room. Didn't tell anyone." Clearly, from that moment on, the cast realized they didn't have to think up new call signs. "That was our first night together and we all earned our call signs that night," Ellis said. "Top Gun: Maverick" is currently playing in theaters. Read the original article on Insider Valerie Trull holds her dog Mercer after adopting him during the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelters Big Dogs, Big Hearts adoption event in honor of Alabamian-Ukrainian POWS Andy Huynh and Alex Drueke outside of Forest Lake United Methodist Church. Saturday August 13, 2022. [Photo/Will McLelland] The mother of a Tuscaloosa man being held captive in Ukraine said her son is holding up well under the circumstances. Lois Bunny Drueke said she last talked to her son, Alex Drueke, on the morning of Aug. 11. Alex just sounded stronger and more like himself than ever before, she said. On Saturday, "Big Dogs, Big Hearts," a pet adoption event organized by the Drueke family and friends, was held at Forest Lake United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa. The event was designed to bring attention to the plight of Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh, two Alabamians, who were fighting with the Ukraine Army in June when they were taken captive in the Donetsk region. A portrait of Tuscaloosa native Alex Drueke and his dog Diesel rests on a table outside of Forest Lake United Methodist Church during the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelters Big Dogs, Big Hearts adoption event in honor of Alabamian-Ukrainian POWS Andy Huynh and Alex Drueke outside of Forest Lake United Methodist Church. Both Drueke and Huynh are big dog lovers. Saturday August 13, 2022. [Photo/Will McLelland] Alex Drueke and Hartselle resident Hunyh are being held as prisoners of war by Russian-controlled forces in an unspecified location, according to the U.S. Department of State. Organizers of "Big Dogs, Big Hearts," said Alex Drueke and Hunyh both love big dogs and both of them have big hearts for the Ukrainian people's struggle to preserve their democracy. The event, sponsored in a partnership with Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter, allowed people to adopt dogs weighing 50 pounds or more with the shelter's adoption fee waived. The family of Alex Drueke and friends covered the costs and provided gift bags to go with each dog adopted. Included in the gift bags were Ukraine-themed dog bandanas provided by Sassy Bliss Boutique, coupons for veterinary services at Alberta Veterinary Clinic, gift cards to Pet Supplies Plus, dog waste baggies and dog treats. Pet Supplies Plus of Tuscaloosa also donated food for each adopted dog. Allison and Rick Geddie pet a dog named Jason, who they later adopted from the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter during the Big Dogs, Big Hearts adoption event for in honor of Alabamian-Ukrainian POWS Andy Huynh and Alex Drueke outside of Forest Lake United Methodist Church. Saturday August 13, 2022. [Photo/Will McLelland] Alex Drueke previously adopted his dog, Diesel, a 100-pound part-mastiff, from Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter. Bunny Drueke said Alex Drueke asks about Diesel every time he is allowed by his captors to phone home. Diplomats from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Ukraine have been working together to try to find out their exact location. Story continues Several things he said seem to indicate they are still in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Bunny Drueke said. When he was able to call two weeks ago, he said they had been moved to an actual prison, so we werent sure if they had maybe been relocated to Russia. But now, I dont think they have. Alex mentioned the nearby bombing of a water filtration plant that left a lot of Donetsk without running water, so they have been given bottled water the past couple of days, Bunny Drueke said. He said when he and others are being allowed time outside, they can hear bombing in the distance, but it has never been really close, she said. "And he asked if the news in America was showing that people are dying here in Donetsk and Donbas. Putting all this together, it sounds to me like they are still in Ukraine. A portrait of Hartselle, Alabama native Andy Huynh surrounded by handwritten well-wishes of family, friends and locals rests under a tent outside of Forest Lake United Methodist Church during the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelters Big Dogs, Big Hearts adoption event. The event is raising awareness for Andy Huynh and Alex Drueke, the two Alabama residents being held in Russian captivity after volunteering to fight along side the Ukrainians in their war against Russia.Saturday August 13, 2022. [Photo/Will McLelland] Alex Druekes aunt, Dianna Shaw said Alex and Hunyh are together in the same cell with a third American. Alex didnt give his name, but said he was born in Rwanda and has American citizenship, and that he is also doing fine, Shaw said. Alex said they keep each others spirits up by playing mind games and that they had improvised a chess board out of trash," she said. The families of Drueke and Huynh are being briefed frequently by government officials and supported by non-governmental organizations that serve families of hostages and detainees. This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa man being held in Ukraine sounds 'stronger,' mother says Britney Spears attends the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. Kevin Mazur/WireImage Jason Alexander, 40, was convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery Thursday. Alexander showed up uninvited to Spears' Thousand Oaks home before her wedding ceremony to Sam Asghari. He was sentenced to 64 days in jail, which he has already served. Britney Spears' ex-husband Jason Alexander was convicted Thursday in a California court of aggravated trespassing and battery two months after storming the pop star's wedding to Sam Asghari, according to The Associated Press. Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to the two misdemeanor counts and was sentenced to 64 days that he has already served, the outlet reports. Prosecutors dropped charges of felony stalking and misdemeanor vandalism, according to the AP. Lawyers for Spears and Alexander did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Spears and Alexander were once childhood friends and were married for less than three days in 2004. After 55 hours, the marriage was annulled. On June 9, during Spears and Asghari 's ceremony, Alexander showed up uninvited to her home in Thousand Oaks, California, where the wedding took place. Spears and Asghari have been together since 2016 after meeting on the set of her music video for "Slumber Party." Britney Spears and Sam Asghari at the 2019 premiere of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Steve Granitz/WireImage Alexander livestreamed the whole ordeal on Instagram, and at one point can be heard saying, "Britney Spears invited me here. She's my first wife, my only wife I'm here to crash the wedding." According to the AP, testimony at the preliminary hearing stated that Alexander made his way inside the house and up to Spears' bedroom where she was getting ready for the ceremony. The AP notes prosecutors included that Alexander damaged property, refused to leave when asked, and battered a security guard who tried to remove him. A judge issued a protective order that forbids him from coming within 100 yards of Spears or the security guard, the AP reported. Spears and Asghari had already secured a restraining order against Alexander following the events that took place before their wedding ceremony, according to Insider's Taiyler Simone Mitchell and Azmi Haroun. Read the original article on Insider A child displaced by drought holds her nose as she walks A child displaced by drought holds her nose as she walks past the rotting carcasses of goats that died from hunger and thirst on the outskirts of Dollow, Somalia, April 14 2022. Credit - Sally HaydenSOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images More than 1 million people have been displaced by drought in Somalia, according to staggering figures released yesterday by the UN Refugee Agency and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The majority of themsome 775,000were displaced this year as the country of 16 million grapples with a drought that began in January 2021. Its Somalias worst one in decades, forcing people from rural areas to flee to cities in search of food and water. For a country already struggling with a three-decade old civil war and political instability, the environmental catastrophe has had devastating consequences. Crops are failing while millions of livestock die, as the drought cripples the main source of income for 80% of the population, leaving 5 million people at risk of starvation. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said in June that thousands of Somalis have died. But as famine looms amid warnings of a fifth failed rainy season in the coming months, the world is mostly looking the other way. Experts tell TIME that, rather than view the drought as a domestic issue, the international community should see it as a harbinger of more to comethat the climate emergency will continue to have disproportionate effects on the Global South and jeopardize global security. Now we have a weather pattern [in Somalia] that is increasingly erratic, with less rain in the last decade, and flooding when there is rain, says Mohamed Abdi, NRCs Somalia country director. And climate change means the situation is only going to get worse. The war in Ukraine is only exacerbating the crisis. In 2020, Somalia imported $17.7 million of grain, with 90% coming from Russia and Ukraine. The disruption to grain supplies caused by the war has sent food prices soaring, making it more expensive to substitute the food once provided by livestock with wheat. The number of people facing crisis hunger levels is expected to rise to more than 7 million by September, according to Relief Web International. Story continues According to Claire McConnell, climate diplomacy policy adviser at London-based think tank E3G, the war in Ukraine is shining a light on a food security crisis that has been years in the making. Many countries in the Global South were already really struggling with prices for certain commodities in part due to supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but mostly due to the climate impacts in crop-producing countries, she says. The drought in Somalia demonstrates how the climate crisis acts like a threat multiplier, McConnell says, with knock-on effects on human life, livelihoods, agriculture, industry and even national security. Meanwhile, militants are exploiting the drought to strengthen their grip on the east African nation. The al-Qaeda-allied al-Shabab controls large swaths of the countryside in central and southern Somalia, making almost 900,000 Somalis in need of aid unreachable to international organizations. Militants have reportedly been demanding payment from aid organizations to distribute food and are taking credit for the supplies in order to shore up rural support. This is also complicating Washingtons mission in Somalia. U.S. President Joe Biden in May ordered the return of nearly 500 troops to support the fight against al-Shabab, after the election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as Somalias President ended a political vacuum of more than a year. Read More: Why Biden Is Redeploying Troops to Somalia E3Gs McConnell draws a comparison to the 2011 Arab uprisings, where rising food prices caused by political instability and extreme weather triggered a wave of social unrest. And the crisis will only get worse as long as the international community looks the other way, says Abdi. Even though as humanitarian organizations we have been talking about it for months now, the resources have been very slow to come, he adds. Washington pledged an additional $476 million in aid to Somalia in July, but U.N. says it needs $1.5 billion to protect people from hunger and poverty. Experts say that long-term investment in the Global South is just as important as short-term help, as climate change accelerates the frequency and intensity of such environmental crises. Somalia needs funding to support communities in building resilience, Abdi adds, to grow crops that are resilient to the extreme weather patterns, and build water infrastructures in case of rain season failure. The 27th U.N. Climate Change Conference due to be hosted in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in November will put the commitments made by rich nations at last years COP26 conference to the test, McConnell says. A lot of local communities [in the Global South] already have some of the skills and the knowledge to help adapt to some of these climate impacts, but are often lacking the finance or the support to scale that. But the millions of people in Somalia facing starvation cant afford to wait until then. If we dont do anything in the coming weeks and months, Im afraid we will see more deaths, Abdi says. Somalia has become the forgotten crisis, and the world needs to pay attention. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States of trying to encourage extended hostilities in Ukraine as part of what he described Tuesday as Washington's alleged efforts to maintain its global hegemony. The far right is calling for civil war after the FBI raid on Trump's home. Experts say that fight wouldn't look like the last one. Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather near his residence at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on August 9, 2022. Giorgio Viera/Getty Images Some on the far right have been calling for civil war since an FBI raid on Trump's Florida home. Some experts say the warning signs for civil war have been emerging in the US in recent years. But they also say that such a conflict would look very different from the Civil War of the 1860s. In the wake of an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home, some far-right figures have been spreading violent rhetoric online including calls for war. The Republican party has long portrayed itself as the defender of "law and order," but the aftermath of the raid has seen GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene call for defunding the FBI. Greene has also made references to "civil war" on social media as her Republican colleagues compare the FBI to the Gestapo and depict the raid as the sort of thing that only occurs in "third world" countries. A spokesperson for the Georgia Republican maintains that one of Greene's tweets mentioning civil war was in reference to infighting or a "war of ideas" in the GOP. In another tweet, Greene referred to the FBI raid as the type of thing that happens "in countries during civil war." Meanwhile, pro-Trump internet channels have seen a spike in talk of civil war since the raid. The FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home came at a historically divisive time for the US, one in which millions of voters continue to believe the false notion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. Such erroneous claims were at the heart of what catalyzed the deadly January 6 riot at the US Capitol last year, and historians and experts on democracy warn that these lies continue to foster the potential for further violence. They also say that if the US did see civil war, it wouldn't look like the first one. Fiona Hill, who served as the leading Russia expert on the National Security Council during the Trump administration, said in a conversation with Insider last month that the distrust in the electoral process and government institutions fomented by Trump and his GOP allies has created a "recipe for communal violence." Hill warned the US could ultimately "end up in a civil conflict." Story continues The country is at a point in which "trust in the different communities and authorities" has eroded "to such an extent that people just start fighting with each other," Hill said. But she also underscored that a civil conflict in the present day would be unlikely to look like the American Civil War, an extraordinarily bloody fight between the Union and Confederacy that left an estimated 618,000 to 750,000 Americans dead. "I don't think we'd end up in the kind of conflict that we had between the states the Union and the Confederacy back in the day," Hill said. "But people's sense of the civil and civic ways of resolving disputes are out the window." Less than a week after the raid on Trump's home, an armed man attempted to break into the FBI field office in Cincinnati. Authorities have not announced a motive but are reportedly investigating whether the man who was ultimately killed by police had ties to far right extremism. The suspected gunman, Ricky Shiffer, appears to have posted calls for war and violence against the FBI on Trump's social media network Truth Social. "If you don't hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I.," one post read. The account with Shiffer's name repeatedly parroted Trump's election lies, per CNN, and multiple reports also suggest that the suspect may have been at the Capitol on January 6. 'All of the warning signs for civil war have emerged' Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Jon Cherry/Getty Images Barbara F. Walter, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego who specializes in political violence, warned in an April op-ed for the New Republic that over the past six years "all of the warning signs for civil war have emerged in the United States, and they have emerged at a surprisingly fast rate." Walter, who has done extensive research on civil wars, expanded on this in an interview with The Washington Post last month. Like other scholars looking at these issues, Walter said the US isn't heading toward a conflict akin to the fight between the North and South. "When people think about civil war, they think about the first civil war. And in their mind, that's what a second one would look like. And, of course, that's not the case at all," Walter told the Post. "What we're heading toward is an insurgency, which is a form of a civil war. That is the 21st-century version of a civil war, especially in countries with powerful governments and powerful militaries, which is what the United States is." Walter went on to say that an insurgency is "more decentralized" and tends to be a fight between multiple groups. "They use unconventional tactics. They target infrastructure. They target civilians. They use domestic terror and guerrilla warfare. Hit-and-run raids and bombs," she said. Right-wing extremists have been known to look to "The Turner Diaries," a novel that's been referred to as the bible of the far right, for a blueprint on how to take down a powerful government like the US, Walter said. The book, which is revered by white nationalist groups, tells the fictional tale of a civil war against the US government. "One of the things it says is, Do not engage the U.S. military. You know, avoid it at all costs. Go directly to targets around the country that are difficult to defend and disperse yourselves so it's hard for the government to identify you and infiltrate you and eliminate you entirely," Walter told the Post. Research shows that terrorists like the Oklahoma City bomber have been inspired by "The Turner Diaries." During a recent meeting at the White House, a group of historians warned President Joe Biden that the US is facing threats not unlike those the country saw in the pre-Civil War period, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Historian Michael Beschloss, who has made the case that US democracy is in existential danger, was reportedly among the academics who spoke to Biden. Though he's sounding the alarm about the threats America's democracy is facing at present, Beschloss also says that a civil conflict in the US would be unlikely to resemble the devastating war of the 1860s. Beschloss said in a social media post on Thursday that "if any kind of civil war faces Americans (may God forbid), it is unlikely to be two armies fighting over one paramount issue (slavery), as in 1861-1865, but sporadic, mounting bursts of violence against our federal government as it tries to enforce rule of law." 'There is a real threat of civil conflict' A member of the Proud Boys wearing a t-shirt that reads "death to liberals" stands with other Proud Boys in Freedom Plaza during a protest on December 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images Nina Silber, a Boston University historian and expert on the US Civil War, told Insider that discussions of civil war have been a right wing talking point "for some time now" and "it reflects a kind of extremist mentality that goes along with the idea of 'taking back the country from radical, left wing Democrats.'" Silber said that "the more this chatter gets normalized, the more it also makes violent behavior seem normal or even inevitable." "There is a real threat of civil conflict," she said, "Not just because of the talk of violence but also because of the increasing numbers of people who are armed and ready to use weapons to advance certain political goals." But Silber explained that such a conflict "would not be a repeat of what happened in the US in the 1860s given the stark geographic split the country faced in 1861 between states where slavery was legal and states where it was not." There are "some geographic divisions" in the US at present but it's not a North versus South divide like it was in the 1860s, Silber said, adding that there are instead "plenty of divisions" within various states such as urban versus rural particularly in the "purple" states. She said that this could "manifest itself as pockets of violence in parts of the country." Update: This article was updated to include additional expert commentary received after publication. Read the original article on Business Insider State regulators have decided to hold the public hearing on Summit Carbon Solutions' proposed $4.5 billion carbon capture pipeline at the Webster County Fairgrounds in northwest Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Board, however, has not said when the hearing will be held. Regulators said in an order released this week that state code requires the hearing to be held in the seat of the county located at the midpoint of the proposed pipeline in this case, Fort Dodge. The fairgrounds, located on the outskirts of the city, says on its website that it has two auditoriums in its events center with combined capacity of 1,000 people. The three-member utilities board said it considered school and college venues in Fort Dodge but it was concerned the hearing could be disruptive to students and classes, given uncertainty about how long it will last. Hundreds of concerned landowners from across Iowa gathered March 29, 2022, in the rotunda at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines to voice their concerns about the use of eminent domain to acquire land for proposed carbon pipelines. MORE: What we know about three carbon capture pipelines proposed in Iowa The board also decided that the government buildings in the city would not be large enough for the number of people expected to attend, and that other community event venues lacked adequate size or availability. Wait for eminent domain list holds up setting of hearing date Summit intends to capture carbon dioxide from ethanol, fertilizer and other industrial agricultural plants in Iowa and four other states, liquefy it under pressure and then transport it through the pipeline to North Dakota, where it would be sequestered more than a mile underground. Hundreds of concerned land owners from across Iowa gathered in the rotunda at the Iowa Capitol Building in Des Moines to voice their concerns about the use of eminent domain takings for the proposed carbon pipeline. Two other companies have proposed similar pipeline projects. Summit is the first to submit a petition for permission to build one. The Ames company earlier in August said it would begin notifying state regulators where it may seek to use eminent domain powers to force landowners to sell access to their property for the project. At the time, it said it had only reached agreements for about 40% of the needed land. Story continues More: 'The risk is not worth it': Iowans ask regulators to reject proposed carbon capture pipelines The plan to use eminent domain has been extremely controversial, and the Iowa Utilities Board said it will not consider establishing a hearing date until Summit finishes submitting the proposed eminent domain property list. Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Regulators plan Summit pipeline hearing at Webster County Fairgrounds Matthew Stockman Tension between local Hawaiians and the rich interlopers who have descended on their islands seems to grow fiercer by the day. The latest skirmish: A self-described disabled Native Hawaiian veteran said residents were improperly blocked from accessing Hulopoe Beach Park via car last month, in an area on Lanai controlled by software billionaire Larry Ellison. I just felt like it was just a slap in the face, the man, Russel deJetley, told local outlet Honolulu Civil Beat. Lanai Resorts, an entity ultimately owned by Ellison, operates a gate at the park entrance, but it must remain open at all times except during emergencies. The area flooded last month, and the gate was closed to vehicular access, potentially obstructing people in wheelchairs as well, deJetley said. According to the veteran, the company kept the entrance closed far longer than necessary, despite his attempt to contact the firm directly. (The Daily Beast was unable to reach deJetley by publication time.) On August 1, Maui County zoning inspector Gail Davis sent a letter to Lanai Resorts notifying the business of a possible violation, per the Civil Beat. There is no evidence of a permit or an amendment that would allow the closing of the beach park in non-emergency situations, the letter read. Davis also noted that heavy machines on-site had not gone through the necessary assessment. The notice stated that a violation could incur a $100,000 penalty, plus $10,000 for each subsequent day of infraction. The gate has since been opened, deJetley told Civil Beat, though there is lingering skepticism about whether fining Ellisons business would have meaningfully altered its behavior had the company decided to hold firm. Oracle Employee Speaks Out Against Her Boss Raising Money for Trump For a billionaire like Ellison, what is a fine like that? How is it going to really hurt? Ann Marie Kirk, a filmmaker who has campaigned for shoreline rights in Hawaii for more than 25 years, told The Daily Beast. Story continues In a statement, a spokesperson for Pulama Lanai, which is tied to Ellison, said the park was closed to vehicles for ten days starting on July 17 as we prioritized the communitys health and safety following flooding caused by a historic south swell. During this time, the parking lot, bathrooms and picnic areas were repaired and cleaned, and pedestrians could still access the shoreline by foot. Asked whether closing the gate for repairs nonetheless comprised a violation of the permit, the spokesperson emphasized that it was a health and safety issue. A Lanai Resorts executive listed on Davis letter did not respond to an inquiry sent via LinkedIn. Public access rights have stirred controversy in Hawaii for years and years, said Jeffrey Dack, senior planner with the Maui County Department of Planning. Dack told The Daily Beast there had long been allegations of folks closing off access blocking gates, putting barriers in front of them, taking down public access signs. The discord between locals and wealthy landowners has only intensified during the pandemic, some activists say, as residents have increasingly sought to spend time outdoors. In February, for instance, a throng of beach-goers assembled near the property of a crypto investor who complained about noise at a popular cliff-diving location. The tycoon believed some bad actors were creating a nuisance; they accused him of weaponizing environmentalism against indigenous gathering rights. Ellison has also been the subject of scrutiny before. Earlier this summer, he graced the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek, featuring the cover line The Lord of Lanai. The article highlighted local grievances to the billionaires near total ownership of the island; some people with long-standing ties to the area have reportedly been forced to leave due to rising costs and dwindling housing inventory. The outlet noted that many Lanai residents both rent from [Ellison] and work for him. If they are fired from their jobs, the article alleged, they can also be kicked out of their homes. Before, people would move here, and they would embrace Hawaiian culture. Now, this culture of privatization of the beach and the ocean is coming, said Kirk, referring to the broader upswell of discontent. That wave of money is something thats washing over us. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Fans of the Mexican spirit mezcal expect certain flavors when they sipvegetal, cooked agave, some spice and, of course, a bit of smokiness. But how about some turkey and fruit in the mix as well? Montelobos Mezcal has been around for more than a decade, and was founded by Ivan Saldana, who also serves as master distiller, and fifth-generation mezcalero Don Abel Lopez Mateos. The brand launched its Pechuga expression earlier this summer, and its definitely one worth giving a try. Pechuga (breast in Spanish) refers to the fact that the mezcal has been flavored with turkey breast, fruit and spices. This might sound like some modern gimmick, but its a very old tradition that mezcaleros have been using for a long time to create a unique take on the spirit. There are currently some other pechuga mezcals available to try from Del Maguey, Bozal and Don Mateo. More from Robb Report And now this popular mezcal brand has its own version available in the US. This expression is made at Palenque Montelobos in Oaxaca from organically farmed espadin agave which is cooked in an underground and stone pit oven, and a traditional tahona stone is used for the milling process. The final step is a third distillation with a kosher turkey breast (usually this is suspended above so the vapor can pass through and pick up flavor) along with 40 seasonal fruits and regional spices. Dont expect this to taste like Thanksgiving dinner, thoughtasting notes include tropical fruit, almond and maple honey. Its recommended to sip neat or try making some cocktails with this particular expression. The other new mezcal from Montelobos is the Ensamble expression, which indicates that more than one type of agave was used to make the spirit. In this case, theres a base of espadin which is complemented by tobala and cupreata varieties, a combination that is supposed to bring different flavors to the palate. It was made at Palenque del Tentzo in Puebla, with a shredder used for milling and wild fermentation occurring in open pine vats. Tasting notes include pink peppercorn, chamomile and candied apple, and this is also versatile enough to be used in a cocktail or enjoyed on its own. Story continues While mezcal is still much smaller than its subcategory, tequila, it continues to grow in popularity in the States. And with more releases like these coming our way, that trend is likely to continue. Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. A wild turkey led police on a merry dance in Wisconsin last week, breaking into an apartment and repeatedly evading capture when officers turned up to rescue and release the bird. "It really underscores the unpredictable nature of the job, that our officers are asked to do at any given time," says Wausau Police Department Patrol Captain Todd Baeten. Here's what happened. 1 Breaking and Entering The turkey broke into a second-floor apartment in Wausau, Wisconsin, raising the suspicions of neighbor Doris Madden who saw the broken window and alerted the apartment manager. The manager investigated and discovered the potential burglar was, in fact, a turkey. "We had no idea what had caused it, or if anybody was even home," Madden told WSAW-TV. "I think it's kind of funny. I'm just glad it wasn't my apartment." According to Madden, the apartment manager called maintenance, who refused point blank to interfere with the bold bird. "When he opened the door, there's the turkey. And so he thought, 'I'm not going to try to catch that thing.' So he called the police station for animal control," Madden said. 2 The Cops Step Up With no animal control officer available, the brave men of Wausau's police department stepped up to challenge the marauding turkey. "We have one humane officer, so a lot of times the first response in any call including animal calls are our patrol officers," explained Captain Baeten. "They just have to try to do the best they can with the information that they have and the equipment available to them." 3 A Wild Turkey Chase What happened next is worthy of the best slapstick comedythe police, armed with protective gloves and a fishing net, tried to (gently) apprehend the turkey, only to be repeatedly thwarted in their attempts. Each time the officers got close to the turkey, it would either run or fly away. "We needed two of these, Brady," one officer told another as the turkey bolted for the kitchen. The turkey was eventually safely captured and released back into the wild, hopefully having learned its lesson about breaking the law. Story continues 4 Turkey Home Invasions are Common This turkey home invasion is by no means uniquethere have been a spate of recent turkey break-ins across the US. A New York woman had a wild turkey smash through an upstairs window in her house in 2021, wreaking havoc through the property until it was caught and released. A Loudoun County, Virginia family thought they heard an intruder breaking into their house in 2020 only to discover a wild turkey had broken a window and come into their home, barricading itself in the bathroom. "We're happy to report that while the turkey did take out the entire window in the family's home, he was unhurt and quickly fled the scene to roost in a nearby tree," Loudoun Animal Services joked in a Facebook post. "When asked for comment on why he had committed this crime, he responded 'gobble, gobble.' Officers remain unsure of the turkey's true motives, but have suspicions that he may have been planning on stealing the family's toilet paper." RELATED: Man "Swallowed by Hippo That Ripped Off My Arm" Tells What it Was Like Inside 5 Consider Turkey Insurance These incidents are so common that insurance companies warn people to be prepared for turkey trouble. "When wild turkeys tear their way into your home, they're not going to do it by peacefully entering through the front door," says Trusted Choice insurance. "Most likely they'll bust through a window, resulting in shattered glass and perhaps other damage. They might also shred a screen door. Luckily homeowners insurance provides coverage for damage to your home's structure." Jennifer Palmieri speaks at the Newseum in Washington on April 12, 2017. Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo The FBI seized "info re: President of France" during the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Jennifer Palmieri, formerly an aide to Hillary Clinton, referred to it as "kompromat" in a tweet. Palmieri also implied in the tweet that the information could be useful to Vladimir Putin. A former Hillary Clinton aide heavily implied that former President Donald Trump had dirt on the French president and that it could be useful to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Fox News reported. Jennifer Palmieri, who was the director of communications for Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, did not mention Trump or Putin by name. But a tweet, shared on Friday night, suggested that information on French President Emmanuel Macron, which was found during the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, could be maliciously used by a world leader. "Racking my brain here," Palmieri tweeted. "Which world leader would find Kompromat on Macron valuable?" The hypothetical question appears to be referring to Putin. Palmieri did not immediately respond to Insider's request for clarification. During the raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida home, the FBI found four sets of top-secret documents and seven sets of classified information, per a list of items seized and unsealed by a federal magistrate on Friday. Among the items seized was "info re: President of France." It is not immediately clear why Trump had this file at Mar-a-Lago or what was included in the file. Palmieri, in her tweet, appears to suggest that the information is "kompromat" embarrassing or damaging information that can be used to blackmail or discredit public figures. There is not currently enough information on the seized file to prove or disprove this. ABC News has noted, however, that Russia has a long history of employing "kompromat." And Macron, who initially tried to engage in diplomacy with Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine, is reportedly now in Putin's bad books, per RFI. A Kremlin spokesperson told the news agency that France is now considered an "unfriendly" country and Macron and Putin have not spoken via telephone for two months. Story continues Palmieri, in 2017, has previously accused Trump allies of "collusion" with Russia and described the former president as having a "pro-Putin bent." Special counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 Russia probe report, submitted after Palmieri's claims, did not find sufficient evidence to charge anyone from the Trump campaign with illegally conspiring or coordinating with the Russian government. Palmieri served as White House Director of Communications from 2013 to 2015. Read the original article on Business Insider Former President Donald Trump had to be determined to grab top secret files to hide them away in his Florida home, said a Washington Post columnist and associate editor who has covered the White House for decades. Presidents dont accidentally end up with such sensitive files among boxes and boxes of documents hauled out of the White House at the end of their term, Eugene Robinson told MSNBCs Ari Melber on Friday. (Theyre not supposed to take any documents, which belong to the National Archives.) The fact that agents carried out 11 sets of classified documents after their search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago home Monday, according to the warrant and property receipt used by the FBI to conduct the search, is unprecedented, unthought of, Robinson said. Every president Ive ever known or watched or observed or reported on, every administration has been very extremely, meticulously careful with top secret information, with classified information, Robinson added. When you get to top secret, you get to top secret/SCI, that most sensitive information, that stuff doesnt lie around in the White House. It doesnt lie around in the Oval Office. It doesnt lie around anywhere, much less in the basement of Mar-a-Lago. It just doesnt, he said, using the acronym for sensitive compartmented information. Its handled very carefully, he explained. Its looked at and examined and talked about, and then its tucked away into secure carriers and taken back to whatever vault its kept in. Some of the seized classified information was top secret, which is supposed to remain only in a secure government facility. Sources told The Washington Post in a report Thursday that some of the classified documents were believed to be related to nuclear weapons, which reportedly was a key reason for the urgent search. The warrant indicated that Trump is under investigation for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and removing and destroying official documents. No specifics were provided in the documents. Story continues The Espionage Act prohibits anyone from obtaining defense information with the possible intent of using it against the U.S. or to further the interests of a foreign country. Robinson noted: This is another way in which, again ... the Donald Trump administration was like literally no other administration in the history of this country. No other administration would have, and certainly no other administration did, treat classified information like this. Watch the interview here: This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Norway's popular attraction, Freya the walrus, was euthanized for safety reasons early Sunday, authorities in Norway said. The decision comes after the country's Directorate of Fisheries warned Freya could be put down on Thursday because people were getting too close to the animal and throwing objects at it. Through on-site observations the past week it was made clear that the public has disregarded the current recommendation to keep a clear distance to the walrus, it said. Therefore, the Directorate has concluded, the possibility for potential harm to people was high and animal welfare was not being maintained. The 1,300-pound female walrus became an icon capturing hearts (and making some mariner enemies) for sunbathing and chowing down on nearby boats, at times sinking them. In addition to Norway, Freya has made appearances to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden in recent years. With the help of viral social media posts, the friendly walrus garnered fame worldwide. Flocks of fans came to see Freya during her time on Norway's Oslofjord this summer. Meet Freya: 1,300-pound walrus capturing hearts, sinking boats and irking mariners According to the government agency, the public went to the water's edge to pose for photos, sometimes trying to bathe with Freya, and throwing objects at her failing to follow authorities' recommendations and, most importantly, endangering the health of the marine animal. A young female walrus nicknamed Freya rests on a boat in Frognerkilen, Oslo Fjord, Norway, on July 19, 2022. In addition to Freya's well-being, this behavior can put people in danger, senior communications advisor in the Directorate of Fisheries Nadia Jdaini explained in the Thursday statement. The operation to put Freya down was a "last resort," spokesman for the Directorate of Fisheries Vegard Oen Hatten, told The New York Times on Friday. What's everyone talking about?: Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day Story continues "This is a unique situation," Hatten added. "Its the first time an animal has stayed out of their natural habitat for so long." A female walrus named Freya lies at the waterfront at Frognerstranda in Oslo on July 18, 2022. Last month, the Directorate of Fisheries said that euthanasia was "out of the question" and again a last option, noting that walruses are a protected species in Norway. The agency added that if Freya, for example, had to be euthanized, they would collaborate with a veterinarian from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. What is the biggest animal in the world?: Largest whale, land animal on earth broken down. Another option was to move Freya. But relocation could've been difficult. The process includes tranquilization which brings "a risk of (the walrus) drowning, communications adviser at Norways Institute of Marine Research Erlend Asta Lorentzen told NBC News. Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, Associated Press This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Freya the walrus euthanized in Norway after officials' pleas ignored Aug. 12LEWISTON A local man was arrested Thursday morning and charged with chasing a woman and firing shots at her with a handgun on the walking trail along the Androscoggin River. Police said Kody Ouellette, 22, of Tall Pines Drive, fired rounds at the woman as she fled from him just after 10 a.m. Ouellette was later located after police arrived and spoke with witnesses at the scene. He was charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and violating conditions of release set after previous unrelated crimes. The motive for the shooting remained unclear, although police believe Ouellette may have had a confrontation with one of the victim's relatives. "At this point, it does not appear that the victim and suspect were known to each other," police wrote in a news release. "The victim is alleged to have been involved in an altercation with the suspect's grandmother regarding an aggressive dog." The woman was not struck by gunfire or otherwise seriously injured. She had been walking on the trails that run along the river beneath the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Bridge. Ouellette, who is known to police from previous unrelated incidents, was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn. As an adult, Ouellette has a misdemeanor drug possession conviction from 2019 for which he paid a $400 fine. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Kuwait on Monday announced the formation of a new government to defuse a protracted political feud blocking economic reforms in the oil-rich state. Kuwaits newly-appointed prime minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Sabah, will lead the 12-member Cabinet until the dissolution of parliament ahead of early elections, the countrys state-run news agency, KUNA, reported. The date of the vote has yet to be announced. It represents Kuwaits fifth government in the last two years, as the countrys emir-appointed Cabinet and elected parliament battle over power-sharing. Some ministers from previous administrations were reappointed to their posts, including Abduwahab al-Rushaid, the outspoken finance minister known for his criticism of the government's fiscal policies. The ministers will take over from the caretaker government that had submitted its resignation over three months ago. Unique among Gulf Arab sheikhdoms, Kuwait's raucous elected parliament wields genuine power. But the political disputes have paralyzed decision-making in the crucial OPEC state, creating major budgetary problems during the low oil prices of the coronavirus pandemic. In a bid to break the deadlock and placate opposition lawmakers frustrated with the prime minister and the political paralysis, Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmed Al Jaber earlier this summer announced he would dissolve parliament and call snap legislative elections. Last week, the country named the ruling emirs son, Sheikh Ahmad, as the new prime minister. The 66-year-old former deputy prime minister and interior minister was widely seen as a conservative yet popular choice. Thousands of Syrians in rebel-held areas took to the streets on Friday to protest against a proposal from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for reconciliation between the Syrian government and opposition. Turkey has fervently opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backing rebels calling for his removal and opening its doors to refugees. Cavusoglu's comments were seen as an apparent easing of Ankara's long-standing hostility towards Assad's government and enraged the Syrian opposition and rebel groups. Syrians took to the streets after Friday prayers in major northern cities including Azaz, Al-Bab and Afrin, which are under the control of Turkish forces and their Syrian supporters near the Turkish border. "As revolutionaries, we are united here to reject any reconciliation with the regime, as that means destruction and displacement of millions of Syrians," said Yassin al-Ahmad, a displaced Syrian residing in Al-Bab. "This reconciliation is not in our hands, and it is not in Turkey's hands. For us it is suicide and a crime," the 37-year-old added. Protesters brandished Syrian opposition flags, and one banner read: "No reconciliation, the revolution continues." 'Blood of martyrs' Cavusoglu had told diplomats on Thursday: "We have to somehow get the opposition and the regime to reconcile in Syria. Otherwise, there will be no lasting peace, we always say this." Protesters also demonstrated in Idlib province, controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, and other rebel groups. Dozens gathered at a Turkish army checkpoint in Idlib's Mastuma area, shouting: "Down with the (Syrian) regime," and denouncing the Turkish minister's statements. "We are against reconciliation. We will not forget the blood of the martyrs, the pain of the detained, and the massacres," said protester Sanaa al-Ali. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said protests were held in more than 30 locations in the country's north and northwest. Small protests had already begun overnight in some areas, including Al-Bab, where dozens gathered, chanting against Turkey. Some demonstrators burned a Turkish flag, while others took down Turkey's colours hung up around the city, an AFP photographer reported. Dozens of others gathered at the Bab al-Salama crossing to Turkey, many shouting: "Death rather than indignity." In a statement Friday, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said: "Turkey played a leading role in maintaining the ceasefire on the ground" and in talks on drawing up a new constitution, although they have made no progress. Ankara "threw full support behind the opposition and the negotiation committee throughout the political process", he said. "Currently this process is not moving forward because the regime is dragging its feet. The issues expressed by our minister yesterday also point to this," he said. 'Dearest price' Turkey's top diplomat revealed on Thursday that he had held a short meeting in Belgrade in October with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Meqdad, adding that communication had resumed between the two countries' intelligence agencies. But he denied direct talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, despite long-standing calls from Russia for such dialogue. Cavusoglu added that Turkey would continue its fight against "terrorism" in Syria, following warnings from Ankara since May that it could launch new strikes on Kurdish-held areas in north and northeast Syria. Ankara has launched successive military offensives in Syria. Most have targeted Kurdish militants that Turkey links to a group waging a decades-long insurgency against it. Cavusoglu's comments have sparked widespread anger among the opposition. Renowned figure George Sabra wrote on Facebook: "If Cavusoglu is concerned with reconciling with the Syrian regime, that is his business. As for the Syrians, they have a different cause for which they have paid and continue to pay the dearest price." The war has killed about half a million people and displaced millions more since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Search Keywords: Short link: Russian soldiers walks along a street in Mariupol on April 12, 2022. Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images) Russian forces are recruiting prisoners across seven regions to fight in Ukraine, the AP reported. It cited the case of a St. Petersburg penal colony where eight out of 11 volunteers died in battle. Reports continue to emerge of Russia struggling to replenish its demoralized troops in Ukraine. Russian forces are offering prisoners amnesty if they agree to fight in Ukraine, a sign that Moscow is resorting to more desperate measures to find fresh reinforcements for its war in the Donbas, according to a Thursday report by The Associated Press. The outlet reported a case involving at least 11 prisoners from a St. Petersburg penal colony who were approached by men in uniform and then presented with the option of fighting in Ukraine in exchange for their freedom. The AP cited an anonymous woman whose boyfriend was imprisoned in the colony and was approached with such a proposal. Insider could not independently verify the accuracy of the report. However, it aligns with British intelligence reports from July that said the Wagner Group which has Kremlin-tied mercenaries deployed in Ukraine might be trying to recruit incarcerated people. The anonymous woman told the AP that her boyfriend did not accept the offer and said to her that eight of the 11 volunteers had since died in battle in Ukraine. One of them said he regretted his decision and believed he wouldn't return alive, she told the outlet. It's unclear if this particular case involves the Wagner Group, but Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of a prisoner rights group called Gulagu.net, told the AP that the mercenary group has been trying to recruit inmates in as many as seven regions across Russia. He estimated that around 1,500 prisoners have signed up for the war, per the AP. Osechkin told the outlet that this information had come from inmates themselves and their relatives, including many volunteers who later contacted him and said they no longer wanted to be deployed. He said the Wagner Group had initially approached prisoners with military or law enforcement backgrounds. However, recruitment efforts have since expanded beyond such requirements, per the AP. Story continues Multiple reports have emerged over the last six months of Russian troops trying to quit their deployment in Ukraine, as Moscow's invasion went into repeated deadlock and morale sank. The Pentagon estimated on Tuesday that Russia has suffered around 80,000 casualties in Ukraine, compared to the 160,000 troops it had amassed around Ukraine's borders before the invasion began. In a bid to attract more personnel, Russia has offered large signing bonuses worth around $5,200 to new recruits, The Moscow Times reported in May. German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported last week that an increasing number of Russian contract soldiers men as young as 18 who sign up to fight alongside professional forces for a salary are being jailed for saying they want to leave Ukraine. Per The Washington Post, 70% of Russia's army is comprised of contract soldiers who serve for around three years and are paid $1,100 per month for their service. Citing human rights activists in Russia, Deutsche Welle reported that the contract soldiers in Ukraine looking to return home are known as "refuseniks" in the Russian army and have been held in prison or labor camps in the Donbas region. Read the original article on Business Insider The world watches the Ukrainian people's bravery, tenacity and fortitude as the Russian military ransacks and pillages homes, villages and entire cities in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been hailed a hero as he stands with his people on the line drawn in the sand, a line between the innocent people of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A line of freedom and democracy as a way of life drawn between greed and attempted occupation despite the Russian presidents denial. Zelenskyy stands for Ukraine, but he also stands for the free world as it is challenged in these dire moments. Citizens and world leaders alike are stricken with fear and uncertainty as Putin unearths long-buried Cold War sentiments. NATO countries rushed to the aid of the Ukrainian people, all while imposing unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia. In response , Putin threatens consequences that [we] have never experienced in [our] history. These threats and subsequent uncertainties have snuffed out requests by Zelenskyy for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and Polands desire to send MiG-29 fighter aircraft in exchange for U.S. F-35s. Hear more Tennessee voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought-provoking columns. Parker Zaitz Months into the conflict, Russia is seen through a different lens despite these reborn Cold War fears and sentiments. Russia has spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars revamping its military, attempting to upgrade equipment while modernizing tactics and procedures. Reports from Ukraine suggest that Russia may have begun this operation with premature confidence. Numerous Russian generals have been killed on the front lines, suggesting that lower-ranking soldiers are unable to take decisive actions, a far cry from the non-commissioned officer corps of the U.S. military that relies heavily on the leadership of lower-ranking military members. In Voznesensk, Ukrainian forces and volunteers from the Territorial Defense Force dealt the Russian military one of the most significant blows since the invasion of Ukraine. A two-day battle culminated in surviving Russian troops retreating, leaving behind damaged and destroyed equipment and armor as well as their fallen comrades. Story continues According to Ukrainian officials, antitank missiles supplied to Ukraine by Western supporters have led to the destruction of hundreds of Russian tanks and other military vehicles. Russian forces were reported to have been stranded for days in miles-long convoys, falling short of their objectives. Western officials estimate between 70,000 and 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, with many more wounded or missing although the Kremlin keeps those cards close to its chest. Your state. Your stories. Support more reporting like this. A subscription gives you unlimited access to stories across Tennessee that make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Click here to become a subscriber. The Russian military and its officials have proven far less competent than they were initially given credit for. Cold War feelings are likely to live on until a resolution with the Kremlin is reached. However, the Ukrainian resolve proves that, without her allies, Russia cannot achieve what Putin and much of the world believed it could. The outnumbered Ukrainian military has withstood the desecration of a much more well-equipped military force. But what does this mean for Americans stateside? While dangers still exist, the world can take a breath knowing that the Russian military is nowhere near as powerful and is far more disorganized than it was thought to be. Parker Zaitz is a private investigator based out of Maryville. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Ukrainian resolve shows Russia isn't as powerful as was thought Photo credit: Car and Driver From the May 2022 issue of Car and Driver. Like many of us, deer have been having a hard time. According to State Farm, as of June 2021 in the U.S., insurance claims due to animal collisions were up 7.2 percent in a year, and two-thirds of those accidents involved Bambi's relatives (don't tell your kids). Drivers in West Virginia have the highest chance of hitting an animal, and those in Hawaii are least likely to. But don't book that flight just yetwildlife is wild everywhere. In Germany, It's the Marten Also known as German weasels, martens love the taste of automotive wiring, engine hoses, silicone, and rubber so much that they're responsible for more than 200,000 insurance claims annually. It's a multimillion-dollar problem, with virtually no soft material safe from the unstoppable teeth of these heat-seeking varmints, which are drawn to the warmth of engine bays and undercarriages. In Australia, It's the Kangaroo According to an Australian insurance company's Roo Report, 90 percent of animal-impact claims Down Under are tied to these big-footed bounders. The winter months are the most dangerous for driving, with $20.7 million in damages doled out every year. In Hawaii, It's Pigs The island paradise has no native deer, kangaroos, or weasels. Unfortunately, invasive animalsboth deer and mongoosesare still a problem. But it's feral pigs that do the most damage, with nearly 400 collisions reported between July 2020 and June 2021. In Saudi Arabia, It's Camels Half a million camels live within Saudi Arabia's borders, and wandering strays along unfenced roads are responsible for 97 percent of animal collisions in the country. When a speeding car cuts a camel's towering legs out from underneath it, these desert moose have the alarming propensity to flop onto the hood and through the windshield. Anywhere You Go, It's Spiders Okay, it would have to be a terrifyingly large spider to cause collision damage, but in 2013, Toyota was forced to recall 870,000 vehicles because tiny arachnids built sticky webs that blocked an HVAC-condensate drainage tube, leading to water-damaged control modules that posed a risk of explosive airbag deployment (with three confirmed incidents among owners). Two years earlier, Mazda had spider woes of its own. The automaker recalled 52,000 sedans after webs clogged fuel-system vent lines, threatening to crack open gas tanks and cause fires. These critters are such a problem across the industry that Ford even developed a "spider screen" to keep them out of a vehicle's sensitive areas. Story continues Oh, God, Rats Too? Like the German weasels, rodents and lagomorphs cause extensive damage, with increased insurance claims as populations boom and automotive complexity increases. More delicious wires and hoses mean more snacks and nesting spots for rats, mice, rabbits, and, notoriously in Sequoia National Park, marmots. Freaks of Nature Not all animal attacks are recurring. Some are one-off incidentsat least we hope so. Bye-Bye, Bison: In 2015, a bison charged a couple cruising down a Yellowstone road, resulting in a $2788 repair claim on their Nissan Xterra. But Was It an AMC Eagle? In the summer of 2021, city officials in Neenah, Wisconsin, discovered an enormous carp lying on the ground beside a severely dented municipal vehicle. Insurance investigators and police concluded that it had likely been dropped by a dive-bombing eagle unable to hold on to a slippery lunch. Better Check the Trunk: A lovelorn wild elephant went on a rampage in 2016, damaging vehicles parked along a tourist road near a Chinese nature reserve. Reportedly, the car owners "found the experience to be thrilling" and, even better, covered by insurance. You Might Also Like Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg on their wedding day in Paris, France. Courtesy of Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg A couple who met as strangers on a plane left behind their wedding plans to elope in Paris. Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg were due to have a 40-person ceremony in St. Lucia in July. After delays caused by COVID-19, the couple found a French wedding planner and married on the Seine. A couple who met as strangers on a plane say they left behind their plans for a destination wedding in St. Lucia to elope in Paris instead. Krystina Burton, 33, and Gabriel Solberg, 38, met on a flight from New York to Los Angeles in 2018 and fell in love. They now travel the world together and document their adventures on their Instagram account, @swirlthroughtheworld, where they have 18,600 followers as of Friday. The couple became engaged in October 2019 on a trip to Italy and planned to marry at a St. Lucia resort on July 25, 2020 their anniversary date. But the couple told Insider that, like many, their wedding was delayed for two consecutive years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of losing yet another opportunity to get married on their anniversary, Burton and Solberg decided to take back control and elope this year on July 25. "We couldn't keep asking people to save the date and then potentially have to cancel flights and try to get refunds," Burton told Insider, referencing their disrupted 2020 and 2021 wedding plans. Krystina Burton having her makeup done in a Paris Hotel while Gabriel Solberg looks on. Ludovic Ismael/Wedding By L The newlyweds, currently based in Stuttgart, Germany, where Burton says she is a dancer and Solberg is a digital nomad, put their 40-person guest list to one side and started to think about elopement destinations nearby. After toying with the idea of Italy, they decided on Paris where they had previously spent Valentine's Day. In January, the couple first started considering an elopement and researching wedding planners. It took them six months to finalize their plan of marrying in Paris. Their ceremony took place by the river Seine, with the Eiffel Tower as their backdrop. Burton and Solberg were chauffeured from their hotel, Novotel Paris Vaugirard, to the outdoor location in a 1950s Citroen. The couple legally married in May at a courthouse in Virginia, where Burton's family reside, so their Parisian rendezvous was a symbolic union. Story continues The couple said they didn't tell anyone about their Virginia wedding other than one close friend who recommended an officiant to them. They said they messaged the officiant the day before they hoped to get married and opted for an informal day with no guests. Burton wore a multicolored summer dress and Solberg donned denim shorts and a black shirt for the occasion. Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg at their legal wedding ceremony in Virginia. Courtesy of Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg Meanwhile, their Paris union was organized by Ceremonize, a French wedding planning service, which charges clients between 1,399 to 4,299, or around $1,445 to $4,439, for one of three wedding packages. Burton said she hired makeup artist, Aissatou Mansaly, and that Ceremonize facilitated every other vendor including their photography, videography, travel, and food. Burton wore an off-the-shoulder ivory dress with a fishtail skirt for the occasion. She said she bought the dress in from Ava Laurenne Bridal in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 2019. "I'm not someone that had an idea of what they wanted to wear, or ever fantasized about their wedding because I never thought I was getting married," Burton said, adding that the store assistant told her she was the first bride to wear the gown. Meanwhile, Solberg said he found his eccentric blue suit and patterned waistcoat at Da Vinci Brautmoden, a family-owned establishment in Stuttgart, a few weeks before the elopement. Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg being chauffeured to their wedding. Ludovic Ismael/Wedding By L After their riverside nuptials, Burton said they had their portraits taken by photographer Ludovic Ismael at the Arc de Triomphe, Petit Palais, and Louvre museum. The couple said they finished the day with a romantic dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant where, in Solberg's words, "you leave hungry because the portions are tiny." He added that they mailed their wedding outfits home for safekeeping and, still hungry, they sought out a cheap kebab and binge-watched "Snowfall" in their hotel room. Solberg said the elopement "allowed us to really make the day special and meaningful for us, and honor the commitment and journey we want to take moving forward." Burton added that eloping removed the stress of making sure guests are having fun and allowed them to focus on themselves. Although Burton and Solberg said they felt the societal stigma of not having family and friends with them for the celebration, they were supported by their loved ones. "People were surprised, but a lot of them were like, 'Oh my gosh, finally. We're so happy that it finally happened for you guys,' because they've been along with us on the journey," Burton said. Krystina Burton and Gabriel Solberg on their wedding day in Paris. Ludovic Ismael/Wedding By L Burton and Solberg are one of many couples choosing to elope Even before the pandemic caused couples to reconsider their dream wedding, more people were turning to elopement to escape the pressures of planning a big event. In April 2019, Harper's Bazaar reported that Pinterest observed a 128% increase in searches for elopement photography ideas. According to Harper's Bazaar, Pinterest also found popular search terms included "elopements at city halls" and "elopements in forests." Burton and Solberg have some no-frills advice for other couples who want to elope. "If you do it, don't tell anybody, because they are going to come in with their opinion on why you're making a bad decision," Solberg said. He added that this negates any relief you are hoping to feel by eloping, and warned that there will always be people who aren't going to like your plans. Still, Burton and Solberg say they're happy with their decision. They said they went on to have "mini fake honeymoons" in Sardinia and Mykonos in July, but they have yet to decide on the big honeymoon adventure they sau they're planning next year. While the jet-setting couple didn't marry in St. Lucia, there's every possibility that they could unwind there as newlyweds. Read the original article on Insider Policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have dropped off considerably for Vermont schools and child care centers for the coming school year. This school year, expect to no longer see "test-to-stay," masks or requiring infected kids to test negative before returning to the classroom. The state has shifted toward a strategy of treating the virus like other common communicable diseases, with some minor additions. As we begin to think of COVID-19 as an endemic disease, we once again need to shift our thinking," said Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine. "COVID-19, like the flu, is now a part of our lives. The Vermont Agency of Education, the Department of Children and Families and the CDC all released guidance within a few days of one other. Here's what you need to know. Summer of changeVermont stops free COVID testing on June 25. Here's what you need to know. Becca McCray, an Edmunds Middle School nurse, answers questions from students at the Burlington school, April 2021. She is also the COVID Coordinator for the school district. The pandemic has taken a toll on school nurses but has also afforded McCray additional leadership opportunities during the school year. School nurses are in charge of what to do with a sick child Ultimately, school nurses or an early childhood educator (in a child care setting) will have the authority to determine how to address a child exhibiting symptoms of illness. Using their clinical judgment, a nurse could choose to send a child back to the classroom if their symptoms are minor, test them with a rapid test in the nurse's office to determine whether they remain at school or not, or send them home. It is recommended that students and staff be sent home if they test positive for COVID-19 with a rapid test or if they are not well enough to participate in school activities, regardless of the test result. Tracking the cases:Vermont drops the daily COVID-19 dashboard: Check these alternatives. Testing can be used, but isn't required The state has distributed rapid antigen tests and LAMP tests to all Vermont schools to use as they please, with the ability to order more, if needed. These tests are only to be used for symptomatic persons and can be performed at school or sent home with students. But, testing is not required, even for those who are symptomatic. Story continues Families will need to provide consent for COVID-19 testing in a school, child care or preschool environment. Children under two are not recommended to have a rapid test, so if it is determined they need one, they should get a PCR test from a licensed healthcare provider. Williston Central School students exit the bus on the first day of school on September 8, 2020. Isolation still recommended for students with COVID Under state guidance, schools and child care facilities will maintain an isolation area for sick students or staff. Here, symptomatic children may be asked to wear a mask, if over the age of two, while awaiting COVID-19 test results or parents to come pick them up. Those who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate at home for at least five days from the start of symptoms or a positive test, whichever is earlier, according to health department guidelines. The person may return following the five-day isolation period if their symptoms have improved and they have gone at least 24 hours without a fever not controlled by medication. Back to the classroom:You'll probably pay more for school supplies how to find deals and what you need Which policies are not returning? Policies around COVID-19 in schools and child care centers have constantly changed as more is learned about the disease and transmission rates have fluctuated within the community. Here are some policies that are no longer recommended. Masking is now a personal choice and not a requirement. Social distancing staying 6 feet or 3 feet away from the nearest person is now no longer advised. The CDC has moved away from "test-to-stay" and quarantining strategies when someone is exposed to a person with COVID-19. Also, a negative COVID-19 test is not required to return to school or a child care environment. Parents are still asked to monitor children for the following symptoms and consider not sending them into school or their early childhood education center if COVID-19 is suspected: Fever (100.4 F or higher) Cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Chills Fatigue Muscle or body aches Headache Sore throat New loss of taste or smell Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting Diarrhea Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @aprildbarton. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: What to know about COVID policies in school and child care this year To get a roundup of TechCrunchs biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Last night was a full moon, somehow its already halfway through August, and did you know theres a Beach Plum LaCroix flavor? The worlds gone topsy-turvy, but at least its time for the weekend. What did you do this week that made you feel alive? Can you do more of that next week? And that concludes our microtherapy session. Now, lets get on with the news. Christine and Haje The TechCrunch Top 3 Pardon me : A presidential pardon is restoring Samsungs vice chairman Jay Lees ability to take the companys helm. Lee had been convicted on bribery charges in 2017, and the pardon will erase it, Kate writes. 5G begets 4G : Yeah, you read that right. Amazon launched AWS Private 5G so companies can build their own 4G networksfor now, Paul writes. This is something that has been in the works since late 2021, and the company said eventually there will be capabilities for 5G networks. Location obliteration: Natasha L explains how Google was fined $40 million by Australias government, which found the tech giant had misled consumers about its Android location tracking settings. Startups and VC Dont miss Brians Actuator newsletter, which is usually all about the state of hardware and robotics, but today is mostly about Amazon and iRobot. And for your daily dose of levity, dont miss Amandas excellent piece of satire: FWD: fwd: From the CEO: BeCareful while you BeReal! A few more highlights: Story continues What does the future look like for e-commerce aggregators? Man figure consisting of glowing pixels runs through darkness Image Credits: iLexx (opens in a new window) / Getty Images In the video game Katamari Damacy, players control an avatar who rolls a sticky ball that captures anything it touches. The goal: create a sphere large enough to become a star or moon. E-commerce aggregators work in much the same way by purchasing smaller brands, then optimizing their manufacturing and sales channels to boost market share. This model was effective in a prevaccine era when consumers stopped visiting stores, but is the brand-rollup model still viable today? "Decreased consumer confidence, inflated brand value and a freeze in investment capital are creating a perfect storm," says David Wright, co-founder and CEO of e-commerce accelerator Pattern. "Unless aggregators change how they operate, their future is bleak at best and nonexistent at worst." (TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.) Big Tech Inc. Have you seen these ransomware group members? The U.S. government is offering $10 million in exchange for information leading to the identification and location of members of the Russia-based Conti ransomware operative, Carly writes. Speaking of alleged fraudulent behavior, Manish writes about Indias anti-money-laundering agency freezing $46.4 million in assets belonging to Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld while it looks into the companys business practices. Meanwhile, Brian looks into whats happening over at Boston Dynamics after being acquired by Hyundai in 2020, which includes a new artificial intelligence and robotics institute buoyed by $400 million. The judge in a Sandy Hook defamation lawsuit against far-right conspiracy podcaster Alex Jones has launched an investigation of his legal team after the medical records of school parents were leaked. Medical and psychiatric records of some parents and relatives of the children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, were apparently included among a massive document dump including Jones cellphone texts. The information was apparently inadvertently leaked by his lawyers to various parties, according to a remote Connecticut court hearing Wednesday. Its unclear how the private medical records were obtained. It appears that the medical and or psychiatric records of the plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuits were recently provided to unauthorized individuals by one of Jones attorneys, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis said at a hearing from her Waterbury courtroom on Wednesday, The Hartford Courant reported. I am very concerned that there was improper release of highly confidential psychiatric, psychological or counseling records protected by court order and state and federal law, she added. Bellis complained that shes hearing more about the case on the news than in her courtroom. I am clearly gravely concerned about what I have to hear in headlines, Bellis said. The judge said shes holding a hearing next week to determine if Jones Connecticut lawyer Norm Pattis played a role in leaking the records. Shell hold a hearing the following week examining the actions of Jones Texas lawyer F. Andino Reynal. It appeared at the hearing that Pattis office transmitted confidential records to Reynal last month when Reynal was expected to play a role in defending Jones in the Connecticut lawsuit, according to the Courant. Reynal withdrew from the Connecticut case days later. Yet it appears from information from a Texas court last week that Reynals Texas legal team inadvertently transferred the contents of Jones mobile phone and other records to the Sandy Hook relatives suing in Texas, the Courant reported. Thats when the medical records were spotted, according to the newspaper. Story continues Mark Bankston, an attorney for the families suing Jones in Texas, told reporters last week that Reynal mistakenly shared the medical and cellphone records with him as part of what appeared to be an effort to disclose records relevant to Jones then-looming trial in Austin, according to CT Insider. Jones has lost three defamation lawsuits one in Connecticut and two in Texas, where his Infowars podcast is based after falsely insisting on Infowars that the 21 first-grade children and six adults killed at Sandy Hook Elementary were actors. The shooting, he claimed, was actually an anti-gun hoax. His wild claims triggered harassment and death threats against the families by Jones followers. A Texas jury last week awarded a total of more than $49 million in damages against Jones in the first suit. Damages in the other suits must still be determined. Early this month Jones signed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection petition to shield assets of his Infowars podcast parent company, Free Speech Systems LLC, his co-defendant in two of the defamation cases. Infowars reportedly raked in $65 million in revenue last year. Critics have blasted the bankruptcy move as a cynical strategy to dodge accountability. Jones, Pattis and Reynal could not immediately be reached for comment. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Aug. 12This fall, New Mexico Tech is excited to announce the artists performing in this year's performing arts series. "We've been doing this for a long time, as this program has been in existence for around 60 years," said Ronna Kalish, director of New Mexico Tech Performing Arts Series at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. "Each year, we unfold a whole new set of activities and things, and with the pandemic we had one year that was all live-streamed, so this is the first real season where we're intending for everything to be in person." Season tickets are now available which can save subscribers 25% off tickets. Individual tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for youth, while Tech students enter free with student ID. "So we started these outdoor festivals that were so successful and we gave a lot of local bands and dance companies a way to perform, so we just kept on doing that," Kalish said. With their first in-person series in a while, the performers had to be rockin'. TNT Fest: Meet Tech & Town kicks off the series from 1 p.m.-7 p.m. on Campus Drive on Saturday, Aug. 27. This free event features student bands along with clubs, food trucks and more. "Well, we look for a variety and because we're a small town and a small university, we're always trying to find things that meet a lot of different needs," Kalish said. "Yesterday: Tribute to the Beatles" comes to the Macey Center on Sept. 10. "Everyone was super excited about 'Yesterday: Tribute to the Beatles' so we're gonna do a '60s costume party and a Beatles trivia contest like the third week of school," Kalish said. "We're actually setting our stage up as a venue so that when we put the theater company in here it will have a more intimate feeling." Skerryvore kicks off on Oct. 7. "They are a really fun group from Scotland and they play both traditional music and rock music," Kalish said. "We have always done really well with Celtic bands here as our students love it, our oldest folks love it, everybody loves it." Story continues After Skerryvore comes "Horror Channel" on Nov. 4-5. "It is a super exciting performance, Colleen Gino wrote this musical and it is a woman kicking up her heels on a Friday night drinking a glass of wine after a hard week," Kalish said. "Then, she starts falling asleep and she has some nightmares where zombies appear." In January, Tech brings in the New Year with Big Richard, an up-and-coming all-women's group. "They just got together, as a project, really, and everybody loved it so much," Kalish said. "They started hitting the festival circuit, folk, bluegrass and songwriting-type festivals all around the country and they just made a huge hit, so I just immediately put out feelers to bring this group." "Big Richard is not during WomenFest, but we just loved the concept of them for women getting together," Kalish said. "Of course, the name of their band is a spoof on all these rock and roll bands that have names that are a little bit degrading to women, so Big Richard is certainly a spoof on those types of band names." On Feb. 10, 2023, Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra will perform with vocalist Hillary Smith. A Sweetheart Soiree Dinner will be served prior to an evening of big-band swing music. Band members include professional and semi-professional musicians alongside local public school and university music educators to create a lively dynamic that lets audiences share in the dazzling sights and sounds of this ever-popular sound. Dancing, of course, is welcome. "We have a whole group of students here who love swing and ballroom dancing, so this show will really speak to them, Kalish said. "And we have an older group of people that just loves big band music, whether it's contemporary or traditional or swing; they love it all." Rhythm of the Dance, featuring World and Irish champion dancers, hits New Mexico Tech on March 2. This show features a social hour beforehand with Irish foods and drinks. "It's an Irish step dance group, some of the original people from 'River Dance,' the original producers, not the original dancers, and then a whole troupe of musicians. So it's just a big show, and really all about Irish history and an Irish music from many different angles, both contemporary and traditional. Concluding March is WomenFest on March 24-25. "I am a woman musician, so I have always tried to have women in our season every year because I think it's really important for young people and communities to see the amazing women out there," Kalish said. "It's important for us to have a consciousness about women's issues." The String Queens are performing March 24 as the trio plays an assortment of music ranging from the Baroque era to the Jazz Age to the Hot 100 Chart. "They're women of color, which is super important to really giving voice to all different kinds of artists," Kalish said. WomenFest comes with live music, workshops, artist showcases, vendors, and more as they celebrate women in our lives. "We're gonna do this again, where we have women in business and social services along with women from the campus and the community give talks in March," Kalish said. "So the people in our community could really see the women in Socorro County and it was such a huge success that we're just gonna keep going." Special preshow events are an additional charge. For more information visit nmt.edu/pas or call 575-835-5688. Demining Read also: Land mine injures farmer near Kharkiv "The parties discussed the possibilities of solving the problems of humanitarian demining, the statement reads. Read also: Russians mine Inhulets River to stave off Ukrainian counteroffensive, says ISW Its estimated that it will take anywhere from five to ten years to completely clear the areas contaminated by explosive objects. Read also: Local man killed by a mine on a beach of Odesa Oblast Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Mary Hakobyan, and the British Defense Attache Air Commodore, Peter Cracroft, also discussed training military specialists for Ukraines National Guard at this meeting. In particular, the parties discussed UK involvement in the training of officers and command staff of National Guard units. Help NV continue reporting on the Russian invasion Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Egypt stands in solidarity with Saudi Arabia against terrorism, violence and extremism, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. The foreign ministry added in its short statement that Egypt reaffirms its support for Saudi Arabias measures to protect its security and stability as well as its citizens and residents. The statement comes following an incident Friday when a man detonated a suicide vest as Saudi security forces attempted to arrest him. The man, affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist group, was wanted by Saudi authorities for his involvement in a 2015 terrorist attack. Three Saudi security forces personnel and a Pakistani resident were injured, while the suspect was killed. The foreign ministry lauded in its statement the efforts of the Saudi authorities, while also wishing the injured a speedy recovery. Search Keywords: Short link: With less than 100 days left until the Nov. 8 general election, it is important to look back on everything that has happened in the past 18 months of complete Democrat control. With Biden in office and Democrats leading our commonwealth, Pennsylvanians are facing 40-year-high inflation, out-of-control gas and grocery prices, a possible recession and reckless spending. Since Democrats dont seem to think things are bad enough, they are trying to push through a new $400 billion plus Inflation Reduction Act that will raise taxes. Biden has continued to fail us at every turn. He did nothing but shift the blame when gas prices skyrocketed, hitting a record high of over $5 per gallon on average in Pennsylvania back in June. Now, even though average gas prices are still well over $1 more per gallon than they were a year ago, Biden is taking credit for these savings. Biden and the Democrats continue to cost Pennsylvanian families more and more on energy. So far, they have spend nearly $1,500 extra on energy since January 2021. Democrats solution is to tell Pennsylvanians to just buy an expensive electric vehicle, including luxury vehicles that averaged almost $67,000 in June, according to Kelley Blue Book. What will Democrats like John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro do about Pennsylvania families suffering? They will continue to blindly support Bidens disastrous agenda, no matter how much it hurts the people they claim to be helping. Patricia Poprik is chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee. Taking another page out of Bidens playbook, Fetterman hid in his basement, not scheduling any public events for nearly 90 days. With less than 100 days until the election, you would think Fetterman would want to get on the campaign trail and spend time with the very people he hopes vote for him. Maybe he is hiding from his disastrous record, hoping if voters do not see him, they will forget. Unfortunately for him, he can hide as long as he wants but his record is perfectly clear. Fetterman has proven time and time again to have the worst interests in mind for Pennsylvanians. He has been adamantly against fracking, an industry that provides Pennsylvania with thousands of well-paying jobs. He even went as far to call fracking a stain on Pennsylvania. Fetterman knows his beliefs are out of line with that of the average Pennsylvanian, yet he has proudly aligned himself with the likes of Bernie Sanders, while championing endorsements from radical left wing groups. At the end of the day, voters know that Fetterman and Shapiro would be a rubber stamp for the Biden and Sen. Chuck Schumer agenda that continues to ravage the lives of hard-working Pennsylvanians. Fortunately for the Keystone State, Republicans continue to gain momentum across Pennsylvania. Enthusiasm among voters is on the rise. For the first time this century, Republicans exceeded Democrat turnout in a midterm primary election. As voters continue to register as Republicans, closing the voter registration gap by over 145,000 since Election Day 2020, the Republican Party is committed to reaching all Pennsylvanians. In fact, in 2022, across all 67 counties, the majority of party switches have been towards Republicans, including Philadelphia County. The Republican National Committees victory team has made over 2 million voter contacts this cycle alone, with efforts only continuing to grow. Republicans are fully committed to Pennsylvania and to electing commonsense conservatives who will fight for all Pennsylvanians. Patricia Poprik is the chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Committee. This article originally appeared on The Intelligencer: Poprik: Fetterman, Shapiro will be a rubber stamp for Biden (Getty Images) Salt Baes Nusr-Et London restaurant has reported making 7 million in its first four months in business. The social media star, whose real name is Nusret Gokce, went viral for the way he salts his steak, before opening a series of restaurants in his name. Now, his company, Nusret UK Limited, has published its accounts. They reveal that the company performed higher than expected and as a result, made a profit of 2.3 million last year. However, the figures may not come as a surprise to those familiar with the restaurants prices. Its menu includes a gold-covered tomahawk steak for 1,450, a portion of mashed potato for 12, and a single serving of Coca-cola for 9. Last year, a table of four left dinner at the restaurant after being presented with a bill for 37,023 ($50,888), according to a post shared to Reddits London subreddit. Gokce owns several other steakhouses in New York, Los Angeles and Turkey. Several celebrities have been spotted at his restaurants, including Gemma Collins, who, last year, corrected reports that she spent 700 on a steak at Salt Baes London restaurant. In fact, she said, she spent 1,450 on the gold-wrapped tomahawk steak. The TV personality later admitted she went a bit over the top at Nusr-et in Knightsbridge, adding that she felt sick the next morning when she thought about the bill. Speaking on The Gemma Collins Podcast she said: I have to give the ambience of the restaurant, the experience of the restaurant, a 10 out of 10. The bill was another situation. I was in utter shock. But you know what, you have to weigh these things up, and the press reported that my steak cost 700, if only they knew. I wish it cost 700. It actually cost 1,450. Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM PDT FRIDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 103. * WHERE...In Washington, Eastern Columbia River Gorge of Washington, Simcoe Highlands, Kittitas Valley and Yakima Valley. In Oregon, Eastern Columbia River Gorge of Oregon. * WHEN...Until 11 PM PDT Friday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && Egypt's lower house of parliament the House of Representatives agreed Saturday to a cabinet reshuffle that compromises 13 ministerial portfolios following a call from the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi earlier in the day to hold an extraordinary session for voting. The following are the new ministers approved by the House of Representatives on Saturday: Minister of Education and Technical Education Reda Hegazy Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hany Sweilam Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar Minister of Higher Education Mohamed Ayman Ashour Minister of Emigration and Expatriates Affairs Soha Samir Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Eissa Taha Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir Mahmoud Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Abbas Minister of Manpower Hassan Mohamed Shehata Minister of Culture Nevine El-Kilany Minister of Local development Hisham Amna Minister of Public Business Sector Mahmoud Mostafa Esmat Minister of Military Production Mohamed Salah El-Din The new ministers are expected to swear-in on Sunday. I called on the House of Representatives to convene to discuss a ministerial reshuffle in a number of ministries... following deliberation with the prime minister, the Egyptian president said on his social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. According to El-Sisis short statement, the decision to reshuffle the cabinet is aimed at revitalising governmental performance on important issues internally and abroad in order to protect the states interests and services provided to Egyptian citizens. Late Friday, the House of Representatives announced that it called on its 596 members to convene at 12pm Cairo local time in an extraordinary session Saturday to look into an undisclosed urgent matter amid reports of a possible cabinet reshuffle. Egypt's House of Representatives adjourned the sessions of its second legislative season on 5 July and is currently on a three-month summer recess. The 2021-2026 house is scheduled to hold its third legislative season in the first week of October. Article 129 of House of Representatives bylaws states that if the president decides to reshuffle the cabinet, they must send a message to the house notifying members of its decision, and if the president's decision comes while the house is in summer recess the house should hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss and vote the president's decision. The president's decision must be approved by two-thirds majority of MPs in order to pass in the house. The last ministerial reshuffle in Prime Minister Mostafa Madboulys cabinet was in December 2019. This is the third reshuffle in the cabinet of Madbouly, who has been serving as the premier since June 2018. Search Keywords: Short link: A judge has granted a mistrial in Deontae Rush's murder trial for the killing of a Lincoln man during a drug robbery last year. Prosecutors on Friday morning filed a motion for mistrial over COVID-19 delays that meant the jurors would have been outside of the courtroom and unsequestered for at least six days. Trial started Monday over James Shekie's fatal shooting in his home near North 20th and Superior streets on Feb. 23, 2021. They did jury selection, opening statements and the state called its first witnesses. But on Tuesday morning, jurors arrived to be sent home after the judge and at least three Lincoln police witnesses tested positive for COVID-19. Initially jurors were told to return Friday, when trial tentatively was set to resume. But in the motion for mistrial, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Eric Miller said the attorneys learned Thursday that the judge still was symptomatic so they wouldn't start back up until Monday at the earliest. "As of the filing of this motion, the parties do not know with any certainty as to when his symptoms will abate or when he will test negative, and thus it is not clear as to when his isolation will end and when trial can resume," Miller wrote. Miller said, if convicted, Rush likely would argue that the jury had the opportunity to engage in jury misconduct or to be exposed to improper influence given media attention to the case; and they are unlikely to have a fresh recollection of the evidence already presented. The delay also could cause problems with the state's ability to secure the attendance of witnesses from out of state, Miller said. Lancaster County District Judge Kevin McManaman granted the motion for mistrial Friday afternoon. "The court finds that the events at trial, through no fault of the state or the defendant, constitute sufficient grounds for declaration of a mistrial," he wrote. He said a mistrial was necessary to avoid prejudice and injustice to both sides. A new trial date wasn't immediately scheduled. GRAND ISLAND -- Island Oasis manager Diane Miller, a self-professed "pool rat," said she grew up in a swimming pool. After 30 years with Grand Island Parks & Recreation, the "Waterpark Queen, as her coworkers call her, is preparing to hang up her crown. In a recent interview, Miller recalled her childhood. We could ride our bikes or walk to the swimming pool, or our folks would drop us off, she said. I was a pool rat thats what we call them. I just love to swim; I love water. Eventually Miller became a junior lifeguard, a senior lifeguard and eventually a water safety instructor. Miller started working for Grand Island Parks & Recreation as a lifeguard in 1983. Some years later, then-Grand Island Parks & Recreation Director Steve Paustian tossed a couple tickets to Florida on a desk in front of Miller, who had been hired to be the new pool manager. Why me? Miller asked Paustian. Youre the girl for the job, Miller said he told her. I like your people skills. As for the tickets? Paustian wanted Miller to accompany him to Florida to look at ideas for a Grand Island water park. At the time, Miller was still teaching at Grand Island Public Schools. Hed already OK'd (the trip) with my school principal to fly to Florida, she said. It was during the school year. We went down to Cape Coral to look at their waterpark; they also had a community funded waterpark. They snapped pictures at Cape Coral, Florida, of everything pool features, signage, then we put our heads together. I thought, well, I guess Im gonna do this, Miller said. It was the beginning of an eventful 30 years in the water. It was the blind leading the blind, she said. We didnt know. We thought we went to Cape Coral for a tutorial Nothing could prepare Miller and her Grand Island Parks & Recreation family for the overwhelming success. She remembers Island Oasis reaching its 2,000-person capacity every day opening week in 1993. Miller has never forgotten the water parks particulars, she said. Oasis is my baby. Im very picky how its cleaned and what things are done to it. She also has high standards for her staff, the majority being local high school students. Ive had terrific kids, good staff to work with. Im not doing this alone. Ive had good people. For a time a rumor circulated only teachers kids could get jobs at Island Oasis. Its not entirely untrue, Miller said unapologetically. A lot of them I hand-picked. I knew they were good kids. They were going to work for me and they were going to show up every day. Miller said her staff teases her about seemingly knowing everyone. She said it's important to make a connection with guests. Oh, you heard about our wonderful beach? Miller says to out-of-state guests. I tried to have a conversation with everybody that comes in, and when theyre leaving, I say thanks for coming. Besides out-of-state swimmers and the generations of Island Oasis pool rats, Miller knows a few mermaids, too. Theres three or four ladies that come in and we call them the Vintage Mermaids. They come in every weekday if its nice. Theyre just delightful women. Miller looks forward to seeing improvements at Island Oasis, but she won't be there as a manager. She said she's dealt with some health issues and doesn't have the stamina to do the job she used to. After a little time off, however, she said she'll be back to splashing, just this time not as the Waterpark Queen. Shes been invited to swim among the Vintage Mermaids. India's home grom social media startup Koo is adding new features to its app everyday. In the same chain of things, Koo has launched a new 'Multilingual Koo (MLK)' feature that allows people to post their thoughts in the language of their choice by the means of translation. The app has launched a type to talk feature. Here are the details about the two new features of Koo app. 'Multilingual Koo (MLK)' feature Though 'Koo' enables people to post their thoughts in the language of their choice, it is also important to carry a good thought expressed in one language to the people and communities of other languages. Keeping this in mind, 'Koo' has unveiled its MLK feature. This feature translates the message posted in any language to 9 other languages. The noteworthy point is that the translation retains the core sentiments expressed in the original language. This increases the reach of people who express their thoughts in the language of their choice, but due to translation their message reaches out to those who prefer other languages. Koo is the first social media platform in the world to give this unique feature to its users. 'Talk to Type' feature The 'Talk to Type' feature of 'Koo' is spectacular as it enables users to post their views without typing. In a 'Koo' app, if you click on the 'new message' tab, there is a button represented by a talking individual logo. If you click on it, you can simply say what you want to post, and words are automatically typed on the screen. All this can be done without using a keyboard. This facility is available in 10 Indian languages, and the objective is to let people express themselves in the language of their choice. It is im[portant to note that 'Koo' is the first social media platform in the world which is using 'Talk to Type' feature, that also in 10 different languages. This comes in handy for millions of users who are more comfortable expressing themselves in the language of their respective regions. Some users are not very keen to type, this feature empowers them to express themselves the way they want. Royal Enfield has plans to launch multiple bikes in India, following the roadmap; the company recently launched the Hunter 350 and has got more models in the line. Among the new models is one of the latest models called the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. The bike fans are eagerly waiting for the launch of the new bike, especially after the details of the upcoming bike leaked. Following that, there has been a string of spy shots of the bike surfacing on the internet. To add, here is a new spy shot of the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 courtesy of Siddharth Pathak, revealing new details. Looking at the latest spy shots of the Himalayan 450, it is clear that the bike retains the design of its predecessor with enhanced size. The new motorcycle looks taller compared to the previous version and gets a new Dakar-style windscreen upfront. Some of the other details that are clearly visible in the new spy shot include upside-down front forks, a 21-inch spoked wheel, jerry can holders on the sculpted fuel tank, a brand new tubular frame that also gets a sub-frame, a liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine with a stubby exhaust, a mono-shock rear suspension, disc brakes on both wheels, and a 17/18 inch rear spoked wheel. Also read: THIS modified Maruti Suzuki Swift with bodykit is ready for racing: Watch video The motorcycle is expected to have an engine tuned for better performance compared to the ongoing version. The Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 is expected to have a DOHC four-valve head paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox with a slipper clutch function. Moreover, it is expected to be more advanced looking at the recent launch of the company. Though there is no information on the launch of the bike yet, looking at the test mule, expectations are that the bike can be launched around next year. There is no doubt the bike will be more expensive considering the expected upgrades on it. Ever since his debut, Siddhant Chaturvedi has stunned us with his impeccable performances in his vibrant filmography. After holding up the breaths of the masses with his charismatic presence in the character of Zain in his last release 'Gehraiyaan', the actor has now finally wrapped up the shoot of his next 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.' Taking to his social media, Siddhant shared a beautiful picture where he can be seen hugging his co-stars Ananya Panday and Adarsh Gourav with a cute smile on his face. The actor added a heartfelt caption - "and Its a wrap! #KhoGayeHumKahan We were young, crazy, and restless. Fun, curious & a millennial mess. Its a story about you & me, and we were just A bunch of cool kids makin a film. Thank you @zoieakhtar @reemakagti1 for the best filming experiences ever. @tigerbabyofficial @excelmovies Hail! @arjunvarain.singh Our Captn! My brother! Thank you for showing this mad faith in us. Youve been strong & vulnerable in a timed beauty of its own. My creative pillars @yashsahai and @sapanv It wouldnt have been possible without your Wit, Wohoos and WTFs! My Co-stars and now friends for life @ananyapanday @gouravadarsh Ive only grown working alongside you both. You guys are freakin beautiful! and lastly to the whole Cast & Crew, Dadas and Dudes Thank you guys, it was an honour" Siddhant has been bestowed with so many titles in his name that makes him a favourite superstar of this generation. While the audience was eagerly waiting for his next, this news of wrapping up 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahan' has come as a treat for his fans to watch him on the big screen soon. Talking about his future lineups, Siddhant will be next seen in 'Phone Bhoot' with Katrina Kaif and Ishaan Khatter and Yudhra' where he takes on a heavy dose of action. San Francisco: Tech-giants, Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook), who are currently at odds on privacy changes in iOS and App Store, once intended to build businesses together. However, Apple was there in discussions with Mark Zuckerberg-run social network about how it could make more capital from its ad income. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Apple and Facebook examined revenue-sharing arrangements, including a potential ad-free, subscription version of Facebook. (ALSO READ: Maple offers 17% off on iPhone 13 this Independence Day: Check all details) They talked over creating a subscription-based version of Facebook that would be free of ads. Apple also reportedly asserted that it was entitled to a cut of certain fractions of Facebooks ad revenue from so-called boosted posts. A boost enables a user to cater to an increased number of people that see a post on Facebook or Instagram. Apple, which doesnt take a cut of advertising from developers, argued that Facebook boosts should be considered in-app purchases, according to a person familiar with the matter, the report announced late on Friday. (ALSO READ: FIIs buy shares worth Rs 3,040 cr on August 12, highest this month; net purchase at Rs 14,841.66 crore) The tech giants could not reach a consensus on discussions that took place mostly between 2016 and 2018. Facebook is trying to mend its ad-tracking systems after Apple brought major privacy changes in its App Store. Apple started the Ask App not to Track prompt as part of iOS 14.5 in 2021 which has had a crucial impact on various firms, encompassing Meta which said that Apple iOS privacy alterations will cost it a whopping $10 billion in 2022. We believe the impact of iOS overall as a headwind on our business in 2022 is on the order of $10 billion, so its a pretty significant headwind for our business, Meta CFO David Wehner announced earlier this year. Apples iOS 14.5 update, circulated in April 2021, came with an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that has influenced digital promoting it for tech giants. According to the WSJ announcement, Apples privacy move happened in a sharp business slump that has shaved approximately $600 billion from the companys (Metas) market value in less than a year. A Meta spokesman said that the firm has made significant changes over the past five years to protect peoples data while also allowing businesses of all sizes to grow. Independence Day 2022: On August 15, Monday, India will be celebrating its 75 years of Independence (76th Independence Day) from oppressive British rule. On this day in 1947, after a long fight, India managed to free herself from the shackles of its colonial master. It was no easy journey. Thousands of freedom fighters laid down their lives for their country and fellow citizens and on August 15, we honour the sacrifices of the martyrs or whom we were born and living in a free, democratic nation. Independence Day 2022: History After decades of political turmoil, British rule officially ended in India on 15th August 1947. While a series of events saw Indians protesting against the British regime, the Indian Independence movement truly began during World War I and was led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Some of India's prominent freedom fighters include Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, among others. Sarojini Naidu, Pritilata Waddedar, and Kasturba Gandhi were prominent women leaders who paved the way and encouraged women's participation in India's freedom movement. Despite the joys of freedom, the momentous occasion in history also witnessed a bloody partition of the country into India and Pakistan (which included present-day Bangladesh). Independence Day 2022: Significance A national holiday, Independence Day is observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events. India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of Red Fort in Delhi on 15th August 1947 and since then, it became a tradition followed by the incumbent prime minister, who hoists the flag and addresses the country. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the current Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements. The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on 12th March 2021 which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of independence and will end post a year on 15th August 2023. Independence Day 2022: Interesting facts about India's Independence - The first struggle for independence was fought in 1857. It was called the Sepoy Mutiny or the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Led by Mangal Pandey, the struggle saw Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Tatya Tope, and Nana Sahib leading the resistance against British soldiers. - India's national anthem was composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore first in 1911 and it was then a song called Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata. The renamed Jana Gana Mana was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the national anthem on 24 January 1950. - The Indian national flag was first hoisted on 7 August 1906 in Kolkata's Parsee Bagan Square. Freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya designed the first variant of India's national flag in 1921. The present flag was officially adopted on 22 July 1947. - Four other countries celebrate their independence day on 15 August along with India Bahrain, North Korea, South Korea, and Liechtenstein. - Earlier, barring a few select occasions, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag. But industrialist Naveen Jindal began a decade-long legal battle following which in 2004, the Supreme Court came up with a landmark judgement - the apex court declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is being celebrated across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of independence. 'Har Ghar Tiranga' program has also been organized at every house. In Bokaro, Jharkhand, a social worker has decided to create a world record by making a three kilometer long national flag. Tricolor flag is being manufactured with 35 hundred meters of cloth has been used to make this flag. 4 artisans are working day and night to make the tricolor. Two artisans are doing the work of printing in it. This flag will be ready by August 13. On August 14, a three kilometer national flag yatra will be taken out from ITI More of Chas, Bokaro. Social worker Sanjeev Kumar, who is making this tricolor, said that a bigger tricolor than this has never been guarded nor was the tricolor yatra taken out before today. They claim that this tricolor of about 3.5 kilometers will be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. Sanjeev Singh told that earlier a 2500 meter long national flag was made in Egypt. Now this tricolor is being made of 3500 meters, which will be a new record. Hundreds of people will participate in the tricolor yatra on August 14. Let us inform that a 3-km long tricolor flag is being made in Pindrajora village of Chas block, where rural girls and women are engaged in making the flag. New Delhi: A 34-year-old man died in northeast Delhi's Shastri Park area after his throat was slit with Chinese manjha while he was going to celebrate Raksha Bandhan at his in-laws' house, police said on Saturday. On Thursday around 5 pm, one Vipin Kumar, a resident of Rajdhani Park in Mundka was injured when he was on a motorcycle with his wife and daughter, a senior police officer said. He was going to his in-laws' house in Loni, Uttar Pradesh. As he reached Shastri Park Flyover on the ISBT- Seelampur carriageway, a Chinese manjha got stuck in his neck and he got injured, the officer said. He was taken to a trauma centre where he was declared dead. Legal action under the appropriate sections of law is being taken, police added. The thread notorious for its severeness and plastic-like durability was banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2017. Ravi Kumar, the nephew of Vipin, said that his uncle suffered a deep cut on his neck due to the manjha. "An ambulance was behind them which took my uncle to Trauma Centre in Civil Lines. When we reached there, we found him dead. The string was so sharp that he suffered a deep cut in his neck," Ravi said. Vipin worked as a bread supplier. "My father has a business of supplying bread and he had asked him to join it. My uncle was supplying bread for the last seven to eight months. He is survived by his wife and three daughters. He got married around 12 years ago," Ravi added. The newly appointed cabinet ministers who were approved by the House of Representatives in an extraordinary meeting Saturday are expected to be sworn in on Sunday One of the major features of the new cabinet reshuffle is that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi decided to keep the so-called economic group ministers in place. Only two ministers responsible for economic portfolios were changed. These first was Hesham Tawfik, minister of public enterprise, who was replaced by Mahmoud Mostafa Kamal Esmat who was board chairman of El-Kahira Company for Glass Manufacturing. The second was Nevine Gamea, minister of industry and trade, was replaced by Ahmed Samir, chairperson of the house's Economic Affairs Committee since 2017. The make-up of the so-called "economic group" cabinet ministers now goes as follows: - Mostafa Madbouly: Prime minister and head of the group - Hala El-Said: Minister of planning and economic development - Mohamed Maait: Minister of finance - Ali Moselhi: Minister of supply and internal trade - Rania Al-Mashat: Minister of international cooperation - Ahmed Samir: Minister of industry and trade (instead of Nevine Gamae) - Mahmoud Mostafa Esmat: Minister of public enterprise (instead of Hesham Tawfik). The two ministers of finance and planning are directly responsible for ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a new loan to help shore up the country's public finances, which were badly affected by the war in Ukraine. According to Article 146 of Egypt's 2014 constitution, the president of the republic, after consultation with the cabinet, is authorised to name four ministers in charge of what is called "sovereign portfolios." The four sovereign cabinet ministers kept in place are: - Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki (since 2018) - Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik (since 2018) - Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry (since 2014) - Minister of Justice Omar Marwan (since 2019) El-Sisi's statement In a tweet on Saturday morning, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi explained that after consulting with the Council of Ministers he had decided to summon the House of Representatives to hold an extraordinary meeting on Saturday morning to look into the reshuffling of some cabinet portfolios. The changes to these important files at the local and foreign levels were made in order to better protect the interests of the state and directly lead to a concrete improvement in services offered to Egyptian citizens. Reshuffle of provincial governors Speculation is now rife that there will be a reshuffle of the 27 provincial governors very soon, as is typical after each cabinet reshuffle. The president is not obliged to summon the house to hold an extraordinary session to discuss and vote on the reshuffling. One of the provincial governors the governor of Beheira, Hesham Abdel-Ghani Amina was named as the new minister of local development. Make-up of the new cabinet The newly-reshuffled government of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly now includes 33 cabinet ministers as follows (newly appointed ministers are italicised): 1- Mostafa Madbouly: Prime minister 2- Mohamed Shaker: Minister of electricity and renewable energy 3- El-Sayed El-Quseir: Minister of agriculture and land reclamation 4- Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa: Minister of religious affairs and wakfs (religious endowments) 5- Mohamed Zaki: Minister of defence 6- Mahmoud Tawfik: Minister of interior 7- Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar: Minister of health and population 8- Sameh Shoukry: Minister of foreign affairs 9- Mohamed Maait: Minister of finance 10- Ali Moselhi: Minister of supply and internal trade 11- Hala El-Said: Minister of planning and economic development 12- Mohamed Salaheddin: Minister of state for military production 13- Ahmed Eissa Taha Eissa: Minister of tourism and antiquities 14- Yasmine Fouad: Minister of environment 15- Hesham Abdel-Ghani Amna: Minister of local development 16- Hani Suweilam: Minister of irrigation and water resources 17-Amr Talaat: Minister of telecommunications and information technology 18- Nevine El-Kilani: Minister of culture 19- Nevine El-Qabbaj: Minister of social solidarity 20- Hassan Shehata: Minister of manpower and immigration 21- Soha Samir: Minister of emigration and expatriates affairs 22- Mohamed Abbas: Minister of civil aviation 23- Kamel El-Wazir: Minister of transport 24- Ahmed Samir Saleh: Minister of industry and trade 25- Mahmoud Mostafa Esmat: Minister of public enterprise 26- Reda Hegazi: Minister of education and technical education 27- Mohamed Ayman Ashour: Minister of higher education and scientific research 28- Assem El-Gazzar: Minister of housing, utilities and urban development 29- Tarek El-Molla: Minister of petroleum and mineral resources 30- Ashraf Sobhy: Minister of youth and sports 31- Omar Marwan: Minister of justice 32- Rania Al-Mashat: Minister of international cooperation 33- Alaaeddin Fouad: Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: Medical Director of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital Dr Suresh Kumar on Saturday informed that the 5th case of monkeypox has been reported in Delhi. Dr Kumar said that the sample of a 22-year-old woman tested positive on Friday and she is currently under observation in the hospital. "One patient has been admitted in LNJP and her sample tested positive, at present 4 patients are admitted and one has been discharged. Total five cases of Monkey pox has been reported in Delhi. She came positive yesterday. Team of doctors are treating her," Dr Kumar told ANI here. Also Read: Monkeypox vaccine: When will it be available in India? Does everyone need it? He also mentioned that patient has no recent travel history, but had travelled one month ago.Delhi confirmed its first case of monkeypox on July 24 this year, a day after it was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation.The central government had released a host of guidelines to check the virus spread in India, including those at the entry points to the country. International passengers have been advised to avoid close contact with sick persons, dead or live wild animals, and others.The first case of monkeypox in India was reported from Kerala`s Kollam district on July 14. According to the World Health Organisation, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals), with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. New Delhi: While India is proudly celebrating 75 years of Independence by hoisting the tricolour in every corner of the country in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Har Ghar Tiranga call, a man in Uttar Pradeshs Kushinagar unfurled the Pakistani flag, said to media reports. The picture of the Pakistani flag being unfurled at a house has gone viral on social media as well. In a video, shared by Kushinagar Polices official handle, a police officer can be seen addressing the case where a man unfurled a non-Indian flag at his home. According to the official, the man responsible for the act has been arrested and further appropriate actions will be taken against him. According to media reports, the act was carried out by Salman, who is a resident of Bendupar Mustakil village of Kushinagar. Reports claim that some neighbours observed him hoisting the Pakistani flag on the terrace of his house and recorded the video of the act, which has now gone viral over social media. Uttar Pradesh | A man has been arrested for allegedly hoisting Pakistan's national flag at his house in Kushinagar We've registered a case and one person has been arrested. Further action is being taken: Ritesh Kumar Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kushinagar (12.8) pic.twitter.com/bXi3EZWcOt ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) August 13, 2022 Salmans act enraged the local people who immediately informed the police and asked the administration to take strict action. Locals said that Salman and his family, who were apparently involved in the act have indulged in anti-national acivity by unfurling the Pakistani flag and should be punished under the purview of the law. Jammu and Kashmir: As India proudly celebrates Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav with Har Ghar Tiranaga, a unique tricolour of human bodies were created in a school in Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora. The human tricolour chain was created during a Tiranaga rally held at the Hajin area of Bandipora in North Kashmir. This year, Kashmir celebrated 75years of Independence with great fervour with rallies and painting competitions being held in various parts of the valley. During the mega 'Har Ghar Tiranga rally' school students along with locals made tricolour of Humans on the ground. This was one mainly to promote and make people aware of Prime Minister Narendra Modis Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. The Grand tricolour function was organized at Army Goodwill School Hajin. More than one thousand students participated in the rally along with teachers besides officers and officials from the District Administration. The rally was organised to promote the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign to raise awareness regarding the struggle of freedom fighters of India and encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of Indias Independence. The event witnessed the people of Hajin coming together in unity to carry the Tiranga and sing patriotic songs showing their love and respect for the Flag. The rally was attended by Deputy Commissioner Bandipora and other senior dignitaries. The event will help in encouraging the future of our nation, especially youth to remember the embodiment of their commitment to nation-building and will turn out to be a great step towards nurturing nationalist spirit amongst the youth of the valley said people present in the rally. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Friday replaced its traditional saffron flag with the tricolor picture on the profile pictures of its social media accounts, ahead of the Independence Day. The country is celebrating the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' on the occasion of 75 years of independence. In such a situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to put the tricolor on their 'profile' picture on their social media accounts. The Congress and other opposition parties have been criticizing the national flag for its stance towards the Sangh. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a clear reference to the Sangh, had earlier this month questioned whether the organization, which has not hoisted the national flag at its headquarters in Nagpur for 52 years, would respond to the Prime Minister's request to put the tricolor on the profile picture of its social media accounts. . Also Read: Har Ghar Tiranga: 3 km-long TRICOLOUR being built in Jharkhand, set to create WORLD RECORD Responding To All Allegations Of Opposition RSS Publicity Department co-in-charge Narendra Thakur said on Friday that the Sangh has been celebrating Independence Day by hoisting the national flag in all its offices.The Sangh removed its organization's flag and put the national flag on its profile picture of its social media account. Thakur said that RSS workers are actively participating in the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign.The central government has urged people to hoist or display the national flag in their homes from August 13 to 15 as part of its 'Har Ghar Tiranga' programme. Supports Tricolor Program At Every Home Earlier, RSS's head of propaganda department Sunil Ambekar had said that such things should not be politicised. He had said that the RSS has already extended its support to the programs 'Har Ghar Tiranga' and 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. New Delhi: Huawei India CEO Li Xiongwei on Friday (August 12, 2022) in an apparent reference to a dialogue from a Bollywood movie, while responding to the Income Tax Departments position to his bail plea told a Delhi court said, "I am a Chinese (national) and not a terrorist." The CEO`s comment through his lawyer was during a hearing on Friday, in connection with an Income Tax case. His line came in reference to Shah Rukh Khan's line in movie, My name in Khan, where he had said, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist." In the earlier hearing, the Income Tax Department stated that Huawei had a "willful failure" of providing account books and relevant documents during a search at the Chinese electronic company`s Gurugram office. "The culpable mental state of the accused persons is to be presumed," stated Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Anurag Thakur in a recent order. According to the reports, as India does not have an extradition treaty with China, if the Huawei India CEO leaves the nation, it would 'be very difficult' to bring him back, the I-T department told the court in an affidavit, adding that the investigation is not yet complete. He stating that there is sufficient material on record to summon the accused persons under 275-B and section 278-B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Deals punishment for failure in facilitating an authorised officer to inspect the books of account or other documents). According to the complaint, on February 15, the Income Tax Department conducted a search at Huawei Communications` Gurugram office for the verification of the books of accounts. However, during the course of the search, Li, Sandeep Bhatia, Amit Duggal and Long Cheng, willfully and deliberately did not comply with the department, it said. The court also noted that Li and others deliberately chose to give vague answers to some questions in their statement to the Department. It further noted that the accused were only trying to somehow confuse the authorised officer in order to deny access to documents and unreasonably took a long time for furnishing data and information which have been readily available. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: India's 75th Independence day is just around the corner and preparations for PM Modi's address are in full swing. Around 7000 invitees are expected to attend PM's address at the Red Fort on Monday. According to officials, over 10,000 police personnel will be deployed at the historic monument for the PM's address. A multi-layered security cover has been put in place and facial recognition system (FRS) cameras installed at the entry point of the Red Fort from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Independence Day. The Delhi Police has deployed over 400 kite catchers and fliers on rooftops and other sensitive locations in the fort area to counter any threats from sub-conventional aerial platforms. A five-kilometre area around the Red Fort has been marked as a "no kite flying zone" till the tricolour is hoisted. Anti-drone systems from Defence Research and Development Organisation and other security agencies are also being installed. "We have installed high-resolution security cameras at and around the Red Fort and their footage is being monitored round the clock. This time, the number of invitees has increased to 7,000. FRS cameras have also been deployed at the entry point of the Mughal-era monument," a senior police officer said. Lunch boxes, water bottles, remote-controlled car keys, cigarette lighters, briefcases, handbags, cameras, binoculars, umbrellas and similar items will not be allowed at the Red Fort premises, he said. Dependra Pathak, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) said provisions of Section 144 have already been instituted in Delhi. Anyone seen flying kites, balloons or Chinese lanterns at Red fort from August 13 till the end of the programme on August 15 will be punished. "Kite catchers have been deployed with necessary equipment on strategic locations and they will prevent any kind of kite, balloon and Chinese lanterns from reaching the function area. Radars will be deployed at Red Fort to counter any threats from sub-conventional aerial platforms and manned or unmanned flying objects," he said. Earlier on Friday, the Delhi Police recovered over 2,200 live cartridges near Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal and arrested six people in this connection. Around 1,000 high-specification cameras are being installed in the North, Central and New Delhi district units to contain aerial objects. These cameras will also help monitor the VVIP route to the monument. The Delhi Police has intensified patrolling and anti-sabotage checks; meanwhile, checking and verification of tenants and servants at hotels, guest houses, parking lots and restaurants is going on. Earlier on July 22nd, the police issued an order prohibiting the flying of aerial objects such as paragliders, hang gliders and hot air balloons till August 16. Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer Laal Singh Chaddha - the movie that is facing boycott calls - is getting trolled big time on social media over one particular scene. As claimed by some on social media, the movie, that is a Bollywood adaptation of superhit Hollywood movie Forest Gump, has made a slight change in the script. In the actual movie, Forest Gump saves his senior officer during a war, and later in life, the duo start a business together. However, in Aamir Khan's movie, as many viewer who have seen both movies claim, lead character Laal Singh Chaddha saves a Pakistani terrorist, and rest of the script remains the same - that both start a business together and earn lots of money. Now, nationalist brigade on social media is claiming that making such a change was not at all required and the same has been done to sympathise with terrorists. People are callinbg this Aamir Khan's deliberate attempt to gain sympathy for anti-national elements. "In the movie Lal Singh Chaddha, Aamir Khan saves a pakistani terrorist during the Kargil War. Whereas there is no such scene in the original film Forrest Gump. So Aamir Khan wants to prove that terrorists are good, and Indian security agencies are idiots?" retired army official Rajeev Singh Tweeted. #LalSinghChaddhareview "As would be expected in an Aamir Khan film, there is plenty of Hinduphobia. Khan saves a Pakistani terrorist and creates sympathy for Pakistanis throughout the film. The film shows that the Islamic terrorist was just a misinformed person and Laal Singh Chaddha reforms him," a twitter user who goes by the name Rakesh Krishnan Sinha said. "In the movie, the terrorist that Aamir Khan saves reads Namaz 5 times and asks him that why don't you read/do anything? Aamir Khan says "My mother used to tell me that puja paath (hindu rituals) is a malaria. It spreads hate!" wrote another user. "On a day when we lost 4 brave soldiers to Pak sponsored terrorism, Aamir Khan releases a movie in which he saves and rehabilitates a character who is a Pakistani terrorist. It is more than just speaking against government a few years ago," another twitter user said. Mathura: A lawyer from Mathura waged and won a legal battle in the consumer forum for 21 long years against Indian Railways which charged him Rs 20 extra. Now, after more than two decades of fighting in court, the Consumer Forum has ruled in favour of the lawyer. What happened 23 years back? The matter dates back to December 25, 1999, when Advocate Tungnath Chaturvedi, resident of Gali Pirpanch of Mathura reached Mathura Cantt station to take a train to Moradabad. He asked for two tickets for Moradabad at the ticket counter where the booking clerk took Rs 90 instead of Rs 70. At Rs 35 per person ticket, two tickets would have cost him Rs 70. However, the booking clerk took from him Rs 90 Advocate Chaturvedi asked for the return of Rs 20 but the booking clerk refused to do so. Meanwhile, as his train had arrived at the station, Chaturvedi boarded and departed for his destination Moradabad. However, he later filed a case in the Consumer Forum in the matter complaining of taking Rs 20 more than the prescribed ticket price. In this case, the General Manager of North Eastern Railway Gorakhpur and the window booking clerk of Mathura Cantonment railway station were made parties. After 21 years, the Consumer Forum gave a verdict in favour of Advocate Tungnath Chaturvedi and ordered Railways to pay Rs 20 per annum with 12 per cent interest as a fine of Rs 15 for the mental harassment and litigation expenses. Also Read: 'Opposition unity in UP only possible if...': Shivpal Yadav on Nitish Kumar's 2024 plan Justice prevailed The Consumer Forum has ordered the Railways to pay the amount within 30 days. The Forum said if Railways does not pay the amount within 30 days, the amount will be paid at 15 per cent interest per annum on Rs 20. "It took time to get justice. But I am satisfied that the decision against the illegal thing has finally come," said Chaturvedi. He said that his family members and neighbours had several times insisted that he let go of the matter but he continued his fight for justice. Chaturvedis family and neighbours have expressed their happiness that the Forum had favoured him in its decision. One of his neighbours said that one should always raise his voice against injustice. In shocking scenes, hundreds of youth carried out a march in Uttar Pradesh's Noida in support of Shrikant Tyagi - the BJP leader arrested for manhandling and abusing a woman in the city's Grand Omaxe society. The march saw participation of Tyagi and Bhrhamin community members. The members raised slogans in support of Shrikant Tyagi. Not only this, they also shouted slogans against Noida MP Mahesh Sharma. People were heard shouting "Mahesh Sharma Murdabaad" slogans during the march. Tyagi community expresses anger over "Shrikant Tyagi's media trial" Members of Tyagi community, who participated in the march, said that Shrikant Tyagi is a victim of "media trial" in the matter. They said that the police behaved with Tyagi in a biased manner and his family was humiliated despite not being involved in the matter. The Tyagi community members demanded a fair trial in the matter. Tyagi community demands action again Dr Mahesh Sharma Tyagi community members said that Noida MP Mahesh Sharma behaved in an unjust manner in the matter. They said that Sharma spoke to city Police Commissioner Alok Singh in a disrespectful manner in front of media. The Tyagi community memebers demanded action against Mahesh Sharma over his alleged bad behaviour. Politicisation of matter The people who participated in the march said that Tyagi community is being defamed in the guise of the action against Shrikant Tyagi. They said the alleged media trial has led to the politicisation of the matter, resulting in intense and unnecessary action against Shrikant Tyagi and his family members. Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Saturday said he has sent a legal notice for defamation to the Gautam Buddh Nagar police commissioner for linking him to politician Shrikant Tyagi accused of assaulting a woman. Maurya, who is also a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, has sought Rs 11.50 crore as general and special compensation for loss of reputation and family honour, mental torture and physical agony, according to the copy of the notice shared by him on social media. We haven't received any notice from Swami Prasad Maurya: Noida Police The Gautam Buddh Nagar police, meanwhile, said in a statement that it was yet to receive any such legal notice. The police said it would respond only after studying the notice. "Regarding the Vidhan Sabha pass found in the Shrikant Tyagi case, the police commissioner of Gautam Buddh Nagar has acted irresponsibly and without investigating tried to tarnish my image, reputation and popularity in the whole country through the press. In this context, I have sent a legal notice for defamation," Maurya tweeted in Hindi. His lawyer J S Kashyap also confirmed to PTI that the legal notice has been sent on Friday and they were awaiting a response to it. Tyagi was arrested on August 9 over assaulting and abusing a woman co-resident of his society in Noida. He has also been booked for cheating and under the Gangsters Act. The cheating case related to the misuse of a sticker given to MLAs of Uttar Pradesh and a symbol of the state government which were found on his car. In a statement issued on Saturday night, he Gautam Buddh Nagar police said, "Today information has been received through social media that a notice/letter has been issued by an advocate on behalf of former cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya in the context of the press conference held on August 9." "In this regard, it is to be informed that no such notice/letter has been officially received by the Noida Commissionerate Police. After receiving the said notice/letter and studying the facts mentioned in it, a suitable answer will be prepared and sent to the concerned," it said. Noida police linked Swami Prasad Maurya with Shrikant Tyagi During the press conference on August 9 in Noida, Police Commissioner Alok Singh said: "He (Tyagi) also had a sticker on one of his vehicles which is given to honourable MLAs. Tyagi told police during questioning that this sticker was provided to him by his associate Swami Prasad Maurya." How Maurya switched sides before elections Maurya was a cabinet minister in the first term of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh from 2017. However, he switched to the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2022 state elections. He was earlier a prominent face of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party. Tyagi claimed to be the national executive member of the BJP's Kisan Morcha and the national co-coordinator of its Yuva Samiti, until he went underground on August 5 after the clip of the spat with the woman went viral. While the ruling party denied any links with him, the opposition mounted an attack on the BJP, sharing purported pictures of Tyagi with senior saffron party leaders, including its national president J P Nadda. Egyptian rapper Wegz will deliver some flow in a concert at New Alameins El-Alamein Arena this Friday. Dubbed the most listened-to rapper in recent years in Egypt by multiple streaming platforms, Wegz will merge with his wide fan-base of youngsters at the coastal city, which is witnessing a lot of activities this summer. Followed by more than 2 million fans on each platform, the 1998-born Alexandrian gained popularity with his rap in arrangements that mix Western hip-hop with Egyptian Mahraganat sounds, making many hits with releases and collaborations like Bazeet, Dorak Gai, Salka, El-Ghasala, Keify Keda, El-Bakht, and Aqua Mix with famous actor and rapper Ahmed Mekky. The concert is held as part of the El-Alamein Festival, which recently hosted concerts by Amr Diab, Tamer Hosny, Amal Maher, Sharmoofers and others, with more stars expected in the upcoming weeks. Programme: Friday 19 August Al-Alamein Arena, New Alamein Search Keywords: Short link: The process for rigging Supertech's illegal twin towers in Noida with explosives started Saturday, with the nearly 100-metre-all structures set to be demolished on August 28, officials said. More than 3,500 kg of explosive will be filled in around 9,400 holes drilled in the columns and shears of the skeletal structures of the twin towers which will be razed to the ground. The first batch of explosives reached the site in Noida's Sector 93A around 9 am amid tight police security, the officials said. The charging process--rigging of skeletal structures with explosives--will take around 15 days, they said. "The first batch of explosives was brought to Noida in a regulated quantity today from Palwal, Haryana. This was done after all requisite permissions and approvals were granted for the work by authorities concerned," an official privy to the demolition project said. Meanwhile, additional police force has been deployed in the area around the twin towers, which have been made inaccessible to unauthorised persons, officials said. A 500-metre road stretch in front of the towers has also been closed for normal traffic movement. Supertech's Apex and Ceyane towers are scheduled for demolition in pursuance of a Supreme Court order last August which noted that the structures had come up in violation of building norms inside the Emerald Court society's premises. Earlier, the scheduled demolition date was August 21. On Friday, the Supreme Court fixed August 28 as the date for razing the illegal twin towers and also relaxed the time frame till September 4 in case of delays arising from technical or weather conditions. In a shocking incident, a woman, who was driving a car, thrashed a poor e-rickshaw driver for a minor scratch on her car in Uttar Pradesh's Noida on Saturday. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. As seen in the video, the poor rickshaw driver keeps pleading with the woman all the time. The woman, however, considering the man weak a guy, thrashes him repeatedly. Not only this, she blatantly abuses him and even snatches money from him. "Tere baap ki gaadi hai kya, (is this your father's car)" the woman is heard saying in the video. The woman uses cuss words and abuses the rickshaw driver on camera. The incident was much-similar to what happened in the same city a few days ago - a politician showing off his power on a common citizen - in the Shrikant Tyagi case. In similar set of events, Shrikant Tyagi, a BJP leader, was caught on camera abusing and manhandling a woman. The video went viral. What followed next was nothing short of a nightmare for Tyagi. Watch Video Here: Noida woman thrashing and abusing poor rickshaw driver (Warning: Abusive language) A woman in #Noida shamelessly heckled and slapped an E-rickshaw driver after his rickshaw brushed past her car. The woman slapped him 17 times in less than 90 seconds and constantly kept abusing the poor guy. 1/3https://t.co/W2xxFR0JX3 pic.twitter.com/PZPMSBRI7f Syed Hassan Kazim (@kazimtweets) August 13, 2022 While Shrikant Tyagi was chased, arrested, and slapped with as many charges possible. His property too was demolished. And, the top netas across all the parties jumped into the row. However, nothing of that sort has been seen in the incident that took place on Saturday. While the woman was arrested, there was hardly any bru-ha-ha over this incident. Why? Because the victim, in this case, was a poor man? And there's hardly any glamour involved. Or the social media users - mainly middle-class people - don't care about atrocities being meted out to a poor person? While the video has gone viral, the so-called intellectual community on social media is clearly NOT outraged enough. Their silence is flabbergasting, unfortunate and un-called for at the same time.. New Delhi: K Natwar Singh, who was a Union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government that banned Salman Rushdie's controversial book "The Satanic Verses", strongly defended the decision on Saturday asserting it was taken "purely" for law and order reasons. With focus back on Rushdie's book in the wake of the attack on him in New York, Singh, who was the minister of state for external affairs when the book was banned in 1988, said he was part of the decision and had told the then prime minister the book could cause serious law and order problems as feelings were running very high. Singh (91) rejected as "rubbish" the charge by critics the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban the book was driven by appeasement towards Muslims. "I don't think it (the decision to ban the book) was wrong because you see it had led to law and order problems, particularly in Kashmir. In other parts of India also there was disquiet," Singh told PTI. "Rajiv Gandhi asked me what should be done. I said, 'all my life I have been totally opposed to banning books but when it comes to law and order even a book of a great writer like Rushdie should be banned'," the diplomat-turned-politician said. Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children' is one of the great novels of the 20th century but the decision to ban "The Satanic Verses" was taken purely for law and order reasons, Singh asserted. A massive controversy had erupted after the release of the book 'The Satanic Verses' as several Muslims saw it as blasphemous. Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa against Rushdie and called for his death. Strongly defending the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision, Singh said, "I completely think it was justified because it was going to cause serious law and order problems as feelings were running very high, particularly among our Muslim population." "I said, 'the entire Muslim world is going to flare up, we have a large number of Muslims and apart from that, what the book contains at this time, is not acceptable'," he recounted. Rushdie, who faced death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York. The New York State Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar from Fairview, New Jersey, while the motive behind the act is still unknown. The suspect ran up onto the stage prior to the speaking event and attacked the 75-year-old. The author was rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery. Singh said he was "very distressed" over the attack. "Here is a man 75 years old, not harming anybody and contributing to literature and then some rascal comes and nearly kills him and that too when he was making a speech in New York," he said. Singh said Rushdie had left England for the simple reason that there were more Muslims in the UK than there are in America. "There is no doubt that he is one of the great writers of the 20th century. So I am very distressed. I did not know him personally but I admired his 'Midnight's Children', I read it several times, it is high-class literature," he said, lauding Rushdie for his contribution to the world of literature. Former Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi mocked the opposition and said that they are waiting for the list of two dozen PM candidates of the opposition. Let us tell you that the names of Nitish Kumar, Mamta Banerjee and now Akhilesh Yadav are also appearing for the post of PM candidate of the opposition. Addressing the gathering in Rampur, UP, Naqvi said that people suffering from the political disease of Modi-Phobia will soon disappear. Addressing a gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said people suffering from the "political disease of Modi phobia" will soon disappear. He asserted that the pretense of "pessimistic political players" can never defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hard work and honesty. Hitting out at the opposition parties, the BJP leader said they (Opposition) have already prepared a waiting list of two dozen prime ministerial candidates.The former Union Minister said it is called "Vanity Without Vacancy".Naqvi said that despite all the "political intolerance and false and fabricated allegations", Prime Minister Modi is working tirelessly and diligently with a commitment to "inclusive empowerment". He said that for Modi, the country's security and dignity is 'Rashtra Niti' while welfare of every needy is 'Rashtradharma'. During his Rampur tour, Naqvi participated in the "Tiranga Kite Event" at the Mahatma Gandhi Stadium, where the tricolour was honored by flying 75 kites. New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Saturday changed its social media display picture (DP) to national flag on its Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts. The RSS was facing criticism over not featuring the national flag on its social media accounts after PM Modi's call, ahead of India's 75th Independence Day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens of the country to use `tiranga` as their profile picture on social media accounts between August 2 and August 15. "Celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. Hoist the tricolour at every house. Raise national self-respect," Sangh said in a Twitter post. The Congress party had launched an attack on RSS for not "hoisting the national flag" at its headquarters and not adhering to PM Modi's call. In a reply to it, the RSS said that it has already extended its support to the Centre's 'Har Ghar Tiranga' and the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' programmes. The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign was initiated as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of Independence and will run till August 15. The Central government has urged people to hoist or display the tricolour in their homes from August 13 to 15 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence. A citizen, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist or display the National Flag on all days and occasions. There is no restriction on the timing of flag display. The government has amended the Flag Code of India to allow the tricolour to be displayed in the open and on individual houses or buildings day and night. The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December last year allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags. The medical team of SSKM Hospital came to see Partha Chatterjee in the Presidency Jail. The team consisted of 8 expert doctors from various departments including cardiology, medicine. According to jail sources, the doctors teach Partha Chatterjee some special exercises. Earlier Partha Chatterjee claimed that he was not getting proper treatment in the jail hospital. Partha informed the lawyer about the matter. In the report given to the jail superintendent, the jail doctor claimed that Partha's problem cannot be treated by the jail doctor. That report went to the prison office in Nabanna. From there the report is sent to the District Chief Health Officer of South 24 Parganas. On his instructions, a team of 8 doctors went to Presidency Jail to see Partha. According to jail sources, the medical team examined Partha for three hours besides listening to his various physical problems. Jail Hospital doctors were at the scene at that time. The doctors of SSKM Hospital also advised the doctors of the jail hospital on how to solve the various physical problems of the former education minister arrested in the teacher recruitment corruption case and how to proceed with the next treatment. Partha Chatterjee is suffering from leg and back pain. The doctors showed him special exercises to explain how to find a solution. He was also advised to change his sleeping style to reduce back pain. Also Read: 'Will Anubrata Mandal come to this JAIL?', questions 'Curious' Partha Chatterjee after his 'BAHUBALI' friend's ARREST Incidentally, the Presidency Jail authorities claimed that Partha Chatterjee did not want to take extra facilities in the jail. According to sources, Partha Chatterjee has leg and back pain. But the former minister did not want to go to the jail hospital. In the afternoon, he use to walk outside the cell in front of the security guard. He spends his time reading books apart from necessary talks with lawyers. Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested for corruption in the appointment of teachers is for the time being staying in Presidency jail. Prisoner No. 943799. He is in cell block number 2. Up to five prisoners have to use the common toilet. According to jail sources, Partha Chatterjee's side cell is empty. In the cell on the other side is a prisoner under trial for bride torture. However, this block houses high-profile prisoners like Rose Valley scam mastermind Gautam Kundu, Saradha Scam chief Sudipta Sen, Maoist leader Chhatradhar Mahato, IS militant Musa, Aftab Ansari and his close associate Jamaluddin Ansari. The four sets of clothes have also been given to him in the jail. Washington (US): Salman Rushdie, the Indian-origin controversial novelist, was stabbed in the neck and torso onstage at a lecture in New York state on Friday (August 12) and airlifted to a hospital, police said. After hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and according book his book agent Andrew Wylie, the author might lose one eye. The New York State Police have identified the suspect. Here's what we know about him so far: - The New York State Police have identified the suspect, who attacked Salman Rushdie, as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. - The motive behind the act is still unknown. The authorities didn't reveal much information about the suspect. - "The suspect has been identified as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. Earlier today, approx. at 10:47 am, the speaker Rushdie,75 and Henry Reese,73 had just arrived at the stage of the institution and shortly thereafter the suspect jumped out of the stage and attacked at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen," State Police Troop Commander Major Eugene J. Staniszewski said in a news conference. - The police further said that several members of the institution and the audience quickly responded to the incident and took the suspect to the ground. A doctor in the audience "immediately began first aid for Rushdie" after the stabbing, Major Staniszewski said. - Salman Rushdie has faced death threats over his book 'The Satanic Verses', though it was published long back in 1988. He spent years in hiding after Iran urged Muslims to kill him because of his writing. - The New York State Police said in a statement that a male suspect ran up onto the stage prior to a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua and attacked Rushdie. - Rushdie is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. While saying that the "news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email: "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged." - From prominent figures in the literary circle to leading politicians, there was an outpour of global reactions, slamming the attack on Rushdie. - Reacting to the incident, veteran Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar condemned the barbaric attack. "I condemn the barbaric attack on Salman Rushdie by some fanatic. I hope that NY police and the court will take the strongest action possible against the attacker," Javed Akhtar tweeted. - Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British-American novelist. He was born on June 19, 1947, in Mumbai and later shifted to the UK where he completed schooling and did his college. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. His second novel, Midnight's Children, won the Booker Prize in 1981. He has several great works to his name but it was his fourth novel, 'The Satanic Verses' (1988), that became the subject of controversy, provoking protests from Muslims across the globe. Kalaburagi: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson and MLA Priyank Kharge on Friday made serious allegations against the BJP-led state government that "men have to bribe while young women have to sleep with someone to get a government job in the State." Kharge demanded judicial investigation or probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into recruitment scams and sought that the government set up a fast-track court. Highlighting BJPs indulgence in large-scale corruption in recruitment in various posts, Kharge said, "The government has decided to sell posts. If young women want a government job, they should sleep with someone. Men have to give bribes for government jobs. A minister had asked the young woman to sleep with him for a job. He resigned after the scandal came to light and this is proof of my words." He said Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) has conducted recruitment for a total of 1,492 posts including Assistant Engineer, Junior Engineer, and Civil Engineer. "A candidate who was writing the exam using Bluetooth was arrested in Gokak. According to the information I have, it is possible that the deal has been done for a total of 600 posts. It is suspected that they have received Rs 50 lakh for the post of Assistant Engineer and Rs 30 lakh for the post of Junior Engineer. There is a possibility that Rs 300 crores of embezzlement have taken place in this alone," he said in a press conference. "Where should the poor and talented students go if there are irregularities in every recruitment examination? The perpetrators and the middlemen know that nothing would happen to them even if any scam comes to light. The government is playing with the future of about 3 lakh students who have applied for the posts of KPTCL," said Congress MLA. He said that the candidates are very upset about those who have made a business out of the methodology for the sake of a 40 percent commission. Targeting the governments Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, Kharge said that BJP is using patriotism for business. "BJP is also using patriotism for business. The Flag Code has been amended to allow the use of polyester flags to attract attention. Its biggest beneficiary is the Reliance Company, whose officers have been made flag salesmen. Flags are being compulsorily issued to railway staff by deducting their wages from their salaries," he said. He questioned whether the state government, which has given tax exemption to the film Kashmir Files, has no merit in giving the flag for free. "Officials also called me and asked me to buy 20,000 flags. I disagree. Instead of polyester flags, we are distributing 10,000 khadi flags free of charge from the district congress," he added. Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar has urged people to take a pledge for organ donation on the occasion of World Organ Donation Day. "During this Azadi Ki Amrit Mahotsav, pledge to donate your organs which could be "Amrit" for someone`s life," Sudhakar said while addressing a press conference. The press conference was held to brief about the awareness program where a human chain will be formed from Bengalurus Mekhri Circle to Freedom Park on Saturday to mark World Organ Donation Day. He said that the human chain will consist of over 5000 which would include students, youth, and ASHA workers to express cooperation amongst people. In addition to this, several belonging to the field of health and medicine will stand in the shape of kidneys at Tripuravasini for 15 minutes (from 8 am to 8:15 am) to raise awareness, the Health Minister added. "Also, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will be felicitating family members who donated the organs of their loved ones who unfortunately had been declared brain dead, at an event that will be held in Vidhana Soudha. Additionally, those who were the recipients of the organs will also share their thoughts on the occasion. CM Bommai will also take an organ donation pledge. I too along with other officials will also take a pledge along with CM Bommai at the event," Minister Sudhakar added. The Health Minister recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modis Mann Ki Baat address, in which he appealed to people to donate organs. "We call blood donation a great donation. I would like to go one step ahead and say organ donation is the superior donation. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi also has appealed to citizens of India during one of his Mann Ki Baat radio programmes," he said. Sudhakar said that Karnataka has State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO) and there is an option to take the pledge online. "Over 11,000 people have already taken the pledge online. Karnataka should become a role model in this. A total of 4354 people have registered for a Kidney transplant in Karnataka. Similarly, 1141 people have registered for a liver transplant and 91 people have applied for a heart transplant. The recipient will be decided on the basis of the match and further on a first come first serve basis within the match," the Minister said. He said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of donations had gone down."There is a need for three-four lakh Kidney donations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of donations had gone down. There were only two places for organ donation in the entire, one at Bowring and the other at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). Sudhakar said that the Karnataka government took measures to open one such facility at each medical college in Karnataka and currently the number has grown to 18. Also read: World Organ Donation Day 2022: History, significance and top quotes - check dos and don'ts "It is heartening to see so many come forward to pledge themselves to organ donation. Even our beloved Puneeth Rajkumar`s eye donation has helped restore vision to 5 people. Organs of Actor Sanchari Vijay have helped to save five people," Sudhakar said. He said that the government is also contemplating placing a price cap for organ donation in private hospitals to make it more affordable. "To hasten the process of donation, harvest, transportation, and transplant of organs, an air ambulance facility is being planned and will be available shortly. In Victoria Hospitals gastroenterology unit an organ harvest facility has been created with very low expenditure under the Ayushmaan Bharat scheme. We are also contemplating placing a price cap for organ donation in private hospitals to make it more affordable," added Minister Sudhakar. New Delhi: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that he and other rebel Shiv Sena MLAs would have ended up as "martyrs" had there been any "sabotage" during their coup against the party leadership. He was speaking on Thursday after visiting his native village Dare in western Maharashtra's Satara district for the first time after becoming chief minister. In a bold move that brought down the government headed by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs supporting him left Maharashtra in the third week of June and camped in Guwahati for almost ten days. Also Read: 'My love and respect for Uddhav Thackeray...': Another Shiv Sena leader joins Eknath Shinde faction Referring to the episode, Shinde said he was not worried for himself, but was aware that he had the responsibility of 50 MLAs. "Till the last moment everyone was keeping the fingers crossed. Had there been any sabotage, we would have been martyred," the chief minister said. Speaking at the same program, he assured that the issues related to the rehabilitation of the people affected by the Koyna dam project will be resolved on a "war-footing". The Dare village, where Shinde did his primary schooling before shifting to Thane, is among the ones affected by the Koyna irrigation and hydroelectric project, constructed in the 1960s. Decisions will also be taken to improve the connectivity between western Maharashtra and Konkan, the chief minister said. Hungary said Saturday that Russia has started delivering additional gas to the EU member following a July visit to Moscow by its foreign minister. Hungary's Foreign Ministry said trade negotiations with Moscow "led to an agreement", resulting in Russia's Gazprom starting to deliver "above the already contracted quantities" on Friday. "It is the duty of the Hungarian government to ensure the country's safe supply of natural gas, and we are living up to it," ministry official Tamas Menczer said on his Facebook page. In the first phase, an additional volume of 2.6 million cubic meters per day will arrive from the south through the TurkStream pipeline until the end of August, he said, adding negotiations were underway for September deliveries. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto made a previously unannounced visit to Moscow in July to discuss the purchase of an additional 700 million cubic metres of natural gas. "In light of what is known about the current European market conditions, it is clear that the acquisition of such a large amount is impossible without Russian sources," Menczer said in the post on Saturday, mentioning Szijjarto's visit. An EU plan to cut gas consumption across the bloc by 15 percent to cope with an energy price crisis spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine came into effect this week. Some EU countries, though, had carve-outs from strictly following the rule, which was in any case termed a "voluntary demand reduction". Hungary, which relies on gas piped in directly from Russia, had demanded the exception. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: The Bishnoi community in the Kankani village of Rajasthan`s Jodhpur district is constructing a huge memorial to honour the blackbuck killed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan 24 years ago. The people of this village consider deer as their identity and says it is necessary for deer to survive. A grand monument and an animal rescue centre are being constructed at the same place where the deer was found dead. The memorial will be built in Kankani village at around 7 bigha land (a small portion of land). A huge 3-feet statue of black deer weighing 800 kg will be erected at the site made of cement and iron bars, and a rescue centre will also be built for the treatment of animals and birds. The statue of the deer is ready to be placed at the temple in Kakani village. The local people built the entire temple by collecting money from the residents of the Kankani village. A local sculptor Shankar has prepared the statue in 15 days at Siwanchi Gate of Jodhpur. The horns on the statue are of the original deer. The horns were made from the remains of dead deer in the forest. According to villagers, the temple is being built to raise awareness to protect animals for the coming generations. The temple will remind them to protect animals. Speaking to ANI, Former MP and representative of Bishnoi Samaj Jaswant Singh Bishnoi said, "Deer is our identity and it is necessary for them to survive. After the construction of the temple, we will pass our learning of Guru Jambhoji Maharaj to the next generation. Jambhoji Maharaj said that "sar kate rukh bache to bhi sasta jaan", which means that even if the head is cut off, the youth of Bishnoi samaj should be ready to save the environment, trees and animals at any cost." "When Guru Jambheshwar established the Bishnoi society, it was said in the code of conduct that the person who will sacrifice his life for the protection of trees and animals will get a place at the feet of Guru Jambheshwar. In Kankani village, 363 people sacrificed their lives to protect the trees," he added. Hanuman Ram Vishnoi, a local resident of the village said that when Salman killed blackbuck here, since then people are demanding a temple for the protection of animals so that people learn to protect animals. Ramniwas Bishnoi, a social worker said, "The youths of the village have decided to make a temple. Tourists, who come to visit always ask for the place where Salman killed the blackbuck. Now the youths are building a temple at the same place." The Bollywood actor was granted bail by Jodhpur Court in connection with the Blackbuck poaching case. Salman Khan was booked under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act for poaching two chinkaras in Bhawad village on September 26-27, 1998 and one chinkara in Mathania on September 28, 1998. Salman was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of killing two blackbucks in Jodhpur during the shooting of his movie `Hum Saath Saath Hain` in 1998. The other four accused - actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam, and Sonali Bendre - were acquitted in the case. Earlier, the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court dismissed a petition filed by the Rajasthan government that alleged that Salman Khan had presented a false affidavit related to the Arms Act in the blackbuck poaching case. New Delhi: Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, on Saturday morning, was seen hoisting the tricolour at his residence in Kerala amid the `Har Ghar Tiranga` campaign that kicked off today and will continue till Independence Day. The actor said that he is proud to participate in the `Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav` to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India`s Independence Day. "I joined citizens to hoist the national flag, honouring PM`s call of Har Ghar Tiranga. May this Mahotsav bring courage and inspire us to move forward with a lot of patriotism," the actor said. In pictures captured by ANI, Mohanlal is seen looking at the national flag with much respect and love. After he hoisted the Tricolour, the national anthem was played. With an aim to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of Indian citizens, the central government has kicked off the `Har Ghar Tiranga` campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to hoist the Tiranga at home to mark the 75th anniversary of India`s Independence. This drive will run till August 15. A citizen, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist or display the National Flag on all days and occasions. There is no restriction on the timing of flag display. The government has amended the Flag Code of India to allow tricolour to be displayed in the open and on individual houses or buildings day and night. The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December last year allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India`s people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about the Tricolour.Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark Supreme Court judgement of January 23, 2004, that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and PM Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, Naveen Jindal has urged every Indian to make `Har Din Tiranga` their motto. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens of the country to use `tiranga` as their profile picture on social media accounts between August 2 and August 15. MUMBAI: Bollywood star Aamir Khan joined the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign on Friday by displaying the tricolour at his Mumbai home. On Saturday, Aamir was spotted standing on his balcony with daughter Ira Khan. A tricolour was also positioned next to the railing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people of India to hoist the tricolour at their homes between August 13-15 to celebrate the 75th Independence Day. Last month, Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Culture said. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements. This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in its evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of activating India 2.0, fuelled by the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on March 12, 2021, which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of independence. A Delhi-based lawyer on Friday submitted a complaint to Delhi Police commissioner Sanjay Arora against Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, Paramount Pictures and several others for allegedly "disrespecting the Indian Army and hurting Hindu Sentiments " in his movie 'Laal Singh Chaddha'. Helmed by Advait Chandan, 'Laal Singh Chaddha' is an official Hindi adaptation of the Academy Award-winning 1994 film Forrest Gump, which had Tom Hanks in the lead role. Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh are also a part of the film. A few weeks ago, Aamir unveiled the film's trailer which took viewers on a joyride of emotions. The almost 3-minute-long trailer gave a glimpse into the fascinating and innocent world of Laal Singh Chaddha, the film's protagonist. His slow-witted approach and childlike optimism are the driving force of the movie. In the trailer, Aamir's calming voiceover and his eyes-wide-open look gave flashbacks to his mannerisms from Rajkumar Hirani's 'PK'. It showed multiple picturesque locations, exhibiting the Indian heritage in its tranquil form. Speaking about 'Laal Singh Chaddha', released on August 11. New Delhi: The tragic demise of Anne Heche has left many in deep sorrow. After learning about Anne Heche`s death, several celebrities including Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra paid a heartfelt tribute to the late actress on social media. Taking to Instagram, Priyanka wrote, "My heart goes out to Anne Heche`s children, family, friends, and everyone who grieves."She added, "It was an honour to have known you and worked by your side. You were a lovely person and an incredible actress. You will always have a special place in my heart. Ellen DeGeneres, who dated Anne Heche in the past too condoled the sad demise. She wrote, "This is a sad day. I`m sending Anne`s children, family and friends all of my love."Anne Heche, 53, had been comatose in hospital with a severe brain injury since the fiery collision on August 5. And one week later, on August 12, she breathed her last. Sharing the unfortunate news, a representative for Anne Heche told People, "Today we lost a bright light, a kind and most joyful soul, a loving mother, and a loyal friend." "Anne will be deeply missed but she lives on through her beautiful sons, her iconic body of work, and her passionate advocacy. Her bravery for always standing in her truth, spreading her message of love and acceptance, will continue to have a lasting impact," the rep grieved. Anne Heche`s career spanned decades and included memorable roles on TV, film and the stage. She rose to fame in the late `80s and `90s with her roles in the soap opera Another World (1987-1991) and films Volcano, Wag the Dog, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Six Days Seven Nights and the 1998 remake of Psycho. She is also known for her role in the 2004 film Gracie`s Choice, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for best supporting actress, and the ABC romantic comedy series Men in Trees, which aired from 2006 to 2008. New Delhi: On Sridevi`s 59th birth anniversary, her daughters Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor left everyone emotional with their touching tributes to the late actress. Taking to Instagram, Janhvi dug out her childhood picture with her mother. In the adorable image, Sridevi could be seen sharing smiles with her elder daughter Janhvi. Janhvi also penned a note in memory of her mother. She wrote, "Happy birthday Mumma.. I miss you more and more every day. I love u forever."Janhvi`s post has garnered several likes and comments from social media users. "Miss you so much Sridevi ji," a netizen commented. "She will always be there with you, and I bet she is really really proud of you," another one wrote. Actor Varun Dhawan and fashion designer Manish Malhotra, who shared a close bond with Sridevi, also reacted to the post. They dropped red heart emojis in the comment section. Khushi Kapoor, on the other hand, took to social media to share a photo in which she is seen with her late mom Sridevi. Sridevi`s secondborn Khushi shared a photo in which she is seen getting a kiss from her mom. Sridevi breath ed her last on February 24, 2018, in Dubai, where she had gone to attend a family function. Born as Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in 1963, she`s known for her iconic roles in Hindi movies like `Chandni`, `Lamhe`, `Mr India`, `Chaalbaaz`, `Nagina`, `Sadma` and `English Vinglish`, among many more. The Padma Shri awardee also made a mark with her extraordinary performances in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada films. Her last film was `Mom`, for which she also received the Best Actress National Award, posthumously. New Delhi: The Department of Post is facilitating free doorstep delivery of the national flag 'tricolour' for the celebration of Independence Day as part of the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign. The national flag can be purchased online for Rs 25 through the post office portal. The dimensions will be 20 inches and 30 inches in length and width, respectively, and will be available without a pole. It is available for purchase on the epostoffice.gov.in website. By going to the nearby post office, citizens can directly buy the national flag. The post office will be open on holidays during Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav, the nation's 75th Independence Day celebration. Read More: The Indian flag may now fly at homes day and night thanks to a change to the Flag Code of India. Previously, only between dawn and dusk could the Tricolour be flown. Read More: On the website of the Ministry of Culture, it is stated that "Har Ghar Tiranga is a campaign under the auspices of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to commemorate the 75th year of India's independence. The initiative's goal is to instill a sense of patriotism in people's hearts and raise awareness of the Indian National Flag. According to a notice from the Department of Post dated July 28, 2022, the customer must place an order on the post office website, pay for it, and have the flags delivered from the nearest post office that has them in stock. According to the Department, customers will receive free delivery of the national flag. The postal service states that it will sell national flags through its ePostoffice Portal as part of the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign. The customer must place an order on this website, pay for their order, and have their flags delivered by the closest post office that has them in stock. Visit your local Post Office to buy Tiranga or order online at https://bit.ly/3QhgK3r, per India Post's tweet. Step 1: Open the link and sign up. Step 2: Enter the credentials to log in. Step 3: Click "National Flag" under "Products" and add it to your shopping cart. or Go Here. Step 4: After clicking "Buy now," enter your mobile number once more and double-check the OTP. Step 5- Select "Proceed to Payment." Step 6: Pay the Rs 25 using your preferred method. New Delhi: Now the subscribers of National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can use UPI (Unified Payment Interface) to pay their part of premium in both schemes. The new rules will be applicable from 1 October, 2022. Until now, subscribers have the options of RTGS/NEFT/IMGS to pay the subscription fee. Government in its new notification has increased the options by allowing UPI payment system for subscription payment. It is to be noted that Government is promoting UPI payment system for digital economy. (ALSO READ: 11% growth possible in next decade if India does this, says RBI Deputy Governor Michael Patra) Benefits of paying premium before 9:30 in the morning If you pay the premium of NPS/APY before 9:30 in the morning, then it will be counted the investment of the same day. However, it will be considered for the next day if the payment comes after 9:30. (ALSO READ: HDFC Bank, HDFC Ltd get CCI's nod for merger) National Pension Scheme (NPS) NPS was launched in 2004 for central government employees except armed forces to provide social security. It is applicable for those who joined the service after 1 January, 2004. In May 2009, Government expanded its range to include private sector and unorganised sector on a voluntary basis. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) APY was launched for the employees in unorganised sector. The subscribers get monthly pension of between Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 after attaining the age of 60. It is a voluntary scheme. Crores of people have been linked with these two schemes. UPI payment option will ease the facilitation of subscription payment for subscribers. New rule from 1 October by Finance Ministry A notification has also been issued by the Finance Ministry regarding this change. Under the new rule, income tax payers will no longer be able to apply for Atal Pension Yojana (APY). According to the notification of the Ministry of Finance, this rule will be applicable from October 1, 2022. After this, any person who is an income tax payer according to the Income Tax Act cannot apply. NEW DELHI: Amala Paul performs spectacularly in her movie 'Cadaver'. How far would you go for your passions? Would you give up on your inherent identity for things you love? Amala Paul is one name that rings our head when we think of going all in for the things we love. The actress's recent movie 'Cadaver' is one to give you chills! Amala's character in her investigative thriller 'Cadaver' required a pixie cut hairdo. The actress switched to a pixie hair extension? Nope! She dived straight in and got her the required haircut to fit in the role. She let her natural hair be chopped off for being able to deliver a more authentic side of her character. The actress does whatever it takes to deliver authenticity and thats what she did when it came to proving her fascination for the role. Thrilling, isn't it? The actress is known for her gripping roleplays and her versatile choice of characters. She dares to choose roles that get her out of her comfort zone and we aren't surprised! Her venture 'Cadaver' is an investigative thriller roping the actress in a police surgeon role. The actress is already admired for her smooth role shifts and Cadaver has become a feather on her cap! From playing romantic roles in films like Mynaa to switching to a more serious role in 'Cadaver', Amala has left no stones unturned. Her transformation stories gain her some decent acclamations and are we not fascinated? Amala's character play in the investigative thriller was deeply appreciated in the trailer that was released earlier. Her fans and colleagues were the first to shower love on the trailer of 'Cadaver'. She is also the producer of the film and her first venture as a producer has gained her quite some admiration. She has taken up multiple roles and yet delivers each one of them with utmost dedication. The social media was inevitably flooded with tons of admiration for the actresss mind-blowing performance and her first release as a producer. The recently released trailer of the investigative thriller has quite raised some heat already and its no wonder. 'Cadaver' is produced by Amala Paul herself and is directed by Anoop S Panicker. The film stars Amala Paul, Harish Uthaman, Munishkanth, and Athulya Ravi, and is now streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar. The performance is one of a kind with a story beyond your imagination and a must-include in your watchlist! New Delhi: Actor Adivi Sesh, who captured the hearts of millions of people throughout the nation through his movie 'Major', celebrated Independence Day at the Octopus Special Forces Campus. In order to combat terrorist activities, the government of the once united Andhra Pradesh founded the OCTOPUS in 2007. It was modelled after the National Security Guards (NSG). The Camp is a training facility for the Organization for Counter-Terrorist Operations, covering 600 acres. Adivi had the opportunity to experience the boot camp firsthand, which was both exciting and educational. Here are few pictures from the visit: Adivi Sesh already endured a lot of the training that military personnel do when filming "Major," the inspirational story of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and his bravery and sacrifice in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which further fueled his devotion. Adivi Sesh describes his visit when he says, "I visited the Octopus Special Forces Campus in honour of Independence Day, and it was a genuinely bizarre experience. I got to know the group commander and the commandos' training officers. We witnessed their training, live weapon firing, IED explosive drills, and even their K9 squad. The dogs were taught so effectively that they can navigate a rope while wearing blinders. It was a remarkable sight for a dog lover to witness. Seeing the activity firsthand fills me with emotion and pride as an Indian. You should include something like. I applaud the soldiers' efforts, who are constantly concerned with our protection." New Delhi: Newly-wed couple Nayanthara and Vignesh Shivan are off on another vacation! The couple recently holidayed in Thailand for their honeymoon and now Vignesh has shared some adorable pictures with Nayanthara revealing that they are now headed to Spain. Vignesh took to Instagram to share two photos in which the lovely couple can be seen enjoying their time on a plane. He wrote, "En route Barcelona with my wifey" and accompanied the sentence with lovestruck, flowers, and red heart emoticons. In the pictures, both are dressed casually. Nayanthara is seen wearing a white T-shirt layered with a blue jacket and denims while Vignesh is wearing a sporty black sweatshirt. Nayanthara married Vignesh Shivan about two months ago, and soon after when the wedding pictures were out, fans went crazy! Soon, their dreamy wedding will be out on the OTT giant Netflix in the form of a documentary. Netflix recently released the first look teaser of the documentary - `Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairytale`. On July 21, Netflix officially announced the documentary. The documentary has been directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and produced by Rowdy Pictures. Nayanthara and filmmaker Vignesh Shivan married in Chennai on June 9. It was an intimate wedding with only their close friends and select guests, including Shah Rukh Khan, AR Rahman, Suriya and Rajinikanth, in attendance. Meanwhile, on the work front, the 37-year-old Kollywood actor was last seen in `Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal` on the big screen, which gathered a decent response from the netizens, and in `O2`, a survival drama film, which premiered on Disney+ Hotstar. She will be next seen in `GodFather` alongside south actor Mohan Lal. The film is slated to release on the occasion of Dussehra 2022 and in director Atlee`s next action thriller film `Jawaan` with Shah Rukh Khan, which is all set to hit the theatres on June 2, 2023. Egypts Public Prosecution ordered on Wednesday the four-day detention of the suspect in the murder of a female university student, Salma Bahgar, in the city of Zagazig in the Nile Delta a day earlier. Related Prosecution questioning accused in new broad daylight murder of university student colleague in Zagazig The prosecution said in a statement that it detained 22-year-old university student Islam Mohamed for four days pending investigations into charges of the premeditated murder of 20-year-old Bahgat in the lobby of a building in the city of Zagazig, the capital of Sharqiya governorate. According to the prosecution, Mohamed committed the murder after the victim and her family rejected his offer to marry her due to his bad behaviour, abnormal beliefs, and his addiction to drugs. The suspect killed the victim, who was studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy, after stalking her for some time, the prosecution said. Witness testimonies The prosecution said that the victim was in the building where the crime took place to visit a friend who worked at a local newspaper there. The victims friend revealed to the prosecution that they had spoken a day earlier and that Bahgat was in emotional distress. They then agreed they would meet at the paper. That night, the friend said that the suspect, Mohamed, called her to ask about Bahgat, to which the friend said that Bahgat would be visiting her at the newspaper the next day. Mohamed then contacted the owner of the newspaper to ask if you could work as an intern there, to which the owner agreed, the prosecution said. According to the prosecution, 11 witnesses were questioned, including five who saw the murder take place. These were the doorwoman of the building where the crime happened, her son, a grocer from a grocery next to the building, his young assistant, and one of the building residents. The grocer and his assistant revealed to the prosecution that the accused was in the area for an hour asking about the location of the newspaper prior to the murder. The five eyewitnesses said that they saw the accused stab the victim to death. A shopkeeper from a house appliance store next to the building testified that the suspect bought from him the knife that he used to commit the crime. According to the prosecution, the suspect took photos of the victims body after the attack. Last June, a similar incident stirred public anger when a 21-year-old student at the Faculty of Arts Mansoura University killed his colleague Nayera Ashraf, also in broad daylight after she rejected his advances. In July, a criminal court issued a preliminary death penalty verdict against the perpetrator in the case. Family Testimony The prosecution stated that it listened to the testimonies of the victims father and uncle who said that the accused and the victim were colleagues in the same university and the accused asked her hand in marriage, but he was rejected because her family wanted her to complete her education. Her family added that the girl then noticed his bad behaviour, how he was addicted to drugs, and decided to end her relationship with him, which led him to stalk and threaten her to harm and kill her. Her father revealed that on 29 June, during her last exam at the university located in Cairo, the victim was worried that the accused might meet her there and asked her father to accompany her. On that day, Bahgats father said that he was surprised to see the accused and his parents in front of the university waiting for them, asking his daughters hand in marriage again, but he refused, and they left. He added that he found the accused sending him threats that he would defame his daughter if he continued to reject him and when he blocked his contact on his mobile phone, he found out that the accused sent his threats to the victims brother and uncle. Bahgats uncle added that her family rejected the accuseds marriage proposal because he leaned towards atheism and had abnormal ideas, the prosecutions statement read. The prosecution stated that it checked that the victims family did not report the accuseds threats to the authorities prior to the crime. Confessions of the accused According to the prosecution, 22-year-old Mohamed confessed that he killed the victim and that after her familys rejection for his marriage proposal, he continued his relationship with the victim but then they disagreed after his attempt to prevent her from work and to meet her friends to allegedly protect her. The accused added that she ended her relationship with him after accusing him of blasphemy and atheism due to his tattoos which he claimed to have to draw her attention to him. Mohamed told the prosecution that he threatened the victim to defame and murder her after ending her relationship with him. He revealed that on 29 June he planned to kill her at the university with a pocket knife he had. When he failed he called his parents to come to ask her hand in marriage from her father after knowing that he was there on that day. Mohamed that her father refused his proposal until he removed his tattoos and continued his education at the university. Since that time, Mohamed lost contact with the victim. He tried to call her brother and uncle because he was blocked by the other members of her family. He reached her friend on Monday who informed him about her upcoming meeting with the victim the next day. Mohamed confessed that he intended to commit his crime during that time and bought a knife and waited for the victim at the buildings lobby. He attacked her, stabbing her several times. He added that the people gathered around them when she screamed and closed the gates of the building until police arrived. Mohamed told the prosecution that he took photos of the victim after he had stabbed her with his mobile phone and called his mother to tell her that he committed the crime, adding that he had been consuming hashish and alcohol for several months. Meanwhile, a man standing at the gate filmed him in a clip that went viral on social media. The prosecution added that it confiscated the accuseds mobile phone that contained several digital evidence, including the threats he sent to the family of the victim, as well as the mobile phone of the victims friend and the newspapers owner. Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi: According to reports, Google has extended the deadline for hiring freezes. Last month, the company announced a two-week hiring freeze to encourage existing employees to be more efficient and focused. According to two Google employees who spoke to Business Insider, the search giant has now pushed this back for another week. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, stated last month that "productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the headcount we have." He basically believes that the company has too many employees, but not enough of them work productively and with a goal in mind. Read More: Microsoft lays off 200 employees from R&D Projects, asks them to find jobs in 60 days Google has already stated that it will slow its hiring for the remaining year, but it will continue to hire for "critical roles." While several large technology companies are laying off a large number of employees in the name of restructuring. Experts believe that the world is concerned about a possible recession, which is why we are hearing more about layoffs as companies try to cut costs. Read More: Anand Mahindra gets tricolour from India Post, says Har Ghar Tiranga While some companies have stated that this is also a cost-cutting measure, the majority of companies have stated that restructuring is one of the reasons for layoffs. While Google has not yet fired any employees, the CEO recently stated that the company is "immune to economic headwinds," implying that it is financially stable and does not need to lay off workers. "The unpredictability of the global economic outlook has been on my mind." We, like all businesses, are vulnerable to economic downturns. Something I admire about our culture is that we have never regarded such challenges as obstacles. Instead, we've seen them as opportunities to sharpen our focus and invest for the long term," according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge from CEO Sundar Pichai. Google employees should be "more entrepreneurial, working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we've shown on brighter days," according to the CEO. "In some cases, this entails consolidating investments and streamlining processes." In other cases, this means halting development and reallocating resources to higher-priority areas," Pichai explained. Just a few days ago, companies like Netflix, Shopify, Coinbase, Alibaba, Robinhood, and Microsoft laid off some employees for the same reason we mentioned above: restructuring. Microsoft has reportedly fired over 2,000 employees so far. New Delhi: Smartphone maker Motorola has unveiled a new 5G budget smartphone Motorola G62 in India. The new phone comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G processor, 50 mega pixels multiple cameras, stereo speaker with Dolby Atmos, Android 12, and a 5000 mAh battery. In terms of camera, the phone comes with a 16-megapixel selfie snapper. The sale for Motorola G62 is starting for both variants on 19 August on Flipkart. (ALSO READ: Telegram releases new feature a day after blaming Apple for delay) Moto G62 prices and specs The Motorola G62 prices at Rs 17,999 for a version with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. A model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will cost you by Rs 19,999. It comes in two dazzling colours Midnight Gray and Frosted Blue. (ALSO READ: Amazon app quiz today, August 13: Here's how to win Rs 2,000) You can avail Rs 1500 Off On HDFC bank Credit Card Non EMI Transactions and Rs 1750 Off On HDFC bank Credit Card EMI Transactions. Besides, Citi Bank credit and debit offers 10% off, up to Rs 1750. Special off up to Rs 4000 (inclusive coupons and cashbacks) is available with the smartphone. Motorola claims that Moto G62 will perform without the smartphone overheating thanks to the Snapdragon 695 5G processor and 6 GB of RAM. Both models have round curves, FHD 6.55 display, and sim tray, power button and volume panel on the sides. Moreover, the smartphone has three cameras - left one for dedicated macro vision camera, middle one has 50mp camera with quad pixel technology, and right one has 8mp ultrawide plus depth sensor. New Delhi: A day after Pavel Durov said an update had been in Apple's app review for two weeks, the Telegram CEO and founder has now released the feature. According to Durov, the new update comes packed with emoji-related features. However, one is missing because the tech giant requested its removal specifically. Read More: Gold Price Today, August 13: Gold rates up by Rs 440, BIG FALL in Silver prices "After extensive media coverage of my previous post, Apple got back to us with a demand to water down our pending Telegram update by removing Telemoji -- higher quality vector-animated versions of the standard emoji," the CEO and founder wrote on his Telegram channel. Read More: Microsoft lays off 200 employees from R&D Projects, asks them to find jobs in 60 days Durov said it is a puzzling move on Apple`s behalf because Telemoji would have brought an entirely new dimension to its static low-resolution emoji and would have significantly enriched their ecosystem. Read More: India@75: The year 1992 and its impact on India "But it is good for Telegram long term, as we will now make Telemoji even more unique and recognisable. Besides, we have included 10 other emoji packs in today`s update -- together with the ability for any user to upload their own emoji," Durov said. He said it was an interesting engineering challenge to ensure that hundreds of vector-based emoji with smooth animations could simultaneously play on any mobile phone screen. Telegram said it is the first company ever to have implemented this in a mobile app. In a few weeks, users will be able to add any custom emoji as a reaction to a message and display an emoji as their current status next to their name. The company also mentioned that the new update will become available to Premium subscribers first. New Delhi: Terming Chinas defence of Abdul Rauf Azhar, a top commander of Pakistan-based proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), as "unfortunate", India on Friday said that when it comes to the collective battle against terrorism the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice. This comes as while all other 14 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday agreed to impose sanctions on Abdul Rauf Azhar, a top JeM commander, China stood out by coming to the defence of the terrorist and placing a hold on the proposal. Addressing a media presser, Ministry of External Affairs Minister Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "I want to emphasize that it is unfortunate that when it comes to our collective battle against terrorism and the international community has been unable to speak in one common voice." Moreover, Bagchi highlighted that India will continue to pursue its principled position of bringing terrorists to justice including through the UNSC resolution. He reiterated that Indias permanent representative in United Nations in New York during the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate on August 9, had flagged this concern categorically to all members. "We note with regret that a technical hold has been placed on the listing proposals," Bagchi added. Also Read: Taiwan-China crisis: India calls for restraint, de-escalation of tensions in Taiwan Bagchi while quoting the Indian envoy to UN Ruchira Kamboj said, "there should be no double standards in dealing with terrorists. The practice of placing holds and blocks without giving any justification must end. It is most regrettable that genuine and evidence-based listing proposals pertaining to some of the most notorious terrorists in the world are being placed on hold. Double standards and continuing politicizations have rendered the credibility of the sanctions committee regime at an all-time low." "As you are all aware Abdul Rauf Azhar, the deputy chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad which is a UN proscribed entity was actively involved in terrorist acts such as the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in 1999 as well as the terror attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and the terror attacks at Indian Army camps in Kathua in 2014 as well as the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot base in 2016. Abdul Rauf Azhar has been proscribed in Indian and US laws already therefore the placing of the technical hold against such unwanted terrorists is most uncalled for. India will continue to pursue its principled position of bringing these terrorists to justice including through the UNSC resolution 1267 sanctions regime." India and the United States wanted Azhar to be designated as an international terrorist and be subjected to a global travel ban and freezing of his assets, a proposal that would need to be agreed by all members in the 15-nation UNSC body but China, a permanent veto-wielding member of the UN and a close ally of Pakistan, delayed the move by putting a hold on it. Reuters cited a spokesperson for Chinas mission to the United Nations as saying that the delay was done as China needed "more time to study the case." "Placing holds is provided for by the Committee guidelines, and there have been quite a number of similar holds by Committee members on listing requests," the Chinese spokesperson was quoted as saying. Azhar has been under US sanctions since 2010 after the United States accused him of urging Pakistanis to engage in militant activities and organize suicide attacks in India. On Tuesday, Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj, in an apparent reference to China, said that the practice of placing holds and blocks on listing requests of terrorists without giving any justification must end. Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj made these remarks during a UNSC debate on Tuesday on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. China on repeated occasions has put the listing of Pakistan-based terrorists under the UNSC Al-Qaeda and ISIL Sanctions Committee on hold. Earlier in June, India slammed China after it blocked the proposal to list terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the Sanctions Committee, also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee. Ambassador Kamboj said India has suffered from the menace of terrorism for decades and has learned to counter this threat with resolve and firm determination. "We hope that the international community will stand united in addressing this threat to humanity with zero tolerance," she added. A spokesperson of the US mission to the United Nations told Reuters, "The United States respects other countries` needs to verify that a sanctions proposal meets their domestic evidentiary threshold to justify a listing at the UN." "The United States values cooperation with our Security Council partners to effectively use this tool in an apolitical way to stop terrorists from exploiting the global order to do their misdeeds," the spokesperson added. Islamabad: Pakistan has confirmed that it will attend the international counter-terrorism exercises in India later this year despite simmering tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The counter-terrorism exercises are scheduled to be held in Haryana's Manesar in October under the banner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Express Tribune reported. Pakistan and India are part of the regional body that also includes China, Russia and Central Asian Republics (CARs). While Pakistan and Indian military contingents have taken part in counter-terrorism exercises together, this will be the first time that Pakistan will be attending such drills in India, The Express Tribune reported. At the weekly briefing, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Asim Iftikhar confirmed Pakistan`s participation. "Yes, there will be exercises under the ambit of SCO RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure)," the spokesperson said, adding that India was chairing the SCO RATS this year. "These exercises are scheduled to be held in India in Manesar in October, and as Pakistan is a member, we will participate," he confirmed. "At what level, I think when we approach that, we will let you know," the spokesperson added. The move will be seen as significant given the deepening tensions between the two countries. Pakistan downgraded its relationship with India after New Delhi revoked the special status of the illegally occupied Kashmir region in August 2019. Since then, there has been no structured dialogue between the two sides though backchannel talks did produce a renewal of ceasefire understanding in February last year. The truce is still holding but there is no progress or indication of any thaw in the relationship. Backchannel talks have met a dead end with both sides sticking to their respective positions, The Express Tribune reported. There was renewed optimism for a possible breakthrough when there was a change of government in April in Pakistan. There were quick exchanges between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, but things could not move further. The two leaders will have at least two opportunities in the coming weeks for possible interactions. Both Modi and Shehbaz will be first attending the SCO summit in Samarkand and then the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session. "The SCO meeting is in Samarkand in mid-September; there is nothing with me about the meeting you are referring to," the FO spokesperson said when asked to comment on the possibility of a Modi-Shehbaz meeting. Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a fresh call on Friday for European Union states to ban visas for Russian nationals to keep the bloc from becoming a supermarket open to anyone with the means to enter. Zelensky said his proposal did not apply to Russians who needed help for risking their freedom or their lives by resisting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putins policies. There must be guarantees that Russian killers or accomplices of state terror not use Schengen visas, Zelensky said in a nightly address, referring to visas granting the holder access to the border-free Schengen Area that spans several EU states. Also Read: India expresses concern over shelling near Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuke power plant, calls for 'mutual restraint' Secondly, we must not destroy the very idea of Europe - our common European values. Europe must therefore not be transformed into a supermarket where it is not important who walks in and where the main thing is that people just pay for their goods. Zelensky first urged a visa ban in an interview this week with the Washington Post, saying Russians should live in their own world until they changed their philosophy. Zelensky's appeal has yet to win support from the EU`s major players. But he said he was heartened by support from the ex-Soviet Baltic states and the Czech Republic, the current rotating EU president. Finland has also backed the notion. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Zelenskiys appeal this week, saying any attempt to isolate Russians or Russia is a process that has no prospects. Supporters of Iraq's powerful Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied at Friday prayers, as their opponents gathered for a rival demonstration in the politically-divided country. The opposing demonstrations were the latest turn in a standoff which has so far remained peaceful in the war-scarred country. Thousands of supporters of Sadr, who once led a militia against American and Iraqi government forces, gathered for the Muslim weekly prayers near parliament inside the normally secure Green Zone. A week earlier, Sadr had called out tens of thousands of his followers for prayers in the area, home to government and diplomatic buildings. For nearly two weeks, his supporters have since held daily sit-ins, first inside the legislature, and later on its grounds. Their protest, triggered by a rival bloc's pick for prime minister, reflects months of failed negotiations by Iraq's political forces to form a new government after October elections. Outside parliament Umm Hussein, a Sadr supporter in her 50s, said she was there to protest "the regime that for 20 years has done nothing for the people, except plunder and steal public money". "Ninety percent of the population live in poverty, in sickness, in hunger," she complained, demanding "new faces" at the helm who would "serve the people". On Wednesday, Sadr demanded the judiciary dissolve parliament by the end of next week, as part of his call for new elections. 'Protect the constitution' His rivals in the pro-Iran Coordination Framework started a counter-demonstration later Friday. Several thousand protesters waving the national flag gathered on a road leading towards the Green Zone, an AFP correspondent reported. Loudspeakers played the national anthem. A statement from the alliance demanded the "formation of a new government" that would provide public services and solutions to power outages and water shortages. "We're here to protect the state and the constitution," said Abu Mehdi, a protest organiser from the city of Hilla, south of the capital. "Give the Coordination Framework the chance to form a government." Sadr's supporters also rallied Friday in the southern cities of Amarah, Kut and Nasiriyah. Their rivals demonstrated in the main northern city of Mosul, AFP correspondents reported. To further his campaign for new elections, Sadr has called on his supporters to petition the courts en masse. Stewards handed out printed forms outside parliament on Friday, to which demonstrators only had to add their names and signatures. The Framework had initially said they were conditionally open to new elections Asked what he would do if the courts rejected the petitions, 32-year-old engineer Ahmed al-Ibrahimi said: "Revolution is a lengthy struggle. Beating the retreat is not in our vocabulary. "We will keep up our sit-in and we will maintain our demand for the overthrow of this corrupt political junta." Two days after Sadr supporters stormed the Green Zone and entered parliament on July 30, thousands of Coordination Framework backers held a counter-protest on a road leading to the Green Zone. Police fired water cannons to prevent them from entering the area, and they dispersed after about two hours. Search Keywords: Short link: Kyiv and Moscow accused each other on Saturday of striking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine, which has been shelled repeatedly in the past week. Zaporizhzhia is the biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and in Europe. The plant has been under Russian control since March, and Ukraine has accused Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing arms there. "Limit your presence on the streets of Energodar! We have received information about new provocations by the (Russian) occupiers," Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom said as it shared a message on Telegram from a local chief in Energodar city, where the plant is located. The city remains loyal to Kyiv. "According to residents, there is new shelling in the direction of the nuclear plant... the time between the start and arrival of the shelling is 3-5 seconds," the message said. But pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas in Zaporizhzhia region blamed Ukrainian forces for the shelling. "Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are again under fire by (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky's militants," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration. The missiles fell "in the areas located on the banks of the Dnipro river and in the plant", he said, without reporting any casualties or damage. Areas occupied by Russia and those under Ukraine's control are divided by the Dnipro river. Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over several rounds of shelling on the plant this month, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe and led to an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday. Ukraine said the first strikes on August 5 damaged a power cable and forced one of the reactors to stop working. Then strikes on Thursday damaged a pumping station and radiation sensors. Ukraine, backed by Western allies, has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and for the withdrawal of Russian forces. Search Keywords: Short link: "There are no physical clashes, but the pro-Russians are constantly trying to be aggressive," 58 year-old Gorbunova told AFP with a conspiratorial tone. Her own allegiance is clear. She carries a kitsch tote bag featuring a saintly Ukrainian woman destroying an enemy tank with a flaming sword. This bitter divide between neighbours is playing out across villages, towns and cities caught on the frontline in the vicious tug-of-war between Russian and Ukrainian forces. "There is no love, no harmony," Gorbunova says. Divided 'in their souls' The conflict began in Donbas in 2014 following a pro-Western revolution in Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian forces fought off pro-Russian separatists who received military and financial support from Russia and who seized part of the region. The region's inhabitants are predominantly Russian speaking, but it is not majority ethnically Russian. The true extent of pro-Russian sentiment is hard to gauge. The frontline city of Bakhmut in Donetsk is the area where the Russian offensive has been its most successful over the past month in Donbas, according to the UK ministry of defence. The constant sound of artillery fire echoes off largely abandoned apartment buildings and the town is bisected by tank traps and roadblocks. It is also split along other lines. "In their souls, people are divided into two camps," said 52-year-old Sergey Nikitin. "Everyone has his own opinion, and everyone keeps his mouth shut." Nevertheless Nikitin gives not-so-subtle clues about his beliefs. He talks about "degradation" in Ukraine, the closure of factories since the end of the Soviet Union and the potential for employment opportunities in Russia. Mykhaylo Matsoyan, 38, recalls overhearing his neighbours in Bakhmut discussing "that it would be great if the Russians would come". He confronted them and "it almost came to a fight, so I had to leave," he says. "You can't prove nothing to fools." But another resident exiting a pharmacy does keep quiet about his political loyalties. "We are all waiting for peace. I don't distinguish. I love everyone, I am for peace," said 40-year-old Dmitriy before hurrying away. 'We don't care' "We meet people who have a pro-Russian position. And I explain to them that it was not we who came to their land with weapons," says 56-year-old soldier Sergei, from central Ukraine, sucking down coffee at a roadside kiosk. "I always say the following: if I come to my neighbour with bread, he will set the table, but if I come with a weapon, he will fight back." The city of Soledar is as close to Russian-held territory as it is possible to get. Moscow's troops are believed to be on the outskirts, potentially inside the city limits already. The shelling here is constant, the devastation to the city is complete. There is no tension on the streets: the situation is too dire for that. "We are waiting for all this to pass," says 59-year-old Oleg Makeev. "We don't care -- either Ukrainians or Russians, we just need a peaceful life, and nothing more." Was it a judicious ploy for Joe Biden's FBI to execute the unprecedented raid of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate? Yes; the Cheneys despise the former president, and for good reason ... so they say. No; never has a former president been treated with this level of vindictive abuse by those temporarily in power. Who cares? It's Trump. 321 total vote(s) What's your Opinion? poll#154 Inarguably, the policies of the Democrats in congress and Joe Biden as the Executive is plunging the United States into a recession, if we are not already there; a recession that was completely avoidable. Will abrupt changes in policies occur in time? Yes, the Democrats have a bold plan yet to be revealed to save us. No, there will have to be a complete undoing of the damage done by these Democrats. I can't do simple math, so how am I to understand the concept of basic economics. 371 total vote(s) What's your Opinion? President Joe Biden's White House continues to distance itself from the Department of Justice's raid on former President Donald Trump.A White House official told The Daily Wire that the White House wasthat Attorney General Merrick Garland would be addressing the raid on Thursday and that the administrationabout his remarks.White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre similarly denied on Tuesday that the White House knew about the FBI raid on Trump's home, claiming that Biden was not given any notice beforehand.The attorney general shared with the public on Thursday that he personally approved the raid on the former president's Mar-a-Lago home.he said.Asked if the White House was concerned about the appearance of an attack on another president, Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden has beenin his belief in the rule of law, and refused to comment onshe added.Biden also ignored questions from reporters on Tuesday regarding the raid. Video footage shows the president walking by reporters and ignoring their questions on the topic the day after agents raided the former president's Florida residence.a reporter can be heard yelling to the president as he posed for a photo and whileplays in the background.CNN's Kaitlan Collins can be heard asking as he leaves the room. Biden continues smiling and walks right by Collins and a slew of other reporters without responding or stopping.Trump announced the raid in a lengthy statement on Monday, decrying the FBI's actions as politicized and targeted.Trump wrote.Agents reportedly took numerous boxes and documents from Trump's home as part of an investigation into whether he mishandled classified national security information. The former president's Secret Service agents were made aware of the raid only moments before it took place, and though Trump was in New York City when it occurred, his lawyers were present. Ukraine's health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. ``Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them,'' Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday. ``We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized,'' the minister said. The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials. The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the country's state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24. The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries. But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe. ``When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces... it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital,'' he said. ``Sometimes, we can't make it in time, the ambulance can't get there in time. That's why war causes many more casualties (than those killed in the fighting). It's a number that cannot be calculated.'' Search Keywords: Short link: A year since returning to power in Afghanistan, the Taliban are a stronger military force than ever, but threats to their rule do exist. To tighten their grip, the Taliban have poured thousands of fighters into the Panshjir Valley, home to the only conventional military threat the Islamists have faced since their takeover. The scenic valley, located in northeastern Afghanistan, was for decades a bastion of resistance against outside forces, and the birthplace of the National Resistance Front (NRF). On the other side of the spectrum, the Islamic State-Khorasan group (IS-K) has planted bombs and staged multiple suicide attacks in the past 12 months. But the jihadists have focused on soft targets -- chiefly Shiite mosques and Sikh temples -- rather than tackle the Taliban head-on. Following the chaotic exit of US-led troops on August 31 last year, Western threats to Taliban rule have also been crushed. Still, the recent assassination of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri by a US drone strike on his hideout in Kabul shows how vulnerable Taliban leaders could be to a high-tech enemy. While the Panjshir Valley is what worries the Taliban the most, analyst Michael Kugelman of the Washington-based Wilson Center think tank believes serious resistance is a long way off. "If we start to see IS-K pick up its attacks and start carrying out more strikes... I think that the NRF could really benefit from that," he told AFP. "If Afghans are seeing their families getting blown up by IS-K... that could, I think, deliver a major dent to the Taliban legitimacy and that could benefit the NRF, and give them a window." 'Fear in our hearts' Panjshir was the last province to fall to the Taliban in their lightning takeover of the country last year -- holding out until September 6, three weeks after the capture of Kabul. An uneasy calm then enveloped the valley -- around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Kabul -- until May, when the NRF emerged from the mountains to strike again. In response, the Taliban sent in more than 6,000 fighters in long columns of armoured vehicles, striking fear into the hearts of residents. "Since the Taliban arrived in the valley, people are in panic, they can't talk freely," said Amir, speaking to AFP in hushed tones in the provincial capital as a patrol passed by. "The Taliban think that if youths are sitting together, then they must be planning something against them," he added, asking not to be identified by his real name. In the 1980s, fighters led by Ahmad Shah Massoud -- nicknamed the Lion of Panjshir -- fought the Soviet forces from its rugged peaks of Panshjir. When the Red Army pulled out, Afghanistan descended into civil war and the Taliban seized control of the country. Panjshir held out, though Massoud was assassinated two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The NRF is led by his son Ahmad Masood, who like many NRF leaders is now in undisclosed exile. Taliban forces now firmly control the main road that cuts through the valley, with checkpoints everywhere. Thousands of people have fled the valley -- once home to around 170,000 -- and an atmosphere of fear prevails, with residents speaking only if their real names were not revealed. "Previously, we used to feel good to come here," said a visitor named Nabila, who was in the valley with her four sisters to attend their mother's funeral. "Now we have fear in our hearts. We are scared that if our husbands come, they will be dragged from the car," she said, asking that her full name be withheld for fear of retribution. Will vs capacity Rights groups have accused the Taliban of committing widespread abuses in Panjshir -- allegations they deny -- including extrajudicial executions. "Those arbitrarily arrested are also facing physical torture and beatings that, in some cases, even resulted in death," Amnesty International said in June. "The Taliban arrested and threatened to kill relatives of fighters who are with the resistance," said Jamshed, a resident of a Panjshir town. "These threats compelled many fighters to come down from the mountains and surrender." Still, Taliban authorities send mixed messages about the threat the NRF poses -- denying their existence, on one hand, yet sending in troops to fight them. "We have not seen any front; the front does not exist," Abdul Hameed Khurasani, head of a Taliban special force unit deployed in the valley, told AFP. "There are (only) a few people in the mountains. We are chasing them." Ali Nazary, head of the NRF's foreign relations department, questions the Taliban's claims. "If we were a few fighters, and if we have been pushed to the mountains, why are they sending thousands of their fighters?" he asked. Nazary said the NRF now had a fighting force of 3,000, and bases across the province -- a claim impossible to independently verify. Kugelman believes the NRF have the will to fight, but not the capacity. "For NRF to be a truly effective group, it's going to need... more external support, military and financial," he said. Search Keywords: Short link: Three people died Saturday after a van packed with people being smuggled into Austria from Slovakia overturned when its driver tried to escape a police check, officials said. The driver overturned the vehicle as he tried to speed away from police at a border crossing, said Helmut Marban, police spokesman of Burgenland state. He had 20 people in his van, including four children. Two men and a woman were killed in the crash, another seven people were seriously injured, and others sustained lighter injuries, he added. The driver, thought to be of Russian origin, has been arrested, Marban told AFP. Investigators have so far managed to establish that some of those being smuggled in the van are of Syrian origin. "The tragic death of three people... shows once again the brutality and unscrupulousness of the smuggling mafia," Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a statement. His ministry announced in May that police had smashed a group believed to have smuggled tens of thousands of people, mostly Syrians, from neighbouring Hungary to Austria. Investigations into the group started in early 2021. Two of those illegally transported across the border were found suffocated in a van last year. In 2015, 71 people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan suffocated in the back of an air-tight van where they had been hidden by people smugglers. The bodies, including three children and a baby, were discovered in Austria but they had died while still on the other side of the border with Hungary. Search Keywords: Short link: German businesses and public institutions should heat their offices no higher than 19 degrees Celsius (66.2 degrees Fahrenheit) this winter to help reduce the country's consumption of natural gas, Germany's economy minister said Saturday. Germany, the European Union's biggest economy, is quickly trying to wean itself off using natural gas from Russia in response to Moscow's attack on Ukraine. However Germany uses more Russian gas imports than many other EU nations. Russia has already cut off gas exports to several EU nations, and officials fear Moscow will use the gas exports as a political weapon to get sanctions against Russia reduced _ or even cut the exports to Europe off altogether in the winter, when demand is the highest. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said while the EU's 27 countries have pledged to cut their gas use by 15% from August compared to the previous five-year average, Germany needs to reduce its consumption by 20%. Habeck is also proposing banning the heating of non-commercial private pools; switching off heating in common areas of public buildings, such as foyers; and switching off the lights on public billboards between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Search Keywords: Short link: In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents... I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents." U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the same judge who signed off on the search warrant, unsealed the warrant and property receipt Friday at the request of the Justice Department after Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was "substantial public interest in this matter," and Trump said he supported the warrant's "immediate" release. The Justice Department told the judge Friday afternoon that Trump's lawyers did not object to the proposal to make it public. While incumbent presidents have the power to declassify information, that authority lapses as soon as they leave office, and it was not clear if the documents in question have ever been declassified. Trump also kept possession of the documents despite multiple requests from agencies, including the National Archives, to turn over presidential records in accordance with federal law. In a statement Friday, Trump said the documents seized by agents at his Florida club were "all declassified," and that he would have turned over the documents to the Justice Department if asked. A property receipt unsealed by the court shows FBI agents took 11 sets of classified records from the estate during a search on Monday. The property receipt is a document prepared by federal agents to specify what was taken during a search. The seized records include some that were marked as classified and top secret. The court records did not provide specific details about the documents or what information they might contain. The FBI recovered documents that were labeled "top secret" from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorized the unprecedented search this week. The Justice Department's request is striking because such documents traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation. But the department appeared to recognize that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for verbal attacks by Trump and his allies, and that the public was entitled to the FBI's side about what prompted Monday's action at the former president's home. "The public's clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing," said a motion filed in federal court in Florida on Thursday. Should the warrant be released, it could disclose unflattering information about Trump and about FBI scrutiny of his handling of sensitive government documents as he prepares for another run for the White House. During his successful 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information. It is unclear at this point how much information would be included in the documents, if made public, or if they would encompass an FBI affidavit that would presumably lay out a detailed, factual basis for the search. The department specifically requested the unsealing of the warrant as well as a property receipt listing the items that were seized, along with two unspecified attachments. Several news organizations have separately petitioned Reinhart to release all of the documents relating to the search given the high level of public interest. To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed. Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given that standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of one's home. In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Trump and his representatives before the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Neither Trump nor the FBI has said anything about what documents the FBI might have recovered, or what precisely agents were looking for. FBI and Justice Department policy cautions against discussing ongoing investigations, both to protect the integrity of the inquiries and to avoid unfairly maligning someone who is being scrutinized but winds up ultimately not being charged. That's especially true in the case of search warrants, where supporting court papers are routinely kept secret as the investigation proceeds. In this case, though, Garland cited the fact that Trump himself had provided the first public confirmation of the FBI search, "as is his right." The Justice Department, in its new filing, also said that disclosing information about it now would not harm the court's functions. The Justice Department under Garland has been leery of public statements about politically charged investigations, or of confirming to what extent it might be investigating Trump as part of a broader probe into the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The department has tried to avoid being seen as injecting itself into presidential politics, as happened in 2016 when then-FBI Director James Comey made an unusual public statement announcing that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges against Clinton regarding her handling of email -- and when he spoke up again just over a week before the election to notify Congress that the probe was being effectively reopened because of the discovery of new emails. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Monday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trump's home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year. The National Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information. An armed man who tried to break into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cincinnati office Thursday, then fled with FBI and Ohio State Patrol officers in pursuit, was shot and killed by police after a standoff, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said Thursday night. The man was identified as Ricky Shiffer, 42. Shiffer may have been at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was not charged with any crimes in connection with the assault on the building, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press. Federal authorities were looking into whether Shiffer had ties to the Proud Boys or other far-right extremist groups, the official said. Nearly half a million Korean households now consist of friends and lovers rather than traditional families as the country's social fabric changes. According to the 2021 census, 1.02 million people were members of 472,660 non-family households, which accounted for around two percent of all households. Households composed of immediate family members still accounted for 64.4 percent of the total 22 million households last year, but that was down 0.4 percent from the year before. But non-family households increased 11.6 percent, while one-person households grew 7.9 percent. It seems that the rising number of singles contributed to the rapid growth of non-family households as more and more people began to cohabit with friends or unmarried partners to save money, according to Prof. Chung Ick-joong at Ewha Womans University. KYODO NEWS - Aug 13, 2022 - 22:13 | All, World A North Korean organization sent a condolence telegram Saturday to the bereaved family of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, ahead of the 10th anniversary of his death, a North Korean website reported. The message of sympathy sent by the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee indicates Pyongyang maintains good relations with the religious group, which had operated car production and hotel businesses in North Korea. Moon, who died in 2012, was a staunch anti-Communist who also founded the political group International Federation for Victory over Communism in South Korea and Japan in 1968. However, Moon, who was born in present-day North Korea, also approached the socialist country, saying he was endeavoring to reunify the Korean Peninsula. He visited the North in late November 1991 and held talks with then President Kim Il Sung. "Dr. Moon's efforts and achievements for national reconciliation and unity, national reunification and world peace, will be remembered for a long time to come," the North Korean group said in the telegram. According to Segye Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper belonging to the Unification Church group, Moon said before his death that he and President Kim "exchanged brotherly bonds." During the talks, Moon and Kim, the founder of North Korea, agreed to promote the search for families displaced by the 1950-1953 Korean War and to support the development of economic projects in North Korea by the Unification Church group. The group transferred the rights to operate the car production and hotel businesses to the North Korean side for free in 2012, according to the newspaper. Moon sent his aides to Pyongyang on a condolence mission shortly after Kim's death in 1994. Immediately after Moon's death on Sept. 3, 2012, Kim Jong Un, Kim's grandson and current leader of North Korea, sent a condolence telegram to Moon's bereaved family in South Korea and also presented a wreath at a condolence center set up in Pyongyang. Established in South Korea in 1954, the Unification Church is formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. It is now led by Moon's widow Hak Ja Han Moon. Related coverage: Over 100 Japan lawmakers had links with Unification Church: survey Japan PM shaken as list of lawmakers linked to Unification Church grows Unification Church-affiliated group commemorates Abe in South Korea KYODO NEWS - Aug 12, 2022 - 20:21 | World, All, Japan A nongovernmental group affiliated with the Unification Church on Friday commemorated the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during an international conference, at which a video message from former U.S. President Donald Trump was also played. At the event organized by the Universal Peace Federation in Seoul, a picture of Abe was shown on a screen with his quote, "Peace is not given by someone. It should be won." Participants laid flowers to show their respect to the former Japanese premier. Trump said in his message that Abe was a good friend of his and a great person. He also showed his gratitude to Hak Ja Han Moon, widow of the Unification Church founder, Sun Myung Moon. The couple founded the UPF in New York in 2005. "The world was at peace during my presidency," Trump added. Abe was fatally shot during a street speech in Japan's western city of Nara last month. The assailant told investigators that he believed the former prime minister had links with the Unification Church, with whom he harbored a grudge. Abe had sent a video message to an event held by the UPF last September. The Unification Church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was founded in South Korea in 1954 by Moon, who died in 2012. The group is now led by Han Moon. KYODO NEWS - Aug 13, 2022 - 10:14 | All, Feature, Japan, Coronavirus Japan's fireworks industry is seeing sparks of hope as annual public pyrotechnics displays gradually return and demand for children's fireworks from families staying home amid the coronavirus pandemic rises. The increasingly buoyant mood comes after two years of virus restrictions blocking summer shows, and as the sector also faces falling domestic manufacturer numbers and increasingly strong regulation in major exporter China. A traditional art form, their general use began in the Edo period (1603-1868). However, records show they were seen by public figures even earlier including Tokugawa shogunate founder Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). Fireworks are broadly split into two categories, the launching types typically seen at shows, and children's fireworks such as sparklers. Domestic production of the latter has fallen since the 1960s due to safety concerns over accidents and cost-cutting shifts to manufacturing in China, according to Kensaku Nose, senior director at the International Cooperation of Children's Fireworks. The shift to China and normalization of relations with the country in 1972 meant that in recent years, some 90 percent of children's fireworks purchased in Japan were made in China. But factors including tougher regulations in response to accidents at factories and soaring raw materials costs have seen imports from China fall to a third of their 1997 peak, when fireworks worth some $28 million came to Japan. The falling child population has also shrunk the domestic market. While the industry had expected the downturn to keep going, local manufacturers and wholesalers have been feeling positive off the back of increased demand from families staying home amid the pandemic. "It's ironic, but I hope that being at home gives people a chance to discover the appeal of fireworks," Nose said. Fireworks displays were inextricably linked to Japan's summer festivals, but many have been canceled since 2020 over concerns of people gathering closely in the same space. This year, however, has seen events go ahead with infection prevention measures in prefectures including Hokkaido, Akita, Niigata and Shizuoka. Some organizers are even eschewing the traditional summer timeframe to hold pyrotechnics events in the spring or fall, a move welcomed by Haruyuki Kono from the Japan Pyrotechnics Association. "I hope that in future we can cement the idea of fireworks as year-round events," he said. Related coverage: Major light festival returns to Sydney after 2-yr COVID hiatus IN PHOTOS: Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony Japan's summer season transformed by coronavirus TOKYO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A new wave of public anger and serious concerns over sea pollution have been triggered in and outside Japan after the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO) recently started construction of facilities that will discharge nuclear wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. Many Japanese citizens and civic groups have gone online and offline expressing their outrage -- "The ocean is not a dustbin!" "No more polluting the ocean!" and calling out the Japanese government and TEPCO as dishonest, irresponsible, hypocritical and selfish. Struck by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit Japan's northeast on March 11, 2011, the No. 1-3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered core meltdowns, resulting in a level-7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. The plant has been generating a massive amount of radiation-tainted water since the accident happened as it needs water to cool the reactors. As TEPCO has still not found solutions to remove the melted-down cores, highly radioactive water will continue to be produced. Japanese environmental groups have been seriously concerned that if TEPCO starts discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, it will be a catastrophe of marine pollution with no end in sight, leaving immeasurable long-term impacts on the marine ecological environment, aquatic product safety, and public health in the Pacific coastal regions. Japan's fishing industry and other relevant groups fear that once the nuclear wastewater dumping starts around next spring, the pollution of the waters around Fukushima and the damage to the fishing industry will be irreversible. A panel of experts organized by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry had proposed five options when considering how to deal with the contaminated water, and the Japanese government eventually opted to discharge the water into the sea, which "takes the shortest time and costs the least," passing on the risk to the whole world. By making the controversial decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, the Japanese government and TEPCO have ignored the legitimate and reasonable concerns of the international community and their own people. Japan should return to the track of full consultation with stakeholders and relevant international agencies, analysts say. The international community has also raised a variety of questions about the legitimacy of the plan, the credibility of the data provided by TEPCO, the purification efficiency of the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS), and the uncertainty of the impact on the marine environment. A task force of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had requested clarification and put forward suggestions for improvement after a visit to Japan in February. Nuclear-contaminated water must be disposed of in an open, transparent, scientific and safe manner. Alternative plans should be taken into consideration by Japan and it must accept strict supervision by the IAEA, experts have stressed. For the international community, Japan's wilful pushing through of the plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea has ignored the legitimate concerns of countries in the region and interests of the whole international community, exposing the country's selfish nature regarding its international responsibilities and obligations. The Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, a South Korean civic environmental organization, warned that if nuclear wastewater is discharged into the ocean, it would endanger marine products and deepen marine contamination further. The contaminated water would inevitably spread into the Pacific Ocean, polluting oceans near neighboring countries of Japan. South Korean government officials have urged Japan to take responsible measures that are safe from a scientific perspective and comply with international laws and standards. Civic activists in Japan have pointed out Japan's hypocritical stance on the plan, saying Japan's calculation behind the decision obviously overrides the safety of the fishing industry and the health of residents near the surrounding waters. The ocean belongs to all mankind. Japan should stop treating it as a "dustbin" in its own courtyard, halt its plan immediately and stop harming the marine homeland of mankind for its private interests, environmentalists say. Chinese physician Yang Jie (L) and South Sudanese nurse Sabina Kiyang Michael (R) inquire about John Otoo's health condition at Juba Teaching Hospital, South Sudan, Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua) NAIROBI, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Joyce James, a 48-year-old homemaker has not been taking high-energy beverages since January and instead opted for low sugar drinks due to diabetes-related complications. James's health condition has of late improved after visiting the Juba Teaching Hospital where doctors affiliated with the ninth batch of the Chinese medical team diagnosed her condition and prescribed a free treatment regimen. "My message to patients is that when you feel pain after the treatment, you need to return to Chinese doctors for treatment and you will see improvement," James told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of South Sudan during a recent interview. Yang Jie, a Chinese physician who treated James, said high blood sugar is caused by sugary food and beverages. "Each week we have two days of clinical work and on each day, we receive about 40 patients and the common diseases we are treating are high blood pressure, diabetes, stomach complications, and ulcers," Yang said. The non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure that have spiked in South Sudan are linked to lack of physical exercise, smoking, and harmful consumption of alcohol. John Otoo, a 54-year-old resident of Juba was among several patients who received treatment from Yang after enduring upper abdomen and joint pains for months. He hailed the treatment he received from the Chinese doctor, adding that his earlier attempts at seeking treatment from private health clinics failed to improve his condition. "I went to a certain clinic and I was given some drugs but the treatment did not succeed and that is why I came here to see the Chinese doctors," Otoo said. Sabina Kiyang Michael, an assistant working alongside Yang at Juba Teaching Hospital, said she has acquired extensive knowledge on the treatment of diabetes and high blood pressure in her six-year experience working with various Chinese medical teams. "I have learned a lot of things, we see how they treat patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, and ulcers and we already have medicine for these diseases," Michael said. "For those who have diabetes, I learned how to check their blood sugar and pressure levels and the kind of medicine that can be prescribed to someone suffering from diabetes," she added. Since the independence of South Sudan in 2011, Chinese medical teams have been offering free medical services as well as capacity building for local health workers and medical students. Chinese physician Yang Jie (L) and South Sudanese nurse Sabina Kiyang Michael (C) inquire about Joyce James's health condition at Juba Teaching Hospital, South Sudan, Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua) Photo taken on May 30, 2022 shows a scene of Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei) Germany's foreign trade volume had already surpassed pre-pandemic levels last year, registering new record levels for both imports and exports. The country's trade surplus, however, has now fallen for five years in a row. BERLIN, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Germany's trade surplus in the first half (H1) of 2022 shrank by almost two-thirds year-on-year to 34.3 billion euros (35.3 billion U.S. dollars), the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Friday. Although imports were up 26.5 percent at 729.6 billion euros, exports from Europe's largest economy only grew by 13.4 percent to 763.9 billion euros, according to Destatis. Germany's foreign trade volume had already surpassed pre-pandemic levels last year, registering new record levels for both imports and exports. The country's trade surplus, however, has now fallen for five years in a row. Meanwhile, in May this year, Germany recorded the first negative foreign trade balance since 2008, Destatis said. Exports of 125.8 billion euros were more than offset by imports worth 126.7 billion euros, resulting in a minus of almost one billion euros. Photo taken on Jan. 7, 2022 shows the finance and banking district in Frankfurt, Germany. (Xinhua/Lu Yang) Chemical products were Germany's most important import goods in H1, with volumes rising by almost two-thirds to 76.1 billion euros. "The high import values in the chemical sector are due to imports of lactams from China. Lactams can be used for the production of both plastics and medicines," Destatis said. Motor vehicles and components remained the country's top-selling products, with exports up 5.9 percent to 116.3 billion euros. Machinery products came second, with exports growing slightly to a value of 99.2 billion euros in the first half of the year. International sales by German carmakers, however, declined by three percent in the first seven months of the year, according to the industry association VDA. Exports still remained 31 percent below pre-pandemic 2019 levels. "The times for the economy and thus also for the German automotive industry remain challenging," VDA President Hildegard Mueller said in June. "It is all the more important to learn from the crises and draw the right lessons. It is now about the future of Germany as an industrial location." (1 euro = 1.03 U.S. dollars) Photo taken on June, 1 2022 shows the Euro sculpture in Frankfurt, Germany. (Xinhua/Lu Yang) Aerial photo shows the nature-imitated fishway of the auxiliary dam in Nanmu River of the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Aerial photo shows the nature-imitated fishway of the auxiliary dam in Nanmu River of the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Researchers work at a rare fish conservation center of the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 10, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Researchers check fish fry at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 10, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Aerial photo shows the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Aerial photo shows the fishway of the main dam in Qianjiang River of the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Researchers conduct water quality monitoring at a fish propagation station of the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 10, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) Aerial photo shows the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project in Guiping City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2022. Located in the city of Guiping, the project under construction is designed for multiple purposes including flood control, navigation, power generation and irrigation. The hydropower project is built on the area which is an important fish habitat due to its complex flow conditions. In order not to disturb fish from migrating to spawn, a rare dual fishway design for both the main dam and the auxiliary dam was put forward at the very beginning of the construction, looking nothing like an artificial passageway for migrating fishes. Meanwhile, with the formation of a team of professional technicians, relevant rare fish conservation center and fish propagation stations have been accordingly built at the Dateng Gorge water conservancy project, so as to assist the monitoring, conservation and research of rare fish in the region. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming) File photo shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending a press conference devoted to his two years in office in Kiev, Ukraine, May 20, 2021. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua) Two separate drafts on extending the martial law and general mobilization have been submitted to the parliament for consideration. KIEV, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday proposed to the parliament to prolong the current martial law and general mobilization in the country for another 90 days, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. Two separate drafts on extending the martial law and general mobilization have been submitted to the parliament for consideration, according to the parliament's website. The Ukrainian parliament imposed a martial law after the start of the conflict with Russia on Feb. 24 and extended it three times since then. The general mobilization of the population was introduced in Ukraine on Feb. 24 and was prolonged in May for another three months. The laws on the martial law and general mobilization in Ukraine are due to expire on Aug. 23. Photo taken on Jan. 12, 2019 shows the White House and a stop sign in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Today, the West is exporting its system in the same logic: some still believe they know the best about the interest of the lands and peoples they once exploited, despite the fact that such kind of forced system transplanting has typically resulted in nothing but a continuity of tragedy. by Xin Ping BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- For centuries, the self-righteous West has been obsessed with transplanting its own culture and systems into other countries, inflicting countless deaths and suffering in the lands it deemed as "uncivilized" or "underdeveloped." Colonialism is a case in point. According to incomplete statistics, during the colonial period, the West took the lives of tens of millions of indigenous people in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and enslaved 12 million Africans. Today, the West is exporting its system in the same logic: some still believe they know the best about the interest of the lands and peoples they once exploited, despite the fact that such kind of forced system transplanting has typically resulted in nothing but a continuity of tragedy. Protesters attend a demonstration near the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 25, 2021. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara) THE POISONED APPLE One of the most notable failures is the transplantation of the Western democratic system. Neither competitive elections nor multi-party systems have led to fair and efficient governance in developing countries. On the one hand, frequent election campaigns make politicians cater to their voters with unreasonable campaign promises, especially in countries with high poverty rates. On the other, inconsistent policies for short-term gains, the inevitable byproducts of frequent changes of government, prove fatal in nations in dire need of long-term developmental projects to achieve growth and modernization. Another fatal danger is that Western system is more prone to party rivalry than consensus. When competing political parties have to swallow the win of their rivals in the election, they tend to work against rather than with the government, if not attempting a coup d'etat. In fact, coups d'etat have happened more than 200 times on the African continent between 1950 and 2021, making disorder a norm. Extensive civil and religious wars, regional conflicts, economic and demographic declines, and the rise of terrorism have turned the so-called "Arab Spring" into the "Arab Winter." Some countries in Latin America continue to experience violent protests and political crises under so-called Western democracy. Photo taken on March 17, 2020 shows U.S. dollar banknotes in Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) THE TROJAN HORSE Apart from Western-style democracy, financial support is often used as key venue for exporting Western values and systems. Western-dominated multilateral financial organizations have offered loans on the strict condition of introducing radical neoliberal economic reforms based on the Washington Consensus, a drastic economic strategy described by some economists as shock therapy. For developing countries, without robust, competitive domestic industries, the so-called free market is only a one-way street: products from the West quickly flood in to further weaken the local businesses. As a consequence, Western countries deprive low-income countries of the chance to boost growth, create jobs, or generate tax revenues, making debt repayments based on sustainable development a goal beyond their reach. Look no further than some Latin American countries. Economic growth halved in the 1990s after launching reforms based on the Washington Consensus. Economic failure enables the West to tighten its control of developing countries. In Eastern Europe, state-owned giants with no access to Western markets quickly went bankrupt after privatization, most of which were later acquired by Western multinationals. A man walks in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Feb. 15, 2022. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) THE DISCOURSE TRAP In many cases, Western models of social governance are depicted by Western elites and media as the last straw for crisis-ridden developing countries. The "Let Them Eat Tweets" style of governance and ill-regulated social media have paved the way for the prevalence of populism where emotion could triumph over reason. Political participation is plagued with disinformation, rage and a meaningless war of words. Street demonstrations, far from being a symbol of freedom, have been exploited by political parties to take down their opponents. The angry voters, having voted out the incumbent government, only find their appeals ignored by the next. In Arab countries where the West successfully instigated anti-government protests and violence through Western-dominated NGOs (non-governmental organizations), media and the Internet, people live either in economic stagnation or constant chaos. If an emerging economy has been lucky enough to hop over the above traps, there is still one more challenge that may potentially ruin all their efforts: the Discourse Trap. With its agenda-setting and discourse dominance, the West peddles concepts that are detrimental to developing countries at their level of development. The discourse dominance is also exploited to stigmatize countries the West deems as potential adversaries. Labels such as "Tacitus trap," "failed state" and "pariah state" could bring misery to a developing country for decades. The West's bigotry to force system transplantation upon developing countries is attributable to its outdated thinking. It cares about not the well-being of the developing world but maintaining its globally dominant position. While for developing countries, transplanting Western system has proven only a recipe for disaster, and a scourge of misery. Enditem (The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for CGTN, Global Times, etc. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.) LONDON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Though U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck the right note on his three-nation tour in Africa, it will take more than rhetoric to strengthen partnerships on the continent, The Guardian has commented. During his second visit to the continent which aimed to continue rebuilding U.S. relationships, Blinken exhibited more humility -- moving past not only former U.S. President Donald Trump's "shithole countries" denigration but also the earlier tendency to lecture other governments on their real needs and best options, The Guardian said in an opinion piece published Thursday. "The question is what such rhetoric means in practice," it said. While Blinken said that the commitment to a stronger partnership was not about trying to outdo anyone else, it is "plainly rooted in Washington's concerns about China's growing clout and, more recently, Russia's attempt to woo and reinforce support, with last month's four-nation tour by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov," it noted. U.S. aid for Africa has hardly proved beyond reproach, it said, citing its practice of hoarding COVID-19 vaccines which left Africa hanging, as well as a lack of concrete actions on tackling climate crisis and preserving pristine rainforest. America's soft power reserves are "dwindling," it noted. PHNOM PENH, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- China-proposed Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative are crucial to building a more just and equitable global governance system toward a community with a shared future for mankind, a Cambodian academic has said. "Both the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative are very important to ensure global peace and sustainable development for all, especially for small and poor countries," Joseph Matthews, a senior professor at the BELTEI International University in Phnom Penh, told Xinhua. "The two initiatives are also key to reinforcing multilateralism, international cooperation and solidarity in order to address global challenges and concerns," he said. "Both initiatives are public goods that China provides to the rest of the world in addition to the Belt and Road Initiative." For the Global Development Initiative, Matthews said it will help developing countries swiftly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce poverty, and improve food security. He said the Global Development Initiative has set out a blueprint for the development of countries and international development cooperation. "It embraces the people-centered core concept, which will help promote global prosperity, steering global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth," he said. The professor added that it responds to the dynamics and urgent needs of global development, as it has identified priority areas including poverty alleviation, food security, COVID-19 and vaccines, financing for development, climate change and green development, industrialization, digital economy, and connectivity. "The Global Development Initiative advocates the spirit of open and inclusive partnership, and I believe that it will inject a new impetus into the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development goals of the United Nations," he said. For the Global Security Initiative, Matthews said it will importantly contribute to tackling the world's most vexing and complicated security challenges for the sake of global peace, security and stability. "Security is a prerequisite for development and it is the aspirations of all nations and peoples, so I believe that the Global Security Initiative will help build a global indivisible, just and equitable security community," he said. The professor said China has always played a leading role in safeguarding global peace and security, adding that the initiative will foster a new type of security that replaces confrontation, alliance and a zero-sum approach with dialogue, partnership, and win-win results. "The initiative carries forward the spirit of the United Nations Charter and provides a fundamental solution to eliminating the peace deficit," he said. "It will help countries respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of others, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, reject the Cold War mentality, and oppose unilateralism." Chinese doctor Li Xiaobin (L) gives a patient acupuncture treatment at the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, Aug. 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) KAMPALA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese specialist under the watchful eyes of his two assistants inserts needles into Zerida Kyokusiima's back. Every needle inserted into the 52-year-old woman's body here at the China Uganda Friendship Hospital gives hope that the excruciating back pain she has endured over the last two years is coming to an end. The acupuncturist, Li Xiaobin, is part of a seven-man Chinese medical team on a one-year tour of duty at the 100-bed China Uganda Friendship Hospital. China has since 1983 been sending medical specialists, among them acupuncturists, to Uganda in efforts to boost health care provision in the east African country. The acupuncture clinic is held twice a week with dozens of patients queuing for the service. Li is alone and hopes that his assistants, who are interns at the hospital, will grasp the skill and take on the practice even long after he's gone. "I have taught them a lot of basic knowledge about Chinese traditional medicine," Li said. "I feel satisfied because I can use the acupuncture technology to help Uganda people and to relieve their pain. So it is a meaningful job for me." Justine Kirabo, one of Li's interns, said looking at the turnout at the clinic, more Ugandans are increasingly embracing acupuncture, especially the elderly who have back pains, leg pains, and knee pains, among others. "With this acupuncture, patients will be able to relieve much more pain than being given pain killers," Kirabo said, noting that some patients have challenges swallowing tablets. Next to Kyokusiima's bed is Betty Kwagala, also suffering from backache. After Kwagala's 30-minute session, she beams with a smile saying this was his fourth session and she feels much better. "I was put on a lot of medication but it did not help. So my doctor told me to come here so that the Chinese can treat me using acupuncture and I feel the difference," Kwagala said. Emmanuel Tugaineyo, Director of China-Uganda Friendship Hospital said acupuncture just like any other form of alternative or traditional medicine is increasingly getting prominence. He said the alternative medicine is complementary to the Western medicine that is widely practiced in Uganda. Tugaineyo said that in China, Traditional Chinese Medicine is practiced as a complimentary to Western medicine, and in Uganda use of traditional medicine is gaining momentum. Justine Kirabo, an intern of Chinese acupuncturist Li Xiaobin, speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Kampala, Uganda, Aug. 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) GABORONE, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) is investigating the deaths of at least 50 vultures due to suspected poisoning in the Chobe district in northern Botswana. "The poisoning is suspected to have been caused by a deliberate lacing of a poached buffalo carcass with a poisonous chemical that resulted in the death of the vultures," said Kabelo Senyatso, Director of DWNP in a statement issued on Friday. Senyatso said that the poisoning of these vultures posed a serious threat to their survival in Botswana and that such poisoning events should concern all citizens given the important roles that vultures play in everyday lives, such as removing diseased carcasses and reducing the risk of livestock disease transmissions, such as rabies, foot and mouth disease, anthrax, and other diseases that can cause significant economic harm. The wildlife department warned the public to refrain from such actions and to help disseminate information for the conservation of these animals, as it is against Botswana law to kill animals with poisonous substances. Meanwhile, the DWNP research division and law enforcement are decontaminating the affected areas. FREETOWN, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio said Friday that the government will conduct a full investigation into the killings of at least four police officers and several civilians during a recent unrest. The president made the pledge during a nationwide broadcast in which he expressed deep condolences to the bereaved families. On Wednesday, large numbers of people took to the streets of the capital Freetown and some other parts of the country, calling on the government to resolve economic hardship and high living cost. Calling the circumstances surrounding Wednesday's events an "insurrection," Bio said, "this was simply an attack on the peace and security, an attack on the rule of law, and an attack on democracy." "The full force of the law will be brought to bear on all those persons who attacked and killed police officers," the president added. NEW DELHI, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- India's northern state of Punjab on Saturday made wearing of face masks mandatory in public places amid an increase in COVID-19 cases. "Wearing of appropriate masks shall be ensured in all educational institutions, government and private offices and indoor/outdoor gatherings, malls, public places, etc., for the prevention of further spread of the virus in the population and for the well-being of every individual," read an order issued by the Punjab state government. The state government has directed all local hospitals, labs and collection centers to upload details of COVID-19 tests. It also urged residents to take a second or a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine without delay. YANGON, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has detected 32 new COVID-19 cases with the Omicron BA.2.75, BA.2.76, BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants so far in August, its Ministry of Health said on Saturday. The ministry's medical research department said in a statement that these cases included 25 infected people who returned from abroad. According to the ministry, 25 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Southeast Asian country in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 614,360. Health authorities tested 6,130 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.41 percent. The ministry also reported another eight new recoveries, bringing the total number of COVID-19 patients cured and discharged to 593,089 in the country. Myanmar detected its first COVID-19 cases in March 2020. Swedish film director Ruben Ostlund poses for a photo with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award during the opening ceremony of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Nedim Grabovic/Xinhua) SARAJEVO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 28th Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) opened on Friday with the film Triangle of Sadness by award-winning Swedish film director Ruben Ostlund. Prior to the screening of his latest film that won him the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival three months ago, Ostlund received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award as a recognition of his contribution to the art of film. "I am very happy to be back in Sarajevo," said Ostlund at the opening ceremony, adding that the film festival is a great opportunity to see movies from a different perspective and have both the audience and colleagues in the same room. The film, for which Ostlund also wrote the script, is a satirical dark comedy that pictures Carl and Yaya, a couple of models who go through the excitement of Milan Fashion Week before joining the super-rich elite on an exclusive yacht cruise in the Caribbean. Bad weather, seasickness, and an epidemic of food poisoning followed by a ship wreck turn paradise into a nightmarish experience, and into a metaphor for the end of decaying Western civilization. Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean and Woody Harrelson, are among the stars of the movie. The 28th SFF will last until Aug. 19, presenting the audience with 235 movies from 62 countries and regions in 19 program categories, including feature films, feature-length documentaries, short fiction and documentary movies and student films. Over the past 28 years, SFF grew into one of the biggest festivals in Southeast Europe. People stand near the red carpet during the opening ceremony of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Nedim Grabovic/Xinhua) People attend the opening ceremony of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Nedim Grabovic/Xinhua) Director of the Sarajevo Film Festival Jovan Marjanovic (R, Front) poses for a photo during the opening ceremony of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Nedim Grabovic/Xinhua) People light their phones during the opening ceremony of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Aug. 12, 2022. (Photo by Nedim Grabovic/Xinhua) LOS ANGELES, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The New York State and New York City (NYC) departments of health said Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified polioviruses from sewage samples in the largest city of the United States, suggesting likely local circulation of the virus. State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said in a press release that the finding "is alarming, but not surprising," since a case of paralytic polio was reported on July 21 in neighboring Rockland County and poliovirus was detected in wastewater samples collected in May, June and July from Rockland and Orange Counties. Politico reported that local health officials had been testing wastewater to track the spread of COVID-19. The wastewater surveillance checked samples from June and July for polio and found six positive samples. Assessing the level of community spread based on the collected samples can be difficult, Denis Nash, a professor of epidemiology at CUNY's Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health, told Politico, adding it was unclear how many facilities those samples came from, or what concentration of the poliovirus was detected in each. Polio, or poliomyelitis, a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, spreads from person to person and can infect a person's spinal cord, causing paralysis. The CDC's data showed that one in 25 infected people can get viral meningitis and about one in 200 will become paralyzed. While there is no cure for polio, it is preventable by vaccine. Health officials on Friday urged local residents to get vaccinated against polio, noting the risk to New Yorkers was real but the defense through safe and effective immunization was simple and effective. "With polio circulating in our communities there is simply nothing more essential than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus, and if you're an unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated adult, please choose now to get the vaccine. Polio is entirely preventable and its reappearance should be a call to action for all of us," New York City's Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said in the press release. Mayor Eric Adams also told local PIX11 news channel that New Yorkers should not take the illness lightly. "We thought that this was behind us many years ago, and polio is a serious illness that we have to take seriously," he said, adding that the solution to the challenging problem is vaccination. Polio was once one of the most feared diseases in the United States in the early 1950s, when polio vaccines were unavailable and polio outbreaks caused more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year. Following the introduction of vaccines -- trivalent inactivated poliovirus vaccine in 1955 and trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine in 1963, the number of polio cases fell rapidly to less than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. The last case of polio in the United States before the one in Rockland County was in 2013. However, the vaccine coverage for routinely recommended vaccines has fallen among children in New York City since 2019, putting residents at risk and devastating complications of vaccine preventable diseases. Friday's detection underscored the urgency of every adult, including pregnant New Yorkers, and children to stay up to date with the polio immunization schedule, particularly those in the greater New York metropolitan area, the health officials said. "Only 86.2 percent of NYC children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old have received 3 doses of the polio vaccine -- nearly 14 percent remain not fully protected. Of particular concern are neighborhoods where coverage of children aged six-months to five-years-old with three doses of polio vaccine is less than 70 percent, putting these children at risk of contracting polio," the press release read. As of August 1, it noted, Rockland County and Orange County had a polio vaccination rate of 60.34 percent and 58.68 percent respectively, compared to the statewide average of 78.96 percent, among children who have received three polio immunizations before their second birthday. Chennai: Sri Lanka is facing its biggest economic crisis these days and people there are not able to get food and basic necessities. Due to the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Tamils reached Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu as refugees at around 4 am today. Since March 2022, 133 Sri Lankan Tamils have come to Dhanushkodi as refugees. Among those who came to Rameshwaram from Sri Lanka are Jayamalini (50), her two sons Paturjan (26), Hamsigan (22) and daughter Patusika (19). They are residents of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. They travelled by boat from Mannar, Sri Lanka and reached Rameswaram. Four Sri Lankan Tamils who had come to Rameswaram went to Mandapam Marine police station in an auto. Investigations conducted by the Mandapam Marine Police revealed that the four had come to Tamil Nadu as refugees in 2006 during the war in Sri Lanka. He said they stayed at the Mandapam camp since 2006 and returned to Sri Lanka in 2019. They have been taken to Mandapam Refugee Camp after questioning by central and state intelligence officials. With these four, the number of refugees who came to Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka has now increased to 133. In Sri Lanka, which is facing an economic crisis, more than six million people have faced a food crisis. There has been an acute shortage of essential commodities like medicines, cooking gas, fuel and toilet paper, forcing Sri Lankans to wait in queues for hours outside shops to buy fuel and cooking gas. The World Food Program (WFP) said in a report that 6.3 million people or 28.3 per cent of the population in Sri Lanka have a food crisis. Why was Sri Lanka ruined? Let us tell you that in order to save petrol in Sri Lanka, the government has already closed schools and colleges. Along with this, government employees have been asked to work from home. The whole crisis started because of the burden of foreign debt. Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves reached the verge of exhaustion while paying the loan installments. It is being told that this is the biggest economic crisis in front of Sri Lanka after independence. India has been a major source of foreign aid this year for Sri Lanka, which is suffering financially. Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind joins 'Har Ghar Tiranga', changes Twitter DP Cyber security will now be taught in this universityMan sent to jail for minor typing mistake How much money is in the treasury of Jagannath Temple? ASI appeals to open 'Ratna Bhandar' ADDIS ABABA: The African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat has slammed the recent acts of violent protests in Sierra Leone. The AU cheif expresses "deep concern over the violent protests in Sierra Leone on August 10, 2022, which resulted in loss of life and the destruction of property," said an African Union statement issued on late Thursday. To maintain the stability that Sierra Leone has experienced since the end of the civil war in 2002, Faki advised all parties to abstain from additional acts of violence and engage in constructive debate within the confines of the democratic process. He emphasised the pan-African bloc's commitment to assisting the government and people of Sierra Leone in the return to normalcy. On Wednesday, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Freetown, the nation's capital, and other cities to urge the government to address the issues of the country's severe economic suffering and high cost of living. Due to the demonstration, several businesses in the national capital remained closed out of concern about protester attacks. Following the widespread demonstration in the West African nation, vice president Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh announced a statewide curfew on Wednesday. He said it was a way to defuse the situation and restore normalcy to the country. The military has been called upon by the administration to assist the police in responding to the nationwide protest. Four police officers were killed in the statewide protest on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Sierra Leonean police on Thursday, while 113 protestors were detained. S.Africas ruling Party opens policy meeting amid issues China-Africa economic trade projects worth 170 million USD signed Ukrainian President proposes extending martial law, general mobilisation BEIJING: China's foreign ministry has imposed sanctions on Lithuanian Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Agne Vaiciukeviciute over a visit to the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan. In a statement released on Friday, it said that "the visit tramples on the one-China principle, significantly meddles in China's domestic affairs, and challenges China's sovereignty and territorial integrity". The foreign ministry also stated that China would halt all communications with her ministry and stop working with Lithuania on transportation. It did not specify the sanctions in detail, but it did state that all communication with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania would also be halted. Vaiciukeviciute landed in Taipei on August 7 for a visit despite the present hostilities. Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi recently visited Taiwan, prompting China to launch extensive military drills surrounding the island last week, including mock invasions. Beijing also also imposed unspecified sanctions on Pelosi "and her immediate family members". The Chinese government disapproves of official communication with Taiwan because it sees the island as a part of its own territory. Taiwan, meanwhile, has long viewed itself as independent. Lithuania and China have also recently experienced tensions. Beijing downgraded its diplomatic ties with the Baltic EU state after it permitted Taiwan to create a representative office in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, under its own name rather than one Beijing had sought, such Chinese Taipei or simply Taipei. US Tariffs on China: Beijing is "already tired of the show" Washington is putting on China urges South Korea to prevent THAAD from becoming a "stumbling block" in relations Russia plans to hold several referenda in Ukraine: US official Singapore: Lan Weiguang took a leap of faith to test out her technology because she was so confident it would work. LAN is a leader in membrane technology, and its systems are now used worldwide to purify industrial wastewater of heavy metals and convert it to potable water. However, his method was not tested outside his Singapore lab in 1997. "In the lab, I showed it was effective. But without reassuring pilot test results, customers would not trust the product," he said. Without my wife's consent, I withdrew money from my joint account to pay for the machine. She was furious because the savings were for our own home improvements. However, the pilot-scale experiment would not be able to continue if I did not buy the machine. The investment was profitable, and LAN's technology became essential to initiatives such as Neuater, facilities that purify the water used in Singapore to create safe drinking water. This strategy fits into Lan's larger quest to find practical uses for science. The scientist-entrepreneur said the secret to his success was to go beyond research and development and bring scientific concepts from laboratories to a new plant for his company Suntar in Tuas, Singapore's western industrial district. R&D is insufficient. According to Lan, scientists need a platform to convert discoveries from their research into commercial products and applications. "The Chinese scientific community provides scenarios for real-world application, while the Singaporean scientific community is strong in developing theories and technologies," he said. When engineering and science come together, sparks fly. Growing up in southeast China, Lan graduated from the chemistry program at Xiamen University in 1985. He then moved to Singapore on a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Advanced Water Membrane Technology and became a citizen. He maintained ties with his alma mater in Xiamen and was given a professorship in 1999 before taking over as director of the Center for Applied Membrane Technology. He founded Suntar in Singapore in 1996, with manufacturing facilities in Xiamen. At the end of 2019, Suntar became the first membrane technology company to be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The complex process of producing the antibiotic ampicillin from salt lakes and extracting lithium, a metal needed for renewable energy, also uses the technology in addition to improving wastewater. According to Lan, membrane filtration systems were also used in nuclear power plants including Tianwan, Jiangsu Province and Qinshan, Zhejiang Province. They claimed that the system placed essential boric acid, which has chemical and physical properties similar to dissolved silicon, while removing dissolved silicon that can accumulate and interfere with plant operations. The company claims that the largest market for membrane technology is still water treatment. It manages more than 30 wastewater treatment facilities in eight provinces in eastern China, contributing to the daily processing of more than 1 million tons of water. In May of this year, Lan proposed that a team in Singapore, which would validate the performance of the new material, and a team in Xiamen to join together to launch an industrial production line of graphene composite membranes for water purification and wastewater treatment. Will work According to the researchers, the inclusion of graphene, a very thin layer of carbon in the membrane, has the potential to increase their effectiveness and longevity as it slows down the clogging of the pores. Lan said, I use market challenges as research topics and help industries find solutions. More pirate incidents in the Singapore Strait are expected this year Singaporean man charged with killing his wife with a pillow Kejriwal could not go to Singapore, Delhi govt anoints Centre responsible USA: After their meeting in Taipei on August 3, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen attend a joint press conference. I am pleased with our delegation. Introducing every congressional delegate who has traveled to Taiwan, despite Beijings protests and Pentagon warnings, Pelosi remarked, We are almost like a unit. Pelosi did not introduce her son, Paul Pelosi Jr., who was one of the group. Republicans, many of whom supported Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, are now criticizing her for "secretly" taking a son on a trip that was promoted as a means to counter China's growing influence. went. An "exclusive" article in the British tabloid Daily Mail claimed that Paul Jr. was one of the top investors in Borax Technologies, a Beijing-based telecommunications company. This article was posted by RNC Research, a Republican National Committee Twitter account whose mission is "to expose the lies, hypocrisy, and far-left policies of Joe Biden and the Democrats". According to documents submitted by Borks to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2021, Paul Jr. Purchased 700,000 shares of Brox Technologies through the "Employee Benefit Plan". But in the SEC filing dated May 2, 2022, his name is not included in the company's 10 large shareholders. Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hamill claimed in an email to the South China Morning Post that Republicans were "desperate to divert attention from an apparent investigation into the former defeated president." On Wednesday, FBI agents issued a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to search for missing classified documents owned by former President Donald Trump, some of which were allegedly linked to nuclear secrets. Paul Jr. Borks owned less than 057 percent when it issued 700,000 shares as compensation in 2021, according to Hamill, who elaborates on the matter. Borqs successfully reversed its stock. The number of actual shares today is 43,750, or 700k divided by 16. Since its founding in 2007, Borqs Technologies has been creating software and solutions for the "Internet of Things" and describes itself as a "global leader" in this field. According to the company's official website, the company maintains "research and development centers" in China, India, the United States and South Korea. The business introduced BeSmartTrack, a mobile smart tracking solution, in Taiwan in August 2020. Paul, 53, describes himself on his official website as a "capitalist, lawyer and banker" who hopes to "change corporate governance" with a "fundamental, common-sense approach". Paul was not included in the delegation that Pelosi's office announced on July 31. When a reporter asked Pelosi, 82, if her son was a member of the delegation during a news conference at the US Capitol on Wednesday, she replied in the affirmative. She replied, "Yes, he was, and his job was to escort me. Usually, we invited partners. Not everyone could attend. But I invited them. And I was glad to see them there." Throughout the trip, which also included stops in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, Paul was photographed with his mother along with senior officials and heads of state. Pelosi denied claims that his son had engaged in any business deals, saying, "No, he didn't. He clearly didn't. The Daily Mail report was covered by Chinese media on Friday, and according to publicly available data from Weibo, articles under the trending topic "Pelosi secretly brought her son during a trip to Taiwan" garnered 440 million times Has been read. The article in Chinese state tabloid Global Times, which was shared by 55 other media outlet accounts on Weibo, said that Pelosi's son Paul Pelosi Jr. is "neither an official nor an adviser, but he has been involved with taxpayers' money." Tagged along with Asia." "Per a decade-old policy, spouses and adult children are allowed to travel on congressional delegations for representation purposes at no cost to the taxpayer," Hamill claimed, adding that spouses and adult children were never used. Not mentioned in the press release. Beijing issued vague sanctions against Pelosi and her close family members last week in response to the visit. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana recently criticized Pelosi for not inviting any Republican members of the House to join him in Taiwan. He told Fox News that Kevin McCarthy, the top House Republican, would have been present "if he really wanted to show strength from the United States." "The Pelosi Show was about him." Pelosi invited Texas Representative Michael McCall, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but had to decline because of personal obligations, he told NBC News. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Robert Portman of Ohio and with Republican Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, were part of a delegation to Taiwan in April that was led by Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. N.Korea sends letter to China accusing Pelosi of Taiwan trip Apple warns vendors not to use Taiwanese labels to avoid "trade barriers" Nancy Pelosi: North Korea's threat is "heightening," Islamabad: Atrocities on minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Christians) in Pakistan in the name of religion are not taking the name of stopping. Recently, another gruesome case has come to light from Pakistan. Here another Hindu girl has been kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. The victim's name is Kareena Kumari, she is a resident of Sindh province. She was kidnapped on June 6 this year. On Friday (August 12, 2022), the victim told the court that she was forcibly converted to Islam after being kidnapped. Then they forcibly married her to Khalil. She pleaded with the court to take her to her father. However, the Pakistani court has directed to keep the victim in the women's centre for the time being. Pakistan Sindh Hindu girl #Kareena Kumari S/o Sundar lal who was kidnapped by Muslims and forcibly converted to Islam, requests the Sindh government to punish those who confined and tortured her, says she wants to live with her parents.#StopForcedConversions#saveminoritygirls pic.twitter.com/xAwPX330Lj Narain Das Bheel (@NarainDasBheel8) August 11, 2022 According to media reports, Kareena Kumari is a resident of Shahidabad. She was kidnapped from outside the house on June 6, 2022. Father Sundermal tried hard to find her but did not succeed. Finally, after recovering Kareena, she was produced through video in a court in Nawabshah. A video of Kareena has also become increasingly viral on social media. In this, she is telling about forcibly converting herself to Islam and forcibly marrying Khalil. In the video, Kareena is saying, 'I was locked up and tortured. I want to be with my parents.' A Minor Hindu Girl Kareena Kumari kidnapped,converted &married to Khalil in Pakistan ????Earlier 3 girls forcibly converted & girl shot dead 4 refusing 2 marry a Pakistani????Evn d bill criminalising forcible conversion rejected in Pak assembly.Pakistan perpetrates#HindusUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/n8rUkg9UTu Jyot Jeet (@activistjyot) August 12, 2022 According to the victim's father, "We are very poor. We don't even have bus fares to go to and from the court. After my daughter's statement, the court should now send her with us. The court should also punish those who kidnap and rape girls because they also sell girls. Hindus in Pakistan have also protested against this incident with Kareena, but as usual, it did not affect the Pakistani government.'' According to Sundermal's lawyer Dilip Kumar Manglani, "Victim Kareena is a minor. Hindu girls and their families are at risk due to forced marriage and conversion. Most of the underage girls are hunted, which even the police do not help. The accused produced fake documents in court. In March this year, three Hindu girls were kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to Muslim boys. The police have not been able to find any of the girls so far.'' 24 times after watching 'Arundhati' movie, young man poured petrol and... Class 12th student murdered due to love affair, one arrested Bomb concealed inside an artificial leg kills a prominent Afghan cleric GAZA: The Palestinian health ministry reports that 49 people have died as a result of the most recent escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. According to a statement released by the ministry on Friday, "a 22-year-old Palestinian has died at the hospital from severe wounds he received during the latest escalation in the Gaza Strip." The ministry had earlier reported 41 fatalities, including 15 children and 4 women. The most recent update puts the total number of fatalities from the most recent escalation in Gaza at 49, including 19 children and four women. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry's statement on Friday, at least 360 people were hurt. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched the Breaking Dawn operation against Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip earlier this month. Last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared that the goals of the Breaking Dawn operation had been accomplished. After three days of hostilities, a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement took effect that evening on August 7. Tayseer Jabari, a senior Islamic Jihad commander in northern Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike prior to the cease-fire, and Khaled Mansour, another senior commander, was killed in a separate airstrike in the Gaza city of Rafah. According to Tor Wennesland, special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, the recent escalation in the region "took a severe toll on the civilian population." The UN maintains close contact with both Israel and the Palestinians to strengthen the ceasefire that was reached last weekend. Issam Al-Arouri, the director of the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid, reported that the occupation court in Jerusalem had revoked the precautionary order to halt the school's demolition last Wednesday. This was done in response to a change in the building codes that were in effect in the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as the fact that Israel changed its narrative and began treating Palestinian land as Israeli territory. Israel now views any construction in Area C as an assault on the occupying power's property. The school hasn't been protected since and is in immediate danger of being demolished. We are preparing a legal procedure that will begin the following week with a request to exempt the school from the licencing application, Al-Arouri continued. The only way to save the school, he emphasised, is to apply immediate political pressure in the hopes that this will buy us a few days to consider a new legal strategy that might work. "All this comes in the context of the displacement of the population, but we will not leave the area," said Palestinian Muhammad Hussein Kaanba in reference to the ongoing attacks on the school and the surrounding area by settlers and soldiers of the occupation. The Committee to Resist the Wall and Settlement, the Ministry of Education, and European funding were all involved in getting the school up and running in the middle of January. The school has assisted students from the Ein Samiya neighbourhood in Area C with the aid of volunteers. Gaza calculates the cost of the "tragic and difficult" conflict after ceasefire Israel and Islamic Jihad in Gaza called for cease-fire overnight Gaza crossing reopens as truce holds between Israel and Islamic Jihad Amid the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi spoke about the "role of Muslims in India's independence" and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Owaisi said, "Muslims who contributed to the country's independence should also remember the Prime Minister. At the same time, he also took a dig at Godse and said, "The land for independence was prepared by our freedom fighters and not Godse." The first prisoner of Kala Pani was Hyderabadi-Fazal-e-Haq Khairabadi. I ask those who hate Muslims- Do you know where Malta is? Sheikh ul Hind Mahmud ul Hasan was arrested from Mecca. He was held in Malta prison for three years. The Queen of Jhansi is remembered but do you know that Khuda Baksh (in-charge of the army) was martyred while serving her. A woman who was always with the Queen of Jhansi and was martyred during the Battle of Kotaher name was Manjar- was a Muslim. With this, he further said, 'Those who talk about the tricolour - will they also talk about what happened on 6 December and what happened in August last year? Muslims are not responsible for partition. Who was Bhatniya Ansari? He used to cook food for Mahatma Gandhi. The British asked him to poison Mahatma Gandhi's food. But he came running and told Gandhi not to eat. But, you see who were the people who shot Mahatma Gandhi.' With this, he further said 'The first journalist who was martyred for India's independence was Mohammad Maulvi Bakar, he was murdered by the British. Umar Subhani gave a blank check to Bapu. Allah Baksh, who organized the Azad Conference in Delhi, abolished the two-nation theory. His government was removed and Savarkar's Mahasabha and Jinnah's Muslim League formed the government.' Apart from this, Owaisi gave a challenge and said- 'I challenge you to face me for 10 minutes, you will run away. Godse has not made the basis for independence, all freedom fighters have made it. To those who are asking Muslims to show loyalty, I will tell them, those who are bald will wear the best cap in the world. Then ask others to wear it. If you are proud to be an Indian then you should also be proud of your past.' Apart from this, he said- 'People who told our Prime Minister have told the RSS as our foundation. I ask them if is it not true that in 1950 the RSS was against the Indian Constitution. If anyone is insulted the most in India, it is a 'Muslim'. If anyone in India is most vulnerable, it is a Muslim. If anyone is neglected the most in India, it is a Muslim. Raju Srivastava's brain not working, condition still critical India's headline retail inflation eases to 6.71pc in July Celebration of 75th Independence Day in Mar Thoma Academy TEHRAN: The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has said the United States fabricated stories about a politically bankrupt element, a known terrorist and a coup plotter against independent states is a deceptive attempt to escape international responsibilities. In response to the US Justice Department's decision to charge a member of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps with "plotting to assassinate" John Bolton, a former US National Security Advisor, reported that Nasser Kanaani made the statement on Twitter on Friday. He slammed Washington for continuing to accuse Tehran of "baseless" things, claiming that "such fanfares won't erase US regime's image, but make Iranians and the world more resentful of it." Iran strongly cautions against any action taken against its citizens based on such "ridiculous" charges, Kanaani said in a separate statement Thursday that was posted on the Ministry's website. He said that such actions are a continuation of Washington's failing approach of fomenting Iranophobia. Charges against an alleged Iranian agent were made public by the DOJ on Wednesday. This was probably in revenge for the US execution of top commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. POLITICO verified on Wednesday that former secretary of state Mike Pompeo was purportedly also a target of the Iranians. The threat was first made known to Bolton after the DOJ released the criminal complaint on Wednesday. Shortly after, he issued a statement in which he expressed his gratitude to the Secret Service, the FBI, and the DOJ for their "protection" and "diligence." Turkey calls for Sweden, Finland to fulfil NATO accession Iran: Proposed ideas submitted to accelerate nuclear talks Iran avoids "threats and empty deadlines" from the West in nuclear talks: Advisor Venezuela: The US State Department in May asked two European oil companies, Italy's Eni Spa and Spain's Repsol SA, to restart their oil-for-loan transactions with Venezuela and send crude to Europe. gave his approval. According to Reuters, Venezuela's national oil company, Petrolos de Venezuela (PDVSA), is no longer interested in the oil-for-loan agreements that the US State Department approved in May. Instead, PDVSA has said that future shipments from Eni SPA in Italy and Repsol SA in Spain should be exchanged for motor fuel, the shortage of which is crippling the country, according to sources cited by the outlet. According to the publication's quoted PDVSA shipping schedule, neither Eni nor Repsol received a loading window for cargo destined for Europe in August. The US State Department in May authorized two oil companies to resume supplies of crude to Europe that had been halted in 2020. In an effort to oust Nicolas Maduro, who had been duly elected president of the South American nation, then US President Donald Trump was under pressure at the time. To prepare Europe for Russian oil and petroleum products by imposing economic sanctions against the country due to Moscow's ongoing military operation in Ukraine, Washington approved cashless transactions in May. The transaction was to proceed with the explicit requirement that all proceeds be used to settle PDVSA's debt in its joint ventures with Eni and Repsol. Accordingly, 3.6 million barrels of the South American nation's diluted crude oil (DCO) have been shipped to Eni since June, according to PDVSA records and tanker tracking information. Eni sends crude oil for further processing to Repsol, which has a large refinery. According to cited documents and vessel monitoring, PDVSA's total exports rose to 545,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June and July, thanks to an increase in oil shipments to Europe. On the other hand, according to the report, the Venezuelan oil company is looking to restart its extra-heavy oil operations in the Orinoco belt. PDVSA has relied primarily on Iranian diluents such as heavy naphtha to convert its extra heavy crude into a grade suitable for export. PDVSA, Eni, Repsol, or the US State Department have all remained silent regarding the report. Following Venezuela's 2018 presidential election, which was won by the country's current president, Nicolas Maduro, sanctions were imposed against the democratically elected government. Washington refused to acknowledge Maduro's legitimacy. Venezuela's leader of the opposition and self-proclaimed "interim president" Juan Guaido attempted a coup in 2019, and his claims were accepted by the Donald Trump administration in January 2019. Maduro criticized the US for working with Guaido to overthrow the legitimate government to seize the nation's vast crude oil reserves. The sanctions cut PDVSA's access to specialized drilling equipment and foreign investment, as well as threaten secondary sanctions against businesses and nations doing business with the Latin American energy giant. As a result, PDVSA assets worth billions of dollars were confiscated abroad. Nations such as China, Iran and Russia criticized Washington's actions. Cuba, Mexico make progress in controlling fuel farm fire Massive fire triggered in Cuba storage facility: 1 killed, 122 injured US 'fabricates stories' over Bolton to escape int'l responsibilities Iran It takes years to earn respect, but only a moment to lose it, do your work carefully. Prem Bahadur Shrestha, the founder of Panchakanya Group, keeps saying this to his children and grandchildren. Shresthas grandson Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha is now working as the executive director of Panchkanya Group, one of the biggest family conglomerates of Nepal, following the same path shown by his grandfather, starting 50 years ago. This means as the company is celebrating its golden jubilee, the rein and the glorious history are now in the hands of the third-generation leader. Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha joined Panchkanya Group as a marketing manager some 15 years ago. Today, he looks after the leadership of production, sales and strategy creation in the group. Although important strategic decisions are discussed among the board of directors, he is in charge of coordinating the production and sales of steel and plastic. He is moving the company forward under the guidance of his grandfather, father (Dhruv Kumar Shrestha) and uncle (Pradeep Kumar Shrestha), setting an example of the new-age working style in Nepals business sector. New-age working style Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha. Photo: Shankhar Giri Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha started working at a young age but says he had to put in a lot of effort to be capable of handling the large industrial-commercial group. It was a challenge for him to return to Nepal after completing his studies in the US after Darjeeling in India. He is now taking up the challenge regarding how to take the Panchkanya Groups businesses up and give them stability. He says that due to the teams trust within the group, including brothers Udeep and Ashiq, he can lead the company. When I entered the company, the situation was different. The old way of working in the old company was a new subject for me. The working culture was different from what he learned at the university, he says. That was the biggest challenge; it took some time for me to get to know people, to understand the work culture and communicate easily, Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha says, After learning a little bit, I gradually got mixed up with the environment and understood the distribution network of the company. He made it his priority to continue to win the trust of the customers and the distribution network created by his grandfather, father and uncle. He also considered another important aspect of his work: the empowerment of human resources. Todays generation in business must understand that the foundation of the company will be as strong as its employees, he says. One person cannot do everything; you have to trust the team and make it efficient and experienced and move forward. This is the way I chose to work. Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha does not believe in a yes man culture. He is constantly insisting on removing the working style where employees focus on following the hierarchy. Instead, he is interested in making the employees responsible and accountable, for which he is investing the companys time and money. His dreams Ujjwal Kumar Shresthas determination to excel in industry and business management dates back to his childhood. He spent his childhood and vacation days more in Bhairahawa, where Panchakanyas factories were located. It was inside the factory premises where he learned to ride a motorcycle and drive a car. He, hence, was very mesmerised by the atmosphere of heavy machinery and various types of workers. He used to dream of becoming an engineer in the future and managing the industry. He did not pursue engineering, but as long as he stayed outside the country, the thought of returning to Nepal never left his mind. He was eager to return to Nepal after learning new ways of management abroad. Though there was some scepticism, his confidence and determination won over and he returned to achieve his dreams. But, reaching here was not the end of Ujjwal Kumar Shresthas confusion, he did not know where to start his career. So he started where it was the most convenient: as a marketing manager in Panchakanya Group. When he entered the company, he found out that handling and managing the sales distribution network was the most difficult part of networking. The company had to do whatever the distributor said, else the product would not be sold. There would be many clashes and debates with sellers and distributors, he says. But, after understanding the behaviour of the market and people, we were able to change the policy and address their concerns in a systematic manner. The revised management, under him, now includes 250 official distributors and more than 4,000 sub-dealers. And, it is considered an exemplary model, inspiring other companies to adopt it as well. Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha believes when the new generation enters any family conglomerate, they must prove something new to the people. Even the family will not allow them to handle a big business without them proving their competence. The strong base Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha. Photo: Shankhar Giri Panchakanya Group started in a grocery store in Phikkal in Ilam that later turned into a sawmill, then a rice mill, and now has become a prestigious industrial house in Nepal. Panchkanya produces steel and products of plastics, including HTP, PVC, PPR and CPVC plumbing options. Not just that, it is in the business of stainless steel water tanks, UPVC windows and doors, ready-mix concrete, and light technology building construction as well as in the supply and trade of bitumen, heavy equipment and bikes. It is considered rare for family conglomerates handled by third or fourth-generation leadership and handled jointly by the family to thrive. However, Panchkanya is one of such exceptional success stories, not just in Nepal but worldwide. Contrary to common beliefs, Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha says Panchkanya Group as a joint family business has more advantages as everyone has their unique prowess that is valuable and they coexist with others. I have a unique opportunity to understand and learn from the many stories of the family members. He shares that he feels the pressure to stay relevant and be one step forward because his grandfather, who is over 90 now, still stays updated about the changes happening in not only the businesses he is in but also world politics, economic diplomacy as well as technology. Regardless, he says he is grateful for the trust his family put in him to make independent decisions and the lesson from his uncle Pradeep who told him to move forward, not be afraid and accept change. He feels that he has irreplaceable support from his family while he is making mistakes and learning. This, he says, keeps them motivated to grow as he still has a lot to achieve. Interest in diversification Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha. Photo: Shankhar Giri Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha says Panchkanya has introduced itself as a company that provides quality, new, reliable yet relevant products. Keeping this aspect in mind, he says he is also looking to diversify the group, industrially and commercially. The group invests a lot in research and production in Nepal itself to market products that are competitive. If we can produce here, why import? We believe in this question and make plans for new and quality products. Panchkanya has entered the automotive sector too and is planning to gradually enter other sectors as well. Due to the digital/social media and platforms, it is easy to establish new ideas and enterprises, so the company is thinking of capitalising on the opportunity and staying ahead of the competition. Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha shares the company plans to extend its services to digital technology, artificial intelligence as well as the agricultural and advanced service sector, in a transparent and systematic way. Taking into account the trust shown by customers for 50 years, Panchkanya Group is also leading in social responsibility. The company is more interested in helping schools and students, building hospitals, rebuilding temples, assisting in tree plantation and sanitation and training the unskilled. Concerns The industrial sector in Nepal has faced continuous political instability, including 10 years of armed conflict, electricity cutoff, earthquake and blockade and the pandemic. In Ujjwal Kumar Shresthas 15 years of experience, the changing government and policy have not been a new topic. However, he is more worried about the lack of coordination between the goals and programmes introduced by the government in recent years. When the government starts thinking about limited industries or products, it becomes difficult to industrialise, he says. He also shares that young entrepreneurs are facing difficulty to set up an industry given they do not know political parties or leaders. He says he gets sad when connection gets more importance than experience, skills, heritage, quality or ability. That, he says discourages the new generation and causes great fear and anxiety in them. He is also not happy to see that instead of addressing the problems like lack of liquidity in Nepals economy along with the global economic recession, Nepal Rastra Bank is tightening the monetary policy more. The policy also does not promote industrialisation, but elimination, he asks, How will the new generation thrive? Still, Ujjwal Kumar Shrestha is not one to give up. He is determined to fight and face whatever situation comes his way and he is hopeful that the truth will thrive one day if the young generation stays patient enough. There are a lot of opportunities here; the private sector and the government should use it together. This story was translated from the original Nepali version and edited for clarity and length. Former president Donald Trump denied reports that he had documents related to nuclear weapons at his home on Friday morning and accused the FBI of planting information. Mr Trump lashed out on his media platform Truth Social in response to a report from The Washington Post published Thursday evening. The report explained that when the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home earlier this week, they were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons. Mr Trump compared the report to the investigation into Russia interfering with the 2016 presidential election and the special counsel investigation by Robert Mueller. Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax, two impeachments were a hoax, the Mueller investigation was a hoax, and much more, he said. Same sleazy people involved. Mr Trump asked why the FBI would not allow inspection of Mar-a-Lago with his lawyers present. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldnt let them even close-said ABSOLUTELY NOT, he said. Planting information anyone? The former president said it was reminscent of the dossier compiled by Christopher Steele. He also turned his attention to his predecessor several times on Friday, wondering if former President Barack Obama had taken any classified nuclear secrets with him when he left office, Mr Trump alleged with 33 million pages of documents. President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots! The National Archives was quick to dismiss Mr Trumps baseless claims, releasing a statement on Friday debunking what the former president was alleging, noting that it had relocated approximately 30 million pages of documents to Chicago, the site of the future Obama presidential library, but maintains them exclusively. Mr Trumps words come the day after Attorney General Merrick Garland said that he personally authorised the search of Mr Trumps home. Mr Garland also said the Justice Department asked the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida to unseal the search warrant. Story continues Where possible it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken, Mr Garland said on Thursday. On Friday afternoon, the FBIs search warrant was made public. While there was no direct mention of nuclear secrets, the boxes contained 11 separate sets of classified documents, including documents marked as top secret and the set of Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information documents, the latter of which would have ordinarily required to be viewed in a secure facility known as a SCIF. Four of the document sets were listed as classified top secret, three were marked as secret, and another three were marked as confidential, the lowest level of classification in the US system. The FBI conducted a search of Mr Trumps home in Palm Beach Florida on Monday, which Mr Trump immediately decried. WILMINGTON, DE / ACCESSWIRE / August 12, 2022 / Transparency Market Research Inc. - The value of the global baby monitors market stood at more than US$ 1 Bn in 2020. The market is likely to develop at a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period, from 2021 to 2031. The global baby monitor market size is anticipated to cross valuation of US$ 1.7 Bn by 2031. The global market for baby monitors is being driven by the rising awareness regarding the security and safety of newborns in developing nations. In order to meet the growing demand from customers throughout the world, market players are working to provide cutting-edge baby monitor products. Transparency Market Research inc., Friday, August 12, 2022, Press release picture Additionally, small and medium-sized businesses that make products are establishing themselves in the global market by producing effective, secure, and dependable baby monitors. Growing consumer product awareness, growing disposable income, and quickly developing offline and online distribution channels are expected to propel the global baby monitors market. The global market, however, is being restrained by hacking, signal interference, concerns with smartphone connectivity, and limited technical reliability. However, smart baby monitor market is expected to observe steady growth due to the benefits of smartphone connectivity. Request Sample Report at - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=5156 Key Findings of Market Report The global market for baby monitors is primarily driven by the growing working populace. The need for baby monitors has grown as nuclear homes have multiplied throughout the world. The demand for newborn day care facilities is quite high due to the increase in the number of working individuals all over the world. The growing demand for baby monitors can be attributed to this aspect. Consumers' increasing discretionary income is a major driving force behind growth of the global baby monitors market. Baby monitor market analysis highlight that parents in the developing nations are prepared to shell out more for high-quality baby monitors. The global baby monitors market is expected to expand at a faster rate due to the increasing need for effective and affordable devices. In order to boost their income, companies in the global baby monitors market are concentrating on creating technologically advanced products. In the baby monitors business, innovation is crucial in achieving success. Innovative as well as upgraded items are more than likely to be purchased by consumers, which is expected to augur well for the advanced baby monitor market. The growth of the global market is being fueled by technological developments in such products. It is anticipated that during the following years, this would further raise demand for baby monitors. Story continues Make an Enquiry before Buying - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=EB&rep_id=5156 Global Baby Monitors Market: Growth Drivers The market participants for baby monitors are expected to observe value-grab opportunities company-owned websites, e-commerce websites, and number of physical distribution channels all continue to grow. North America is anticipated to account for a considerable baby monitor market share during the forecast period. Significant presence of technologically advanced advanced infrastructure and cutting-edge baby monitor devices is expected to drive the regional market. The expansion of the market is also being aided by the rising number of nuclear family homes in the region. Global Baby Monitors Market: Key Players Some of the key market players are Dorel Industries, Inc. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd VTech Holdings Ltd. Koninklijke Philips N. V. Summer Infant Inc. LOREX Technology Inc. Ask for References - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=ARF&rep_id=5156 Global Baby Monitors Market: Segmentation Product Video Monitor Audio Monitor Baby Movement Monitors Others Connectivity Wired Baby Monitors Wireless Baby Monitors Range Up to 249 ft 250 to 499 ft 500 to 749 ft 750 to 999 ft 1,000 to 1,499 ft Above 1,499 ft Price Range Low (Below US$ 50) Medium (US$ 50-200) High (Above US$ 200) Application Residential Commercial Distribution Channel Online Offline Consumer Goods Research Reports Smart Crib Market - The global smart crib market is expected to reach US$ 545.4 Mn by the end of 2031, grow at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2022 to 2031 Baby Care Products Market - The global baby care products market is expected to surpass the value of US$ 163.4 Bn by the end of 2031, expand at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2021 to 2031 Baby Skincare Market - The global baby skincare market is expected to exceed the value of US$ 20.3 Bn by the end of 2031, expand at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2021 to 2031 Baby Diaper Market - The global baby diaper market is projected to reach value of US$ 84.1 Bn by 2027, at an average annual growth rate of 6.4% during the forecast period Disposable and Sustainable Baby Diaper Market - The global disposable and sustainable baby diaper market is expected to exceed the valuation of US$ 53.43 Bn by 2031, expanding at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period Skin Care Products Market - The global skin care products market is expected to reach the value of US$ 269.2 Bn by the end of 2031, expand at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2021 to 2031 Baby and Toddler Feeding Products & Accessories Market - The baby and toddler feeding products & accessories market is expected to cross the valuation of US$ 1.6 Bn by 2031 Organic Personal Care Market - The global organic personal care products market to expand at a CAGR of 9.2 percent during the assessment period of 2019-2027 About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research registered at Wilmington, Delaware, United States, is a global market intelligence company provides syndicated research reports and business consulting services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insights for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools & techniques to gather and analyze information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Us: Rohit Bhisey Transparency Market Research Inc. CORPORATE HEADQUARTER DOWNTOWN, 1000 N. West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 USA Tel: USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: https://tmrblog.com Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com SOURCE: Transparency Market Research View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/711895/Baby-Monitors-Market-to-Rise-at-CAGR-of-44-during-Forecast-Period-2021-2031-notes-TMR-Study Completion of Phase 1 - 122 sites in Cameroon Completion of 118 sites in DRC for October Initial 10 sites in South Sudan for September Appointment of new Managing Director and Director of Operations for Africa QUEBEC, QC / ACCESSWIRE / August 11, 2022 / NuRAN Wireless Inc. ("NuRAN Wireless") (CSE:NUR) (OTC:NRRWF) (FSE:1RN), a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions is pleased to announce the resumption of and revised rollout schedule of sites in Cameroon, DRC and South Sudan. The new schedule for site deployments includes the completion of the initial 122 sites in Cameroon in partnership with Orange Cameroon initially announced in a press release dated October 29, 2020 by the end of October 2022. Additionally, On March 11, 2021, NuRAN had also announced that this contract was expanded to include an addition 120 sites for a total 242 sites. NuRAN will additionally resume site deployments in the DRC in partnership with Orange DRC with the expected completion of 118 sites in the DRC which was initially announced on February 8, 2021. The contract with Orange DRC is for a total of 2000 sites. Lastly, NuRAN will launch live sites in South Sudan with a total of 10 sites to be deployed. The contract announced on December 21,2021 with MTN South Sudan is for 250 total sites to be deployed with the potential for more sites to be added. "We are pleased to announce the resumption of site deployments in Africa. To date, NuRAN has had to finance all site deployments from equity at the corporate level. Our plan has always been to finance site deployments predominately through debt at the African level. As we await the release of $27M USD of African debt financing, we are pleased that we can continue to deploy more sites in the mean time. We are as anxious as all our shareholders and stakeholders to accelerate the deployment of sites while we continue to announce new and significant contracts. Our goal has been to reach 10,000 sites under contract, and we are quickly approaching that goal with 3142 sites already under contract" stated Francis Letourneau, CEO and President of NuRAN Wireless Inc. Story continues NuRAN has currently deployed 82 live sites in Cameroon (53) and DRC (29) covering a total population of approximately 487,000. With this new batch of sites to be deployed, NuRAN expects to have a total of 250 sites live by the end of October 2022. During the last few weeks, the team in Cameroon has completed the capacity upgrade of 9 sites of the 22 planned. The remaining will be done concurrently with the new build plan for optimization due to the proximity of the new planned sites. NuRAN is also announcing an important reorganization of senior staff. NuRAN is pleased to announce the appointment of Christian Marcoux as Managing Director of corporate operations. Mr. Marcoux currently resides in the Quebec City, Canada area and is a bilingual management engineer with 28 years of experience in technology. His expertise is in leading the implementation of new business strategies and best business practices, particularly when they concern operations, the development of new products, sales, and marketing. His considerable experience and know-how in coordination and personnel management has allowed him to form strong teams that mobilize to achieve the expected results. Mr. Marcoux is graduate of Laval University with a Bachelor's in Engineering. NuRAN is also pleased to announce the appointment of George Benson as Director of Operations for Africa. Mr. Benson is currently residing in Johannesburg, South Africa and is a highly experienced in mobile network deployment and project engineering with over 28 years of experience and having worked in the UK, South Africa, Taiwan, Philippines, USA, UAE, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. Mr. Benson is a graduate of Heriot-Watt University with a Bachelor of Science in Planning. "NuRAN is focused on the next phase of the company's development and site rollouts will be at the center of our long-term success. The addition of Mr. Marcoux and Mr. Benson to our team will ensure a managed and efficient process achieving our short and long-term goal of sustained growth" commented Francis Letourneau, CEO and President of NuRAN Wireless Inc. NuRAN would like to thank Mr Gael Campan and Mr. Badi Abdallah for their efforts and dedicated service and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. Due to short term delays with respect to the release of debt financing, management reports that it now targeting the completion of 400 sites by the end of December 2022, a decrease of 100 sites from its initial target of 500 sites. About NuRAN Wireless: NuRAN Wireless is a leading rural telecommunications company that meets the growing demand for wireless network coverage in remote and rural regions around the globe. With its affordable and innovative scalable solutions of 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, NuRAN Wireless offers a new possibility for more than one billion people to communicate effectively over long distances efficiently and affordably. "Bridging the Digital Divide, One Connection at a Time." Additional Information: For further information about NuRAN Wireless: www.nuranwireless.com Francis Letourneau, Director and CEO Francis.letourneau@nuranwireless.com Tel: (418) 264-1337 Frank Candido Investor relations Frank.candido@nuranwireless.com Tel: (514) 969-5530 Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "intends", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release include those relating to securing 10,000 sites by 2026, the Company's revenues and future revenues relating to the Company's NAAS agreement and ongoing site installations, and the potential revenues from ancillary services pursuant to the Company's distribution agreement with Orange DRC and other telecommunication providers. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, such as the uncertainties regarding include risks such as the uncertainties regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and measures to prevent its spread, risks relating to NuRAN's business and the economy generally; NuRAN's ability to adequately restructure its operations with respect to its new model of NAAS service contracts; the capacity of the Company to deliver in a technical capacity and to import inventory to Africa at a reasonable cost; NuRAN's ability to deal with global supply shortages for telecommunication equipment and its ability to find alternate suppliers; the Company's ability to secure lease agreements with local landowners for site installations, NuRAN's ability to obtain project financing for the proposed site build out under its NAAS agreements with Orange, MTN and other telecommunication providers, the loss of one or more significant suppliers or a reduction in significant volume from such suppliers; NuRAN's ability to meet or exceed customers' demand and expectations; significant current competition and the introduction of new competitors or other disruptive entrants in the Company's industry; NuRAN's ability to retain key employees and protect its intellectual property; compliance with local laws and regulations and ability to obtain all required permits for our operations, access to the credit and capital markets, changes in applicable telecommunications laws or regulations or changes in license and regulatory fees, downturns in customers' business cycles; and insurance prices and insurance coverage availability, the Company's ability to effectively maintain or update information and technology systems; our ability to implement and maintain measures to protect against cyberattacks and comply with applicable privacy and data security requirements; the Company's ability to successfully implement its business strategies or realize expected cost savings and revenue enhancements; business development activities, including acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses; the Company's expansion into markets outside of Canada and the operational, competitive and regulatory risks facing the Company's non-Canadian based operations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis that is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. To the extent any forward-looking information in this press release constitutes "future-oriented financial information" or "financial outlooks" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, such information is being provided to demonstrate the anticipated revenues of the Company from the installation of sites under its NAAS agreements and the reader is cautioned that this information may not be appropriate for any other purpose and the reader should not place undue reliance on such future-oriented financial information and financial outlooks. Future-oriented financial information and financial outlooks, as with forward-looking information generally, are, without limitation, based on the assumptions and subject to the risks set out above under the heading " Forward-Looking Information". The estimates included in this news release relating to the calculation of the gross revenue of the Company's NAAS Agreements are based on multiplying an average population per site by the expected penetration rate which yields the number of mobile customers. This is then multiplied by the average revenue per customer per month (ARPU) to derive total revenue. Our NAAS partner's direct costs associated with this revenue are deducted and the resulting amount is shared by both parties. The revenue share only applies to revenue in excess of a guaranteed amount which is the minimum paid to NuRAN. A penetration rate reduction factor has been used to mitigate risk. The base data used to calculate the total potential revenue of this agreement was provided by our NAAS partners based on average population, penetration rate and ARPU. Management of the Company believes that the estimates have been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting best estimates and judgments, and based on a number of assumptions management believes are reasonable as well as information provided to the Company by our NAAS partner. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks, including the risks discussed above, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. SOURCE: NuRAN Wireless Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/711717/NuRAN-Resumes-Site-Deployments-in-Africa Sarah Krivanek Sarah Krivanek Facebook A close friend of Sarah Krivanek, an American woman serving a prison sentence in Russia, has written to U.S. President Joe Biden pleading for his help. "I am begging you to please act on her behalf," Anita Martinez wrote in a letter she says she submitted Aug. 10 through the White House website, a copy of which was shared with PEOPLE. "Do something to ensure that her basic human rights are being met and that contact is made so that we can send her the supplies needed to maintain herself." In November 2021, Krivanek was charged by Russian authorities with "intention to inflict slight bodily harm" and "threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm" following a domestic violence incident with a Russian man named Mikhail Karavaev. In court, Krivanek alleged that Karavaev had abused her before and indicated that she was defending herself during the incident, which left him cut on his nose by a knife. RELATED: 'Forgotten' American Woman Jailed in Russia with Brittney Griner Tried to Flee with U.S. Help Before Arrest She was released on bail after agreeing in writing that she would not leave Moscow and would demonstrate good behavior until her trial. But on Dec. 15, she was arrested at a Moscow airport while trying to catch a plane to flee back to the U.S. Krivanek carried with her at the airport a letter that showed she received a $200 repatriation loan from the U.S. government to cover expenses on her journey to the States. She also reportedly secured a diplomatic escort to the airport. A State Department official previously told PEOPLE that the agency was aware of the December 2021 arrest of a U.S. citizen but said the American Embassy was not aware that she was ordered to stay in Moscow until her trial. She's now serving a one-year, three-month sentence related to the assault charges. "I am quite aware that Sarah may have to serve out the duration of her sentence before we can get her home," Martinez wrote to President Biden. "My concern is the lack of communication and I worry about her well-being and mental state of mind as we do not know her current living conditions." Story continues RELATED: Sarah Krivanek Was 'Desperate' to Leave Russia Before She Was Arrested, Says Family Member Martinez cited a CNN interview with Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who was detained in Russia for nearly three years before being released in April in a prisoner swap. "Based on his description of what the conditions are like in Russian prisons, I am even more concerned for Sarah because we've not been able to send her supplies through their inmate commissary website, a phone number is needed on Sarah's end," Martinez writes. Sarah Krivanek Sarah Krivanek Facebook "I fear that since Sarah has had nothing for over 8 months that she may be suffering from malnutrition. Even the official Russian government prison site recommends sending cartons of cigarettes to use as currency," the letter continues. "Sarah has absolutely nothing to bargain with, I fear for her health and safety due to potential mistreatment because she is an American Citizen!" RELATED: Inside the Russian Penal Colony Where Brittney Griner Will Serve Her 9-Year Prison Sentence In her letter to Biden, Martinez included information on Krivanek's whereabouts that she received from Russian human rights activist Ivan Melnikov. "Please sir, as an American Citizen who loves and respects my country, I am begging that you please help me help my friend," Martinez wrote in the letter's closing. "I do not want her coming home in a body bag because nothing was done by our government to help her survive." Martinez had not received a reply from the White House by Friday afternoon. The White House did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Martinez's letter to Biden. However, after emailing a similar letter to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Martinez did get a reply. Citing privacy concerns, the embassy did not comment on Krivanek's specific case but said, "Please be assured that the consular section at Embassy Moscow is doing everything it can, with the constraints forced upon it by the Russian government, to assist all of our citizens incarcerated in Russia." Melnikov has also written a letter, which PEOPLE has reviewed. His message to Sec. of State Antony Blinken was also submitted through the White House site Aug. 4 and describes the circumstances of Krivanek's case. "I do not believe," he writes, that "Ms. Krivanek represents a danger to society." Sarah Krivanek Sarah Krivanek Facebook He also says that he "firmly believes" Krivanek should be a "potential candidate in the ongoing negotiations on prisoner exchanges between Russia and the United States." "I have no doubt that the Russian authorities will be willing to support such a humane initiative," Melnikov tells Blinken in his letter. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer. Last week, American WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison following her trial in Russia for alleged drug smuggling. "Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney," President Biden said in a statement after the sentence was announced. "It's unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately." Griner is now the subject of discussions on a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia, and Melnikov's letter implies that he hopes Krivanek's fate will also be considered. RELATED: What's Next for Brittney Griner as Lawyers Plan Appeal and She Awaits a Potential Prisoner Exchange But Griner's and Krivanek's cases are different, according to Chris Costa, a 34-year veteran of the Department of Defense and former U.S. Army Intelligence officer who is now the executive director of the International Spy Museum. Unlike Griner, Costa does not believe that Krivanek is considered by the U.S. to be "wrongfully detained," based on criteria laid out in the Levinson Act. Sarah Krivanek, Brittney Griner Facebook; KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Sarah Krivanek and Brittney Griner, two Americans jailed in Russia "She is a victim, but she might not be a wrongfully detained, that's a category," Costa told PEOPLE in an interview last week. "She was defending herself, but that doesn't mean she's wrongfully detained in accordance with Russian law." Costa added that the status of Krivanek's detainment "does not mean that the United States is not working on ensuring that she has all of what is entitled by a U.S. citizen in terms of Consular support." He also emphasized that a determination of whether a prisoner is wrongfully detained based on the Levinson Act is likely ongoing and could certainly change over time. "It's an analytical judgment based on the facts of the case. But it's kind of a sliding ruler based on the situation. It's dynamic, too, because new facts can come to light and political environments can be revealed," he said. Letters written on Krivanek's behalf could help, given the intense coverage in the media of Griner's case and the outpouring of support for her and calls to bring her home. "Sarah's family could be optimistic that the United States is really redoubling," Costa told PEOPLE. "We are committed to taking care of U.S. citizens held abroad wrongfully." For months, federal regulators have increased pressure on Beijing and Chinese companies that trade on U.S. stock exchanges to comply with American listing rules. But on Friday, five of Chinas biggest U.S.-listed, state-owned giants, valued at a collective $318 billion, announced they would exit Wall Street instead, marking an acceleration in the U.S.-China financial decoupling. State insurer China Life Insurance, energy behemoths PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, alongside Aluminum Corporation of China, and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, all said Friday that they will delist from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), as Washington and Beijing continue to jostle over letting American inspectors audit Chinese companies. The fight could lead to hundreds of China-based companies being booted from U.S. stock exchanges. Just in case, Chinese businesses are preparing to be kicked off of Wall Street. The state-owned firms are seeing that the writing is on the wall for them, Liqian Ren, director of modern alpha at investment firm WisdomTree Asset Management, told Fortune, and indicates that a bigger shift might be underway for other public China-based companies as well. Business decisions The U.S. and China are at loggerheads over a decades-long dispute over allowing American inspectors to audit U.S.-listed Chinese firms. The U.S.s audit watchdog wants full access to Chinese companies auditors and audit papers, but China has refused, citing national security concerns. The U.S. could delist over 260 Chinese companies worth a combined $1.3 trillion by 2024 if Washington and Beijing cant reach an agreement. Chinas securities regulator said in a Friday statement that listings and delistings are common in capital markets. It added that the five state firms followed U.S. rules while listed on American stock exchanges, and that their delisting decisions were only made out of business considerations. Other U.S.-listed Chinese firms could follow in the footsteps of the five state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The two remaining Chinese SOEs listed on U.S. stock exchangestwo state-linked airlineswill definitely be considering delisting from New York, Ren says. Chinas state-run firms all hold information that Beijing deems sensitive or crucial to national security that it doesnt want American inspectors to access, meaning that it wouldnt come as a surprise if the remaining state firms choose to delist soon, Brendan Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at KraneShares, a China-focused investment fund, told Fortune. Story continues Yet this hedge isnt limited to state firms. Other Chinese firms want to retain their U.S. listings. But theyll ultimately review the situation and make a strategic choice, Ren says. For most big firms, theyll feel that a U.S. listing is risky and opens them to being caught in the crossfire between Chinese and American regulators, especially in the face of deteriorating Sino-U.S. ties, she says. And non-state linked companies have been moving to reduce those risks. On July 29, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added Chinese tech behemoth Alibabawhich raised $25 billion in 2014 in the U.S.s biggest-ever IPOto its delisting watchlist. Alibaba announced that it is changing its Hong Kong listing from a secondary to primary status, which allows it an exit route in case of delistingand one that lets it tap mainland China investors. Stifled progress In recent months, the SEC has continued to add Chinese companies to its now-long list of firms that face expulsion from American stock exchanges. SEC chair Gary Gensler has reiterated that the U.S. will accept nothing less than full compliance from China. Beijing reportedly wants to strike a deal with Washington that would separate U.S.-listed Chinese firms based on the type of data they hold. China is seeking a compromise to let most non-state owned firms open their books to American inspectors, but restrict reviews of state firms and tech companies that hold sensitive information, Adam Montanaro, investment director of global emerging markets equities at investment firm abrdn, told Fortune earlier this year. While China does have incentives to improve their relations with the U.S., [their ties] have been seriously damaged in the last few years. The trust is very low, especially with the recent Taiwan flareup, Ren says. At the same time, U.S. regulators have been very clear that they want full access and compliance. Theres not going to be a two-tier system of access that Beijing desires, she says. Ahern however, argues that the five state firms delistings are a positive sign that Washington and Beijing might be closer to reaching a delisting consensus. Once Chinese SOEs are all delisted from Wall Street, the remaining non-state companies have long-stated that they have nothing to hide from U.S. inspectors, Ahern says. Still, the SECs delisting watchlist has only grown largerand the challenges for U.S.-listed Chinese firms more difficult. The SEC has now flagged 159 firms, including Alibabas e-commerce rival JD.com, social and blogging giant Weibo, KFC parent Yum China, and biotechnology firm BeiGene, to be expelled from Wall Street if they don't comply. Washington clearly wont give an inch. There is no compromise to be had. The Chinese side [must] do all the conceding, China-focused research firm Trivium wrote in an April note. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com The cost of getting a damaged vehicle towed after a crash or breakdown is regulated by each locality, and the prices in Spotsylvania County have just gone up. New ratesthe first increase since 2014were set at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday after a public hearing. The rates cover numerous categories of towing, and include such incidents as crashes and abandoned vehicles on public property. The towing rates apply only to calls that come in through law enforcement and not public calls involving vehicles on private property. The rates are paid by vehicle owners, and insurance often helps cover the cost. The rate for a basic tow was $275, and is now $325 during regular daytime hours. After-hours rates will increase from $300 to $375. Administrative fees will jump from $150 to $250. Standby fees were $75 per hour with a maximum of $300, and are now $100 per hour with a cap of $400. The cleanup rate will increase from $25 to $50. Rates for heavy-duty tow truck calls were $450 for the first two hours and are now $800. After the first two hours, those fees will increase from $100 to $200 per hour. Administrative fees will change from $150 to $250. Paul Stevens, one of three towing company representatives on the countys seven-member Towing Advisory Board, told the Board of Supervisors that towing companies have been asking for rate increases for the past three years. The county has 11 towing companies that take part in a rate agreement for responses to incidents related to law enforcement calls from the Sheriffs Office and the Virginia State Police, according to a presentation by Stevens and Deputy Steve Noakes. The men said towing companies can respond to more than 20 calls per day, and Noakes said the towing board helps drivers avoid disreputable companies charging rates that are just fraud. Stevens added that there are various types of towing operations, including predatory, private type of towing, and this is not that type of towing. The advisory board oversees any problems or complaints related to the towing companies. The presentation covered the rising costs to operate tow trucks, citing that as a major reason for the rate increases. The Board of Supervisors approved the rate changes in a 50 vote, with supervisors David Ross and Tim McLaughlin absent. It was a complicated week for former President Donald Trump. The FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday as part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records that had been moved to Florida. The former president was then in New York on Wednesday as part of a civil investigation, but he says he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the deposition. Then on Thursday, we learned that the Justice Department had asked a court to unseal the search warrant used in the FBIs search. Attorney General Merrick Garland cited the substantial public interest in this matter" and said he had personally approved the warrant. That evening, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: Release the documents now! For an expanded look at the case, please download the bonus episode of Hot off the Wire called FBI investigation into former President Donald Trump. In political news, Democrats moved closer to passage of their economic agenda. Indiana became the first state to approve an abortion ban following the Supreme Courts recent decision. A Trump-backed candidate won a primary in Wisconsin. President Joe Biden signed a bill to help veterans. And a former police officer was sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 riots. It was an eventful week for court cases involving hate crimes, abortion and misinformation. And in other national news, President Biden visited Kentucky and a new general will lead American forces in Africa. Concerns over the economy continued this week, although several reports indicated there may be relief in sight. Consumer and producer prices showed some improvement in July. Gas prices kept falling and the national average dipped below $4 for a gallon by the middle of the week. Airfares have also declined. The jobs market was somewhat mixed as employers continued to add jobs, however, unemployment claims have been on the rise. Grocery deliveries have also declined, likely due to higher prices. In other news, Kia issued a recall and Twitter was in the news over its deal with Elon Musk as well as a security breach. In international news, President Biden signed the CHIPS Act, which drew the ire of China and extended tension between the two nations as well as Taiwan. We had several updates out of Ukraine, including the destruction of Russian jets, resistance from Ukrainians, and a return from a fast food giant. New Zealand welcomed back cruise ships as COVID restrictions eased and Germany is dealing with drought. Finally, in health and science news, a look at the link between climate and diseases, a Lyme disease vaccine, monkeypox, sleep patterns of spiders, freshwater losing ground and a court case involving a pharmacy chains link to the opioid crisis. Compiled and narrated by Terry Lipshetz from Associated Press reports Does religion make us more ethical? | The Ethical Life podcast The hosts debate whether we are interpreting the Bible correctly, the existence of an afterlife and the effectiveness of prayer. NOT LONG after Donald Trumps 2016 election, Voxs Zack Beauchamp traveled to Hungary, where its authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, had implemented many of the populist-right policies that had energized the American presidents most ardent supporters. Notably, Orban militarized Hungarys southern border to stop the invasion of migrantsand he has made base racial appeals. After a 2002 loss that his Fidesz Party blamed on fraud, Orban regained power in 2010. As Beauchamp noted, he created soft fascism: a political system that aims to stamp out dissent and seize control of every major aspect of a countrys political and social life, without needing to resort to hard measures like banning elections and building up a police state. Looking at Hungary, Beauchamp noted warning signs for America. Fast forward four years and one cant help but recoil at the writers prescience. At its annual conference in Dallas last week, the Conservative Political Action Committee featured Orban as a prominent speaker. He received the kind of rousing welcome that conservatives typically reserve for Trump. My government is devoted to law and order without compromise, Orban said. We dont need more genders; we need more rangers. Less drag queens and more Chuck Norris. There is no freedom without order! He called for an international Christian nationalist movement thats big government in nature. Not long ago, Orban said that he didnt want Hungarians to be peoples of mixed race. CPAC conventions have long been viewed as conservatisms bar scene from Star Wars, given the assorted oddballs who attend the event, but its significant that a major GOP-oriented group would embrace a foreign despot. Its reminiscent of the 1980s, when leftist politicos swooned over Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega and Cubas Fidel Castro. Prominent conservative talking heads and writers such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson even have made pilgrimages to Hungary. Many conservatives now believe that making America great again means emulating the leader of a small Eastern European country who embraces policies in direct opposition to Americas founding ideals. What a sad commentary on the party of Lincoln and Reagan. Adapted from the Orange County (California) Register Taliban militants have violently dispersed a peaceful protest by a group of women demanding "bread, work, and freedom" in Kabul by firing guns into the air and beating the protesters. About 40 women marched in front of the Education Ministry building on August 13 before they were dispersed. Photos and videos of the protest posted on social media show Taliban forces firing warning shots and physically assaulting the women. Some women were chased by Taliban fighters, who beat them with their rifle butts. The Taliban also detained three foreign journalists and one Afghan worker for covering the protest, while two other local journalists were slightly wounded, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA). Hujatullah Mujadidi, a senior member of the Kabul-based AIJA, told dpa that the foreign journalists detained were from Germany, Denmark, and Norway. Amnesty International expressed concern about reports that the Taliban used "excessive force" to disperse the women. It said on Twitter that the women had been "peacefully protesting to demand their human rights." A video said to be taken of the march showed the women carrying banners and posters and marching in the street demanding the right to work and political participation. "Justice, justice. We're fed up with ignorance," they chanted. Many of the protesters did not wear the required face veils. One of the banners read "August 15 is a black day," a reference to the day last year that the Taliban seized control. Since seizing control, the Taliban-led government has drastically restricted the rights of women and girls. It has largely blocked girls from attending secondary schools and barred women from traveling without an accompanying male family member, forcing many to give up outside employment. Women also must fully cover themselves in public, including their faces, ideally with the head-to-toe burqa. The Taliban-led government has remained largely isolated internationally as a result of its hard-line Islamist policies toward women and girls. With reporting by AFP and dpa Pakistani authorities have revoked the license of a popular TV news channel days after it aired a critical report about the country's armed forces, sparking outrage among some Pakistani journalists. The August 12 decision by the Pakistani Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to pull the license of ARY News came four days after the channel was taken off the air following comments by a top aide to former Prime Minister Imran Khan. One of Pakistan's largest private TV channels, ARY has long been a supporter of Khan, who has been critical of the country's powerful military since being ousted in a no-confidence vote in April. During an August 8 program, Khan's former chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, suggested the ruling party was behind a smear campaign against the army, and he called on army officers to not follow "illegal and unconstitutional orders." The channel was taken off the air that same day, and police arrested Gill on sedition charges in Islamabad the following day. Imad Yusuf, the head of ARY's news department, was also arrested on August 9 in Karachi. Regulators said their decision to cancel ARYs license was made "on the basis of adverse reports from agencies." In response to the revocation, ARY News published a statement calling the decision the "economic murder of more than 4,000 media workers associated with the news channel." The station's management has also said that Gill's comments were his own opinion and did not reflect the channel's policies. "We demand immediate restoration of the channel otherwise we will stage countrywide protests," the president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Afzal Butt, told German news agency dpa. ARY News has faced suspensions in the past and has also been fined in Britain for airing unsubstantiated news. Press freedoms have declined sharply in Pakistan in recent years, with a growing number of journalists intimidated and or forced out of their jobs for reports that are critical the military and spy agencies. With reporting by RFE/RLs Radio Mashaal FILE - A man dressed in a national costume runs with his Alabay shepherd dog during Dog Day celebration in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 25, 2021. The Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan is now requiring that its celebrated Alabay dog breed receive a passport before it can leave the country. A law that took effect Tuesday, July 26, 2022 requires that all puppies of the breed, which is also known as the Central Asian shepherd dog, be marked in the governments pedigree book and register of pedigreed dogs. A 46-year-old Colorado Springs man will spend the next 21 years in federal prison after he robbed four banks across the Front Range in 2020 and 2021. Jared L. Fitzgerald was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday after he previously pleaded guilty to four counts of bank robbery, including one with force, last December, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado. Fitzgerald will also be on supervised released for five years after being released from federal prison. "Bank robberies are crimes of violence that traumatize the victims, and we are dedicated to seeking justice for those victims," U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan said in a news release. "We are grateful for our partners at the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task force for their work and commitment to hold bank robbers accountable." According to the plea agreement, Fitzgerald entered a MidFirst Bank branch in Denver on July 24, 2020, while wearing a face covering and yellow hard hat. Fitzgerald approached a bank teller and gave them a note stating the branch was being robbed. He then told three employees "there is a problem. The problem is you're being robbed," and revealed a handgun in his waistband, according to court documents. The employees were ordered to go to the vault, where Fitzgerald began yelling at them. At this time, one employee "feared they would be shot," according to a news release. Fitzgerald took an undisclosed amount of money once the vault was opened and ordered the employees to stay inside before he fled the area. Several months later, he robbed the same bank again and approached the teller with a gun in hand. He ordered the employees to access the vault room and forced them inside with him, and said "If the cops come, there will be a shootout," according to the plea agreement. Fitzgerald took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled the area. In April 2021, Fitzgerald robbed the Power Credit Union on East Evans Avenue in Pueblo after he gave the branch's manager a robbery note that threatened the employees, according to the agreement. Fitzgerald ordered the employees to go the credit union's vault and open it. At this time, he told the employee he would take them hostage if authorities showed up. The employee opened the vault, and Fitzgerald took the cash and fled the area. On July 20, 2021, Fitzgerald committed his fourth bank robbery at a Wells Fargo in Wheat Ridge. During this incident, Fitzgerald was armed with a semi-automatic handgun that was holstered but visible to the branch's employees. He asked to speak to the manager about fraudulent checks and identified himself as a law enforcement official, according to the plea agreement. Fitzgerald gave the branch's manager a note that stated he was robbing the branch and was armed. He ordered the employees to the vault and directed the manager put money into a bag he brought. After receiving the money, he fled the area. Fitzgerald was apprehended by authorities on July 26, 2021, through a coordinated effort with his probation officer as he had outstanding warrants, according to court records. Authorities identified Fitzgerald as the suspect for these robberies after they recovered a notepad with his employer information on it at the scene of one of the robberies and information regarding an Apple MacBook computer that was located in his residence during a search warrant, according to court documents. "Jared Lincoln Fitzgerald committed four takeover-style robberies, all while he was under supervision for previous bank robberies," Michael Schneider, FBI Denver Special Agent said in a news release. "Fitzgerald clearly knew the consequences of his actions and still chose to break the law and terrorize his victims. This lengthy sentence is appropriate for this defendant; keeping him behind bars helps keep our communities safe." Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Two Assyrian Fighters Killed in Turkish Shelling in Syria Two members of the Syriac [Assyrian] Military Council were killed by Turkish shelling Sunday near Tal Tamr. The Syriac Military Council on Friday announced the death of the two fighters as "as a result of Turkey attacks." The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor said the fighters were killed by Turkish artillery shelling in the Al-Dardar village in the countryside of Tal Tamr. In the last few months, Turkey has increased artillery shelling and drone attacks in northern Syria. This comes amidst threats by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch a new operation in northern Syria. On Thursday, the SDF said it launched an operation near the Turkish border in Mardin as a response. An itemized list of property seized in the execution of a search warrant by the FBI at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, shows documents listed as "Secret," "Confidential" and "Top Secret" is seen after being released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 12, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Bourg Historian and author David McCullough poses with art by George Catlin, one of the artists featured in his new book, "The Greater Journey," at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, on May 13, 2011. McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose lovingly crafted narratives on subjects ranging from the Brooklyn Bridge to Presidents John Adams and Harry Truman made him among the most popular and influential historians of his time, died Sunday in Hingham, Mass. He was 89. The dust has settled in River City, but the work continues. The Register's Annual Bicycle Ride Across Iowa has come and gone, and RAGBRAI Mason City is taking the time to reflect on July 27, and filing its notes for the next time the ride rolls through town. "We feel really good about the event that we put on and extremely positive about how Mason City was showcased during this event," said Visit Mason City Executive Director and RAGBRAI advisory member Lindsey James. Mason City was the fourth day of riding Emmetsburg to Mason City and the longest stretch at 105 miles. It was dubbed the "Century Day," a tradition of having a 100-mile day that returned to RAGBRAI this year. Being the midway point for the journey, RAGBRAI Mason City planned to go big with two headliner entertainers and more than 50 food vendors and booths. Organizers also had to manage six campground locations, coordinate volunteers, and many other factors. "We've received a lot of positive feedback from riders. The RAGBRAI team was very positive about the experience that we've put on here," said James. According to James, RAGBRAI Mason City estimates 30,000 people came to town during the overnight stop. It is estimated $4.6 million was generated that day, but that number is still being calculated. James hopes to get actual figures from RAGBRAI, but is unsure when that information will come out. The 100-mile Wednesday route meant a long day of riding, and many riders were disappointed they didn't have enough time to see all of Mason City's attractions. "While they maybe didn't have time that morning to go catch any of that, it was definitely on their radar, and that's one of the objectives doing events like this," said James. RAGBRAI Mason City has put out a survey to local businesses to hear their thoughts about the event. Some businesses were more directly impacted by RAGBRAI visitors than others, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive. "One hundred percent of respondents so far have said that they would support future efforts to bring back RAGBRAI," James said. The biggest challenge RAGBRAI Mason City faced was recruiting volunteers. There were a lot of vacant volunteer positions, which led to some scrambling for people to help the day of the visit. "(RAGBRAI) just came together. All the things that kind of of had us freaking out a little bit worked itself out," said James. Most volunteers who did help had a good time, and many ended up helping longer because they were having fun. RAGBRAI volunteers will be honored with an appreciation event at The Music Man Square on Wednesday. One takeaway for RAGBRAI Mason City is to think of ways to extend the excitement into the next day when Mason City becomes host again, James said. Meetings are still being held for RAGBRAI Mason City to collect feedback and analyze best practices for when the ride returns. The final detail is to again thank community partners and individuals for all their work on RAGBRAI. "From the Visit Mason City standpoint, we are just so excited that events are back and excited to see this community rally together and do big things. We're excited to pursue big events again," said James. Email special events to news@registerbee.com. The deadline is noon Wednesday. HOLY CONVENTION The Remnant Church of Power, 601 Berryman Avenue, will host the PCJC Holy Convention at 7 p.m. Thursday in Danville. For more information, call 1-800-752-2981 or visit www.pcjconline.org REVIVAL SERVICES New Ephesus Missionary Baptist Church, 375 Ephesus Church Road in Semora, North Carolina, will hold revival services beginning at 7 p.m. Aug. 24-26. Guest preachers will be Wednesday night, pastor William Foust of Chestnut Grove Baptist Church in Semora; Thursday night, pastor Dwight Wilkerson of Dan River Bethel Baptist Church in South Boston; and Friday night, Apostle Michael Bennett of Church of God Richmond located in Richmond. The theme for the revival will be "Where do we go from here?" based on Isaiah 43:19. HOMECOMING SERVICE New Ephesus Missionary Baptist Church, 375 Ephesus Church Road in Semora, North Carolina will celebrate homecoming at 11 a.m. Aug. 28 with Bishop Gerald Franklin, pastor of New Ephesus in Semora and music rendered by the New Ephesus Praise Team. The theme for the homecoming will be "Where do we go from here?" based on Isaiah 43:19. Lunch will be on the lawn. COVID-19 precautions include temperature checks before coming inside the sanctuary and the use of an air filtering system. Face masks must be worn, and social distancing observered. To worship in the church parking lot, tune radio to FM 107.3. From home or elsewhere, view the services on Facebook Live or listen to the services using the church conference call line by dialing 1-978-990-5000 access code 197724. FOOD & CLOTHING MINISTRY Union Hall Baptist Church Food & Clothing Ministry, 6861 Strawberry Road, Chatham, will be open from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 3 with food and clothing of all types. For information, call 434-724-4354 or 434-250-8964. SOULFUL SUNDAY IN SEPTEMBER Soulful Sunday in September will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 25 at ARC Family Life Center, 327 East Thomas St.. with special performances by "Boule," Kenny Thornton, Darrell MacLean, John Jones, Robert Freeman, Old School Band; and comedian Donnie Hunt. A soul food dinner and dessert will be included. Cost is $20 for adults; $10 (17 and under). For ticket information, contact Karen Harris at 434-425-3872 or Robin Owens at 434-728-0028. Deadline to purchase tickets is Sept. 9. This is a fundraiser for Christian Life Church on Bell Drive. SERVICE CHANGE Bennett Memorial Missionary Baptist Church will not hold parking lot services until further notice. Services can be heard by via conference call at 10 a.m. on Sundays and 6 p.m. Wednesdays. Phone number is 1-774-220-4000, ID number 608-2009. IN PERSON/ONLINE SERVICES Ascension Lutheran Church, 314 West Main St., worships Sundays at 11 a.m. in the sanctuary and Live on Facebook, www.facebook/ascensionlutherandanville. Mount Vernon United Methodist Church now offers in-person services at 10 a.m. each Sunday as well as online worship services every Sunday at mtvernonumc.org or www.facebook.com/MountVernonUMC. These will be held until further notice. IN-PERSON SERVICES Christ the King Lutheran Church, 1172 Franklin Turnpike, will have in-house worship services on Sundays at 11 a.m. Masking requested if not immunized. Social distancing except for family members. Free books available anytime in outdoor library located on a post next to the driveway. Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, 406 Gay St., has in-person services at 10 a.m. for their hour of power on the first and third Sundays. North New Hope Baptist Church, 123 Old Piney Forest Road, has resumed in church worship services at 11 a.m. and Sunday school at 9:30 p.m. Mount Sinai Glorious Church of God, 716 Jefferson St., will hold services in the sanctuary with Sunday school at 10 a.m. and morning worship at 10:30 a.m. Participants are asked to wear a mask and to practice social distancing. The service also will be streamed on Facebook. Mount Freeman Baptist Church, 2100 Laniers Mill Road, will resume in-person service at 11 a.m. Sunday. There will be no Sunday school. ONLINE WORSHIP SERVICES Sacred Heart Catholic Church will livestream worship service at 9 a.m. Sundays in English and noon in Spanish at www.facebook.com/sheartchurch. DRIVE-IN SERVICES Staunton River Baptist Church, Long Island, will hold drive-in services at 10 a.m. each Sunday. ONGOING SERVICES Sacred Heart Catholic Church celebrates Mass every weekend with a vigil Mass at 5 p.m. Saturday and at 9 p.m. Sunday in English and noon in Spanish. Watson Level Missionary Baptist Church holds Sunday worship services each week at 11 a.m. Because of COVID-19, a face mask is required for all attendees and social distancing is mandatory. Calvary Church of the Nazarene, 2450 Franklin Turnpike, from 6 to 7 p.m. every Sunday, will hold Ladies Need Encouragement, an hour of worship and prayer. Participants are asked to bring a Bible and practice social distancing. The event is for ages 10 and up with adult supervision. For more information, call 540-907-8836. Mount Zion Temple, now located at 503 Hughes St., presents The Word Homelitic Institute at 10 a.m. every Sunday. Transportation is provided by calling Bishop David K. Fuller at 434-429-8960. 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, AUG. 13 HAM & EGG SUPPER: Southern Caswell Ruritan Club will hold its annual Ham & Egg Supper from 4 to 7 p.m., eat-in or take-out at the club, 9614 N.C. 62, Burlington, N.C. Menu includes scrambled eggs, country ham, biscuits, red-eye gravy, grits, jams, jellies, coffee, tea, lemonade for $10. For questions, call 434-514-5134. PAPER SHREDDING DAY: Riverview Rotary will hold a Paper Shredding Day from 9 a.m. to noon in the parking lot at Woodall Nissan, Riverside Drive at the Union Street Bridge. Shredding is free; donations are appreciated. 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. 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 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 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. for $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150. SATURDAY, AUG. 20 PANCAKE BREAKFAST: Sons of the American Legion Squadron 325 will hold a pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. for $6. Open to public. YARD SALE: American Legion Post 325 will hold a yard sale from 7 a.m. to noon at the post home. Open to the public. Cost to rent a table inside $10; $5 to rent a space in parking lot (no table). EAGLE RIDERS DEAN FERRIS MEMORIAL RIDE: Eagle Riders Dean Ferris Memorial Ride to benefit the Danville/Pittsylvania County Cancer Association at Thunder Road Harley Davidson with registration from 8 to 10 a.m. Non-riders welcome. Ride begins at 10:15 a.m. and ends at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, 5731 South Boston Highway, for lunch, live and silent auction, door prizes and more. $10 donation. For more information, call 434-251-0994. ARCHERY OPEN GYM: Archery open gym at Coates Recreation Center for ages 5 to 17 years of age to learn basic safety and archery skills at this drop in program from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Parents must stay on-site. No fee. For information, call 434-799-5150. 5PARK STUDIO: Coates Park from 10 to 5 p.m. Music groups, art and 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 434-793-5644. MONDAY, AUG. 22 CHRONIC PAIN & ILLNESS SUPPORT GROUP: Chronic Pain & Illness Support Group meets from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. They meet the fourth Monday of each month. Everyone welcome. 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. Tech 101. Registration required by calling, 434-799-5195. TUESDAY, AUG. 23 TREE HOUSE TUESDAY: Learn about ninjas and twisters, perform experiments and make crafts in this literary steam program from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Ruby B. Archie Library Maker Space for ages five to 12. No fee. Registration required by calling 434-799-5195. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 24 VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: Anyone interested in becoming an IRS-certified volunteer tax preparer for Pittsylvania County Community Actions VITA program may attend an information session from 10 a.m. to noon at 211 Nor Dan Drive, Suite 1055. To learn more, call Betsy Bacon at 434-549-8231. 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. 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 434-799-5150. SATURDAY, AUG. 27 FREE COMMUNITY HOT DOG LUNCH: Trinity United Methodist Church, 409 Arnett Blvd., will hold a free community hot dog lunch from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with pick up available. 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 Motorcycle Club will hold a Wendell Scott Charity Ride starting at Danville Otterbox stadium, 302 River Park Drive. Registration at 11 a.m.; ride begins at 1 p.m. For information visit 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. THURSDAY, SEPT. 1 THURSDAY PADDLE: Meet at the Abreu-Grogan Boathouse to paddle different sections of the Dan River on kayaks, paddle boards or canoes from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150 a week in advance. FRIDAY, SEPT. 2 CAMPFIRE UNDER THE STARS: Join camping under the stars for ages five and up (parents required to stay with their children) from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at Ballou Shelter 10. Bring your own blanket and chair. No fee. Register by Sept. 1 by calling 434-799-5150. FRIDAY, SEPT. 9 LADIES ZIPLINE: Zipline for girls and ladies ages 8 and up at Philip Wyatt Memorial Skate Park at Dan Daniel Park from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $12. Register by Sept. 5 by calling 434-799-5150. FAMILY GAME NIGHT: Family game night at Coates Recreation Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All games and and lights snacks provided at no fee. Registration is required by calling 434-799-9150. SATURDAY, SEPT. 10 DIXIE CAVERNS TRIP: Explore the Dixie Caverns, wander to the local restaurant, Mac and Bob's. Shuttle and admission included in cost of $30; food will be on your own. Meet at the City Auditorium; trip is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; registration required by Sept. 6 by calling 434-799-5150. ARCHERY 101 WORKSHOP: Archery 101 Workshop held at Coates Recreation Center from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for ages five to 17 at cost of $12. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150. THURSDAY, SEPT. 15 THURSDAY PADDLE: Meet at the Abreu-Grogan Boathouse to paddle different sections of the Dan River on kayaks, paddle boards or canoes from 6 to 8 p.m. at cost of $14. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150 a week in advance. FRIDAY, SEPT. 16 MOONLIGHT PADDLE: Kayak from Abreu-Grogan Boathouse on the Dan River from 8 to 9:30 p.m. for ages 12 and up at cost of $14. Register by Sept. 14 by calling 434-799-5150. SATURDAY, SEPT. 17 PROJECT LIFESAVER FUNDRAISER: Join Danville Sheriff Mike Mondul to help raise funds for Project Lifesaver at 7 p.m. with a Bluegrass by the River Concert featuring Shelton & Williams at 2 Witches Winery & Brewery Company, 209 Trade St., rain or shine. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door (no refunds). Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.bluegrassbytheriver.com or at 2 Witches Winery & Brewery. FRIDAY, SEPT. 23 FAMILY GAME NIGHT: Family game night at Coates Recreation Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All games and and lights snacks provided at no fee. Registration is required by calling 434-799-9150. TUESDAY, OCT. 4 BARKTOBERFEST: Danville Parks and Recreation will hold Barktoberfest at Coates Bark Park from 6 to 8 p.m. Bring your pup to an event featuring themed photo booth and activities. No fee. FRIDAY, OCT. 14 CAMPFIRE UNDER THE STARS: Join camping under the stars for ages five and up (parents required to stay with their children) from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at Coates Recreation Center. Bring your own blanket and chair. No fee. Register by Sept. 1 by calling 434-799-5150. COATES FALL FESTIVAL: Coates fall festival for youth and families at Coates Recreation Center from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Costume contests, pumpkin painting, smore's, dancing, a movie and more. For more information, call 434-799-5150. SATURDAY, OCT. 15 WALK TO END ALZHEIMER'S: Walk to End Alzheimer's disease will begin at the Carrington Pavilion with check-in at 8 a.m.; opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m. To sign up as a walker or team member or to learn more about becoming a sponsor or volunteer at the walk, visit alz.org/danvillewalk website or call 800-272-3900. SATURDAY, OCT. 22 ARCHERY 101 WORKSHOP: Archery 101 Workshop held at Coates Recreation Center from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for ages five to 17 at cost of $12. Registration is required by calling 434-799-5150. 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. Two Galileo Magnet High School seniors are starting a nonprofit to help youth struggling with mental illness. Amber David and BreAsia Jones, both 17, say Youth Mental Matters will be an option for teens to learn about mental illness and find out about resources that can provide ways to cope. We wanted to make sure people knew about it [mental illness] in the community, David said during an interview at the school Thursday afternoon. David and Jones are looking for support so they can get official 501(3) nonprofit status for their group. They started the organization June 20 and participated in their first community event July 30. This is our first rodeo, David said. Were having a little trouble finding sponsorship. While they are students at Galileo, their group is for youth in the entire community. Adolescence is tough, with teens facing issues such as peer pressure, bullying, maintaining relationships and the stress of an academic workload. For some, it can be too overwhelming, especially for those suffering from social anxiety. A lot of people cant deal with being around a whole lot of people, Jones said. Teens who come to David and Jones can find out where to get counseling or other forms of help, such Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services, Epic Health Partners and Pathfinders Resources. They may also receive advice on how to de-stress, including meditating or writing down their thoughts in a journal. We want to make sure they have a safe place where they can feel welcome if theyre not having a good day, said Jones, who has experienced depression and anxiety since elementary school. As for David, she likes to be the one who provides counsel for young people who may face challenges posed by mental illness or day-to-day stress. Im the one people go to, David said. To let their peers know about their group, David and Jones have passed out Blow-Pops to arriving students. Jones said she has also reached out to underclassmen to make sure they are OK. I want to make them feel comfortable, Jones said. Youth Mental Matters currently has no centralized location, but Jones and David would like to change that. We want something like a community center, Jones said. In addition to Youth Mental Matters, David and Jones started Progression over Perfection (POP) in October 2021. That endeavor provides a place where Galileo students can learn about goal-setting, seek affirmations, learn and practice self-love and establish routines for stability. With her part in those efforts, David is continuing a family legacy, said her father, Robert David, who is the youth and gang violence prevention coordinator with the city of Danville. To see my daughter take the reins on her own, unprompted, as parents we always want to see our children reproduce something weve done, Robert David said Friday. Im just a proud Papa for sure. Both Robert and his wife, Brenda, have backgrounds in mental health and substance abuse counseling. They are former directors of mental health programs in Richmond County, North Carolina. Ambers efforts tie in with Roberts current work in youth- and gang-violence prevention, Robert pointed out. Theyre giving these young people an opportunity to give a voice on how they feel, Robert David said. If these things [mental health problems] go unchecked, they can lead to violence. GREENSBORO A young local gospel artist and two other musicians have joined the list of performers for the N.C. Folk Festival. Caleb Serrano will perform at the free, outdoor multicultural festival, to be held Sept. 9 to 11 in center city. Caleb, Colombian musician Kiko Villamizar and Venezuelan harpist Larry Bellorin were among three artists announced Aug. 8 in a festival news release. Each of these performers share elements of their cultural or faith-based identities through music, and exemplify the kinds of diverse creative expressions and traditions we seek to honor and celebrate each year on our stages, Amy Grossmann, festival president and chief executive officer, said in the news release. The three join 15 other musical and dance performers previously announced for the festival, a three-day event featuring groups representing a diverse array of cultural traditions from around the world on multiple stages. Festival-goers will find continuous music and dance performances, regional and ethnic foods, crafts, a makers marketplace and festival merchandise. Caleb, now 10, began his gospel career began when a video of him singing at a church event went viral on social media. He has made numerous appearances on several television shows and networks, including Steve Harveys Little Big Shots, the Harry Connick Jr. show Harry and the TCT Networks The 700 Club. He has shared the stage and toured with some of todays greatest gospel stars and legends including Kirk Franklin, Shirley Caesar, Travis Greene, Pastor John P. Kee and Tamela Mann. His main focus is to continue sharing his gift and the Gospel of Christ through song and praise wherever he goes. Villamizar was born in Miami to Colombian parents and spent his childhood between his hometown and a small coffee farm owned by family members on the outskirts of Medellin, Colombia. As a young adult he studied jazz and traveled as a street performer across the United States before settling permanently in Austin, Texas. He immersed himself in performing and promoting traditional Colombian music with special focus on the Afro-Caribbean roots of cumbia a rhythmic music and dance with roots in Colombia. Today, Villamizar is an educator and performer who has dedicated his life to promoting traditional Colombian music blended with contemporary sounds. Community partner and collaborator Texas Folklife has helped the festival with the presentation of Villamizar. Bellorin, who now lives in North Carolina, grew up in Punta de Mata in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. His first instrument was the four-string cuatro, a guitar-like instrument with Spanish roots that is central to Venezuelan identity. After meeting internationally acclaimed Venezuelan harpist, Urbino Ruiz, Bellorin began studying the llanera harp an instrument and style of playing that is native to the northern part of South America. Bellorins career accompanying musical luminaries in Venezuela was interrupted in 2012 with the civil and social unrest of his home country. He moved his family to the United States, seeking work and political asylum. Bellorin has established his presence across North Carolina as a solo performer and through his musical partnership with renowned NC musician, Joe Troop of Che Apalache. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) A leading Cambodian opposition politician who publicly complained about alleged unfairness in June local elections has been charged with defamation, his lawyer said Thursday. Son Chhay, deputy president of the opposition Candlelight Party, said in an online interview after the polls that the state National Election Committee was biased in favor of the governing Cambodian Peoples Party. He also said there was vote-buying and intimidation of voters. His allegations were denied by the government. Both the National Election Committee and the Cambodian Peoples Party sued Son Chhay for defamation. Lawyer Choung Chou Ngy said Son Chhay was officially charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday. Son Chhay, who holds joint Cambodian and Australian nationality, left Cambodia before the lawsuits were filed. The election committee had demanded a published apology from Son Chhay and the Cambodian Peoples Party sought $1 million in compensation. The lawyer said the court has not set a date for the trial. Court officials could not be reached for comment. Prime Minister Hun Sens governing party won June's elections with 74.3% of the votes, with the Candlelight Party receiving about 22.3%. The Cambodian Peoples Party has held an iron grip on power for decades, and has the huge advantage of controlling almost every level of government. Hun Sen, an authoritarian ruler in a nominally democratic state, has held power for 37 years. He has said he intends to stay in office until 2028, and has endorsed one of his sons to succeed him. In recent years, Hun Sens government has aggressively pursued legal action against its opponents, hindering their ability to operate freely, and sometimes hounding them into exile or jailing them. In 2017, the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved by the Supreme Court on a charge of treason that was widely seen as politically motivated to ensure a victory for the Cambodian Peoples Party in the 2018 general election. Before its dissolution, the opposition party had been expected to mount a strong challenge, but with it off the ballot, Hun Sens party won all the seats in the National Assembly. The Candlelight Party is the unofficial successor to the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which made a much stronger second-place challenge to the governing party in the last local elections in 2017. The Montana Supreme Court on Friday upheld a district court ruling that struck down an attempt by Republicans in the Legislature to change the way the high courts justices are elected. House Bill 325, passed and signed into law in 2021, would have put to voters in November the question of whether to elect justices by geographic districts. The court's seven members are currently elected in statewide elections to staggered, eight-year terms. The law was found unconstitutional by a Gallatin County District Court judge in March. Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, the lone defendant in the case, appealed the decision, asking the Supreme Court to overturn its ruling from nine years prior on a nearly identical proposal. In a 5-2 opinion written by Chief Justice Mike McGrath, the justices found that the proposed law would deny each Montanan their right to vote in the election of six out of the seven justices on their state Supreme Court. McGraths majority opinion was signed by justices Laurie McKinnon, Jim Shea, Ingrid Gustafson and Dirk Sandefur. He continued that because justices are required to apply the law uniformly across the state and cant represent any constituency, no Montana voter will have gained any countervailing representation of their interests. The plaintiffs who challenged HB 325 in court include the Montana League of Women Voters, as well as a Butte nun, the former Confederated and Salish Kootenai Tribes chairperson, a Republican member of the 1972 Constitutional Convention and a former Democratic lawmaker from Butte, Fritz Daily. In an interview Friday, Daily echoed arguments by other Democrats that the GOP-backed proposal, along with several others aimed at the state Supreme Court, was an attempt to replace its current members with ones who would be more sympathetic to Republicans. Montanas judicial elections are nonpartisan, meaning judges and justices dont declare party affiliation. I saw it as the Republican Legislatures attempt to stack the court in their favor, he said. You need to have a fair and impartial judiciary, you just need that. I saw it was an attempt to eliminate that. The plaintiffs were represented by Bozeman attorney Jim Goetz and Billings attorney Cliff Edwards. At-large voting for every Supreme Court justice has been a bedrock principle in Montana throughout its history, Goetz said Friday. And the right to vote is of course of fundamental constitutional importance. So the court got it right on this one. Sister Mary Jo McDonald, the Butte nun, also welcomed the order. Once again the David and Goliath story reminds us that truth will always prevail when people like Jim Goetz and Cliff Edwards are willing to take up the torch for truth. Once again truth prevails, and the Constitution of Montana continues to stands for truth. Represented by Attorney General Austin Knudsens office, Jacobsen had contended that the state Supreme Court justices should have recused themselves since the case directly affects their elected positions. Rep. Barry Usher, a Billings-area Republican who sponsored the legislation, re-upped that argument in a Friday statement reacting to the decision. If anyone needed irrefutable proof that our state Supreme Court is a corrupt institution in dire need of reform, this is it, Usher stated. By not disqualifying themselves, each justice violated the law and their own code of judicial conduct." Judges are bound by the Montana Code of Judicial Conduct to disqualify themselves from cases in which the judges impartiality might be reasonably questioned. But as they have in other recent cases, the Supreme Court justices unanimously rejected Jacobsens motion to disqualify themselves in June. They cited the codes Rule of Necessity, which applies when the issue affects the interest of every judge qualified to hear it. HB 325 now joins several other GOP initiatives passed during the 2021 session and signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte that have been foiled by court rulings for failing to pass constitutional muster. Republicans, including both lawmakers and statewide elected officials, have railed against the repeated legal setbacks as evidence that Supreme Court justices and district court judges have a liberal bias. Opinions from the Montana Supreme Court have become little more than the rubberstamping of Democrat Party policies with a thin veneer of poor, tortured judicial reasoning, Knudsen said Friday in an emailed statement. This is perhaps their most shameful and self-serving ruling yet. Opponents to HB 325 during the 2021 legislative session had warned eliminating the statewide vote on justices would not pass muster in court, pointing to a state Supreme Court decision nine years earlier on a nearly identical proposal. In that case, the justices concluded that Montana's high court was not intended to be a government body representing regional interests. The Legislative Services Divisions legal team also cited that 2012 case, Reichert v. State, when it flagged the legislation as potentially unconstitutional prior to its passage. The majority opinion leaned heavily on that precedent in its opinion on HB 325. While Jacobsen had argued the two laws were different because the prior one included a residency requirement for judicial candidates, the majority referred to it as an identical piece of legislation. Reichert incontrovertibly found the legislative referendum is an unconstitutional vehicle for implementing district-based Supreme Court elections, McGrath wrote. To the extent any substantive review for constitutionality is required, that review was completed in Reichert. As a result, HB 325, for purposes of determining justiciability, is facially unconstitutional based on judicial precedent. Jacobsen contended that the court was getting ahead of itself because the voters had not yet been given a chance to weigh in. The majority opinion rejected that argument, finding the courts tendency to avoid intervening in referenda prior to elections does not apply where the challenged measure is facially unconstitutional. But in a dissent joined by Justice Jim Rice, Justice Beth Baker wrote that Reichert involved a more immediate timeline, in which voters would have decided in the 2012 primary whether to vote for district-based justices in the 2012 general election. Under HB 325, voters would have been deciding in November how to elect justices in 2024. Quite simply, we should not be advising on the constitutionality of a measure that has not become law when there is no present threat to disenfranchisement as there was in Reichert, Baker wrote. Instead, in an ironic turn, the Court denies Montanans the right to vote so that they cannot be denied the right to vote." The dissent did not address the constitutionality of HB 325. DECATUR Rural fire departments across Macon County will soon split over $1 million in federal COVID relief funding. The Macon County Board on Thursday approved a resolution granting $100,000 each in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the countys 11 rural fire departments. The resolution also grants between $2,500 to $20,000 for seven rural fire departments in neighboring counties serving areas of Macon County. The funding will make a big impact, according to Macon County Administrator Tammy Wilcox. This is something that will serve a lot of Macon County citizens, and it will help the fire departments out, Wilcox said. They weren't getting assistance. So if the county didn't do it, they wouldn't get it. Its filling an unmet need. During the early stages of the pandemic, it became evident that many of the countys rural fire departments needed new equipment, said Macon County Board Chairman Kevin Greenfield. Then, earlier this year, the Mount Zion Fire Department requested $90,000 in funding from the county board for new heart monitors. Greenfield said Mount Zions request made board members question what other Macon County fire departments might need. It got us thinking, if Mount Zion could use some help, then they can all use some help, he said. Fire departments can spend the ARPA funds on life-saving equipment, volunteer training, and volunteer stipends, Wilcox said. The fire protection districts in Argenta-Oreana, Blue Mound, Harristown, Hickory Point, Long Creek, Maroa, Mount Zion, Niantic, South Macon, South Wheatland, and Warrensburg will each receive $100,000, per the resolution. Funding amounts for the seven other rural fire departments serving portions of Macon County were decided based on the number of Macon County residents served by the departments. The Cerro Gordo and Cisco fire departments, both located in Piatt County, will receive $20,000 and $10,000, respectively. Fire departments in Bethany, Chesnut, Dora-Dalton City, Kenney and Latham will receive $2,500 each. Mark Wright, fire chief at the Mount Zion Fire Department, said the $100,000 in ARPA funds will help the department continue to provide advanced EMS care. The department this year was faced with a $135,000 bill to replace three heart monitors in its EMS units. Without additional support, the department could only afford to purchase one new monitor. Officials worried they would be forced to reduce EMS services to a basic level of care. With the new resolution that the board passed, we're able to purchase two additional heart monitors, Wright said. That will allow us to keep three emergency vehicles capable of running at an advanced level of care. Funding to rural fire departments will end up helping people all across the county, Wright said. With the mutual aid agreements that we have with surrounding towns, that equipment won't just stay here in Mount Zion. It'll be available anywhere we respond, he said. It's not just helping one community; its helping multiple. Starting Sep. 1, the departments will have one year to work with the county on making a plan for the funds, submitting and getting approval for a budget, and spending the money. Departments arent required to accept the funding, but Wilcox and Greenfield hope they will. Board members began notifying their local fire departments following the boards vote on Thursday night. Most departments didnt see the additional funding coming, Greenfield said. What a pleasant surprise to get, he said. In government, we dont get that very often. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 97F. SW winds shifting to ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) A respected snake researcher who had been making significant discoveries about the species since childhood has died after being bitten by a timber rattler. William H. Marty Martin died Aug. 3 after being bitten the day before by a captive snake on the property at his home in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, according to his wife, Renee Martin. Martin, who was 80 years old, continued to make arduous mountain hikes to document and count snake populations in remote sites, said Joe Villari, who manages the Bull Run Mountains Preserve in northern Virginia and would accompany Martin on his outings there. He was in his 80s, and he was hard to keep up with, said Villari, who made it a point to join Martin on his semiannual treks to remote mountain dens where the snakes would live. John Sealy, a rattlesnake researcher from Stokesdale, North Carolina, who knew Martin for more than 30 years, said Martin was perhaps the foremost authority on timber rattlers, a species he studied since childhood. As a boy, Martin found a population of timber rattlers in the Bull Run Mountains that was previously unknown, and convinced a herpetologist to come out and verify the find. Sealy said Martin was known throughout the community of snake experts for his field work and research, and his ability to find and document a species that makes itself hard to find. They're extremely secretive animals, he said. Deaths from snakebites are extremely rare; the Centers for Disease Control estimates they account for about five fatalities annually in the U.S. Dan Keyler, a toxicology professor at the University of Minnesota and an expert on snakebites, said a second snakebite can be more dangerous than a first for some people and rattlesnakes can be more dangerous if they grow to a size that allows them to inject more venom. Age can also be a factor in a person's susceptibility. Martin had been bitten before in his career, but recovered. Villari said timber rattlers tend to be docile, avoid human contact and often won't bite even if they're accidentally stepped on. They save their venom for their prey, he said. Hundreds on the hunt for pythons in Florida MIAMI More than 800 competitors are trudging through the Florida Everglades, in search of Rattlesnake stakes claim to stretch of Myrtle Beach, video shows. Social media was horrified. A beachgoer was out for a stroll when she stumbled upon a slithering surprise on the South Carolina coast, video shows. It turns out, a venomous snake had staked claim in the sand at the popular Myrtle Beach State Park, according to footage from Facebook user Michelle L Robert. Just thought I would take a nice walk on the beach, she wrote on Tuesday, July 26. Was looking for sea glass when ... For more than a decade now, advocates of the Affordable Care Act have pressed the North Carolina General Assembly to implement the federal laws most expansive and expensive element: expanding Medicaid to virtually all low-income adults. Every year, advocates have left the legislature disappointed. They left disappointed at the end of the 2022 legislative session, too. I wish it was because most lawmakers resolutely rejected Medicaid expansion. Im no fan of the policy, which would add hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians to the public dole and widen the federal governments already massive budget deficit. But lawmakers who once expressed similar concerns, including House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, have switched their positions. Medicaid expansion now enjoys bipartisan support in both chambers, however much I might wish otherwise. (Of course, if I thought wishes could alter reality, I wouldnt be a conservative.) So why didnt expansion happen this summer? Gov. Roy Cooper hit the nail on the head last week when he blamed the intransigence of North Carolinas hospital executives, whom he urged to step up and compromise with the state legislature. Their lobbying arm, the North Carolina Healthcare Association, quickly responded with letters to Cooper, Moore, and Berger as well as full-page ads in many of the states largest newspapers that shifted the blame back on lawmakers. Hospital execs are not elected to office, and therefore we are not the ones standing in the way of passing legislation, wrote the president of the association, Steve Lawler. That burden, and opportunity, lies with your branches of government. The dispute isnt really about Medicaid expansion anymore. Its about an archaic regulatory system called certificate of need (CON). North Carolina requires hospitals, physician practices, and other providers to get a permission slip from the state to add a new location, expand an existing one, or make other major investments in equipment or services. When CON was concocted decades ago, its proponents believed such a regulatory apparatus would keep prices down by discouraging the overutilization of services. Then reality intruded. By limiting competition, CON created monopolies and cartels that tended to drive prices up and quality down, just as they do in most other sectors of the economy. Ive written many times about the adverse effects of this wrongheaded policy. During the pandemic, for example, jurisdictions with strict CON laws had a harder time meeting the demand for hospital beds and medical care. Some states, including North Carolina, enacted temporary respites from the regulations a decision that, according to a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management, led to a reduction in mortality resulting from COVID-19, septicemia, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory disease, influenza or pneumonia, and Alzheimers Disease. In the version of Medicaid expansion passed by the North Carolina Senate, this temporary relaxation would be replaced with permanent decontrol. The House version left out CON reform, though it appears that lawmakers in both chambers would be inclined to work something out in the absence of heavy pressure from hospitals loath to give up their CON-protected fiefdoms. This is what Cooper is talking about. As a Democratic governor facing a Republican-controlled legislature, he has been unable to get much of his policy agenda enacted into law. His administration has been largely one of executive orders and vetoes, not signing ceremonies. Still, Medicaid expansion has been a top goal for six years and now Berger and Moore have walked very far in his direction. With a deal so tantalizing close, Coopers frustration is both unmistakable and understandable. When pretty much everybody agrees that we ought to expand Medicaid in our state, he said, its important to go ahead and get it done. I dont agree, but Im just a lowly scribbler. Steve Lawler and his members could make expansion happen this year if they budge on CON. Or perhaps lawmakers will defy this powerful interest group. I admit it Im not sure which side to root for. GAYS This weekend a small village of just over 200 residents is celebrating what made it famous: a two-story outhouse. Gays will play host Saturday, Aug. 13, to a variety of events for all ages, including a toilet paper ribbon cutting, a car show, vendors, inflatables and live music throughout the day. This is the second year the festival is being held and the third year its been in the minds of its organizers. Julie Miller, a Gays resident since 2001 and an organizer of the event, said they initially wanted to hold a festival in 2020, however, the year was a royal flush due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its first official year was a hit with the community and inspired those involved with the first year to pursue making it a tradition. Miller said the event is important for community outreach in the small town. We want to make people aware theres more in Illinois besides cornfields, Miller said. Maybe theres something in your own backyard you werent aware of. Ready to revel in another successful festival, Miller said she hopes to see plenty of people celebrating Saturday. It's been a long year putting it together. We worked hard, and I just think it's a nice, enjoyable family event, Miller said. We don't serve alcohol, it's just good family fun. Miller said she expects the car show to be a favorite of the day. Last year, the show had 80 cars and they hope to double the number this year. MATTOON Area residents came together Saturday for the fourth annual Coles County Truck Convoy to support Make-A-Wish Illinois. The morning was full of emotions, food and fundraisers for Make-A-Wish, followed by the convoy leaving Lake Land College for a route through Coles County. Diane Ratliff, a wish granter for local families, spoke on her experiences with 10-year old Nicholas Stepp, with whom she has worked for five years. Nicholas recently received his wish: a hot tub. His first wish was to go on a Disney cruise, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed his plans. Despite his first wish falling through, Nicholas is now able to enjoy swimming even when theres snow on the ground," Nicholas said. The hot tub is also helpful for him because it alleviates some of his neuropathy symptoms. Nicholas and his mother, Tammy Stepp, are both grateful for the wish being granted, and even more for Ratliff and the time she has dedicated to their family. Stepp also said she was glad to find a friend in the process. Stepp said there's a lot of rough days when your child is ill, but having someone who understands your struggles and supports you through them can make a world of difference. For me, it took a little bit of the burden off me as a mom, because she understood what it was like for our whole family and she always tried to connect to me as a mom, Stepp said. She said Ratliff has been invaluable to her family, and she encourages others to get involved with Make-A-Wish. I don't think there's any better way you could donate your time, and I can't imagine from their perspective that it isn't as rewarding giving as it is getting, Stepp said. Ratliff, who has been a wish granter for over 10 children since getting involved with Make-A-Wish five years ago, said its all about the kids. These kids don't deserve it. The families don't deserve it, Ratliff said of the illnesses and related challenges they must face. It's nice to have a little ray of sunshine in their life throughout this treatment, and that's what we can provide. Ratliff said it takes a village to help the kids that Make-A-Wish supports, and she hopes to see more people volunteer with the organization. We're always looking for wish granters or people to help with events such as this. People can always feel free to reach out to myself or wish.org to get more information about wish granting or how they can help out and do different things throughout the year, Ratliff said. She added it is a rewarding experience to help children and their families through one of the hardest times of their lives. Any critical illness for children takes a family or a village or the whole world to conquer it, Ratliff said. You can't do it individually, and so just to be a little part of that is great. Lee Ann Dial, a grandmother and caregiver of one of the other children Ratliff has worked with, also spoke to the crowd about how important their support for Make-A-Wish is. For 1,067 days, Dials grandson, 7-year-old Whyatt Yarnell of Charleston, battled a brain cancer that eventually claimed his life in May. Throughout the nearly three years Yarnell confronted his illness, he had two brain surgeries, six weeks of radiation and four rounds of chemotherapy. Near the end of Yarnells life, Make-A-Wish helped make his wish come true with a trip to Lake of the Ozarks with his family. He was so sick during that trip and it didn't matter, you know, he was with family, Dial said. So even though he didn't feel good, he was happy. After he died, Dial turned her attention to fighting for other children like her grandson and ending childhood cancer. Currently, only 4% of federal cancer research funding goes toward researching childhood cancer, according to the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, citing National Cancer Institute data. Dial wants more funding for childhood cancer research. On Sept. 17, she will go to Washington, D.C., to march on Capitol Hill and submit a petition asking for more funding focused on childhood cancer. These kids are going through treatments that are designed for adults. We need a better way. These kids deserve better. They are suffering from long-term effects from chemo, Dial said. The treatments are as bad as the disease itself, so it is our hope that with the increase of funding, we will have better research, better treatments for our kids. Maybe someday we can get rid of this awful horrible disease that is debilitating and killing our kids. Planning for executive management succession can be tricky for businesses large and small in choosing the right person to balance previous success with the vision for future growth. Succession can be particularly challenging for family-owned businesses handing off control from one generation to the next. Joyce Farms, a 60-year-old meat- and poultry-processing manufacturer based in Clemmons with 85 employees, formally underwent that transition Aug. 1. Ron Joyce stepped down as president and chief executive after 40 years. Ron Joyce will remain as chairman. The succession involved sons Ryan Joyce being promoted from vice president of finance to president and chief executive, and Stuart Joyce switching from vice president of operations to executive vice president. Ryan and Stuart Joyce are the third generation running the business, which was founded in 1962 by Alvin Joyce. Besides its Winston-Salem headquarters, it has farms in Chatham, Duplin and Randolph counties and in Georgia. Ron Joyce joined the company in 1971. Ryan Joyce initially worked for the company from 2008 to 2010, then returned in 2014. Stuart Joyce has worked for the company since 2010. This will allow Joyce Farms to continue to grow as a family owned business long into the future, Ron Joyce said in a statement. Both of them grew up in the business. They helped build Joyce Farms into a successful third-generation company. The Joyces took time to share their thoughts about 60 years in business and the management changeover. An edited version follows: Q: There are plenty of business case studies about the challenges of handing off a family-owned business to a third and subsequent generation. What made having a succession plan in place make sense and what made the timing right now? Ron Joyce: What we do at Joyce Farms is very unique and took a lot of hard work, risk and financial investment over several decades to accomplish. No other company in America is doing what we do, the way that we do it: with carefully selected heritage animal breeds from Europe; our regenerative farming and ranching methods; our strict animal welfare standards; and our specialized processing protocols that include an internationally recognized food safety program. I feel an obligation to our customers, employees, and network of small family farms to preserve what we have developed into the future. A succession plan was put in place in order to do that. In part, the decision to make the transition now is because I am confident that Ryan and Stuart have all the knowledge and skills they need to successfully lead Joyce Farms into the future. This timing also works well for our company because it allows me to remain involved to provide guidance along the way. Q: How challenging or easy has it been to step aside from the day-to-day operations after 40 years? Ron Joyce: Fairly easy as it will be a gradual shift. I intend to stay on as long as necessary for a smooth and successful transition. The change in roles will allow me to pursue some of the projects we have talked about for years, but never quite had the time to pursue. It will offer Ryan and Stuart the chance to further develop their leadership skills. I also want to spend more time with our customers. We sell to some of the most talented chefs in America. They are creative, entrepreneurial and doing so many interesting things with our products. Collaborating with them is enjoyable to me and beneficial to our company. Q: When do you realize that you wanted to run the family business as third-generation managers? Ryan Joyce: Growing up in the family business, I learned the ins and outs of the company and its operations at a very young age. I began to appreciate how everyone contributes something unique and significant to the process, and how each of those efforts plays a part in delivering the quality meat and poultry products that customers expect from us. I realized early on that I shared the excitement and enthusiasm my dad has for this work, and I quickly knew I wanted to be a part of it. Q: How have your previous experiences in management prepared you for these steps, and how will you put your fingerprints on the company as its president and chief executive? Ryan Joyce: Weve been through some really tough times over the years, but those are the experiences that I feel have prepared me the most. In 2008, grain prices skyrocketed and the financial market collapsed. We did everything possible to cut costs and maintain our customers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, restaurants were forced to close, and we lost 90% of our business overnight. It wouldve been easy to throw in the towel then, but rather than give up, we quickly switched from selling bulk packed cases to individually packed retail cases. When the country experienced meat shortages, we set up shop in our parking lot and started selling to the public. What Ive learned over the years is that each new challenge brings an opportunity. Theres always a way out a solution to every problem the key is to stay flexible, clear-headed and sometimes to look at the challenge from a new perspective, in order to find a solution. The fingerprint I will leave is to continue to expand the company without compromising our core values, while remaining nimble enough to respond to any challenges the future may hold. Q: What have been the keys for Joyce Farms to balancing revenue and territorial growth with staying true to the roots your family has nurtured for 60 years? Ron Joyce: First is our unwavering commitment to produce the best meat and poultry in the world, and never sacrificing our standards for short-term gains. Another key has been hiring people who share our passion for the Joyce Farms mission and instilling within them a sense of pride in what we do. This has helped us develop a culture that motivates our team members to make sound decisions and perform at their highest levels, benefitting the company while also inspiring our employees professional growth. Q: In a Winston-Salem Weekly feature, you mentioned that a primary factor in the companys success was If there was a need for a certain product, find the need and fill it. Explain why that served as such a beacon for the company. Ron Joyce: That was the inspiration for developing our Heritage line, which ultimately led us to regenerative agriculture. Listening to our chef customers in the late 1990s, I heard a lot about the variety of poultry breeds available in Europe. It wasnt like the United States, where any chicken you consumed was essentially from the same Cornish Cross breed. In Europe, you could choose from a selection of chicken breeds, and each offered unique flavors and culinary characteristics. It was evident this was a need among these chefs, and no one was filling it. Thats what led me to visit Europe and discover the breed we now raise in the United States for our Heritage Poulet Rouge chicken. Afterward, I began researching cattle breeds for our Heritage grass-fed Beef, which led us to the Aberdeen Angus, and pig breeds for our Heritage Pork, which led us to the Gloucestershire Old Spot. Chefs needed higher-quality products than those produced in America for fast food and quick serve restaurants. Our products help them differentiate themselves and build their reputations among their guests as offering something different and memorable when it comes to the eating experience. Q: Was that the inspiration for the regenerative agriculture concept? Ron Joyce: The Regenerative Farming program came about from our pursuit to producing the best tasting meat and poultry in the world. Better forages in our pastures lead to healthier and better tasting animals, and that requires healthy soil thats rich with microbiology. So about 10 years ago, we started putting practices in place, like diverse cover crops and rotational grazing of our livestock, to keep the soil flourishing on our Heritage farms. At that time, the term regenerative agriculture was not a thing yet. It has been exciting to see the regenerative movement that is emerging today, and we are proud to be a part of it and to help spur the growth of this kind of agriculture for the future. I will say however, that regenerative agriculture has become somewhat of a buzzword today, so chefs and consumers should get to know the producers they support to learn about the practices they have in place. Beware that not all regenerative programs are the same! Q: Along the same lines, why do you think the Naked Chicken marketing pitch has done so well, and how far ahead of the industry do you think you work at that time? Ron Joyce: I believe that our reputation with our chef customers for consistently high-quality products has boosted the sales of both our Naked and Heritage Lines. We started our antibiotic-free Naked Chicken product line in 1995 (formerly branded as Ashley Farms and Tanglewood Farms), which was probably about a decade before specialty poultry like that became more mainstream. Again, it came as a result of seeing a need and filling it. Chefs were looking for better products and ingredients that were raised and produced with quality and eating experience in mind. When the product was rebranded as Naked Chicken to better convey its attributes, it gained more traction with home consumers as well. Q: What has made staying in Forsyth County make sense for the company and your employees when the local community has experienced waves of corporate departures this century alone? Ron Joyce: Speaking on the state level, I will say that, thanks to a business-friendly legislature in Raleigh for the past decade, North Carolina is a great state for entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses. In fact, CNBC has just ranked NC as Americas Top State for Business in 2022. Stuart Joyce: In terms of our local community, Clemmons and the surrounding area has served us well. Our plant is located just off I-40, which provides convenient access for our employees, vendors, and customers. Q: What kind of legacy do you believe you have created with the company in terms of growth, innovation, staying independent? Ron Joyce: We are changing the culinary landscape of America when it comes to meat and poultry by giving people more choices. The majority of food production in America is done to achieve the highest possible yield for the lowest possible cost, to keep prices low for consumers. We understand the need for lower-cost products, as many people rely on them to feed themselves, their guests, and their families. However, we also believe it shouldnt be the only option, and thats where we can bring something to the table. We want to offer something different. Most commercially produced poultry, beef and pork in America look and taste the same, no matter the brand. I believe the uniqueness of our products, along with our reputation for quality and consistency, will drive our growth into the future, especially as more people understand the differences in the products that we produce. Ryan and Stuart both share my entrepreneurial spirit. Some was probably inherited, and some of it may have been transferred by osmosis, having worked with me for several years. I am proud of the work they have put into growing our business and of their desire to continue this Joyce Farms legacy. Remaining an independently owned family business is vitally important to what we do and gives us a huge advantage. We make long-term investments without the pressure to meet Wall Streets quarterly earnings expectations. It would be impossible to develop a company like ours if we were constantly pressured to focus on short-term results. Being family-owned is also an advantage. Most members of family-owned businesses work harder and are more loyal than their counterparts in larger, publicly-owned companies, especially if they believe in the long-term goals of the company. Q: What are the next steps for Joyce Foods in terms of growth, and how do you balance those goals with ensuring the stability of what has been built over the past 60 years? Stuart Joyce: We are pretty well known on the East Coast, from the Northeast to the Southeast, but there are opportunities to expand our business in the Midwest and West Coast. Freight has always been an obstacle, but we have captured some accounts in those regions that have worked out well for us. When someone on the West Coast reaches out to us because they cant find the products they are looking for, it means something to us and motivates us to find new ways to expand our reach. The feedback we hear most often from our customers is about quality, consistency and flavor. Those words have become synonymous with the Joyce Farms brand, and we are motivated to continue growing that reputation with new customers. Ryan Joyce: We have a lot of opportunities in the Midwest and West Coast, and I also see those as areas of growth over the next few years. Of course, keeping our existing customers happy and loyal is always our top priority. As a small company in a highly consolidated industry, were constantly innovating and creating new products to fill niche markets. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has identified one of the five officers who shot at Alexander Weah, who was killed during an arrest attempt a week ago in the parking lot of the Speedway convenience store in Clemmons. Detective Paul Weis of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department fired his weapon in the parking lot, according to a news release. The Greensboro Police Department has not identified the four officers from its department but said in a news release last week that all four are on administrative duty pending an internal investigation. It did name an officer who was shot in the incident, Michael J. Ambrosio, but did not say whether he fired his gun. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg department said Weis has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard policy when an officer fires a gun in the line of duty, the news release said. The SBI is leading the investigation into the shooting while the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Departments Internal Affairs conducts an internal investigation. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it would not release any additional information. Weah was shot to death shortly after 8 a.m. Aug. 5 at the Speedway just off Interstate 40. A large number of law enforcement officers from Greensboro, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the SBI and the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office had converged at the convenience store to serve a murder warrant in a Charlotte killing. The official statement from Greensboro police says that officers made contact with the suspect while he was exiting the gas station and that as officers approached, an exchange of gunfire occurred. During the exchange of gunfire, the suspect fired his weapon, striking Greensboro Police Officer M.J. Ambrosio, the report reads. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. Talaya Hinson, who described herself as Weahs fiancee, gave a starkly different account of the shooting. She said Weah ran and was shot by an officer twice before he reached for his own weapon and fired. Hinson said officers told her that they fired on Weah because they saw he had a gun. Despite multiple requests from the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro Police Department said it will not release the names of the four officers. In the past, the Greensboro Police Department has identified officers who have shot people. The department released the names of two officers who fatally shot a man police said was assaulting a third officer last year. The Winston-Salem Police Department and the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office have routinely released the names of officers who have shot and killed people in the line of duty. The Greensboro Police Department has not said why it will not identify the four officers in the Clemmons shooting. At the time of the shooting, Talaya Hinson was the estranged wife of the man Weah was accused of killing in Charlotte. According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Weah was wanted in the shooting death of James Michael Hinson, 31, on Aug. 3. In an interview with Winston-Salem Journal, Talaya Hinson confirmed that Weah shot Michael Hinson during a confrontation between the two men. She said Michael Hinson, who was white, threatened to put Weah in a body bag and called Weah, who was Black, a racial slur. She said Weah shot Michael Hinson in the chest when he thought Michael Hinson was reaching for a weapon. No gun was found on Michael Hinsons body. She told the Winston-Salem Journal that Weah was planning to turn himself in to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police on the same day he was fatally shot by officers. Certain Novant Health Inc. patients are being notified that their protected health information may have improperly disclosed through a tracking tool linked to Facebook as part of a marketing campaign that began in May 2020. Novant did not disclose Friday how many patients were affected by the pixel tracking, but said it has mailed 1.3 million notification letters. Novant said the tracking involved the use of a Facebook-related pixel, which was configured incorrectly and may have allowed certain private information to be transmitted to (Facebook parent company) Meta from the Novant Health website and MyChart portal. The patient information disclosure involves: * Patients demographic information, such as email address, phone number, computer IP address and contact information entered into emergency contacts or advanced care planning; * Appointment type and date; * Physician selected; * Button/menu selections, and/or content typed into free text boxes. Novant said the disclosure did not affect patients Social Security numbers or other financial information unless it was typed into a free text box by the user. Novant said among patients receiving the notification letter will be patients of independent physicians and facilities who use MyChart. The system said the letter is part of an outreach effort to be as transparent as possible about the disclosure. The letter sent to each patient will specifically state whether such financial information may have been involved. Novant said patients at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in the Wilmington market were not affected by the disclosure cited in the statement. Novant and Atrium Health were among 33 major healthcare systems nationwide identified in a June 16 report by The Markup as having certain patient information tracked and made available to Facebook. The Markup is a nonprofit investigative media outlet that specializes in mining technology data for its reports. The Markup began its report by saying that a tracking tool, known as Meta Pixel, was installed on many hospitals websites and has been collecting patients sensitive health information including details about their medical conditions, prescriptions and doctors appointments and sending it to Facebook. The tracker sends Facebook a packet of data whenever a person clicked a button to schedule a doctors appointment. The data is connected to an IP address, creating an intimate receipt of the appointment request for Facebook, the group said. Novant was among seven systems using Pixel in their patients password-protected portals, the report said. Ashton Miller, Novants director of media relations, said June 16 that the entire Novant system was affected by the tracking tool. Miller said Novant removed the tracker after being contacted by The Markup, which the group confirmed in its report. Background Novant said the disclosure issue emerged from a promotional campaign it began in May 2020 to connect more patients to the Novant Health MyChart patient portal with the goal of improving access to care through virtual visits and provide increased accessibility to counter the limitations of in-person care. Facebooks involvement was in the form of Novant advertisements on the website, along with the tracking pixel placed on Novants website to help understand the success of those efforts on Facebook. Novant said that once it became aware that the pixel had the capability to transmit unintended information to Meta, it was disabled and removed. The system began an investigation to learn whether, and to what extent, information was transmitted. Based on its investigation, Novant Health is unaware of any improper use or attempted use of any patient information by Meta or any other third party, Novant said. Novant said it has also implemented more structure, governance and policies around the use of pixels and is taking actions to ensure this does not happen again. For more information, patients can call 704-561-6950 or go to www.novanthealth.org/pixel, as well as https://consumer.ftc.gov/online-security to learn more about best practices to protect their information online. Simon Fondrie-Teitler, one of The Markups authors on the report, said that the scope of health data potentially being sent to Facebook is generally wider inside an electronic health record (EHR) than on a scheduling page. EHRs can have a fairly comprehensive record of a patients care. Novant involvement Novant was featured in a section of the groups report. The Markup said it created a MyChart account to determine the breadth of the tracker. We found the Meta Pixel collecting a variety of other sensitive (patient) information. Clicking on one button prompted the pixel to tell Facebook the name and dosage of a medication in our health record, as well as any notes we had entered about the prescription. The pixel also told Facebook which button we clicked in response to a question about sexual orientation. Miller sent The Markup a statement that included we appreciate you reaching out to us and sharing this information. Our Meta pixel placement is guided by a third-party vendor, and it has been removed while we continue to look into this matter. In Millers statement, she said the vendor was hired to help us develop and implement a campaign designed to encourage individuals to sign up for MyChart. The goal of this endeavor was to get more people to take advantage of virtual care opportunities, especially since COVID was having a significant impact on how people preferred to receive care, as well as on our resources to provide in-person care. We used tracking pixels to determine how many people signed up for MyChart, not what they did after they signed in. Miller said that Novant takes privacy and the care of patient information very seriously ... and we value the trust our patients place in us to keep their medical information private. Atrium involvement The only mention of Atrium in the report is confirmation of its use of the tracker, which still was active when the report was published. Although Atrium owns and operates Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, only its Charlotte flagship Carolinas Medical Center was mentioned. Atrium said in a June 16 statement that because privacy is critically important to us, we have stringent, effective safeguards in place in our digital environment. We will continue to monitor and validate the tools we use to best serve our communities. The Charlotte Observer reported that Atriums scheduling page was sending data to Facebook as of June 16. It asked patients to input the condition theyre seeking care for, their age and their location. Other N.C. healthcare systems listed by the group as providing information to Facebook were Duke University Hospital and WakeMed. The group said WakeMed removed the tracker after being contacted and before the report was released. Duke University told the group it has removed the tracker since the publication of the report. The Charlotte Observer reported that Atrium, Duke University, Novant and WakeMed recorded more than 4 million admissions and outpatient appointments in 2020, according to data from the American Hospital Association. Researchers determined that UNC Rex and UNC Hospitals did not participate, while Cone Health was not included in the review of the top-100 U.S. hospitals. Cone said in a statement that like a lot of companies, we use Facebook Pixel to determine the effectiveness of our digital efforts. However, Cone Health does not have any advertising pixels Facebook Pixel included our MyChart patient portal. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Members of New Mexico's Muslim community pushed Thursday for the Afghan refugee suspected of killing four Muslim men to remain behind bars pending trial citing previous accusations of domestic violence and video surveillance that appeared to show him slashing the tires of a vehicle parked outside the local mosque. The video from early 2020 had prompted leaders of the Islamic Center of New Mexico at the time to admonish Muhammad Syed and tell him not to return to the mosque. The woman whose tires were slashed never went to the police and charges were never filed, said Ahmad Assed, the Islamic center's president. But nearly two years later, her brother-in-law became one of the victims. Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi was fatally shot last November behind the market he owned with his brother. Police have named Syed, 51, as the primary suspect in Ahmadi's death and in the fatal shooting of another man in early August. Authorities already have charged him with two counts of murder in the deaths of two other Muslim men in recent weeks. Syed was arrested late Monday more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from his Albuquerque home. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas, citing the ambush-style killings as his concern. Albuquerque police on Thursday released two brief videos showing part of Syeds arrest. The footage from body-worn cameras includes an 18-second clip of Syed face-down on the ground as officers tell him to put his hands behind his back. He appears to tell them he does not speak English as they put him in handcuffs. In the other clip, he is shown walking from the back of a police cruiser into the department's headquarters. He wore a striped long-sleeved shirt, dark pants and sandals. Syed is scheduled to appear in court Monday, when a state judge will consider a motion by prosecutors seeking to detain Syed without bond pending trial. Prosecutors have argued that Syed is dangerous and that no conditions of release will ensure the community's safety. Syed denied any connection to the crimes that shook the city and its small Muslim community after he was arrested during a traffic stop, saying he was heading to Houston to find a new home for his family over fear about the killings. His public defenders declined comment on the case Thursday except to say that they were reviewing evidence and preparing for Monday's hearing. Given the level of media attention, we need to be very careful to not let this case be tried in the public forum and not a court of law, said Tom Clark, one of Syed's state appointed attorneys. Assed and other members of the city's Muslim community said they were working with law enforcement to try to keep Syed in custody. Despite police saying personal conflicts might be part of the motive for the killings, Assed said in an interview that Muslims are struggling to understand why the men who were killed were targeted and that the killings raised questions and concerns about whether more attacks had been planned. Its certainly our concern for this community as we move forward and its a concern because not knowing more about the motive, we are at a disadvantage in understanding whether that was what was planned, that was it, or whether more victims were on the radar, Assed said. The first killing in November was followed by three between July 26 and Aug. 5. According to a criminal complaint, police determined that bullet casings found in Syeds vehicle matched the caliber of the weapons believed to have been used in two of the killings and that casings found at the crime scenes were linked to guns found at Syeds home and in his vehicle. Police said they received more than 200 tips and one from the Muslim community that led them to the Syed family. Syed knew the victims, authorities have said. Syed has lived in the United States for about five years. When interviewed by detectives, Syed said he had fought against the Taliban, according to a criminal complaint filed in court Tuesday. He lived in an apartment in Albuquerque with family members who told reporters that he was a truck driver but hadn't worked for a company in a long time. Court documents show the domestic violence allegations Syed was accused of involved separate altercations with his wife, a son and his future son-in-law. The cases were dismissed because the victims declined to press charges. Two Nigerian residents have been extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States to face charges for their alleged roles in the theft of nearly $2 million from Appalachian State University about five years ago, authorities said this week. Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, 43, and Donald Ikenna Echeazu, 40, who are both Nigerian citizens and residents of the United Kingdom, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday. We appreciate the continued diligence by the U.S. Attorneys Office and (the) FBI to prosecute this case and to recover the universitys funds a majority of which were recovered in 2017, said Megan Hayes, a spokeswoman for Appalachian State. Following the incident, which occurred in late 2016, the university implemented more stringent policies to increase vigilance and guard against cyber crimes, Evans said. Adeagbo and Echeazu are accused of defrauding Appalachian State University of $1.959 million from Aug. 16, 2016 through Jan. 12, 2017, according to a federal indictment. Adeagbo and Echeazu are accused of conspiring with Ho Shin Lee of Los Angeles to obtaining information about a construction project at ASU, the Justice Department said. In 2016, university officials hired Charlotte-based Rodgers Builders to build a new building for the schools College of Health Sciences college, federal prosecutors said. Adeagbo received information about that contract in late August 2016, and he provided this information to his co-conspirators, according to the indictment. In November 2016, Lee applied to the Secretary of State of California to register Royce Hub Trading Inc., claiming that the corporation was in the general merchandise business, the indictment said. Lee represented himself as the chief executive officer, secretary and chief financial officer of Royce Hub Trading. Lee opened a bank account at JPMorgan Chase Bank in the name of Royce Hub Trading Inc. of Los Angeles, the indictment said. In early December 2016, an Appalachian State employee received an email from a conspirator who identified himself as Doug McDowell, the controller for Rodgers building, according to prosecutors and the indictment. The email instructed the school to reroute company payments to an account at JPMorgan Chase, prosecutors said. Appalachian State processed a payment of $1.959 million to Rodgers Builders on Dec. 8, 2016, and directed the money be deposited as requested into Lees JPMorgan account, the indictment said. On Dec. 20, 2016, the real Doug McDowell contacted Appalachian State to ask why the company had not received its money. Adeagbo, Echeazu and Lee are accused of laundering the stolen money through financial transactions designed to conceal the fraud, the Justice Department said. FBI agents tracked $1.542 million of the stolen money and returned that amount to the ASU, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte said in January 2018. Adeagbo and Echeazu were being held Friday in the Meckenburg County Jail in Charlotte as federal inmates, according to the jails website. No bond information was listed for either man. Lee, who was 31 when he was arrested, was indicted in March 2018 in U.S. District Court on 14 counts of money laundering. He pleaded guilty in August 2018 to one count of money laundering, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. Lee had been indicted in March 2018 on 14 counts of money laundering. Federal prosecutors dismissed the remaining 13 indictments under a plea agreement. Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Lee to serve three years and one in federal prison and ordered Lee to pay ASU $1.959 million in restitution, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. A judge has granted a mistrial in Deontae Rush's murder trial for the killing of a Lincoln man during a drug robbery last year. Prosecutors on Friday morning filed a motion for mistrial over COVID-19 delays that meant the jurors would have been outside the courtroom and unsequestered for at least six days. Trial started Monday over James Shekie's fatal shooting in his home near 20th and Superior streets on Feb. 23, 2021. Officials did jury selection, opening statements were made and the state called its first witnesses. But Tuesday morning, jurors were sent home after the judge and at least three Lincoln police witnesses tested positive for COVID-19. Initially, jurors were told to return Friday, when trial tentatively was set to resume. But in the motion for mistrial, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Eric Miller said the attorneys learned Thursday that the judge still was symptomatic so the trial wouldn't start back up until Monday at the earliest. "As of the filing of this motion, the parties do not know with any certainty as to when his symptoms will abate or when he will test negative, and thus it is not clear as to when his isolation will end and when trial can resume," Miller wrote. Miller said, if convicted, Rush likely would argue that jurors had the opportunity to engage in jury misconduct or to be exposed to improper influence given media attention to the case; and they are unlikely to have a fresh recollection of the evidence already presented. The delay also could cause problems with the state's ability to secure the attendance of witnesses from out of state, Miller said. Lancaster County District Judge Kevin McManaman granted the motion for mistrial Friday afternoon. "The court finds that the events at trial, through no fault of the state or the defendant, constitute sufficient grounds for declaration of a mistrial," he wrote. He said a mistrial was necessary to avoid prejudice and injustice to both sides. Trial was rescheduled to start Oct. 28. Zach Hammack K-12 education reporter Zach Hammack, a 2018 UNL graduate, has always called Lincoln home. He previously worked as a copy editor at the Journal Star and was a reporting intern in 2017. Now, he covers students, teachers and schools as the newspapers K-12 reporter. Follow Zach Hammack 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 Over the past two weeks, local high school students have smiled for the camera and picked up the ID cards that will dangle from their lanyards this fall. But because of an unusual printing error, some students will have to swap out their cards for new ones. Lincoln Public Schools recently discovered issues with the bar codes on IDs printed by Lifetouch, the photography vendor the district contracts with. There are bar codes on both the front and back of cards, which are used for different purposes, such as scanning in for attendance or checking out at lunch. The issues varied by building but affected all seven high schools to some extent, said Director of Communications Mindy Burbach. In some cases the bar codes weren't scannable, including at Lincoln High, which will have to replace all of its IDs. The same issue occurred at Southwest which will have to reprint 1,200 cards and at Northwest, which will also replace some of its cards, Burbach said. At the four other high schools, the bar codes were on the wrong side but the error won't require a reprint. Instead, schools will either update their computer systems or instruct students which side to scan, Burbach said. Students pick up their IDs during high school readiness days, where they can have their picture taken, get a parking pass, go over their schedule and more. Lifetouch is working to print the corrected IDs and will send them to schools, where they'll be distributed to students either this week or next. The first day of school is Monday for freshmen and Tuesday for sophomores, juniors and seniors. 'Green' school buses Electric school buses could soon be hitting Lincoln streets, but it may take a bit of luck for it to happen. LPS recently applied for a lottery grant with the Environmental Protection Agency that would offer $375,000 in rebates for three zero-emission electric buses. Under the grant proposal, LPS would have to trade in three of its older buses and match $30,000 for charging stations. The $1 trillion federal infrastructure package signed into law earlier this year set aside $5 billion for schools to purchase green buses. The district worked with Colorado/West and Nebraska Central Bus Sales & Service to apply for the Clean Bus Rebates Program grant, which will be awarded through a lottery process. "It's a draw of the hat," said Director of Transportation Ryan Robley. If LPS misses out this year, it can still apply again for the next five years if the district wishes, Robley said. This would be LPS' first foray into electric school buses. The district's 165-vehicle fleet is powered by diesel or gasoline. StarTran already has 10 electric buses and 30 that use alternative fuel, with plans to completely go green by 2040. "Everything is kind of turning that way," Robley said. "For me and the board, it was just a really great opportunity to dip our toes in the water with this grant and see how it operates." Right now, however, the bigger concern it seems is not how buses are powered but if there's enough people to drive them. As of this week, LPS is still looking to hire about 20 drivers to cover the roughly 130 routes for this school year. Last year, about 3,350 students 45% of them special-education students took the bus. The district has already consolidated its number of routes from 156 to about 130 amid a shortage of drivers and paraprofessionals that led to lengthy delays for students last year. LPS hopes to build back to about 150 routes if it can hire enough drivers in the months ahead, but it appears the shortage isn't going away anytime soon. By the numbers 11: The margin of votes in the Palmyra school district bond election, which got the green light Tuesday. The $22 million bond will pay for additions and renovations at Bennet Elementary School and Palmyra Junior-Senior High School. 17: The number of minutes that will be added to the school day at Robinson Elementary School because of construction delays. The new school opens Aug. 29. 31: Roughly how many minutes Tuesday's LPS board meeting lasted, easily the quickest of the year. A stark difference to last summer. OMAHA The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal by a handful of Creighton University students who sought to be exempt from the private Catholic school's COVID-19 vaccine mandate last year, arguing that getting the shots would violate their religious beliefs against abortion. The state's high court said it didn't have jurisdiction, citing its 150-year stance that people can't appeal orders denying or granting temporary injunctions. In this case, a judge last year declined to issue a temporary injunction that would have blocked Creighton's requirement that all students get the COVID-19 vaccination. "Because the court's denial of a temporary injunction was not a final order, we lack jurisdiction of the appeal and must dismiss it," Justice William Cassel wrote for the court. The 10 students who sought the injunction said they had religious objections to the vaccines because they "were developed and/or tested using abortion-derived fetal cell lines." Laboratory-grown cell lines descended from fetuses that were aborted decades ago were used in some early-stage testing of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and to grow viruses used to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The vaccines do not contain fetal cells. The Vatican declared in 2020 that it is "morally acceptable" for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses when "ethically irreproachable" vaccines aren't available. Douglas County District Judge Marlon Polk said in his September 2021 ruling that he wouldn't order the mandate be temporarily blocked because he didn't think the students would ultimately prevail in court. That's because the students had signed a form promising to get vaccinated once regulators fully approved one, the judge noted. The students appealed. An attorney for the students, Robert Sullivan, said Friday that while he wished the state's high court had decided the appeal on its merits, the fact that it was decided on a technicality allows the students to continue their legal fight. "The vast majority of the students want to move ahead with the case and see what we can get done," Sullivan said. Most of the students went on to enroll at other schools, he said, while one had enough college credits to graduate over the summer. An attorney for the university did not immediately return a phone messages left Friday by the Associated Press seeking comment. The private university in Omaha is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church, which teaches that abortion is a grave sin. The university issued its mandate for students in August 2021, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the vaccine made by Pfizer. At the time, Creighton allowed only medical, not religious, exemptions to its vaccine requirements. However, the school added a religious exemption ahead of the 2022-23 academic year, Creighton spokesman Sam Achelpohl said. Students refusing a vaccine on religious grounds must fill out a form and get approval from the university, according to the school's website. Achelpohl declined to comment on Friday's ruling or the ongoing lawsuit. Vicki Sheldon traveled through rain Friday to pick up two dozen ears of sweet corn for herself, her stepson and her neighbor at Stoneman Family Farm in Fitchburg. I buy it twice a week, she said. I used to grow it myself, but its just so much sweeter here now. Sheldon said shes been buying sweet corn at the farm, also known as Stonemans Famous Sweet Corn, for 10 years. In that time, she said, the crop has gotten tastier. Its sweeter, she said. We boil it, sometimes we throw it on the grill and Ill eat it with anything: steak, chicken. William Tracy, a professor of agronomy at UW-Madison, has been working with sweet corn since 1984. He said that sweetness is no accident. Sweet corn used to lose its sugar in a couple of days, while modern sweet corn retains its sugar far longer, he said. Though these super sweet varieties were first introduced in the 80s, they took about 20 years to catch on, he said. Modern sweet corns dont lose their sugar so quickly, he said. We researched how to accomplish that and offered our solutions to the seed industry, who incorporated it into their breeding program and catalog. Tracy has continued working with improving sweet corn varieties, and is currently working on one with a crunch, like a honey crisp apple. Through the roof Kevin Oppermann, a farmer at Stoneman, said his fields have gotten larger and his work days longer since he took over in 2002. Sweeter harvests created more client demand, he said. Demand for our sweet corn is through the roof, to the point where weve been continuously expanding significantly in the last four or five years, Oppermann said. Everybody comes here, and theres no shortage of cars in the parking lot, even at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday. Susan Roque has been buying sweet corn her whole adult life, and from Stoneman Family Farm for the past 15 years. The sweetness of the crop is what keeps her coming back, she said. Its gotten better, she said. Theyve invented all of these hybrids and improved the sugar content. All about freshness Joe Eugster, co-owner of Eugsters Farm Market in Stoughton, said sweet corn produced by his farm has seen similar changes. Plus, hes noticed more Wisconsinites buying produce in general each year. Theres definitely more people buying local produce ... our parking lot is full today, Eugster said. Our customer base is growing at the farm. And, we sell a lot of corn people are on average buying six to eight servings. Oppermann agreed that his customer base also seems more focused on fresh food. People are looking to get out to the farm and see where their food comes from, he said. Its a beautiful setting here ... its a picturesque place for people to come out and get their corn. Local anomaly Thats one of the reasons why sweet corn sales are up in the Madison area even as they decline nationwide. Across the country, traditionally popular vegetables like green beans and sweet corn are being replaced by newer trends, like kale and beets, said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agriculture and applied economics at UW-Madison. From 2010 to 2020, total production of sweet corn nationwide decreased by more than 25%, according to the University of Wisconsin. Madison is a growing area in population and doing well economically and people here focus on local foods, Mitchell said. We are a local island that is bucking the national trend. Tracy suspects that myths about sweet corn have led to decreasing interest in the crop nationwide. Sweet corn, he said, is considered a starchy vegetable, leading some to consider it unhealthy. But Tracy said he doesnt think theres any truth to that. I definitely believe its a healthy crop, Tracy said. It has the same amount of sugar as an apple, and lots of proteins and antioxidants. I think we need to better understand its advantages to peoples health and well-being as related to what stops people from consuming it. 100 acres Scott Alsum, co-owner of Alsums Sweet Corn in Randolph, has been selling sweet corn for 46 years. He said his business has expanded significantly, despite national trends and thanks to the ever-increasing quality of Wisconsin sweet corn. When his father started harvesting sweet corn, Alsum said he was harvesting 5 acres of land. Now, Alsum works with 100 acres. An ever-increasing number of places to sell has also helped Alsum expand. The farm sells wholesale, retail, at five roadside stands and at three farmers markets, in addition to selling at their farm. The varieties keep getting sweeter and better and its such a short season, so people love buying fresh sweet corn, he said. The demand has gotten better because of the quality. We keep growing and growing. 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 The northern mountainous province of Lai Chau is seeking Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhs approval for the construction of an airport through a public-private partnership (PPP). According to the provincial peoples committee, Lai Chau Airport is listed in the governments national aviation development plan issued in 2018. Under Lai Chaus proposal, Lai Chau Airport would have an annual capacity of 500,000 passengers and be used for both civil and military purposes by 2030. The airport would cover 167 hectares in Tan Uyen Town and cost VND8 trillion (USD344.82 million). Lai Chau Peoples Committee said that several investors had expressed their interest in the project. At present, Dien Bien Airport is the only one in the northwestern region of Vietnam. Under the Ministry of Transports planning proposal, by 2030, the region would have three more airports at Lai Chau, Sapa in Lao Cai and Na San in Son La. Lai Chau has a 265-kilometre border with China. The province does not have a waterway route, while National Highway 32 which links to the delta region often faces landslides in the rainy season. Killeen, TX (76540) Today Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 92F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Low 72F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. DENVER The flyers piled up in mailboxes in central South Dakota like snow during a high-plains blizzard: "Transgender Sex Education in Schools?" one asked. "Vote Against Sex Ed Radical Mary Duvall for State Senate." The mailers were part of a $58,000 campaign against the five-term Republican lawmaker, an enormous sum of money in a place where the cost of running for a statehouse seat is typically in the low five figures. Despite the subject of the attack ads, Duvall was targeted not for her stance on sex education but for her opposition to a longshot bid by some conservatives to force a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. Duvall ended up losing by 176 votes. She had opposed legislation that would have added South Dakota to 19 other states calling for a gathering known as a convention of states, following a plan mapped out by a conservative group that wants to change parts of the United States' foundational document. When that number hits two-thirds of the states or 34 under the procedure laid out in the Constitution, a convention would meet with the power to amend the 235-year-old document. The campaign against Duvall was part of a more than $600,000 push in at least five states earlier this year by the group Convention of States Action and its affiliates in Republican primaries to elect sympathetic lawmakers who could add more states to its column. Much of the money comes from groups that do not have to disclose their donors, masking the identity of who is funding the push to change the Constitution. Mark Meckler, the group's president and former head of Tea Party Patriots, issued a brief statement saying the group was committed to being active in the midterms "in a big way." For years, Convention of States Action has been a staple of the conservative political scene. But its engagement in primary campaigns marks an escalation at a time when parts of the conservative movement are testing the limits of the nation's political rulebook, pushing aggressive tactics from gerrymandering to voting restrictions. The track record is spotty. In South Dakota, where the group and its affiliates spent more than $200,000 targeting four state Senate seats, Duvall was the only one of its targets to lose. Supporters of a convention argue it's the best way to amend the Constitution especially to take power from Congress, which has to approve by a two-thirds vote any proposed amendments that don't come from a convention. Still, no amendments have been implemented through a convention since the Constitution was ratified in 1788. Backers argue any amendments would have to be approved by more states than required to call the convention three-quarters, or 38 of them. The GOP would have the upper hand, though, as it controls the legislatures in 30 states. One liberal group is pushing for a convention to change campaign finance laws that has won backing in four states, while another effort by conservatives seeks one to impose a balanced budget amendment. The Convention of States group is more vague on its goals, saying it seeks amendments only to "limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose fiscal restraints, and place term limits on federal officials." That alarms many Democrats, who see the push as a partisan effort to write conservative goals into the Constitution. But conservatives also have balked, fearing a convention could open the document to changes they wouldn't favor, such as on gun control or campaign spending. The convention group this year persuaded South Carolina's GOP-controlled Legislature to approve a motion for a convention, making it the 19th state, all Republican-run, to sign on. But it has been stymied in some conservative states such as South Dakota, whose state Senate repeatedly has voted down convention resolutions. Duvall said Republican voters there don't want a constitutional rewrite. "The majority of my constituents I've talked to say 'No, this is a bad idea and dangerous,'" she said. Robert Natelson, a retired law professor who formerly served as an adviser to Convention of States Action, said that's a result of fear-mongering. He has researched historical conventions of states, which have occurred with varied records of accomplishment, on subjects ranging from the War of 1812 to how certain Western states would share water from the Colorado River, and said they have clear procedures and limitations. "This was a process designed for the people to use," he said. Convention of States Action and its affiliated foundation reported raising more than $10 million in 2020, according to IRS documents. As nonprofits, the organizations do not need to disclose most of their donors. Recent spending came through multiple newly created political groups that steered campaign money around the country, largely shielding donors from disclosure. "They have gone out of their way to set up a web of dark money groups to obscure where the money is coming from and evade reporting requirements," said Arn Pearson, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which filed complaints with authorities in Arizona and Montana against the network's campaign apparatus. MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) "The Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and able to talk Saturday, a day after he was stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture in upstate New York. Rushdie remained hospitalized with serious injuries, but fellow author Aatish Taseer tweeted in the evening that he was "off the ventilator and talking (and joking)." Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without offering further details. Earlier in the day, the man accused of attacking him Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center, 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. The suspect appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him. A judge ordered him held without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. "This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr. Rushdie," Schmidt said. Public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge while leaving him "hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks." "He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence," Barone added. Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said Friday evening. He was likely to lose the injured eye. The attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for "The Satanic Verses." Authors, activists and government officials cited Rushdie's courage and longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie "an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world," and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model "for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he's shown incredible warmth." President Joe Biden said Saturday in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were "shocked and saddened" by the attack. "Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals," the statement read. "Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society." Rushdie, a native of India who has lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel "Midnight's Children." "The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie's death in 1989. Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa remains in effect. Investigators were working to determine whether the suspect, born a decade after "The Satanic Verses" was published, acted alone. District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing against bail: "Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met." "His resources don't matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and it's sanctioned by larger groups and organizations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County," the prosecutor said. Barone, the public defender, said after the hearing that Matar has been communicating openly with him and that he would spend the coming weeks trying to learn about his client, including whether he has psychological or addiction issues. Matar is from Fairview, N.J. Rosaria Calabrese, manager of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tightly knit gym in nearby North Bergen, said Matar joined April 11 and participated in about 27 group sessions for beginners looking to improve their fitness before emailing her several days ago to say he wanted to cancel his membership because "he wouldn't be coming back for a while." Gym owner Desmond Boyle said he saw "nothing violent" about Matar, describing him as polite and quiet, yet someone who always looked "tremendously sad." He said Matar resisted attempts by him and others to welcome and engage him. "He had this look every time he came in. It looked like it was the worst day of his life," Boyle said. 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 Associated Press. Flags of the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah are visible across the village, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Journalists visiting Yaroun on Saturday were asked to leave. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. KEARNEY Sam Fern-Reeh is just five years old, and hes already had a ride in a fire truck. Sams eyes lit up last Friday as Kearney Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jeremy Feusner gave him a black plastic firemans hat and helped him climb up into the front seat of a 1922 American LaFrance pumper so that he could go for a ride. Sams great-grandfather, the late LaMoyne Fern, restored that prized vehicle for the department. Now a century old, it was the first mechanized pumper purchased by the KVFD. It cost $12,750. Next to Sam, driving the antique pumper, was Matt Ullman, a KVFD engineer. Seated on benches in the back were Sams parents, Beth Fern and her wife Jenni Reeh, of Lincoln, along with LaMoynes son John Fern and LaMoynes grandson Jamison Fern of Staplehurst. Feusner rode along, too. The engine was in service in Kearney from Aug. 8, 1922, until 1948. From 1955-59, it was displayed in Harmon Park. Then the city sold it. When it sat in Harmon Park, kids would sit in it and play on it, and a lot of parts were lost or damaged, said Eric Van Horn, a former Kearney firefighter. It was nothing intentional. It was just wear and tear. In 1967, LaMoyne, who had been a volunteer firefighter from 1971-87, often drove that truck. When he found the vehicles rusted shell in Jack Ledermans salvage yard in Kearney, he decided to restore it. LaMoyne painstakingly restored the historic vehicle to its original mint condition and gave it back to the city on his 80th birthday in 2002. Since then, it has been used in parades, funeral processions and other ceremonial events. LaMoyne died in 2016 at the age of 94. About six years ago, the truck suffered major engine failure, so the departments antique fire engine committee painstakingly researched where to send it for repairs. They found Hal Fillingers Vintage Vehicle Restorations in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, one of the nations best restorers of American LaFrance fire trucks. In July 2017, it was sent east to Harleysville on a flatbed, but first they removed the valuable items, like the bell, the headlights and loose equipment, so it would not be damaged during transport, Van Horn said. He chaired the restoration committee and acted as the liaison between the department and the restorer. This engine has a T-shaped cylinder special to American LaFrance fire trucks. Its not something where the parts are readily available, said Van Horn, now of Minden. That truck is one of our most prized assets. We wanted the best person to do the job. The repairs took longer than expected. Some parts were no longer available, so Fillinger worked with a foundry to have them made. COVID-19 halted work for a time, too. Funding for the project came from KVFDs antique fund. A few weeks ago, the good-as-new fire truck returned in an enclosed trailer just in time for its 100th anniversary celebration last weekend. Van Horn kept LaMoynes family up to date on the repair process. I sent videos to (daughter) Julie (Fern Thatcher) to let her know her dads prize possession made it home safe and was in good running condition, he said. A few changes were made when the engine was rebuilt: We replaced a piece that goes from the radiator to the water pump, so the radiator does a better job of cooling the engine, Van Horn said. Van Horn, who with his wife Nickola owns Craig Funeral Home in Minden and is now a Minden volunteer firefighter, remains in awe of all the labor, sweat and devotion LaMoyne put into the project. Today we can do internet searches for repairs, but when LeMoyne restored it, that was not possible, Van Horn said. Most importantly, it shows the departments dedication to tradition. Departments that have their first pumpers obviously care about their apparatus. The Fern family donated all the handwritten correspondence LaMoyne sent to various companies as he scouted around for parts during his restoration. Those letters are in a scrapbook of the renovation the family brought to the fire station last Friday. All 616 pieces of LaMoynes donated firefighting memorabilia can be seen at the Nebraska Firefighters Museum and Education Center at 2834 E. First St. His collection includes fire lanterns that hung on fire trucks, an old fire call box, metal firefighter helmets, hose nozzles, a leather water bucket, fire extinguishers, old fire hatchets and more. The engine is displayed periodically, too. Sams mother Beth Fern was deeply touched by the fire departments cooperation in giving the family a ride. Ullman even drove them past the house at 103 W. 28th St. that LaMoyne and his wife Janice once owned. I really appreciate the thought and effort the fire department put into this. It meant so much to me, she said. Feusner was happy to do it. We like to show this fire truck. Its a source of pride, he said. Especially to a little boy of 5. The long-awaited and hotly debated demolition of one of Lincolns most historic homes has started. An excavator tore into 2636 Woodscrest early Thursday, beginning the razing and removal of the 5,500-square-foot Norman Revival so its owners can build a new home. John and Ella Wirtz bought the property near 27th and Sheridan known to some as The Castle, to others as the Miller House nearly a year ago. We love this neighborhood. We were looking for a house that would be our forever home, John Wirtz said Thursday. The intent of our search from the beginning was to find a place to raise our family. They paid $1.4 million, according to the county assessor. But they never moved in. Theyd planned to renovate it, Wirtz said, to make it meet the needs of their family. They hired Jason Woita of Woita Homes which specializes in renovating old houses and has worked on others in the neighborhood as their general contractor. They met with multiple architects. We felt very confident we had the best minds walking through the house with us. We kind of put all the options on the table and there just wasnt a way to make the house work. Wirtz wouldnt say specifically why they couldnt make the 100-year-old house accommodate his family. It was just a multitude of things that, in combination, made it not possible for us to do a renovation. So they moved to Plan B building a new house on the acre-plus lot. They hired a Minnesota-based, nationally recognized architect who specializes in classic homes. To make sure that the house that well build will be a beautiful house, that it's going to fit the character of the neighborhood really well, Wirtz said. But when their plan to erase and replace started seeping through the neighborhood, it was met with outrage. The Country Club Neighborhood Association hosted a city planning staffer to see if there was anything they could do to prevent the demolition, and whether the houses listing on the National Register of Historic Places gave it any protection. Short answer: No, and no. The Preservation Association of Lincoln staged a sign-waving rally near the home Honk to support history, and, Save The Castle and there were reports of the family facing threats and harassment. But others took to social media to defend them: Its their money, their property and they can do what they want. And what they want is a three-story Colonial Revival, with first- and second-floor porches facing Woodscrest and an attached garage with three stalls facing south, according to draft plans obtained by the Journal Star through a public records request to the citys Building and Safety Department. The couples building permit application lists the construction cost at $2.1 million, and Woita estimated it will take him about 20 months to build. The style of the home is going to be something that would fit in with the neighborhood, and look timeless and fitting of the neighborhood not something that's contemporary, Woita said. Demolition is expected to take four to five days, said Nate Peterson of Infinity Excavating. Not all of the historic Woodscrest house will end up in the landfill. An architectural salvage crew removed what it could windows, doors, light and plumbing fixtures, cabinets and countertops and the couple donated it to Habitat for Humanity. Wirtz didnt want to talk about whether his family had been threatened and harassed. He wanted to talk instead about how much Lincoln had given his family in the past two decades, and how much theyve contributed to the community. And how the demolition crew that started work Thursday wasnt in their original plans. We want to make sure people know how much we care about this neighborhood, and that it was not our intent to build a house there. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that the Town of Hallie hosted the Chippewa County Towns Association Meeting. The Town of Hallie hosts about once in every six years. There are 23 towns in Chippewa County. Wisconsin has towns, not townships. Townships are found in the New England states primarily, but not in Wisconsin. The evenings longest and most contentious issue was involving All-Terrain Vehicles which are defined as a vehicle with the following: a straddle seating position, handlebar steering, and the ability to maneuver through a variety of terrain conditions. There are a variety of ATV customizations and modifications available, at their base all ATVs share those three features. UTVs, defined as Utility Terrain Vehicles, are built and used more for work than recreation. They are large, powerful, able to seat passengers side by side, and built with a large amount of storage space. Theyre used to haul equipment and supplies in locations that make using a truck impractical or impossible. The one thing they share is that they are built for off road, trail riding or access to areas other motorized vehicles cannot or should not go. In short, they should not be on public streets. The conversation began with the speaker trying to explain what municipal roads are ATV/UTV routes. The key component in the discussion is that roads are a route that must lead to an ATV/UTV trail. Chippewa County has 23 miles of ATV Trails for ATV use. According to the Wisconsin DNR, currently there are between 6,000 and 10,000 miles of ATV routes/trails in Wisconsin. Again, according the Wisconsin DNR 5,555 miles of those trails are state funded. So far so good. Then a gentleman from east of highway 27 raised his voice and informed all who were present that Chippewa County should open up all county highways for ATV use. He further stated that it should be up to all local municipalities to determine which roads should be open for ATV use, including telling Chippewa County government which county highways would be open with no input from county officials. The gentleman then went on to explain that Chippewa County government ignores all residents east of State Highway 27. He brought out the will of the people argument, then continued on to speak like a Sovern Citizen. That is when he lost most of his audience. The speaker went on to state that Chippewa Count has a point system to evaluate what county highways or sections of county highways could be open as an ATV Route. This of course was unacceptable to the gentleman east of Highway 27. Again we are a free country and people have the right to drive on and where they wish. In fact, the peoples taxes pay for all county highways and they should be able to use them as they see fit. The speaker continued in his explanation. Once again, the gentleman from east of Highway 27 spoke up and brought the Amish into the discussion. The Amish have no lights on their buggys. The Amish pay no fuel road tax, the Mennonites drive their steel rimmed tractors on the county highways. The Amish should have to comply with the state codes for vehicles. Finally, I requested to make a comment which was simple: Chippewa County should take into consideration those people who do not want any ATV/UTV on any road. I then requested that the chairman close the discussion and move the meeting on. The greater point here is that when people purchase an ATV/UTV they buy it for a specific purpose. They certainly do not expect to be using it like a car or a pickup truck. If you buy an ATV/UTV you know that you are going to have to put it on a trailer to get it to an ATV/UTV trail. It goes with the territory. Someone who buys a boat or kayak does not expect a municipality to provide a canal so you can get to Lake Wissota, Watching and reading about current events reminds me of a saying that I was taught in school. It goes something like this. Every privilege comes with responsibility; if you dont take responsibility, you will lose the privilege. Something to keep in mind. Growing up in Beaver Dam, Nate Miller saw the integral role his physician father played in the care of their small community, where accessing medical services wasnt always easy for residents. Rural areas have long faced physician shortages, and as their populations age, the demand for care is only growing. The Wisconsin Academy for Rural Medicine (WARM) was founded to address the issue by training medical students who plan to practice in-state in small and rural areas. Miller, currently enrolled in WARM, previously worked on the business side of health care before making the change to a more patient-centric role, with the intent to work in a rural community. I wanted to go back to a place like my hometown over time I saw how much of a struggle it was for people to get in and see their doctor in a prompt, timely and appropriate manner, Miller says. A program like WARM was perfectly situated for people like me. On Friday morning, Miller and 25 other WARM students gathered at Gundersen Health Systems Integrated Center for Education for an intensive, hands on training day, overseen by Dr. Kim Lansing. The students circled through stations covering lumbar puncture, intubation, joint infections, placing chest tubes, casting and splinting, and ultrasound training, conducted on simulators. The more realistic we can make things, the more successful they will be in doing the real thing, says Lansing. This is an opportunity to work out the bugs so everyone stays safe. You wouldnt perform on stage for a piano recital without practicing first. Adds Miller, Being able to practice on mannequins and dummies before getting thrown to the wolves makes you feel that much more comfortable. Familiarizing the residents with responses to potential real-life medical situations is crucial. Rural physicians, Lansing says, require an arsenal of diverse skills as there is likely no specialist down the hall to refer patients to. They need to be ready for pretty much anything, Lansing says. We train them in (a variety of) skills so they are ready for any surprise urgent and emergent situation that walks in the door. According to WARM, while 28% of Wisconsinites live in rural areas, only 11% of physicians have rural practices, and 77% of counties considered totally or partially underserved medically are rural. As small-town doctors retire, the demand for physicians rises and with rural residents generally older, in poorer health and more likely to be uninsured, the issue is exacerbated. Being a medical jack-of-all-trades is a daunting premise, and so the WARM residents start performing rotations in rural communities right away to get a feel for the mental and physical requirements. Working alongside those currently practicing in these small towns allows for mentorship and advice on how to balance and weather some of the stress that comes with working in a rural environment. Many students in WARM grew up in rural areas and have a passion for serving communities like the ones they grew up in. Over 90% of WARM graduates stay in Wisconsin to practice medicine, and Miller says the smaller program allows for closer relationships between the residents, bonds that will likely carry over as they move on to jobs across the state. We have this really unique community of peers that we are going through training with, says Miller. Once we are all out and practicing, I have no doubt this will be a group I turn to for advice if I have a patient where I have (a question). Many of us are going to end up in all different types of specialities, and we have the type of community where I can reach out and poll my peers and say, What would you do for this patient? The WARM students were also set to undergo rural disaster training this weekend on a farm, with rural fire departments and Gundersen Air paramedics helping lead five scenarios. Our story today is called, "A Horseman in the Sky." It was written by Ambrose Bierce. Carter Druse was born in Virginia. He loved his parents, his home and the south. But he loved his country, too. And in the autumn of eighteen sixty-one, when the United States was divided by a terrible civil war, Carter Druse, a southerner, decided to join the Union Army of the north. He told his father about his decision one morning at breakfast. The older man looked at his only son for a moment, too shocked to speak. Then he said, "As of this moment you are a traitor to the south. Please don't tell your mother about your decision. She is sick, and we both know she has only a few weeks to live." Carter's father paused, again looking deep into his son's eyes. "Carter," he said, "No matter what happens -- be sure you always do what you think is your duty." Both Carter Druse and his father left the table that morning with broken hearts. And Carter soon left his home, and everyone he loved to wear the blue uniform of the Union soldier. One sunny afternoon, a few weeks later, Carter Druse lay with his face in the dirt by the side of a road. He was on his stomach, his arms still holding his gun. Carter would not receive a medal for his actions. In fact, if his commanding officer were to see him, he would order Carter shot immediately. For Carter was not dead or wounded. He was sleeping while on duty. Fortunately, no one could see him. He was hidden by some bushes, growing by the side of the road. The road Carter Druse had been sent to guard was only a few miles from his father's house. It began in a forest, down in the valley, and climbed up the side of a huge rock. Anyone standing on the top of this high rock would be able to see down into the valley. And that person would feel very dizzy, looking down. If he dropped a stone from the edge of this cliff, it would fall for six hundred meters before disappearing into the forest in the valley below. Giant cliffs, like the one Carter lay on, surrounded the valley. Hidden in the valley's forest were five union regiments -- thousands of Carter's fellow soldiers. They had marched for thirty-six hours. Now they were resting. But at midnight they would climb that road up the rocky cliff. Their plan was to attack by surprise an army of southerners, camped on the other side of the cliff. But if their enemy learned about the Union Army hiding in the forest, the soldiers would find themselves in a trap with no escape. That was why Carter Druse had been sent to guard the road. It was his duty to be sure that no enemy soldier, dressed in gray, spied on the valley, where the union army was hiding. But Carter Druse had fallen asleep. Suddenly, as if a messenger of fate came to touch him on the shoulder, the young man opened his eyes. As he lifted his head, he saw a man on horseback standing on the huge rocky cliff that looked down into the valley. The rider and his horse stood so still that they seemed made of stone. The man's gray uniform blended with the blue sky and the white clouds behind him. He held a gun in his right hand, and the horse's reins in the other. Carter could not see the man's face, because the rider was looking down into the valley. But the man and his horse seemed to be of heroic, almost gigantic size, standing there motionless against the sky. Carter discovered he was very much afraid, even though he knew the enemy soldier could not see him hiding in the bushes. Suddenly the horse moved, pulling back its head from the edge of the cliff. Carter was completely awake now. He raised his gun, pushing its barrel through the bushes. And he aimed for the horseman's heart. A small squeeze of the trigger, and Carter Druse would have done his duty. At that instant, the horseman turned his head and looked in Carter's direction. He seemed to look at Carter's face, into his eyes, and deep into his brave, generous heart. Carter's face became very white. His entire body began shaking. His mind began to race, and in his fantasy, the horse and rider became black figures, rising and falling in slow circles against a fiery red sky. Carter did not pull the trigger. Instead, he let go of his gun and slowly dropped his face until it rested again in the dirt. Brave and strong as he was, Carter almost fainted from the shock of what he had seen. Is it so terrible to kill an enemy who might kill you and your friends? Carter knew that this man must be shot from ambush -- without warning. This man must die without a moment to prepare his soul; without even the chance to say a silent prayer. Slowly, a hope began to form in Carter Druse's mind. Perhaps the southern soldier had not seen the northern troops. Perhaps he was only admiring the view. Perhaps he would now turn and ride carelessly away. Then Carter looked down into the valley so far below. He saw a line of men in blue uniforms and their horses, slowly leaving the protection of the forest. A foolish Union officer had permitted his soldiers to bring their horses to drink at a small stream near the forest. And there they were -- in plain sight! Carter Druse looked back to the man and horse standing there against the sky. Again he took aim. But this time he pointed his gun at the horse. Words rang in his head -- the last words his father ever spoke to him: "No matter what happens, be sure you always do what you think is your duty." Carter Druse was calm as he pulled the trigger of his gun. At that moment, a Union officer happened to look up from his hiding place near the edge of the forest. His eyes climbed to the top of the cliff that looked over the valley. Just looking at the top of the gigantic rock, so far above him, made the soldier feel dizzy. And then the officer saw something that filled his heart with horror. A man on a horse was riding down into the valley through the air! The rider sat straight in his saddle. His hair streamed back, waving in the wind. His left hand held his horse's reins while his right hand was hidden in the cloud of the horse's mane. The horse looked as if it were galloping across the earth. Its body was proud and noble. As the frightened Union officer watched this horseman in the sky, he almost believed he was witnessing a messenger from heaven. A messenger who had come to announce the end of the world. The officer's legs grew weak, and he fell. At almost the same instant, he heard a crashing sound in the trees. The sound died without an echo. And all was silent. The officer got to his feet, still shaking. He went back to his camp. But he didn't tell anyone what he had seen. He knew no one would ever believe him. Soon after firing his gun, Carter Druse was joined by a Union sergeant. Carter did not turn his head as the sergeant kneeled beside him. "Did you fire?" The sergeant whispered. "Yes." "At what?" "A horse. It was on that rock. It's not there now. It went over the cliff." Carter's face was white. But he showed no other sign of emotion. The sergeant did not understand. "See here, Druse," he said, after a moment's silence. "Why are you making this into a mystery. I order you to report. Was there anyone on the horse?" "Yes." "Who? " "My father." "A Horseman in the Sky" was written by Ambrose Bierce, and adapted by Dona de Sanctis. Download activities to help you understand this story here. Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. How difficult is it for you to think or act when you are afraid? Should you always do what a boss, supervisor or authority tells you to do? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Quiz - A Horseman in the Sky by Ambrose Beirce Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz For Teachers The lesson plan below has activities related to this story. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story gigantic - adj. extremely large trigger - n. a lever on a gun that you pull to fire the gun fantasy n. something that is produced by the imagination : an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality ambush - n. an act of hiding, waiting for others to appear, and then suddenly attacking them : a surprise attack dizzy - adj. feeling that you are turning around in circles and are going to fall even though you are standing still reins n. a strap that is fastened to a device (called a bridle) placed on the head of an animal (such as a horse) and that is used to guide and control the animal usually plural What do you think of this story? 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 a 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. Federal agents in the United States seized materials marked top secret in the search Monday of former President Donald Trumps Florida home. U.S federal court papers released Friday show that the Federal Bureau of Investigations removed 11 sets of classified records. The records include some that were marked top secret and sensitive compartmented information. Those classifications are used as identifiers of the nations most important secrets. The court records did not provide details about the documents or information they might contain. Other records taken from Trumps property were hand-written notes, information about the President of France, and other papers marked as secret. The federal court also released the official government search order that investigators carried out. The search warrant says federal agents were investigating possible violations of three different federal laws under the Espionage Act. The violations can involve gathering, sending or losing information. Hiding, destroying or falsifying records are among other violations under the law. In a statement earlier Friday, Trump claimed that the documents seized by FBI agents were all declassified. The former president also argued that he would have given the documents to the Justice Department if it had asked him. U.S. law requires that all official presidential records, including letters, notes, emails, and all other written communications are saved and sent to the National Archives. When Trump left office, he took several presidential records with him to Florida. After several requests from the National Archives, he surrendered 15 boxes of documents in January. Some of the documents were marked classified. So, the agency contacted the Justice Department about them. On Monday, the Justice Department and the FBI seized the records as part of the investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trumps home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year. Usually, information about search warrants and seized property is kept from the public during an investigation. But the judge who presides over the case opened the documents at the request of Attorney General Merrick Garland, head of the Justice Department. Garland declared there was substantial public interest in this matter, and Trumps lawyers did not object to the proposal to make it public. In messages posted on his Truth Social website, Trump wrote, Not only will I not oppose the release of documents ... I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents. The former president is already facing legal issues concerning his businesses in New York, and investigations into possible election wrongdoing, and the January 6 attack on Congress. I'm Caty Weaver. Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press and Reuters. ____________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story classified - adj. kept secret from all but a few people in the government compartmented - adj. one of a separate area warrant - n. a court document that gives law enforcement the power to do something Art institutions in the United States are increasingly looking to Native American communities to organize public showings, or exhibitions, of ancestral art and artifacts. Native American voices and artistry are at the center of one new traveling exhibition. Grounded in Clay opened on July 31 at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. It travels next year to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, before taking more stops at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Saint Louis Art Museum. Grounded in Clay explores pottery from the Pueblo Indian area of the American Southwest. In Pueblo pottery traditions, artists use their hands to form clay into many shapes and sizes. Then they fire it inside a very hot stove called a kiln. The process permanently hardens the clay. 60 Native American artists, museum professionals, storytellers and political leaders worked together to develop the public showing. Each picked a few of their favorite pieces from collections in New Mexico and New York. Personal statements and sometimes poetry appear with the clay works. Tara Gatewood a broadcaster from the daily talk radio show Native American Calling was among the organizers of the exhibition. Gatewood discussed the mystery around the works, pointing to one ancestral jar from around 1,000 years ago. Its maker is unknown. Is your blood mine? she said. Where else beyond the surface of this vessel do your fingerprints appear on the blueprint of my own life? The exhibit includes about 110 pottery works. The Indian Arts Research Center at the School of Advanced Research in Santa Fe loaned most of the pieces. The center has long worked to change how Native American art and artifacts are cared for, shown and understood. The organizers of Grounded in Clay come from the 19 Native American communities of New Mexico, the West Texas community of Ysleta del Sur and the Hopi tribe of Arizona. Brian Vallo, governor of Acoma Pueblo from 2019-21, chose two pieces for the new traveling exhibition. Both of the pieces have ties to Acoma, known as a sky city for its position on high ground. Vallo found the pieces in the New York-based Vilcek Foundation He says something beautiful and new awaits experienced museum-goers and other curious visitors. Its Native voices, and its even the items that are selected by Native people themselves, not the institutions, he said. Vallo added that people who go to the showing will appreciate that these cultures survived and are thriving, and the creative spirit of our people is very much alive. Im John Russell. Morgan Lee reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. ____________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story artifact n. an object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past clay n. a heavy, sticky material from the earth that is made into different shapes and that becomes hard when it is baked or dried pottery n. objects (such as bowls, plates, etc.) that are made out of clay usually by hand and then baked at high temperatures so that they become hard vessel n. somewhat old-fashioned : a hollow container for holding liquids thrive v. to grow or develop successfully : to flourish or succeed ____________________________________________________________________ Who should decide what kinds of art is displayed in art exhibitions? Why? 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. Our comment policy is here. Russian disinformation is spreading fast and wide on the internet even though major Russian news organizations remain banned in some countries. A new report finds the Russian government has been able to get around the bans by finding new places online to publish its desired messaging. The report was based on information collected by NewsGuard, a New York-based company that studies and follows online disinformation activity. Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the European Union (EU) moved to block two of Russias top state-controlled media companies, RT and Sputnik. RT is an international television network and Sputnik is a news agency. In addition, Google announced at the start of the war that it was blocking the YouTube channels in Europe for RT and Sputnik. And Meta also took action to block the two Russian media companies from its Facebook and Instagram services across the EU. But now, NewsGuard says Russia has found ways to keep publishing the same kind of disinformation on a number of other websites. The group said in its report it had identified 250 websites that are actively spreading Russian disinformation about the war. Many new sites were added in recent months, NewsGuard reports. Among the claims appearing on the websites was an accusation that Ukraine's army had staged some deadly Russian attacks in an effort to increase international support. Another report claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was faking public appearances. And another reported that Ukrainian refugees were carrying out crimes in Germany and Poland. Some of the sites describe themselves as independent think tanks or news services. About half of the websites are English-language, while others are in French, German or Italian. Many were set up long before the war and were not directly tied to the Russian government before. They may be establishing sleeper sites, said NewsGuard co-CEO Gordon Crovitz. Sleeper sites are websites created for disinformation campaigns. They are designed to slowly build a following by putting out general news before beginning to publish propaganda or disinformation later on. NewsGuard's study found that much of the disinformation about the war in Ukraine is coming from Russia. But it also found cases of false claims that took pro-Ukrainian positions. Those included claims about a heroic Ukrainian fighter pilot known as the Ghost of Kyiv that later turned out to be false. Stronger moderation measures for social media content could make it harder for Russia to get around the bans, said Felix Kartte. He is an adviser at Reset, a British nonprofit that supports efforts to fight online disinformation. "Rather than putting effective content moderation systems in place, they are playing whack-a-mole with (Russias) disinformation apparatus, Kartte said. EU officials are continuing to take action aimed at reducing the flood of disinformation. Earlier this year, the EU approved legislation that would require technology companies to do more to identify and block disinformation. Companies that fail in those efforts could face large fines. Last month, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova called disinformation a growing problem in the EU and said stronger measures were needed to deal with the problem. Im Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story stage v. to produce or cause to happen for public view or public effect fake adj. false, not true think tank n. a group of people who advise the government or organizations about particular subjects moderate v. to make sure the rules of an internet discussion are not broken whack-a-mole n. a game in which players use wooden mallets to hit toy moles that appear at random in holes apparatus n. a set of equipment or tools used for a particular purpose __________________________________________________________________ What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 1. Write your comment in the box. 2. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. 3. 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. Our comment policy is here. International scientists warn that the worlds largest ice sheet in Antarctica is losing ice much more quickly than they had thought. A recent study by Australian and other researchers described what could happen if targets to limit global temperature increases are not met. Nerilie Abram is a professor at the Australian National Universitys Research School of Earth Sciences. She was a co-writer of a study that recently appeared in the publication Nature. She warned that the melting of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet could be disastrous. Abram said, By 2500, East Antarctica could contribute up to 5 meters of sea level [rises] on top of the sea level rise that we will already have had from Greenland and West Antarctica. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds the majority of worlds glacier ice. It was thought to be less affected by worldwide temperature rises compared to the ice sheet in West Antarctica or Greenland. The study by Abram and other researchers says that if the temperature rise is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet should remain stable. In other words, it should remain generally the same size. But the researchers warn that warmer temperatures could cause more melting and increase worldwide sea level by many meters. Abram said, It gives us even more of a reason to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to not exceed that 2-degree warming level. The Paris Climate Agreement, signed in 2015, aims to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius. NASA study Another Antarctica study published in Nature drew from research by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. The scientists found that the edge of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing ice faster than natural processes can replace it. The edges of an ice sheet are known as ice shelves. They extend from the ice sheet into the water. They are permanent floating sheets of frozen freshwater. Ice shelves take thousands of years to form. They hold back glaciers that would otherwise easily fall into the ocean and cause sea levels to rise. For the JPL study, the researchers examined over 50,000 kilometers of the Antarctic coastline. They found that the loss of ice from coastal glacier pieces breaking off into the ocean was nearly the same as the loss of ice due to thinning of the continents large ice shelves. The thinning of the ice is a result of warming ocean water underneath. Taken together, the two processes have reduced the mass of Antarcticas ice shelves by 12 trillion metric tons since 1997. That is double the earlier estimate of 6 trillion metric tons. Antarctica is crumbling at its edges, said JPL scientist Chad Greene, a lead writer of the study. Eric Wolff is a professor at the University of Cambridge in Britain. He said of the JPL study, "if we keep to the 2 degrees of global warming that the Paris agreement promises, the sea level rise due to the East Antarctic ice sheet should be modest. But, he said, failure to limit global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would risk "many meters of sea level rise over the next few centuries. Im Ashley Thompson. Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English with materials from VOA News and NASA's JPL. ___________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story contribute - v. to help to cause something to happen stable - adj. in a good condition that is not likely to change glacier - n. very large area of ice that moves slowly down an area crumble - v. to break into small pieces modest - adj. not very large in size or amount A new study suggests that SARS-related coronaviruses similar to COVID-19 infect about 66,000 people each year in Southeast Asia. The study also found that nearly 500 million people live near environments where bat carriers of the coronaviruses are found. Scientists involved in the research say bats often carry viruses in the same family as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. The study recently published in Nature Communications also suggested that viral infections jumping from bats to humans may have been substantially underestimated. The researchers said their mapping of bat species in Southeast Asia could aid efforts to find the origins of COVID-19. The researchers centered on 26 species of bat known to host SARS-like coronaviruses in an area covering 5.1 million square kilometers. They then added in data on antibody levels among people who had reported contact with bats. Southern China, northeastern Myanmar, Laos and northern Vietnam were identified as the areas with the greatest number of bat species that host SARS-like coronaviruses. The researchers said their estimate of 66,000 people becoming infected with SARS-related viruses yearly in Southeast Asia suggests bat-to-human transmissions are common. But they noted that such transmissions are usually not identified by current data collecting efforts. Meriadeg Le Gouil is a virologist at the University of Caen Normandy in France. He told Nature that while the research is a good starting point, nature is far more complex than a model. Peter Daszak was among the study writers. He served on the World Health Organization (WHO) team that investigated the origins of COVID-19. The team visited Wuhan, China early last year, where the pandemic was first identified at the end of 2019. The WHO said in June that the lack of data from China made it difficult to find out when and how the coronavirus first crossed over into the human population. A study published by the journal Science at the end of July suggested that live wildlife trade was still the best explanation for the origins of COVID-19. Im Bryan Lynn. Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story transmission n. an act or process of spreading, or passing along origin n. where something comes from in the beginning __________________________________________________________________ What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 1. Write your comment in the box. 2. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. 3. 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. Our comment policy is here. Local featured top story Suicide watch: Family of teen who took his life wants tragedy to bring crisis to light, while school district must strike balance between privacy, prevention Contributed BradleyJo Hilton As a new school year gets under way, BradleyJo Hiltons loved ones will be walking through the halls of Lufkin High School thinking of their friend, classmate and brother. But he wont be there. The teenager was most of the way through his freshman year at LHS when he chose to end his life on May 11. His family held memorial services in mid-May and has been searching for any way to help prevent more local families from feeling a similar pain. Lufkin ISD attorney Wayne Haglund said BradleyJos family was notified that a threat assessment had been conducted on him because he was considered a risk in December 2021. LISD has an online form that directs individuals reporting a student to a specific section based on answers they submit to questions. If the student posed a threat of violence to themselves or others, specific assessment questions are available about the threat in order to determine what the response and plan of the district moving forward should be, Haglund said. For those students who dont pose an immediate threat, they may still be subject to interventions, including counseling. There are questions in the assessment to determine a plan for providing that assistance, he said. Stephanie Hilton, BradleyJos mother, confirmed she received a threat assessment a few months before his death because he was found with a vape and drawings of knives as well as words like love and hate on his hands and arms. She permitted the district to release his threat assessment information to The Lufkin Daily News. It stated the following: On Dec. 10, 2021, Kendrick Morris, a high school student, called for 10th grade principal Lavada Hill and ninth grade principal Christopher Draper to speak with (BradleyJo) because he had the words hate and life sucks written on his arms and was saying things like, no lives matter, according to a letter Draper wrote. Mr. Morris called the student out and we spoke with (BradleyJo), he came off as very confrontational, Draper wrote. Mrs. Hill and I then notified Harlan Neal about the student, so we pulled him out of class and brought him to the 9th grade office. They discussed what BradleyJo meant by what he had written on his knuckles and asked if he drew. BradleyJo reportedly showed the principals two notebooks full of drawings of knives, blood and the word murder. Draper also noted in his letter the word suicide was written on BradleyJos arm. The principals searched BradleyJo and his bag and found vape juice and a vape. Mrs. Roberts the counselor was called, and she arrived the same time as (BradleyJos) mom, Draper wrote. Mrs. Roberts, Mr. Neal and I spoke with mom about our concerns and showed her the drawings. Mom informed us that her son does have a mental illness and that he sees the Burke Center. Stephanie took BradleyJo home, and he was assigned in-school suspension for the vape and was required to be searched before attending ISS. A letter Neal wrote corroborated Drapers letter. They suggested BradleyJo go to Burke for an appointment and expressed concerns about his knife drawings. We did mention violence as a concern, Neal wrote. (BradleyJos) mother stated he was always drawing and one of the things that he drew was knives. She did express her frustration with him regarding the drawings. In addition to the online form it provides, LISD assists its high schoolers by training older students to help incoming freshmen, communications director Sheila Adams said. They are there to help students cope with the transition to high school. Students also are provided information on suicide counseling services on their ID cards, Adams said. Beyond that, all professional staff, including counselors and educators, receive training annually or more often for student suicide or threats of suicide, Haglund said. Educators who believe students may consider suicide are required to report it to the Threat Assessment Team on campus. Those team members are trained in counseling, behavioral management, mental health and substance abuse, classroom instruction, special education, school administration, school safety and security, emergency management and law enforcement. What his family has done since A group of BradleyJos loved ones attempted to put signs up around LHS with the number to an anonymous suicide hotline that read, If youre looking for a sign to not hurt yourself, this is it. In loving memory of son, brother and friend, BradleyJo. The school told us that if we stepped one foot on school grounds we would be arrested, Stephanie said. So, we very respectfully made sure we found out where the school lines were and we stayed well away from them. An advocate for the family took one sign up to the school and asked to have the sign placed where the kids could see it and use it if they needed help. Instead, the sign was placed out of view of the students and the advocate ultimately had to return and pick it up, Stephanie said. Stephanie is unsure if these actions were a result of local or state policies but said it is causing students to go without the help they need. I lost my baby, and theyre trying to pretend that he doesnt exist, she said through tears. They want to forget him. Haglund said the family members were prevented from placing the signs around the high school because the district has not created a public forum for expression in its secondary schools. Specifically, the school district is not a forum for expression or communication for non-curriculum issues by non-school personnel or school organizations, he said. In order to maintain the schools focus on educating its students in compliance with the state required curriculum, the school district is authorized by law and does limit posting and distribution of non-curriculum-based information on its campuses. And the school may be willing to discuss BradleyJo but is restricted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. If the family is willing to submit consent forms to the district, the school could discuss what happened with BradleyJo more, Haglund said. Who was BradleyJo? BradleyJos obituary states, Bradley Jo loved nothing more than to make someone else feel uncomfortable and was the king of awkward conversations a sentiment that is echoed by his sister, Samantha Monday. He loved Star Wars and video games and he was always cracking a joke, she said. He always had some crazy come-backs to anything anyone would say. He was the epitome of a class clown. I will never understand children, why they bully. He always brightened his sister, Crystals, day, she said through tears. He knew how to make someone laugh when they were upset. My mom had made the comment, If WTF was a person, it was Bradley, she said. And its true. He was an amazing little brother, she said. His artistic skills were improving, if you could tell what it was he was drawing. He loved puzzles and would go outside and shape sticks into swords and battle with his friends on his road. He was very intelligent, and he loved criminal justice, she said. A history of bullying Students began bullying BradleyJo in middle school and never stopped, according to his family. He was called loser and weirdo, and I know these arent big things, but to a child whos already struggling, thats huge because hes fighting this battle every day, Stephanie said. Students referred to him as, That quiet kid thats going to shoot the school up one day, Stephanie said. BradleyJo began receiving treatment from Burke (formerly known as The Burke Center) when he was in the third grade to help with his attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), Stephanie said. The treatment was helping him do a lot better, she said. I know he was fighting demons, but it made him quiet. He learned to internalize a lot of it because nobody understood, she said. BradleyJo generally seemed happy at home but would have moments where he would go off by himself just shaking his head, which Stephanie thought was just his ODD, she said. Nobody ever told her about the bullying until after he was gone, she said. His siblings said the bullying happened constantly in the hallway. The day after BradleyJo committed suicide, Stephanies 17-year-old son tried to go to school because he had finals but didnt make it through the doors. His little brother wasnt behind him like he normally was, she said. Other suicides and attempts More than 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Data & Statistics Fatal Injury Report for 2020. Suicide was listed the No. 12 leading cause of death in the U.S. that year. Additionally, there were an estimated 1.20 million attempts in 2020, with white males accounting for 69.68% of suicide deaths that year. As for Lufkin, Stephanie was told by other parents that BradleyJo was the third LISD student to commit suicide this year, she said. I didnt hear about it until my son was one of them, she said. Why isnt this being told? Why arent they addressing this with students, addressing the bullying and making sure the kids are educated and knowing theyve got safe places to go? The teachers and BradleyJos classmates were notified about the situation and a moment of silence was held in his classrooms, Adams said. LISD maintains no documents regarding the number of suicides committed by LISD students during the 2021-22 school year or whether those students filed reports or complaints of bullying, Haglund said. The district also cannot release information on the students even if the school had it because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, he said. The school district continues to emphasize the importance of immediate reporting of bullying and harassment at every opportunity so investigations and intervention can be made, he said. Two of the four justices of the peace in Angelina County said they had not been aware of any student suicides. Justice of the Peace Billy Ball had a record of a juvenile suicide on May 11. Justice of the Peace Pat Grimes Grubbs had a record of a juvenile suicide on Feb. 27. This was a 14-year-old Lufkin student, she said. The Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics had fewer than nine records of children between 5 and 18 years old committing suicide during the 2021-22 school year and was not permitted, by state law, to provide a specific number. Stephanie also wants to know how many students have attempted suicide but didnt succeed, as that is another issue not talked about, she said. This is information the school would not have or be able to share if it did, Haglund said. The goals of a grieving mother Stephanie wishes the school would acknowledge suicides to help other students grieve. And the district needs an actual zero-tolerance policy toward bullying, she said. The problem the school faces is the lack of reporting of bullying by students, Haglund said. The district welcomes those reports and takes swift action when they are made about incidents on campus, he said. My 19-year-old daughter graduated last year, and her freshman year she was being bullied like this and she started cutting herself, Stephanie said. We found out, she said. We told her, Go to your counselor, talk to somebody, some other outlet. BradleyJo was the one who found out Crystal was cutting herself, Crystal said. He made her tell her mom and talk to a counselor. Crystal said she was bullied throughout middle and high school because of an incident with cheerleading in eighth grade. She was active in cheer, dance and choir but messed up her knee in a horse-riding incident. That is what started the bullying with a certain group of girls, she said. Im 5-foot-3, so Im pretty short, she said. I used to get made fun of because of my height. I had to have surgery done on my bottom lip, so its thinner. And they always made fun of that. And they always made fun of us that we were white trash because I came from a trailer park. She found some solace in choir, but some of her bullies also sang, and it felt like the teachers favored her bullies, she said. The counselor didnt let her make a report, she said. She doesnt believe the counselor still works for Lufkin ISD. It all stopped during her senior year when her brother Logan realized she was being bullied and invited her to join his friends. Crystal became like the mom of the group, and they accepted her, she said. She didnt notice the bullying anymore, she said. They helped me distract myself from it and to get through it, she said. She wants to see the school actually do something about the bullies, she said. Ultimately, Stephanie wants to make sure no student who is hurting is ignored. If I can get one mother, one father, brother or sister from knowing what this feels like, if I can save one child from feeling like they are that alone, then I want my babys story out there for everyone to see, she said tearfully. These babies who havent even begun to live think that they dont deserve to live. To submit an item to this column, email it to dixonhershel51@gmail.com by phone to (936) 671-1419 or by mail to Kissin Kuzzins P. O. Box 151001 Lufkin, Texas 75915-1001. Meet the Last Americans to Face River Blindness The final bastion of river blindness in the Americas lies along the border of Brazil and Venezuela, where the nomadic Yanomami indigenous people reside in hard-to-reach, ring-shaped temporary communities in the Amazon rainforest called shaponos. In partnership with the respective national governments and indigenous health workers, The Carter Center supports the provision of health education and effective treatment to the Yanomami where they are. (All photos courtesy of Oscar Noya Alarcon) River blindness once was endemic in about a dozen discrete transmission zones scattered across a wide swath of Latin America, but, thanks to the efforts of the national programs together with the Carter Centers Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA), the disease has been eliminated in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Guatemala. It remains now only among people who live in the Amazon rainforest. River blindness was introduced to the indigenous population by outsiders. River blindness is spread by the bites of infected black flies that thrive near fast-moving water. The flies transmit tiny worms that mature under the infected persons skin, causing intense itching, rashes, skin nodules, and skin discoloration. Embryonic parasites (microfilariae) produced by female worms can eventually migrate to the eyes, where they can cause vision impairment and, ultimately, blindness. The drug Mectizan, donated by Merck, is effective at killing the microfilariae, ending the itching and preventing blindness. Eliminating the microfilariae within the body prevents the flies from transmitting the disease from one person to another. If enough people are treated, transmission can be eliminated throughout an entire population, halting the disease cycle. The correct dose of Mectizan is based on the height of the recipient. Individuals are measured and then given the appropriate number of tablets. When surveys show that transmission in a population has fallen to essentially zero, treatment can safely be halted. Surveillance then continues for at least three years to make sure the disease hasnt come back. An estimated 35,000 highly mobile indigenous people live in isolated communities along the Amazon River. The Venezuelan and Brazilian health ministries at times take advantage of their rare contact with the Yanomami to also provide a range of standard vaccinations or other health services, including malaria or dental treatment, during the same visit. Indigenous health agents are essential to the work, as they understand the language and culture and are thus able to explain the need for treatment and how it is accomplished. Just as important, these indigenous agents know the ways of the rainforest and are adept at finding and following paths that might be impossible for outsiders to use on their own. After a bumpy couple of years, thanks to a little thing called the COVID-19 global pandemic, the annual Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival is back on Saturday at full capacity of 10,000 attendees for the first time since 2019. And once again at the helm of the all-volunteer event is Jason Walters, who with a crew of nearly 700 people pulls it together for the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. He has chaired the event since 2018. In 2020, the Taste went to a bring-your-own backyard edition, then returned to Olin-Turville Park in 2021 at half capacity. Were excited about it, Walters said. It was hard to tell so many of our brewery friends last year that they didnt get selected. But they all understood. There werent any hard feelings. But yeah, were really excited to be back to a full-scale event this year. Tickets, as always, sold out instantly back in May. Walters, 51, grew up mostly in the Twin Cities area, but his family moved to Southern California when his fathers job was transferred there just before Walters junior year in high school. He graduated from high school in Claremont, California. Back in the Midwest, he attended UW-La Crosse. Walters finished with a degree in microbiology with minors in chemistry and biology and is now a senior research scientist with Thermo Fisher Scientific. As a technical project manager, hes the bridge between the companys clients and its staff who perform analytical testing of pharmaceutical products. Walters moved to Madison in 1998 to be with Louisa, now his wife, after they met in La Crosse. Together they have three children a son, Cal; a daughter, Samantha; and another son, Jack, currently at the University of Minnesota. The family also fosters puppies for an organization called Fetch, and has now fostered about 15 dogs. How did you get into beer? I mean, in a serious way. Ironically enough, my beer epiphany happened in Utah of all places. I was out there for my second spring break trip to Park City, Utah. I guess I wouldve been 20 years old. I looked like I was about 16. We went to the Wasatch Brew Pub and I walked in the door and went straight to the pool table, so I wasnt anywhere near the bar where bartenders would be looking for an ID. And two guys who looked older in our group went over and bought beers and we played pool for a couple hours and I remember drinking their Irish stout and just being blown away. It was a real eye-opener for me, you know, this big mug of dark beer that didnt taste like motor oil and it just kind of took off from there. How did you get involved in the Guild? Id been brewing, being around friends who were homebrewing, since the early 90s. I knew that there was a homebrew club and I kind of considered doing it, thinking, well, my beers arent that great. This would probably be a pretty good way to get better at brewing. And we were at a party and a friend of a friend, one of my friends now, who was in the club, said, You gotta join. Its so much fun. Youll definitely get better at brewing. It still took me a few months. And finally, on my birthday in 2004, my wife handed me a $10 bill and said, Just go join this club already for God sakes and sent me out the door on my birthday to go join the club and the rest is history. So then from there, how did you get involved in the Taste? Its interesting. I think I attended my first one in 1996 before I moved to Madison and thought, what a cool thing. Wow, Madisons a really cool city. Theyve got this awesome lake and the Capitol and this great beer festival. Then after I moved to Madison, I think I attended another year or two and Louisa and I were having fun. So we volunteered. And we started volunteering at the front gate, handing out glassware to the thirsty beer drinkers on their way into the festival. Once I joined the club, I was looking for more involvement. My first year I was in charge of no-smoking signs and fire extinguishers. I did that for a few years. Then there was an opening at the front gate, so I moved to being in charge of the front gate and getting everybody in. Then my friend, Mark Garthwaite, took over as Great Taste chairman and he wanted me kind of closer to operation stuff. He said, I dont know what Im gonna have you do, but well figure it out together. And so I shifted into that, kind of like second-in-command or right-hand man, for five or six years. When I took that position with Mark, I never was thinking maybe someday Ill be chairman. I was just there to help out my friend and make this festival as good as it can be. What have you found to be the thing that people like most about the Taste? I think theres definitely kind of a family reunion, class reunion kind of feel to it where you see your beer friends that you see once a year from anywhere around the Midwest or the country. Its also a beautiful day in the park. Olin-Turville Park is absolutely gorgeous. I describe it as the crown jewel of the Madison park system. Youre on the shores of Lake Monona, where the view of the Capitol and the downtown skyline, I mean, thats an awfully hard view to beat. Its probably the most iconic view in Madison. Its sort of a philosophical question, but in a few words, what do you see as the importance of beer in life? Oh boy, I think its an incredibly social beverage. I think its accessible, it doesnt have the fancy airs that wine can. I think theres a more down-to-earth quality with beer. And fortunately for the time that were living in, the flavors and ingredients are absolutely exploding. This isnt your dads fizzy yellow beer that all tasted remarkably similar. Weve got such a great variety. I think its a really social beverage that strikes up conversations with old friends, with new friends. Its a thirst quench, but yeah, I think its a social nature, really, that beer has that other beverages dont as much. Appleton police shot and killed an armed man on Friday night, prompting an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Officers tried to negotiate with the man, who had a handgun, during the incident at the 1500 block of North Birchwood Avenue around 7:30 p.m., DOJ said in a statement. Multiple officers shot their weapons. DOJ did not say how many times the man was shot. He was taken to the hospital where he later died. No officers were injured, DOJ said. It is common for the department to investigate police shootings. RACINE If Michael Gableman is now an embarrassment to the state and may soon be fired, as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Tuesday, Democrats and other progressives are wondering why he wasnt fired months ago. Vos told WISN-TV (Channel 12) that Gableman was able to set his own agenda in the probe looking into allegations of irregularities in the 2020 election, but with two directives: 1. Dont get political. 2. Dont use your new clout to make media appearances. What Vos said Robin Vos told WISN-TV (Channel 12) after declaring victory Tuesday night regarding Gableman: I hired him on recommendations, thinking we were going to have someone who was a good, articulate, independent voice. It was very clear in all of our discussions that he had a budget that he set for himself. We didn't say: don't go here or don't go there. He set his own parameters. Then we asked (of Gableman) two simple things dont get involved in politics, and please try to make sure you focus on the investigation, not being on TV. He couldnt help himself but to try to inject his own opinions into this race. Vos later told WDJT-TV (CBS 58) that Gableman did a really good job of of avoiding that partisanship until February. However, those apparent directives have been violated repeatedly since Gableman was hired to probe the 2020 presidential election, long before February. It was not until May that Vos shut down the investigative portion of the Office of Special Counsel, solely directed by Gableman, with the office remaining open only so long as it is involved in litigation. It was not until Tuesday that Vos publicly spoke about Gableman breaking the apparent rules he was given by his employer; prior to Tuesday, neither Gableman nor Vos had said anything about these rules, leaving them unknown to the public. While I agree with Vos that Gableman has been an embarrassment, he (Gableman) has also been incredibly dangerous for over a year since he was hired for this position. And, frankly, I believe that Speaker Vos thought he could control this narrative, but he cannot. He elevated Gablemans profile and allowed him to spread falsehoods in Wisconsin and beyond for over a year, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, said in a phone interview Thursday. Neubauer added that Vos may have himself to blame for nearly being unseated by Adam Steen in a Republican primary that concluded Tuesday, with Vos winning by less than 300 votes. Steen, a Republican challenger who believes the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, was endorsed by both Gableman and Trump. Many of us were surprised by what happened and how close Adam Steen came in that primary. And what it says again is there are a significant number of people in this state who have been led to believe things that are not true about the 2020 election, Neubauer said. In a pair of tweets Monday, Daniel Shafer a Milwaukee-based independent columnist said Robin Vos has only himself to blame. For all of this. He called a meeting questioning the election results, he elevated (state Rep. Janel) Brandtjen after she said 2020 should be overturned, he hired Gableman. It was all reckless and short-sighted and insulting, and he owns all of it. He just kept giving cookies to mice, never anticipating that they might be coming back for a glass of milk. Neubauer called on Vos and other state leaders to say that the 2020 election was fairly won in order to counteract rising conspiracy theories. Of course now we have a significant number of people who believe what Gableman has said, and who will continue to demand decertification So, at this point, we need people in positions of leadership to be very clear that the 2020 election was secure and it was fair, she said. Vos needs to counter the narrative that he has allowed Gableman to spread for the last year Really I do think the only way we will be able to move forward is if people in positions of power take responsibility for that and recognize that they need to be clear about this reality. Because, the people of Robin Vos district were made to believe these falsehoods by someone in a position of significant power who is Michael Gableman. People are not going to recognize or acknowledge that the election was a fair election if they continue to see people in positions of power spreading these falsehoods. Asked if Vos believes the 2020 election was secure and fair, Angela Joyce, spokeswoman for Vos office, said in an email: The far-right say it was fraudulent and demand decertification, and the far-left, like Rep. Neubauer here, think there was absolutely nothing wrong because they got the candidate they wanted. Various audits, including the gold standard Legislative Audit Bureau, have all given recommendations based off the 2020 election on how we can improve our future elections. The speaker stands by his previous statements that there were issues with the 2020 election, but we must look forward on how to address those issues, not focus on the past. Vos has said multiple times in the past year that he believes there was some fraud in the 2020 presidential election, but he has never supported decertification. In September 2020, prior to Election Day two months later, he advocated for drop boxes as a safe and legal way to vote. The state Supreme Court ruled last month that drop boxes are not legal in Wisconsin, which supporters of decertification asserted should be grounds to undo the results of the 2020 election in the state. Repeatedly, to reporters and in public appearances, Vos has affirmed that Joe Biden is the president and that the public including Republicans should move on from 2020. He said after declaring victory Tuesday that he is looking forward to passing election reforms, and not looking backward like Steen, Gableman and Trump have been. Asked for comment on this story and to reply to criticisms raised by Neubauer, Vos said in a statement: In a meeting with our leadership team in the spring, we directed (Gableman) to refrain from attending political events. He agreed to that and then went back on his word. Vos said Tuesday that, during a scheduled meeting of the Republican Assembly caucus Aug. 16, there will be a discussion of whether Gableman will be fired. Since May, Gableman has been paid $5,500 per month by the state, down from the $11,000 per month he was paid through the first 10 months of the probe. Gablemans partisan appearances Gableman traveled to South Dakota for a conspiracy-laden Cyber Symposium in August 2021 organized by MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell, who has been at the center of baseless attempts to return Donald Trump to the White House. The former state Supreme Court justice gave a talk at a Chippewa County GOP meeting in December. For that travel, he filed an expense report, indicating he expected taxpayers to pick up the tab. Gableman was announced to be featured at a pair of events on March 25 and 26 in Utah, including one that would feature a former Colorado county clerk indicted on felony charges by a grand jury for election tampering. Reports indicated Gableman planned to speak in support of efforts to decertify the 2020 election. In early March, he was interviewed by the right-wing outlet The Gateway Pundit alongside others who have sought to overturn the 2020 election, including Minnesota attorney Erick Kaardal. During that appearance, he called on the public to take back control of elections from the 5% of elections officials he believes are partisan actors; Gableman laughed in agreement when Kaardal encouraged members of the public to take the red pill, a reference to the 1999 science-fiction film The Matrix and come to believe that the government and public schools are working against the public to take away the choices we should have. In a March 7 appearance on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight, Gableman and Carlson shared multiple inaccuracies about nursing home voting and election bribery. On April 5, Gableman traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, for a Trump-hosted event furthering claims the 2020 election was rigged in Joe Bidens favor. In an appearance on the Regular Joe Show a nationally syndicated talk show that broadcasts from Green Bays WTAQ-AM that brands itself as "your home for consistent conservatism without apology!" in April, Gableman ridiculed the clothing choices of a female election official he doesnt like but complimented a female politician he supports. In May, he spoke at an election integrity event hosted by the Republican National Committee in Michigan again using taxpayer dollars, indicating Gableman believed the travel was part of the official work he was hired by the Assembly to do. On Friday, Gableman led a prayer at a Trump rally in Waukesha although by this time it had become clear that Gableman and Vos had experienced a falling out, as Gableman was supporting Adam Steen, who was challenging Vos in a vitriolic Republican primary for District 63 that Vos narrowly won. Some of these partisan actions taken by Gableman throughout his time contracted by the state were highlighted in a Twitter thread from Neubauer on Wednesday, in which she raised the question If Speaker Vos didnt want Gableman to get involved in politics, why didnt he fire him when any of these prior political actions were taken, not wait until Gableman fully turned on the man who hired him. NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Vote-tallying in Kenyas close presidential election isnt moving fast enough, the electoral commission chair said Friday, while parallel counting by local media stopped or dramatically slowed amid public concerns about censorship or meddling. Differing tallies by media outlets fed anxiety as longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga, backed by former rival and outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta in his fifth attempt at the presidency, was in a race with Deputy President William Ruto, who fell out with the president years ago. Three days after Tuesday's vote, Kenyans wondered whether the presidential election would go to a runoff for the first time. The head of the government-created Media Council of Kenya told The Associated Press that no one has asked anyone to stop" their tallies, but added that we want to align the numbers with each other and I think lets peer review our numbers. David Omwoyo was going into a meeting with media leaders as he spoke. With no clear winner emerging and perhaps days more to wait, social media hummed with unverified claims by both candidates' supporters, which rights groups called dangerous in a country with a history of political violence. Even the official count was sluggish, adding to impatience. We're not moving as fast as we should," electoral commission chair Wafula Chebukati said. That surprised a senior electoral expert who has observed the election and told the AP that looking at things right now, they should have no problem finishing by the constitutional limit of seven days after the vote. The expert spoke on condition of anonymity without authorization to speak publicly. You want to move as fast as the speed of trust, the expert said, adding that "this is going much smoother than we anticipated, and thats a good thing. They suggested posting a spreadsheet to make it easier to see the numbers from the more than 46,000 results forms posted from around the country. The public posting of the forms was meant to be a groundbreaking exercise in transparency for the electoral commission, which is under pressure after the high court cited irregularities and overturned the results of the previous presidential election in 2017, a first in Africa. Kenyatta won the new vote after Odinga boycotted it. The commission chair even appeared to tease local media houses a day after the election, saying they were behind in tallying. But transparency is also a double-edged sword if caution and responsibility is not exercised, the Kenya Human Rights Commission said Friday, saying the various media tallies without explanation have caused anxiety, fear, unrest and in extreme cases, violence. Meanwhile, social media is awash with false information, it said. The media council on Wednesday noted growing concerns about the varying tallies and said it was consulting with media owners and editors to find an urgent solution to this to ensure Kenyans receive synchronized results. But their slowdown brought criticism. For media to be silent and opaque on their own counts and why they've stopped is yet another betrayal of their duty to Kenyans, cartoonist and commentator Patrick Gathara tweeted Friday. The editor of the Nation media group, Mutuma Mathiu, published a commentary saying the slow count has given rise to a whole raft of conspiracy theories and complaints" and adding that media occupy different positions in relation to political interests. He cited the need to remain independent and do accurate work. Ochieng Rapuro, the editorial director at the Standard group that includes the Kenya Television Network, told the AP that stopping is our own decision. We have finished tallying, but given the murky fights around the outcomes of our elections, we have decided to stand on the side of caution." The editorial director with the Citizen media group did not respond. To win outright, a candidate needs more than half of all votes and at least 25% of the votes in more than half of Kenyas 47 counties. No outright winner means a runoff election within 30 days. Seeking answers, some Kenyans have turned to counting a far smaller set of results forms, also published by the electoral commission, for 291 constituencies. Almost 80% of them were posted as of Friday night. Turnout dipped sharply in this election, to 65%, as some Kenyans expressed weariness with seeing long-familiar political leaders on the ballot and frustration with economic issues including widespread corruption and rising prices. Follow all of AP's coverage of Kenya at https://apnews.com/hub/kenya GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Palestinian mourners held a funeral Friday for a militant who succumbed to wounds suffered during three days of heavy fighting between Israel and Gaza militants last weekend. His death brings the total number of Palestinians killed in the flare-up to 49, including 17 children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The body of Anas Inshasi, 22, was wrapped in the black and white flag of the Army of Islam, a small, radical faction. Mourners said he was wounded by an Israeli airstrike while firing mortar shells toward Israel. Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Friday in the face of what it said was an imminent threat by the Islamic Jihad militant group after one of its leaders was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank earlier that week. Islamic Jihad began firing rockets at Israel hours after the initial wave of strikes. The violence ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire on Sunday. In the three days, Israeli airstrikes killed two top Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza, and the militant group said it lost a total of 12 militants. The Israeli military says the group fired some 1,100 rockets, around 200 of which fell short in Gaza. Most of the remainder were intercepted or fell in open areas. Several Palestinian civilians were among those killed and wounded by Israeli airstrikes, including an 11-year-old girl who died of her wounds on Thursday. Two children are being treated in the intensive care unit of a Palestinian hospital in Jerusalem. Up to 16 Palestinians may have been killed by rockets fired from their own side that fell short. No Israelis were killed or seriously wounded in the latest flare-up. Israel and Hamas, which is larger and more powerful than Islamic Jihad, have fought four wars and countless smaller battles since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Hamas, which is opposed to Israel's existence, sat out the latest battle, apparently to preserve economic understandings with Israel that have eased a 15-year blockade imposed on the territory by Israel and Egypt. The Chinese government is mad about House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit to Taiwan. Really mad. It fired missiles over the island and sent fighter jets, bombers and warships into the surrounding area and vowed that it would punish any invaders who would wreck unification of the motherland, and would show no mercy. It was, The Washington Post reported, an unprecedented show of force. Maybe President Xi Jinping carried it out in the hope that he can terrorize Taiwan and the U.S. into acts of appeasement. Or maybe he was conducting a dry run in preparation for an attack on Taiwan that he intends to undertake sooner or later. Either way, hes making a big mistake. Xis regime has more to lose than to gain from trying to intimidate or conquer the self-governed province. Already, his efforts are backfiring, to the detriment of Chinas long-term interests. If Beijing would like to displace the U.S. as the dominant power in the western Pacific, this is the wrong way to go about it. Xi may hope to frighten neighboring countries into submission, but his aggressive policies have had the opposite effect. President Joe Biden has expanded the American commitment, affirming that he would use military force to defend Taiwan from an attack. Public opinion in Japan and Australia has moved overwhelmingly against China. The nations of the Quad the U.S., Japan, India and Australia have upgraded their military cooperation with a wary eye toward Beijing. Everything the Chinese government does seems designed to sour the people of Taiwan on reunification with the mainland. Its oppressive measures in Hong Kong, whose Western-style freedoms it had promised to respect at least until 2047, have made it painfully obvious what they could expect from mainland rule. Xi may regard having his way with Taiwan as so critical that he has to do whatever it takes to bring it about. Its been generally assumed that China has no plans to invade the island anytime soon. But it was generally assumed that Russia wouldnt invade Ukraine last winter, and it did. The fate of that invasion ought to deter China from launching a full-scale attack on Taiwan. Armed with a vast array of American weaponry, from fighter jets to Patriot missiles, Taiwans military may not be able to win, but it can make Beijing pay a heavy price. If the U.S. intervenes, the price to China and the dangers would be greater yet. Even a low-cost victory would be a dubious achievement, with no obvious benefits. In the first place, China would be saddled with ruling a uniformly hostile population of 23 million people who are accustomed to both democracy and de facto independence. It would be the equivalent of an imperial conquest, not a fraternal reunion. Years of unrest and violence could ensue. In the second place, it would likely erase much of the islands economic value. China is highly dependent on Taiwan for the most advanced semiconductor chips. Reuters reported that the plants where these are made could easily become a casualty of the fighting, severing the supply of chips to Chinas vast electronics industry. Taiwan would also be abruptly cut off from the world economy, crippling its productive sector. For a country as dependent on foreign trade as China, a war could be ruinous. The U.S. and other countries would impose economic sanctions that would be a drag on the Chinese economy, which has already stalled. Exports, which have powered Chinas economic rise, would go begging. At least some Western corporations operating in China would do what theyve done in Russia get out. The world response to the Ukraine invasion, writes Ohio State University scholar John Mueller in Foreign Affairs, is not so much about winning as making sure that the country that started the war is far worse off than if it had not done so. That has already been substantially achieved. It would likely also be achieved against China if it invaded Taiwan. In the 21st century, threatening war and embarking on war are a terrible way to achieve prosperity, stability, security or international influence. Putins experience has reaffirmed that elementary truism in ways that Xi would be supremely foolish to ignore. Letting Taiwan continue its self-government and its partnership with the U.S. may not be something that Xi can easily swallow. But he should realize that its the worst option, except for all the rest. A discussion follow up of last weeks service, Living life as a Thank You: Beauty and Benefits of Gratitude, Anne Martin will lead a discussion focusing on our personal stories of gratitude and how they have changed our lives and the lives of others. Among the questions to be discussed are: How would acknowledging more gratitude in our lives change our lives? What would our futures look like? How would more gratitude in our lives change our communities? How would the world change? How might history have been different? How can one feel gratitude in the midst of disaster? Come join us to share new perspectives on these questions. Newcomers of all religious paths or none at all are always welcome. Unitarian Universalists believe in the dignity of every person regardless of race, creed or none at all, immigrant status or sexual orientation. Everyone is welcome, no exceptions. We believe in justice, equality and compassion in human relations; and acceptance of one another. We are handicapped accessible in rear. Please park in the rear of the building or on the street in front or the side of the building. Child care is available. Join us at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. For further information, please call 208-410-8904, email us at mvuuf83301@yahoo.com or visit magicvalleyUU.org. When calling, please state your name in order to be connected. Worship at Ascension The Episcopal Church of the Ascension will celebrate Morning Prayer at 9 a.m., Sunday. Childcare may be available though children are welcome in the worship service. A fellowship coffee hour will follow the service. Services are online as well as in person. To view, go to Ascensions YouTube channel The Episcopal Church of the AscensionTwin Falls. Ascension Episcopal Church is handicapped accessible and is located at 371 Eastland Drive N. More information about Ascension can be found at ascension.episcopalidaho.org or 208-733-1248. Photo: Contributed The past several years have seen an uptick in the number of people choosing to incorporate more plant-based options into their meals. Meatless Monday for those who cook at home, plant-based burgers and such for those who choose to eat out and while it's always a good idea to shop the produce aisle over the cereal aisle and to incorporate more fruit and vegitables into your daily meals, the question that always comes up is, What should I eat for protein? Protein is an essential macro nutrient and important not only for supporting and building muscle especially important as we age - but stabilizing blood sugar as well. Every food on the plant falls into the macro nutrient category and will be one of, or a combination of, a protein, fat, or carbohydrate. All of which our bodies need yep even those carbs. But that's an entire other column. Our bodies need all these macro nutrients in the right portion frequently throughout the day in order to stabilize blood sugar, balance hormones, support a healthy inflammatory response, optimize digestion and keep your metabolism turned on and working for you, even as you age. Any food that comes from an animal is a protein. These animal proteins often contain a fat component, also essential for our body to function well. You need fat to burn fat, so fat is not a bad thing. Protein can also come from a plant source as well. Hemp, hemp hearts, chia, quinoa, spirulina, mushrooms, beans, chick peas, lentils and tofu all contain protein as well. Nine out of the 10 items on that list are whole, unprocessed protein/carbohydrate combinations. Soy is the opposite. Granted soy is a lean, complete plant-based protein, which sounds great until you find out it's made from highly processed soybeans. As with any processed food, the quality is quite a bit lower than any whole food. Even more so here in North America. In the past North Americans have looked to Asian cultures as much healthier, and more wholesome in the foods they were eating, soy being a big part of that. The problem is that as farmers started growing soybeans to bring this healthy protein source to people in Canada and the USA, GMO farming took over and the traditional practice of cultural processing was left by the wayside. Dr. Marc S. Micozzi, a 40-year career physician, medical anthropologist and epidemiologist, wrote in an article, Long before big agribusiness began artificially manipulating foods, human cultures learned how to harvest, prepare and cook plants so that they would be safe and nutritious to eat. Anthropologists and food scientists have long called this cultural processing. He goes on to say, Today, soybeans are everywhere. In fact, theyre now the leading cash crop in the U.S. Food manufacturers grind up the soybeansgenetically modified soybeans, of courseand add them to their processed foods. Soybeans also contain a powerful anti-trypsin component. Trypsin is a critical digestive enzyme that helps break down nutrients from saliva to the small intestines and the anti-trypsin in soy interferes with this normal digestive enzyme making it hard for the body to digest often causing gas, bloating and stomach upset. Micozzi says we should avoid this Frankenfood at all costs. These highly processed, GMO soybeanswith less nutritional value and digestive disruptorsare marketed as a healthier option, when really the facts, as Micozzi states, show otherwise. The fact is, unless your soy is sourced organic, non-GMO and culturally processed, you're simply padding the pockets of the companies peddling this poor quality protein. Just take a look at most restaurant menus today and you'll find at the very least some type of plant-based burger option. The supplement and weight loss industry also jumped on board, offering soy-based protein shake, smoothies and treats. I see this all the time as clients send pictures of labels asking for advice when choosing a product. Another fact, you get what you pay for. Soy is cheap, labeling is poorly regulated and regular Joe consumer doesn't typically do his due diligence, and simply follows the trend. Which means companies producing these products are profiting hand over fist, encouraging production of more inferior, unhealthy protein products. My advice? Take the whole food protein source. Have a burger, steak or chicken breast. Still leaning towards plant-based? Make your own burgers using fava, black or kidney beans as a base, or when eating out, opt for a portabello mushroom burger. And the next time you decide to pick up a protein shake, read the label. If it's soy-based, put it back. I've got my favs, and yes I do pay a little more, but when it comes to health it's worth it. Want more health facts, tips and information to apply to your life? Join the 8 Weeks is All it Takes group on Facebook. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Imagine you are new to Idaho. Youve left your trusted longtime physician behind, and now you need a new primary care doctor. How are you supposed to judge whether a new doctor is qualified, gives good advice and will take good care of you? So you pick one off of your insurers website and hope shes a good one. You get to her office for your first appointment. And looking up on her wall, you see a license with Idaho Board of Medicine hanging there. How much should that license mean to you? Not much, it seems. After all, Dr. Ryan Cole has the same piece of paper hanging on his wall. And hes traded on it to make money by selling modern snake oil all around the country and the world, as Audrey Dutton of the Idaho Capital Sun documented this week in the latest of an impeccably reported series of stories focused on Cole. In March, Dutton reported, Cole made a trip to Tennessee to testify that COVID vaccines were dangerous. Cole testified, based on data he misrepresented, that COVID-19 vaccines killed 1,200 people in a single month, Dutton reported. Cole suggested doctors who recommend the vaccines should be hung. This is nothing new for Cole, who has used his Idaho Board of Medicine license and his political appointment to the Central Health District Board to emerge from behind his microscope and become a bit of a celebrity the Alex Jones of pathologists. His latest shtick, Dutton reported, is to oppose monkeypox vaccines, suggest the outbreak was engineered, and to say that the k should be silent making it moneypox, get it? The rigorous, scientific method of proof by pun. For all of the quackery hes spreading around, the body that licenses doctors in Washington is investigating and considering whether to discipline him, Dutton reported last month. Idahos board doesnt disclose records to indicate whether it is considering discipline, but if it were, we should have heard about it by now. So its rational to believe Coles lawyer, who wrote that Idaho declined to open an investigation of Dr. Coles practice or his publicly held opinions. It makes sense to allow for a wide range of views within medicine, not to use the board as a cudgel to require that all doctors hold the same opinions. There are instances where minority views have later proven right and become the standard of care. In the mid-1800s, the Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis tried to convince his colleagues they should wash their hands before delivering a child. In the days before germs were understood, he was ridiculed and mistreated for this belief. You certainly dont want to repeat that mistake. But Cole is not a Semmelweis. As Dutton found, he lifted images from published studies for his presentation. He then misrepresented them by saying they indicate that COVID vaccines are damaging peoples livers a claim the papers author directly refuted. Semmelweis collected and published a wealth of data to support his handwashing practice. Cole, by contrast, is misusing a public database of adverse events after receiving a vaccine to claim that vaccines have killed hundreds or thousands of people the kind of claim that anyone taking an introductory statistics class would laugh at. Many Idaho physicians have provided the Washington licensing board with letters indicating that theyve seen patients who took ineffective drugs like Ivermectin on Coles advice, only to wind up severely ill or dead, Dutton reported in December. They are working to defend their profession and their patients. As the American Board of Pathology wrote in its letter supporting an investigation of Cole to Washingtons licensing board: Patients must be able to trust physicians with their lives and health. It too is working to defend its calling. Why wont the Idaho Board of Medicine? As long as Cole holds one of the boards licenses, it cannot be taken as a sign of trustworthiness. And if its not good for that, why is it anything more than a random piece of paper? Nov. 21, 1954June 26, 2022 Janet Lynne Anderson, 67, left for her final adventure on Sunday June 26, 2022. She left this earth after an extraordinary life to join her beloved husband John W. Anderson II who proceeded her in death January 6, 2021. She will be dearly missed by her loved ones and all that knew and loved her. Janet Lynne Wait was born in Cincinnati, OH on November 21, 1954, to parents Kenneth and Esther Wait. In 1965 at age 10 her family would relocate out west to Southern California settling in Fontana, California. She would go on to graduate from Fontana High School in 1973 later attending Chaffey College in Alta Loma, California. In September of 1975, Janet welcomed her first-born son Phillip Sonny Rangel to this world. Her second, Rico Manual Ramirez would soon follow in November of 1979. These two boys meant everything to her! In 1985 she would pack those two boys into an old Plymouth Champ and head for Idaho. All on her own with her two boys in tow. She found her home here in the Magic Valley. She loved the State of Idaho. She spent as much time outdoors exploring as she could. River Rafting, snow mobiling, OHV Riding, camping, fishing or just exploring the back country dirt roads just to name a few. She was certainly always up for anything fun and a little dangerous was all the better. Her and John would make West Magic Resort their second home. Together they built their own little get away and would dedicate most of their time to the Dam Fools Recreation Club. For 30 years they would play a key role in growing the club to what it is today. She cared so much for the club and all the members who were more like family than anything else. Janet was the owner/operator of Idaho Spray Service which she was extremely proud. She loved getting out and meeting new people all over the valley. She would say I just get a kick out of the Old Timers. She was proud of what she had built and maintained. Being a woman in an industry primarily run by male or corporate companies just made it feel that much better. She put her heart and hard work into it, and it showed. She is survived by her son Phillip Sonny Rangel (46) of Twin Falls and Rico Ramirez (42) of Meridian; daughters-in-law: Alicia Rangel and Jessica Ramirez; grandchildren: Relaina Ramirez, Taya Ramirez, Carson Rangel, Presli Ramirez and Jackson Rangel; sisters: Rosie White of Florence, Montana. Debbie Taylor of Twin Falls; brother and sister Gary and Joan Faye of Twin Falls; several nieces and nephews whom she always thought of as her own. She was a strong and caring presence in all their lives. Just as important to her were the countless friends whom she made along the way. She was a wonderful friend to so many. A memorial celebrating Janes life will be held Saturday August 20, 2022, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Turf Club in Twin Falls. All that knew and loved her are welcome to come and share memories. A graveside ceremony will be held at the Snake River Canyon National Cemetery on Friday, August 26, 2022, at 11a.m. Inmates at the Pittsylvania County Jail have been temporarily relocated after an electrical issue earlier this week. On Wednesday, maintenance workers found what the Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office described as an electrical issue inside the jail facility, Devin Taylor, an investigator with the sheriffs office, reported in a news release Friday evening. After the initial investigation, an outside electrical firm was called to further assess, Taylor said in the release. The issue focuses around a specific circuit. Authorities believe the problem is associated with wiring and impacts lighting in inmate cell blocks. There were no injuries to staff or inmates, Taylor said. However, out of an abundance of caution and concern for inmate and staff welfare, a decision was made to temporarily relocate individuals to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail. It wasnt immediately clear how many inmates were in the jail or when they were moved. Taylor did not respond to an email from the Register & Bee seeking clarity. This will allow contractors the opportunity to make the necessary repairs, while ensuring the safety and security of inmates and staff, Taylor said. For the family members of those in our facility, we understand the inconvenience this may cause and ask for and appreciate your patience while these repairs are completed. The news release did not provide an estimate on when the issue may be fixed and the inmates returned. The Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office would like to offer our appreciation to the Virginia Department of Corrections Green Rock facilitys personnel and Sheriff [Mike] Mondul of the Danville Sheriffs Office for their assistance, Taylor said. The European Union has earmarked an additional 4 million ($4.1 million) to help Uganda cope with the massive influx of new refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the food crisis in Ugandas Karamoja region on the border with Kenya, the European Commission said on Friday. Prevailing insecurity in the eastern DRC has led to an increase in the number of refugee arrivals in neighbouring Uganda, which is already hosting the largest refugee population in Africa. This funding will enable our humanitarian partners address the most urgent emergency needs, including supporting those newly displaced. In addition, funding has been allocated to Uganda to help the country address the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in its Karamoja region, where half a million people are in urgent need of food assistance, European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said. The unstable security situation in the eastern DRC has led to a large number of refugees seeking asylum in neighboring Uganda, with more than 57,000 people arriving since January 2022. Uganda already has the largest number of refugees in Africa (1.5 million) and the third largest in the world, according to the statement. The worst drought in a century in the northeastern Ugandas Karamoja region has caused devastating consequences for the local population, the statement said, adding that more than 500,000 people are in dire need of food aid with almost 100,000 children, pregnant and lactating women suffering from acute malnutrition. According to the commission, the additional funding allocated by the EU will facilitate the provision of food and nutrition aid, including immediate assistance to save lives of the most vulnerable, by Ugandas humanitarian partners. The new package will bring the total funding for Uganda to 34 million ($35 million) in 2022. You might not think a computer programming camp would be an appealing prospect for a group of kids in the summer. But the energy and excitement was palpable on Friday as a dozen youngsters sat down at their laptops. Soft Landing Missoula, a nonprofit that works with the local refugee and immigrant community to provide support, opportunities and programs to families once they arrive, has been hosting a coding club every week this summer. Sipping on Capri Sun juice drinks and eating granola bars, the kids immerse themselves in Python, a computer coding language used all over the world. "We've been pleasantly surprised by the level of interest from the kids who are coming every week," explained Carly Graf, Soft Landing Missoula's communications and outreach manager. "And we think it's provided a great opportunity for people to have a creative outlet while also learning new skills that could possibly be useful for them moving forward or open their eyes to possible career paths." Michael Williams, a local software developer, has been donating his time and expertise to teaching the kids the basics of how to write computer code. Other Soft Landing staff members and community volunteers show up every week to help out, too. The kids learn different functions in order to get the software to draw shapes and pictures, and they've also gotten social media training and basic internet literacy classes. "I wanted to volunteer because I love coding and I love kids," Williams explained. "I also volunteer with youth groups around town." His goal is to get the kids excited about something and it appears he's succeeded. On Friday, the children were focused on their screens and excitedly pointing things out to each other as they learned new techniques. "It's just the perfect opportunity to hang out with kids and teach them," Williams said. Coders and software developers make good money in the modern economy, Williams said. So the kids will have a head start on a great career choice. The children have settled in Missoula after leaving countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The class is voluntary, and Graf said they've had good numbers every week. Shabir, 13, said he likes the class because he likes to play computer games at home. "I really like the class," he said. "I play computer games all the time." He wants to work as a computer programmer and/or a carpenter when he's older, he said. "I don't want to work outside," he said, grinning. Ratisha, 10, said coding is a little difficult but she's enjoying the class. However, she's in no rush to say whether she'll consider it as a career choice in the future. Graf said Soft Landing Missoula has a wide variety of offerings in order to ensure everyone finds something they like. Some kids really take to running and biking, for example, while others show a keen interest in learning to use social media responsibly. Lydia Downs-Williams, an AmeriCorps member in Missoula, is actually the person responsible for organizing the coding club in the first place. "I was coming in and chatting with some of the staff members here and they said they wanted to start a coding club, but they didn't have a person who had the means to do that," she said. "And so Mike here is a volunteer and I was able to get ahold of him and asked him if he wanted to help out and teach the kids." Downs-Williams said she's been amazed at how much the kids have enjoyed the class. In fact, the whole class exists because the youngsters were clamoring for it. "Surprisingly, it was something that the kids had asked for the previous year," she said. "So we had a lot of interest that way." Five Native American tribes on Friday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Supreme Court on Nov. 9 will hear arguments on Brackeen v. Haaland, a case challenging the law's procedure for placing Native children in foster or adoptive homes. ICWA aims to protect Native children by giving their tribe and family opportunities to participate in decisions from which they may have previously been excluded. Enacted in 1978, ICWA came in response to decades of state child welfare and private adoption agencies separating Native children from their families. The law requires that states place Native children in foster care first with an extended family member. If thats not possible, the child should be placed with a family approved by the childs tribe. And if thats not possible, the child can be placed with a non-Native agency. ICWA opponents typically argue the law is unconstitutional, saying it discriminates based on race. Some legal experts disagree. They say the law is based on tribal citizenship, not race. Tribes file brief In the brief, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Morongo Band of Mission Indians Chairman Charles Martin, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill and Quinault Indian Nation President Guy Capoeman explained how ICWA has benefited Native children. ICWA is based on a simple idea, the brief reads. When Indian children can stay with their families and communities, tribes and children alike are better off. Tribal leaders defended ICWAs constitutionality, saying that the law protects tribal sovereignty and self-governance by safeguarding children against unwarranted removals by non-Indians and states. Plaintiffs do not represent Indian tribes, families or children but fill their briefs with claims about Indians best interests, the brief reads. In a statement, tribal leaders said ICWA has received strong, bipartisan support and has been repeatedly upheld in state and federal courts. Tribal leaders referred to ICWA as a gold standard of child welfare laws and wrote that if those attacking ICWA are successful, they would not only dismantle a law that is central to our sovereign interests in protecting our children but also create chaos and instability throughout the country by overturning the basic framework of Indian law and the political nature of tribal citizenship. If the Supreme Court ruled against ICWA, the leaders warned, The court would be ignoring decades of precedent, overriding congressional authority and putting our tribal childrens safety at risk. Brackeen v. Haaland Brackeen v. Haaland centers on Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a couple from Texas who fostered a child eligible for membership in the Navajo and Cherokee tribes, according to The Associated Press. When the boys parents voluntarily ended their parental rights, the Brackeens tried to adopt him. But the state denied their request after the Navajo Nation found a possible home for the boy with a Navajo family. The Brackeens went to court and were able to adopt the boy when that placement fell through. Now, the couple is trying to adopt the boys younger half-sister. Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Louisiana as well as other couples have joined the case, suing the federal government and arguing that ICWA is discriminatory. According to the National Indian Child Welfare Association, Indigenous children are four times more likely to be removed by state child welfare systems than non-Native children, even when their families have similar presenting problems. Native children are also overrepresented in the foster care system, according to the same report. About 5 to 8 feet of Anne Scotts family cabin is suspended over a new fork of Armstrong Creek. Built in 1946, the log structure used to be stream-free until widespread flooding in mid-June redirected the water, a tributary to East Rosebud Creek, about 13 miles southwest of Roscoe in Carbon County. Im really hoping the Forest Service will partner with us, Scott said. Everything done so far was by hand or with equipment up there. The Custer Gallatin National Forest is in charge of overseeing repairs to the road that accesses East Rosebud Lake and the small community of Alpine. About 60 cabins surround the lake. The road also accesses three popular forest trailheads, including the well-known Beaten Path. Engineers have been dispatched and a lidar survey will be undertaken to help design the best temporary route into the area, according to Ken Coffin, Beartooth District ranger. Because we dont know how long well have to rely on a temporary access route we need to ensure weve selected the best route and thought through all aspects of road construction in the event its another year or two before we are able to fund and construct the permanent access road into East Rosebud, Coffin wrote in an email. Once the design work is completed, well solicit bids to construct the temporary road, and the soonest this contract would be awarded is late October, he added. Given the difficulty of that process, Coffin said, Its unlikely well restore access this fall. Scott noted that without a temporary road, its hard for cabin owners to make permanent repairs to their damaged structures. As cabins are cleaned of flood damaged materials, garbage is piling up. Shes also worried about a forest fire. Without road access, putting out a blaze will be difficult. Two fires have threatened and burned structures at Alpine in the past. During other critical events up there, at least we had a road, she said. Coffin noted the East Rosebud isnt the only repair the Forest Service has to address following the catastrophic and widespread flood damage. Our engineering staff continues to keep work moving on multiple fronts including the Main Fork, West Fork, East Rosebud and West Rosebud, Coffin said. We are currently soliciting bids to reestablish temporary access to the Main Fork and West Fork and hopeful access to these areas is restored sometime this fall. Weve been able to get those contracts out for bid sooner than ERB because restoring access to these areas is far less complex than East Rosebud where weve completely lost 2-3 miles of road. Also, we have a contractor preparing to place a temporary bridge across Chicken Creek on the West Rosebud road, and that should happen in the next few weeks completely restoring access to that drainage. The West Rosebud Road is a popular access point to the Mystic Lake hike, as well as on to Montanas tallest mountain, 12,807-foot high Granite Peak. The Main Fork and West Fork are popular forest access points close to the community of Red Lodge. Until permanent repairs can be made to her familys cabin, Anne Scott, her husband and volunteers have wedged large logs into the gap under the foundation and used sandbags and other available gravel to try and keep the new branch of Armstrong Creek from doing further damage. The Scotts were at their cabin the night flooding began. They awoke at 4 a.m. to the incredible roar of water, not knowing it was a newly created stream that threatened the cabin Annes family has owned since 1986. Attempting to drive out, they found the road disappeared after only a quarter-mile. They retreated to the managers cabin, who oversees maintenance at the remote community at the base of the Beartooth Mountains. It was crazy, she said. We didnt realize the extent of the damage. Thankfully, we were all safe and there were places for people to stay. Soon after the flood, the Montana National Guard arrived to helicopter out trapped residents, and the Scotts returned to their Phoenix home. When the call went out for volunteers to help clean out refrigerators and help with the now-isolated community, the Scotts volunteered and were soon on a plane back to Billings. They helicoptered into Alpine only days after the worst of the flooding. From June 19 to Aug. 2, the couple stayed in a neighbors cabin since theirs was unsafe and helped with whatever chores were needed. On July 21 they helped airlift out 23 vehicles that had been trapped by the flooding when the homeowners association contracted with a Bozeman helicopter firm. It was kind of a privilege to do that, Anne said. But the first couple of weeks were kind of surreal. The area normally bustles with cabin owners families and friends in addition to members of the public camping, hiking and boating on the lake. Without road access, only a few hale and hearty hikers made the difficult trek into the area, Scott said. It appeared to be a normal summer but no one was there, she said. It was very odd. Hearty hikers are encouraged to contact the Beartooth Ranger District at 446-2103 for information before traveling to the East Rosebud. I have heard its a whole lot more than just hiking five miles, said Mariah Leuschen-Lonergan, a public affairs specialist for the Custer Gallatin National Forest. There are several high water fords, expansive rock and flood debris, and it takes eight-plus hours to get to trailhead from some reports weve heard. About $5.7 million in quick release funding has been awarded to the Forest Service to make repairs to roads damaged by the flooding. After an excellent dinner at Bell's, the Missus and I were looking forward to our return for lunch. But what to do in Los Alamos before lunch? We had pretty much seen the entire town the day before. I thought that the Missus and I should ponder that over some caffeine and perhaps a croissant? And I had a place in mind. At the Eastern edge of the (4 block) downtown area in a structure that was formerly a gas station resides Bob's Well Bread. The business has quite a story. You can read it here. Bob's Well Bread has quite a following, mainly for the artisan, small batch bread made from all natural ingredients. I've heard the phrase "like European" artisan breads in several posts I saw. We wouldn't be grabbing a loaf on this trip; but since it said "Croissants" clearly in the window sign, how could I not try that? We went in and ordered a Cortado for the Missus, a cold brew for me, and a croissant. The Missus also got several cookies as well. We then went and had a seat sat one of the picnic tables outside. I was expecting to have my name called, but the very nice young woman working actually brought us our coffee and croissant. How nice! So, how did this croissant lineup? In terms of the looks department, it was beautiful; perfectly baked. It was crisp and flakey; the interior so moist and almost creamy in texture. Unfortunately it was really lacking in butteriness and since I love my croissants au buerre, this failed at the "third point". Bummer..... The Missus did love the cookies we bought however, and I think if we're in the area we'll stop for those and perhaps a baguette. Bob's Well Bread Bakery 550 Bell St. Los Alamos, CA 93440 As for our plan? We decided to head on over to Solvang which is just 20 minutes away and get some cookies for the Missus's coworkers. We then took a stroll around Danish Disneyland and just chilled. We then returned to Los Alamos, relaxed a bit, then checked out. I parked the car and we crossed the street to Bell's right at 11am. We had requested to sit on the patio again. Same relaxed and friendly service. A lot of the Servers were wearing "Franch" t-shorts.....Bell's say they serve Fr(ench R)anch cuisine. We looked over the tempting menu and placed an order for four dishes and then went one step father. There was a sandwich we wanted to order, but knew we wouldn't be able to finish, so we got a takeout order as well! My two favorite dishes came out first. The Steak Tartare ($25) was amazing. It is now my favorite version in the U.S. it was just so perfect. Just the perfect cut, the beef was super tender, like the night before, all items were perfectly seasoned. Perfect amount of capers, and that egg yolk, oh my! This was just so clean tasting and refreshing. I also loved the Country Pate ($18), it was tender and had just right amount of wine in it. Nice amount of offal-ish flavor for me; the cherries didn't overwhelm anything, and the fried shallots in the pate was perfect. Was not a big fan of the baguette as it was typical hard and chewy American style. The frisee was a lovely addition to the dish. I was shocked that the Missus ordered the Escargot ($16). While the Missus loved the Escargot in Burgundy, She had never found a version here in the States that She enjoyed. Well, mark this as the first Escargot She liked outside of France....leave it to "Franch" to deliver. Good amount of garlic, nice balanced flavors. The menu noted that these were "wild snails" and they were much more tender than I expected. Still, that baguette...... I was also surprised that the Missus ordered the La Brujula Tinned Mussels in Escabeche ($20)! These Spanish tinned mussels were quite good, nice and tender. We didn't care for butter and the ketchup like sauces, but the homemade saltines were wonderful. This was wonderful meal, we actually enjoyed it more than our dinner. And we really want to do it again soon. Bell's 406 Bell St. Los Alamos, CA 93440 Current Hours: Thurs - Mon 11am - 3pm, 5pm - 830pm Closed on Tuesday - Wednesday And as the postcript. On the lunch menu there was Braised Beef Cheek Sandwich that sounded so good. So, after consulting with our Server, we got it to go with the bearnaise aioli on the side. It was still in fine shape after the five hour drive home. The bread, in this case a ficelle held up fine; the meat was so intensely beefy; I loved the pickled Basque peppers..... I guess we'll need to return again soon! Republican officials in Kentucky are sounding off on the FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida estate, ranging from demanding details on the action, to suggesting without evidence that the federal government planted evidence to frame him of a crime. Few details have emerged since the FBI conducted a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago property Monday, with sources telling multiple media outlets the search warrant was signed Monday by a federal magistrate judge in West Palm Beach. Two people familiar with the search told USA TODAY Monday the action was connected to Trump's alleged removal of documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago property when his presidential term ended in January 2021. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, running for Governor, spoke at Fancy Farm.Aug 6, 2022 The day after the search, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron a Republican who is running for governor next year and was recently endorsed by Trump tweeted out a full defense of the former president against his critics. "President Trump is a fighter," Cameron wrote. "No raid at Mar-a-Lago is going to stop him from working hard for the American people. Folks here in Kentucky will always support someone the media despises and the left hates, because it means that person is standing up for their values." More news:Trump in midst of gathering storm of investigations. Mar-a-Lago document inquiry is one of many. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell U.S. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R) said what he would do if elected majority Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to answer questions from the media about the FBI search Tuesday as he toured flood-ravaged parts of Eastern Kentucky, but later issued a statement that fell short of defending Trump, while demanding answers from federal law enforcement. "The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday," McConnell tweeted. "Attorney General (Merrick) Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately." Story continues By Tuesday evening, attorneys for Trump were suggesting on television appearances that the FBI "planted" evidence at Mar-a-Lago which the former president then proceeded to do in a social media post early Wednesday. Writing that his attorneys were not allowed to witness the search, Trump added that "they wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, 'planting.' Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?" Sen. Rand Paul Isaac Aguirre holds his cousin Jerome Cotton as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul makes a visit at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hazard Tuesday morning. Isaac and the baby were airlifted from their flooded home. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., picked up where Trump left off in a Fox News appearance Wednesday, asking: "Do I know that the boxes of material they took from Mar-a-Lago, that they won't put things in those boxes to entrap him?" "How do we know that they're going to be honest with us about what's actually in the boxes? How do we know that was in the box before it left the residence if the lawyers weren't allowed to see everything?" Paul went on to suggest that Garland should be investigated and possibly impeached for misusing his office "for political purposes." More news:GOP, long the law and order party, slams FBI, Justice Department over search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Rep. Thomas Massie "What does it say about our country where this lawlessness is going on to this extent that a 17-year-old feels compelled to stop it?" Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Northern Kentucky says. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky has tweeted similar sentiments, accusing Biden of directing the raid and calling for the defunding of federal law enforcement agencies. "After the 2022 elections, Congress must use the power of the purse to rein in the DOJ and FBI," Massie tweeted. "Any Republican who tells you thats not possible is too addicted to big government to fix this." The criticism of law enforcement is a stark contrast from the recent rhetoric from some GOP politicians, as Paul's reelection campaign has focused attacks on his Democratic opponent for allegedly wanting to "defund the police," while Cameron recently tweeted that "as Governor, I will always Back the Blue!" Russell Coleman Russell Coleman a Republican who is running for attorney general of Kentucky next year with the support of McConnell was recently in a leadership role with such federal law enforcement agencies, having served as U.S. Attorney for Kentucky's Western District during the Trump administration. Russell Coleman is the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Asked for his reaction to the FBI search and Republican criticism of the agency, Coleman in a statement to The Courier Journal called for transparency from the agency for the sake of its "reputation." At a time when this country needs its FBI laser focused on protecting us from historic levels of violent crime and overdose deaths, the reputation of one of our critical institutions calls for near-term public transparency as to why it took such jaw dropping action against a former President of the United States," Coleman stated. The reality is half the country will look on this with a jaundiced eye and transparency would help reassure the American people. More news:Trump takes the Fifth in NY deposition; questions swirl about Mar-a-Lago search Coleman added: "All we know is theres a dispute over paperwork, which to many Americans would make a raid seem like politically motivated overkill. Rep. James Comer Rep. James Comer, the top GOP official on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, tweeted Wednesday that "the weaponization of the federal government against President Bidens political rivals cannot go unchecked," all while he has signaled his committee will aggressively investigate the president's son, Hunter Biden, if Republicans take back the majority in the fall elections.. Beyond the Justice Department's investigation of White House records, including some marked classified, that were taken to Mar-a-Lago, there are at least four other separate investigations related to Trump being conducted by federal, state and local agencies, including: The Justice Department's investigation into the effort to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in the White House, including attempts to substitute fake electors in key battleground states won by Joe Biden and to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of Biden's victory. An investigation by the Fulton County District Attorney into alleged election interference by Trump in Georgia, who is accused of trying to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to switch votes in his favor. The New York attorney general is conducting a civil investigating into whether the Trump Organization made false property valuations in its dealings with lenders and taxing authorities, while the Manhattan district attorney's office conducts a parallel criminal investigation. Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment during his under oath deposition by the attorney general Wednesday. The United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack is investigating the events before the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, including Trump's role in instigating the attacking mob. Thursday morning, an armed man in body armor who attempted to breach security at Cincinnati FBI office was shot and killed after a standoff. A USA Today review of online postings by an account in the name of the attacker on Trump's Truth Social site shows the account had recently posted angry reactions to news of the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida home even posting during the attack. "Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn't. If you don't hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it'll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while" The post apparently ended mid-sentence. FBI Director Christopher Wray defended the bureau Thursday against a new wave of threats in the aftermath of Mar-a-Lago search and attempted breach of its Cincinnati office. Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others, Wray said.. Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky GOP officials weigh in on FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Photo: . Crews set up the stage for the Best Damn Music Festival on Friday morning at the Prince George Exhibition Grounds. When the Best Damn Music Festival hits the stage at the Prince George Exhibition Grounds this weekend, it will be thanks, in part, to a $157,000 provincial grant through the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund. The event is hosted by Kyle Sampson Productions, owned by Prince George city councillor Kyle Sampson. In letters dated Sept. 22, 2021 and Sept. 28, 2021, Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall and former City of Prince George manager of economic development Melissa Barcellos wrote letters supporting Sampsons application for the grant. Coun. Brian Skakun provided copies of the letters to the Citizen, which he obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. Sampson also received letters of support from Tourism Prince George, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation and Northern Health. City administration and the mayor of Prince George wrote letters on behalf of his personal business. All of this is done on city letterhead, Skakun said. Senior administration signed off on this, we (city council) didnt get told about it, and here we are nine months later. Its all about transparency. Council should have been informed. Section 11 of the City of Prince George Council Code of Conduct says, Members shall not use City public resources such as staff time, equipment, supplies or facilities, for private gain or personal purposes. In a notice of motion going before city council on Monday night, Skakun is asking council to direct the city administration to report back on the process the mayor and city administration use to decide which organizations will receive letters of support. A notice of motion is intended to give council notice that the motion will appear in a future city council meeting for debate. This report will include how the Mayor and City Admin decide what letters for grants and assistance come before council for a resolution and what letters are not required to come before Council, Skakuns notice of motion says. As a result of an elected official getting grant letters of support from both the Mayors office and senior admin for their personal business without the knowledge of Council as a whole and the general public, I feel that in order to make this process not only fair, it needs to be fully transparent. It also will help with ensuring the Mayors office informs City Council about the meetings he or she has with regards to funding requests. In an email, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport said that all applications to the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund, which provided one-time funding to help community events restart following the COVID-19 pandemic, were required to have letters of support. Letters of Support were a mandatory requirement of the recovery grant and could be provided by local destination marketing organizations, Municipalities, First Nations, and/or other community partners, the spokesperson said. Applications submitted by organizations were required to demonstrate local or regional support and community impact through both economic benefits and quality of life, as well as alignment with ministry and government priorities. Eligibility and funding allocations were determined through the review process by a panel of ministry staff. IM EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED' Skakun said the issue first came to his attention when he read an article in the Citizen, after the province announced the recipients of the BC Fairs, Festivals and Events Recovery Fund. A total of 13 Prince George groups received grants ranging from $250,000 to $7,401, totalling $882,795 Skakun said reached out via email to Hall and the rest of council asking if the city had written letters of support for the organizations, including Kyle Sampson Productions. Skakun said Sampson eventually confirmed that he had received the letters, and Hall informed Skakun he had written letters in support of many of the successful applications. However, Skakun said his requests for copies of the letters were ignored. Im extremely frustrated, he said. (But) Im not suggesting any wrongdoing. Skakun said in June he finally decided to request the letters through Freedom of Information requests to the City of Prince George and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. Skakun provided copies of the letters of support to the Citizen. We (city council) had absolutely no input on who gets letters of support and who doesnt, Skakun said. This isnt about any one individual, its about a process that is seriously flawed. Skakun said someone decided that Hall and Barcellos could write the letters, and he hopes that council supports his notice of motion to find out how those decisions are made. I THINK THIS IS A POLITICAL THING Sampson said his request for letters of support was made as a local business owner and event promoter, not a city councillor. Sampson said when he heard about the grants, he reached out to the mayor and city staff to ask if they were writing letters of support for local applications. He was told that the city had already written letters for several other applications, and a short time later received letters from the mayor and Barcellos. Sampson said he received no money or special favor from the city, and in fact will be paying the City of Prince George for the rental of the exhibition grounds. I asked for the letter of support as a local business owner, who employs local people.. and supports local economic activity, Sampson said. I would never have taken advantage of my position on council. Sampson said the Best Damn Music Festival was originally scheduled for 2021, but was shut down by changes in public health orders at the last minute. The event fit the criteria for the grant, Sampson said, and so he applied for a public grant for the first time in his life. Even with the $157,000 grant, this event will not be profitable, Sampson said. Despite that, instead of cancelling, he said is going forward with it for the community and because a portion of the proceeds are being donated to the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation. Being a city councillor shouldnt mean his business is unable to pursue the same grant opportunities offered to other businesses and events in the community, he added. Councils are often filled up with business people. This is not a unique circumstance, Sampson said. I did my due diligence, I did everything above board. Sampson questioned the timing of the notice of motion, with the municipal election coming up on Oct. 15. I think this is a political thing. CITY RESPONSE If the motion proposed by Skakun passes, city staff will bring back a report with more details about the decision-making process around writing letters of support, city communications manager Julie Rogers said in an email. "Mayor Hall and the Citys economic development division provided letters of support to Kyle Sampson Productions as they do upon request from other Prince George organisations applying for grants from third-parties such as the Province," Rogers said. "Staff are in the process of determining which other organizations received a letter of support for this specific Provincial grant fund as it is not immediately available due to staff absences. It has been a matter of practice for the economic development division and the Mayors office to provide letters of support for such third-party grant applications to all Prince George organisations who request it and they do not go before Council." The Council Code of Conduct is a council policy and is governed by city council, Rogers added. It is up to city council to decide if the policy was violated. Hall and city manager Walter Babicz were not available to for interviews as of Friday. Celebrated author Salman Rushdie, who has death threats issued against him from the 1980s, was attacked on stage Friday at an event in New York. Photos circulating after the incident showed Rushdie being treated on stage after he was reportedly stabbed in the neck, moments before he was scheduled to give a lecture on redefining the American home in the 21st century. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) confirmed Friday afternoon that Rushdie is still alive, though no other details are known about his condition. It is also unclear what motivations prompted his attacker. However, Rushdie, a British and American national who is of Indian descent, became a controversial figure for his written work because of its descriptions of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, garnering backlash from the former Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But how did Rushdie become a controversial figure? And how did he draw the ire of one of the most prominent Islamic figures in the Middle East? Rushdie and The Satanic Verses Rushdie was born in Mumbai, India, on June 19, 1947, and he later moved to the U.K. to study. According to GQ, he grew up in a notionally Muslim house, where religion open to free debate rather than deep faith. Published in September 1988, The Satanic Verses caused immediate controversy around the world and among the Muslim community. There were calls for its immediate ban and the book was burned in multiple demonstrations in the U.K., Pakistan and elsewhere. The book is still banned in a number of countries around the world including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and India. The book is considered by many Muslims to be blasphemous. On Feb. 14, 1989, Irans Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. According to History.com, a fatwa can only be repealed by that same scholar, and Ruhollah Khomeini died in the same year he issued the call. Rushdie wrote about the controversy surrounding his novel in an essay for The New York Review in 1989 and said: One may not discuss Muhammad as if he were human, with human virtues and weaknesses. One may not discuss the growth of Islam as a historical phenomenon, as an ideology born out of its time. These are the taboos against which The Satanic Verses has transgressed. Story continues What is a fatwa? In Islam, a fatwa is issued by a religious scholar and then handed out by a religious leader a s a legal pronouncement. A fatwa is, in essence, a ruling under Islamic law, and in rare cases like in Rushdies, a fatwa may call for death. Gordon Newby, author of A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, told CNN that getting a fatwa would be like going to someone who was a combined lawyer-priest and getting an opinion. He added that a fatwa is an opinion and that different scholars from different schools of Islamic law might rule differently on the same issue or question. Attacks on translators and publishers of The Satanic Verses The Satanic Verses has also caused issues for those who have translated the work. Hitoshi Igarashi, a Japanese scholar and translator of Rushdies novel, was stabbed to death in 1991. The Italian translator of the novel, Ettore Capriolo, was injured in a stabbing in Milan in 1991. The Norwegian publisher of the book, William Nygaard, survived the assassination attempt when he was shot three times in Oslo in 1993. Ten years in hiding Rushdie, who was living in the U.K. at the time the fatwa was issued, went into hiding for 10 years under an alias. The author was also given 24-hour police protection by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers government. The New York Times wrote that according to his former wife, novelist Marianne Wiggins, the couple moved 56 times, or once every three days in the first few months after the fatwa was issued. Rushdie wrote about his experience in hiding in his memoir published in 2012 called Joseph Anton, which was his alias for a decade. The New York Times noted that the memoir is a record of his relocation from Bombay to London to New York, where he settled in 2000. The name is a combination of his favorite writers: Anton Chekhov and Joseph Conrad. He told NPR that the alias was necessary so that he could rent property because doing so in his own name would be dangerous. And I was asked to make it not an Indian name. And so, deprived of one nationality, I retreated into literature which is, you could say, my other country and chose this name from the first names of Conrad and Chekhov: Joseph Conrad, Anton Chekhov equals Joseph Anton, he added. He later lived in a safe house on Londons infamous Billionaires Row, which had bullet-proof glass windows, a safe room and rooms for six live-in police officers, Insider reported. We put in what they call bomb-proof net curtains, Ashton Hill, the architect who renovated the property told Insider. Almost a decade after the fatwa was first issued, the Iranian government issued a statement saying it would neither support nor hinder Rushdies assassination. However, Iranian groups and others have continued to push for his assassination. Move to the US and other works Rushdie moved to the U.S. in the 2000s and told the Village Voice that Manhattan reminded him of the city where he was born. Even the shape of Manhattan island is pretty much the same shape and size as what used to be called Bombay and what is now called South Bombay. The old downtown area, he said. Despite the controversy surrounding The Satanic Verses, Rushdies second novel Midnights Children in 1981 made him a household name in the literary world. He won the 1981 Booker Prize for his novel. A Netflix TV series based on the film version of the book is also reportedly in the works. He had a famous cameo in the movie Bridget Joness Diary. Aftereffects of The Satanic Verses For years, Rushdie has continued to face the aftereffects of publishing his novel, and on numerous occasions pulled out of literary festivals and appearances due to safety concerns. He withdrew from Indias biggest literary festival in Jaipur after saying that he feared for his life in 2012, the BBC reported. Updated at 2:58 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Olivia Newton-John taught me how to dance. OK, thats a bit of a stretch. Olivia Newton-John convinced me to try to learn how to dance at nerd camp, even though, looking back, it was not a success. The Associated Press described her passing this month this way: Olivia Newton-John, the Grammy-winning superstar who reigned on pop, country, adult contemporary and dance charts with such hits as Physical and Youre the One That I Want and won countless hearts as everyones favorite Sandy in the blockbuster film version of Grease, has died. She was 73. Heres how I handled it: NO! Though I didnt follow her career into the later decades, she was my first elementary school celebrity crush. Her album If You Love Me, Let Me Know was a 1974 North American release of some of her previous hits in Australia. The title track grabbed me by the ear and the cover photo, a denim-clad country girl (from another country) stole my heart. Her first Billboard No. 1, I Honestly Love You, appeared on that album, and I was convinced she was singing it directly to me. In 10 or 12 years, she would be Mrs. Olivia Newton-John-Hollifield and we would raise wallabies and drink Fosters on a 100-acre spread at the edge of the Outback. While that didnt happen and my interest in Olivia waned with subsequent releases that did not profess her love directly to me, she made another impact on my life a few years later. In my seventh grade summer, I was picked to go to nerd camp at what was then Mars Hill College and is now Mars Hill University, about 20 minutes north of Asheville. It was called something like Summer Enrichment and Enhancement, but, lets be real, it was nerd camp. I dont know how the selection process went, but it was probably, Hey, do guys have a kid you can send up here for the summer because we are one short from your disadvantaged area of getting our federal funding. A couple of administrators looked at each other and said: We can send Hollifield. He probably wont murder anybody. It even made the local newspaper. I believe the headline was Buck-tooth boy makes good. And thats how I got to nerd camp. There were all kinds of classes to help us think outside the box, a phrase that gets reused every few years when people cant come up with any other cliches. On the physical activity side, I chose a fencing class because I could learn how to fight people with a sword, something that would come in handy never. I could have taken a class on rewiring a lamp but, no, I wanted to learn to fight someone with a sword just in case of a big pirate uprising. The counselor for my group decided against our wills the physical activity for the second part of camp would be learning a choreographed dance. Im pretty sure this was only because he had a thing for the co-ed dance instructor. I voiced my objection. Ron, I think I speak for all of us here in saying I would prefer more sword fighting or perhaps dueling with pistols. Nope. Ron said we were all going to learn a dance performed in the musical Grease to the song Youre The One That I Want, which featured none other than Olivia Newton-John. She would be there in spirit only. At that moment, I remembered that she honestly loved me. And maybe, just maybe, I was the one that she wants. Would it get physical, physical? I could only hope. I did my best. I practiced my steps. I tried to stay in time. But, the cold, hard truth was I was better at stabbing people in the chest with a sword than dancing to Youre The One That I Want. Rest in peace, Olivia Newton-John. Someday, Ill see you on that 100-acre wallaby spread in the sky. Well have a Fosters, and I will show you some sword-fighting moves. There are many budget solid-state drives (SSDs) available on the market, but often it is better to spend more money not to fall victim to the compromises manufacturers make to bring the cost down. Adding an SSD is often an excellent upgrade to make your computer feel faster since it can access and read data quicker than conventional mechanical hard drives. Although SSDs are a major upgrade over mechanical drives, there can be significant differences in how different drives perform based on the hardware it uses. Before buying a cheap SSD, there are some important factors to consider. These include if the SSD has a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cache, its random access read and write speeds, and how many terabytes can be written to the drive before it reaches end-of-life. The form factor and interface type must also be kept in mind. These are grouped into two main types: 2.5-inch drives with a Serial AT Attachment (SATA) interface and M.2 drives with a nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) connector. SATA is slower than NVMe, and each interface regularly undergoes revisions increasing the transfer speeds. Even though an M.2 SSD can use either NVMe or SATA, product advertisements often use M.2 to imply a drive using NVMe. According to Techquickie, an SSD accesses and retrieves data stored on its NAND flash memory modules by using a data map to track where the data is physically stored on the drive. An SSD needs to keep track of the precise locations of data because of a protective measure called wear levelling. Since an SSDs lifespan depends on the number of terabytes written (TBW) to its memory cells, wear levelling is a protective measure that moves the data around regularly, ensuring some memory cells do not degrade faster than others. If an SSDs data map is kept on a DRAM cache, it can look up the datas location much more quickly than one without. Cheap DRAM-less SSDs perform worse because they house the data map on the NAND flash modules, or they copy it over to the computers RAM once the system boots up. When an SSD stores its data map in the computers memory, it is Host Memory Buffer (HMB) Enabled. HMB-enabled SSDs have the added drawback of reducing the overall RAM available for your operating system, which could hurt your PCs performance. SSDs that store their data maps on the NAND flash modules will also have a shorter lifespan since there is more overwriting of data. Figuring out if an SSD has a DRAM cache is not an easy task as not all manufacturers list the feature on their product pages. For example, Samsung typically lists if an SSD has a DRAM cache, while we couldnt find it for Kingstons SSDs. Other ways to determine if an SSD has a DRAM cache include looking at reviews, teardowns, and user-generated databases, like Johnnylucky.org and NewMaxxs spreadsheet. Well-known tech YouTuber Linus Sebastian states that another good way to estimate whether an SSD has a DRAM cache is to look at the warranty shorter warranties could indicate a DRAM-less SSD. Manufacturers often boast an SSDs sequential read and write speeds on the product page to encourage customers to buy their product over others. However, as Sebastian explains in a video, sequential speeds are how fast an SSD can read or write a large file in one contiguous place on the drive. These speeds are usually only relevant to users who need to move or access a lot of data at once, like video production companies or content creators. Random read and write speeds more accurately measure how quickly an SSD can deal with smaller chunks of data stored in random locations all over the drive. Random reads and writes are much more representative of what the average user does from day to day, like saving documents, accessing files, or web browsing. For those who want a noticeably faster experience than their ageing hard drive, weve listed some of the cheapest 2.5-inch SSDs and NVMes available from Wootware and Progenix. Hikvision E100 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 inch SSD (Evetech) R1,363.95 Hikvision E100 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 inch SSD Form factor 2.5-inch Interface type SATA III DRAM cache Not listed Random access write speed Not listed Random access read speed Not listed Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 352 Crucial BX500 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Progenix) R1,540 Crucial BX500 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD Form factor 2.5-inch Interface type SATA III DRAM cache No (* NewMaxx) Random access read/write speed 540/500 MB/s (* NewMaxx) Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 360 ADATA Legend 710 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (Progenix) R1,569 ADATA Legend 710 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD Form factor M.2 Interface type PCIe Gen 3 DRAM cache Not listed Random access write speed Up to 150,000 Random access read speed Up to 180,000 Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 260 Western Digital Blue 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Progenix) R1,653 Western Digital Blue 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD Form factor 2.5-inch Interface type SATA III DRAM cache Yes (* NewMaxx) Random access read/write speed up to 90,000 IOPS Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 400 Kingston NV1 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD (Progenix) R1,677 Kingston NV1 PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD Form factor M.2 Interface type NVMe PCIe Gen 3 DRAM cache HMB-enabled (* NewMaxx) Random access read/write speed 2100/1700 MB/s (* NewMaxx) Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 240 Gigabyte SSD 1TB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Progenix) R1,689 Gigabyte SSD 1TB 2.5 SATA 6Gb/s SSD (Progenix) R1,689 Form factor 2.5-inch Interface type SATA III DRAM cache No (* NewMaxx) Random access write speed up to 85,000 IOPS Random access read speed up to 75,000 IOPS Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 600 Adata ASX6000LNP-1TT-C SX6000 Lite 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 Solid State Drive (Wootware) R1,823 Adata ASX6000LNP-1TT-C SX6000 Lite 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 Solid State Drive Form factor M.2 Interface type PCIe Gen 3 DRAM cache HMB-enabled (* NewMaxx) Random access write speed Up to 200,000 IOPS Random access read speed Up to 220,000 IOPS Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 480 Transcend TS1TMTE110S 110S 1TB M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive (Wootware) R2,035 Transcend TS1TMTE110S 110S 1TB M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive Form factor M.2 Interface type NVMe PCIe Gen3 DRAM cache HMB-enabled (* NewMaxx) Random access read/write speed up to 200,000/250,000 IOPS Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 400 Samsung MZ-V8V1T0BW 980 1TB NVMe M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 x4 Solid State Drive (Wootware) R2,769 Samsung MZ-V8V1T0BW 980 1TB NVMe M.2 (2280) PCIe 3.0 x4 Solid State Drive Form factor M.2 Interface type PCIe Gen 3 DRAM cache HMB-enabled Random access write speed 3500 MB/s (* NewMaxx) Random access read speed 3000 MB/s (* NewMaxx) Lifespan / Terabytes Written (TBW) 600 Now read: Intel versus AMD processor showdown Leading entrepreneur Paul Harris (72), one of the triumvirate who created SAs leading financial services group FirstRand through 1998s merger of their much smaller RMB with First National Bank, is aiming for a repeat in the telecoms space. Harriss six year old company Rain formally proposed a merger with Telkom, SAs formerly state-owned telecoms monopoly. Rain is a niche player chaired by Harris and run by Brandon Leigh, a co-founder who took over from former Outsurance boss Willem Roos in March 2021. Once dominant Telkom has slipped into an also-ran position behind South Africas effective duopoly of Vodacom and MTN. Its most successful stretch was under the direction of Sizwe Nxasana who went on to spend nine years with Harris at FirstRand, the last five after succeeding him as CEO. Earlier this month Telkom confirmed it is in play in a trading statement which referred to its value unlock strategy, which was adopted following the realisation that Telkoms market capitalisation is not representative of its intrinsic value. The shares currently trade at two thirds of its stated net asset value of R66 a share. After dropping to R32.75, on July 15, the companys share price jumped 26% after Telkom announced MTN had approached the company with a proposal to acquire 100% of the business for a combination of shares and cash. Were the merger with rain to be consummated, the most obvious challenge would be a clash of cultures. While Rain is perceived to be nimble, sassy and cutting edge, Telkoms legacy is very different. This is not a concern for Harris who told me this morning: We had the same circumstances when RMB merged with FNB. We would hope we can contribute to creating a culture in the merged company that empowers management more. Large companies often dont harness the latent talent of people in the company. Telkom and Rain have good people that can flourish with an empowered culture. What about the very real issue that 80% of mergers fail a point which former investment banker Harris is acutely aware of? His response: Were very aware of the merger stats and will not go into it without being comfortable with the risks. Harris answered a series of my questions on Thursday morning via WhatsApp his responses are in italics: Its exciting to hear of a challenge to the duopoly but how can one quantify that ie I was under the impression that rain leverages the Vodacom and MTN infrastructure; would there not be a risk of losing this if Rain were a direct and serious competitor? All telcos that have infrastructure have realised that in order to sweat the assets they must share or sell and lease back (eg towers). Competition is not only needed in retail but also in infrastructure. Providers including Vodacom and MTN want to sell access to their infrastructure to other roleplayers sharing is good for the market and international good practice. Re our existing deals they are long term. Telkoms market cap is R23bn. With rains R1bn ebitda it is likely to be valued at not much more than half that figure. So would this not be more of a takeover by Telkom than a merger? Or have I got the numbers wrong? We will not address relative values until we prove the business case. Bear in mind that rain has just achieved critical mass so future growth will be at better margins. We are at different points of the value curve 5G will accelerate growth and at rain we are positioned for it. Are you able to quantify rains drive into 5G compared with what Telkom, Vodacom and MTN have ie is 5G the real value add for Telkom in this proposed merger? Rain was been at the forefront of 5G since 2016. The 5G ecosystem is about hit is growth straps. Two years ago very few devices supported 5G now almost all devices support 5G. Rain has been by the far market leader in 5G to the home. This is just the first business case. Even the US telcos like T-mobile are also flying in the 5G home market. See pic from Sept 2016 to show we not fly-by-nights. The Openserve (fibre infrastructure) opportunity looks very exciting from the outside but Id love to better understand how a merger would add value to both parties The fibre infrastructure of Telkom will be a key asset of the merged entity as it would be for MTN. It would be a huge benefit to the rollout of the 5G network. The merged entity will also be focused on providing broadband to homes whether via fibre or 5G. The merged entity will be able to offer choice to the consumers. Quantify how this merger would be pro-consumer? There will be more competition at both infrastructure and retail markets, so consumers will be beneficiaries. Triopoly not the current duopoly. If the Telkom board rejects the merger proposal, what would the next step for Rain be? Would you consider going hostile? This question was not responded to. How would BCX fit into the enlarged group would it become non-core? They have huge access to corporate and public sector entities which will be main beneficiaries of 5G as the ecosystem matures. Why not just bid for Openserve which will be separated anyway on September 1? Surely this is the most obvious fit with Rain? No, we believe that there are huge synergies in all the divisions of Telkom especially at the radio network layer. Last question any other similarities with the RMB/FNB transaction? Apart from being a different sector and the culture issues mentioned above, anything else that is similar for you? Very similar dynamics I think, an established large super tanker and a speed boat getting together. Lots of lessons. Biggest is dont underrate the super tanker. Tortoise and the hare, but a combination can be powerful. By Alec Hogg, first published on BizNews and republished with permission. Now read: Rain ordered to retract proposed Telkom merger announcement British Stormer HVM anti-aircraft missile systems are already participating in hostilities in eastern Ukraine. Photos of anti-aircraft missile launches from these complexes appeared on the pages of the Joint Forces Group and the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition to the launch, the military published a photo of the screen, which probably shows the hit target. Screen SAM Stormer HVM The Armed Forces report that 4 UAVs of the Orlan-10 type (one of them at night) and a Su-25 attack aircraft were shot down. However, it is not known whether the Stormer HVM air defense system hit all these targets. Stormer HVM (High Velocity Missile) is a short-range air defense system. Is an 8-canister Starstreak or Martlet LMM missile launcher mounted on a Stormer armored tracked platform. Both types of missiles are already used by the Ukrainian military against Russia in the form of MANPADS. Air defense system "Stormer HVM" of the military of Ukraine. July 2022. Ukraine. Photo: @GirkinGirkin Designed to destroy helicopters and planes flying at low altitudes. It has been in service with the British Army since 1997. Export deliveries were made to Oman. In addition to eight missiles in the launch containers, the vehicle can carry 12 more missiles for reloading. Air defense system "Stormer HVM" of the military of Ukraine. July 2022. Ukraine. Photo: @GirkinGirkin A panoramic (omnidirectional) sight and an air threat warning system are installed on the roof of the car for recognizing targets and determining their priority. The crew of the air defense system is 3 people. Stormer can move at a maximum speed of 80 km/h. The maximum range is 600 km. Read also: 19-year-old machine gunner from Frankivsk defends Ukraine on the front line (VIDEO) The enemy hit the Black Sea University with S-300 missiles In Lisichansk blew up two buildings with occupiers (VIDEO) In the Kherson region, aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked five positions of the Russian Army at once (VIDEO) Combat group K2 destroyed the occupiers' 120-mm mortar and the BC warehouse in Donetsk region (VIDEO) In a day - minus 6 tanks and two hundred occupiers: the General Staff of the Armed Forces Satellite images show the destroyed Russian base near Dzhankoy Workers at Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center are raising red flags about low staffing levels that they claim impact safety and patient care at the Napa hospital. Things are dire in the emergency room at the Queen, said Jill Wollman, a nurse whos been with the Queen for 13 years. We have to close rooms in the ER resulting in extended patient wait times, patients leaving without getting care or going to other hospitals outside our community. Additionally, Providence employees including members of two different unions have also filed grievances about hours worked that remain unpaid. Providence said that hiring and retaining staff has become a critical issue at hospitals across the country. As hospitals compete for caregivers, it has become increasingly difficult for health care organizations to staff to pre-COVID-19 levels, said a statement from spokesperson Christian Hill. However, The safety of our patients and our caregivers is our highest priority, he said. Our caregivers are talented, compassionate professionals who always put safety first for all who work in or seek care in our hospital. As for the payroll issues, those are being fixed, said Hill. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Providence Nurses, members of the California Nurses Association, and other staffers, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), remain frustrated. Wollman said that a 24-hour shift in the emergency department normally requires 15 nurses, but were running about three to four nurses short a day, she said. That means the wait to see a health care provider in the emergency department can now stretch as long as eight hours on bad days, she said. The staffing problems go back to the start of the pandemic, Wollman said. Every day we are forced to work with such levels of staffing we put our nursing license at risk, she said during public comment at an Aug. 2 Napa City Council meeting. Nurses are being asked to come in early, stay late and work extra shifts. Many arent able to take needed breaks, she said. Its not safe, said Wollman. We now ask (not) when a patient will die, but how many. Rafael Escobar is another RN who works in the Queens emergency department. Hes been with the Napa hospital for 27 years. Escobar noted that even after a Queen patient is taken to a bed in the emergency room, the lack of enough nurses means less attention for those patients, some of whom might require one-on-one care. When staffing suffers, so does the quality of care, said Escobar. You dont have time to see all your patients and attend all their needs because you are so overwhelmed and running all over the place. Wollman said she read a recent memo from Providence about more travel nurses coming on board. But what happens when those traveling nurse contracts end? she asked. Were just putting a Band-Aid on, the lack of staffing, Wollman said. Additionally, I dont know if we have a benefit package that is enticing people to come to the Queen. Wollman said she could work for the Kaiser system and earn $20 to as much as $30 more an hour. Plus, Its very expensive, to live in Napa Valley. Its hard to retain nurses. Other Providence hospitals are experiencing the same staffing crisis. At Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka, we have a 30-bed floor capped at only 10 patients because we don't have staff to open the additional 20 beds, said Lesley Ester, RN. That means addition patients are sent out of the area for care, which costs extra time and money, not to mention making it harder for the patients family to visit in person. Providence responded. The company routinely reviews its pay and benefits package to ensure our compensation and benefits are competitive, said a statement from the health care company. We understand the additional strain on our caregivers when we have open positions, said the Providence statement. We have made staffing a top priority by filling the open clinical positions we have posted, and by supporting our existing caregivers. Other actions Providence said it has taken include hiring qualified traveling nurses to supplement staffing needs, hiring recent graduates, offering $3,000 referral bonuses, highly competitive sign-on bonuses and incentives for caregivers who work extra shifts. For example, this past year, caregivers received a $1,000 bonus in gratitude for their service and dedication, the statement noted. Providence Queen of the Valley union workers protest staffing shortages, fight for wage increases during Omicron surge Providence Queen of the Valley workers picketed during break times last week to protest staffing shortages during the current pandemic surge and advocate for wage increases. Some employees arent convinced. On Aug. 9 NUHW members at Providence hospitals across Northern California held a press conference about systemic payroll errors costing them and their colleagues thousands of dollars in lost wages over the past month. Since July 8, NUHW-represented caregivers either have not received paychecks or received multiple paychecks missing hundreds or thousands of dollars, said a news release from the union. Under NUHW contracts, Providence is required to fix payroll errors within 48 hours, said the union. At Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Weve had people go up to six to nine months without getting paid correctly, said Peter Brackner, RN. We think its criminal that people can work for a large corporation like this and not get the pay they expected. Providence has expectations for us as care partners and it is beyond frustrating when our most basic expectation of fair wages for fair work is not being met, said Michele Steinberg, an emergency room patient access representative at the Queen. Pay the bonuses that we have earned, said Escobar. Its as simple as that." Dustin Amsden, a surgical tech at Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna which is south of Eureka said hes owed $5,419 in unpaid wages, and Providence hasn't done anything to fix the problem. I had to take out a loan to cover the expenses of my family of four. "There is no excuse for an entity as big as Providence to not be able to pay its workers what we're owed paycheck after paycheck, said Chuck Desepte, an X-ray technologist at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. We see every day how Providence is cutting corners by understaffing its hospitals," Desepte said. "This is just another example of how Providence's obsession with the bottom line is bad for patients and caregivers. Hill, the Providence spokesperson, said the company takes any discrepancies in paychecks or missed pay incredibly seriously. In early July Providence implemented a new human resources, finance, timekeeping and payroll system, he said. As a result, some paychecks included incorrect or partial pay. We are deeply sorry that we have missed the mark for some individuals or that we created any kind of hardship or anxiety for caregivers and their families, said the statement. As of Aug. 5, most issues have been resolved and correct pay has been provided, said a statement from the company. Other discrepancies continue to be investigated. In the meantime, Providence is offering a one-time mitigation payment of $500 for an estimated 207 affected caregivers across the system. We are doing everything we can to resolve the remaining outstanding issues as quickly as possible, said the Providence statement. We also remain profoundly grateful to our caregivers for their patience and for all they do to serve patients in need. Providence, based in Washington, employs 120,000 caregivers that serve in 52 hospitals, 1,085 clinics and provide a range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. After years of effort, Napa Valley College is breaking ground this month on a three-building, 588-bed student housing complex, set to open up for student use in fall 2024. Known as River Trail Village, the project will be located at the north end of NVCs main campus on Magnolia Drive. The complex is set to feature traditional dormitory rooms and apartments, and all of the units will be below market rate rent, according to a Napa Valley College press release. Once the housing complex is built, Napa Valley College will be one of the few community colleges in California to offer student housing only 11 of Californias 116 two-year schools currently offer it. But many of the schools, including nearby Santa Rosa Junior College, have been moving toward building such housing in recent years, an effort supported by the state through a $1.4 billion grant program, bolstered by this years state budget surplus, to expand student housing at Californias public colleges and provide greater access to it. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Napa Valley College is also a beneficiary of the state program. NVC officials recently announced the college was awarded a $31 million grant for the River Trail Village project. According to an NVC press release, that money will be used to help make housing at the college affordable for the greatest number of low-income students, who make up about 40% of the NVC student population. More than a third of California college students struggle with housing insecurity in some way, which can serve as a major impediment to academic success, according to reporting from CalMatters, That number rises significantly when looking specifically at community college students. A 2019 statewide survey found 60% of Californias community college students experienced a form of housing insecurity, while roughly 20% had experienced homelessness in the past year. NVC board trustee Kyle Iverson said the housing will help bring people into the college, and that the college is looking to do its part to provide affordable housing within the greater context of Californias housing crisis. The state grant funding we received was huge, Iverson said. I think that shows the direction of the college, being awarded that by the state. Were one of the few community colleges that have been awarded the state money like that for housing. Trustee Michael Baldini said the board recognized the need for student housing back in 2016, and said hes happy to see the project finally moving forward. He said the complex will also serve to house visitors to the college on-site. But the primary mission, he added, is to house students with children, given that a high number of Napa Valley College students are also parents. Baldini spoke highly of the benefits a dorm experience can bring to students as it allows for social connections and the sharing of ideas. Torence Powell, superintendent/president at Napa Valley College, noted in the press release that part of providing a comprehensive academic program is ensuring students have their basic needs met. Research has consistently shown the negative impact housing and food insecurity have on student success, he said We are fortunate to have a state legislature and a governor that recognize the need for affordable housing for college students, especially community college students who have been significantly impacted in the current housing crisis, Powell said in the press release. The true cost of attending college is more than tuition add housing, food, transportation and textbooks to the mix and students who cannot meet their basic needs such as shelter are most directly affected. Construction is starting following NVC Board of Trustees approval in June of a ground lease and coordination agreement with a nonprofit organization National Campus and Community Development (NCCD)-Napa Valley Properties, LLC. established specifically to provide tax-exempt bond financing for the project. Students are more likely to be successful and complete college when they live on campus, particularly when the on-campus experience builds learning relationships and encourages student engagement through the many student support programs Napa Valley offers, Powell said in the press release. Plus, our housing project will support college enrollment, recruitment and retention goals. Investigative Committee chief: Yerevan market blast case evidence indicates that crime was committed by negligence Armenia government members observe minute of silence for those who died in Yerevan market explosion Yerevan market blast: 2 rescuers hospitalized Yerevan market explosion: Evaporation also occurred, odds are not encouraging, emergency minister says World oil prices on the rise Passenger dies after SUV rolls into ravine on Sevan-Martuni motorway Newspaper: Last year there was petition to stop activities at Surmalu market in Yerevan Yerevan market explosion: We believe will be able to finish clearing rubble by days end, says Armenia official Search and rescue operations resume at Yerevan market explosion site Nikkei: Apple in talks to manufacture Apple Watch and MacBook in Vietnam Chery to release new flagship crossover Tiggo 9 Ukraine troops again open massive fire on Energodar city FT: Risk of Eiffel Tower collapse due to rust will persist until 2030 Apple Inc. to introduce iPhone 14 on September 7 Cambodia accuses American billionaire of buying stolen sculptures Suren Petrosyan: Aghavno systematically surrendered UK inflation hits new 40-year high in July What is reason for restrained US reaction to reports about Turkey's purchase of second regiment of S-400? Germany warns gas will run out in less than three months if Russia completely cuts off supplies Rescuer: Site is difficult, there are large structures, we try to cross sections piece by piece Thames Water bans customers from using hoses for irrigation Search operations at Surmalu shopping center ceased until morning Most polluted cities revealed Investor pessimism in Germany has worsened even more in August Electricity prices in Europe continue to rise steadily NATO to increase its peacekeeping forces in Kosovo in case of escalation of tensions with Serbia OPEC Secretary General: Organization is not involved in gas and oil prices rise Estonia to ban Russian citizens who received visa in third EU country from entering Estonia Goldman Sachs: Europe's chances of recession are now twice as high as US NEWS.am BREAKING on Yerevan market blast: 16 people killed, 1 person still missing French MFA expresses solidarity with Armenia over Surmalu tragedy Philippines ready to support US in case of war with China Mayor of Venice looking for two 'pushy idiots' who raced Grand Canal Mishustin and Pashinyan discuss cooperation in trade and economic sphere Velayati says China is strategic ally of Iran Norway will provide military aid to Ukraine Garo Paylan appeals to Ankara Prosecutor's Office Mourning liturgy for victims of explosion and fire at Surmalu will be held in Armenia Iran to develop cooperation with Pakistan UN Secretary General arrives in Lviv Explosions and fires in at least 17 locations in southern Thailand Lithuanian FM calls for cancellation of tourist Schengen visas for Russians Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan sign agreement on international transit corridor Management of Surmalu shopping center expresses condolences in connection with explosion Wildberries denies information about leakage of customer data 1 injured in explosion has been discharged, and four citizens are currently undergoing treatment Armenia Investigative Committee asks to hand over unused fireworks obtained from Surmalu market to police Iranian Foreign Ministry aims to expand regional transit routes Dollar falls, euro rises in Armenia Eurozone GDP is up in second quarter Charles Michel expresses his condolences in connection with Surmalu explosion Israeli President welcomes Turkey's decision to restore diplomatic relations Turkey decides to restore diplomatic relations with Israel Five injured in explosion are being treated at medical centers NYT: Western countries want to give Russian diamonds bloody status Karabakh teen drowns in reservoir (PHOTOS) More than 50 people questioned in Yerevan shopping market explosion criminal case President: Armenia underscores development of mutually beneficial cooperation with Indonesia Azerbaijan ombudsperson is interested in convicted Armenian captives Kazakhstan President sends condolence message to Armenia PM Armenia has new consul general in Russias Rostov-on-Don No bombs found at Gyumri international airport, railway station 3 men who strangled Yerevan woman, 47, to death are arrested People continue bringing flowers, toys nearby tragic Yerevan explosion site Book of condolences opened at all Armenia diplomatic missions abroad Bomb threat made at Gyumri international airport, railway station Russian embassy upset by reports about Russia organizations participation in Yerevan market tragedy Armenia ex-deputy PM Avinyan visits Yerevan market blast site Yerevan market explosion: We have one missing person, Armenia official says Armenia Prosecutor Generals Office: No one is charged in Yerevan market blast case World oil prices going up Day of mourning declared in Armenia, Artsakh today and tomorrow Kazakhstan embassy offers condolences over Yerevan market explosion People laying flowers nearby Yerevan market blast site Newspaper: One person is charged in Yerevan market explosion case Newspaper: Armenia ruling party plans to make state institutions employees become party members Yerevan explosion: 2 people still being searched for Yerevan market explosion: 2 people still considered missing as of midnight (PHOTOS) Turkey launches airstrike on Aleppo countryside, 3 Syria soldiers dead Is Western unity over Ukraine about to crack? Which countries could survive nuclear war? Surmalu re-inspection scheduled for November In Lebanon, man who held hostages in bank released without charges TerraPower of Bill Gates raises $750 million for projects in nuclear energy and medicine China's 'Galaxy Fold clone' sold out in five minutes and became a bestseller Germany plans to postpone closure of its last three nuclear power plants Expert estimates environmental consequences of Yerevan explosion and gives advices Switzerland signs agreement with Uzbekistan to return $131 million seized from Gulnara Karimova Artsakh also declares mourning Norway can no longer supply Germany with more gas UN Secretary General to meet with Presidents of Ukraine and Turkey in Lviv Ministry of Emergency Situations: There were about 4 tons of flammable substances in Surmalu Russian Security Council says Kyiv threatens global nuclear security Content of toxic substances in air after explosion in Yerevan has increased sharply Scholz says Sweden and Finland's NATO accession process goes according to plan Macron and Zelenskiy discuss situation over Zaporozhye nuclear power plant Expert: Biden is not preparing Americans for what is to come Armenian Prosecutor General's Office: Representatives of management and employees of Surmalu will be interrogated Mourning declared in Armenia Latvia will not extend residence permits previously issued to Russian citizens Photo: pixabay B.C.s Civil Resolution Tribunal has told a B.C. strata council to reverse a fine levied against an owner offering a condo for short-term accommodations (STAs). The strata told tribunal vice-chair Kate Campbell that Rahim Jivraj was operating STAs through the website Vacation Rental By Owner, contrary to bylaws. It wanted the tribunal to order him to stop, according to an Aug. 10 decision. Jivraj admitted to using his suite for STAs until Oct. 12, 2019. He said that did not breach any bylaws, in part because he had a licence from the City of Vancouver. Jivraj said the strata acted unfairly by causing his city licence to be suspended, and by seeking bylaw enforcement against him while permitting other owners to operate STAs. Both sides agreed that until 2019, the strata had no bylaw prohibiting STAs. That changed at a June 2019 annual general meeting. The strata amended its bylaws and banned the occupation of a unit for less than 30 consecutive days in a calendar year without prior written consent from the strata. Campbell found the city licence did not exempt Jivraj from the bylaw. Jivraj argued he was exempt from the new bylaw for a year under the Strata Property Act. However, Campbell noted the act refers to rentals and that established law makes a difference between an STA and a rental. As such, Campbell found Jivraj breached the bylaw for which the strata had already fined him $1,000. However, she also found the strata didn't give Jivraj sufficient notice of the fine or time to dispute it, and ordered the $1,000 fine be reversed. In a counterclaim, Jivraj sought $25,000 in punitive damages for the stratas alleged conduct, which he called over zealous and motivated by malice. Jivraj said the strata filed a B.C. Supreme Court action against him in 2014 for payment of strata fees. He said this included a petition for the forced the sale of his unit. He claimed that the proceedings affected his mortgage and cost him in legal fees. Campbell said the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled such damages can only be awarded to punish harsh, vindictive, reprehensible and malicious behaviour. She did not find that in the dispute and denied such damages. The strata sought reimbursement of $9,173 in legal fees, which Campbell denied. Photo: The Canadian Press Children watch as workers clean up after a rocket strike on a house in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. There were no injuries reported in the strike. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Russia's military pounded residential areas across Ukraine overnight, claiming gains, as Ukrainian forces pressed a counteroffensive to try to take back an occupied southern region, striking the last working bridge over a river in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. A Russian rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night, according to the mayor. Kramatorsk is the headquarters for Ukrainian forces in the country's war-torn east. The attack came less than a day after 11 other rockets were fired at the city, one of the two main Ukrainian-held ones in Donetsk province, the focus of an ongoing Russian offensive to capture eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday its forces had taken control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk, the provincial capital that pro-Moscow separatists have claimed since 2014. Russian troops and the Kremlin-backed rebels are seeking to seize Ukrainian-held areas north and west of the city of Donetsk to expand the separatists' self-proclaimed republic. But the Ukrainian military said Saturday that its forces had prevented an overnight advance toward the smaller cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov also claimed that Russian strikes near Kramatorsk, 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Donetsk city, destroyed a U.S.-supplied multiple rocket launcher and ammunition. Ukrainian authorities did not acknowledge any military losses but said that Russian missile strikes Friday on Kramatorsk had destroyed 20 residential buildings. Neither claim could be independently verified. The Ukrainian governor of neighboring Luhansk province, which is part of the fight over the Donbas region and was overrun by Russian forces last month, claimed that Ukrainian troops still held a small area. Writing on Telegram, Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai said the defending troops remained holed up inside an oil refinery on the edge of Lysychansk, a city that Moscow claimed to have captured, and also control areas near a village. The enemy is burning the ground at the entrances to the Luhansk region because it cannot overcome (Ukrainian resistance along) these few kilometers," Haidai said. "It is difficult to count how many thousands of shells this territory of the free Luhansk region has withstood over the past month and a half. Further west, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region reported more Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol, which lies across the Dnieper River from Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Gov. Yevhen Yevtushenko did not specify whether Russian troops had fired at Nikopol from the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Writing on Telegram, he said Saturday that there were no casualties but residential buildings, a power line and a gas pipeline were damaged. Nikopol has undergone daily bombardment for most of the past week, and a volley of shells killed three people and damaged 40 apartment buildings on Thursday, he said. Russia and Ukrainian officials have for days accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia plant in contravention of nuclear safety rules. Russian troops have occupied the plant since the early days of Moscow's invasion, although the facility's pre-war Ukrainian nuclear workers continue to run it. Ukrainian military intelligence alleged Saturday that Russian troops were shelling the plant from a village just kilometers away, damaging a plant pumping station and a fire station. The intelligence directorate said the Russians had bused people into the power plant and mounted a Ukrainian flag on a self-propelled gun on the outskirts of Enerhodar, the city where the plant is located. Obviously, it will be used for yet another provocation to accuse the armed forces of Ukraine, the directorate said, without elaborating. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly alleged that Russian forces were cynically using the plant as a shield while firing at communities across the river, knowing that Ukrainian forces were unlikely to fire back for fear of triggering a nuclear accident. They said Russian shelling on Friday night killed one woman and injured two other civilians in the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is a straight distance of about 53 kilometers (33 miles) from the plant. Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv region also said a woman died there in shelling. For several weeks, Ukraine's military has tried to lay the groundwork for a counter-offensive to reclaim southern Ukraine's Russian-occupied Kherson region. A local Ukrainian official reported Saturday that a Ukrainian strike had damaged the last working bridge over the Dnieper River in the region and further crippled Russian supply lines. The Russians no longer have any capability to fully turn over their equipment, Serhii Khlan, a deputy to the Kherson Regional Council, wrote on Facebook. His claims could not be immediately verified. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly mentioned a planned counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied parts of the countrys south. They urged residents not to post information on social media about military actions related to it and cautioned that any related announcements might come with a time lag. Days after explosions at a Russian air base in Crimea destroyed up to a dozen aircraft, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said Kyiv should make retaking the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow seized more than eight years ago one of its war aims. Russia started a war against Ukraine and the world in 2014, with its brazen seizure of Crimea. It is obvious that this war should end with the liberation of Crimea," Mykhailo Podoylak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, wrote Saturday on Twitter. "And also with the legal punishment of the initiators of the special military operation - the Kremlin's term for its war in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the explosions at the Saki air base on Tuesday. Russian defense officials denied any aircraft were damaged - or that any attack took place - and attributed the blasts to the sparking of on-site munitions. Attack on author Salman Rushdie has evoked widespread condemnation from people across the world. Like many, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut also took to social media to express anger over the shocking incident. Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at a literary event in New York, US, on Friday. He is currently on ventilator. Law enforcement officials have identified the attacker as a 24-year-old Hadi Matar, who reportedly hails from New Jersey. Calling the assailant "jihadi", Kangana wrote, "Another day another appalling act by jihadis. The Satanic Verses is one of the greatest books of its time... I am shaken beyond words. Apalling." The 75-year-old, who was born in Bombay, has faced Islamist death threats for years for writing the novel 'The Satanic Verses'. The book was banned shortly after publication in several countries, including India, and triggered a fatwa against Rushdie by Iran's then Supreme Leader. The author's agent said that nerves of his arm have been severely damaged and due to the stabbing his liver is also damaged and according to his present medical condition post the attack he could also lose an eye. "The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his agent, wrote in an email. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged." The interviewer with Salman Rushdie was also attacked during the incident and he suffered a minor head injury, the police said. Several literary figures and public officials reacted to the attack on Salman Rushdie. "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay," UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet. Khaled Hosseini, an American novelist said that he will pray for his recovery. Calling him an essential voice, Hosseini said that he is horrified by this attack on Rushdie.'' Salman Rushdie came into the limelight with his second novel "Midnight's Children" in 1981. The book won international praise and Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India. (ANI) American comedian and host Bill Maher during his most recent broadcast of HBO's Real Time honoured his close friend Salman Rushdie who was stabbed on Friday minutes before giving a lecture in Western New York. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Maher noted at the beginning of the episode that his thoughts were on the attack when he sat down with guests Piers Morgan and writer Rikki Schlott. According to a statement released by Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, late Friday, the author of the 1988 book 'The Satanic Verses' was on a ventilator and was probably going to lose one eye as a result of the attack. "First, I have to say something -- it's somewhat personal but also national news," Maher said. "A dear friend of mine, good friend of this show, got stabbed today, Salman Rushdie. I'm sure people have seen this news." Maher continued by discussing his feelings surrounding the Islamic faith. "Islam is still a much more fundamentalist religion than any of the other religions in the world, and that means they take what's in the holy book seriously," Maher said as quoted by the Hollywood Reporter. "And that has been dangerous for a long time -- it's still dangerous. This was 1989 when he was first threatened," he added. In his response, Morgan compared the assault on Rushdie to the onstage heckling of comedians Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock earlier this year and said that the United States' commitment to free expression is under threat. "Ask Dave Chappelle -- attacked onstage for having an opinion, for cracking jokes," Morgan said. "Ask Chris Rock, punched onstage at the Oscars for cracking a joke. Once it strays into violence, then you end up with Salman Rushdie being stabbed by a lunatic on a stage in New York." Hadi Matar, who stabbed Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie in Western New York state on Friday, has been charged with attempted murder and assault, local media reported on Saturday. According to a statement from the Chautauqua County District Attorney, the 24-year-old attacker rushed to the stage at the Chautauqua Institution yesterday morning where 75-year-old Rushdie was beginning a lecture on freedom of expression, New York Post reported. (ANI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday ordered the suspension of Darrang Superintendent of Police and two other police officials over alleged dereliction of duty in the case of unnatural death of a 13-year-old girl. He also ordered an SIT probe into the incident. The Chief Minister gave the orders after his visit to the Dhekiajuli residence of the deceased, who was found hanging by the neck. Accompanied by Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, the Chief Minister interacted with the relatives of the deceased and inquired about the allegations they had levelled against the Darrang police officials. It was alleged that the police displayed extreme dereliction of duty in collecting of photographic and video graphic evidence of the incident. It was also alleged that the Dhula Police Station Officer-in-charge had put pressure on the family members of the deceased to not file a written complaint on the unnatural death. After the visit, the Chief Minister ordered the suspension of Darrang Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajmohan Ray, Additional SP Rupam Phukan and the Dhula Police Station Officer in-charge. "Considering the gravity of the above allegations, the Chief Minister asked the DGP to constitute a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a thorough investigation into the incident," an official release said. Two of the three members of the SIT shall be females. The Chief Minister also issued instructions to concerned officials to get a house constructed for the family of the deceased under a government scheme. He also ordered the Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner to take necessary measures for the inclusion of the family of the deceased under the Orunodoi scheme. (ANI) Women rights activist Brinda Adige slammed former MLA from Kerala PC George for his derogatory comments on a rape survivor and said the leader's party's inaction has resulted in his arrogant behaviour. "His statement is not only derogatory but shameful. He implies that rape survivor has benefitted and got more movies for it. This is appalling. He's an incorrigible person because this isn't the first time he did it," Adige told ANI. She further called out George for his arrogance. "The responsibility lies on party leaders as they never pulled him up. His impunity and arrogance continues as he knows he has nothing to lose. Police too haven't registered a case," she added. Earlier, Former MLA PC George who was granted bail in a sexual assault case, on Saturday raised a serious allegation against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan demanding an Enforcement Directorate probe into his involvement dealing with businessman Pharis Aboobacker. Talking to the media, George said that Chief Minister's daughter Veena Vijayan's firm "Exalogic" is involved in selling the data of the people in the state and the frequent visit of Pinarayi Vijayan to the USA is also doubtful. Therefore it must be investigated by the ED. George was granted bail by the Trivandrum court with strict orders after three hours of hearing. He was granted bail on the condition that he would cooperate with the investigation and will not influence the complainant and appear before the investigating officer every Saturday. On Saturday, the complainant alleged that George had misbehaved with her when she was called for a discussion over the Kerala Gold Smuggling case at the government guest house in Thiruvananthapuram.Museum police registered a case against ex-MLA George on charges of sexual harassment and outraging modesty. The complainant is also accused in a solar scam case. Case registered under IPC sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354 A. She gave a 164 statement before the Museum police on Saturday morning at 11 am. Within an hour, Museum police booked him under IPC sections 354 and 354A and later granted him bail. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLC AH Vishwanath on Friday welcomed the Karnataka High Court's decision to abolish the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and said that all three major political parties have been shaken by this decision. The Karnataka High Court on Thursday abolished the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), formed by the Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah and transferred all pending cases before the ACB to the Lokayukta Police division. Addressing a press conference, the BJP MLC said that Lokayukta was brought to eliminate political corruption but it was demolished by the state government. "The leaders of all the three major political parties have been shaken by the decision of the High Court to abolish the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB)," said Vishwanath. "The verdict is welcome. Lokayukta was brought to eliminate political corruption. It was demolished by the state government in 2014,'" he said. He said that Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Leader of the JDS Legislature Party HD Kumaraswamy also did not give a good response. "The former Chief Minister went to jail because of the Lokayukta. A money counting machine was found in BJP leader KS Eshwarappa's house. Due to all this, there was a clamour to close the Lokayukta. He alleged that Siddaramaiah had acted in addition to that," he said. Vishwanath said that Lokayukta is needed to curb political corruption and the state government should empower the Lokayukta without any hesitation. "Lokayukta should not be weakened for the protection of some leaders", he said. "Even JDS chief HD Deve Gowda has not welcomed the High Court verdict. Because his son Balakrishna's case is also in Lokayukta. He analysed that corruption is the bread and butter of everyone's house," he added. Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the state government will discuss the high court judgment abolishing the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a cabinet meeting soon. "We have seen Karnataka HC's judgment on abolishing Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). We will discuss our next step in the Cabinet meeting keeping our (2018 Assembly election) manifesto in mind," CM Bommai said. In 2016, the Siddaramaiah government formed the ACB, curtailing the powers of the Lokayukta.A division bench comprising Justice B Veerappa and Justice K S Hemalekha said that all pending cases before the ACB will now get transferred to the Lokayukta Police division. The order was passed in connection with the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Chidananda Aras, advocates' association and social activist SR Hiremath's Samaj Parivartan community challenging the formation of ACB.Reacting to the High Court's order Siddaramaiah said, "I have not yet seen the order on the issue of High Court quashing the ACB". Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, said that after seeing the order, he will respond. "ACB was formed by separating Lokayukta. We respect the decision of the High Court. Haven't seen what the order is. He said he will respond after seeing the order. ACB was an independent investigative body. ACB is there not only in Karnataka but also in many states. ACB should be in Lokayukta," said Siddaramaiah. He said that now the High Court has decided that there is no need for independent existence. (ANI) Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar slammed the Narendra Modi government on Friday and said that the issue of equal participation at the Centre was one of the reasons for separation with the BJP in the state. "When the 2019 Lok Sabha election ended and Narendra Modi formed the government at the Centre, at that time the JD-U had 16 MPs and the BJP had 17 MPs from Bihar in the Lok Sabha. We demanded at least 4 cabinet ministers at the Centre but the BJP refused. I told them that the BJP has 17 MPs from Bihar and is giving ministerial berths to 5 MPs and allotting the JD-U just 1. Hence, we refused to take a ministry at the Centre," Kumar said. "I told them (BJP top leadership) you are making five MPs from Bihar union ministers and offering one to us, what would you want to create (communal atmosphere) in Bihar," Kumar told the BJP. "During the 2020 assembly elections, we helped the BJP candidates to win and they have not given support to us. Those JD-U candidates who lost the 2020 assembly election said that due to the BJP workers campaigning against them, they lost the election. Even those who won said that BJP workers did not support them. The BJP during the 2020 assembly election back-stabbed us," Kumar said. Reacting to RCP Singh, Kumar said: "I gave my seat of national president to that man and see what he did with us. He started anti-party activities. I authorised him to negotiate with the BJP during the second expansion of the Narendra Modi government and he put the party interest aside and became a union minister on his own. I never allowed him to take just one ministerial berth at the Centre. At that time, I decided to give him just 6 months and then he would be dumped." "When he became a union minister, I asked him to give the national president post to Lalan Singh," Kumar said. "What was his (RCP Singh) status, I kept him in the ministry at the Centre and when I came to Bihar as chief minister, I brought him and made him secretary. I sent him to the Rajya Sabha twice and see what he did. He was involved in anti-party activities and was working for the BJP. I gave him huge respect and he is making inappropriate and objectionable statements against me. My party workers are pained when they see his objectionable statements," Kumar said. Reacting to Sushil Modi's allegation of not providing him Z plus security despite being deputy chief minister of Bihar for 12 years, Kumar said Modi's allegation was baseless. "We have given him whatever he wants. Even after the 2020 assembly election, I wanted him to stay in Bihar and become the deputy chief minister again but his party brought him to Delhi. I was thinking that he might get an important responsibility (ministerial berth) at the Centre but his party sidelined him. Now he is levelling allegations against me. I never mind his allegations. His party might take notice of the statements he is making against me. I would be happy if he would get some role in the central government," Kumar added. --IANS ajk/bg ( 555 Words) 2022-08-12-20:40:04 (IANS) The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)-led Nagaland government had earlier on a number of occasions urged the Central government to conclude the ongoing Naga peace talks before the Assembly elections scheduled early next year. Talking to the media, Rio, the top leader of the NDPP, said that the core committee on Naga political issues had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and discussed the Naga peace talks issue. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present in the meeting. The Nagaland Chief Minister asserted that the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) and Centre's interlocutor A.K. Mishra would hold discussions to resolve the all-important Naga political issues. Mishra, the former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau, had since last year visited Kohima, Dimapur and the headquarters of the NSCN-IM camp, Hebron (near Dimapur), and held discussions with Thuingaleng Muivah, General Secretary of NSCN-IM, and many other Naga leaders. The NSCN-IM's repeated insistence on a separate Naga flag and Constitution has become a big hurdle in resolving the Naga issue. After signing a formal ceasefire agreement with the NSCN-IM in 1997, the Central government has held more than 85 rounds of negotiations with the NSCN-IM and other Naga groups. --IANS sc/arm ( 249 Words) 2022-08-12-20:44:04 (IANS) Talking to the media here, he said that the BJP is the NDPP's electoral ally since 2017 but there is no question of his party merging with it. Rio was reacting to Nagaland Congress President K Therie's assertion that the NDPP is mulling over merging with the BJP after the 2023 Assembly polls. "I or any other leader of NDPP never said anything like that (merger of NDPP with BJP).Congress has cooked up the baseless story. They have no moral position to raise any question about our integrity," the Chief Minister said. Therie on Thursday claimed that the NDPP is contemplating to install a BJP government in the state. The BJP and the NDPP last month finalised the seat sharing deal to contest for the 60-member Nagaland assembly elections early next year. BJP's in-charge for Nagaland, Nalin Kohli and NDPP's General Secretary Abu Metha announcing the deal in New Delhi had announced that the NDPP would contest in 40 seats and the BJP would fight in the remaining 20 seats. The seat sharing deal was done after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rio met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital. --IANS sc/vd ( 235 Words) 2022-08-12-21:50:04 (IANS) Three police personnel have been suspended in Assam's Darrang district for allegedly showing negligence in duty while handling the case of the death of a 13-year-old minor girl, officials said on Friday. On June 11, the girl was found hanging in the house of one Krishna Kamal Baruah in Dhekiajuli area of Darrang. She was working as a maid in Baruah's house. There were widescale allegations against the top brass of the local police officers about the "improper handling" of the case. It has been alleged that the police displayed extreme dereliction of duty in collecting photographic and videographic evidence of the incident. It has been further alleged that a police officer had also put pressure on the family members of the deceased to not file a written complaint. While on a visit to Dhekiajhuli on Friday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma interacted with the relatives of the deceased and inquired about the allegations they had labelled against the police. Following that, Sarma has ordered the immediate suspension of Darrang Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajmohan Ray, Additional SP Rupam Phukan, and the Dhula Police Station Officer-in-charge for negligence in duty. He has also asked the Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta to constitute a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) for a thorough investigation into the incident. Two of the three members of the SIT shall be women. Sarma has assured the family members of the deceased to get their house built by the government and also assured to give the state government's flagship scheme 'Orunodoi' to them. --IANS tanuj/pgh ( 275 Words) 2022-08-12-22:02:03 (IANS) Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of Germany stop to talk to the media as they take a stroll at the G7 Summit in Schloss Elmau on June 27, 2022. The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau will accompany the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, on a brief Canadian visit later this month that will include stops in Montreal, Toronto and Stephenville in western Newfoundland. In a statement released Saturday, the PMO confirmed the Aug. 21-23 visit starts in Montreal, where meetings will be held with German and Canadian business leaders, and a tour is scheduled at an artificial intelligence institute. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau will accompany the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, on a brief Canadian visit later this month that will include stops in Montreal, Toronto and Stephenville in western Newfoundland. In a statement released Saturday, the PMO confirmed the Aug. 21-23 visit starts in Montreal, where meetings will be held with German and Canadian business leaders, and a tour is scheduled at an artificial intelligence institute. The two men will then head to Toronto, where Trudeau will take part in the virtual summit about Russia's annexation of Crimea, followed by an appearance at the Canada-Germany Business Forum. The trip will conclude with a stop in Stephenville, N.L., where Trudeau and Scholz will attend a hydrogen trade show. The statement says the two men intend to talk about clean energy, critical minerals, the automotive sector, energy security, climate change, trade and Russia's "illegal and unjustifiable invasion" of Ukraine. The prime minister and chancellor last met in June at the G7 Summit in Germany. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday stressed that if China disturbed peace in the border areas, this will have impact on the bilateral relationship. Replying to a query on the troubled relationship with China after the clash in Ladakh two years ago, he said: "We have had 15 rounds of talks at the (Corps) Commanders level and there are experts also attending along with the commanders. We have made some progress, some substantial progress in terms of the sides pulling back from places where they are very close." "There are still some places where they have not, but we have consistently maintained the position that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in the border areas, it will have an impact on the relationship," he added. "I have said in 2020 and 21 and I continue to say in 2022 -- our relationship are not normal. It cannot be normal if the border situation is not normal and the border situation right now is not normal," Jaishankar said. He said that the border situation remained a big problem as the military has been holding its ground for two winters. "It's something which has been a very resolute and strong position by the government which has been implemented on the ground by the armed forces. Obviously, because our positioning is very close, it's a very tense situation, it also could be a dangerous situation, so we are having talks," the Minister said. --IANS mka/vd ( 260 Words) 2022-08-12-23:22:06 (IANS) Two more persons have been arrested in connection with a blast that happened in the compound of the Indian Police Post in the Gool area of Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on August 2, officials said on Friday. According to Mohita Sharma, Superintendent of police (SP) of Ramban, the arrested persons have been identified as Abbas Choudhary and Abdul Majid Lone, both residents of Gool. She said that Abbas has admitted that he had thrown the 'explosive' given to him, inside the Police Post on August 2 in lieu of the promised money. While Majid is accused of harbouring Abbas, Mohammed Farooq and Shahdin Padyar in his house on the night of August 1 for committing the crime. "Abbas is a local Gujjar and like Majid was a member of JK Ghaznavi Force which is an offshoot of Lashkar-e Toiba (LeT). However, no weapon or incriminating document has been found from them," said Sharma. However, Sharma declined to reveal the day when they were arrested. Reportedly, LeT terrorist Talib Hussain of Dharhal Budhal Rajauri who was arrested on July 4 this year is said to be the mastermind of the blast who had motivated them and provided financial help to revive terrorism in Gool area of Ramban district which was once a hub of militancy in the 90s. "The arrested Mohammed Farooq and Shahdin Padyar were paraded before the media men during a press conference on August 6 when the SP Sharma had claimed to have arrested them within 72 hours of the blast. Then it was revealed that Farooq was paid Rs 50,000 by Shahdin for the crime," said the SP. "Rs 50,000, two cellphones and three SIM cards were already recovered from Farooq and Shahdin," she said. Ramban SP further said that some more important arrests are expected to be made soon. On August 6, two terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF) were arrested in connection with the case. On August 2, a grenade blast occurred near the Indian Police post in the Ramban district of the Jammu division. A letter was found claiming of orchestrating the attack by Jammu Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF). (ANI) Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday slammed Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA KT Jaleel for his "Azad Kashmir" remark saying that his statement was "nothing less than treason". He also demanded the resignation of Jaleel after the latter referred to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) as "Azad Kashmir". "An elected MLA of Kerala saying that the Kashmir which is part of India, is an Indian occupied Kashmir and describing the Kashmir which has been occupied by Pakistan as Azad Kashmir. It is nothing less than treason. It is a very-very blatant anti-national statement," said Muraleedharan. He further said that the Kerala MLA should be prosecuted before the law. "He should be asked to resign. It is a shame on the people of Kerala that such a person is represented in the legislative assembly of Kerala. His party should ask him to resign forthwith," the Union Minister added. Earlier, former Kerala minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA KT Jaleel, who recently visited Kashmir, sparked controversy by referring to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as "Azad Kashmir", adding that the people of the valley have forgotten how to laugh due to strong deployment of security forces in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that Pakistan does not have major administrative control over the occupied part of Kashmir (PoK) which Pakistan refers to as 'Azad Kashmir'. The Kerala legislator in his social media post said, "the part of Kashmir that is with Pakistan was known as 'Azad Kashmir'. The Pakistani government did not have a direct influence in this area. Only the currency and military help were under Pakistan's control." Jaleel further said, "Azad Kashmir had their own military. During Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq's time, the military became the common one. The Pakistan government does not have any major administrative power in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir." The Kerala MLA said the heavy deployment of forces has altered the essence of Kashmir. He said Kashmiris are longing for normalcy in the valley. Jaleel claimed he found anger among Kashmiris against the Centre for bifurcating the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. "Wherever you look, you see only Army with rifles. It seems like Kashmiris have forgotten to smile. For decades the colour of Kashmir is army green. All politicians are under house arrest. No political activities for months. In its second term, the Modi government has divided Kashmir into three parts and the anger can be read on people's faces. Was revocation of Article 370 able to meet its purposes? People in Kashmir are hoping to go back to normalcy," added the CPI(M) leader. Meanwhile, Kerala BJP slammed Jaleel for his narrative on Jammu and Kashmir. "This CPI(M) Kerala leader has insulted our armed forces and negated India's official position on Kashmir. He is a traitor," said Kerala BJP state president K Surendran. In August 2019, the central government scrapped Article 370 which gave special rights to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the region into two UTs - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. (ANI) The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence kicked off today. The campaign initiated as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav,' to commemorate India's 75th anniversary of independence will run till August 15. The Central government has urged people to hoist or display the tricolour in their homes from August 13 to 15 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India's independence. A citizen, a private organization or an educational institution may hoist or display the National Flag on all days and occasions. There is no restriction on the timing of flag display. The government has amended the Flag Code of India to allow the tricolour to be displayed in the open and on individual houses or buildings day and night. The Flag Code of India was earlier amended in December last year allowing the use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about the tricolour. Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark Supreme Court judgement of January 23, 2004, that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and PM Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, Naveen Jindal has urged every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens of the country to use 'tiranga' as their profile picture on social media accounts between August 2 and August 15. On Wednesday, PM Modi said the Indian national flag does not contain only three colours in itself but is a reflection of the pride of our past, our commitment to the present and our dreams of the future. Addressing a Tiranga Rally in Surat via video conferencing, PM Modi recalled that in a few days' time, India is completing 75 years of its independence and said that all of us are preparing for this historic Independence Day as the Tricolour is hoisted in every corner of the country. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that the Tiranga Yatras being held across the country are a reflection of the power and devotion of the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan. "From August 13 to 15, the Tricolour will be hoisted in every house of India. People from every section of society, every caste and creed are spontaneously joining with only one identity. This is the identity of the conscientious citizen of India," he said. (ANI) Following an appeal to the Kerala High Court by former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac and five Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLAs, the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) also filed a petition with the court objecting to the Enforcement Directorate's summons regarding the KIIFB's financial transactions. While KIIFB is the first petitioner in the case, its CEO KM Abraham and joint fund manager Ani Jula Thomas have also joined the petition as second and third petitioners. "The Masala Bonds were issued with the appropriate clearance of the RBI for generating funds for performing development initiatives in Kerala. Only the RBI can look into any Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations with regard to the issuing of bonds denominated in rupees, and the ED is not authorized to look into the issue of Masala Bonds," the plea contended. Beginning in March 2021, shortly after the Election Council of India announced the local assembly elections, the ED issued a number of summonses, and KIIFB officials--from the CEO to other officers--appeared for questioning on multiple occasions. Although the investigation has been ongoing for over one and half years, the ED has yet to file a complaint alleging violations as required by Section 16(3) of the FEMA. On August 1, the ED again issued another summons. During oral submissions, ED representatives treated the third petitioner in an aggressive and irritable manner, the plea said. "The summonses issued by the ED state that this action leads to the unavoidable suspicion that the current investigation into the affairs of KIIFB, launched by the 1st Respondent, is a component of a planned smear campaign, sustained by vested political interests, to undermine the state government apparatus," the plea stated. The plea further said the petitioners would suffer severe, irreparable harm if the impugned summonses were upheld since. Thomas Issac previously petitioned the High Court after receiving a summons, and his plea was posted on the 18th of this month in anticipation of the Central Government Counsel's response (CGC). Isaac also filed a motion with the Kerala High Court to overturn the prior summons. (ANI) A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar sought a response from the State of Gujarat and posted the case for hearing on September 7. "Issue notice returnable on 7th September 2022," the bench stated in its order passed on August 10. Asaram is facing charges of rape and illegal confinement after one of his former devotees from Gujarat accused him of sexual exploitation. In her complaint, she had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assault between 2001 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram in Motera, Ahmedabad. Asaram filed an appeal in the apex court against Gujarat High Court's December 10, 2021 order rejecting his bail plea in the rape case. He sought bail contending there is no sign of the trial reaching conclusion.In 2018, Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in Rajasthan for raping a minor at his ashram. Two Surat-based sisters, who lived in Asaram's ashram in the Motera area of Ahmedabad between 1997 and 2006, lodged had separate complaints against him and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement, among other charges. A Surat court on April 26, 2019, convicted Narayan Sai under the Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 323 (assault), 506-2 (criminal intimidation), and 120-B (conspiracy) and sentenced him to life imprisonment. (ANI) Four Sri Lankan Tamils on Saturday arrived at the Mandapam district of Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram and claimed to be 'refugees', the police said. All four persons belong to the same family and have been identified as Jayamalini (50), Pathurjan (son- 26), Hamsigan (son- 22), and Padushika (daughter-19), who were the residents of Trikonamalai in Sri Lanka. Acccording to the information, the family arrived at the Rameswaram beach area at 4 am via boat. The family was registered in Mandapam camp from 2006 to 2019, from where they directly went to the Coastal Security Group Police Station and declared that they have come as refugees. According to the Q branch police, as many as 134 people have come from Sri Lanka so far. The Central State Intelligence, Q Division Police, and the Coastal Security Group Police are interrogating the persons who arrived today. Earlier on Wednesday nine fishermen travelling in a boat from the coastal district of Tamil Nadu were arrested for allegedly trespassing and fishing in Sri Lankan waters. The Rameswaram Police then said that the arrested fishermen from Nagapattinam were being taken to Trincomalee port. Earlier this month, Sri Lankan Navy rescued six Indian fishermen who were stranded after their boat drifted in Lankan waters due to a glitch. These fishermen hailing from Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram had gone into the sea for fishing. Around 532 boats from Rameswaram fishing harbour left for the sea. But the boat owned by Sagear Pandian developed a mechanical snag in the Palk Bay area, the Indian-Sri Lankan sea border. The owner of the boat then dispatched a rescue vessel from the Rameswaram Fisheries harbour to bring the stranded fishermen and the boat after getting permission from the rescue team. The Sri Lankan Navy pulled Rameswaram fishermen's boat with a rope and handed it over to the fishermen who came in the rescue vessel and sent them. The stranded fishermen alongwith the boat were sent back to Tamil Nadu. (ANI) The Delhi High Court recently directed the trial court to consider the plea of the Delhi Police against the bail granted to the accused in the extortion case. Later on, the accused were arrested in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Justice Talwant Singh allowed the plea moved by the Delhi police challenging the bail granted on November 25, 2020, and directed the trial court to consider the application for cancellation of bail of Ibrahim Tyagi and Hazi Mansoor. The bench said, " The impugned order is dated 25 November 2020 and FIR bearing No. 424/2021, Police Station Hari Nagar, was registered only on July 30, 2021. This gives cause of action to the State to approach the Court of learned Special Judge, MCOCA for re-considering the orders dated 25.11.2020 for cancellation of bail. The bench also said, "In view of the above, an opportunity is granted to the State to approach the court of learned Special Judge, MCOCA in terms of the liberty granted in the last paragraphs of orders dated 25.11.2020 and move applications for cancellation of bails in both the cases." The high court ordered, " In case, any such applications are moved by State, the present respondents shall have a right to file their response and the learned Special Judge shall dispose of the said application on merits after hearing both the parties." The State shall approach the learned Trial Judge within four weeks from the date of this order, the high court said in the order passed on August 5, 2022. The State (Delhi Police) has filed these appeals under Section 12 of 'MCOCA' read with Section 482 Cr.P.C. against the impugned order dated 25.11.2020 passed by learned Special Judge (MCOCA)-cum-ASJ, Tees Hazari Court. The accused in the case Salman Tyagi had managed to fire in the house of complainant Bhoomi demanding Rs 15 lakh extortion money. (ANI) With the beginning of the "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign ahead of the 75th Independence Day, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Saturday took out a Tiranga yatra along with locals and pilgrims in Badrinath. Starting from the Badrinath temple, the yatra was carried out to Badrinath Nagar area and Mana village. ITBP personnel took out a bike rally carrying the national flag. People chanted patriotic slogan. The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign will run till August 15. 'Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about tricolour. Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark SC judgement of January 23, 2004 that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and PM Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, Naveen Jindal has urged every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. (ANI) Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took part in the 'Tiranga Padyatra' in Nagpur on Saturday as the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign started across the country ahead of the 75th Independence Day. The 'Tiranga Padyatra' was organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nagpur unit. "The tricolour that binds everyone in the thread of unity is the pride of every Indian," Gadkari said. Fadnavis who also participated in the yatra said, "It is amazing to witness thousands of tricolours carried by the youth with such passion and patriotism, who came on streets early this morning, for the Prabhat Pheri." Earlier on Saturday, the Union Minister hoisted the tricolour at his residence in Nagpur. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged off the tricolour yatra along with school children at his residence in Lucknow. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also participated in a tricolour Prabhat Pheri in Guwahati, as a part of the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign. "This morning we organised a Prabhat Pheri in Guwahati. We all participated. I appeal to the people of Assam to hoist the national flag in every household," Chief Minister Sarma told ANI. Further, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his wife Sonal Shah hoisted the tricolour at their residence in New Delhi on Saturday. The 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign will run till August 15. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Indian national flag does not contain only three colours in itself but is a reflection of the pride of our past, our commitment to the present and our dreams of the future. Addressing a Tiranga Rally in Surat via video conferencing, PM Modi recalled that in a few days' time, India is completing 75 years of its independence and said that all of us are preparing for this historic Independence Day as the Tricolour is hoisted in every corner of the country. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that the Tiranga Yatras being held across the country are a reflection of the power and devotion of the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan. "From August 13 to 15, the Tricolour will be hoisted in every house of India. People from every section of society, every caste and creed are spontaneously joining with only one identity. This is the identity of the conscientious citizen of India," he said. 'Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence.Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about tricolour. Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark SC judgement of January 23, 2004 that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and PM Modi for the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign, Naveen Jindal has urged every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. (ANI) Xi calls on int'l community to build development partnership Xinhua) 09:09, August 13, 2022 BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the international community to gather consensus on promoting development, create an enabling environment and foster new driving forces for global development to jointly work for a global development partnership. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a congratulatory letter on Friday to the International Civil Society Solidarity Conference on the Global Development Initiative. Xi noted that the global economy is now affected by multiple factors, and the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been impeded. In face of difficulties and challenges, Xi said only when all sides pull together with firm confidence to combat COVID-19, promote development with concerted efforts, and earnestly implement the 2030 Agenda, can people of all countries live a better life and human society embrace a brighter future. "I believe the international civil societies will help consolidate and enhance popular support for ensuring the implementation of the Global Development Initiative," Xi added. China is ready to join hands with all sides to facilitate the 2030 Agenda to contribute more to building a community with a shared future for humanity and usher in a new era featuring prosperity and development, Xi said. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Bianji) Did Dr. Anna Pou, a surgeon at what was then known as Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, get Sully-ed? Was she a valiant physician undeserving of attacks on her ethical character and crisis management? Or, in the cruel aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, did she cross every known ethical, medical and legal line? Five Days at Memorial, the eight-part limited series now streaming on Apple TV+, dramatizes many more questions and real-life characters. The series unfolds against a larger maelstrom of gutless mismanagement and abdication of responsibility on the federal, state and city levels in the wake of Katrina. Advertisement The floodwaters that breached the levees left so many, betrayed and isolated, to die. What happened in this particular building 45 corpses were found days later in the hospital chapel is both a lament and a warning to those who will face the next Category 5 hurricane. Warning: While often gripping, the series, covering a nearly two-year time span, is not the propulsive ER-style experience promised by the trailer. The first five episodes, broken down neatly by Day One, Day Two etc., constitute a stark drama of waiting. Waiting for floodwaters to recede; for power and hope to be restored; for privatized health care administrators to do the right thing. Advertisement The final three episodes shift gears into the story of how Louisiana Department of Justice officials investigated the events involving Dr. Pou, played by top-billed Vera Farmiga, and her colleagues under barely imaginable duress. What makes Five Days at Memorial worth seeing, in a cold-creeps way, is its emphasis not on nobility or venality but everything in between. Series creators, writers and (splitting the first five episodes) directors John Ridley and Carlton Cuse arent trying to do Katrina: The Limited Series. They use Memorial as a metaphor for the entire Katrina tragedy. The series is based on Sheri Finks 2013 book Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. (The hospital is now the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center.) Ridley and Cuse make the necessary character intros speedily and well in episode one. With the hurricane six hours away, Pou is planning for an inconvenience of three days at the most. On the upper floors of Memorial, a separate, for-profit hospital, LifeCare, is overseen by the very pregnant Diane Robichaux (Julie Ann Emery). Cherry Jones, splendidly honest and dimensionally moving as always, portrays her Memorial counterpart, Susan Mulderick. Theyre nominally in charge of disaster preparedness. At one eerie point in Five Days at Memorial, Mulderick desperately flips through a manual, searching for the hurricane scenario that does not exist. The storm hits, the floodwaters rise and then, on Day Two, recede. But then the levees give way, and conditions become a nightmare. The long-delayed helicopter rescues of patients require many flights of stairs inside the building (the powers out) and then, on the roof, two sets of rickety metal stairways up to a helipad that has not been used in nearly two decades. Other key characters, notably Pous colleague Dr. Bryant King (Cornelius Smith Jr.) and registered nurse Karen Wynn (Adepero Oduye), become the viewers eyes and ears. As Five Days at Memorial proceeds, the conditions of those stranded in a sweltering, malfunctioning hospital mirror whats happening mostly off camera. Adepero Oduye and Cherry Jones costar in "Five Days at Memorial," the limited series premiering Aug. 12 on Apple TV Plus. (Russ Martin / HANDOUT) Though hardly the fault of Wendey Stanzler, who directed episodes six, seven and eight, the series as written morphs into a very different affair after episode five. An assistant Attorney General Arthur Butch Schafer (Michael Gaston, excellent) and his Medicaid Fraud Unit colleague Virginia Rider (Molly Hager) learn that some patients did not die of natural causes. At this point Five Days at Memorial goes into full legal procedural, with a simple mystery to be solved, centered mostly on Pous actions. These later episodes of Five Days at Memorial favor spooky, vaguely Expressionistic flashbacks where we learn what really went down. Theyre a bit much. Now and then, the series blows its budgetary wad on conspicuous digital depictions of horrific destruction, including the roof blowing off the Louisiana Superdome. These tactics have a way of distancing, rather than intensifying, the human drama Ridley and Cuse achieve successfully elsewhere. Corporate is doing everything they can, Mulderick reassures a colleague at one point, and the way Jones murmurs that line, you hear tiny warning bells of despair. What an actress! So is Farmiga, who does everything she can to complicate her characters motives and actions, even when the series makes up its mind about Dr. Pou so we dont have to. Advertisement Five Days at Memorial 3 stars (out of 4) Content rating: TV-MA (language, thematic elements) Running time: Eight episodes, approximately seven hours total How to watch: Premieres Aug. 12 on Apple TV Plus Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic. mjphillips@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @phillipstribune Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here. In a move to strengthen the healthcare system in the state, the Uttarakhand government on Saturday directed the officers of the Health Department to make available proposals at the earliest for infrastructure development, deployment of necessary health equipment and specialist doctors for better health facilities in Chamoli. Dr R Rajesh Kumar, Secretary in-charge of the Health department of Uttarakhand and Mission Director of the National Health Mission, inspected the hospitals in Chamoli district and took stock of the health arrangements. He emphasized on further strengthening the health systems in the marginal district. The Secretary-in-Charge, who arrived on a two-day visit to the frontier district of Chamoli, visited Public Healthcare Center (PHC) Gauchar, Sub District Hospital Karnprayag, Base Hospital Simli on the first day on Friday and met the local people and inquired about the health arrangements. He immediately transferred the building of Base Hospital, Simli area of the state to the department and instructed the health department to start the operation of OPD from August 26. During this, he inquired about the condition of the patients while taking stock of the medical arrangements like delivery wards, medical arrangements of TV patients, oxygen plants, vaccination centres, pending construction works in hospitals under National Health Mission (NHM), Ayushman cards etc. He instructed to take special care of cleanliness in the hospital. During talks with the secretary-in-charge, the regional public representatives raised the problem of non-deployment of physicians, radiologists, orthopaedic surgeons, paediatricians in the sub-district hospital. In Simli, ASHA workers demanded the in-charge secretary to resolve the other problems along with the honorarium. While meeting the Bhotia families in Devlibagad village, the secretary in-charge inquired about all the health facilities including Ayushman card. The secretary-in-charge, after reaching the district headquarters late in the evening, reviewed the progress of various schemes run through the health department in the collectorate auditorium. He said that our aim is to strengthen health facilities in marginal and remote areas so that people in remote areas can get health benefits at the local level. He directed the officers of the Health Department to make available proposals at the earliest for infrastructure development, deployment of necessary health equipment and specialist doctors for better health facilities in the district. Apart from this, setting five priorities for the development of health facilities in the marginal district, the CMs were asked to provide their proposal. He directed that the pending construction works in the hospitals under National Health Mission (NHM) should be completed soon. During this, he also encouraged all the doctors to render their services promptly in remote areas. On Saturday, the second day of the frontier district tour, the in-charge secretary inspected the district hospital and took stock of the health arrangements. During this, he inspected ICU, Emergency Ward, X-Ray Centre, Maternity Room, Oxygen Plant, Blood Bank etc. He said that a city scan machine facility would soon be made available in the district hospital through the World Bank. Along with this, other specialist doctors including gynaecologists would be deployed. When the surgeon was not present in the hospital, he asked to write a letter to DG Health in this regard. During this, he said that a blood bank would also be established at Base Hospital, Simli. He said that it is necessary to have health infrastructure, manpower and necessary equipment in the hospital. Our aim is to provide better health facilities in remote areas by establishing harmony in this direction, the official said. (ANI) Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Saturday organized a Walkathon under "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign to celebrate the 75th year of the country's independence. The Walkathon commenced from the PNB Head Office and it encouraged people to unfurl the national flag at every household through this walkathon. The official said, "This initiative has been inspired by the 'Har Ghara Tiranga' campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav which aims to bring our beloved national flag closer to our heart." [{e171389a-aca5-40ce-98d3-7acec3ff3682:intradmin/FaBTV0MakAA141s.jpg}] Managing Director and CEO Atul Kumar Goel, along with Executive Director Sanjay Kumar and Chief of General Managers Sunil Soni, participated in this walkathon and distributed the national flag amongst the public to instil the joy of patriotism. Senior executives and other staff members also participated. [{63326cd0-5ccd-4795-931e-294feb35e898:intradmin/FaBTXLlaQAIfBkE.jpg}] Appreciating the staff for their zeal and enthusiasm, MD Goel said, "The Walkathon is a symbolic tribute to the 75 years of progressive India and spirit of unity, peace and harmony. We envision an India where weaker sections and low-income groups have access to financial services including credit at an affordable cost." [{68404712-a708-481c-91e9-6f56d58041ef:intradmin/FaBTYaTakAEObqa.jpg}] On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "From August 13 to 15, the Tricolour will be hoisted in every house of India. People from every section of society, every caste and creed are spontaneously joining with only one identity. This is the identity of the conscientious citizen of India. 'Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence.Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their homes. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. It is worth mentioning that Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on select occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark SC judgement of 23 January 2004 declaring that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. It defined the expression and manifestation of a citizen's allegiance to and the sentiment of pride for the nation. The initiative aims to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about the tricolour. (ANI) As the preparations for Independence Day paced up across the country, the Central Reserve Police Force on Friday organised a massive walkathon rally in the Budgam area, said the officials on Friday. The event was conducted under the aegis of the CRPF 181 battalion. The rally was arranged as part of the ongoing "Har Ghar Tiranga" campaign and Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations saw numerous participants from across the region. "We have gathered here to remember and salute the brave hearts who laid down their lives for the nation," said Commandant, 181 Battalion, Om Hari. Earlier, as part of the ongoing 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, along with police, took out a 'Tiranga Yatra' to spread awareness among people in Nagaon in Assam. The rally witnessed the participation of about 150 military personnel. Shiv Shankar Upadhyay, CRPF commandant, said, "Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign to mark the 75th year of India's independence. I request everyone to turn the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign into a mass movement by hoisting or displaying the national flag at their homes between August 13-15." He further said that this campaign is launched to spread awareness among citizens.Local police said, "This yatra is initiated to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of Independence." 'Har Ghar Tiranga' is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of India's people, culture and achievements. The programme envisages inspiring Indians everywhere to hoist the national flag at their home. The aim of the programme is to make the relationship with the national flag a more personal one rather than just keeping it formal or institutional. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and promote awareness about the tri-colour. Earlier, Indian citizens were not allowed to hoist the National Flag except on selected occasions. This changed after a decade-long legal battle by industrialist Naveen Jindal culminated in the landmark SC judgement of January 23, 2004 that declared that the right to fly the National Flag freely with respect and dignity is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen within the meaning of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India. Lauding the Centre and the Prime Minister for the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, Naveen Jindal has appealed to every Indian to make 'Har Din Tiranga' their motto. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged citizens of the country to share a photo with the Tiranga on the official website of Har Ghar Tiranga to mark the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. "Overjoyed and proud of the amazing response to the #HarGharTiranga movement. We are seeing record participation from people across different walks of life. This is a great way to mark Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Do also share your photo with the Tiranga on https://harghartiranga.com," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people of India to hoist the tricolour at their homes between August 13th and 15th to celebrate the 75th Independence Day. In a tweet on July 22, PM Modi had said, "This year, when we are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, let us strengthen the Har Ghar Tiranga Movement. Hoist the Tricolour or display it in your homes between 13th and 15th August. This movement will deepen our connection with the national flag." Last month, Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Culture said. PM Modi on Friday shared pictures of people taking Tiranga rallies from all over India. Sharing a photo in which hundreds of people took out a Tiranga march, PM Modi said: "This is a great collective effort by the people of Visakhapatnam. I admire the enthusiasm towards #HarGharTiranga." Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of it's people, culture and achievements. This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in its evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of activating India 2.0, fuelled by the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The official journey of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on March 12, 2021 which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of independence. (ANI) 'Be A Job Creator Than Being A Job Seeker' remained the motto of the event participated by over 500 youngsters. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Secretary, Tribal Affairs, CEO Mission Youth, MD Skill Development and Livelihood was the chief guest of the event. Other guests present on the occasion were President KCCI, CEO Kanwal Foods, CEO CII, and representatives from Mission Youth and KVIB, besides other prominent officials from civil administration. The conclave also felicitated 12 of the pathbreaking entrepreneurs of the valley. The idea of the conclave was to make entrepreneurial technology and philosophy accessible to the young and well-read youth of Kashmir thereby fostering societal value creation and the public good. On June 29 this year, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had attended an event of women entrepreneurs organized by Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission at the lawns of SKICC. On the occasion, the Lieutenant Governor e-inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for New District Rural Haats across Jammu and Kashmir and dedicated the facility to all women entrepreneurs. "We are proud that lakhs of women entrepreneurs around the UT are making valuable contributions to uplift the rural economy with the single-minded pursuit of excellence through creativity and hard work," the Lieutenant Governor had said. The Lieutenant Governor highlighted the reforms introduced by the government to identify women's potential in leadership roles and provide them with an opportunity to scale up their businesses. The Government's initiatives like Saath, Hausla, Umeed, and Tejaswini laid a strong foundation for the financial independence of rural women, he added. (ANI) A Delhi court has taken a serious view of the role of SHO and IO in a matter of encroachment on government land and disputes related to it. An FIR for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman was registered later. Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau of Tees Hazari Court after taking a serious view said that the role of the police officers is not above the board. The court made this observation after recording the submission of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police while hearing the bail plea of three accused persons. "I have considered the submissions made and I am compelled to bring on record the fact that the role of the SHO Police Station I.P. Estate Inspector Sanjeev Kumar and the initial Investigating Officer SI Narender Kumar does not prima facie appear to be above board and comes under a scanner for the following reasons," the special judge observed. Addl. DCP had submitted before the court that in the light of the observations made by this court, the decision relating to the transfer of investigations in the matter to somespecialized agency dealing with land grabbing matters, appears to be necessary but a decision regarding the same can only be taken at the level of Deputy Commissioner of Police andAdditional Commissioner of Police. He also submitted that he shall communicate the status of the proceedings before this Court to the senior officers along with the conduct of the SHO Police Station I.P. Estate in repeatedly absenting himself and not providing proper assistance to the Court, for which he shall be dealt with departmentally. He further submitted that in case of any decision by the senior officers relating to investigations, the same shall be communicated to this Court. The Court noted that initially in the FIR provisions under Sections related to theft, criminal intimidation etc. were invoked and later provisions related to causing hurt, and molestation were added. All provide a punishment of fewer than seven years. On the one hand, the SHO and IO are vehemently opposing the present applications whereas on the other hand there is non-giving of the notice under Cr.PC., the court noted. The court also noted in the order of August 4, 2022, that the cause for registration of the FIR was a dispute relating to large-scale encroachments over government land with massive illegal pucca constructions made at the time of the incident which I am informed is continuingwithout any inhibition for the sale of the same in an attempt to create ownership and possessory rights over these properties which have been deliberately shown as a Jhuggi. The court further noted, "failure of the SHO to inform the concerned land-owning agencies about these illegal encroachments over the government land on Meer Dard Road and consecutive raising of illegal pucca constructions, particularly recent constructions which I am informed are still going on, with resultant criminal disputes including registration ofpresent FIR." The court said, "Registration of multiple and counter cases against the parties in respect of disputes relating to land grabbing and construction over government land by Gangs whoprima facie appear to be Land Mafias as noticed by this Court in proceedings dated 05 May 2022 and 20 May 2022 and failure of the SHO to verify the credentials of these persons involved in the same. Court noted that most of these violators appear to be Illegal Immigrants whose credentials were directed to be verified but not done by the IO/ SHO." (ANI) The passenger had arrived from Bangkok on a TG-337 flight. Post examinations, the officials recovered one DeBrazza Monkey, fifteen KingSnakes, five Ball Pythons and two Aldabra Tortoises from the checked-in baggage. Since the live animals were imported illegally, they were deported back to the country of origin through Thai airways in consultation with AQCS. "Based on Intelligence input , on 11.08.22 a male passenger arriving from Bangkok in TG-337 was intercepted by Customs Officers. On examination of checked-in baggage 1-DeBrazza Monkey, 15-KingSnakes, 5-Ball Pythons and 2-Aldabra Tortoises were recovered. Since the live animals were imported illegally, they were deported back to the country of origin through Thai airways in consultation with AQCS," said Chennai Customs officials. Further investigations are underway. (ANI) Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday wrote a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh expressing his inability to be present at the flag hoisting ceremony of 75th Independence Day as he is suffering from COVID-19. "India's 75 Anniversary of Independence is a historic occasion and moment of immense pride for each one of us. I have been very keen and looking forward to attend the Independence Day Flag hoisting ceremony on 15 August 2022. Much as I wish, as I have tested Covid positive, I am not in a position to attend the Independence Day ceremony and celebrations on 15 August 2022," Kharge wrote in a letter to Rajnath Singh. The Defence Minister said, "Even though I would not be able to be physically present, I will be joining the entire Nation in celebrating Independence Day and wishing HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all on this auspicious occasion." Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday tested positive for COVID-19 again and will remain in isolation. Earlier this week, her daughter and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also tested positive. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi has tested positive for Covid-19 today. She will remain in isolation as per government protocol," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet Saturday. Sonia Gandhi tested positive for Covid-19 in early June as well. Days after she had tested positive, the 75-year-old leader was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on June 12. She was discharged on June 20. On August 10, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday announced that she had tested positive for Covid-19, for the second time in three months. Earlier, Priyanka had tested positive, just a day after her mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, contracted the disease. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged citizens of the country to share a photo with the Tiranga on the official website of Har Ghar Tiranga to mark the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. "Overjoyed and proud of the amazing response to the #HarGharTiranga movement. We are seeing record participation from people across different walks of life. This is a great way to mark Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Do also share your photo with the Tiranga on https://harghartiranga.com," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people of India to hoist the tricolour at their homes between August 13th and 15th to celebrate the 75th Independence Day. In a tweet on July 22, PM Modi had said, "This year, when we are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, let us strengthen the Har Ghar Tiranga Movement. Hoist the Tricolour or display it in your homes between 13th and 15th August. This movement will deepen our connection with the national flag." Last month, Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Culture said. PM Modi on Friday shared pictures of people taking Tiranga rallies from all over India. Sharing a photo in which hundreds of people took out a Tiranga march, PM Modi said: "This is a great collective effort by the people of Visakhapatnam. I admire the enthusiasm towards #HarGharTiranga." (ANI) Delhi Police on Saturday, apprehended a 17-year-old boy, who in his attempt to emulate a character in a Bollywood flick become involved in theft and snatchings, police said. According to police officials, they had received multiple complaints of theft and snatching from Karol Bagh and adjoining areas. Teams of policemen began to look into these cases which, they claimed, were solved with the arrest of the juvenile. "With the apprehension of one juvenile involved in theft, auto lifting and snatching, aged 17 years, the staff of Police Station Karol Bagh, Central Distt has worked out 12 cases of auto theft and snatching and recovered 6 Scooties and one mobile phone," said Shweta Chauhan, District Commission of Police (DCP). The police started searching and tracing the accused person with the help of CCTVs. The team searched and analysed around 200 CCTV Cameras of the Central district, where the continuous incident of auto theft and snatching were reported. After analysing the CCTV Cameras it was found that a young boy aged about 17-19 years is involved in said incidents. Most of the incidents appeared to occur between 4 to 6 AM (early morning). Therefore, the said team in civil clothes laid the trap on 12 continuous nights in the area to apprehend the offender. Thereafter, various local and human bases intelligence was developed by the dedicated teams," said DCP Chauhan. On August 12, the police succeeded in apprehending the accused. The accused was trapped while he was trying to flee on a stolen Scooty from the area. The offender was apprehended, and a stolen mobile phone was also recovered from his possession. The accused's interrogation revealed that he wanted to be a super thief as shown a Bollywood flick. "A Total 6 Scooties and one stolen mobile phone were recovered and total '12 Cases' of Police Station Karol Bagh and Police Station Anand Parbat have worked out. During counselling and interrogation, he apprised that he wants to become a "Super-chor" like Bunty, as he was inspired by the Bollywood movie - Oye Lucky - Lucky Oye," informed Shweta Chauhan. (ANI) The Uttar Pradesh police sprung into action after a man named Salman Siddiqui sent a letter to national president of Bharatiya Kisan Manch (BKM) and PIL activist Devendra Tiwari threatening him and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with life. In a letter sent to the Hindu leader, the accused threatened to blow him and Yogi Adityanath with a bomb. The letter sent to Devendra Tiwari read, "Devendra Tiwari it has been stated to you several times, yet you do not understand. Your PIL has resulted in the closure of multiple slaughterhouses in the state, robbing other Muslim brothers of their livelihood. Now you see what will happen to you. You escaped Deoband deftly, but now you and Yogi Adityanath will be blown up with a bomb. You will see the outcome within the next 15 days. The others have had their necks severed but you two (Devendra Tiwari and Yogi Adityanath) will be blown up with bombs." AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani's names were also mentioned in the threat letter. The letter further stated, "You have made our mentors Asaduddin Owaisi and Maulana Madani cry. We shall avenge every single drop of tears they have shed." Uttar Pradesh police immediately took cognizance of the threat letter and started the investigation by registering a case against unknown people. This development holds importance ahead of the Independence Day celebrations that are slated to be held on August 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people of India to hoist the tricolour at their homes between August 13th and 15th to celebrate the 75th Independence Day. In a tweet on July 22, PM Modi said, "This year, when we are marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, let us strengthen the Har Ghar Tiranga Movement. Hoist the Tricolour or display it in your homes between 13th and 15th August. This movement will deepen our connection with the national flag." Last month, Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and hoist it to mark the 75th year of India's independence. The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Culture said. (ANI) The thing about the good ol days is that they dont last. A decade ago, when James Conlon led his Mozart in the Martin series as Ravinia music director, those concert operas performed by the choicest international stage talent and the Chicago Symphony sold out the 850-seat Martin Theatre every night. Advertisement Youd think Mozart and Conlon, who has been warmly received here since stepping down in 2015, would be a winning combo. Youd be right. But winning combos dont fill seats, especially when an unfamiliar piece is on the marquee. Don Giovanni boasting a stacked cast despite day-of losses to illness played to three-quarters capacity on Thursday; for Fridays La Clemenza di Tito, attendance dropped to about a third. Maybe, just maybe, that had something to do with ticket prices going for a balk-worthy $140 a pop in the theater. Somewhere, Mozart scoffs knowingly. The story of his Tito, the last opera he wrote, is itself inextricable from class, high expectations and nostalgia for a bygone era. In 1791, Mozart was working on The Magic Flute when an impresario in Leopold IIs court, having commissioned Mozart once already for Don Giovanni, offered the composer double his usual rate to compose an opera for the emperors coronation as king of Bohemia. The impresario decreed the new work be an opera seria a genre already out of vogue when Mozart tackled it earlier in his career and be set to librettist Pietro Metastasios La Clemenza di Tito. Advertisement In Metastasios telling, the benevolent Roman emperor Tito (or Titus, per his real-life analogue) dodges an assassination attempt by his friend, Sesto. Unbeknown to Tito, the real mastermind of the plot is Vitellia, embittered by the emperors romantic rejections and all too willing to manipulate the infatuated Sesto to exact vengeance. As the title promises, Tito ultimately pardons them both, though running into each other at bacchanals was probably pretty awkward afterward. James Conlon and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and cast perform "La Clemenza di Tito" at Ravinia Festival Aug. 12 in Highland Park. (Patrick Gipson / HANDOUT) Imagining Mozart toggling to the austere Tito from his effervescent Magic Flute is enough to induce secondhand whiplash. Given the works uncharacteristically mixed reception, its quite likely Mozart felt the tweak, too. Tito sometimes sounds as if Mozart himself isnt convinced by Metastasios musty libretto (albeit slightly freshened by writer Caterino Mazzola). Tito remains the least staged of Mozarts late operas: Lyric got around to its first performance in 1989, plus a redux in 2014, and LA Opera followed suit with a 2019 company premiere under Conlons baton. Conlons concert Tito hadron-collided those Lyric and Los Angeles casts. Matthew Polenzani reprised his role debut as the title character in Lyrics 2014 production; hes since sung Tito at the Met. Sopranos Guanqun Yu (the treasonous Vitellia) and Janai Brugger (as scene-stealing as Servilia as she was the night before in Don Giovanni, singing a last-minute Zerlina) are alums of the 2019 Los Angeles production. Mezzo-soprano phenom Emily DAngelo (Sesto) has already notched two huge Tito engagements in her 20s, singing Sesto at the Royal Opera House and Annio in the same Met production as Polenzani. These are voices accustomed to the worlds grandest operatic stages. Happily, most of the Tito leads toggled their voice nicely to the Martin Theatres less-grand dimensions, certainly more so on the whole than Don Giovanni the previous evening. Polenzani was the exception, his stentorian voice often conspicuously so. At first, that brashness typified the one-dimensional enlightened despot trope that Tito audiences have found stale for centuries. That changes in the second act. In the operas climactic scene, Polenzani stoops to implore no, beg the captured Sesto to tell him something, anything that would convince him to call off the execution. The young man, loyal to Vitellia till the end, refuses, instead asking the emperor to remember their friendship as it was (Deh, per questo istante solo). As DAngelo sang, Polenzani rocked from foot to foot like a desperate child willing himself not to cry. James Conlon and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and cast including Guanqun Yu perform "La Clemenza di Tito" at Ravinia Festival Aug. 12 in Highland Park. (Patrick Gipson / HANDOUT) Polenzanis domineering performance clicked in that moment. This is Tito the breakable human who emerges when no one else is in the room. As the opera didactically spells out, Tito only comes to terms with his power when he embraces his vulnerability. If a hard heart is necessary to a ruler, either take the empire from me or give me another heart, Tito declares, Polenzani wringing special angst from that line in Se allimpero. DAngelo was no such slow burn, her Sesto streaking out of the gates as a production highlight and staying there. Her buttery voice thrilled in every register; if its lower reaches were autumnal, they were a New England autumn, blazing with tempera-bright intensity. Advertisement Yu was also uniquely convincing as the object of Sestos affections. In a sea of witchlike Vitellias, Yu made her believably lovable in other words, almost worth committing aggravated arson for. Her Vitellias greatest weapon was not daggerlike fury but bubbling tears, an interpretation nicely complimenting Yus own rounded, pleasantly pliant soprano. As Annio, Servilias beau and another pants role, bell-like mezzo Ashley Dixon contrasted handsomely with DAngelos more tenebrous register. Oaky-voiced bass Kristinn Sigmundsson a Mozart in the Martin MVP as both Publio and Don Giovannis Commendatore lent more depth to the Roman officer than Metastasio and Mazzola's libretto provides, portraying him as a world-weary adviser to the still-green Tito. One wishes Brugger had more chances to shine as Sestos sister Servilia, the operas other soprano role. Nonetheless, she authoritatively seized Servilias calling-card aria, ripping Vitellia for her weepy inaction toward Sestos sentence (Saltro che lacrime). In Bruggers eloquent, urgent performance, Servilias plea is impossible to ignore and indeed, Vitellia heeds it at the very last moment, confessing her role in the scheme to save Sesto. All that luster doesnt quite answer the million-dollar question: Did this production make Titos case, as so many houses have attempted to in recent decades? Conlon certainly did, leading a suppler performance than the previous nights Don Giovanni. Stage director Harry Silverstein did not, his no-frills presentation wanting compared to the zippy prop and space use of Garnett Bruces Giovanni. Accompanying musicians were likewise split. Clarinetists Jonathan Gunn and Wagner Campos awed with acrobatic solos originally written for Anton Stadler, for whom Mozart composed his clarinet quintet and concerto the same year as Tito. All evening, harpsichordist Louis Lohraseb devised stylish and buoying recitative realizations. As the chorus, however, the Apollo Chorus of Chicago, otherwise a fine ensemble, sounded wan and disjunct in this context. Newcomers to Tito and there should be more of them than gathered in the Martin on Friday will, too, break on the works merits. But this nostalgia trip is absolutely worth hearing. With a sticker price spiked down to $60 in-house for the final performance on Sunday, you should, too. Advertisement La Clemenza di Tito repeats 1 p.m. August 14, Martin Theatre at Ravinia Park, seated tickets $60-$125, lawn $15. More information at ravinia.org Hannah Edgar is a freelance writer. The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content. The 13-day long joint drill was conducted at Mahajan Field Firing Range in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in which 60 personnel from the Sultan of Oman Parachute Regiment and troops from the 18 Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Indian Army participated. The exercise began on August 1. "The 4th Edition of India-Oman joint military Exercise ExAlNajah culminated after an intense Validation Exercise. This resulted in better understanding and enhancing inter-operability between both Armies," Indian Army said in a tweet. An Army official said that the exercise provided an ideal platform for the two armies to share their experiences. "The exercise provided an ideal platform for the personnel of both the armies to share their experiences and develop a mutual understanding of each other's approach towards modern-day challenges of terrorism and regional security," said Brigadier Jitesh said. The scope of the exercise included professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills and procedures, the establishment of joint command and control structures and the elimination of terrorist threats. The joint exercise focused on counter-terrorism operations, regional security operations and peacekeeping operations under the United Nations charter apart from organising joint physical training schedules, tactical drills, techniques and procedures. A comprehensive training programme to culminate in a 48-hour-long validation exercise involving the establishment of joint mobile vehicle check posts, joint cordon and search operations followed by joint room intervention drills in a built-up area was worked out during the drills. The previous edition of Ex AL NAJAH IV was organised at Muscat between 12 and 25 March- 2019. (ANI) A Delhi court recently observed that the ad-hoc system to prosecute any case cannot be acceptable, nor can be appreciable. The observation was made during a hearing in a North East Delhi violence-related case. The Court has referred the matter to the Commissioner of Police for enquiry into why a regular public prosecutor was not ordered for the case. Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said, "The ad-hoc system to prosecute any case cannot be acceptable, nor can be appreciable. This court has already given certain directions to prosecutors also, including the direction to obtain summons for only relevant witnesses." The court further said that in these circumstances, the matter is referred to the Commissioner of Police to get enquired as to why a proper regular public prosecutor for this case was not ordered to date, in the backdrop of the fact that the previous prosecutor stopped appearing in the matter. An application for framing of an additional charge for an offence punishable under Section 188 IPC was also filed. The court in the order of August 4, noted, "However, unfortunately till date, charge for the offence under Section 188 IPC was never pressed for and it is only today that on realising this omission on the record, an application under Section 216 CrPC has been filed." The Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) DK Bhatia informed the court that in the past some other prosecutor was taking care of this case and at present, he is just appearing for State on an ad-hoc basis without any concrete order passed by the department. The court has directed to send the copy of the order to the Commissioner of Police for necessary compliance and appointment and regular appearance of a prosecutor in this case. The matter has been listed for August 26, 2022 for further hearing. (ANI) The Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) unit of the Crime Branch unearthed the main link of the drug trafficking nexus operating from Afghanistan to Punjab and arrested one accused in this connection, said the officials on Saturday. The officials arrested Pankaj Vaid in connection with the drug syndicate. Vaid's name came to the fore after the ANTF busted a drug nexus operating from Afghanistan last month in which a recovery of 21.4 Kg of fine quality of heroin worth value of Rs. 130 crores was made and four persons including one Afghan national was arrested. The investigations following the recovery uncovered the main link of the cartel that is Pankaj Vaid (Sanju Baba) resident of Amritsar. Vaid was the single point contact for supplying heroin in the whole Punjab after procuring the same from Afghanistan through Delhi counterparts. After the arrest of his associates, he went underground and started changing his hideouts very frequently. "Raids were conducted in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. After thorough technical analysis and through manual surveillance, acting on specific input, Pankaj Vaid@ Sanju Baba was arrested from Himachal Pradesh. 02 Cars (Honda City & Glenza) were recovered from the possession of accused Pankaj @ Amit @ Sanju Baba," said police. According to During interrogation, It was revealed that Pankaj is a habitual offender and during his Amritsar jail tenure (in a theft and arms act case), he came in touch with drug peddlers connected to Afghanistan and after coming out from jail, he started working with them. "He is also wanted in a UAPA case of Jammu. He was the nodal point for all local drug suppliers who were engaged in Heroin trafficking in Punjab. Further identification of the local drug traffickers is underway. During interrogation 06 properties situated in different parts of India have been identified related to Pankaj@ Amit and have been acquired through the drug proceeds. It also comes to notice that accused Pankaj Vaid was in the possession of a huge consignment and the same was destroyed by him due to fear, as his counterparts were arrested by ANTF," said DCP KPS Malhotra Further investigations are underway. (ANI) On the occasion of World Organ Donation Day on Saturday, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh organised a two-day Organ Donation Workshop where families of 17 brave-heart donors participated. The administration department of PGIMER in collaboration with the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) and Northern Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) inaugurated a two-day 'National Deceased Organ Donation Workshop' that witnessed enthusiastic participation by over 400 delegates from the medical fraternity and civil society across the region, at Bhargava Auditorium at PGIMER. During the inaugural session, 17 brave heart donor families were honoured for their exemplary gesture of organ donation amid their own tragedy that impacted 66 lives including giving a second lease of life to 42 organ failure patients and restoring the sight of 24 corneal blind patients through organ and tissue transplantation at PGIMER. Some donors of Punjab were honoured on Friday and a few from Himachal Pradesh will be honoured today. Speaking as the Chief Guest, on the occasion Dr Rajneesh Sahai, Director, National Organ Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), said, "The spirit behind observance of World Organ Donation Day is to disseminate correct information to promote the noble cause of Organ Donation. There cannot anything more motivational than the presence of brave-heart donor families. It is an extremely hard decision amid immense grief for the donor family, but the donor families like the ones present today amongst us, definitely instil a sense of confidence and a ray of hope for thousands of waitlisted patients." Expressing his gratitude and paying rich tributes to the donor families, Director of PGIMER Prof. Vivek Lal who was also a Guest of Honour stated, "PGIMER owes its distinct place in organ transplantation to all the donor families. It was not possible to reach this far without the gritty decisions and selfless gestures of these donor families. There is no metric, no parameter to measure their magnanimous gift of life. It is hugely gratifying that the donor families trusted PGIMER for their noblest wish to save others' lives and PGIMER could live up to that trust." Lauding the spirit of giving, Prof. Jasbinder Kaur, Director Principal, Govt. Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh said, "Words cannot describe the selfless gesture of all these 17 families. Their spirit of giving has touched everyone and we are overwhelmed by their exemplary and altruistic gesture. They have taught all of us a lesson in humanity and magnanimity." Earlier setting the context as the Organising Chairperson, Prof Vipin Koushal, Medical Superintendent and Head, Department of Hospital Administration, PGIMER cum Nodal Officer, ROTTO (North) stated, "The intent behind organising the Workshop 2022 is to build further impetus on PGIMER's agenda on organ donation and throw light on the critical enablers as well as the tireless effort as an institution that went into making organ donation and transplantation possible." Another high point of the Inaugural Session was the stellar performance by differently-abled students of Discover Ability School, Mohali The Inaugural Session was followed by an academic workshop wherein eminent clinicians and experts deliberated about the multiple facets of organ transplantation. Day two of the Workshop will focus on multiple aspects of deceased organ donation and will witness engaging discussions. (ANI) SSP of STF Uttarakhand Ajay Singh told ANI, "Hakam Singh has been detained by the STF from Arakot on the Himachal border for questioning." The STF led by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajay Singh is investigating the case. Hakam Singh was caught from the Mori area near the Himachal Pradesh border. The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Uttarkashi Arpan Yaduvanshi said, "The District Panchayat member Hakam Singh Rawat has been detained for questioning. The STF is interrogating Hakam Singh in the paper leak case." The Zilla Panchayat member was stopped at Arakot Chowki. Hakam Singh returned to the country from abroad on August 7. A Special Task Force (STF) had been constituted to investigate alleged irregularities, according to sources. The Dehradun Police had registered a case against unidentified persons in the case of alleged rigging in the graduation level recruitment examination. Earlier, Uttarakhand Police arrested Gaurav Chauhan, Additional Private Secretary working in Public Works and Forest Department of state Secretariat in connection with the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission paper leak case. After the registration of the case, the Police Headquarters (PHQ) handed over the investigation of the matter to the STF. The probe was ordered by state director general of police Ashok Kumar on the directions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The UKSSSC conducted a written exam on December 4 and 5 last year (2021). This was the biggest examination of the commission for 854 posts, in which 13 categories of posts of different departments were to be filled. (ANI) Soon after the riots, the accused, identified as Sheikh Sikandar, was absconding to evade arrest. Former Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana had declared a cash reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest. During investigation of the Jahangirpuri Riots case, eight accused persons were absconding and a process of proclamation was initiated against them. "On August 13, a tip-off was received about a 'suspicious person' in the area of Jahangirpuri who was involved in the riots after which a team of Special Staff was constituted which laid a trap and apprehended the accused," Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said. He was later identified as Sheikh Sikandar, an absconding accused in the Jahangirpuri Riots case. On further investigation, he was also found previously involved in a murder case. Severe communal clashes erupted at the Jahangirpuri area on April 16 during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in which 9 people including 8 policemen were injured. With Sheikh Sikandar's arrest, the police have till now arrested 36 people and apprehended 3 juveniles while one of the arrested person's relatives was bound down for injuring a police Inspector by pelting stones at him. --IANS uj/pgh ( 223 Words) 2022-08-13-19:14:05 (IANS) To save its reputation at the international level in the context of injustice meted out to minorities in the country, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is luring Sikh people with money to speak in favour of the country, sources said. ISI is also planning to lure Indian Sikh leaders by providing them a hefty amount to speak in favour of Pakistan. The agency has till now taken only few leaders into confidence, which mainly include members of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. Lured by money, these Sikh leaders have started making statements in favour of Pakistan. Here are some people and what they said in favour of Pakistan -- Simpal Singh (Member of National Commission for Minorities): "We being a minority in Pakistan consider ousrselves lucky that we are living in a country where people belonging to minority communities get more hospitality and are safer than any other country in the world. Founder of Pakistan Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his historic speech on August 11, 1947 had assured the minorties in the counrty by saying that 'You are free to go to your religious places and also free to go to the mosques'. The minorities in Pakistan are enjoying their religious freedom and every government tries to ensure our rights according to the Constitution. The Kartarpur Corridor is a splendid example of the respect minrotities get in this country. Being a minority, we have special rights on many aspects and enjoy special respect in the society. Minorities are given impostance in Pakistan and I am the biggest example of this." Gopal Singh (Member of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee): "People belonging to minority communities live across the world but those staying in Pakistan are the happiest and live their life on their own terms. Due to Muslim brotherhoos, we feel more free in Pakistan. Unlike India, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians all are free in Pakistan, all thanks to Quaid-e-Azam. The government, military and various organisations of Pakistan give us rights and respect and that's why I say I love Pakistan." Satnam (Member, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee): "Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh religion, was born in 1469 in Nankana Sahib, a village near Lahore in Pakistan, where currently the Kartarpur Corridor lies. There is no doubt that Pakistan is the safest country for minorities." Kalyan Singh (Faculty member, G.C. University, Lahore): "We thank Radio Pakistan for becoming the voice of minorities. In Pakistan, minorities have all the freedom to follow their religion and celebrate their holy days, which is not seen in India. Pakistan provides the minorities opportunites and representation. The Kartarpur Corridor is the biggest gift to the Sikh community, which will be remembered by every Sikh of the world till eternity." --IANS svn/arm ( 473 Words) 2022-08-13-19:56:01 (IANS) As per Abdullah's party, he is recovering well and has self-isolated and his doctors have advised rest while he recovers. "Dr Farooq Abdullah tested positive for Covid 19 a couple of days ago, with mild symptoms. He's recovering well and his doctors have advised rest while he recovers," the party said in a tweet. Last year on March 30, Abdullah was diagnosed with COVID-19 weeks after he had received his first dose of vaccine against coronavirus. Days after testing positive for COVID-19, Abdullah was admitted to a hospital in Srinagar. Earlier on Saturday, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi tested positive for Coronavirus infection for the second time. Notably, she was tested positive for the viral infection on June 2, a day later the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to her in the National Herald case, where she was asked to appear before the probe agency on June 8. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday informed that he is suffering from COVID-19. On August 10, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra announced that she had tested positive for Covid-19, for the second time in three months. Earlier, Priyanka had tested positive, just a day after her mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, contracted the disease. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi was also reported ill as a result of which his visit to Rajasthan's Alwar to attend the party's 'Netratv Sankalp Shivir' was cancelled. (ANI) The nine-hour August 2 visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan triggered a crisis in US-China relations,casting dark shadows over peace in the region and,in general, relations between China and the West. Many in India thought that the Chinese provocations on the LAC, particularly eastern Ladakh, will come down while China gets busy in directing its anger towards the US for 'daring' to send a top representative to an area that China calls part of its territory. But no let up on Chinese provocations along the LAC seems likely because of Taiwan developments. A little before or a little later after Pelosi was to land in Taiwan, military officials of India and China met on the Indian side of the LAC. History of India -China dialogue between military and even diplomatic officials rules out much optimism on easing border tensions. After 16 rounds of talks, the Chinese continue to occupy nearly 1000 km of what India considers its territory in eastern Ladakh. Fighter jets of China keep flying along the LAC, clearly demonstrating no peaceful intentions. And the standoff between the two armies continues since May 2020. Well, it may be considered a relief that while its rhetoric against India is strong, Beijing has not followed the way it has chosen to spleen its anger on the US. It may not mean much in practical terms that China has sanctioned Nancy Pelosi and her family after her visit to Taiwan -- first by a top US official in 25 years. But at least symbolically it is a strong measure. China is not going to sanction any Indian. The world has reasons to be concerned about the military exercises China has carried out in Taiwan Strait as an expression of its disapproval of Pelosi visit. China is also reported to have fired missiles around the sea surrounding Taiwan, reminding the world of its oft repeated statement that, 'if necessary', it will physically overrun Taiwan with its army. The tension over Taiwan posed a danger to international sea route around Taiwan which has implications on supply chains. China may feel that such an action will choke Taiwan but its consequences will be felt far beyond. China also banned certain import from Taiwan in the hope that it adversely affects Taiwanese economy. A tiny nation, which is no longer recognized by most of the world, Taiwan is an economic powerhouse; it still has non-diplomatic, including trade relations with a lot of countries. India is one of them. One of the most important factors that attract much of the world to Taiwan is its semi-conductor industry that produces chips used in most modern electronic gadgets. A country even as big and strong as China cannot affect the export of semi-conductors by Taiwan. The point of dwelling a little on Taiwan is to show that it has a thriving economy despite all the threats to its existence from Mainland China and its expansionist Communist rulers. And as far one can recall, Taiwan, which refused to join Communist China in 1949, has not ceded even an inch of its territory to China; it may be said that China with all its might has not been able to grab even an inch of Taiwanese territory even after telling the world to back off Taiwan. During all the years of face-off between China and its offshore 'territory' Taiwan, China has grabbed several thousand kilometers of Indian territory, beginning with the 1962 war with India. What it shows is that while Taiwan may be important for China, its activities designed to harm, intimidate and humiliate India have continued unabated since the early 1960s -- after a brief period of brotherly ties in the 1950s. China's hostile policy towards India has neither changed nor is China going to be slack in its aggressive and unfriendly approach towards India. There were, of course, occasional moments in the current (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi era when the top leaders of the two countries hugged and embraced each other and even had conversation of sorts sitting in a swing. Such illusory moments were photo-op diversions which did not lead to any appreciable departure from the Chinese ill intentions towards India. No matter how much the tension between the US and China over Taiwan is overplayed, it looks unlikely to lead to a war between the world's two largest and strongest armies. There are instances where sabre rattling by a country did not lead to a nightmarish clash that can engulf the whole world. China is not exactly a benign big power but the hot-heads ruling from Beijing realize full well the consequences of unleashing a war that spreads across the globe. Yet, China will not dilute its policies towards India, including continuation of military activities along the LAC even when it has to tackle a much more powerful adversary like the US expressing solidarity with Taiwan in defiance of Chinese wishes. In short, India cannot let down its guard against China whenever reports of 'diversion' of Chinese attentions appear. All the talk of Chinese wanting peace with India is no more than a hogwash, at least as of now! --IANS scor/ ( 875 Words) 2022-08-13-20:04:03 (IANS) A Delhi court has issued notice to the CBI on a bail application moved by former Tihar Deputy Superintendent Narender Meena, who is an accused in a case pertaining to the alleged murder of gangster Ankit Gujjar inside the jail last year. Public Prosecutor Bindu, appearing on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation, accepted the notice. It was submitted before the special CBI court of judge Rakesh Kumar Sharma that the charge sheet has been filed and accordingly, arguments on the application were posted for August 16, said a recent order. Meena, suspended Assistant Superintendent Dinesh Dabas, and suspended Head Warder Deepak Chikara, were arrested by the CBI and they are currently under judicial custody in connection with the murder case of the gangster. As per the CBI, further investigation is going on in relation to Dabas and Chhikara, who were arrested few days ago, and supplementary report shall be filed expeditiously. Meena was arrested two months before by the probe agency. Earlier, the court was also told that adequate measures have been taken up considering the apprehensions of jail officials, who alleged security threats from inmates. "One personnel of Tamil Nadu Special Police has been deployed outside their cell round the clock and will accompany them when they are required to move outside their cell within the jail premises. Further, it is mentioned that special instructions have been given to jail officials concerned to provide adequate security to them," the court was told. On August 4 last year, Gujjar was found dead with multiple injuries on his body inside the premises of Central Jail No 3. As per the court's directions, the investigation of the case was being conducted by the CBI. --IANS jw/vd ( 303 Words) 2022-08-13-20:12:04 (IANS) Pat Mucha, 28, center, passes a sheet of paper while attending an adventure campus staff training session at the Northbrook Leisure Center on Aug. 11, 2022, in Northbrook. The Northbrook Park District recruited new workers by upping pay rates to $15 to $20 an hour, and offering new hires $1,000 signing bonuses. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) With the first day of classes at Chicago Public Schools fast approaching, the directors at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning were desperately seeking qualified workers to staff its before- and after-school programs for students living in the citys West and North side neighborhoods. Its really been tough, because weve lost three of our six managers, and the kids are going back to school soon, said Kenny Riley, director of Out-of-School Time at the nonprofit organization, which has centers in the Little Village, North Lawndale and Albany Park neighborhoods. Advertisement We have so many job openings, but were trying the best we can, and moving as fast as we can, said Riley, whose team oversees seven programs at the Robertson Centers three locations and four CPS-based programs. The programs, which at midweek had around 10 children on the waiting list, serve about 400 students in kindergarten through eighth grade with two models: daily after-school care, and a slate of clubs. Advertisement Riley said officials were forced to trim back some of the offerings for students in the upper grades as they try to accommodate families on the waiting list and incoming kindergartners. Theres always been high turnover, but now, some people are leaving to take nanny jobs that are paying them the same to watch one kid, versus watching 20 kids, Riley said. The rising demand for before- and after-school care for Chicago-area students is coinciding with a steep shortage of workers, leaving parents and care providers scrambling to find solutions just days before the start of the 2022-2023 school year. According to a recent survey by the Washington, D.C.-based Afterschool Alliance, just like the health care, hospitality and airlines industries, before- and after-school programs across the U.S. are facing steep challenges in recruiting, training and retaining workers. Around half of the participants in the Alliances survey reported they are extremely concerned about staffing shortages, with 31% citing extreme concerns about maintaining adequate staff through health concerns and new procedures. Were facing a lot of challenges, because weve lost a lot of the workforce, and this is a hard time to bring people back, said Erik Peterson, the Alliances senior vice president of policy. Advertisement As more employees go back to work in offices this fall, the need for child care is increasing, Peterson said. Im hearing from parents who are looking for solutions and options, and lots of folks are having to make hard decisions, he said. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Friedopfer and his wife never had a problem enrolling their daughter in after-school care. Now, with school set to begin in less than a week, theyre wait-listed for the program at their childrens Northbrook school. They tried to enroll their fourth grader and kindergartner as soon as registration opened online, but the program was full within minutes, he said. He and his wife have looked into other local before- and after-school care options, but they are either also full or cost significantly more than the schools program, he said. Theyve explored the possibility of hiring a nanny, but its almost impossible to find a part-time nanny for an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, Friedopfer said. Advertisement Friedopfer travels frequently for work, and his wife is a nurse who doesnt have much flexibility in her schedule. Im just really hoping we get in, he said. I dont know what else to do at this point. I dont know what other people do when both parents work full time. On Wednesday, officials at the Illinois-based ACT Now, After School for Children and Teens, said the after-school workforce statewide and across the nation is facing an unprecedented staffing crisis. Pointing to historically low wages, officials said those in the after-school workforce typically make less than $45,000 a year, with few prospects for advancing their careers despite high levels of educational attainment. With most of the after-school workforce hailing from high minority and low-income backgrounds, 50% of workers must supplement their income, despite nearly 70% having a bachelors degree or higher, officials said. Mary Mucci, a recreation supervisor, teaches an adventure campus staff training session at the Northbrook Leisure Center on Aug. 11, 2022. The Northbrook Park District recruited new workers by upping pay rates to $15 to $20 an hour and offering new hires $1,000 signing bonuses. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) Michael Holmes, executive director of The Black Community Provider Network, which aims to support families with educational resources and social service programs, said Wednesday that even prior to the pandemic, it was always a struggle and challenge to maintain staffing, and create sustainability. Advertisement These programs are so needed, and should be a part of the fabric of the community, Holmes said, adding that for years, single parents have not had places for their kids to attend, and the pandemic has exposed that. A CPS spokeswoman said while it is early, the district is not expecting a staffing shortage for its out-of-school enrichment programs, which begin three weeks after school starts Aug. 22. We are hopeful that with nearly 91,000 students engaged in summer programming including some of the same out-of-school programs we offer during the school year we will not see a pause in staffing levels, spokeswoman Mary Fergus said in a Thursday statement. Around 940 students are enrolled and 80 students remain on a waiting list for the Arlington Heights Park Districts Children at Play program, said Katie Waszak, supervisor for the program and day camp at the park district. Advertisement The organization has seen child care needs increase as more families now have both parents working, rather than just one, Waszak said. I have heard a lot from parents that their schedules are changing, they are going back into the office, or other child care options are not an option or do not work for their family, she said. Half of Children At Plays 12 sites have waiting lists, Waszak said. While it is not unusual for the program to have waitlists at some of the schools it serves, Waszak said increased demand coupled with staff shortages this fall has posed challenges. The program, which pays starting wages of $15 to $18 an hour and part-time benefits, plans to accommodate more students as more staff is hired, Waszak said. Advertisement For more than 30 years, the Northbrook Park Districts Adventure Campus has been considered an essential service for working families in the community, said Katie Kotloski, recreation division manager for the north suburban park district. So when the program paused some of its offerings during the early days of the pandemic, Kotloski anticipated employees would be eager to get back to work once program was back in full force. I thought after the pandemic relief money ended, they would be back, but that was foolish thinking, because most did not come back, Kotloski said. Advertisement Mary Mucci, center, a recreation supervisor, talks with Shirel Shapiro during an adventure campus staff training session at the Northbrook Leisure Center on Aug. 11, 2022. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) With 167 children on a waiting list for the fall at one point, Kotloski said leaders at the park district concluded the only way to solve the staff shortage was to raise salaries and offer a $1,000 signing bonus. Weeks later, a multigenerational crew of 55 new hires, ranging in age from high school to retirees, had signed on to care for the 350 children enrolled in the park districts before- and after-school programs held on site at five local elementary schools, Kotloski said. Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. > On Thursday, 15 children remained on the waiting list, she said. We started training our new employees this week, and we are cautiously optimistic well get those 15 students in sooner than later, Kotloski said. Meanwhile, staff at the citys Carole Robertson Center are also still recruiting new hires as they try to cut down the waiting list. The employees who staff the after-school care offerings live in the community, and many are parents or grandparents with children in the programs, said Riley, the director. The working parents in the communities we serve never had the luxury to work at home, because theyre essential workers employed by restaurants, hospitals and child care centers, Riley said. Advertisement Yet another challenge in recruiting new hires at after-school programs is some members of the community are reluctant to work directly with young children due to health and safety concerns stemming from the pandemic. Were still also aware that COVID is not gone, and were focused on keeping our sites open, Riley said. Were very fortunate to not have had any problems this summer, but its still here. kcullotta@chicagotribune.com In a major development, the Delhi Police has unearthed a major link of drug nexus between Afghanistan and Punjab and arrested one of the key handlers. The accused, identified as Pankaj Vaid a.k.a Sanju Baba, was also wanted in UAPA of Jammu, and narcotics cases of Amritsar. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) KPS Malhotra said on Saturday that during the last month, in an operation, ANTF had busted the drug nexus operating from Afghanistan. During the operation, 21.4 kg of fine quality of heroin valued at Rs 130 crore (in international market) was recovered and four persons including one Afghan national was arrested. "During the investigation, it was uncovered that one of the main links of the cartel, Pankaj Vaid, is supplying the heroin in Punjab and was the single point contact for supplying heroin in Punjab after procuring the same from Afghanistan through Delhi counterparts," DCP Malhotra said. After the arrest of his associates, Vaid went underground and started changing his hideouts frequently. Simultaneously, the Delhi Police conducted raids in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. "After technical analysis and through manual surveillance, acting on specific input, Pankaj Vaid was arrested from Himachal Pradesh," the senior official said. During questioning, it was revealed that Pankaj is a habitual offender and during his Amritsar jail tenure (in a theft and arms act case), he came in touch with drug peddlers connected to Afghanistan and after coming out from jail, he started working with them. He is also wanted in a UAPA case in Jammu. Malhotra said the accused Pankaj Vaid was the nodal point for all local drug suppliers who were engaged in heroin trafficking in Punjab. Further identification of the local drug traffickers is underway. On further interrogation, six properties situated in different parts of India have been identified related to Pankaj and have been acquired through the drug proceeds. It also come to notice that accused Pankaj Vaid was in the possession of a huge consignment and the same was destroyed by him due to the fear, as his counterparts were arrested by ANTF, the official added. --IANS uj/pgh ( 368 Words) 2022-08-13-20:24:01 (IANS) Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) Taimur has reached the port of Colombo and will take part in a joint exercise with the Sri Lankan Navy in the western seas, according to Sri Lankan media. As reported by News First, the 134-metre long Chinese-built warship PNS Taimur was commanded by Captain M. Yasir Tahir and is manned by 169 as a complement to the ship. According to media reports, the ship is expected to remain in the island till August 15 and the ship's crew will take part in several events organized by the Sri Lankan Navy to promote cooperation between the two navies. According to the Global Times, in June this year, China delivered the second of four powerful Type 054A/P warships to the Pakistan Navy. PNS Taimur is the second of four Type 054 A/P warships built by China for the Pakistan Navy. According to the Global Times, the first Type 054A/P frigate, PNS Tugril, joined the Pakistan Navy fleet in January. According to a statement issued by the Pakistan Navy, as a technologically advanced and highly capable maritime asset, PNS Taimur possesses high-tech weapons and sensors, and latest warfare management and electronic warfare systems to fight in multi-threat environments. Pakistan President Arif Alvi said that the Type 054A/Ps will not only serve to strengthen the security architecture of Pakistan's maritime areas across the country's maritime border, but will also help in the security of the sea routes of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. --IANS anil/uk ( 260 Words) 2022-08-13-21:54:04 (IANS) The raid at the company's headquarters in Seongnam, south of Seoul, was carried out over allegations that Naver blocked the unspecified market information provider from selling data to Kakao Corp., Naver's main rival, between May 2015 and September 2017. The case was launched following a criminal complaint filed by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the country's antitrust regulator, in November of last year at the request of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, reports Yonhap news agency. The FTC in December 2020 issued a 1 billion-won ($767,000) fine to Naver after concluding that the internet portal giant had signed the deal with the market data company under the condition that it does not provide Kakao with market data. The SME ministry asked the FTC to pursue a criminal investigation after assessing that Naver caused damage to the company by blocking its potential dealings with Kakao. --IANS na/ ( 192 Words) 2022-08-13-21:06:05 (IANS) China has been undertaking large-scale infrastructure projects in Africa to benefit Chinese Private-Sector Companies consequently exploiting the continent and its inhabitants thus pushing the local entrepreneurs to the margins. The main intention behind undertaking such infrastructure projects is to benefit the Chinese Private-Sector Companies (PSCs). And PSC has already started its plan as it has transitioned from 'going to Africa', to 'settling in Africa', to 'setting down roots in Africa', according to Geopolitica.info citing a report titled 'Market Power and Role of the Private Sector' published by 'China-Africa Business Council'. The evolution towards 'settling down roots in Africa', was witnessed with a whopping 70 per cent share of total Chinese investments in Africa in 2019, with 90 per cent of the Chinese companies operating in Africa were owned by private entrepreneurs. The investments have mostly concentrated in transport infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, construction and services. These investments have forced the African countries to export the raw material for their production processes and through China's 'Belt and Road Initiative' for moving the minerals and natural resources, as feedstock for Chinese industries. And this has led to the depletion of African raw materials at a very fast pace. It is pertinent to mention that in the 'China-Africa Research Initiative' report, China took a huge amount of oil and other mineral resources out of Africa. Angola, Libya, Gabon, Republic of Congo (RoC), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa (SA) account for 68 per cent of their total exports to China. Angola and Libya export oil; Gabon oil and manganese; RoC oil and other minerals; DRC cobalt and copper; and SA platinum and iron & steel. Backed by the Chinese propaganda machinery, a narrative is being played projecting the PSCs as 'engines for job creation and growth' in Africa. It is also being claimed that PSCs have an important role in the transfer of skills, knowledge and technology to Africa while upholding the dignity of African labour. On the contrary, it has been observed that Chinese PSCs do not source from local firms, employ few Africans and have poor track records with respect for labourers as well as the environment. According to the publication, the African government should look into the open violations being carried out by the Chinese PSCs, who falsely claim to have been 'messiahs' of growth for Africa but have scant or no regard for local labour and environmental laws, human rights. Earlier, the Southern African nation, Zambia, cancelled USD 1.6 billion in Chinese loans which saved them from falling into the Chinese debt trap. Debt trap diplomacy is a deceptive method adopted by China under the BRI scheme wherein the Chinese first lend huge monies under opaque loan terms to unsuspecting developing nations in the garb of development only to strategically leverage the recipient country's indebtedness for its own economic, military, or political ends or to seize its assets as a means of repayment. (ANI) In a recent update on the ongoing protest in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir against the amendment to the Constitution, former PoK Prime Minister, Farooq Haider said that "all the arrangements to pass the amendments and make PoK a province have been finalised, and only a strong protest can save the territory becoming part of Pakistan." Massive protests have erupted in Muzaffarabad and other cities across Pakistan-occupied Kashmir against the Pakistan government's plan to bring in the 15th amendment to fix the Constitutional Status of the occupied territory. The protesters burnt tyres and blocked highways to raise their anger. They chanted slogans against joining Pakistan, against the constitutional amendment and demanded freedom from Pakistan. PoK is a self-governing region with a President, Prime Minister and official flag, but it is controlled by Islamabad through the Federal Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and an elected body, the Kashmir Council, headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The citizens of all 10 districts of the region are infuriated at the government's move. These protests have taken a turn for the worse in Rawalakot, Bagh, Poonch, Muzaffarabad, and Neelum Valley among other areas of PoK. Harjap Singh writing for Daily Sikh said that since July 1, women and children have been sitting on roads for several days in the region shouting freedom slogans and demanding the Army return to the barracks. Citizens have known the agony of living under the thumb of the Pakistani government before the introduction of the 13th amendment. They have been denied dignity in living. He said that the area of Poonch is experiencing a curfew-like situation and a partial shutdown of internet service in some areas. Roads are closed for all types of vehicles owing to the burning of tyres and Pakistan's mainstream media is forbidden to cover these scenes. Protests in the Khaigala area of Poonch were quietened through the use of force and indiscriminate open firing. The injured protesters were denied medical attention while a few unfortunates died on spot. Authorities did not disclose the death toll, Harjap wrote. The Pakistan government, in June 2018, introduced the 13th Amendment that gave PoK the right to control the financial and administrative issues including making laws and collecting tax, excluding corporate tax. However, the power to elect the superior court judges, chief election Commissioner and emergency provisions remained in the hands of the Prime Minister of the country. According to a local media report, details revealed in the proposed draft of the 15th amendment show that the terms 'State' will be replaced with 'Azad Jammu Kashmir' and the mention of United Nations is going to be replaced with the words 'subject to recognition' from the so-called 1974 interim constitution of PoK. All financial powers will be transferred from the government of PoK to Pakistan thus practically degrading PoK to the level of a provincial entity. This will be the 24th attempt of the Pakistan government to determine the constitutional status of the region, in the last 75 years. However, the long resistance of the people, who termed this amendment a conspiracy to dilute the identity of PoK, has failed the plans of the Pakistan government over time. (ANI) Sri Lanka on Saturday granted permission to Chinese vessel Yuan Wang-5, widely believed to be a spy ship, to dock at its Hambantota port, local media reported. According to a report by Times Online, the Sri Lankan government gave approval to the Yuan Wang-5 ship to dock at the port on Friday. "Yuan Wang 5 will now berth at the Hambantota International Port on August 16, five days later than scheduled. It was originally due to arrive on August 11. This was delayed after India raised strong concerns citing national security," the report said. Earlier this week, Sri Lanka confirmed that it has communicated to China to defer the visit of the Chinese vessel Yuang Wang 5 to Hambantota port. The Chinese vessel was scheduled to dock at Chinese-leased Hambantota port on August 11 for refuelling and leave on August 17. "The Ministry has communicated to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Colombo to defer the visit of the said vessel to the Hambantota port," the foreign ministry had said in the statement. The Foreign Ministry had stated it wishes to reaffirm the enduring friendship and excellent relations between Sri Lanka and China which remain on a solid foundation, as reiterated most recently by the two Foreign Ministers Ali Sabry and Wang Yi at a bilateral meeting in Phnom Penh on August 4. India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at Hambantota as it was shown as a research vessel while the spy ship can map the ocean bed which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. Designated as a research and survey vessel, Yuan Wang 5 was built in 2007 and has a carrying capacity of 11,000 tonnes. During this significant visit to the key Sri Lankan port, it could conduct satellite research in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region, prompting security concerns for India. Hambantota port, located around 250 kms from Colombo was built with high-interest Chinese loans. The Sri Lankan government struggled to repay the debt they had taken from China following which the port was handed over to the Chinese on a 99-year lease. (ANI) The 134m-long Chinese-built frigate warship PNS Taimur was commanded by Captain M Yasir Tahir and it is manned by 169 as the ship's complement, News First reported. According to the media report, the ship is expected to remain in the island until August 15 and the crew of the ship will take part in several programmes organized by the Sri Lanka Navy to promote cooperation between the two navies. In June this year, China delivered the second of four powerful Type 054A/P frigates to the Pakistan Navy, according to Global Times. The PNS Taimur is the second of four Type 054 A/P frigates China built for the Pakistan Navy. The first Type 054A/P frigate, the PNS Tughril, joined the Pakistan Navy Fleet in January, according to Global Times. As a technologically advanced and highly capable sea asset, the PNS Taimur has high-tech weapons and sensors, and the latest combat management and electronic warfare systems to fight in multi-threat environments, according to a statement issued by Pakistan Navy. Pakistan President Arif Alvi said that the Type 054A/Ps will not only serve to reinforce the security architecture of Pakistan's maritime zones across the country's maritime border but also help safeguard the sea routes of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). (ANI) Former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) has hired a public relations firm to improve its image in the United States, local media reported on Saturday. The firm was hired by PTI's US chapter, a report in Dawn newspaper said. Notably, the image of Imran Khan's party has been portrayed as anti-America since April, when he accused Washington of backing efforts to overthrow his government through a no-confidence motion. Following his ouster in April, Khan and his party have been running a systematic campaign on the narrative that the US-backed "local abettors" worked to topple his government through a conspiracy, and install an administration of the foreign country's choice, Dawn newspaper reported. Khan claims he was ousted because he refused military base facilities to the US when its forces evacuated from neighbouring Afghanistan in August 2021, according to several media reports. However, the US has denied seeking any such help and has also denied any role in Khan's ouster. In one of his television addresses, Khan exhorted the people to "fight slavery" and declared that "a Muslim can never be a slave." The new worry is the support among the young that Khan is perceived as enjoying, Islam Khabar reported. The move suggests that the party is looking to carry out damage control following its leader's campaign, vilifying the US to win over popular support in Pakistan. "This is an agreement between a PR firm, not a lobbyist, and a group of US citizens," Sajjad Burki, the PTI chairman's focal person for the US said as qouted by Dawn. "We are not lobbying for PTI Pakistan, and certainly not within the US administration," he said. Meanwhile, there were reports surfaced that the US Ambassador Donald Blome who was in Peshawar last week talked with Imran Khan on a secret video call. According to The News International, the meeting between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and US Ambassador Donald Blome last week in Peshawar paved the way for the maiden contact of PTI chief Imran Khan with the US ambassador in Islamabad. This virtual meeting is viewed as a change of heart on the part of PTI and yet another U-Turn on US bashing. Former federal minister and PTI leader Shireen Mazari has said in a tweet that "there is absolutely no truth in Imran Khan having had any conversation on cell/video with US envoy Blome." She also disputed the visit of the ambassador to Torkham and KP and raised frivolous objections after four days of the visit. (ANI) UN experts on Friday called on the international community yet again to restore the declining human rights situation in Afghanistan and warned that the future of the country is bleak for its women and girls. The UN experts urged the international community to significantly increase efforts to pressure the Taliban to uphold basic human rights principles as the position of women and virtual exclusion of these groups from society has become a pressing issue, Khaama Press reported. "Arbitrary detention, summary executions, internal displacement, unlawful restrictions, extra-judicial killings, disappearances, torture, heightened risks of exploitation faced by women and girls" are among the human egregious human rights violations of the Taliban, according to the statement of the UN experts. With regards to freedom of the press, access to information has been restricted, which has stifled press freedom, said the UN experts. The UN experts' statement comes only days before the first anniversary of the Taliban's installation to power on August 15, 2021, as insurgents-turned-politicians, Khaama Press reported. The statement also called on the Taliban to immediately open schools for girls and restore education for girls and women, and fulfil its obligations under the international human rights and humanitarian laws. Moreover, the Taliban also rolled back women's rights advances and media freedom revoking the efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech in the country. Over 45 per cent of journalists have quit since the terror outfit assumed power. Before the Taliban came to power, women and girls had progressively had their rights to fully participate in education, the workplace and other aspects of public and daily life. It has been a year since the Taliban deprived Afghan women of education, work and public life. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has drawn heavy criticism across the world for a decree banning girls from schools above grade six. It has been over 300 days since girls' schools have been closed. Since seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has been the country's de facto authorities. Despite initial public commitments to uphold the rights of women and girls, the Taliban introduced policies of systematic discrimination that violate their rights. Women and girls across Afghanistan reacted to this crackdown with a wave of protests. (ANI) Noting that the situation at the border with India is stable at the moment, Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong on Saturday said that Beijing conducts all activity there in accordance with agreements signed with the country. The remarks come after reports surfaced of certain instances of Chinese combat jets flying close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. "China conducts all activity at border in accordance with agreements signed with India. I have no specific info of any movement; the situation at the border is stable at the moment: Sun Weidong said today. Yesterday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India-China relations cannot be normal unless border situation is and added that if China disturbs the peace and tranquillity in border areas, it will impact the relations further. "We have maintained our position that if China disturbs the peace and tranquillity in border areas, it will impact our relations. Our relationship is not normal, it cannot be normal as the border situation is not normal," EAM S Jaishankar said in Bengaluru on the India-China issue. Last week, India and China held a special round of military talks at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh to discuss air space violations and provocations by the Chinese side in that area in the last 45 days. The talks were held after the Indian Air Force sternly countered the Chinese attempts to provoke in the Eastern Ladakh sector by violating air space and the confidence-building measure lines which mandate that both sides should fly fighter planes within 10 Kms of the LAC."During the military talks, the Indian side strongly raised objections over the Chinese flying activities near Eastern Ladakh sector for over a month now and asked them to avoid such provocative activities," government sources told ANI. The talks have also come at a time when the Chinese are having tense relations with multiple countries including the US over a high-profile American visit to Taiwan and its firing of ballistic missiles in the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone. The talks between the two sides included Air Force officers from both sides along with Army representatives. The Indian Air Force was represented by Air Commodore Amit Sharma from the Operations branch while an equivalent rank officer came from the People's Liberation Army's Air Force side for the discussions. The Indian Army was represented by a Major General-rank officer under the Fire and Fury Corps headed by Lt Gen A Sengupta, the sources said. (ANI) Rahimullah Zaland, left, and Khan Madin Ashna, right, work on the production line for lemon bars at Eli's Cheesecake in the Dunning neighborhood on Aug. 11, 2022, in Chicago. Zaland and Ashna, both 26, emigrated from Afghanistan in August 2021 and have worked at Eli's for the past five months. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) A year ago, former Afghan soldiers Rahimullah Zaland and Khan Madin Ashana fled their home country as the United States withdrew the last of its troops in dramatic airlifts in the final weeks of August. They spent months traveling separately through different countries, looking for a safe haven before landing in Chicago. When I came here to Chicago, I was not used to the environment because this place was really cold, Zaland said. I arrived here in the winter; it was really difficult for me to manage my life here in the beginning. I had to solve so many personal problems in the first two months. Advertisement The soldiers turned refugees were among the tens of thousands of Afghan citizens who left the country as the United States evacuated more than 120,000 people, including Afghans, U.S. soldiers and American citizens, in its final days in the war-torn country. After 20 years, the final exit from Afghanistan ended Americas longest war but was deemed a failure by many as the Taliban regained control of the country. Rahimullah Zaland, second from left, and Khan Madin Ashna, third from left, work on the production line for lemon bars at Eli's Cheesecake. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) We were furious that the situation was getting worse in the country after we left, Zaland said, with the help of an interpreter from resettlement agency RefugeeOne. Im always worried about our relatives there, however, I dont know what will happen in the future. Advertisement Within weeks of arriving, Zaland and Ashana were introduced to Elis Cheesecake Co. through RefugeeOne, a resettlement agency that assists refugees with finding employment, schools, language services, applying for Social Security cards and more. Both now work as production associates at Elis factory in the Dunning neighborhood. Approximately 2,500 refugees from Afghanistan have settled in the Chicago area since last August, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services. Elis has earned a reputation for employing refugees and cultivating their careers during its 30-year partnership with RefugeeOne, the largest resettlement agency in Chicago. Elias Kasongo, Elis vice president of procurement, joined the company 28 years ago as a refugee from the Congo, beginning in the dish room before rising to a senior executive position. Since the United States started accepting refugees from Afghanistan, Elis has hired more than 50 Afghan refugees. Currently, about 25% of its employees are refugees from around the world, according to President Marc Schulman. Rahimullah Zaland works on a production line at Eli's Cheesecake in the Dunning neighborhood. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Zaland and Ashana left Afghanistan nine days apart on Aug. 15 and Aug. 24, respectively. Zalands journey to Chicago included stops in Abu Dhabi; Washington, D.C.; and Indiana; while Ashana traveled through Qatar; Germany; Washington, D.C.; and Wisconsin. The pair did not know each other in Afghanistan but now work side by side at Elis. In the beginning when we came here we had a hard time applying for jobs because we didnt have any language capabilities, and that was our biggest problem, Ashana said, with the help of an interpreter. Elis provides practicing Muslims in the company with a prayer room attached to the factory to accommodate daily prayers and will soon be offering employees English classes as well. Advertisement Cultural and religious organizations in the Chicago area also offer a number of programs supporting migrants. Atya Kazmi, family services coordinator for the Islamic Circle of North America, said refugees have reached out to ICNA for help when resettlement agencies cant meet all of their needs. The organization works to provide migrants with everything from winter coats to kitchen utensils to childrens toys, as well as culturally appropriate items such as hijabs and long tunics. Afghan refugee Rohid Rahimi, right, lines up for food from volunteer Zebunnisa Cheema, center, as he and dozens of Afghan, African, Syrian and Palestinian refugees and community residents line up for the food pantry at the Islamic Circle of North America in Chicago, Aug. 11, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) Thats the challenge for us is to provide. So many people reach out to us because it seems they are getting very few things from their own agencies due to the large number of people who have come to Chicago, she said. ICNA accepts donations of new items through scheduled drop-offs. Currently, they are in particular need of strollers, car seats and new baby clothes. In partnership with three other nearby Episcopal churches, Trinity Episcopal Church in Highland Park took in two refugees in July, one of whom eventually reconnected with family in Colorado, and recently received another, according to the Rev. Bryan Cones. Church members felt compelled to support incoming refugees for a number of reasons, he said. Partly due to our religious conviction, that is our job and obligation to welcome and provide hospitality to people that are migrating, he said. Among some of our members, we also feel a certain moral responsibility to Afghan migrants of our countrys involvement in Afghanistan and what many of us see is our failure in Afghanistan to secure the place or provide what we promised. Advertisement Rahimullah Zaland uses a pallet truck to move containers at Eli's Cheesecake in the Dunning neighborhood on Aug. 11, 2022, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Like Zaland and Ashana, all three refugees the church has taken in have been young men in their late teens and 20s who left Afghanistan amid the evacuations without any family or friends. In addition to helping refugees become self-sufficient, Cones said the church has sought to address possible feelings of isolation by including them in church events and parties, as well as helping them find and join local Muslim communities. The church partnered with Sponsor Circle, an alternative resettlement agency that supports people taking on resettlement responsibilities in their communities. One month in, Cones said he realized just how little he and his fellow sponsors knew before undertaking the project. Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. > So our migrants are Shia Muslims but theres a smaller Shia community in Chicago, so it took several tries to find a mosque you just cant go to any mosque. Like churches, theyre diverse in the way that they pray and the cultural heritage they reflect, and so were taking some time to help them find a place that they feel more at home, he said. Khan Madin Ashna, left, and Rahimullah Zaland sit on a fiberglass cheesecake slice at Eli's Cheesecake in the Dunning neighborhood. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) Zaland and Ashana, who both live in Rogers Park separately, have found a community in their neighbors and new friends. Ashana noted the large Muslim community in Chicago, and said many of his neighbors are also Muslims from countries such as India, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. A recent report from the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and the University of Illinois at Chicagos Institute of Policy and Social Engagement found that there are now more Muslims per capita in Illinois than any other U.S. state, sparking optimism across Chicagos Muslim community. Advertisement It is true that I dont have family, but I always think about them, Zaland said. However, I receive so much love from Americans and from all the people living close by to me that I almost forgot about my family at home. For the future, Zaland and Ashana both hope to build fulfilling lives in Chicago. I want to have an easy life, Ashana said. I want to buy a car. I want to solve my little issues. Everyone has a goal in front of them, I also have this kind of goal. dgill@chicagotribune.com The festival of Gaijatra that is taking place in Nepal after a massive gap of three years is a procession which commemorates the dead. It is a time-honoured tradition where people of all ages in the guise of cows and lunatics go around the city, wearing odd costumes to commemorate those who died in the last year. Donned in cross-dress or impersonating a cow, people often go touring the town during the festival which is meant to count the number of deaths. Bereaved families offer fruits, bread, beaten rice, curd, and money to those participating in the procession including the cows. "The impersonated cows that are taken out onto streets follow the scientific technique introduced in the medieval period to prepare the statistics of deceased. It is seen that the impersonated cows hang on the photo of their bygone beloved ones on their neck. In order to show on the record of the deaths as well as to overcome the sorrow and entertain, this festival is observed," Prayagiman Pradhan, a resident of the ancient town of Kirtipur told ANI. The ancient town of Kirtipur serving as a hill station on the outskirts of Kathmandu also features some real-life as well as dramatic characters along with impersonated cows. "The Purnas has dictated about sending on the (impersonated) cows and the bereaving house should take out a cow in order to make departed soul cross the 'Baitarni' river would need a tail of cow to get across. Some participants here also are seen dressed in rugged clothes- they are from families residing in Kirtipur who lately have constructed a house. They come out in the form of beggars instead of a cow because they have spent a large sum of money building their shelter and they go around collecting alms to celebrate the festival," Pradhan added. As per sayings, the festival derives its name from the religious belief that the deceased, during their journey to heaven, crossed a legendary river by grabbing the tail of a cow. The tails of cows demonstrated today are also credited for helping the deceased one to get across Baitarni, a legendary river to get into heaven. The Garuda Purana, one of the scriptures mentions that on the 11th day of death rites, people have to perform "Brishotsarga"- release an ox or bull, with a belief that it would give peace to the deceased soul. "In Kathmandu the beats of musical instruments and other performances are absent. But here in Kirtipur, a large swath of people gather commonly and celebrate with fanfare. I also had a pleasant experience watching the procession," Rajan Shrestha, one of the travellers who came to see the procession to hill-town told ANI. As it would be costlier, some historians claim GaiJatra is celebrated as an alternative to it on the day of Bhadra Krishna Pratipada and has since been celebrated. While some of the manuscripts mention that the festival started as 'saa yaa(t)' or 'gai yatra' meaning 'journey of the cow' during the time of Jayasthiti Malla, around 600 years ago. But, it was during the reign of Pratap Malla in Kathmandu, Jagat Prakash Malla in Bhaktapur and Siddhi Narsingh Malla in Lalitpur that the Gai Jatra turned into a pilgrimage and a festival, with musical instruments. The person who takes part in this brief pilgrimage of cows praying for the salvation of departed souls should eat clean and should maintain the hygiene of high level. The ancient tradition which still is practised in the present time is credited to have started in 500 Nepal Sambat (popular amongst the Newari Community of Nepal). Historians have claimed that people use to glorify the deeds of the deceased ones through songs and hymns in order to inform and encourage others. This festival is also marked by the mockery of the wrongdoings of the politicos and other concerned groups through the means of drama, music and other means of performance. (ANI) Security forces in Kabul fired shots in the air and beat up women protesting Taliban rule on Saturday, as dozens demanded the right to education, work and political participation on the eve of the first anniversary of the Islamist groups takeover of Afghanistan, media reports said. Rally participants chanted "we want work, bread, and freedom" as they marched toward the Education Ministry in the Afghan capital before Taliban forces responded violently to the rare anti-government rally, VOA reported. "August 15 is a black day," read a banner protesters were carrying as they demanded the right to work and political participation, chanting "Justice, justice". Witness accounts and social media documented many women at the rally not wearing face veils, VOA reported. Some of the female protesters who took refuge in nearby shops were chased and beaten by security forces with their rifle butts, witnesses said. Heavy gunfire could be heard in social media video of the rally, with Taliban men assaulting female protesters. They also violently prevented Afghan journalists from covering the rally, VOA reported. Amnesty international expressed concern on Twitter about reported use of "excessive force" by the Taliban to disperse women who were protesting peacefully. Taliban officials did not immediately comment on the allegations. The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August 15 from the internationally backed Afghan government as US-led and NATO allies withdrew their troops from the country after almost 20 years of war with the Taliban. The hardline group's all-male interim government in Kabul has since significantly rolled back women's rights to work and education, barring most teenage girls from resuming secondary school in a breach of promises the Taliban made to respect rights of all Afghans. Women employed in the public sector have been told to stay at home, except for those who work for the ministries of education, health and a few others, and must use face coverings in public. --IANS san/arm ( 329 Words) 2022-08-13-19:42:03 (IANS) Three motorcyclists were killed in Pakistan's North Waziristan following a bomb explosion in the district, a report said on Saturday. The district administration said the bomb was installed in a motorcycle by the roadside, which resulted in killing three and injuring five others, Geo News reported. Following the explosion, security forces cordoned off the area and began an investigation. No organisation has so far taken the responsibility for the blast and neither has it been determined what sort of explosives were used. The blast comes just days after four Pakistan soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a military convoy in the same area. "The Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from the country," the ISPR had said, vowing that the sacrifices of the brave soldiers will not go in vain. Attacks on Pakistan security forces and clashes with suspected terrorists in the North Waziristan tribal district have become quite frequent in recent months. On July 4, at least 10 security personnel were injured when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of security forces in the area, Dawn reported. Officials said at the time that the convoy was going from Mirali to Miramshah, the district headquarters, when the suicide bomber, who was on a motorcycle, blew himself up near one of the vehicles. On May 30, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle attacked another convoy of security forces in the Razmak area, injuring two soldiers and two children. --IANS san/pgh ( 259 Words) 2022-08-13-21:38:04 (IANS) Colin D. Young / Shutterstock.com Opting to purchase a vacation property in another country has multiple advantages. Not only will you have a foreign getaway to use at your convenience, but you'll also gain an asset that doesn't have any tax-filing requirements in the U.S. Check Out: The Minimum Salary You Need To Be Happy in Every State More: 15 Cheap, Beautiful Places To Retire Some countries, including Turkey, Greece and Portugal, will even grant you second citizenship if you own property there. Plus, there's the possibility of renting out the property when you're not using it to produce an additional stream of income. To help you weigh your options, here are six of the best countries to own vacation properties. RomanBabakin / Getty Images/iStockphoto Italy "Italy is a place where the tourists come and go every year and every day," said Matt Ward Realtor and team lead of The Matt Ward Group. "Most of the vacation rentals in the country remain booked mostly any time of the year. If you are planning to invest in vacation properties, this country would be one of the best places to start with. Any Americans legally can buy a vacation home in Italy with the right amount of money." In the major cities of the country, buying a property outside of the city center will be significantly cheaper than buying in the city center. Live Richer Podcast: How To Start Investing and Win Big, According to WallStreetBets tanukiphoto / Getty Images Greece "There's no doubt about the fact that Greece is a popular tourist destination," said Kurt Walker, real estate investor at Mill City Home Buyers. "So, it's an ideal location for investors seeking to buy a vacation property. With picturesque views of unspoiled islands and clear blue waters paired with Mediterranean architecture and history, it is the perfect tourist attraction." Walker added, "Additionally, with the country's golden visa scheme, tourists are jumping on the opportunity to visit this beautiful place. This has resulted in a hot real estate market, especially in terms of vacation rentals. More traffic means that more people will book properties for their holiday, making it one of the best countries to own a vacation home. Story continues "Some Grecian islands like Naxos and Paros are super affordable. You can buy as many as five three-bedroom village houses for just a million euros. This affordability has made Greece an attractive destination for people to invest in vacation rentals." ekash / Shutterstock.com Costa Rica "Costa Rica is a great country to invest in; [it's] also called the 'greenest country on Earth,'" said Rashard Alomari, founder and CEO of real estate company Fair Cash Deal. "This name was not given to [it] because of [its] scenery, but mainly because it is currently the leading nation in terms of greener environmental practices and sustainable technological advancement. In addition to being the greenest country, Costa Rica also has a low cost of living, which is the main attraction for investors to buy a vacation house in Costa Rica. Vacationers set a budget of $3,000 per month, which is more than enough to live a luxury life in Costa Rica. People have been able to find vacation houses for as little as $40,000, while the most expensive house can only be as expensive as $500,000." KyuJong Park / Flickr.com Turkey "Turkey, despite being a major tourist attraction and a strong economy, offers affordable real estate options compared to other countries," said Samantha Odo, chief operating officer and licensed real estate expert at Precondo. "The pricing of small apartments can start from as low as $55,000-$65,000 USD. The prices are increasing at a slower pace making investing in a property for the long-term ideal." xbrchx / Getty Images/iStockphoto Croatia "Tourism in this country is thriving, and there's been an influx of international tourists coming in to see the towns, islands, castles and much more," said Eyal Pasternak, licensed Realtor and founder of Liberty House Buying Group. "A significant portion of these tourists travel to look at the filming locations of the popular TV series 'Game of Thrones.' That alone is a reason to invest in the vacation properties in Croatia." Pasternak continued, "Property prices have gone up recently because of the boom in the tourism industry. Properties can go all the way up to a million dollars, but you can also find great vacation homes for as low as $150,000. The thing about Croatian property is that its capitalization rate is also going up with prices. This means properties are appreciating well, so you'll see a good return on your investment." SeanPavonePhoto / Getty Images/iStockphoto Portugal "Portugal is considered one of the top places for buying a vacation property in 2022," said Martin Carreon, broker/owner at Soco Wine Country Properties. "The country has a lot to offer with its captivating culture and great nature. The growth of tourist numbers along with the economic growth has been good and steady in the cities like Lisbon and Porto." "Lisbon may be too expensive to buy a vacation property, but the amenities and features offered by the city are magnificent. The other cities near Lisbon would be a good option if you are looking to buy a new vacation home at an affordable rate." More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 6 Best Countries To Own Vacation Property Iran's rulers bear responsibility for the attack against the British writer Salman Rushdie as the Islamic republic never repudiated a 1989 order issued by its founder calling for the novelist to be killed, activists and opponents charged Saturday. While the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses" has for some time not been part of daily discourse in Iran, the clerical leadership under his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also did nothing to indicate it no longer stood and on occasions underlined the decree was still valid. The multiple stabbing of Rushdie at an event in New York comes at an intensely sensitive time for Iran, as it considers an offer by world powers to revive the 2015 deal on its nuclear programme which would ease sanctions that have battered the economy. During a period of relative thaw between Tehran and the West under former president Mohammad Khatami, ex-foreign minister Kamal Kharazi had in 1998 pledged that Iran would not take steps to endanger the life of Rushdie, who for years was in hiding. But an answer posted to a question on Khamenei's website Khamenei.ir in February 2017 said that the fatwa was still valid. "Answer: The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued," it said. The @khamenei_ir Twitter account, which repeats Khamenei's views and activists have repeatedly said should be suspended, in 2019 posted that the fatwa was "solid and irrevocable". Activists also insist that a bounty of over 3 million dollars for Rushdie's life offered by Iran's 15 Khordad Foundation remains on offer. - 'Real Islamic republic' - Whether today's assassination attempt was ordered directly by Tehran or not, it is almost certainly the result of 30 years of the regime's incitement to violence against this celebrated author," said the Washington-based National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI). The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group outlawed in Iran, said that the attack had taken place at the "instigation" of Khomeini's fatwa. Story continues Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the clerical regime had always vowed to implement this anti-Islamic fatwa in the past 34 years," it said in a statement. New York state police identified the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, adding the motive for the stabbing remains unclear. He was detained in the immediate aftermath. Commentators pointed to a Facebook account belonging to a man named Hadi Matar littered with images of the Iranian leadership which was deactivated in the hours after the attack. There was no immediate confirmation it belonged to the attacker. A source close to the investigation told NBC news that Matar "is sympathetic to Shia extremism and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) causes" even if as yet there was no evidence of a definite link to the key Iranian security force. "This is the real Islamic Republic; you negotiate with such a regime and allow its supporters and lobbyists into your society. Can you understand how we feel as this regime's hostages?" freedom of expression activist Hossein Ronaghi, one of the most outspoken critics of the leadership inside the country, tweeted in response to the attack. - 'Never backed off' - Iran's actions are also under intense scrutiny in the United States where Tehran has in the last weeks faced accusations of seeking to assassinate former US national security advisor John Bolton and the US-based Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad. The Islamic republic has a record throughout its history of seeking to eliminate opponents outside its borders and is now accused also of abducting foreign-based dissidents and hauling them back to Iran for trial and possible execution. Alinejad, who was previously the target of a plot to abduct her from New York by speedboat back to Iran via Venezuela, is now in a safe house after a man with a AK-47 was found outside her residence. "There's been a fatwa on Salman Rushdie from Khomeini since 1989 and the Islamic Republic of Iran never backed off the fatwa. @khamenei_ir repeated it on Twitter as well. Now Islamic Republic promoters are praising the assassination and threaten me with the same fate as Salman Rushdie," said Alinejad. In its news report about the attack, the official IRNA news agency described Rushdie as the "apostate author" of "The Satanic Verses" and recalled the fatwa. The daily Kayhan, whose editor is appointed by Khamenei, hailed the attacker as "this courageous and duty-conscious man... who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife." Iranian authorities have yet to make any official comment. Mohammad Marandi, an adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiating team, wrote on Twitter that while he would "won't be shedding tears" for Rushdie the timing was "odd" at a critical moment in the nuclear crisis. sjw/ach This photograph taken on July 26, 2022 shows suitcases at the baggage claim service at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. - Due to staff shortages, crowds and many missed flights, thousands of suitcases are waiting at Schiphol Airport. - Netherlands OUT (Photo by Remko de Waal / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by REMKO DE WAAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images) REMKO DE WAAL / Getty Images A Florida airline worker is charged in connection to the theft of over $16,000 worth of luggage. The suspect was caught with the assistant of one victim's Apple AirTag, which she kept in her luggage. Investigators cross-referenced the employee database with the AirTag's last active location to find the suspect. A Florida airline worker was arrested after an Apple AirTag helped authorities locate a traveler's missing luggage. Giovanni De Luca, 19, an airline subcontractor at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, is charged with two counts of grand theft, according to a statement by Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office on Thursday. According to the statement, a traveler reported her suitcase, which contained more than $1,600 worth of items, had gone missing from her final destination in July. The traveler told authorities that an Apple AirTag in her suitcase had last activated in Mary Esther, Florida, according to the statement. Another traveler reported his luggage, which contained more than $15,000 worth of jewelry, missing, according to the statement. Investigators from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office used the airline database to cross reference employees who lived near the address where the AirTag was last activated and made "consensual contact" with De Luca at his home where they recovered the missing items. De Luca admitted to rummaging through the July victim's suitcase and removing the Apple AirTag however her items have not been recovered, according to the statement. "This arrest is an example of excellent teamwork by our Airport Security Unit, our Investigators, and the Airport to find the person responsible for these thefts and make sure he is held responsible," said Sheriff Eric Aden in the statement. Read the original article on Insider Russians heading to Mariupol The article is a piece of Russian propaganda aimed at spreading hatred against Ukrainians, labeling the whole nation enemies of Russia that deserve ethnic cleansing under Russian control. Editors note: Our editorial team debated whether it was worth publishing this article, as we did not want to give a platform to what we see as what is essentially a Russian fascist manifesto, promulgating hate against Ukrainians. However, we decided that in the interests of alerting the world to the depths to which Russia has already sunk into fascism, and to provide evidence for future cases in international courts of the Kremlins intention to carry out ethnic cleaning in Ukraine, we would publish this piece, albeit with this disclaimer and annotations within the text noting its most egregious falsehoods. Labeling the majority of Ukrainians as Nazis, the article What Russia should do with Ukraine calls for the elimination of the Ukrainian elites and the de-ukrainization of the Ukrainian nation even stripping Ukraine of its name, and destroying Ukrainian culture. Ukrainians are described in terms similar to the Nazi Untermenshen subhuman, as the Nazis referred to non-Aryan "inferior people" such as "the masses from the East" that is Jews, Roma, and Slavs. This is pure fascism. By publishing this story on April 3, the same day the world found out about horrible massacre of at least 400 Ukrainian civilians by the Russian army in Bucha, RIA Novosti has sunk to a level a cynicism not seen since the 1930s in Europe. This fascist manifesto lays bare the dreadful danger that the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin now poses to Ukraine, and to the world. A screenshot of Ria Novosti's article "What Russia should do with Ukraine Courtesy Read RIA's article below: Back in April of last year, we wrote about the inevitability of Ukraines de-nazification. We dont need the Nazi, Banderite Ukraine, an enemy of Russia and an instrument of the West to destroy Russia. Today, the question of de-nazification has come into the practical world. De-nazification is necessary when a sizable part of the population - most likely, the majority - has mastered and drawn in the Nazi regime into its politics. (Fact check: Far-right parties typically fail to draw more than 3% of the vote in Ukraine, and in the 2019 parliament elections no far-right party won any seats.) That is, when the theory the people are good, the government is bad no longer holds true. Admitting this fact is the basis of the de-nazification policy, all of its associated measures, and the fact itself is the subject matter of the policy. Ukraine finds itself in exactly this situation. The fact that the Ukrainian electorate chose Poroshenkos peace and Zelenskys peace, should not mislead - Ukrainians are quite satisfied with the shortest path to peace through blitzkrieg, which the last two Ukrainian presidents transparently hinted at when they were elected. It was this method of "appeasement" of internal anti-fascists - through total terror - that was used in Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mariupol, and other Russian cities. And this completely satisfied the Ukrainian layman. De-nazification is a system of measures, related to the nazification of a mass portion of the population, which cannot technically be subject to direct punishment as war criminals. Read also: Another batch of Russian fake nuclear news about Ukraine refuted by NSDC Nazis who take up arms have to be maximally eradicated from the battlefield. Theres no need to derive a difference between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the so-called national battalions, as well as the territorial defense forces, that has joined these two types of military formations. Theyre anyway all involved in extreme cruelty against the civilian population, all equally responsible for the genocide of the Russian population, and who do not follow the laws and customs of war (Fact check: There is no evidence for the preceding claims). War criminals and active Nazis have to made an example of. There has to be a total lustration - the liquidation and ban of any organizations that ties themselves to the practice of Nazism. However, aside from the leadership, a good part of the population is also responsible here, who are themselves passive Nazis, accomplices to Nazism. They supported the Nazi government, and indulged it. (Fact check: It is false to describe Ukraines democratically elected government as Nazi.) A just punishment for this part of the population can only be found in the burden of the hardships of a just war against the Nazi system, The just punishment of this part of the population is possible only as bearing the inevitable hardships of a just war against the Nazi system, carried out with the utmost care and discretion, with respect to civilians. The further de-nazification of this part of the population is composed of re-education, which should reach ideological repression (suppression) of Nazi attitudes and strict censorship: not only in the political sphere, but absolutely as well in the spheres of culture and education. Its precisely through culture and education that the plan to deeply Nazify a mass of the population was prepared and carried out, strengthened by the promise of spoils from the victory of the Nazi regime over Russia, Nazi propaganda, internal violence and terrorism, as well as the eight year war of Ukrainian nazis against the insurgent people of the Donbass. Denazification can only be conducted by the victor, which assumes 1) its unconditional control over the de-nazification process, and 2) an authority that can facilitate this control. In this respect, a country undergoing de-nazification cannot be sovereign. The de-nazification-leading government - Russia - cannot proceed from a liberal approach regarding denazification. The ideology of the de-nazifying party cannot be disputed by the guilty party, subjected to de-nazification. Russias call for the necessity of de-nazification means that the Crimean scenario cannot work for Ukraine as whole. In fact, this scenario was already unrealistic in 2014, and in the rebellious Donbas. Read also: Russian contempt for Ukraine paved the way for Putins disastrous invasion Only eight years of resistance to Nazi violence and terrorism has led to internal cohesion, and the conscious, unambiguous mass refusal to maintain any unity and connection with Ukraine, which defined itself as a Nazi society. The duration of this de-nazification cannot take less than a single generation, which has to be born, grow up, and mature in the conditions of de-nazification. The Nazification of Ukraine took more than 30 years - starting at a minimum in 1989, when Ukrainian nationalism receive a legal and legitimate form of political self-expression and spearheaded the movement for independence, leaning towards Nazism. A particular feature of Nazified Ukraine is its amorphousness and ambivalentness, which allows for the masking of Nazism as a desire to move towards an independent and European (Western and pro-American) path of development, (in reality - towards degradation), while insisting that Ukraine doesnt have any Nazism, only private and singular excesses. There isnt, after all, a single important Nazi party, no fuhrer, no fully racist laws (only their curtailed variants in the form of repressions against the Russian language). As a result, there is no opposition and resistance to the regime. However, all of the above does not make Ukrainian Nazism a lite version of German Nazism circa the first half of the 20th century. On the contrary - seeing as Ukrainian Nazism is freed from similar typical (political-technological by nature) boundaries and restrictions, it can freely unfold as a fundamental basis for all types of Nazisms - as European, and, in a rather development form, as American racism. Thats why de-nazification cannot be conduct in a compromised fashion, on the basis of formulas like NATO - no, the EU - yes. The collective West is itself a designer, source, and sponsor of Ukrainian Nazism. At that time, the Western Bandera cadres and their "historical memory" were only one of the tools for the Nazification of Ukraine. Ukrnazism is not a smaller, but in fact a larger threat to the world and Russia, than even German Nazism of the Hitlerean version. The name Ukraine, seemingly, cannot be retained as the title of any fully denazified state entity in a territory liberated from the Nazi regime. The people's republics, newly created in the space free from Nazism, should and will grow from the practice of economic self-government and social security, and the restoration and modernization of social support systems for the population. Their political aspirations cannot in fact be neutral - their atonement to Russia for their attitude towards her as an enemy can only be achieved by relying on Russia in the processes of restoration, revival, and development. No Marshall Plan for these territories can be allowed. No neutrality in any ideological or practical sense, concurrently with de-nazification, can be allowed. Cadres and organizations that serve as instruments of de-nazification in the newly de-nazified republics can only rely on the direct power and organizational support of Russia. Read also: Day 40 of Putin's war. Russians attack Odesa, Mykolaiv and Ternopil while world reacts to Bucha massacre (UPDATED) De-nazification will inevitably be expressed as de-Ukrainianization - the rejection of the artificially divided ethnic component of self-identification, created as far back as under Soviet authority, of the population of the historical territories of Malorossiya and Novorossiya. As an instrument of the communist superpower, this artificial ethnocentrism did not remain ownerless after its fall. In this official capacity, it passed to the authority of another superpower (a power that supersedes governments) - the Western superpower. Its necessary to return it to its obvious borders, and to limits its political functionality. Unlike, say, Georgia and the Baltic states, Ukraine, as history has shown, cannot exist in the form of a national government, and attempts to build it as such, naturally leads to Nazism. Ukrainianism is an artificial anti-Russian construct, which does not have any civilizational content of its own, and is a subordinate element of a foreign and alien civilization. De-banderism is not, by itself, enough for de-nazification - the Banderite element is just one expression and a screen, a mask for the European project of a Nazi Ukraine, which is why the de-nazification of Ukraine - is also its inevitable de-Europeanization. The Banderite leadership has to be liquidated, as their re-education is impossible. The social swamp, which actively and passively supports it through action and inaction, has to survive the hardships of war and assimilate this experience as a historical lesson and atonement for its guilt. Those that did not support the Nazi regime, but suffered from it and the war unleashed by it in the Donbas, must be consolidated and organized, and must become the pillar of the new government, its vertical and horizontal. Historical experience shows that the tragedies and dramas of wartime serve to help the population, tempted and carried away by their role as an enemy of Russia. De-nazification, as a goal of the special military operation, within the the scope of that operation, is understood as a military victory over the Kyiv regime, the liberation of the territory from armed Nazi supporters, the liquidation of irreconcilable Nazis, the capture of war criminals, as well as the creation of a system of conditions for the following peace-time de-nazification. The latter, in turn, should begin with the organization of local self-government, law enforcement, and defense bodies, cleansed of Nazi elements. This can be used as the basis to launch the founding processes of a new republican statehood, integrating this statehood into close cooperation with the Russian department for Ukrainian de-nazification (newly created or converted, say, from Rossotrudnichestvo). This, along with the adoption, under Russian control, of a republican regulatory framework (legislation) on de-nazification, the definition of the boundaries and framework for the direct application of Russian law and Russian jurisdiction in the liberated territories in the field of de-nazification, and the creation of a tribunal for crimes against humanity in the former Ukraine. In this regard, Russia should act as the guardian of the Nuremberg Trials. All of the above means that, in order to achieve the goals of de-nazification, it will be necessary to win the support of the people, to get them on Russias side after theyre freed from the terror, violence, and ideological pressure of the Kyiv regime, after getting them out of their informational isolation (Fact check: Ukrainian media, unlike those in Russia, are largely free, and there is no systematic political repression of the opposition as there is in Russia). Its understood that some time must pass for people to recover from the shock of military action, and be convinced of Russias long-term intention - in that they wont be abandoned. Its impossible to foresee where exactly, on what territories, this critical mass of the population will be found to make the necessary majority. The Catholic provinces (Western Ukraine in its five oblasts) is unlikely to join the group of pro-Russian territories. The line of separation, however, will be found through experienced routes. It will remain hostile to Russian, but will still be a forcibly neutral and de-militarized Ukraine, with Nazism banned on formal grounds. Thats where Russia-haters will leave to. The guarantee, that this last remaining bit of Ukraine would remain neutral, should be the threat of immediate military operation if those stated requirements are not met. From the line of separation, to the Russian border, will be a territory that can potentially be integrated into Russian civilization, antifascist in its own internal nature. Read also: Just like Bucha and Mariupol, Chernihiv mayor says of his city The operation to de-nazify Ukraine, which has started with a military phase, will follow in peacetime the same logic of progression as the military operation. With each step, it will be necessary to succeed in implementing irreversible changes, which would become the building blocks of the following step. For this, the necessary first steps of de-nazification can be defined the following way: The liquidation of armed Nazi formation (which is understood to include any Ukrainian armed formations, including the Armed Forces of Ukraine), as well as anything that assists in their military, informational, and educational infrastructure The creation of bodies for popular self-rule, as well as law enforcement (both for security and law and order) on liberated territory, to protective people from terrorist acts of insurgent Nazi groups The implementation of the Russian information space The seizure of any educational materials, and a band on educational programs, at all levels, that contain Nazi ideological attitudes Mass investigations to establish personal accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, spreading of Nazi ideology and supporting the Nazi regime Lustration, publicizing the names of the accomplices of the Nazi regime, engaging them in forced labor to repair destroyed infrastructure as part of their punishment for Nazi activities (for those that wouldnt be sentenced to death or imprisonment) The adoption, at a local level, under Russian advisement, primary normative acts of grassroots de-nazification, a ban on all types and forms of reviving Nazi ideology The creation of memorials, commemorative signs, and monuments to the victims of Ukrainian Nazism, and the immortalization of the memory of the heroes that fought against it The creation and adoption of a series of anti-fascist and de-nazificative norms in the constitutions of these new peoples republics The creation of a constantly operating body of de-nazification, for a period of 25 years Russia will have no compatriots in its de-nazification of Ukraine, seeing as this is purely Russian work, as well as considering that it is not just the Banderite version of Nazi Ukraine that will be eradicated, but also and most of all, Western totalitarianism, the forced programs of civilizational degradation and ruin, the mechanisms of subjugation to the superpower of the West and the USA. In order to realize the plan of Ukrainian de-nazification, Russian life itself will have to finally rid itself of its pro-European and pro-Western illusions, and accept itself as the last line of defense, and the preserver of, those values of historic Europe (the Old World), which it deserves, and from which the West has ultimately abandoned, losing in a war against itself. This war stretched out for the entirely of the 20th century, and was expressed in a world war and in the Russian revolution, which are inextricably linked to each other. Russia has done all it can to save the West in the 20th century. It helped implement that important Western project, an alternative capitalism, which won it nation-states - the red, socialist project. It destroyed German Nazism - a monstrous product of the crisis of Western civilization. The last act of Russian altruism was the hand of friendship offered by Russia, for which Russian received that horrific blow of the 1990s. Everything that Russia did for the West, it did out of its own pocket, while making massive sacrifices. The West, in the end, rejected all of these sacrifices, devalued Russia's contribution to resolving the Western crisis, decided to take revenge on Russia for the help that it had selflessly provided. Now, Russia will go its own way, without worrying about the fate of the West, drawing on the other part of its heritage - leading the global process of decolonization. As a part of this process, Russia has a great potential to build partnerships and allied relationships with those countries that the West has oppressed for centuries, and which will not again suffer under its yoke. Without Russian sacrifices, these nations would have not been liberated. Read also: Death toll in Bucha already higher than Croatias Vukovar massacre, says Ukraine's defense minister Ukraines de-nazification is at the same time its de-colonization, which should be understood by the Ukrainian population as how it will begin to free itself from the intoxication, temptation, and dependence on its so-called European choice. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine MMA Weekly UFC president Dana White likes to gamble and is so good at it that he isn't allowed to play blackjack in certain Las Vegas casinos. "It's not that I'm banned from casinos. They just don't want me to play there. They won't give me the limits that I want, and they won't let me bet as much as I want because they don't like to lose," White said in an interview with GQ Sports. While White hasn't been officially banned from casinos, he's been kicked out of of plenty. "The Palms has kicked me out of th An "aspiring Proud Boy" was sentenced to four months in prison on a Capitol riot misdemeanor charge. Bryan Betancur told his parole officer he was handing out Bibles while he was really at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors said Betancur used the same Bible lie twice to join Proud Boys at rallies. A Maryland man who violated his parole to take part in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, was sentenced to four months in prison this week after federal prosecutors pushed for the higher end of his sentencing recommendation, arguing that the defendant was a self-identified white supremacist. Bryan Betancur pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building in May. He was originally charged with five counts related to his role in the attack, but as the government works to prosecute the nearly 900 people arrested in connection with the siege, prosecutors have offered some rioters lesser charges in exchange for their guilty pleas. US District Judge Timothy Kelly on Wednesday sentenced Betancur to four months, as well as one year of supervised release and a $500 fine in restitution. Betancur was one of the first defendants arrested in relation to the insurrection after officers took him into custody on January 18, 2021. But even before January 6, 2021, Betancur was already a convicted criminal, serving out a probation sentence that required him to wear a GPS monitor due to a 2019 burglary charge, according to court documents. Prosecutors say Betancur lied to his probation officer in an attempt to gain permission to attend the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol riot. Betancur said he wanted to leave the state in order to distribute Bibles on behalf of the Christian group, the Gideons International a pious request that was ultimately approved. Betancur provided his probation officer with updates throughout the day on January 6, 2021, and said he would be home by curfew, according to charging documents. He was eventually caught thanks to the GPS tracking device attached to his ankle. Betancur himself acknowledged in his plea agreement that the Bible story had been a ruse. Story continues But prosecutors said it wasn't the first time Betancur used the Bible lie. In December 2020, Betancur told the same story, but instead, he joined members of the extremist group, the Proud Boys, during a pro-Trump rally in Washington, DC, that ended in violence. Photos on Betancur's social media show him wearing a Proud Boys shirt during the Capitol siege, prosecutors said, as well as posing with a Confederate flag. Betancur entered the Capitol and helped other rioters remove furniture that was later used by others as weapons against law enforcement, according to court documents. But despite Betancur's apparent aspirations to be "an official Proud Boys member," according to prosecutors, the FBI does not believe he has ever been officially affiliated with the group. In an earlier affidavit, prosecutors described Betancur as a self-identified white supremacist and said he had previously made comments about conducting a school shooting. An attorney for Betancur did not respond to Insider's request for comment. At least 889 people have been arrested thus far in connection to the Capitol riot and more than 340 people have pleaded guilty. Read the original article on Business Insider A new critically acclaimed Chinese crime thriller titled "The Fallen Bridge" shot in Sichuan province delivers warmth, redemption and humanity as the cruel truths behind a heart-wrenching case are uncovered. The haunting story begins when a human skeleton is discovered after a bridge collapses, revealing a murder case from years ago. The daughter of the deceased, Wen Xiaoyu, is then assisted by a boy, Meng Chao, in her quest to find out the cause of her father's death. The film is directed by renowned Chinese art house filmmaker Li Yu, and features young stars Ma Sichun and Karry Wang, alongside veteran actor Fan Wei. All of them deliver impressive and convincing performances in the film. "This film is not about guessing who the murderer is, but about how to face the world, and face yourself," director Li said at a press event on Thursday in Beijing. "My previous films showed the humanity in daily life. This time, I wanted to show the human heart through a criminal case. I hope everyone can find and see the light and love from it. " The film was shot in the cities of Nanchong and Mianyang as well as rural parts of Sichuan province, and its dialogue is almost entirely in the local dialect. Karry Wang, a former child superstar from boy band TFBoys, makes his acting breakthrough in the film. The idol is barely recognizable with his dirty face and disheveled look, revealing a new side of himself to audiences. Meanwhile his co-star actress Ma Sichun also delivers a powerful and realistic performance. "The Fallen Bridge" features marvelous cinematography every frame of the film is well-composed and has a powerful depth. Cinematographer Zeng Jian also shared his unique approach to shooting the film, using long shots and long takes to capture the actors' emotions, as well as a unique monitor filming perspective and hidden filming. "At one point I placed a camera inside a pack basket to record Ma and Wang walking along the street to capture the realness. We managed to hide and walked among the people no one recognized us until the shooting was over," Zeng remembered. "I was touched by the performances of Ma Sichun and Karry Wang, the cinematographer added. Their roles have so many painful burdens and biting experiences on them. I felt heartbroken for them. The sentiment was transmitted to me, and infected me." "The Fallen Bridge" not only demonstrates the struggles faced by women, which is something the director has always excelled at, but also goes deep into examining human nature. The protagonist fights for truth through her pain, and the audience will no doubt feel inspired, explained executive producer Fang Li. "Everyone encounters difficulties and problems in their life, and there may be times when they feel despair and no way out. I hope that after watching this movie, those who are suffering can breathe a sigh of relief in their daily life." In 2016, Fang, as a producer of the late director Wu Tianming's posthumous film "Song of the Phoenix," became known after he staged a publicity stunt by kneeling down in an online broadcast, crying and begging Chinese movie theater owners for more screen time. It worked, and later prompted a lot of discussion online about the current status and future of Chinese art house films. This time, it seems that Fang doesn't need to go to such lengths. More than one million people have already expressed their intention on movie ticketing platforms Maoyan and Taopiaopiao to go see "The Fallen Bridge," which hits Chinese theaters on Saturday, Aug. 13. Meanwhile, presales nationwide had already exceeded 30 million yuan by Friday. Astronaut Helen Sharman joined Richard Hawley on stage for the final night of his homecoming residency at the iconic Sheffield Leadmill. Sharman, the first British astronaut to travel into space, was the fourth guest to make a surprise appearance at Hawleys string of shows. Jarvis Cocker, Self Esteem and artist Pete McKee also shared the stage with the 55-year-old during the week. She delivered a short speech about the venues importance to Sheffield and the importance of following your passions before Hawley launched into a David Bowie cover. Former Pulp member Hawley has just finished his 4-night-run of sold-out shows at the legendary venue in aid of supporting its ongoing closure battle. The Leadmill, which has been operating under the current management for the last 40 years, was given an eviction notice in March this year. Leadmills new landlords, who also own Electric Brixton in London, say they intend to keep the Leadmill as a music venue, but will remove the current management. However, Leadmills current team argues that this is still destroying the venue and its spirit. In April they told NME:They [the landlords] intend to profit from the goodwill and reputation built up over those 40 plus years. It is a cheap, shabby, sly and underhand way of doing business, by forcing companies to cease trading. On Tuesday night (9 August), Hawley was joined by his ex-bandmate, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker. The performance saw Cocker perform on the venues stage for the first time in 29 years. Cocker, who performed the bands first ever gig at Leadmill in August 1980, expressed his concern for the venues pending closure. Describing the venue as a form of magic he said that the Leadmill was more than a building adding its a feeling. Have some respect for a beautiful thing, said Cocker, addressing the venues new landlords, they may own the bricks and mortar, but they dont own the spirit of the Leadmill. Story continues The pair then sung together, covering The Velvet Undergrounds White Light/White Heat before dueting Hawleys unreleased track about the Leadmill titled The Sunset . Self Esteem also made a surprise appearance at the venue on Monday (8 August), joining Hawley on stage to sing These Boots Are Made For Walkin (Nancy Sinatra), along with Fever (Peggy Lee). On Thursday night, it was artist Pete McKees turn for a surprise appearance. Australian Clinical Labs Limited (ASX:ACL) shareholders are probably feeling a little disappointed, since its shares fell 7.9% to AU$4.88 in the week after its latest yearly results. Revenues were in line with forecasts, at AU$996m, although statutory earnings per share came in 10% below what the analysts expected, at AU$0.88 per share. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year. See our latest analysis for Australian Clinical Labs Following the recent earnings report, the consensus from five analysts covering Australian Clinical Labs is for revenues of AU$753.7m in 2023, implying a concerning 24% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to nosedive 66% to AU$0.30 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of AU$748.3m and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$0.31 in 2023. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates. With no major changes to earnings forecasts, the consensus price target fell 8.3% to AU$5.30, suggesting that the analysts might have previously been hoping for an earnings upgrade. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on Australian Clinical Labs, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at AU$5.70 and the most bearish at AU$4.50 per share. With such a narrow range of valuations, the analysts apparently share similar views on what they think the business is worth. Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 24% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2023. That is a notable change from historical growth of 20% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 2.4% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Australian Clinical Labs is expected to lag the wider industry. Story continues The Bottom Line The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting sales are tracking in line with expectations - although our data does suggest that Australian Clinical Labs' revenues are expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target fell measurably, with the analysts seemingly not reassured by the latest results, leading to a lower estimate of Australian Clinical Labs' future valuation. With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Australian Clinical Labs. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Australian Clinical Labs going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.. That said, it's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Australian Clinical Labs (at least 1 which shouldn't be ignored) , and understanding these should be part of your investment process. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Democratic Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman takes photos with supporters following a rally at the Bayfront Convention Center on August 12, 2022 in Erie, Pennsylvania. / Credit: Nate Smallwood/Getty Images Erie, Penn. John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, returned to the campaign trail in-person Friday night for the first time since he suffered from a stroke days ahead of the primary three months ago. "Three months ago my life could have ended. It's the truth," Fetterman said to the packed room in Erie. "But I'm so grateful to be here tonight with all of you." Fetterman, who currently is Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, has been carrying out his campaign almost entirely online since his stroke in May. Fetterman said at the time that he was first made aware of his heart condition in 2017 but failed to follow his doctor's advice. After the stroke, Fetterman was diagnosed with a heart condition, cardiomyopathy and fitted with a pacemaker. "Gisele saved my life" a visibly emotional Fetterman said about his wife, who introduced him to the crowd and stood by his side throughout his speech Friday night. He also thanked the crowd for their support. Though he was sidelined for several months, Fetterman's campaign reported strong fundraising numbers throughout the summer and was able to get TV ads on the air early. Since the primary, the campaign has spent more than $5.2 million on ads including $1.1 million on digital, according to ad tracking by AdImpact. By comparison, his opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz has spent less than $20,000 on digital ads. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has spent just over $4 million on ads in the race. At the same time, Fetterman has been holding meetings and actively campaigning over social media, with a mix of posts on the issues, images, memes and videos, often pulling from the trove of videos and pictures publicly available from Oz's many years as a TV personality. Some of the more pointed videos have gone viral on Twitter and Facebook. What has made the online campaigning success is that it's authentic, and he's a funny guy, his campaign says. On Friday, Fetterman continued to take aim at Oz, calling him a New Jersey resident. Story continues "He's not from here," Fetterman said. "He doesn't care about us." On the issues, Fetterman kept it brief in his speech but said of the currently 50-50 split Senate that he'd like to be Democrats' 51st vote. He slammed the current minimum wage, criticized the overturning of Roe v. Wade and called for ending the filibuster. Although there are still nearly three months to go before Election Day, voters lined up outside ahead of the rally Friday night. "He knows our concerns in Pennsylvania," said Juan Duran, a Republican at the rally who plans to vote for Fetterman in November. "We cannot have somebody from outside really for the Senate." For those in attendance, top issues include abortion rights, voting rights and even former President Trump. According to the campaign, about 1,355 supporters showed up to hear him speak, lining up outside all the way to the main road. Before his stroke, Fetterman was campaigning all over the state, including in deep-red conservative areas. In the primary, he won all 67 counties. Choosing Erie for his first in-person campaign stop back on the trail was a strategic decision. The county located in the far northwestern part of Pennsylvania is seen as a bellwether for the rest of the state. President Biden narrowly won Erie county and the state in 2020; but former President Donald Trump narrowly won the county in 2016 and the state. And for statewide officials, in 2018, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf won the county; and in 2016, Republican Senator Pat Toomey also won Erie county in his successful re-election campaign. In his first TV interview since the stroke, Fetterman told CBS Pittsburgh on Thursday he couldn't wait to get back out on the campaign trail and would be "everywhere." His campaign says the Erie rally is the start of a slow build up in Fetterman's return to the campaign trail, with more and more activity heading into the fall. While Fetterman's campaign has been predominantly online, he's still been polling ahead of Oz, who is backed by former President Trump, since the primary. The Real Clear Politics average has him up by more than 8 points. But Republican officials expect the gap to close as Election Day nears and more voters begin to pay attention to the race. Oz has visited the state several times throughout the summer. Recently, he stopped by an American Legion Post to meet with service members and veterans and toured a business that manufactures tools. Judge unseals warrant in search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman holds first rally since suffering a stroke Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper talks Trump, U.S. tensions with China and Iran On Friday, fire department aid units arrived at Harborview Medical Center, the states only level one trauma center, with critical patients. Less-critical patients, who are transported by private ambulance, are mostly going to other Seattle-area hospitals, like Virginia Mason and Swedish. The basic life support diversion is because of a capacity crisis at Harborview, which UW Medicine officials announced Thursday. With Harborview at 130% occupancy, hospital leaders say they have beds in hallways, conference rooms and offices. So, to make space for new trauma patients, theyre diverting people who dont need specialized care to other hospitals, which also face capacity problems. Its pretty terrible across all hospitals in the state, said Cassie Sauer of the Washington State Hospital Association. The problem is not because hospitals are filled with COVID-19 patients. Instead, theyre short-staffed and cant discharge people who should be in long-term care facilities, which are also short-staffed. Harborview alone has about 100 of those patients. Its a really big deal for hospitals to be this full, and its threatening peoples health care access and their health, Sauer said. The backlog in getting patients to long-term care has been building through the pandemic. A July letter from Gov. Jay Inslees office says the state has invested over $91 million to expedite discharges. While patient wait times for long-term care are down 31% since 2020, officials acknowledge efforts have hit a plateau. Harborview last had to divert patients in 2019, but at that time, the other hospitals werent so full. A Canadian politician got a surprise hive five after a bee flew into his mouth during a news conference on Friday. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, brother of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, was talking about possibly privatizing health care when the winged invader went straight into his mouth, according to video captured during the news conference. Video shows a bee begin to circle Ford about midway through the news conference. Ford noticed the bee and attempted to swat it away from him, but the efforts proved useless, as the bee first landed on Fords bottom lip and later went into his mouth, causing him to let out a cough. Little bugger got away in there, Ford said after taking a moment to cool down. Man, he went right down the hatch, Ford said. You can watch the buzzworthy clip of the bee below. #WATCH: Doug Ford swallowed a bee during a press conference pic.twitter.com/gMh6oxlVw4 6ixBuzzTV (@6ixbuzztv) August 12, 2022 The moment straight from the hive inspired a number of bee-focused jokes. You can't blame the bee for being so close to Doug Ford, they can't help but be attracted to Pollenticians. Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) August 12, 2022 In case youre wondering why we have a shortage of bees, Doug Fords been eating them. Dean from Winnipeg (@Dean_Winnipeg) August 12, 2022 To bee is to do Socrates. To do is to bee Jean-Paul Sartre. Do bee do bee do Frank Sinatra. Holy christ Ive just swallowed a bee Doug Ford.#TeamBee Marie (@Mme1960) August 12, 2022 the bee that attacked doug ford pic.twitter.com/HU9BrxQeF9 oatmeal influencer (@acechhh) August 12, 2022 SCOOP: Doug Ford bee first cousin of Mike Pence fly. pic.twitter.com/QxbUMsQNY8 Chris Cowley (@oectagovernor) August 12, 2022 This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Jon Cherry/Getty Images A Capitol rioter who pushed through police on January 6 was sentenced to 8 months in prison. Prosecutors said Glen Simon can be heard on video inciting the crowd. Simon called police officers "little fucking spineless fucking oath violating little fucking weasels." A Capitol rioter who called police officers at the scene "little fucking spineless fucking oath violating little fucking weasels" was sentenced to eight months in federal prison on Friday. Glen Simon pleaded guilty in October to the charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and then again in April after more evidence was discovered, according to the Justice Department. Simon had initially pleaded guilty to a class B misdemeanoruntil a new video of him pushing against a police barricade on January 6 was discovered. WUSA9 reported that DC District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell questioned prosecutors on why Simon wasn't charged with a felony. "Why wasn't this defendant charged with obstruction when he was looking for Congress?" Howell asked. Howell said Simon "helped incite the crowd" by yelling and cursing at law enforcement, NBC News reported. Simon's attorney's said Simon fell into personal issues in the summer of 2020 that made him susceptible to conspiracy theories. She asked he be sentenced to a probationary sentence with six months of home detention, WUSA9 reported. However, Howell sentenced Simon to eight months in prison, and a year of supervised release. Simon was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $500 in restitution for damage done to the Capitol. "This is not the type of individual I want to be sending out into the community," Howell said. "He's demonstrated, significantly, anger and a belief in conspiracies." Read the original article on Business Insider The chaotic and violent events at Woodstock's 1999 music festival are back under scrutiny following the release of a new Netflix documentary "Trainwreck: Woodstock '99." The summer music festival was supposed to be a revival of the famed 1969 festival, billed as three days of "peace and music" except the late 90's reboot was anything but. "Instead, the festival degenerated into an epic trainwreck of fires, riots and destruction," according to the documentary. Like other variations of Woodstock, the 1999 festival was hosted in upstate New York, but unlike the original and the 25th-anniversary 1994 Woodstock, which were both held on grassy pastoral grounds, the '99 version was set behind the concrete walls of the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York, more than 140 miles from the original location, where organizers hoped to avoid hundreds of thousands of attendees sneaking in, as happened during the 1994 version. An estimated 400,000 people were in attendance and roughly 250,000 people were there on the infamous Saturday night when "hundreds of state troopers in riot gear moved in to protect other vendors' booths" as the scene unraveled into pure destruction," according to AP. "I've been getting asked about #woodstock99 a ton recently due to the @netflix doc that's out. All I can say is I thought I was going to die," wrote TV personality Carson Daly in an Instagram post. Then host of MTV's popular video countdown show "Total Request Live," also known as "TRL," Daly, now 49, was there to cover the festival. "It started off great, TRL live from the side of main stage interviewing all the bands (like Jay from Jamiroquai)," he wrote. But then, things started to go wrong. He "started getting pelted with bottles, rocks, lighters, all of it. It got insane, fast. Nightfall, Limp plays 'Break Stuff' & the prisoners were officially running the prison," he wrote. Story continues His boss told him that he and the crew needed to leave, saying, "We can no longer guarantee your safety, it's time to go!" Daly wrote. "I remember being in a production van driving recklessly through corn fields to get to safety. It was so crazy & a blur now. I just remember feeling like I was in another country during military conflict," he wrote. And Daly said he hasn't been back to Rome, New York. "I have so many fun memories from that era, this was not one of them," he said. Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst brings his performance to the heads of the crowd of the east stage Saturday at Woodstock '99 in Rome, New York. / Credit: / Getty Images The first Woodstock had a lineup that included The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. The '99 version included many heavy metal and heavy rock bands such as Limp Bizkit, Korn, Kid Rock, Metallica and Creed whom critics in the Netflix documentary say helped fuel the crowd's aggressive energy. HBO also released a documentary about the infamous festival in 2021, which detailed the event and sought to answer how an iconic celebration of harmony descended into mayhem. Saturday Sessions: Fantastic Cat performs "C'mon Armageddon" Saturday Sessions: Fantastic Cat performs Aint This the Strangest Town Saturday Sessions: Fantastic Cat performs "Fiona" St Augustine Catholic Church Archive. David LaFevor, CC BY For most Americans, black history begins in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought some 20 and odd Negroes as slaves to the English colony of Jamestown, in Virginia. Many are not aware that black history in the United States goes back at least a century before this date. In 1513, a free and literate African named Juan Garrido explored Florida with a Spanish conquistador, Juan Ponce de Leon. In the following decades, Africans, free and enslaved, were part of all the Spanish expeditions exploring the southern region of the United States. In 1565, Africans helped establish the first permanent European settlement in what is St. Augustine, Florida today. The Slave Societies Digital Archive which I direct as a historian at Vanderbilt University includes Catholic Church records from St. Augustine. These records date back to the 1590s and document some of the earliest black history of the U.S. Catholicism and runaway slaves These Catholic Church records show that everyone was treated in theory as brothers in Christ and that the Church helped incorporate Africans into Spanish communities. It also helped free some slaves. St. Augustines Catholic records show that after English Protestants established a settlement in what became South Carolina in 1670, their African slaves began to flee southward seeking admission into the True Faith which to the Spaniards meant Catholicism. Floridas Spanish governors sheltered them and saw to their religious conversion, seeking royal approval of their actions. After some deliberation, in 1693, Spains monarch ruled that all slaves fleeing Protestant lands to seek conversion in Catholic colonies should be freed. Word of the fugitives reception in St. Augustine spread quickly through South Carolina, generating bitter complaints among planters and encouraging additional southward escapes by their slaves. By 1738, the number of slave runaways reaching Florida had grown to approximately 100. Based on Spains religious sanctuary policy, Floridas Spanish governor freed the runaways and established them in a town of their own called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, two miles north of the Spanish city of St. Augustine. Mose was modeled after the nearby Indian towns where Catholic priests were also assigned to teach the new Christians the principles of the Catholic faith. Story continues The site is now a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Route, and has been nominated for a UNESCO Slave Route designation. A museum based on both archaeological and historical studies presents the stories of the Mose townspeople. African heritage in church records The records in St. Augustines church reveal the multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature of Mose. Its leader and captain of the towns militia, Francisco Menendez, was of Mandinga ethnicity and came from the Senegambian region of West Africa in modern-day Senegal. He probably spoke a variety of languages but learned Spanish as well and wrote petitions to the Spanish King. Others at Mose came from the Congo nation, that is today in West Central Africa. Pedro Graxales, the Congo man who was sergeant of the Mose militia was married to a slave woman of the Carabali nation, from what is today southeastern Nigeria. The couple chose godparents from Congo for their children. Floridas priests noted that some people from Congo had undergone previous Catholic baptisms in Africa and that even as they learned Spanish, some of them still prayed and blessed themselves in their native language of Kikongo, a Bantu language spoken throughout large areas of West Central Africa. Creating a black Catholic family Baptism into the Catholic faith was important because it cleansed black converts of the stigma of original sin. It also brought them into the Christian brotherhood of the church. Baptism also served an important social function. Families were linked in a system of reciprocal obligations between the baptized and his or her godparents, as also between the parents and godparents. For example, Francisco Felipe Edimboro and his wife, Filis, were African-born slaves of Floridas wealthiest planter, Don Francisco Sanchez. The couple had their three-year-old son baptized on the same day that their master and his mulatto consort baptized their natural son. Edimboro and Filis eventually had 10 more children baptized in St. Augustines church. On July 15, 1794, they were themselves baptized and married. Their Catholic baptism and marriage coincided with their suit to buy their freedom and likely contributed to the successful outcome of that litigation. As a free man, Felipe Edimboro became a landowner and sergeant of St. Augustines free black militia. He also served as godfather to 21 black children born in St. Augustine whose baptisms were recorded in its Catholic Church. What these records say about families These and other records allow scholars to track the history of several generations of the large Edimboro family to the present day. One of Edimboro and Filiss free daughters, Eusebia, had a child with an enslaved man named Antonio Proctor, described in the records as the best translator of the Indian languages in the province. Edimboro and Proctor served on the Spanish frontier together and Proctors valuable military service earned him his freedom. Eusebia and Antonios freeborn son, George Proctor, became a master carpenter and builder in territorial Florida and Georges son, John Proctor, served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 1870s and in the Florida Senate from 1883 to 1886. More than 100 descendants recently commemorated their familys rich heritage in a public ceremony in Tallahassee, Florida where they mounted a memorial plaque in the Old City Cemetery. These records show that black history in United States begins much earlier than previously thought. They also show that men, women, and children once thought forgotten left rich histories in these little explored sources. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Jane Landers, Vanderbilt University. Read more: Jane Landers receives funding from National Endowment for the Humanities Andrew W. Mellon Foundation American Council of Learned Societies John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Historic S. Augustine Research Institute Newport Wafer Fab was sold in July last year to Nexperia, a Dutch company owned by state-backed Chinese business Wingtech - Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Components manufactured by the Chinese-owned buyer of Britain's biggest microchip plant have been discovered inside nuclear-capable Russian missiles launched at Ukraine. A Kh-101 cruise missile recovered from a Ukrainian battlefield contained parts made by Nexperia, a tech business attempting to buy the Newport Wafer Fab factory in South Wales. The discovery, by researchers at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), sparked immediate calls for the sale to be blocked on national security grounds. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, said the disclosure reminds us of the importance of protecting our industry from exploitation by our enemies. He added: Today, with Nexperias plan to buy Newport Wafer Fab, it also shows why we need to defend our key strategic assets from those who could use them against us. Newport Wafer Fab was sold in July last year to Nexperia, a Dutch company owned by state-backed Chinese business Wingtech, despite concerns the deal was handing control of vital electronics supplies to a foreign power. The Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng halted the 63m acquisition in May pending the result of an official investigation under the National Security and Investment Act. A government spokesman declined to comment. After the February invasion of Ukraine, Britain led the Western world in tightening trade sanctions to choke off Russias supply of advanced technology. So-called dual use goods have been banned from export to Russia since the illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014, while this year's crackdown was targeted at militarily useful electronics. Yet Rusi indicated that Russias defence industry has built up secret stockpiles of vital components to try and beat the sanctions. Joe Byrne, a research fellow, said that missile engineers have been combing the world in search of specific microelectronics for specific systems vital for Russian weapon systems. The most advanced British, US and Japanese components are of special interest because of their high precision, he said. Story continues One of the components uncovered by Rusi researchers was a Nexperia-made bus transceiver, which is a type of digital signal processing chip. The transceiver was embedded inside a BR-33 processor, used as part of the Kh-101 cruise missiles guidance system. Daniel Salisbury, a Kings College London research fellow who reviewed the RUSI report, said that Russia and the Soviet Union before it have long exploited industries in more advanced economies to supply military programmes. Explaining how Russian spy agencies have set up secret networks of front companies to evade Western sanctions, Dr Salisbury said: The products they are seeking often have both civil and military uses. "This can create some ambiguity for those trying to stop illicit procurement, as well as presenting an opportunity for procurement agents who can list a bogus end use on any [export] paperwork. Nexperia said neither of the items found in RUSIs research were made in the UK. The company also has a microchip fabrication plant in Manchester. A spokesman said: Nexperia utterly condemns Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine and we have abided by all UK and international sanctions, which we fully support. We therefore do not have any Russian customers and do not sell into Russia." Adding that none of the 100m chips it produces every year are made for military use, the spokesman said: "If we found that any of our customers had broken these sanctions, we would immediately cease all further supplies and never work with that organisation again. Rusi established similar chips made by other British companies were within some of the 27 captured Russian weapons it examined. Chris Gurry, chief executive of Essexs CML Microcircuits, said his companys products are mainly useful for processing radio signals. A CML chip was found in a Russian signals intelligence collection vehicle used for spying on Ukrainian radio signals. CML ceased exports to Russia in March. Similarly, Somerset-based Golledge Electronics told the Telegraph it halted all its exports to Russia on the day of the invasion. A Golledge HC49 crystal oscillator was found in a Russian Torn-MDM signals intelligence vehicle. How Putins spies are stealing Western microchips to fuel the Kremlin war effort Russian President Vladimir Putin - Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP Across the West, dozens of low-profile businesses are buying microchips. Companies with innocuous names, apparently working for agricultural machine suppliers or in the factory chain of the car industry, are hoovering up the basic transistors and circuits that run the stuff of modern life. But trace back the ownership and customers of these operators, following a web of subsidiaries through the likes of the US and Britain, into Eastern Europe or Asia, and you will ultimately find that they exist for a far more sinister purpose. As sanctions bite in Russia, experts believe the Kremlin has reactivated a mysterious spying unit known as Line X to seize technology vital for weapon systems and spirit it into the country. Analysis indicates that third-country transshipment hubs and clandestine networks operated by Russias special services are now working to build new routes to secure access to Western microelectronics, said the Royal United Services Institute think tank (Rusi) in a new report, Silicon Lifeline: Western Electronics at the Heart of Russias War Machine. Russia already draws heavily on Western kit for the weapons it is using against Ukraine. Rusi researchers cracked open equipment recovered from the battlefield and found it was full of European and American components with no obvious military purpose. Items such as digital signal generators and crystal oscillators were found in Tor anti-aircraft systems and even cruise missiles such as the nuclear-capable Kh-101. Around 450 chips of Western origin were discovered in a total of 27 spent missiles, discarded radio sets and crashed drones. Some of those components were subjected to sanctions straight after the invasion of Ukraine, while export controls have applied to others for several years. In many cases, the Russian military has procured up to a decades worth of components for critical systems in advance precisely to safeguard production against sanctions, says the Rusi report. Gary Somerville, one of the study's authors, says that the research team mainly encountered items that were just not subject to export embargoes. One example is a British-made component found in a Russian Torn-MDM signals intelligence vehicle, used for hoovering up and analysing voice and data radio broadcasts. Soldered to a circuit board inside the vehicles electronics was a half-inch long Golledge Electronics HC49 crystal oscillator. It contains a piece of quartz that generates a rhythmic electrical pulse. Such items are useful for digital clocks and also in radios, such as the ones used in the Torn-MDM to intercept Ukrainian military transmissions. Similarly, Essex-based CML Microcircuits unwitting contribution to Vladimir Putins war was a phase-locked loop chip - used, among other things, for helping to decode FM radio signals or to speed up the operating frequency of existing electronics. These types of low-level components dont feature in export control lists because theyre simply too basic, Somerville says. The law firm Norton Rose Fulbright said in a June analysis that transfers of American electronics to Russia would be viewed by US authorities (with certain limited exceptions) through a policy of denial that aims to prevent stockpiles being built. Similarly, in March, the European Union blocked exports to Russia of equipment used for manufacturing and testing microchips. But while governments in Britain, the US and on the Continent have imposed economic sanctions and export controls to prevent certain chip types from reaching Russia, Rusi revealed an ugly truth. Despite sanctions, Western chips are still finding their way into Russian weapon systems. Neither Golledge nor CML makes chips for the military or even so-called dual use purposes. CML managing director Chris Gurry says he stopped shipping to Russian customers in February, adding that CMLs products were building blocks for more complicated electronic items: We're really handling voice processing products. So converting analog signals to digital and back again. Similarly, a spokesman for Golledge says: We have not quoted for Russian business, or shipped to Russia since February 24 2022. We are deeply concerned about these findings and do not support any use of our components to violate human rights. The question, then, is how these innocuous little devices found their way into Russian war machinery. An inside look at the circuitry of the Zarya Guidance computer used on a 9M727 cruise missile, containing US-made parts After the Cold War, the peace dividend saw Western nations winding down their counter-espionage networks, confident that the dissolution of the Soviet Union had removed their age-old enemies once and for all. Joe Byrne, a Rusi research fellow who worked on this week's report, says Russia has set up a complicated international sanctions-busting network. He highlights one Russian agent who controls a myriad of companies in the UK, in Spain, in Malta and elsewhere, with all these front businesses secretly importing microelectronics into Russia. The roots of this industrial-scale technology theft and sanctions evasion operation lie in a Soviet-era spy operation called Line X. Reporting to the KGBs First Chief Directorate the Soviet Unions answer to MI6 Line X agents were tasked with identifying and stealing advanced technology that could be turned against its creators. The organisation was a roaring success in its 50 years of operation, with Air Force Magazine, a US publication, reporting in 1997: KGB defectors say Line X officials repeatedly boasted that Line X not only covered its own costs; the value of what it brought in sometimes exceeded the annual budget of the entire KGB. Line Xs work brought vital military and industrial research to Soviet institutions, letting scientists and engineers take the lazy path to innovation. Rather than carrying out expensive and time-consuming research as done in the West, the Soviets simply reverse-engineered whatever they could get their hands on, or applied the results of that resource-hungry research directly to their own weaponry. Today that mindset persists. As a response to international sanctions, Russias foreign ministry waived legal liability for importers bypassing official distribution channels to bring Western goods into Russia. Spare parts - including electronics - were covered by that waiver, opening up another small but vital lifeline for the Russian defence industry. Governmental responses to this evasion are muted for now. Although embargoes on electronics have been steadily ratcheted up before and after the invasion of Ukraine, Rusi's revelations this week have merely fed into a growing picture rather than prompting an immediate response. Whitehall is confident that current sanctions are working well, something reflected in the fact that the only British components found in Russian weapons so far have been very basic items. While the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment, a Department for International Trade spokesman says: We have already introduced the largest and most severe economic sanctions Russia has ever faced, and have significantly expanded the scope of sanctions since the invasion, meaning many items of equipment and components previously available can no longer be sold to Russia. We will continue to work with international partners to make the procurement of these items more difficult. Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign affairs chief, said in July that the blocs sanctions on semiconductors limit Russia's capacity to produce precision missiles, pointing to what he said was the relatively small number of these weapons being used by the Russians not out of moderation, but out of necessity, as it does not have enough of them. British officials are mapping out how Russia gets its hands on UK-origin components used in military equipment, with the aim of using future sanctions to shut down those procurement routes. Spies running networks of front companies such as those highlighted by Rusi could find their days of stealing Western electronics are numbered, if officials get it right. Released at a right time, the white paper on the Taiwan question and China's reunification bears great significance and has boosted public morale, Taiwan studies experts said Friday. Over 30 experts and scholars on the Taiwan question discussed important discourses in the white paper, titled "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era," at a think tank forum held in Beijing. The white paper systemically combs through the basis in history and jurisprudence that Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times, experts agreed at the forum on China's reunification in the new era. It gives a comprehensive summary of the Communist Party of China's (CPC) resolute efforts, major achievements and precious experience in promoting China's complete reunification, experts said. The white paper also exposes the absurdity and risks of the Democratic Progressive Party intensifying provocative actions to seek "Taiwan independence," and of the United States stepping up efforts to play the "Taiwan card," experts noted. It systemically elaborates on the position and policies of the CPC and the Chinese government in advancing national reunification in the new era, and projects the bright prospects after the peaceful reunification is achieved under "one country, two systems," experts said. On the recent visit to China's Taiwan region by Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in disregard of China's strong opposition and solemn representations, experts agreed it was a serious violation of the international order and rules by the U.S. side. The move had severely undermined peace in the Taiwan Straits and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, experts said, adding that China's countermeasures are timely, necessary, reasonable and legitimate. The forum was organized by the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is mourning the loss of its nearly 16 year old African lion, Kazi. The zoo said on its social media that Kazis mobility had significantly declined due to spinal arthritis and spinal cord compression. The zoos Animal Health and Animal Care teams decided to perform humane euthanasia on Kazi due to this decline. >> Fritz or Ferguson? Cincinnati Zoo narrows baby hippo names down to two She was born on Oct. 25 2006 at Denver Zoo and lived at the Columbus Zoo since September 2007. She passed on Aug. 9 2022. Kazi was the core of our prideno matter what was happening with the dynamics of the group, they would all gravitate towards her. Kazi was tough but also had a soft and sweet side. Training was always one of Kazis favorite parts of the day, but she also knew how to relax and enjoy the sunshine, the zoo wrote on social media. The median life expectancy for lions in human care is 16.9 years, according to the zoo. The Daily Beast Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / GettyAt the risk of awarding the title prematurely, we think weve found the weirdest study published in 2022. Scientists strapped GoPro cameras to the bodies of six dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy, and recorded them hunting for food and consuming their prey in grisly detail. According to the study, there was a purpose behind this potential invasion of dolphin privacy; namely, to learn more about how the mammals hunted and ate.Scientists A Dallas man was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison on charges stemming from assaulting a woman he lived with and a police officer in January. Bryan Beninger, 32, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of assault for domestic violence and attempted murder for assaulting Dallas Police Department officer Victor Castillo. Beninger received a sentence of 90 months in prison and has been transferred to Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Under Measure 11, he is not eligible for early release and will receive three years of probation after his release, according to his sentence. I think that we are very cognizant of victims wishes in these, Polk County District Attorney Aaron Felton said of the plea agreement. Were required to consult with victims on these, but its something that we choose to do anyway. And so this was a result that was consistent with the victims wishes overall. ... We also consulted of course with officer Castillo. According to the probable cause statement, police were called to the Dallas home Beninger shared with the victim on Jan. 25 after a report of a domestic disturbance. There also was a warrant for his arrest from Marion County. The woman he lived with told police he had punched her in the face, threw her to the ground and choked her. When police arrived at the home, according to police, they knocked on the door of Beningers room and told him they needed to speak with him. Beninger shut the door to the bedroom, but continued to speak with officers. He came out of the room briefly, but said he was going back in his room to get a weapon and went in his room. The officers opened the door and saw Beninger pick up a metal object, later identified as a 2-foot metal pipe wrench. He struck Castillo in the head, leaving a 1-inch gash with blood streaming down his neck. Three officers then took Beninger down, restrained and arrested him. Beninger was found unfit to stand trial in March, according to court records, and was transferred to Oregon State Hospital. After another evaluation in July he was found fit to proceed this month. Story continues Beninger previously pleaded guilty to assault in a previous domestic violence charge in April 2021 and was sentenced to 18 months of probation. Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Dallas man gets seven years for domestic violence, assaulting officer SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 07:47 On the night of 12 August, Russian forces used Grad multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) to fire 30 rockets on residential neighbourhoods in the city of Nikopol. Early reports indicate there are no casualties. Source: Valentyn Reznichenko, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Details: Reznichenko reports that 11 multi-storey apartment buildings, 13 private houses and a kindergarten have been damaged in Nikopol. A gas pipeline and a power line have also been damaged. The Russians also used Uragan MLRS to fire on the Zelenodolsk and Apostolove hromadas (amalgamated territorial communities), though the attack resulted in no damage. There are no casualties, either. Other parts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were not attacked. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda! Hours after a shooting outside a downtown nightclub, City Manager Chip Filer called for all businesses in Norfolks entertainment district to prove why they should have the privilege of remaining open. The reaction from business owners to the impending crackdown has been mixed some bristled at the idea they have to prove anything, criticizing the wide net cast by his statements, while others welcome his response as a chance for a nightlife reset. Tony Caruana, owner and chef at Italian restaurant Luce, said businesses already justified their existence to city officials when they applied for and received conditional use permits. He said business owners should pose questions to the city instead, noting the only thing that had changed during the past three years was fewer customers. What does the city have to keep us there? Caruana asked. Filers comments came after an Aug. 5 shooting outside Legacy Restaurant and Lounge that injured four people, including a Norfolk sheriffs deputy. One man, Tyshawn M. Gray, was charged in the shooting, which court documents say happened after he was thrown out of the club. Filer foreshadowed the possible imposition of a midnight cutoff for businesses as part of the city crackdown. Caruana, whose business is open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, said city officials hadnt reached out to him yet about his permit. He defended staying open late, saying customers sit for one last drink before heading home. He hoped city officials would provide more answers for businesses soon. The bullying and not having an answer is the wrong answer, he said, again referencing Filers comments. Baxter Simmons, owner of Baxters sports bar, said he felt disrespected by the suggestion he may have to alter his business after operating for years with no issues. Downtown Norfolk was a ghost town 20 years ago before bars and restaurants invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to turn it into an entertainment district, he said, which then drew residents to the area. Story continues It is tough when you tell me Ive been there for 18 years with no incidents that I need to come in there and tell you why I deserve to operate, Simmons said. Its a bit frustrating but I understand that you cant just pinpoint one or two businesses. Simmons, said he had not been contacted by the city since the shooting, so it remains to be seen how city officials will go about reviewing business practices. He said an across-the-board review of conditional use permits, even of businesses that havent had issues with violence, could help the city have a better idea of the security measures each has in place. Its a sentiment shared by Tony Brothers, owner of Brothers restaurant, which is on the same block as Legacy. Brothers said one benefit of a review of all permits in the citys entertainment district is that it would establish a baseline of which businesses are in or out of compliance. That would ensure the city doesnt arbitrarily pick and choose who gets punished. Brothers has a permit allowing it to stay open until 2 a.m., but the owner said he closes at 10 p.m. as his business focuses on fine dining and live jazz that draw an older audience. Simmons, whose bar is open until 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, said he would be in favor of the city limiting the hours of new businesses until they can prove they know what theyre doing. I think its completely unfair to limit the hours of operations (of businesses) they havent had problems with, he said. The Legacy shooting follows a triple homicide outside Chichos Backstage in March and a fatal shooting inside MacArthur Center in April. In over 20 years of operation downtown, Kevin Blair, owner of Hells Kitchen, said hes seen flare ups of violence up and down Granby Street, but social media makes it seem more prevalent than it is. Overall, I feel the city is safe, he said. There are a few instances that occur every couple of months, and because of the way things are now it seems like theyre happening more often. He sees the citys response as a knee-jerk reaction. He would rather the city make decisions about an establishments operating hours during the regular application process, not immediately after a shooting. If the city does scrutinize Hells Kitchen, Blair said Ill do whatever they ask me to do and hopefully it works out for the best. But others see good reason to curb nightlife activity at midnight. The Norfolk Police Department is understaffed by about 30%. Officers do not have the manpower to monitor downtown for nightlife-related problems such as drunkenness and fights, said Leila Vann, executive director of the Downtown Norfolk Civic League in an email sent Monday to members. Are the bar profits between midnight and 2 a.m. worth risking the lives of our citizens and our police? Vann wrote. In the email, Vann described another incident she witnessed the night after the Legacy shooting. She said police seized weapons and ammunition from a vehicle in the 400 block of Granby Street around 1:30 a.m. Vann said an informal poll of league members found most were in favor of closing bars at midnight at least until things improve. Neil Sanders, co-owner of the Alatte Cafe coffee shop, is one such business that wouldnt be bothered if downtown businesses closed at midnight rather than 2 a.m. Ive just never seen much good come out of it after 12, said Sanders, whose business closes midafternoon each day. Vann said city officials already are well aware of the problematic businesses and thinks the city should start enforcement actions with them. In an interview, Vann said she sent a message directly to Filer saying, Dont waste your time going alphabetically just go to the ones you know have the issues. I think anybody could tell you who they are, she said, though she declined to publicly finger point. To those who are considering coming to downtown Norfolk on a weekend night, Vann advised coldly: Come early, dont stay late. Gavin Stone, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com Trevor Metcalfe, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com CAIRO (AP) President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt announced a Cabinet reshuffle Saturday to improve his administrations performance as it faces towering economic challenges stemming largely from Russias war in Ukraine. The Cabinet shake-up, which was approved by parliament in an emergency session, affected 13 portfolios, including health, education, culture, local development and irrigation ministries. Also included in the reshuffle was the tourism portfolio, a key job at a time when Egypt is struggling to revive the lucrative sector decimated by years of turmoil, the pandemic and most recently the war in Europe. El-Sissi said the shake-up came in consultation with Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly. It was the third cabinet shake-up since Madbouly was named prime minister in June 2018. The president said in a Facebook post that the changes aimed at developing the governmental performance in some important files ... which contribute to protecting the states interests and capabilities. Banker Ahmed Issa took over the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, replacing Khaled al-Anani who led Egypt's efforts in recent years to revive the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy. Such efforts included displaying ancient discoveries, opening new museums to attract international tourists. Hani Sweilam, professor of water resources management at Germanys RWTH Aachen University, was named as Irrigation Minister. He replaced Mohammed Abdel-Aty who oversaw years of technical negations with Ethiopia over its controversial dam on the Nile Rivers main tributary. The new ministers are expected to be sworn in by el-Sissi on Sunday, according to the state-run Al-Ahram daily. The changes, however, didnt affect key ministries including foreign, finance, defense and the interior, which is responsible for the police force. Lawmaker Abdel-Monem Emam of the opposition Justice Party criticized the reshuffle as disappointing. He said he hoped that the governments economic team was included in the changes. Story continues What we - and the Egyptian street were waiting for was changes in policies not persons, he wrote on Facebook. Egypts economy has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which rattled global markets and hiked oil and food prices across the world. Egypt is the worlds largest wheat importer, most of which came from Russia and Ukraine. The countrys supply is subject to price changes on the international market. The government has held talks in recent months with the International Monetary Fund for a new loan to support its reform program and to help address challenges caused by the war in Europe. The government has received pledges from wealthy Arab Gulf nations for billions of dollars in investments, some of which are for private industry. Egyptians food and energy bills have soared, adding to the burden of poor and middle-class people who already bore the brunt of a 2016 reform program. That program, agreed on with the IMF, included painful austerity measures which sparked a steep rise in the price of basic and key commodities as well as services. A recent devaluation of the Egyptian pound, which already lost half of its value in 2016, caused new hikes in prices of food and other commodities. The annual inflation rate for July was at 14.6%, more than double the same month last year when it recorded 6.1%, according to official statistics bureau. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, speaks at a rally in Erie on Friday. It was his first major event after suffering a stroke in May. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press) Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, speaks at a rally in Erie on Friday. It was his first major event after suffering a stroke in May. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press) ERIE, Pa. U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman expressed gratitude to his supporters and the resolve to beat Republican rival Mehmet Oz at his first campaign rally after suffering a nearly fatal stroke in May. The Pennsylvania Democrat, clad in a black hooded sweatshirt, rose to the lectern at the Erie convention center accompanied by his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, on Friday evening. The verses of ACDCs Back in Black were barely audible over the roar of the 1,300-person crowd. The campaign said it had anticipated a turnout of about 500. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Thank you so much, Fetterman declared. Because really tonight for me, its about being grateful. At times choking up with emotion, Fetterman, who never prepares his speeches, kept his remarks to roughly 10 minutes. The stroke had noticeably slowed his speech. At times he would deliver the first three-quarters of a sentence with confidence and then pause before getting the last few words out. But Fetterman, who looked considerably thinner than he had before his medical event, hit most of the notes that Democrats have come to expect from their congressional candidates. He presented himself as a champion of abortion rights, union rights, a $15 minimum wage and an end to the Senate filibuster rules. Perhaps most important, Fetterman continued the beatdown he has been applying to Oz on social media and in the press for months while recovering. Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor and former mayor of the troubled steel town of Braddock, has painted Oz as an out-of-touch celebrity who moved to Pennsylvania from New Jersey in pursuit of vain political glory. He doesnt live here. Hes not about us. He doesnt care about us, Fetterman said, the volume rising in his voice. Story continues The Fetterman campaign decided to hold his comeback rally in the city of Erie because the county where the city is located is a swing-voting bellwether for the direction of the state as a whole. Former President Donald Trump won Erie County by just over 2 percentage points in 2016. President Joe Biden won it four years later by just 1 point. Fetterman, who staked his primary run on the notion that Democrats needed to compete in every county in the state, pointed to his strong performance in Erie County in the primary and Ozs poor showing in his own intra-party contest as evidence that Erie would once again deliver for Democrats in November. As if to drive home the point, a giant campaign logo with a map of Pennsylvania and the words Every county, every vote hung behind him as he spoke. You are going to deliver for us in November, Fetterman said in concluding his speech. That will deliver Pennsylvania for us. That will deliver the 51st [Democratic] vote in the Senate. You are going to deliver for us in November. That will deliver Pennsylvania for us.Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) The conceit of Fettermans campaign is that his appearance, speaking style and focus on economic fairness can help Democrats compete in a state where the Democratic coalition has struggled to withstand decades of attrition from rural and blue-collar voters. Fettermans origins are not as folksy as his towering height, bald pate, tattoos and casual attire might suggest. He is the son of a wealthy insurance executive in central Pennsylvania who provided significant financial support for Fetterman and his family while Fetterman was running Braddock. But Fettermans contempt for the traditional fanfare of politics, such as schmoozing with political insiders and delivering soaring speeches, is genuine. And Oz, who indeed lived in a massive mansion in New Jersey until running for Senate, provides a perfect foil for Fetterman. Fettermans biggest obstacles are a national political environment that remains largely unfavorable to Democrats and the stroke that kept him off of the campaign trail for three months. Fetterman suffered the stroke days before his blowout primary win in mid-May. He had not been feeling well while campaigning near Lancaster, and his wife urged him to go to the doctor. Had he been in a more remote region of the state, farther from a sophisticated medical facility, he might not have survived. Fetterman, who underwent surgery to insert a pacemaker the day of his primary victory, had for years ignored his doctors recommendations to take preventive medicine for a congenital heart condition and to seek regular medical attention. He has promised to change his behavior going forward. Fetterman greets the crowd as his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, looks on. Gisele delivered introductory remarks that were a hit with the crowd. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press) Fetterman greets the crowd as his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, looks on. Gisele delivered introductory remarks that were a hit with the crowd. (Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press) In response to Fettermans trolling, Oz has been taunting Fetterman for being absent on the campaign trail. Pennsylvanians know John Fetterman hasnt shown up to the campaign trail, but they might not know that as Mayor of Braddock, he didnt show up for work either, Oz tweeted on Friday. Democrats eager to see Fetterman hold his polling lead over Oz, and Republicans looking for signs that Fetterman will never quite regain his step, both will find material from which to draw in Fridays rally. Pauline and Dave Demarrall, retirees from Harbor Creek, were excited to see Fetterman speak and glad they came. But Pauline lamented that the speech had felt a little generic. I wanted to hear about more policy stuff, Dave concurred. Both of them nonetheless still think Fetterman is suitably healthy and will vote for him. As Fetterman continues to get his rhetorical groove back, Gisele is likely to be an asset to him on the campaign trail. Gisele, who filled in as keynote speaker in her husbands absence on primary election night, spoke with her characteristic humor and grace on Friday. She introduced herself as the second lady of Pennsylvania, or my favorite way to say it: the SLOP. But when she turned to introduce John, she got serious again. Im thrilled to be here and to be introducing John Fetterman: my husband, your lieutenant governor, a stroke survivor and the next senator of Pennsylvania, she said, prompting cheers from the crowd. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... The unsealing of the search warrant that the FBI executed at former President Trumps Mar-a-Lago property revealed that the agency believes Trump may have violated the Espionage Act of 1917, among other potential crimes. The warrant was made public on Friday after the Justice Department filed a motion to request that it be unsealed. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he made the decision given the intense public interest in the situation and because Trump chose to publicly reveal that the search occurred. The warrant revealed that FBI agents recovered 11 sets of classified items during the search, including one labeled various classified/TS/SCI documents, meaning top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information. Officials took three items labeled confidential, three labeled secret and four labeled top secret. The Espionage Act makes it illegal for anyone who has information related to national defense to use it to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. Under the Espionage Act, it is also illegal for anyone who lawfully has possession of information related to national security to provide it or attempt to provide it to those not permitted to obtain it. These individuals also cannot willfully retain and fail to deliver documents or other materials on demand to an officer of the United States who is allowed to receive them. Anyone convicted of violating the law could face a fine or up to 10 years in prison. Derek Bambauer, a law professor at the University of Arizona, said the act is a core part of national security law and was designed to allow the government to prosecute people with sensitive information that could put the countrys national security at risk. He said it can apply to people who deliberately transfer the information to someone not authorized to have it or store it in a place it should not be. Former President Wilson signed the act into law a few months after the United States entered World War I. The law was passed to prevent interference with the war effort or recruiting soldiers and to prevent Americans from supporting the countrys enemies during wartime. Story continues Bambauer said the law tends to be invoked at times of perceived crisis, but courts typically give deference to the government in enforcing these types of laws and determining when a national security issue is considered a threat. For the FBIs search warrant of Mar-a-Lago to be approved, the agency needed to show probable cause that a crime had been committed and that evidence was located in a specific place. A federal judge signed off that the FBI demonstrated probable cause before the search happened. Bambauer said a noteworthy feature of the law in this situation is that whether the information or documents are classified is wholly irrelevant to potential violations. The information only needs to be sensitive and a threat to the security of the country. Trump and his allies have claimed that he declassified the documents found at Mar-a-Lago while he was still serving as president, so there is no legal issue. Bambauer said Trump may have declassified certain information while president, but classification status is not mentioned in the law. The language of the law, the Espionage Act, doesnt talk about classification at all, which is not surprising because classification, at least as a structural concept, didnt exist at the time this was passed, he said. Gerry Gleeson, a lecturer at Michigan State University and former state prosecutor, said any criminal investigation into violations of this law would look at national defense, not classification status. He said probable cause, needed to obtain a search warrant, is a different standard than beyond a reasonable doubt, needed for someone to be found guilty of a crime. He said grand juries usually issue indictments for who a U.S. attorney wants to indict in most cases, but the government needs to consider if it can prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Career federal prosecutors are serious people, and thats a serious inquiry that they would take before they decide whether they want to pursue charges against anyone, whether its a politician or an individual citizen, Gleeson said. The Espionage Act consists of more than half a dozen provisions, each laying out different circumstances where a violation may occur. Experts said the varying levels of intent required to meet the standard of breaking the law could have implications for Trump. Bambauer said a state of mind provision is common in criminal law in that some level of knowledge or intent is required. He said many of the provisions in the Espionage Act are similar, but one way they differ is in terms of state of mind. The first provision of the law states that someone must have intent or reason to believe that the information would be used to harm the U.S. A defense could argue that someone accused of violating the law did not know the information could threaten national security, if plausible, Bambauer said. But the sixth section states that someone who lawfully possesses a document could violate the law if they permit it to be taken from its proper place through gross negligence. Bambauer said that section could be relevant in leading to charges, based on what the public knows. Gleeson said the act makes a distinction between information and documents, with the latter requiring less intent than the former. He said the fourth section of the act only states that a person must have reason to believe that documents or other materials could be used to harm the U.S. Part of the section also states that anyone who willfully retains the materials and refuses to provide them on demand from an officer or employee of the United States could face charges. Gleeson said this part could play a role in Trumps case based on reporting that Trump received a subpoena for national security documents months before the search took place. It doesnt have to be top secret, he said. It just has to be information related to the national defense that could be possibly used to injure the United States. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. By Leticia Fucuchima SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil and Paraguay will resume negotiations regarding conditions for the sale of energy from the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, potentially opening a door for the bi-national company to sell electricity on unregulated markets. In an interview with Reuters, Itaipu's Brazilian Director General Anatalicio Junior Risden said discussions on potential changes in the current sales framework come after the Brazilian government privatized electricity firm Eletrobras, which no longer participates in decisions regarding Itaipu. Itaipu currently sells 100% of its energy on the regulated market, and potential sales in the unregulated space would allow it to act as "a private company," he said. Under current terms, Brazil and Paraguay each are entitled to 50% of Itaipu's energy. In the case of Brazil, it is sold on a quota system to distributors in the South, Southeast and Midwest. Paraguay, on the other hand, sells part of its energy to Brazil, at a given price, since it does not consume everything it is entitled to. Ultimately, discussions to change the sales framework will aim at reducing the cost of electricity, Risden said citing guidance given by Brazil's Mines and Energy Minister Adolfo Sachsida. Itaipu announced this week an agreement regarding electricity rates for sale during 2022. It decided to lower the rate by 8.2% after nine months of negations. With that out of the way, discussions regarding alternative models for energy sales with Paraguay may begin, the director said. There is no timeline for conclusion of the bilateral talks, Risden said, adding that the parties will discuss six scenarios. Brazil has two energy markets: a regulated one, in which mainly residential clients are served by distributors. These, in turn, buy power through government auctions. On the unregulated market, electricity producers may negotiate directly with generators and traders. (Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy) Days before he was killed by police after allegedly firing a nail gun into an FBI field office in Cincinnati, the man whom officials have identified as Ricky Walter Shiffer appears to have posted online about wanting to kill FBI agents after the search at former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. Screenshots taken from Trumps social media platform, Truth Social, show that an account using Shiffers name, which appears to have been removed, posted a call to arms on Tuesday morning, hours after Trump confirmed the raid had taken place at his Florida residence a day earlier. We must not tolerate this one, read one of the posts, which urged others to be ready for combat and to respond with force. Kill the F.B.I. on sight, the post said. The same account appears to have posted its final Truth on Thursday morning, shortly after the attempted breach of the FBIs Cincinnati office. Authorities said that Shiffer, who was wearing body armor and is believed to have been armed with an AR-15 as well as a nail gun, fled the scene after activating an alarm and led law enforcement officers on a chase that ended in a cornfield, where after a lengthy standoff, authorities say he was fatally shot by police. The New York Times reported Friday that, for months before he attempted to attack the FBI office in Ohio, federal authorities had been looking into whether Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, had been involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Whether the Truth Social account with Shiffers name belonged to him has not yet been confirmed. But extremism experts and some federal law enforcement officials said the Cincinnati incident demonstrates the potential harm that can come from the kind of violent rhetoric that has been circulating online in the wake of the FBIs search at Mar-a-Lago. The online trail left by the individual who engaged in that attack illustrates vividly how this type [of] rhetoric can motivate individuals toward real-world violence, said Jared Holt, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Story continues Holt told Yahoo News that hes "observed high levels of apocalyptic, violent and conspiratorial rhetoric present in online pro-Trump communities following the search, contributing to a general environment of rage that is not dissimilar to the lead-up to the Capitol riot. Similarly to that period, Holt said, these expressions of anger are happening in plain sight online and being regurgitated by powerful Trump supporters in government and media. Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather near his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) Minutes after Florida Politics first reported Monday evening that the FBI had executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Trump, who was in New York City at the time, took to Truth Social to announce that his beautiful home and private club in Palm Beach, Fla., was currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. In a lengthy statement, the former president went on to decry the search and declare, without evidence, that he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by the Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024." News outlets soon reported that the raid had been related to an investigation into Trump's potential mishandling of classified documents. In May, a federal grand jury began investigating whether he had mishandled top-secret documents, including taking 15 boxes of material to the Florida resort. Nonetheless, Trumps outrage quickly reverberated across the right, with Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators echoing his claims of persecution. It didnt take long for some of the rhetoric around the Mar-a-Lago raid to turn violent. Within hours of Trumps statement announcing the raid, social media users from Twitter to fringe platforms like Gab, Telegram and Truth Social were issuing calls for civil war and vowing to take up arms. Much of the vitriol was targeted at the FBI, prompting the head of the the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association to issue a statement Wednesday denouncing the extreme threats of violence levied against agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation this week. The federal magistrate judge who signed off on the warrant authorizing the search of Trumps home also quickly became a target after his name was revealed in news reports. Ben Popp, an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation Leagues Center on Extremism, said that he conducted an analysis of various platforms popular with extremists, such as image boards like 4chan and 8kun, Telegram groups and TheDonald, and found that use of the term civil war spiked on Aug. 9 the day after the FBIs search. The last time it spiked like that was, interestingly enough, in November 2020, Popp said, after the contentious presidential election in which the incumbent, Trump, ultimately lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Popp said the recent resurgence in civil war discourse suggests that the search of Trumps residence is serving as a similar rallying cry for his supporters. Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) In both scenarios, Popp said, the violent rhetoric spreading across fringe spaces could be traced directly to the baseless conspiracy theories and apocalyptic narratives promoted by Trump and his allies in mainstream forums, from Fox News to Twitter, which seek to paint Republicans as victims, whether of the biased media, vote-rigging Democrats or a politically motivated FBI. Popp noted a tweet by Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, which described the search of Mar-a-Lago as a military operation against a political dissident. He described it as just one example of the kind of apocalyptic narrative apparently inspiring more explicit calls for violence. While such rhetoric is not violent in nature, its certainly fueling the violent comments were seeing in different spaces online, Popp said. Kirks tweet was in line with calls to dismantle the FBI from far-right Republican lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., or Florida Sen. Rick Scotts comments comparing the FBI to the Gestapo in an interview with Fox Business. Moderate Republicans who have previously acknowledged how Trumps words can inspire harm in the real world were also willing to jump to the former presidents defense. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who said immediately after Jan. 6 that Trump bears responsibility for the Capitol riot, issued a statement Monday declaring that the Justice Department had reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization, and threatening to launch an investigation if Republicans win back control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections. Even former Vice President Mike Pence, who was personally targeted by the violent mob on Jan. 6, expressed deep concern at what he called the appearance of continued partisanship by the Justice Department. This persecution narrative has formed the basis for a variety of violent posts that have popped up on many of the websites where Trump supporters discussed plans for Jan. 6, such as the pro-Trump message board TheDonald. It also seems to be drawing in some of the same people. In addition to Shiffer, who had not been charged in connection to Jan. 6, NBC News revealed that at least one user who posted about civil war on TheDonald following Mondays raid is currently awaiting sentencing for his participation in the Capitol riot. I think these insurrectionist attitudes havent gone away since Jan. 6, it just takes events like this for that to bubble back to the surface, said Popp. Popp and Holt, however, noted that there are some key differences between the violent rhetoric stemming from the FBI search and that seen in the lead-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump called his supporters to come to Washington for a wild protest to oppose the congressional certification of Bidens victory in the 2020 election. Most notably, in contrast to Jan. 6, the violent discourse in recent days has not focused on a singular event or call to action. Popp and Holt predict that any action inspired by the raid is likely to be smaller and less concentrated than the insurrection that drew hundreds to the Capitol last year. My leading concern at this time is that the hyperbolic rhetoric could motivate individuals to act violently while believing they are doing so for a broader cause, as we have already witnessed in the attempted breach of an FBI facility in Cincinnati on Thursday, Holt said. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice on Aug. 11. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Federal law enforcement officials are equally concerned. [The] bureau is on edge, said an FBI source, who spoke to Yahoo News on background after the attempted attack on the FBI office in Ohio. We are all on edge. Another official with the Department of Homeland Security said the incident in Cincinnati was just further evidence that false narratives can lead to real threats and violence. FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a statement Thursday condemning the unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI, which he said erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed Wrays statement at a press conference Thursday, where he announced that the Justice Department had submitted a motion to unseal a search warrant and property receipt from the FBIs search of Trumps Florida home. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked, said Garland, who noted that he personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Heinz College, said the violent rhetoric stemming from the Mar-a-Lago raid is just the latest escalation of an extreme polarization on the right that has been on the rise since at least 2008, with the election of former President Barack Obama. Lightman told Yahoo News that while talk of a new civil war is really troubling, perhaps more troubling is the rhetoric from lawmakers and right-wing media figures eroding public trust in all government institutions, whether the FBI or the public school system. This lack of trust, he said, fuels extremism and perpetuates the notion that the only way through this is not through discussion or debate, it's through violence. Even after a man was killed after attempting to break into the FBI office in Cincinnati, the current campaign to condemn the FBI showed no signs of slowing down. At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Friday morning, members of the House Intelligence Committees Republican minority struggled to strike a balance between condemning violence and expressing support for rank-and-file FBI agents, while simultaneously accusing the agencys leadership of brazen politicization. Meanwhile, rather than release the search warrant himself, Trump spent Friday suggesting that the FBI planted evidence on his property and demanding the release of the documents related to the search of Mar-a-Lago, while pre-emptively attempting to discredit any damning information they may reveal. By the time the judge ordered the release of documents related to the raid on Friday afternoon, the discussion on platforms like Truth Social and others that hosted some of the most violent rhetoric in the immediate aftermath of the search had turned to a new conspiracy theory positing that such threats, and the attempted attack on the FBI office in Ohio, had been part of a false flag orchestrated by the FBI itself. The goal of such an operation, according to users, was to create a pretext for President Biden to declare martial law and, ultimately, incite a civil war. Jana Winter contributed reporting. The Daily Beast Tennessee Department of CorrectionA woman who shared a kiss with a prisoner during a visitation in Tennessee has been charged with murder after the inmate died shortly after their exchange.Rachel Dollard was taken into custody over the weekend by special agents from the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) and the Dickson County Sheriffs Department, the TDOC confirmed in a statement on Tuesday. She is accused of smuggling drugs into the Turney Center Industrial Complex.Dollard is facing ch The first man killed in a fast and furious Chinatown gang dispute sparked by a neighborhood purse-snatching was the step-brother of the man sought for the double homicide that ended the bloody spree, the NYPD said Friday. Cops continued their hunt for suspects Jahmel Sanders, 30, and Steven Santiago, 34, both Bronx-based members of the Trinitarios gang, for the May 16 execution of Nikki Huang and Jesse Parilla the last two victims in the retaliation shootings. Santiago is the step-brother of Brandon Atkinson, the man killed after gang members accused him of taking Huangs purse the incident that sparked the mini-gang war, said NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. That was a nasty few days there, said Essig. It just shows that violent retaliation comes quick ... all within a span of 24 hours. And all of them are brutal. Although it was later determined that Atkinson had nothing to do with the theft, his rivals in the Down the Hill Gang believed he had grabbed an expensive Louis Vuitton purse belonging to local nail salon owner Huang while she was watching a basketball game in a neighborhood park, Essig said. She goes out and tells her people, said Essig. Payback came soon afterward. That night, Atkinson is shot in the head and killed, Essig said. Police sources said Atkinson was shot twice in the back of the head outside a deli. Atkinsons death set off a series of events, said Essig. Less than an hour later, a member of the Down The Hill gang and an innocent bystander were shot and wounded by their rival Up The Hill Gang. Then the timeline of events really spirals out of control, said Essig. Huang and innocent bystander Jesse Parrilla were kidnapped and used to lure a gangbanger from his home in Ridgewood, Queens at around 2:30 a.m. A waiting gunman shot that victim in the left side of his face and arm before fleeing. The wounded gangbanger survived the incident. Huang and then Parrilla were then shot to death and left in a parked car that was set afire near a Bronx golf course later on May 16. Story continues Police believe Parrilla, 22, a talented young basketball player, was killed because of his friendship with Huang. Suspect Zymir Humphrey, 18, was extradited earlier this week on charges of murder and weapons possession in the killing of Atkinson. Authorities tracked him to Martinsburg, W. Va., after learning hed fled south to dodge arrest. Humphrey was identified and nabbed by by U.S. Marshals while he rode in a black Jeep, officials said. At a brief arraignment hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, Humphrey was ordered held without bail on the charges stemming from his part in starting the fast-escalating spree of violence. Essig said authorities were still hunting for Sanders and Santiago, with the manhunt expanding beyond New York City. Weve tracked them all over the place, he said. Theyre very bad guys ... Were still looking for where these guys are. When these guys are wanted and theyre in New York, we pick them up quick. When they know theyre wanted, they leave. Its been a while and we just want to keep it in the publics mind. The Daily Beast NewsmaxNewsmax host Eric Bolling pounced on Laura Ingrahams apparent skepticism of former President Donald Trumps potential run for office, using the opportunity to knock his former Fox News colleague and the network itself.Regarding another Trump presidential campaign, Ingraham said on a podcast Monday that well see whether thats what the country wants.The country, I think, is so exhausted, theyre exhausted by the battle, the constant battle, that they may believe that, well, maybe its (Reuters) -Anshu Jain, a top finance executive best known for helping German lender Deutsche Bank AG take on the largest Wall Street firms, died overnight on Saturday after a five-year battle with cancer, his family said. He was 59. Jain, who was born in India, spent two decades building Deutsche Bank into one of the world's top universal banks. He was the first non-European to lead the German institution. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 and the European debt crisis that followed, Jain pushed Deutsche to remain Europes last man standing as U.S. firms pulled ahead in global banking. The years of expansion into risky investment banking businesses came back to haunt the bank, as regulation made complex trades more costly. As co-chief executive he struggled to cut back the risk and to get a grip on a long list of scandals that led to billions of dollars in fines. He resigned from the German lender in 2015, and had been the president of U.S. financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald since 2017. "He will be remembered for his leadership in financial services and his deep commitment to conservation," said Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock Inc, who said he knew Jain well. Born in the Indian city of Jaipur, Jain earned his bachelors at the University of Delhi before completing an MBA at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. A lifelong vegetarian, he loved wildlife photography, safaris in Kenyas Masaai Mara and wilderness conservation, his family said. He joined Deutsche in 1995 to launch a division specializing in hedge funds and derivatives. He then headed bond trading and emerging markets and later, as head of the investment bank, he out-earned his boss, then-CEO Josef Ackermann. He was appointed to Deutsche's management board in 2009 and was responsible for the corporate and investment bank division from 2010. From 2012 to 2015, he was co-CEO. "Anyone who worked with Anshu experienced a passionate leader of intellectual brilliance," said present CEO, Christian Sewing. Story continues Jain was diagnosed in January 2017 with duodenal cancer, which affects the small intestine, but managed to outlive his initial diagnosis by four years, the family said. "To his last day, Anshu stood by his lifelong determination to 'not be a statistic'," the family said. (Reporting by Vera Eckert in Frankfurt and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru, Editing by Franklin Paul and Clelia Oziel) Brian Kilmeade, who filled in as host for Thursday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," ended the program with a doctored photo of U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart appearing to be sitting on a plane with convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell. (Richard Drew / Associated Press) Fox News isn't apologizing for using a doctored photo of the judge who signed off on the FBI search warrant of former President Trump's Palm Beach, Fla., residence. Brian Kilmeade, who filled in as host for Thursday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," ended the program with a doctored photo of U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart appearing to be sitting on a plane with convicted sex trafficker Ghislane Maxwell. The meme, pulled from Twitter, showed the associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, giving Reinhart a foot massage. Kilmeade appeared hesitant after the image appeared at the end of his commentary. So a picture of Bruce Reinhart. This is the judge in charge of the ... warrant. Well see if hell release it next. He likes Oreos and whiskey, he said. Kilmeade then handed off to Fox News host Sean Hannity, who pointed out that the photo was not real. But the on-air correction was tentative. I think thats actually a picture of Jeffrey Epstein with somebody putting [Reinhart's] head on there, Hannity said. While Fox News said the image was presented as a joke, the insensitive gaffe comes at a time when the conservative network faces two major defamation suits for airing false statements regarding fraud in the 2020 presidential election, promoted by attorneys for Trump. The segment drew scorn on social media Friday. Unbelievable. Kilmeade shares a fake photo that I have seen making the rounds on right-wing social media of the judge who signed the search warrant hanging out with Ghislaine Maxwell. This is Fox, and this is Kilmeade. He should sue, because shit like this needs to cost them. https://t.co/1vznAL9ItY Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 12, 2022 Kilmeade tweeted Friday that the picture was doctored and its presentation was meant to be humorous. Story continues "Last night while subbing for Tucker Carlson, we showed you an image of Judge Bruce Reinhart w/Ghislane Maxwell that was sourced on screen to a meme pulled from Twitter and wasn't real," the "Fox & Friends" co-host wrote. "This depiction never took place & we wanted to make clear that we're showing a meme in jest." But Kilmeade did not issue an apology and a Fox News representative said the matter will not be addressed on Friday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which will have former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as a substitute host. The use of the inflammatory meme follows reports that Reinhart has received death threats over his action to order the search of Mar-A-Lago, where FBI agents retrieved documents. The bureau's investigation is related to allegations Trump removed classified documents from the White House when he left office. The threats resulted in the removal of Reinharts biography and contact information from the website of the U.S. District of Court for the Southern District of Florida. Fox News has led the way in questioning Reinharts political contributions and has run unflattering photos of the judge. The network has also presented commentators and Trump's Republican allies who have suggested that the FBI planted evidence to incriminate the former president. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A murder suspect on the run from police in Georgia was arrested Friday after he called 911 to complain about his McDonalds fries being too cold. Antoine Sims, 24, entered into a dispute with McDonalds staff in Kennesaw, Georgia that resulted in both him and management calling the police. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Sims had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in a homicide case, FOX 5 of Atlanta reported. Sims was previously arrested in March 2019, as he was accused of setting a car on fire with a womans body inside in October 2018. He was charged with felony murder and ordered to appear in court. Fridays incident started when Sims and his fiancee were waiting for their food at the McDonalds location when the order seemed to be taking too long, Sims explained to Kennesaw police, FOX 5 reported. VIDEO SHOWS GEORGIA POLICE QUICKLY WIPING OUT CAR TRYING TO FLEE TRAFFIC STOP Sims then approached the cashier to ask about the order, which was already waiting on the counter, he said. He was not given a receipt, so he was unable to know if his order number was called, he told police. "So now our food is sitting there cold," he explained to the officer, per the report. "So when I come up, I try the fries. The fries are lukewarm, but theyre not hot." GEORGIA MAN ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SHOOTING CAR WITH INFANT CHILD AND EX-GIRLFRIEND INSIDE Sims then requested a new fries order, rather than a refund, then feuded with management. Management then demanded he leave the restaurant and both parties called the police, FOX 5 reported. The manager later told police Sims cursed them out and threw his order at them. "I dont ever want him back here," the manager told the officer, per the report. "I mean, dudes obviously on probation (out on bond) got an ankle bracelet on." Officers told Sims he was not allowed to re-enter the restaurant and asked him to sign a criminal trespass notice. They also requested dispatch run Sims information through crime databases which made him visibly "agitated," a police report said. Story continues "Im afraid of yall. I just did three years, sir. Im afraid of yall, sir," Sims told police, FOX 5 reported. An officer then approached Sims, who sprinted away, sparking a chase. Police later tracked Sims to an apartment complex, where a resident said he attempted to break into their third-floor apartment. There, the officers used a stun gun and apprehended Sims. Sims was taken to a hospital and then to jail. He was charged for his outstanding warrant, as well as obstruction or hindering law enforcement and criminal trespass. He also had a possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute tacked on as police found 31 grams of marijuana in his fiancees vehicle. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Susan Walsh/AP Photo; Tom Williams/Pool via AP Hillary Clinton implied that Bernie Sanders is sexist, a forthcoming book by an NBC reporter says. Clinton made the remarks after a widely televised clash between Sanders and Elizabeth Warren at a Democratic debate. "I believed her, because I know Sanders, and I know the kind of things that he says about women and to women," Clinton said. Hillary Clinton suggested to an NBC News reporter in a forthcoming book that she believes Bernie Sanders is sexist. The remarks were documented in NBC News correspondent Ali Vitali's new book, "Electable," expected to come out later this month. Politico on Friday published an excerpt of the book. Clinton spoke to Vitali after a widely televised clash between Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who were both on the ballot for the 2020 presidential election. Warren was caught accusing Sanders of calling her a liar during a presidential debate. "I think you called me a liar on national TV," Warren told Sanders, who then tried to cut the conversation short. "Let's not do it right now," Sanders responded. "You want to have that discussion, we'll have that discussion." Sanders then appeared to try to re-engage in the conversation before once again trying to cut it off. "You called me a liar, you told me all right let's not do it now," he said. The heated discussion began after Warren said Sanders had told her in a private meeting in 2018 that he didn't believe a woman could successfully win against Donald Trump, which Sanders denied. Clinton saw the moment unfold, Vitali reported. "I believed her, because I know Sanders, and I know the kind of things that he says about women and to women," she told Vitali, as documented in the new book. "So, I thought that she was telling an accurate version of the conversation they'd had." Clinton said she wished Warren had "pushed back in front of everybody." Story continues "I think it's important that you call it out when it happens, and that was my only regret for her: that I wish she had just turned on him and said, 'You know, it's one thing to mislead people about your healthcare plan," she said. "It's another thing to tell someone to her face that a conversation which you know happened didn't happen.' I mean, that would have been, I think, a really important moment for her." Read the original article on Business Insider ROMAN PETRENKO SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST, 10:26 Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the Deputy Head of the Presidents Office, has said that when people living in the temporary housing being built for the displaced can return home, these apartments will be handed over to the military, medics, and police officers. Source: Tymoshenko on Telegram Details: Tymoshenko has unveiled a plan to build housing for displaced people. Five-storey residential buildings are expected to be built within 5-6 months in 16 oblasts of Ukraine, amounting to 2,000 apartments in each region. Their cost, including all furniture and equipment, will be about 7,000 dollars per square metre. After the territories have been liberated [from the Russian army] and the housing stock rebuilt, people will be able to return to their homes, and these apartments will be given to the military, doctors, and police officers. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda! The author went to Quebec and Niagara Falls for the first time. Joey Hadden/Insider I recently went to Canada for the very first time, and I already want to go back. Over seven days, I traveled to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, mostly by train. I want to return to Quebec and Niagara Falls, and take more Canadian trains to other provinces. I recently left my home in New York City to spend a week in Canada for the very first time. The author in Montreal. Joey Hadden/Insider Last week, I went to Ontario and Quebec two eastern provinces of Canada. It was my first time in the country, and it definitely won't be my last. I traveled to Ontario and Quebec by bus, train, and plane, hitting cities and attractions from Niagara Falls to Montreal. A map shows where the author traveled to. Google Maps I traveled by train from NYC to Niagara Falls, New York, and walked into Niagara Falls, Canada, on foot. After three days in the Niagara Falls area, I took a bus up to Toronto for a night. From there, I traveled to Montreal and Quebec City by train and spent one night in each city before flying home to New York. As a seasoned Amtrak rider, I found Canada's train system, Via Rail, to be so impressive that I want to come back to try out more classes and routes. The author travels in business class from Toronto to Montreal. Joey Hadden/Insider I've spent 85 hours on Amtrak trains going up and down the East Coast, reviewing its various accommodations from business and first class to private rooms in sleeper cars. So when I traveled to Canada, I was excited to try out Via Rail, which is Canada's train line that is similar to Amtrak in that it's one of the most accessible and popular ways to travel through the country. Via Rail has economy seating as well as business class and sleeper accommodations, just like Amtrak. Even after only two rides, I thought my first experiences on Canada's Via Rail system were more comfortable than Amtrak equivalents I've experienced, thanks to seats I found to be more comfortable, and top-notch service and amenities. I booked a business class ticket from Toronto to Montreal for about $200 and found that it came with perks that Amtrak only offers to first-class passengers, such as meal service and access to lounges at select stations, including Toronto. Story continues I also booked an economy ticket on Via Rail from Montreal to Quebec City for about $150, and thought it felt more spacious and than an Amtrak seat. Overall, I found train travel to be more comfortable and pleasant in Canada than I typically do in the US. This makes me want to explore more of Canada by train and perhaps try more classes, like the sleeper cars and prestige accommodations. Insider paid for the train tickets, per our reporting standards. After trying poutine, a dish that's popular in Canada, for the first time, I have to go back for some different renditions. The author tries poutine for the first time. Joey Hadden/Insider Poutine is a Canadian comfort food. Originating in Quebec, it's a pile of fries topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy, according to the Food Network. Before visiting Canada, I had never tried poutine or even seen it on a menu. But that all changed in Montreal when I dined at La Banquise, a casual joint serving classic poutine, as described above, as well as more creative renditions loaded with meats, veggies, bacon, or more sauces like Caesar and chipotle. I decided to go with the classic since it was my first time trying it. The fries were crispy and greasy just like I like them. I thought the gravy was reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner, and the curds added a unique texture without adding too much flavor. All together in one bite, I could see why this dish was so popular and comforting. I found it to be warm, filling, and nostalgic as it transported me back to the Thanksgiving dinner. Next time I'm in Montreal, I'll go back to La Banquise to try some of the more loaded poutines on the menu. I thought Niagara Falls was epic and beautiful. I'd love to go back during the off-season to see what it looks like when it's not as crowded with people. The author's view at Niagara Falls. Joey Hadden/Insider Niagara Falls is an iconic landmark known for massive waterfalls located on the border of the US and Canada. It's also America's oldest state park. Seeing Niagara Falls up close was an unexpected highlight of the trip. Since I've seen so many pictures, I wasn't expecting to be quite so entranced with the falls. But once I saw them for myself, I was able to realize how amazing they are. I felt completely in awe of how massive, beautiful, and loud the falls were. To me, it was witnessing a powerful force of nature commanding people's attention. And it succeeded. The boardwalk lining the falls also reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve for the excitement it drew. However, that also meant there were a lot of crowds. From the attractions surrounding it to the packed crosswalks around town, Niagara Falls was so full of people that I spent a lot of time waiting in lines and standing on my tippy toes to peer over peoples' heads. It would have been much more enjoyable without so many crowds. I would love to go back to Niagara Falls when it's less crowded to enjoy a more peaceful moment to myself in front of the falls. According to The Points Guy, Niagara Falls tends to be less busy in early spring and late fall. I got a break from the crowds when I stayed at this treehouse Airbnb outside of Niagara Falls. It was the most peaceful part of my trip. The author stays in a treehouse for one night. Joey Hadden/Insider On my trip, I wanted to mix time in big cities with the chance to get a feel for life in smaller towns and take a moment to relax. While looking for the most unique Airbnbs in the areas I was traveling to, I found this treehouse on a property located between a vineyard and the woods. I stayed for one night and found it to be so peaceful and relaxing. I loved feeling totally alone in this quiet, natural place equipped with all the comforting amenities of a home. I thought it was the perfect place to reflect on my travels thus far, jot down notes about my observations, and go through the thousands of photos I'd already taken. Sitting on the porch amid a forest of trees, I thought this treehouse was the best remote office I've had the pleasure of working in. I'd love to go back for a few days to completely recharge. I didn't get a chance to cook a meal in the kitchen or spend a day just reading outside something I used to do a lot as a kid. The next time I come to this treehouse, it'll be for a vacation. I loved exploring Montreal on foot. A view of Montreal from the top of the mountain pictured. Joey Hadden/Insider Montreal was one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, thanks to the stunning and contrasting modern and historical architectural styles, from Art Deco to Gothic Revival, according to Culture Trip. Walking up and down the hills of the city was tiring but rewarding as I enjoyed some impressive all-encompassing views that made me wish I had more time to explore. Since I only had one night in the city, I got up around 6 a.m. and walked from my hotel downtown to Mount Royal, a small mountain in the middle of the city. It was a 30-minute uphill walk followed by another half hour of climbing stairs that traversed the mountain. It was tiring, but when I got to the top, it was totally worth it. I could see the whole city and I wished for more time to wander specific streets. I also was able to walk around Old Montreal, a neighborhood reminiscent of Europe with cobblestone streets. While I took beautiful pictures, I didn't have time to go inside the many shops, museums, and restaurants along the way. Next time I'm in Montreal, I plan to find accommodations in Old Montreal so I can learn more about the city's history. The neighborhood of Old Quebec in Quebec City made me feel like I was in Europe without the long-haul flight. The author's view from her hotel room (L) and a street in Old Quebec (R). Joey Hadden/Insider Quebec City is a 400-year-old French-Canadian city that made me feel like I was in Europe with its cobblestone streets, old-world architecture, and French signs and storefronts. I had roughly 24 hours in Quebec City and spent all of it in Old Quebec, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the famed Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, a luxury hotel where I spent the night in a 180-square-foot room with a stunning view. I thought it was the most beautiful hotel I'd ever stayed at, and located in the ideal spot for sightseeing in Old Quebec. Just outside of the hotel was Dufferin terrace, a boardwalk with restaurants and benches overlooking the St. Lawrence River, and 0n the other side of the hotel was lace d'Armes, a beautiful small park with a large fountain. I also spent time exploring and photographing the surrounding streets full of shops and restaurants but wished I had time to go into these places, like Quartier Petit-Champlain. I left Quebec City longing for more time to explore, shop, and dine. Canada is so large that I left feeling like I had barely scratched the surface. There are so many more places to explore. A map shows where the author traveled to. Joey Hadden/Insider It's wild to think that my big first trip to Canada was just within a small fraction of the country. According to World Population Review, Canada is the second-biggest country in the world after Russia. Now that I've been there, I have a longing to see more of it. Not only do I want to spend more time in the places I've visited already, but I also want to explore other provinces like British Columbia to see what life is like in Vancouver, a big city on Canada's west coast. Overall, my trip to Canada was only a taste of what the country has to offer. I thought it was a rich bite that left me hungry for more. The author sits on the window sill of her hotel room in Quebec City. Joey Hadden/Insider On my flight home from Canada, I was exhausted and ready to be back in my own bed. But I knew from the moment I left that I would be back, and hopefully soon. Read the original article on Insider Rep. Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee. Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images Rep. Jim Himes said Trump's claims of a "standing order" to declassify any documents he took are "utter baloney." Himes said the declassification process is complex and can often take months. The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified records from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that Donald Trump's claims that he had a "standing order" to declassify any documents he took are "utter baloney." Himes told MSNBC that while the president is a declassifying authority, there is a "really elaborate documented process for declassification," which can often take months. "Of course, he's going to say that because it creates a little bit of confusion and throws a bit of mud into the water. But I can tell you as someone who also sees the most sensitive information this country has, that's utter baloney." The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified records from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, some of which were marked top secret and meant to be stored in special government facilities because of their sensitive nature, according to the inventory of seized items. In a statement to Fox News, the former president defended himself by claiming that he had a "standing order" whereby documents were declassified "the moment" they left the Oval Office. Himes, the representative for Connecticut's 4th congressional district, dismissed Trump's claims and described the stringent security process for accessing sensitive documents in government facilities. "If I take documents out of that facility, I have committed a felony. And if a president takes them out of a facility, he too has broken the law," he said. Himes said he did not believe that Trump thought the documents were declassified and would have been immediately corrected even if he had expressed that belief. "If he thought that that was, or told anybody that that would be the case, you know, there would have been about 50 people that say 'no sir, that doesn't work.'" Story continues Himes suggested that Trump's latest claim is just an attempt to deflect the issue, such as his unrelated comparison of former President Barack Obama taking documents to Chicago after leaving office. "We should try to keep our eyes on the main thing here, which is we're in the world of the typical Trump defense," Himes said. Following the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Department of Justice is investigating whether Trump broke three laws, including the Espionage Act, when he took government records after he left office, according to the warrant unsealed on Friday. The possible crimes being investigated do not depend on the classification of the documents, as they relate to the handling of national security information. Read the original article on Business Insider China's first domestically developed COVID-19 antiviral, approved by the top drug regulator last month and added to the national COVID-19 treatment protocol this week, has been shipped to regions coping with virus flare-ups, according to drug developers. The oral drug, Azvudine, is priced at 270 yuan ($40) per bottle, containing 35 one-milligram tablets, said Genuine Biotech, which is based in Pingdingshan, Henan province. Henan, which is battling sporadic infections, along with the island province of Hainan and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region which are experiencing new outbreaks were among the first to receive the drug. Azvudine obtained emergency use authorization from the National Medical Products Administration, China's top drug regulator, on July 25, and was included in the latest COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment guideline on Aug 9. The guideline stipulates that the drug will be used to treat adult COVID-19 patients with moderate symptoms. Each patient will take 5 mg per day and each course of treatment will last no longer than 14 days, which would cost 540 yuan at most. The National Healthcare Security Administration also confirmed on Friday that Azvudine had been temporarily added to the national reimbursement list. "Azvudine is the first domestic anti-COVID oral pill, and our pricing strategy has prioritized its affordability," the company told China Daily. The company's plant in Pingdingshan, covering an area of 32,000 square meters, passed an inspection led by drug regulators in May and officially launched its operations earlier this month. The facility's annual production capacity currently stands at 1 billion tablets and is expected to reach 3 billion tablets. "In the meantime, we have cooperated with several pharmaceutical companies, including the Beijing Union Pharmaceutical Factory, so as to meet epidemic control requirements," the company said. The recent shipment destined for virus-hit areas was arranged by Genuine Biotech and Fosun Pharma, a Shanghai-based firm. The two companies reached a deal last month to advance the commercialization of Azvudine on the mainland, and it is likely to become available in foreign countries in the future. Azvudine was first approved in July 2021 to treat HIV patients, and was also found to be promising in tackling COVID-19. In a late-stage clinical trial, 40.4 percent of patients showed improvements in their symptoms seven days after first receiving the drug, compared with nearly 10.9 percent in the control group, the company said in mid-July. The drug is also safe and can clear up the virus in about five days, it said. Chang Junbiao, vice-president of Zhengzhou University in Henan province and a leading researcher behind the drug, said that the development of small-molecule, oral pills could be "the last piece in the puzzle" in the fight against the virus, because such drugs have several advantages such as high convenience, few side effects and relatively low production costs. Li Taisheng, an infectious disease expert at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that years of research on using Azvudine as an HIV drug had accelerated the launch of human trials to administer it to COVID-19 patients. "As a new oral drug, it assists virus clearance, its toxicity is low and its price is very reasonable," he said on Friday. After commissioning a Dutch company to build a custom superyacht, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos encountered major opposition when the plans included temporarily dismantling a historic bridge to allow the vessel to sail out of the harbor. Koningshaven Bridge in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The half-billion dollar yacht, designed to be the largest in the world at 417 feet, would have been too tall to clear the Koningshaven Bridge in the port city of Rotterdam on its way out to the ocean. Locally know as De Hef, meaning the lift, the bridges central span would need to be removed. That process would take about a day of work, according to city officials, and about a day to replace the section. A closer look at the top of Rotterdam's Koningshaven Bridge, which would have had to be dismantled to make way for Bezos' yacht. Once word spread to Dutch locals of the possible bridge dismantling, protestors took to social media to oppose the move. Some even advocated egging the boat to voice their disapproval. Calling all Rotterdammers: take a box of rotten eggs with you, and lets throw them en masse at Jeffs superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam, wrote event organizer Pablo Strormann on Facebook. Although the city council had initially okayed dissembling the top section of the bridge, they quickly backtracked after massive public outcry. The 95-year-old De Hef was the first vertical lift bridge in the Netherlands (and all of Western Europe) when it was completed in 1927. Originally built as a connecting line for the Breda-Rotterdam Railway, it was the first structure to be rebuilt after the bombing of the seaside town during World War II. De Hef faced demolition in 1993 when the railway discontinued its use, but the bridge was already a major landmark in the area by that point, and protests resulted in the structure winning national protection as a Rijksmonument. Aerial view of the shipyard for Oceano, the company originally contracted to build Jeff Bezos' superyacht. Its no surprise that Rotterdam residents got their feathers ruffled at the mention of dismantling it for the sake a multi-billionaires new toy. In the wake of angry complaints, Oceano, the company building the superyacht, announced that it would no longer be applying for a permit to temporarily change De Hef. Story continues Were happy its not happening, said Marvin Biljoen, a city councilman for GroenLinks, the Dutch Green Party. The bridge is a national monument, which shouldnt be altered too much. That you could still do that with money anyway bothers us. But others feel like it is an opportunity wasted. Oceano and Bezos would have completely paid for the disassembly and repair of the bridge, and it would have been all over within two days. Rotterdam city council member Ellen Verkoelen stands in front of the city's Koningshaven Bridge. I talk to a lot of residents of Rotterdam, said Dieke van Groningen, a Rotterdam councilwoman for VVD, the Dutch Liberal Party. Theyre incredibly proud that these kinds of ships sail through our city. Today, Rotterdam is the largest port in all of Europe and remains a major center of global shipbuilding. This is the Netherlands at its best, Ms. van Groningen adds. Its about the image of the port, and you should be proud of that. Unfinished Bezos superyacht gets pulled out of the Rotterdam harbor. Taking cover in the dark of night in early August, the still unfinished Bezos superyacht was towed out of the harbor to the friendlier dock of Greenport in Rotterdam, where it hopes to escape any lingering egg threats. The post Jeff Bezos Unfinished Superyacht Slinks Away After Dutch Residents Wont Let Him Dismantle Their Historic Bridge first appeared on Dornob. Associated Press Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and backers of universal school vouchers took a victory lap Tuesday over legislation the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted in June giving the state the nation's most expansive voucher system, and he also used the time to attack backers of public schools who are trying to block the measure at the ballot. Ducey touted the signature bill he signed in July that gives all Arizona parents the ability to take state money that would go to their local public school and instead use it for private school tuition or other education costs. The governor had a ceremonial signing at a central Phoenix Christian school that already gets large benefits from the state's tax credit donation programs and existing school voucher program. In front of a crowd nearly triple the anticipated turnout, John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, spoke for roughly 11 minutes on Friday in his first public campaign appearance since suffering a stroke in May. Dressed in a hoodie and flanked by his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, at a convention center in Erie, Fetterman discussed his stroke and threw jabs at his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, in front of an energized crowd his campaign said exceeded 1,300 people. The lieutenant governor briefly paused in the middle of several sentences and sometimes repeated words. In an interview last month with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he said he was working with a speech therapist and insisted he had "nothing to hide" regarding his health. MORE: Fetterman: '100% able' to run for Pa. Senate after stroke "Tomorrow is, three months ago, my life could have ended," he said, remembering the moment he said his wife noticed he was having a stroke on the way to a campaign event. "Let me just tell you right now, in front of everyone, Gisele saved my life." "Tonight, for me, it's about being grateful," he said. PHOTO: Democratic Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-PA) takes photos with supporters following a rally at the Bayfront Convention Center on August 12, 2022 in Erie, Pennsylvania. F (Photo by Nate Smallwood/Getty Images) (Nate Smallwood/Getty Images) Keeping his remarks light on policy, Fetterman took several shots at Oz, whose campaign has made a daily habit of reminding voters of Fetterman's absence, publicizing a running "Basement Tracker." "Are we in Erie, or have I fit 1,400 people in my basement?" Fetterman roared at the start of his speech. In a statement Friday night, Oz's communications director, Brittany Yanick, called Fetterman "a no-show for the commonwealth" and said, "Pennsylvanians deserve answers now from Fetterman. It's been far too long." Fetterman's campaign chose Erie because its voters are notorious for being unpredictable and indicative of statewide margins. Donald Trump won Erie County in 2016 before it swung to Joe Biden four years later. The county was decided both years by fewer than 2,000 votes. MORE: John Fetterman says his stroke leading up to Senate race was 'preventable' Story continues "If you can't win Erie County, you can't win Pennsylvania," Fetterman said on stage. Local leaders touted Fetterman's popularity in Erie, saying it was a city where he often campaigned and vacationed. "I think for a lot of people in this community, they look at somebody like John Fetterman and they go, 'He understands us. He's been here.' They kind of think about him as a member of this community," said Jim Wertz, Chair of the Erie County Democratic Party. "Fetterman has spent more time here as an elected official than anyone I can remember since he first ran for Senate in 2016," he added, referring to Fetterman's first campaign for a U.S. Senate seat. Fetterman's campaign expressed enthusiasm after the event, with a spokeswoman, Emilia Rowland, telling ABC News she thought the lieutenant governor "sounded great" and that the campaign had hoped for a turnout of "500 at best." Liz Allen, president of the Erie City Council, said she was "impressed." Fetterman's recovery from his stroke is personal for Allen, 70, a lifelong Erie resident, who described to ABC News her brother's steady recovery from a stroke in 2019. "My brother went back to work, but there was a period of time where he struggled to get the right word, and I think he is as sharp and as smart as ever," she said. "I have seen somebody have a stroke and recover and it does take time." Some attendees told ABC News after the event they believed Fetterman did not look fully healthy. Mark Rathi, 62, of Crawford County, said the candidate "seemed a little bit off his game" before adding that he supported Fetterman because of how he connects with people. Rita Lynch, 82, told ABC News she was "glad [Fetterman] came, but I think he's got to be careful because you could tell he was sweating a lot." Lynch said she hopes Fetterman's campaign aides ease the candidate back onto the trail. "I think it was a beginning for him, the first one since the stroke, and that's always a challenge," she said. Bob Nierakto, 81, of Erie, said he was "disappointed" in what he called Fetterman's lack of energy. "It doesn't matter why he lacked the energy. He just has to have it," he said. "I was looking for the fire, I was looking for the passion, I was looking for the enthusiasm, and I was looking for him to nail it. And he didn't nail it," said Nierakto, adding that he was committed to voting for Fetterman in November. "I'm waiting for him to come out so I can give him a talk," he said with a laugh, as he stood by the exit. John Fetterman 'grateful' in return to Pa. Senate race, rips Oz and leaves supporters analyzing his health originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Aug. 13I didn't arrive at the 200 Block Commons expecting to be impressed by a shower. After all, the Downtown Joplin location, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has a whole lot more going on both inside and out. This became evident as I followed Jeff and Carolina Neal, the dynamic duo behind Neal Group Construction, through the restored edifice that now serves as their headquarters. The Commons are located in the Hurlbut Building, which housed the Hurlbut Undertaking Company Joplin's mortuary and ambulance service at the beginning of the 20th century. The ground floor is a labyrinth of intricate tilework, century-old fireplaces, and stained-glass windows. The second floor resembles a metropolitan loft with exposed brick walls and large windows that overlook the north side of downtown. The structure, which also houses a church and other local businesses, is a history buff or interior designer's dream. Each space is decorated with antique signs, salvaged architectural elements, and framed newspaper clippings conversation pieces thoughtfully chosen by the Neals themselves. So when I came across a simple shower stall in the basement, I knew it couldn't be there by accident. "To be a green building, you must provide a shower so employees can clean up after walking or biking to work, which lowers their carbon footprint," Carolina explains. Green building? Suddenly, I was struck by a different series of details. Each room is lit up by sensored LED lighting powered by solar panels. The hum of a struggling AC isn't constantly heard due to a white, reflective rooftop and high-efficiency windows. The landscaping outside is lush and green thanks to an irrigation system using recycled rain water. Even the parking lot features a complimentary charging station for electric cars. The Hurlbut Building is an ecologist's dream, as well complete with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Story continues Such certification requires taking the building's holistic environmental impact into account, including how accessible it is to car-free commuters. The Neals, the recipients of the 2018 McReynolds Award for Historic Preservation, are proud of what this location and other downtown projects represent. And they should be because their current successes were hardfought. When the Neals moved to Joplin in 2004 a homecoming for Jeff, a U. S. Air Force Academy graduate and 13-year veteran, and new chapter for Carolina, a Costa Rican lawyer with experience in academic, private and public sectors their interest was in securing a loan to purchase and restore a single building downtown. "We spent a solid year building business plan after business plan. But eight banks turned us down. They didn't think that anything would work downtown," Jeff explains. When they found a banker who believed in their vision, their first project was preserving the Columbian Building, 418-420 S. Main Street. It was after the restoration, while Carolina pursued a master's degree in global affairs, that one of her professors outlined the significant and positive environmental impact of their work. "The process of building a building like this takes 100 years for the Earth to recover from. It takes a lot of energy and a lot of CO2," she explains Restoring hundred-year-old buildings, she continues, means working with materials that have already paid their environmental debt. It was while considering this fact and researching in depth that the Neals decided the ecology of restoration was an important message to incorporate into their brand. "I've always been a preservationist," says Jeff. "How that transferred to being a conservationist wasn't something I had considered before." The couple is quick to point out the logic and economic advantages of preservation to clients and fellow developers. In a time of rising material costs and supply shortages, restoring historic buildings means working with 60% of building materials already on hand. While adding solar panels and other energy-efficient resources can be costly up front, lower energy consumption and bills demonstrate how these investments pay themselves off over time. "We have a business model demonstrating what can be done," Jeff explains. "This is a showpiece. You can incorporate certain elements here into your own building, without certification, and still reap the benefits." It's these benefits and triumphs that speak the loudest. Neal Group Construction has now successfully completed over a hundred projects the vast majority in Downtown Joplin and on Main Street. And the buzz surrounding their current work at locations such as the Olivia Building, Cleveland Apartments, Pennington Drug Co. and the Christman Building should be a signal to future property owners, preservationists and, yes, even banks that the original risk they took investing in downtown has been well worth the reward. It's a signal to us all. As someone who invests in Downtown Joplin by frequenting local businesses (and writing a column), it's encouraging to know that my actions have a broader impact. It turns out the preservation and restoration of my favorite neighborhood isn't just about aesthetics or passing trends, but is aligned with my ecological values and my faith in the future of our community. Whether buying, renting, or even picking up a cup of coffee from a restored historic building downtown, we are epitomizing the motto of thinking globally while acting locally. Ready to save the planet? I'll see you downtown. Kimberly Zerkel, a writer, recently returned to Joplin after a decade in Paris and a number of years living in San Francisco. Contact her at news@joplinglobe.com. Vanessa Bryant, center, the widow of Kobe Bryant, leaves a federal courthouse in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022. Kobe Bryant's widow is taking her lawsuit against the Los Angeles County sheriff's and fire departments to a federal jury, seeking compensation for photos deputies shared of the remains of the NBA star, his daughter and seven others killed in a helicopter crash in 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) The first Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy to take photos of Kobe Bryant's remains testified on Friday. During his conflicting testimony, he said that he had been ordered to take photos by a supervisor. LA Sheriff's Deputy Doug Johnson said that he would have done it the same way all over again. On the overcast morning of January 26, 2020, when a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant and seven other passengers tragically crashed in the Santa Monica Mountains near Calabasas, California, Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy Doug Johnson was among the first to respond. Reaching the crash site was no walk in the park, Johnson testified in a federal Los Angeles courtroom on Friday, the third day of Vanessa Bryant's trial seeking punitive damages from county defendants accused of taking and sharing crash site photos. Johnson, who remained stoic throughout questioning Friday, trudged for close to an hour through thick fog and deep mud with a team of eight to respond to the crash and secure the scene. He reached the scene with another deputy, chasing away onlookers and bikers as others were asked to retrieve more equipment from the makeshift command post that Los Angeles County Fire Department and LASD had set up at the nearby the Las Virgenes Water District. At the top, Johnson told jurors that he spent 15 minutes searching for any survivors from the crash. Then, he followed what he said was a command by his supervisor Deputy Andrew Versales to document the scene. Johnson had arrived at the chaotic scene by around 11 a.m. with that instruction. By 11:24 a.m., a TMZ alert shared that Kobe and Gianna Bryant may have been among the victims of the crash site he was combing. By then, Johnson told the court, he had already taken at least 25 photos "of any victims that I thought could be victims," because of the gruesome nature of the crash. He told the court that he had taken close to 25 photos of human remains at the crash scene, but admitted that Versales had not specifically asked him to take photos of human remains only to document the scene. Story continues "Photographs are the most thorough way of documenting something, especially if evidence or a scene is destroyed," Johnson said. No regrets Audio from an internal LASD interview played for the court showed Versales denying that he had ever ordered Johnson to take the graphic, close-up photos of remains. And on Thursday, LASD Malibu search and rescue lead David Katz told the court that Johnson informed him he had taken "hundreds of photos." In September 2020, Bryant sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the county's fire department, the county as a whole, and eight officers in the wake of reports broken by the LA Times that first responders took and shared photos of the January 2020 crash sites. Johnson confirmed to the court on Friday that he had no regrets about taking the photos, or about airdropping all of them to LACFD Captain Brian Jordan who Johnson met at the scene. He also airdropped the photos to another man on the scene who he presumed to be a fire official someone who has not yet been identified in the process of litigation. Investigators work the scene of a helicopter crash that killed former NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant and his teenage daughter, and seven others in Calabasas, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2020. Lawyers for Los Angeles County failed to persuade a federal judge to end Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit over gruesome photos of the helicopter crash. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, rejected a county motion for summary judgment, saying that "there are genuine issues of material facts for trial," the Los Angeles Times reported. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) 'Common practice' Friday's testimony exposed a worrisome blind spot in the County's handling of the crash: Officials aren't even entirely sure they can trace back every photo, and no staff phones were forensically searched in internal investigations. "It's a common practice," Johnson told the court, referring to LASD staff taking photos of human remains, and sharing them among staff. He added that he'd been to 25 to 50 accident or crime scenes where he had taken photos of victims or victims' remains, and on at least 20 occasions he had been sent photos of bodies, or body parts from staff. Adam Bercovici, a law enforcement expert called by Bryant's team, told the court earlier that in his 30 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, he was shown photos of deceased victims on multiple occasions by other officers including a Polaroid from the scene of Nicole Brown Simpson's death. Sometimes, crash victims were kept by law enforcement in souvenir "ghoul books." Bercovici also chided the LASD's lack of clear site photo policy related to human remains, and the ensuing deletion order and lack of discipline by Sheriff Alex Villanueva the month after the crash. "That was not an inquiry, that was calling in deputies to delete evidence," Bercovici told the court. Vanessa Bryant is suing the county for negligence, emotional distress, and invasion of privacy claims as well as federal claims which relate to the constitutional right to the images of her deceased loved ones, and LA County agency practices that led to the alleged taking and dissemination of photos. "I know I didn't do anything wrong," Johnson told the court, his tone remaining unfazed throughout questioning by Bryant's attorneys. When asked if he had any regrets or would do anything differently, he answered, "No sir." Read the original article on Insider Former President Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York late Tuesday. (Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press) Former President Trump had our reporters and columnists writing as if it were 2016 again, and our readers sent letters and comments throughout the week as the news unfolded. Whether it was the FBIs raid on Mar-a-Lago, the unprecedented nature of the search, Atty. Gen. Merrick Garlands request that the search warrant be unsealed, commentary on what the search might mean for Trumps hopes for a second term or the Republican response and the violence it could spark, Times readers were chiming in. Oh, and they didnt forget that this was also the week the former president took the stand in the New York financial probe into his businesses and took the 5th. To the editor: Regarding Sarah D. Wires article on Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland personally approving the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago: This week, the country has been flooded with lies, propaganda and dangerous incitement by prominent Republicans in the wake of this event. The disinformation and incitement have led not just to angry rhetoric but to threats and acts of violence already. That kind of incendiary rage is corrosive to our country and our justice system. The FBI has not always been an exemplar for our rule of law, but in this case it has done the right thing in the right way. There is no evidence that this action was politically motivated or that the Department of Justice has been weaponized against Trump. If anything, the search seems to have followed more low-key measures, including a subpoena, to secure the documents in Trumps possession. Since Trump took hold of the Republican Party, weve seen a large swath of our electorate abandon truth, rational thinking, decency and a commitment to democratic norms and values. Its not hyperbolic to say that if this mind-set continues, our country and its very fragile democracy could crumble. TR Jahns, Hemet .. To the editor: Jackie Calmes writes that many far-right Trump supporters are calling for civil war, after the FBI search of Mar-a-lago. Justice for Trump should not be delayed because of threats like these. If his delusional supporters start a civil war, its much better to fight it while Joe Biden is commander in chief and is in charge of our military. Story continues Richard Armstrong, Carlsbad .. To the editor: Harry Litman suggests that if Trump is disqualified from taking office once again for violating federal law pertaining to preserving official documents, it would help end our latest long national nightmare.' Call me cynical, but unlike Ron DeSantis and assorted other Trump wannabes, Id be deeply disappointed. If Trump runs again, I think is the best shot we have at the Republican Party's self-immolation. Talk about ending the nightmare! Then all we have to do is hope that a rational and responsible party arises out of the ashes. (Are the Whigs busy?) OK, it will be more conservative than I would want, but at least wed be less worried about getting our lunch money stolen in broad daylight. Maybe Im dreaming. But Im more than willing to take the chance. Claude Goldenberg, Seal Beach .. To the editor: It's interesting to see the anger and threats of violence generated by the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Trump and his supporters are acting as if it's completely unwarranted for the FBI to take this unprecedented action. We've learned from experience that the former president cannot be trusted, so this kind of search of his home may be the only way to find the real truth. Regarding the anger from Trump and Republican lawmakers and extreme threats of violence coming from right-wing extremists over the raid at Mar-a-Lago, where was their anger over the Jan. 6 raid on our Capitol? Apparently, that didn't bother them so much. Joanna Ryder, Hermosa Beach .. To the editor: Somebody finally figured out how to keep Trump from talking. Put him under oath and on the record. Robert Brewer, Sherman Oaks .. To the editor: In the coming days the country may learn whether Trump and his allies will successfully discredit the Department of Justice and render the FBI findings irrelevant. Alternatively, the country may learn the gravity of Trump's self-serving, potentially criminal behavior and how he has used the decency of Americans for his personal gain. If the former prevails, Trump may be on his way to reelection and American democracy may be over. If the latter, Republican politicians will likely be running for cover to disavow that they supported Trumps misdeeds. Some Trump voters will initially doubt the findings but may come to feel furious that they have been used. They may vent their fury by abandoning the Republican Party. We must rely on a responsible press to clearly inform the public and counter any confusion and distortion created by the far-right on social media as the news unfolds. Sidney Weissman, Highland Park, Ill. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Former President Donald Trump gestures as he departs Trump Tower, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in New York, on his way to the New York attorney general's office for a deposition in a civil investigation. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson) ORG XMIT: NYJN106 Maybe you just don't get it America is polarized like never before. It is probably fair to say you can divide the nation into two camps: those that support former President Donald Trump and those that revile him. Mar-a-Lago search: Ohio Republicans call FBI action political (dispatch.com) After the FBI raid on the former president's Florida home, I suggest that both groups should be very, very afraid. If a sitting president can use his department of justice to attack a political opponent, then no holds are barred. If you hate Trump and are gleeful over the raid, please consider what precedent this sets. Is it now fair game for the reigning political party to unleash the FBI on any and all political opponents? This isn't Russia, this isn't a banana republic, or is it? If you are not frightened by what this represents, you simply don't understand what this means. God save us. William M Babbitt, New Albany Maybe 'Our Donald' should flee to Russia Donald Trumps defenders maintain the execution of a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago home was unnecessary because the former president was cooperating with investigators. But to believe a man who has resisted every attempt to hold him accountable for anything hes ever done, and has a proven history of dishonesty, has suddenly had an epiphany about his responsibility to tell the truth and uphold the law is laughable. Secret service agents stand at the gate of Mar-a-Lago after the FBI issued warrants at August 8, 2020. Secret and top-secret documents in the hands of the man Russians call our Donald and Russian state media suggested should seek asylum in their country is of concern to everyone concerned about national security. Republicans who used to advocate for a strong national defense have devolved into advocating as Trumps legal defense. Chuck Ardo, Lancaster Letters to the Editor Columbus Dispatch letter to the editor submissions A child-sized fuel tanker, but no 'climate endgame?' We live in an age of moral panic, with parents across the country terrified about the political indoctrination of their sweet young children, with such forbidden knowledge as racism occurs, gay people exist, and trans people are human. Story continues Curious, then, that so many reactionaries should exhibit no response to those displays of explicit propaganda which cause actual harm. Among the most egregious in recent memory took place at the Ohio State Fair, where nestled among the 14-foot tall Smokey Bear and Ohio Department of Natural Resources exhibits, I stumbled onto a sign reading Welcome to the Exploring Oil & Gas in Ohio Play Area. This new attraction, touted by Gov. Mike DeWine as teach(ing) children about the oil and gas industry, is a playground consisting of a child-sized fuel tanker, as well as several vertical stacks of oil drums. Oddly absent are any warnings of the climate endgame or human extinction being raised by climate scientists, attributable to the burning of fossil fuels. World should target coal-fired pollution like duck hunters (dispatch.com) Perhaps the area should consider adding hurricane merry-go-rounds, rising sea level wading pools, or broken water fountains to represent widespread drought and famine in order to present a truly educational look at the fossil fuel industry. Craft brewers facing effects of wildfires, drought on price, quality (dispatch.com) Parents, please take note. This is what actual, destructive propaganda looks like. For too long, the fossil fuel industry has twisted young minds into worshiping the obsolete waste that is actively killing them, and destroying their future. It is well past time to make a stand. Aaron Dunbar, Lowell Whaley couldn't keep city safe In her Aug. 10 column "Nine died, but DeWine has only caved on gun violence," former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley failed to grasp reality when she wrote, "No matter where you live or who you vote for, you deserve to be safe in your community." While Ohioans certainly agree with that sentiment, it is laughable coming from the failed mayor. For readers who may be unfamiliar with her record, Nan Whaley was completely ineffective at addressing rising crime in her city. In fact, she largely made it worse. Dayton mayor Nan Whaley gives a brief press conference in front of Ned Pepper's Bar in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019. According to compiled FBI data, during Nan Whaleys first six years as mayor, violent crimes increased by 23%, homicides increased by 70%, and aggravated assaults increased by 97%. But this didn't impact Whaley as she continued to promote soft on crime policies, push for canceling the city's police academy, and promote herself off a horrific tragedy. Nan Whaley: Mike DeWine gave in to extremists, not reduced gun violence (dispatch.com) The bottom line is Nan Whaley could not keep the people of Dayton safe because of her failed leadership. The Oregon District shooting was tragic, and we applaud the brave officers who responded. It is appalling that she uses the tragedy to create a campaign issue rather than curb the violent crime that plagued her city on a daily basis. Dan Lusheck, communications director, Ohio Republican Party How about a death penalty for 16-year-olds Regarding your Aug. 9 article, "Time for redemption?," everybody wins with the new guidelines for sentencing juveniles except families and friends of the deceased. How about these new guidelines: death penalty approved for 16-year-olds. Take a life violently, lose yours. Mark Weaver, Reynoldsburg GOP needs to read data on kids Please send a copy of the Aug. 10 article, "Data on Ohio kids: well-being has dropped," to the entire Ohio Republican Party. It should encourage them to take care of those children who are already here. And perhaps even consider pro-choice is really a very good thing. What a sad state of affairs when Ohio ranks near the bottom on so many key well-being markers! Joan Buffington, Hilliard System fails kids once they're here I have seen and heard too many personal stories from people about situations where the system has failed them, children's safety falling through the cracks with procedural delays, department inefficiencies and lack of personnel in the department itself. One mother said, I guess you have to wait for something awful to happen, like a death, before someone will step in and help. Clinton Elementary students hold up logos from the "On Our Sleeves" children's mental health campaign as Ohio State Buckeyes head football coach Ryan Day speaks to them as part of Nationwide Children's and Big Lots "One Million Classrooms" campaign on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 at Clinton Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. Day presented the school with $1,000 from two organizations provided by On Our Sleeves to help fund mental health and mindfulness activities for students and faculty. Is this due to: 1) lack of funding; 2) lack of training; 3) lack of adequate staffing; 4) a reactive bureaucracy; or something else? Editorial on abortion ban: Ohio must support foster kids more (dispatch.com) It is a crime that we are quick to pass a law enforcing life before a child enters the world, and yet we have no regard for children once they are here. There will be more children needing this department in the years to come as incidents of neglect and abuse rise. Franklin County Children Services and our lawmakers who fund it need to figure this out now. Karen Simon, Columbus This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: LETTERS: What does FBI raid on Trump home say about America, Trump? SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 11:49 After Estonia decided to ban the entry of Russian citizens with Estonian Schengen visas, Lithuanian Officials said their country supports its neighbour's decision, but emphasised that the restrictions will work more effectively if they are applied at European Union level. The LRT TV and radio company reports about this, as "European Pravda" writes. Lithuanias Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country's institutions, which have powers in the field of state security, issuing visas and border control, are "evaluating decisions made by Estonia and Latvia." "According to the initial assessment of the responsible institutions, the decisions of Estonia and Latvia are essentially very similar to the restrictions currently in power in Lithuania," the ministry claims. "Lithuania consistently advocates sanctions against aggressive states and maintains the position that restrictions work more effectively if they are applied at the EU level," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. After the Kremlin troops invaded Ukraine, Lithuania was one of the first EU countries to limit the issuance of new Schengen and national visas for Russian citizens. However, Tallinn went further, restricting entry into the country by Russians who already have Schengen visas issued by Estonia. For its part, the Czech Republic, which currently presides over the EU, said that the ban on issuing visas to all Russian citizens could complement the sanctions already imposed by the European Union against Russia. Kristianis Karinsh, the Prime Minister of Latvia, also stated that it is necessary to make a decision to stop issuing Schengen tourist visas to citizens of Russia at the level of the European Union. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron. The pro-Trump gunman who was shot dead by Ohio police Thursday after he attacked the FBIs Cincinnati field office with a nail gun was a Navy veteran with top-secret clearance who served on submarines and apparently had a need for speed, records and sources revealed Friday. I have a lead foot, Ricky Walter Shiffer told a Minnesota police officer after he was caught going 50 mph in a 30 mph zone in his red Ford Mustang, according to a speeding ticket obtained by NBC News in collaboration with The Fargo Forum newspaper. That was in February 2004 and Shiffer was living in St. Cloud, Minnesota, according to the ticket one of several he accumulated before and after he was discharged from the Navy in 2003. In recent months, Shiffer had been living in Omaha, Nebraska, and was on the FBI's radar after they learned he had been at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. FBI Evidence Response Team gather evidence at the FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday. (WLWT) The FBI previously received information about Ricky Shiffer, the individual who attempted to breach the Visitor Screening Facility at the FBI Cincinnati Field Office on August 11, 2022," the FBI said in a statement released Friday. "The information did not contain a specific and credible threat. However, multiple field offices made attempts to locate and interview Shiffer which were unsuccessful. Shiffer, who was 42 when he died Thursday after a standoff with pursuing police officers, enlisted in the Navy in June 1998 and underwent 10 months of training before being assigned to the USS Columbia. His assignment was overseeing electronic equipment associated with weapons such as missiles and torpedoes. Shiffer had to be eligible for top-secret clearance in his job as an E-5, a Navy spokesperson told NBC News. Upon leaving the Navy after five years of service, Shiffer moved from state to state, records show. Along the way, Shiffer managed to rack up speeding tickets in Ohio, Hawaii and Florida as well as other traffic offenses in Virginia, records show. But Shiffers most serious run-in with the law prior to Thursday came in July 2003, when he was arrested by the Moorhead, Minnesota police and charged with obstructing legal process, a misdemeanor to which he pleaded guilty a month later, records show. Story continues It was not immediately clear what happened in that case because that police record has been purged and the Moorhead Police chief did not respond to an email from NBC News seeking access to the arrest information. From 2017 to 2020, records show that Shiffer lived in an apartment building near downtown Columbus, Ohio. A former neighbor described him as friendly but also a bit off. He had a little bit of an anger issue about his car, but who doesnt, Ian McConnell told The Cincinnati Enquirer. A Pennsylvania native, Shiffer registered as a Republican wherever he lived, records show. He did not appear to be married or have children. But he was a devoted follower of former President Donald Trump. NBC News reported on Thursday that Shiffer was at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, although it was not clear whether he was part of the mob that breached the building. He did, however, post often on social media about how he was in Washington, D.C. that day. And on Thursday, after he tried and failed to get inside the FBI building in Cincinnati, Shiffer apparently confessed to the crime on Truth Social, the social media platform founded by Trumps media company. Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didnt, the account @RickyWShifferJr wrote at 9:29 a.m. ET, shortly after police allege the shooting occurred. If you dont hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and itll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while. Shiffer was apparently incensed after the FBI confiscated more than a dozen boxes of classified documents from Trumps residence in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this week. We must not tolerate this one, he wrote. The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday denied an appeal filed by plaintiffs in the ongoing legal battle over the states abortion ban, allowing the ban to stay in effect. The ruling marked a major blow to abortion-rights advocates and providers, who had hoped the ban would be blocked for a third time, allowing Louisianas three abortion clinics to begin performing procedures again. While it is disappointing that four of the seven justices, without any written explanation, issued a ruling that will effectively deny critical care to women throughout Louisiana, the litigation continues and we are confident we can affect meaningful change, Joanna Wright, an attorney for the plaintiff, said Friday afternoon in addition to confirming the courts ruling. Following news of the ruling, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry a defendant in the case tweeted that he was pleased with the courts decision and will continue fighting to end this legal circus. More: We are still fighting: Shreveport abortion clinic, Hope Medical Group for Women, still open Since the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to end constitutional protections for abortion in June, access to abortion has fluctuated as the states three clinics relied on rulings and temporary restraining orders that allowed them to continue operating. Plaintiffs challenging the ban dont deny the state can now prohibit abortions but argue that the laws provisions are contradictory and unconstitutionally vague. Hope Medical Group for Women on June 24, 2022 on Kings Highway in Shreveport. On July 21, state Judge Donald Johnson issued a preliminary injunction that allowed clinics to continue providing abortions while the lawsuit over the ban plays out in court. But, eight days later, procedures came to a halt when a state appeals court ruled in favor of Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, granting a suspensive appeal and ordering Johnson to reinstate enforcement of the ban. The plaintiffs appealed the 1st Circuit Courts decision to the Louisiana Supreme Court but were unsuccessful. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Louisiana Supreme Court rejects appeal in abortion ban case Aug. 13The billions of dollars in federal money made available to New Mexico's two national laboratories will fund science programs not related to nuclear weapons but are vital to the country's security, the labs' directors said Friday. The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law this week, will create a huge funding stream that Los Alamos and Sandia national labs can tap for research into climate change, sustainable energy, quantum computing, nanotechnology, carbon capture and biomedical studies. The new law will also fund infrastructure improvements to support the sciences at the labs. Although Los Alamos lab's primary mission is to ensure the country's nuclear arsenal is safe and effective, the other research endeavors have a vital role in national security, lab Director Thom Mason said at a news conference Friday. "The preeminence of U.S. science and technology is part of our deterrent," he said, speaking at LANL. Mason joined Sandia Director James Peery and U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan in discussing how the law will benefit the labs. "CHIPS is good for our country, good for New Mexico and good for our national labs," Peery said. "It will fund advances in microelectronics and groundbreaking initiatives in energy and science." Such investments in semiconductor development, the labs' infrastructure and technology transfer will keep America at the forefront of innovation, Peery added. The purpose behind CHIPS was to help the U.S. to better compete with Asia in developing and producing microchips and to eventually regain its dominant place in the world market. A key CHIPS' fund is $17.7 billion for the U.S. Energy Department's science and innovation efforts. Of that, $16.5 billion is will be used to strengthen research and development, including at national labs. Lujan said he and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., drafted a similar amendment earlier, but it was removed. It later was put into the CHIPS bill in the final stretch before it was passed in the Senate. Story continues "It's one those days where long-term work pays off," Lujan said. "It makes a profound difference for the state I call home, and these two national labs that are crucial, not only to New Mexico but to the United States." Lujan noted that the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed the U.S. House on Friday, will help fund infrastructure improvements as well. Overall, about $14.7 billion in infrastructure money will be made available to the labs. One Los Alamos facility that could benefit is the linear accelerator, which produces medical isotopes that treat tens of thousands of patients each year. The money also could be used to upgrade the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a facility Los Alamos and Sandia jointly operate and could contribute to microelectronics work. Other funding provisions include $250 million for clean energy innovation and $975 million for the Microchips and Energy Innovation Act. Los Alamos and Sandia will have to compete with other national labs across the country for funding. Mason said they are up for the challenge. "We thrive on competition," Mason said. Lujan said enacting this law was important because, ultimately, funding drives innovation. "We would not have GPS if it was not for these kinds of investments," he said. "And we all benefit from that." A few days short of the one-year anniversary of his threat to blow up two blocks of the nations capital, Floyd Roseberry will be returning to his home. On Aug. 19, Roseberry, 50, left rural Cleveland County and drove his black pickup 450 miles north to Washington. There, he parked the truck on the sidewalk outside of the Library of Congress and began live-streaming on Facebook, demanding to speak with President Joe Biden and claiming he had a powerful bomb in his tool box. Better talk to me Joe, he said. Floyd Roseberry, shown parked outside the Library of Congress in Washington on Aug. 19, 2021 when he claimed to be carrying a bomb, will return to North Carolina on Monday under a judges order. Roseberry was arrested after he stepped out of his truck. Hes been jailed ever since. No bombs were found, other than the metal can the former welder held in his lap that he had fashioned to look like an explosive device. His threats, however, led to mass evacuations and a two-hour stand-off with police. He remains charged with the use of weapons of mass destruction and threats to use explosive materials and faces up to life in prison if convicted. On Monday, however, the North Carolina resident will leave the D.C. jail, according to a new order this week by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreres, who overruled a government request to keep Roseberry in custody until his trial. Once back in his hometown of Grover, N.C., 40 miles west of Charlotte, Roseberry will be on house arrest, under the supervision of his wife, and will be fitted with an ankle monitor. He must also keep an appointment next week with a Mooresville psychiatrist to make sure he remains properly medicated and not on the drugs that his lawyers say helped trigger his one-man attempted siege of the capital. In court filings last month calling for Roseberrys pre-trial release, his D.C.-based defense team argued that their client had no previous history of violence and had battled mental illness since he was teen. They also blamed his behavior last August on a bad prescription written by his doctor in North Carolina. Adderall and Valium that were supposed to treat Roseberrys bi-polar disorder and depression instead may have caused manic and psychotic episodes, according to a forensic psychologist who treated the North Carolinian after his arrest. Story continues After Roseberry was taken into custody, the D.C. jail modified his medication and he became more stable and remains so, court filings show. Roseberry, the records state, has become something of a model inmate, stepping in to protect a D.C. jailer who had been attacked by an inmate and left with a broken jaw. For his actions, Roseberry was pummeled with human waste by his cell mates and branded with the nickname the police. Heroics aside, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice told Contreres in a written argument that Roseberry remains a threat to the community, that based on his Facebook Live videos, Roseberry considered himself at the vanguard of a revolution. If all you m-----------s wanna sit at home and explain to your kids why you didnt go up there, you can do that, Im good with that, Roseberry said on one of his Facebook videos, according to Tortorices filing. But for me, that aint what I am. Im an American patriot. Thats what I am. Floyd Roseberry, shown in his pickup truck in August 2021 when he falsely claimed to have carried a bomb to Washington, will be released from jail Monday and allowed to return to his Cleveland County home. In a later video Roseberry said he was ready to die for a cause. Contreres, though, wasnt persuaded, saying there remains a clear dispute among the parties in the case as to whether Roseberry had threatened to detonate a bomb at all. The judge said proper medication and strict supervision will reasonably ensure that Mr. Roseberry does not post a danger to the community. His trial has not been scheduled. Roseberry is not the first North Carolinian to threaten violence and bring a section of Washington to a halt. In December 2016, Edgar Welch of Salisbury fired an assault rifle inside a suburban D.C. pizzeria, later explaining that he was investigating a right-wing conspiracy claim that HiIlary Clinton and other top Democrats operated a sex-trafficking ring for children out of the restaurants basement. He was sentenced to four years in prison and released in 2020. SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 04:15 Russian forces have set up a military base on the territory of a hospital in the temporarily occupied city of Melitopol. Source: Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, on television; Hromadske Quote: "[The Russians] have set up another military base on the territory of a hospital in the city of Melitopol, where they are hiding behind civilians. This way of using our people is the approach they seem to favour." Journalists fight on their own frontline. Become our patron, support our work! In July, I moved from a countryside town to Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland. Glasgow was recently named one of the coolest cities in the world by Time Out. I've only been here for four weeks, but I can't imagine going back to country living. I moved into my parents' home in the Scottish countryside in 2020. The housing development surrounded by farmland and fields in Robroyston. Mikhaila Friel/Insider Like many people, I moved back in with my parents when the pandemic began in 2020. They live in a newly-built housing development in Robroyston, an area just outside the city of Glasgow with a population of around 5,555, according to Understanding Glasgow. There isn't much in the area besides farmland and country roads. There is one supermarket and restaurant within walking distance, as well as a Wallace Monument in tribute to William Wallace. Wallace fought for Scottish independence from England in the 13th century, and the monument is said to stand on the site where he was captured by the English before his execution. It was the perfect place to live during lockdown, but I couldn't imagine living there permanently. Mikhaila is pictured feeding a pony near her parents' house. Mikhaila Friel/Insider My parents' neighborhood turned out to be the ideal place to live during the UK's lockdown in March 2020. My parents and I spent a lot of time hanging out in their yard; we also went for long walks and fed the ponies in the nearby fields. But when lockdown restrictions began to ease in the UK and we were allowed to socialise again, the allure of country living began to wane. This July, my boyfriend and I moved to Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland. A building with Glasgow's slogan, "People Make Glasgow." Mikhaila Friel/Insider My boyfriend, Scott, and I had been talking about getting an apartment together for a couple of months. And when deciding where we would live, Glasgow seemed like a no-brainer. We both attended university in the city, and although I hadn't lived there before (I commuted in for classes), I got to know it well. As someone who works remotely, it was important for me to live somewhere that has social activities and a variety of things I could do during my downtime and Glasgow has just that. Story continues It's Scotland's largest city, with a population of 1,688,907 residents in 2022, according to World Population Review. It is known for its friendly residents, as well as its nightlife and restaurants. Glasgow was named the fourth coolest city in the world by Time Out in 2022, with Scotland's capital city Edinburgh coming in first place. We are renting a one-bedroom apartment in the Merchant City neighborhood. The living area of Mikhaila's apartment in Merchant City, Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider We live in a one-bedroom apartment in Merchant City, a district in Glasgow's city center that's filled with pubs, restaurants, and beautiful old buildings. As you would expect, it's more expensive than living at my parents' house, not to mention less spacious. We don't have a yard but who needs one when you live next to the city's public park Glasgow Green? I love both the apartment and the neighborhood. It's super cozy, and even though we live down the street from a pub we don't hear any noise in the evenings. Living in Merchant City has massively improved my social life. Mikhaila and Scott at a pub in Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider I visited the Merchant City area often before I lived here, as it has a variety of bars, pubs, and restaurants that Scott and I would frequent. Now that we live here, it's much easier to have a social life and spontaneous date nights or evenings out with our friends. Everything we could ever need is on our doorstep. The closest supermarket is a two-minute walk from the apartment, and the closest train station is a 10-minute walk away. While Glasgow can be busy, it's not as overcrowded as other major cities such as London. A mural in Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider One of Glasgow's best free attractions is its mural trail. Local artists have painted various murals on different buildings since 2008, and the artwork is visible across the city. It reminds me of the street art in Shoreditch, an area in London that I lived in briefly before the pandemic. I've found visiting the street art in Glasgow more enjoyable than in London, as there are far less tourists fighting over the best spot for their Instagram photo. Unlike my parents' house, Glasgow is the ideal location for remote working. Merchant City in Glasgow has an array of cafes, restaurants, and pubs. Mikhaila Friel/Insider I previously struggled with working from home, as there were no coffee shops or coworking spaces in my parents' neighborhood, and I didn't have any friends in the area. In Glasgow, I can easily work out of coffee shops and pubs and I have friends who live and work in the city, so I'm able to meet them on my lunch break or after work. It's made the work day so much more enjoyable. On our first weekend after moving we went to a ceilidh. Mikhaila's boyfriend Scott at Sloan's ceilidh in Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider Another reason I enjoy living in Glasgow is because of the vast range of social activities especially those that embrace Scottish culture, such as ceilidhs. A ceilidh is a gathering in which those who attend take part in traditional Scottish barn dancing. Scottish people often have ceilidhs as part of their weddings, but you can also attend ceilidhs at community halls or at a pub, which is what we did. We decided to go to one for my birthday, which was the week after we moved into the apartment. It was the first time attending one since I was in school, and it was so much fun. They say Glasgow has the friendliest people, and I've found that to be true. Mikhaila and Scott with their friends in Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider "People Make Glasgow" was unveiled as Glasgow's slogan in 2013, and it's not hard to understand why. Glasgow was named the friendliest city in the world by Time Out in July 2022. I couldn't agree more with Time Out's ranking. Whether I'm meeting mutual friends at a party or speaking with strangers on the street, I've found the people here to be warm and welcoming. I love Glasgow so much that it's difficult to imagine going back to the countryside. Mikhaila in Pollok Park in Glasgow. Mikhaila Friel/Insider I can't imagine ever going back to country living. Glasgow is the ideal place to live if you're someone who works from home, or if you're a young professional who enjoys art, culture, and food. There's still so much of the city that I have yet to explore, and I can't wait. Read the original article on Insider NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the Orion capsule atop, slowly makes its way down the crawlerway at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on March 17, 2022. NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA's Space Launch System rocket is scheduled to launch an uncrewed mission to the moon August 29. Artemis I is a 42-day flight test that will lay the foundation for future Artemis missions. The mission is a huge step toward returning astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. NASA is finally set to launch its new mega-rocket, shooting an Orion spaceship designed for astronauts around the moon, at the end of this month. In a bid to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, NASA has spent 17 years and an estimated $50 billion developing the Space Launch System (SLS) and its Orion spaceship. The bright new SLS rocket stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 23 stories, with the spaceship secured up top. Four car-sized engines and two rocket boosters should give it enough thrust to push Orion all the way around the moon farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. That's where NASA's first SLS mission, called Artemis I, is taking it. When it launches, as soon as August 29, the SLS rocket should deliver the Orion spaceship on a trajectory to circle the moon and return to Earth. There are no people on board, since the rocket has never flown before. But if the spaceship successfully completes its mission, NASA plans to put astronauts in the Orion module for another trip around the moon, then land them on its surface using SpaceX's Starship in 2025. An illustration of the Orion spacecraft circling the moon. NASA That's just the beginning of NASA's planned Artemis program, in which it aims to set up a space station in the moon's orbit and establish a permanent base on the lunar surface. Eventually, NASA plans to launch astronauts from the moon to Mars. For those interplanetary ambitions to come to fruition, though, the SLS has to fly as planned. The upcoming launch is the first test of its full capabilites. The Artemis I flight plan An illustration of the Space Launch System lifting off from the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA If the weather is clear enough, and no last-minute technical issues arise, the SLS rocket should fire its engines, shaking the ground and heaving itself off the launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 8:33 a.m. ET on August 29. Story continues After roaring through the thickest parts of the atmosphere, the rocket's booster should fall away, leaving its upper stage to give the Orion spaceship one last push toward the moon. If everything goes smoothly from there, Orion will clock a total distance of approximately 1.3 million miles over 42 days. It will zip as close as 60 miles above the lunar surface, allowing lunar gravity to sling it 40,000 miles past the moon. That's further into deep space than any spacecraft made for human passengers has ever traveled. As it loops back around, Orion will once again skim close to the moon to get a gravitational push back toward Earth. Artemis I mission map. NASA Scientists will assess how future astronauts will experience the stresses of space by measuring how much cosmic radiation mannequins aboard the Orion capsule endured during the test flight. The mission will also launch several CubeSats, or minitiature satellites, with science missions. However, NASA's main goal with Artemis I is to test every function of the launch and spaceflight system including Orion's communication and navigation systems and its heat shield, which must withstand a fiery plummet through Earth's atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour at temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit before risking human lives in future missions. The Orion spaceship parachutes to a splash down during a test, on December 5, 2014. NASA Orion is scheduled to push itself toward Earth, plow through the atmosphere, and release parachutes to splash down off the coast of San Diego on October 10. If the uncrewed Orion spaceship makes it around the moon and back without a hitch, the next SLS mission will carry astronauts on the same roundabout. "This is now the Artemis generation," Bill Nelson, NASA's administrator, said at a press briefing on August 3. "We were in the Apollo generation, but this is a new generation, this is a new type of astronaut. And to all of us that gaze up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface, folks, we're here. We are going back and that journey, our journey, begins with Artemis I." Follow-up missions An artist's illustration shows the Orion spacecraft rocketing to the moon on the Artemis I mission. NASA NASA plans for Artemis II to repeat Artemis I's flight, this time carrying a four-person crew on a 10-day mission. That flight is currently scheduled for late 2024. Artemis III would be the first time NASA has landed astronauts on the moon since 1972, and the first time in history a woman and a person of color will walk on the moon. "NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon," Nelson said at the briefing, adding, "On these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space." Eventually, NASA plans to set up a base on the lunar surface and mine resources there, like water, to pave the way for the first human mission to Mars. Read the original article on Business Insider NASA is looking at some alternatives on how to safely launch an important Earth-science mission. READ: NASA to launch 2 more choppers to Mars to help return rocks This comes after a private rocket company decided to discontinue launches, for now. Astra was selected to send six Tropics satellites into orbit. But the first two satellites were lost after launches from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. READ: NASA astronauts, Russian cosmonauts to resume sharing rocket rides to space The satellites were designed to help with hurricane forecasting. READ: South Korean spacecraft launched to the moon, countrys 1st NASA should have more information about its next move in the coming weeks. Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, and click here to watch the latest news on your Smart TV. SHAWNEE The district attorney of Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties quit Friday, three weeks after the state's multicounty grand jury accused him of habitual neglect of duty, oppression in office and corruption. Allan Grubb, 47, of Shawnee, did not specifically mention the accusations in a one-page letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt. His resignation is effective Sept. 30. Many of the accusations centered around Grubb's use of secretive deals known as deferred prosecution agreements. Grand jurors alleged he improperly "prioritized" the use of the deals in an effort to generate revenue for his cash-strapped office. Grubb, a Republican, was elected in 2018. He sought reelection this year but came in third in the June 28 GOP primary election. He would have left office anyway in January. He told Stitt in the letter that he is voluntarily suspending himself from office immediately. His suspension is with pay. In making the accusations, grand jurors did not charge him with a crime. Instead, they called for his suspension and eventual removal from office. Grubb had been fighting those requests. He told The Lincoln County News the accusations were "so far-fetched theyre ridiculous." His attorneys had complained grand jurors were grossly misled. Grubb was "repeatedly harangued" when he testified before the grand jury July 21, the attorneys also complained. Cleveland County District Judge Lori Walkley was to have decided the suspension request. A hearing had been set for Tuesday. A six-person jury would have taken up the removal request, if a trial could have been held before his term's end in January. Grubb told Stitt in the letter he was resigning for several reasons, after much discussion with his family and with a heavy heart. He also wrote he did not want to be a distraction to the mission of the office. "With a short amount of time left in office, I need to focus on some health concerns that have arisen with family members, as well as myself. I would also like to use this time to transition for my return to private practice," Grubb wrote. Story continues The winner of the GOP primary, David Hammer, died July 3. He would have become DA in January because no Democrats, Libertarians or independents filed for the position. Stitt will appoint an interim DA to complete Grubb's term. Stitt or his successor will then make an appointment in January to fill Hammer's four-year term. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Accused Oklahoma District Attorney Allan Grubb to step down KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 20: 08 The Armed Forces of Ukraine have defeated one-fifth of the Russian units involved in the war in Ukraine. Source: The Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, following a conversation with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley Quote: "During today's telephone conversation, we once again checked the estimates of Russian losses in this war. We noted that the enemy has been suffering significant losses, primarily in manpower one-fifth of the units of the Russian armed forces involved in combat operations in Ukraine have been defeated." Details: Zaluzhnyi also informed Milley that active fighting is currently taking place along 1,300 km of the front. "We really need to strengthen artillery fire I again appealed to our partners for this," said the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron. One person was killed in a double shooting Saturday on Independence Avenue, the Kansas City Police Department said. Just before 10 a.m., officers responded to a report of a shooting at a gas station at 1900 Independence Avenue, according to Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department. Police found two victims in the parking lot. A woman was declared dead at the scene by emergency medical crews. A man was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Becchina said. There was no suspect information. Independence Avenue is closed in both directions as police investigate, Becchina said shortly after 11:45 a.m. This was the 102nd killing this year in Kansas City, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes police shootings. At this time last year, the city had recorded 97 homicides. Anyone with information about Saturdays shooting may anonymously call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the international community to gather consensus on promoting development, create an enabling environment and foster new driving forces for global development to jointly work for a global development partnership. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a congratulatory letter on Friday to the International Civil Society Solidarity Conference on the Global Development Initiative. Xi noted that the global economy is now affected by multiple factors, and the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been impeded. In face of difficulties and challenges, Xi said only when all sides pull together with firm confidence to combat COVID-19, promote development with concerted efforts, and earnestly implement the 2030 Agenda, can people of all countries live a better life and human society embrace a brighter future. "I believe the international civil societies will help consolidate and enhance popular support for ensuring the implementation of the Global Development Initiative," Xi added. China is ready to join hands with all sides to facilitate the 2030 Agenda to contribute more to building a community with a shared future for humanity and usher in a new era featuring prosperity and development, Xi said. Two men were shot after an incident in Duquesne, police say. Officers were called to the 100 block of South 5th Avenue at around 1:59 a.m. after reports of a shooting. When police arrived on the scene, they found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Police say both men were shot in one of their hands. One of the men was taken to a hospital in an ambulance and the other declined medical treatment and said he would take himself to the hospital. Authorities ask anyone with information to contact the Allegheny County Police Department. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW code: TRENDING NOW: Man shot and killed by his Lyft driver in local Sheetz parking lot; victim identified Actress Anne Heche dies at 53 after car crash New CDC guidelines impact COVID-19 routine ahead of first day of school VIDEO: Carnegie Police say posts about serial killer targeting women are fake DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts The Marine Industry Association of Central Florida is hosting the Orlando Boat Show this weekend. A total of 22 Central Florida boat dealers will have about 400 boats on display at the Orange County Convention Center, the company said. Read: Orange County Animal Services waives adoption fees as overcrowding continues The event will be at North Hall B on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Photos: Orlando Boat Show cruises into the weekend The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. The boat show is this weekend. The boat show will be at the Orange County Convention Center. A total of 22 Central Florida boat dealers will have about 400 boats on display at the Orange County Convention Center, the company said. Read: Pedestrian hit and killed crossing busy Orange County road Parking at the Orange County Convention Center is $10. There are other activities for children to enjoy as well, like a virtual saltwater fishing simulator and a fishing zone. Read: Blue pop-ups with question marks are appearing around Orlando. Heres what inside Those interested in attending can purchase tickets online or at the gate for $10 per person. Children under the age of 12 get in free. Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Paraguay's Vice President Hugo Velazquez announced his resignation Friday and pulled out of the running for next year's presidential election after he was sanctioned by Washington for "significant corruption." The US State Department had earlier released a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying Velazquez would be barred from entering the United States due to his "involvement in significant corruption, including bribery of a public official and interference in public processes." Velazquez was hoping to stand for election next year as Paraguay's presidents -- including the current leader Mario Abdo Benitez -- are limited to a single five-year term. "The decision to step aside is to not affect the president" or their Colorado Party, Velazquez told 1080 AM radio station. "I am retiring from politics. It was the last stage of my career. If it couldn't happen, what are we to do?" Several family members were also sanctioned, as well as Juan Carlos Duarte, a close friend and legal adviser to the company that runs the major Yacyreta hydroelectric power station. Velazquez denied the US allegations and insisted he has "a clean conscience." He had been a candidate for the ruling Colorado Party's December primaries ahead of next year's election. The US sanctions relate to Duarte offering "a bribe to a Paraguayan public official in order to obstruct an investigation that threatened the vice president and his financial interests," said Blinken. hro-erl/nn/dga/bc/mlm Police in El Mirage, Arizona, arrested three parents who were trying to reach their children during a school lockdown on Friday. The parents of Thompson Ranch Elementary School students became confrontational with officers when they were informed they couldnt enter the school, local station 12News reported. Police used stun guns on least two of the parents who arrived at the school and recovered a weapon from one parent, according to the news station. The three parents who were arrested will face charges for their attempted entry and pushing officers, while the one parent who reportedly had a weapon on a school campus will be charged, police said. The Dysart Unified School District, which oversees Thompson Ranch Elementary, wrote in a press release Friday that nobody can enter or leave a school campus during a lockdown. This is done in partnership with law enforcement so they can clear each and every part of campus to ensure the safety of all students and staff, the district wrote. Additionally, schools are gun-free zones and it is a felony to possess a firearm on any school campus. The arrests come two months after parents screamed for police in Uvalde, Texas, to enter a school where a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two teachers. Uvalde parent Angeli Rose Gomez said she was placed in handcuffs, persauded cops to free her of the handcuffs, jumped a fence and went into the school to grab her children. Police in Uvalde also tackled one parent and pepper sprayed another, Gomez said. They didnt do that to the shooter, but they did that to us. Thats how it felt, Gomez said. Fridays lockdown in Arizona followed reports of an armed man near the school, according to local station ABC 15. El Mirage police said the man unsuccessfully tried to get into the building and left before officers got to the school. Police were eventually able to find the man, although it is unclear what he was holding that eventually led to the lockdown, according to ABC 15. Story continues Police said he is undergoing a mental health evaluation and there are pending criminal charges. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... protests in Belarus This is modern Russia and Belarus. But this didn't happen overnight. This was the case in the USSR. The current conditions in our neighboring states are a reconstruction of Soviet reality. We often hear from Belarusians and Russians: We cant do anything, because our situation is different. Yes, now its different! But it was the same a few decades ago. And thanks to people who did not put up with evil then, we now have a different country. These were dissidents - a common name for the participants of the anti-Soviet resistance movement of the 1960s and 1980s. They really did live in conditions very close to those in modern Russia. But they did not just live but acted. Although it cost them many years of imprisonment, and for some even their lives. Read also: Ukraines air force says its counting on support from Belarusian partisans The dissident movement was born in the early 1960s. It was, on one hand, a continuation of the Ukrainian liberation movement and on the other hand, it was part of a global trend of developing an informal youth culture, a culture of a war-free world. At a time when the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were admired in the West, the poetry of Lina Kostenko, Vasyl Symonenko, and Vasyl Stus was rocking in Ukraine. The struggle continued in Ukraine. The armed phase had been completely suppressed and there were no opportunities for continued forceful resistance. Therefore, a new round of confrontation took nonviolent forms. Most of the dissidents started as activists protecting Ukrainian culture. At the same time, they appealed to Soviet legislation and international legal acts ratified by the USSR. They tried to behave in exclusively legal ways in order to avoid accusations of illegal activities. But their actions and statements against Russification and the destruction of Ukrainian heritage still caused repression. The first wave began in August-September 1965. Ivan Dziuba, Vyacheslav Chornovil, and Vasyl Stus were protesting arrests and held a dissenting action on Sept. 4 during the official premiere of Sergei Parajanovs film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Story continues The courage of the first two cost them their jobs, the younger Stus his studies at graduate school. Read also: Ukrainian partisans conduct rail sabotage in Luhansk Oblast The repression did not stop there, and more importantly, the resistance did not stop either. One of its forms was the publication of underground newspapers, magazines, and leaflets. The so-called Samvyadav published the works of dissidents, their statements, and recorded human rights violations. The most famous self-published magazine Ukrainian Herald was published under the editorship of Chornovil. In January 1972, the Soviet authorities decided to break the Ukrainian dissident movement with one powerful blow. Almost all of its leaders Ivan Svitlichny, Yevhen Sverstiuk, Vasyl Stus, Iryna and Ihor Kalynets, Viacheslav Chornovil, Valery Marchenko received the maximum punishment: 7 years of strict regime camps plus 5 years of exile. But even such cruel sentences against young people, whose lives were ruined, did not scare away others. Vasyl Ovsienko, Vasyl Lisovy and Yevhen Proniuk continued the Ukrainian Herald on behalf of the imprisoned Chornovil. They were also arrested for that. While the key figures were in the camps, they were replaced by a new generation of dissidents who focused on human rights activities. In 1976, the Ukrainian Helsinki Group was created, which appealed to the document signed by the USSR guaranteeing key civil liberties. Activists Mykola Rudenko, Oksana Meshko, Levko Lukianenko, Yosyp Zisels and Myroslav Marynovich were also arrested. Brutal repression did not break them, but on the contrary radicalized the dissidents. In the prisons, they met with long-term prisoners members of the OUN and UPA, with whom they jointly fought against the camp administration. Political principles also changed: the demand for independence emerged. Therefore, when a large-scale national democratic movement was created in Ukraine in the late 1980s, dissidents and former political prisoners Chornovil, Iryna Kalynets, Lukianenko, and the Horyn brothers became its leaders. Not everyone had the physical opportunity to be active after many years in prison. Ivan Svitlychny became disabled. The camps killed Vasyl Stus, Valeria Marchenko, Oleksa Tykhy and Yuriy Lytvyn. Repressions against Ukrainian dissidents were more brutal than against other members of the resistance on communist territories. This is how Ukraine lost its "Vaclav Havel". When a Czech dissident became the president of the Czech Republic, Ukrainian leaders were destroyed or physically exhausted. Read also: Growing indications of resistance against Russian occupation seen near Kherson, says Pentagon Nevertheless, they continued their public work, some of them became members of Parliament. It was they who ensured the adoption of landmark documents Declarations of Sovereignty and Acts of Declaration of Independence. Some were active even after the restoration of independence in 1991. The First of December initiative group, which included Yevhen Sverstiuk, Ivan Dziuba and Myroslav Marynovychf, was created during the Yanukovych years, and became a collective moral authority for Ukrainian society, contributed to the fact that Ukrainian did not come to terms with attempts to curtail freedoms. Russia also had its own dissident movement. But its activists failed to influence political events in the country in the late 1980s and 1990s. One of its greatest authorities, Andrei Sakharov, died in 1989. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a bright anti-Soviet author, could not overcome the Russian imperialist syndrome, so he became one of the ideological inspirations of Vladimir Putin, who gave birth to the idea of restoring the USSR. In this, he is similar to the current dissident Alexei Navalny, who bravely fights against the Putin regime, became a political prisoner but remained a Russian imperialist. Ukrainian dissidents worked in conditions close to the current Russian ones. But they worked: they wrote excellent journalistic and artistic texts, documented violations of human rights, and despite limited technical capabilities, spread the truth about the regime in self-publishing. And most importantly, they were ready to make their sacrifice, to become a moral compass for society and eventually motivate the majority to change. Russian dissident Andrei Amalrik said something that remains relevant for his compatriots: The dissidents did an ingeniously simple thing in an unfree country, they began to behave like free people and thereby change the moral atmosphere and prevailing tradition. This is what you have to do if you really want to change your country. Instead of fleeing abroad, justifying inaction and saying that only Putin is to blame for everything. Otherwise, in order to change Russia, other countries will have to do what they did with a defeated Nazi Germany. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The Los Angeles Police Department is no longer investigating the car crash that left actor Anne Heche legally brain dead, according to a statement shared with NBC News. "As of today there will be no further investigative efforts made in this case," the statement reads. "Any information or records that have been requested prior to this turn of events will still be collected as they arrive as a matter of formalities and included in the overall case. When a person suspected of a crime expires, we do not present for filing consideration." Prior to this statement, the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating Heche for possibly driving under the influence, as drugs were found in her system. In preliminary testing, the blood draw revealed the presence of drugs, Los Angeles police said at the time. The case was being investigated as a "felony DUI traffic collision." Heche, 53, crashed her car into a home in the Mar Vista community of Los Angeles last Friday. After suffering an anoxic brain injury, she was declared brain-dead on Friday, according to her representative. Charred debris and caution tape are seen at the site where Anne Heche crashed into a home (Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images) In a video posted on his Instagram Friday, Heche's ex-husband, Hollywood camera operator Coleman "Coley" Laffoon, said he would always love and miss her. Its hard for me, its hard for my family, its really hard for Homer but we got each other and we have a lot of support and were going to be OK," he said of his son, which he shared with Heche. Laffoon described Heche as someone who was "brave, fearless and loved really hard." Goodbye Anne, love you, thank you, thank you for all the good times, there were so many," he said. See you on the other side and in the meantime, I got our son and hell be fine. Heche and Laffoon's son, Homer, weighed in Friday afternoon by declaring in a statement that he and his brother, Atlas, have lost their mother. After six days of almost unbelievable emotional swings, I am left with a deep, wordless sadness," Homer said in a statement shared with NBC News. Hopefully my mom is free from pain and beginning to explore what I like to imagine as her eternal freedom." RICHLAND HILLS, Texas (AP) Police in suburban Fort Worth fatally shot a man who pointed a rifle at them, authorities said. The shooting Friday in Richland Hills happened as two officers were investigating reports of gunshots along a city street. They found a man carrying a rifle about two blocks away, according to Richland Hills Officer Sheena McEachran. The suspect raised and pointed what has been identified as a semi-automatic rifle at the officers, McEachran said. Officers fired at the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene. It wasnt yet known whether the man shot at the officers or how many times he was shot, McEachran said Saturday, saying that is part of the ongoing investigation. McEachran said the mans body was sent to the medical examiner for identification. Authorities did not release the names of the two officers, who were placed on paid leave, as is standard. Texas Rangers will investigate the shooting. Police are searching for the suspects responsible for entering after hours and vandalizing the Dormont Pool. According to a Facebook post from Dormont Borough police, two different groups of individuals entered the property on two separate occasions within the last week. On Friday, Aug. 5 at approximately 11:30 p.m., the first group of individuals was spotted inside the pool after hours. Wednesday, Aug. 10 at 3:40 a.m., a second group was spotted on security footage, vandalizing the locker rooms and pool area. Anyone with information about the identity of the suspects is asked to contact the Dormont Police Department at (412) 561-8900. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Man shot and killed by his Lyft driver in local Sheetz parking lot; victim identified Actress Anne Heche dies at 53 after car crash New CDC guidelines impact COVID-19 routine ahead of first day of school VIDEO: Carnegie Police say posts about serial killer targeting women are fake DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts UN chief condemns deadly terrorist attack in Mali Xinhua) 09:42, August 13, 2022 UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday strongly condemned the terrorist attack against the Malian Armed Forces on Aug. 7, which resulted in a high number of casualties and loss of life. The UN chief "expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and the people of Mali, who continue to pay a high price in their continued fight against terrorism. He wishes a swift recovery to those injured," said a statement issued by his spokesperson. The secretary-general reiterated the commitment of the United Nations, including through MINUSMA, the peacekeeping mission in Mali, to support efforts aimed at restoring peace and stability in the country, the statement said. Fourty-two Malian soldiers were killed and 22 injured during a terrorist attack near the town of Tessit on Aug. 7, the Malian government said in a statement on Wednesday. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Bianji) Flash China on Friday announced sanctions on Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania Agne Vaiciukeviciute, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson. The spokesperson said that Vaiciukeviciute visited China's Taiwan region. The visit tramples on the one-China principle, seriously interferes in China's internal affairs, and undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In response to the egregious and provocative act of Vaiciukeviciute, China decides to adopt sanctions on Vaiciukeviciute, to suspend all forms of exchange with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, and to suspend exchange and cooperation with Lithuania in the field of international road transport, the spokesperson said. Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty For right-wing conspiracy theorists, few devices are more prized than a med bed, a mythical tanning bed-shaped appliance that promises to cure everything from cancer and Alzheimers to old age itself. Someday soon, they think, Donald Trump will defeat the cabal that controls the world and release med beds to the public, bringing on a new era free of illness. But now, many supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and related movements are moving on from med beds. Theyve found something even better: the Energy Enhancement System, or EE System, a supposedly miraculous healing device that can cure cancer, cystic fibrosis, and even autism. To the uninitiated, an EE System device looks just like a couple of computer monitors playing colored static. But EE Systems devotees insist its the real dealtheyre willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a few hours bathed in the colored glow of its screens. They line up for blocks for a chance to meet Sandra Rose Michael, the devices inventor. Trump Appears to Use QAnon Song in Official Video For $1,500, they can spend three days in a home run by Michael, soaking up as much time in front of the screens as they need. Some fans even go further, installing them in their home for as much as $120,000 per device. But EE Systems newfound devotees might not know Michael has a history of deceptive trade practicesor that there is plenty of evidence that a couple of static-filled computer monitors cannot, in fact, cure cancer. Sandra Rose Michael never runs short of metaphors to describe the mysterious process that occurs when someone receives an EE System treatment. In practice, based on YouTube videos posted by EE System fans, it looks like a couple of middle-aged people sitting in recliners or gravity chairs as arrays of computer monitors display colored static. But to Michael, the devices are blasting their recipients with a unique kind of energy wave that effectively jumpstarts their DNA, teaching their bodies how to heal. Story continues Its like turning the lights back on, Michael said in an April podcast interview. Michael, who claims to come from a background of hyper genius parents, says she got the idea for the scalar energy she claims her devices produce from inventor Nikola Tesla, a beloved figure among alternative-medicine enthusiasts. She has hawked the EE System in various forms since the 1990s, and has managed to place her devices in more than 20 alternative-healing centers across the country, with more locations planned abroad. This year, though, Michael appears to have made a new promotional push with QAnon leaders and New Age conspiracy theorists. Shes been embraced by Scott McKay, a pugnacious QAnon promoter known as the Patriot Streetfighter who wields a tomahawk on-stage. While promoting her device, Michael sometimes wears a Patriot Streetfighter shirt that includes a reference to the QAnon belief that elite pedophiles are holding children in tunnels deep underground. But perhaps no one has been as helpful to EE System as New Age internet personality Jason Shurka, who has more than 120,000 YouTube followers. This spring, Shurka interviewed Michael and introduced her as a representative of The Light System, a 1,000-year-old covert network of do-gooders, not all of them human. Thats high praise from Shurka, who has billed himself as another representative of that underground club. In the interview, Shurka claimed the benevolent forces at The Light System had deputized Michael to promote the EE System as part of their plan to save the world. Michael responded with some far-out theorizing of her own, claiming that shadowy forces had tried to assassinate her multiple times to stop her from spreading the technology. (Michaels company didnt provide The Daily Beast with any evidence of the death plots). If Shurkas clandestine alien network is real, its apparently not willing to foot the bill for EE System treatments. From the outside, the devices appear to be some kind of hardware in a black box, attached to a computer monitor. According to Michael, the EE System only works in multiples, increasing the cost to get them installed. Court papers introduced in a Nevada lawsuit involving EE System suggest a comparatively simple 4-unit EE System installation would cost $26,000, while a 24-unit installation would cost a hefty $114,000. Its not clear what Michaels followers are getting for their money. Independent studies of the EE Systems medical effects are hard to find, and Michaels company didnt provide The Daily Beast with any scientific evidence that theyre beneficial. Suspected QAnon Creator Ron Watkins Loses Spectacularly in Arizona Republican Primary Michaels own website lists research meant to show the devices work, though even this is inconclusive. One study of 12 patients, for example, noted one patient died of cancer while receiving treatmenthardly an endorsement of the idea that an EE System will cure diseases. Others stopped receiving their scalar doses because they grew tired of paying the steep bill associated with hours in front of the machines. The cost of a few hours in an EE System center, which websites suggest can range between $20 and $50 an hour, is a common complaint among EE System fans. In a July post on EE Systems Instagram page, a Utah believer said they were paying $50 an hour for their father, who was suffering from liver cancer, to sit in front of the screens. Because the posters father was too sick to move without help, the EE System supporter also had to pay for their own time in front of the screens. $100 an hour gets expensive, they wrote. Still, thats a small sum compared to what other one-time customers say they paid for an EE System. In 2015, Michael began trying to sell a home system to Barbara Pinder, a California woman whose mother was dying of leukemia. In Pinders telling, Michael insisted a 12-unit system, sold at roughly $60,000, could cure her mothers cancer. Pinder eventually relented, putting down a $20,000 deposit to have the screens installed in her mothers home. After Pinder paid the deposit, though, her mother decided she didnt want the devices. Michael and her company refused to refund Pinders money, and demanded Pinder pay them back for time she had spent at Michaels EE System center, receiving free therapy and salt baths. In 2021, Nevada consumer regulators fined EE System and Michael roughly $30,000 in fines and restitution for deceptive trade practices. Michael only set her sights higher after the fine. A few months later, she told Shurka that mysterious forces were encouraging her to use the EE System to build medical technology for spaceships. QAnon Candidates Are Losing, but Their Lies Are Winning But if the aliens have commissioned Michael, they may be disappointed by what they find. Theres evidence that, despite what she claims, the EE System doesnt possess any special technology beyond a computer program. In 2012, Michael became embroiled in a lawsuit with acupuncturist Michael Kaufmann, who began distributing a product similar to the EE System. While Michael claimed that Kaufmann had effectively stolen her product and renamed it the Synchronicity Wave System, Kaufmann countered that he had licensed it from another man, Robert Religa. In Religas telling, the device that Michael found so similar to her own wasnt based on any kind of wave technology. Instead, it was just a computer program that generated different kinds of colored static screensa sort of color therapy, at best, but nothing that could cure leukemia. Kaufmann and Michael eventually settled the lawsuit. Its not clear that monitors themselves are especially high-tech, either. According to Pinder, Michaels employees told her they would use part of her $20,000 deposit to buy the black-box hardware that made up the system. The monitors, they said, would just be purchased at a local Best Buy. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Law enforcement agencies are warning people of a new TikTok car theft challenge targeting newer Kia and Hyundai's. ROCKFORD Area police departments are urging owners of newer model Kia and Hyundai vehicles to take measures to prevent their cars from being stolen. The warning comes in response to a rash of social media posts offering people tips on how to easily steal the cars. Several videos have been uploaded to TikTok, YouTube and other social media platforms this summer advising people on how to use a USB cord to steal a Kia manufactured from 2011 to 2021 or a Hyundai manufactured between 2015 and 2021. Some videos show teens and young adults taking the stolen cars for joy rides and, in some cases, crashing the vehicles. Newer models of Kia and Hyundai vehicles continue to be targeted by thieves, the Rockford police department posted on its Facebook page Thursday. Due to the style of ignition systems in those vehicles, they have shown to be more vulnerable than others, Rockford police spokesperson Michelle Marcomb said in a statement. Rockford police recommend owners of Kia and Hyundai vehicles use a steering wheel locking device, park in well-lit areas, keep doors locked at all times, do not keep personal items or valuables in the car and consider aftermarket alarm systems or anti-theft devices. More:Rockford hopes to roll out new crime-fighting tool by end of year While Freeport police have not seen a spike in thefts of Kias or Hyundais, the department is urging caution, according to Freeport Police deputy chief Travis Davis. Were aware of the trend and the TikTok videos, Davis said. Were asking people to lock their car doors and report any suspicious activity. Two Iowa residents recently filed a class-action lawsuit against the carmakers, alleging some Kia and Hyundai models dont comply with a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard that requires vehicles to have a starting system that prevents the activation of the engine and locks the steering column once the ignition key is removed. The lawsuit alleges the companies admit there is a theft and safety problem with these vehicles but refuse to fix them, compensate consumers or otherwise take actions to address the issue, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. Story continues In a written statement, Kia America said it is aware of the rise in vehicle thefts and says all 2022 models have an immobilizer in place. All Kia vehicles for sale in the U.S. meet or exceed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, the company said. Hyundai Motor America said its vehicles meet or exceed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and added engine immobilizers are standard equipment on all new Hyundai vehicles. Ken DeCoster covers business news and features. Contact him at 815-987-1391, kdecoster@rrstar.com or @DeCosterKen. This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford police warn against Kia, Hyundai car theft TikTok challenge The board of Rogers Communications Inc. (TSE:RCI.B) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 3rd of October, with investors receiving CA$0.50 per share. Including this payment, the dividend yield on the stock will be 3.4%, which is a modest boost for shareholders' returns. See our latest analysis for Rogers Communications Rogers Communications' Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions Even a low dividend yield can be attractive if it is sustained for years on end. Prior to this announcement, Rogers Communications' dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business. Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to rise by 39.9% over the next year. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 43% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward. Rogers Communications Has A Solid Track Record The company has been paying a dividend for a long time, and it has been quite stable which gives us confidence in the future dividend potential. The dividend has gone from an annual total of CA$1.42 in 2012 to the most recent total annual payment of CA$2.00. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 3.5% per annum over that time. Although we can't deny that the dividend has been remarkably stable in the past, the growth has been pretty muted. The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow Investors who have held shares in the company for the past few years will be happy with the dividend income they have received. Rogers Communications has impressed us by growing EPS at 11% per year over the past five years. Earnings are on the uptrend, and it is only paying a small portion of those earnings to shareholders. We Really Like Rogers Communications' Dividend Overall, we like to see the dividend staying consistent, and we think Rogers Communications might even raise payments in the future. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. Taking this all into consideration, this looks like it could be a good dividend opportunity. Story continues Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for Rogers Communications that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Here's a roundup of recent incidents and announcements from Ventura County agencies: Director who failed to report elder abuse sentenced VENTURA COUNTY A 55-year-old Oak Park woman was sentenced to 120 days in jail for failing to report suspected elder abuse rape, in this case when she was legally required to do so as a so-called mandated reporter, the Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Thursday. In addition to the jail sentence, the woman was sentenced to 12 months probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge, authorities said. The woman was the director of the Royal Gardens Assisted Living Facility in Camarillo. On Oct. 15, 2020, a 90-year-old dementia patient was raped by a caregiver at the facility, authorities allege, and an 82-year-old resident suffered an attempted rape by the same employee that night. Joel Gonzales Two days later, the suspect, identified as Joel Gonzales, 26, allegedly strangled a 6-year-old girl in an unrelated attempted murder case. He remains in custody at Todd Road Jail with pending charges of elder abuse as well as attempted murder. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 19, according to online jail records. Mandated reporters are required by law to report suspected abuse to law enforcement when they witness or learn of allegations involving anyone under their care. The Oak Park woman "was aware of these alleged crimes near the time they occurred and failed to report Gonzales actions to law enforcement," the DA's office said in a release. She was arrested shortly after Gonzales was detained. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Romero sentenced the woman after her guilty plea was entered Thursday. Man shot in leg OXNARD One person was hospitalized after being shot in the leg in south Oxnard on Thursday night, according to the Oxnard Police Department. Story continues The shooting occurred around 10:45 p.m. in the 200 block of Cuesta Del Mar. According to Cmdr. Luis McArthur, the victim had been walking through the alley when he got into an argument with someone else. The other person fired multiple shots, hitting the victim in the leg. Police later found shell casings in the area. The victim, a man in his mid-20s, was transported to Ventura County Medical Center where he remained in unknown condition as of Friday afternoon. No arrests had been made and the investigation was ongoing. CFO sentenced for embezzlement VENTURA COUNTY The former chief finance officer of a Simi Valley business was sentenced to 12 years in prison for embezzling over $3.2 million, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office. Bill Lee Jones, 63, of Simi Valley, pled guilty in June to 12 counts of grand theft and admitted to the special allegation that his total theft was over $500,000. Jones worked as an executive at Enderle Fuel Injection, a racing parts distributor based in Simi Valley. Investigators said Jones spent decades working for the company's founder, Kent Enderle, gaining his trust until he was placed in charge of the company's finances with no oversight. After Enderle died in 2016, Jones began writing himself unauthorized company checks. He continued to do so for nearly five years until an audit found Jones had embezzled more than $3.2 million through writing himself 1,879 checks from the company, prosecutors said. It is gratifying to see Jones held accountable for such an aggravated fraud scheme," Ventura County DA Erik Nasarenko said in a statement. "This case is a stark reminder that businesses must protect themselves by putting in place systems of checks and balances to prevent trusted insiders from taking advantage of them. In addition to the prison sentence, Jones was ordered to pay $2.6 million in victim restitution. Before the criminal charges had been filed, the company filed a civil suit to recover $600,000 in stolen funds. The investigation was conducted by the Simi Valley Police Department and prosecuted by the DA's fraud and technology crimes unit. Home Depot robbery arrest SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley police arrested a 45-year-old Los Angeles man after he was suspected of robbing a Home Depot Thursday evening. Authorities were contacted at 5:08 p.m. by a witness at the store's 575 E. Cochran St. location. The witness said the man took power tools from the store and then brandished what looked like a Taser at employees, the Simi Valley Police Department reported. The witness followed the suspect and gave police a description of his vehicle, a Dodge Charger, as the man fled the scene. Simi Valley officers pulled the vehicle over near Highway 23 and Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks. The suspect, a passenger in the car, was arrested on suspicion of the robbery, with evidence later surfacing connecting him to a separate theft at the same store on Aug. 2. The driver, a 55-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI. Police recovered the stolen property and returned it to the store. Items may be updated if new information becomes available. Jeremy Childs is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at 805-437-0208, jeremy.childs@vcstar.com, and on Twitter @Jeremy_Childs. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Unreported elder abuse nets conviction, man shot in Oxnard, more Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference in New York on June 7, 2022. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Giuliani says Trump will "raid every one of Biden's houses" if the ex-president runs and wins in 2024. "Breaking into the home of a former president is a political act," Giuliani told The New York Post. The FBI is probing Trump for potential violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. Rudy Giuliani earlier this week said former President Donald Trump would "raid" President Joe Biden's homes if he were to win the White House in 2024, with the ex-personal lawyer to the former president arguing that the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago club was a "political act." Giuliani, a former New York city mayor and longtime Trump loyalist, told The New York Post that Trump could use the FBI to retaliate against Biden if he were to head back to the Oval Office. "Breaking into the home of a former president is a political act particularly since you're breaking precedent. All of a sudden, you're the first president of the United States who introduced the banana-republic process of prosecuting your predecessor. We've avoided it for 240 years. Trump didn't do it to Hillary. Ford didn't do it," he told the newspaper. "If Trump gets elected, the first thing he'll do is raid every one of Biden's houses," he added. When he spoke with the newspaper, Giuliani argued at the time that the search had been conducted to aid the House committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. However, Friday's release of the FBI search warrant and property list revealed that agents were looking for documents connected to potential violations of the Espionage Act, which bars the unauthorized removal of defense-related information that could aid a foreign government. Trump is also being investigated for potential obstruction of justice violations. As Trump's onetime personal lawyer, Giuliani played a pivotal role in the former president's administration and after the ex-commander-in-chief left the Oval Office last year. Giuliani for years has sought to shine a light on the work of presidential son Hunter Biden, who at one point sat on the board of the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings. Story continues The House in December 2019 voted to charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding his alleged efforts to solicit Ukraine's interference in the 2020 presidential election. However, he was acquitted by the Senate on both articles of impeachment in February 2020. Giuliani was especially dogged in seeking information about Hunter Biden's business dealings from a laptop that reportedly belonged to the lawyer and former member of the Amtrak board of directors. Republicans are angling to investigate Hunter Biden if they capture one or both of chambers of Congress this fall, even as the Department of Justice continues its investigation of the presidential son. (He could potentially face charges that include tax violations, per The New York Times.) Giuliani has also been one of the fiercest proponents of Trump's challenges to the 2020 presidential election. In "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency," the writer Michael Wolff detailed how Giuliani reportedly wanted Trump to declare victory shortly after polls closed in much of the country on election night in November 2020. "We've won! We need to declare victory!" Giuliani told a group at the time that included then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and then-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. "If we don't say we won, they will steal it from us. Look, we've won Michigan!" Giuliani added. (Trump went on to lose Michigan by a three-percentage point margin, coming up short by a little over 150,000 votes.) Read the original article on Business Insider IRYNA BALACHUK SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 14:28 Dmytro Orlovm the mayor of Enerhodar town has urged the citizens to remain indoors as the Russian occupiers resumed their attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). [Enerhodar is the ZNPPs satellite city and is currently occupied by Russia - ed.] Source: Dmytro Orlov on Telegram; Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Telegram Quote from Orlov: "Attention! Please be careful and avoid staying out of doors in Enerhodar wherever possible! We have obtained information about new provocations carried out by the [Russian] occupiers. Local residents have reported that [the Russians] fire from the territory of the park [located to the northwest of Enerhodar - ed.] on the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the [adjacent] industrial area. About 35 seconds elapse between the moment a projectile is launched and the moment it strikes [the target]." Details: In contrast, the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has reported that the Russians are firing on the ZNPP from the village of Vodiane [located to the east of Enerhodar - ed.]. They are said to have already damaged unit no.1 of the pump station of the ZNPPs thermal and underground communications workshop, and partially destroyed the fire station responsible for the safety of the ZNPP. In addition, the nearby forest and the grass on the territories adjacent to the power plant have caught on fire. The attack on the fire station made it difficult to extinguish the fire. Ukrainian intelligence has also added that the Russians have brought two buses full of "extras" to pose as "local residents and [ZNPP] staff" during the shooting of videos for the Russian propagandist media. The intelligence further reports that the Russian invaders are planning to stage provocations under the guise of Ukrainian forces. In particular, a Russian Pion self-propelled artillery system marked with a white "Z" [typically used by the Russians to mark their military vehicles - ed.] has been deployed near the Enerhodar obelisk at the entrance to the town. The Russians have raised a blue and yellow flag above the weapon system. Story continues Meanwhile, the Russian propagandists already rushed to claim that the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly shell the ZNPP. Background: On August 5, Energoatom reported that the Russian invaders shelled the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant twice a day. First, three strikes were recorded near an industrial site the enemy hit a high-voltage communication line. Later, Russians used MLRS to hit the ZNPP; the projectiles hit the area next to one of the units where the nuclear reactor is located. On 6 August, Russian occupiers launched missiles, hitting Enerhodar and the ZNPP site, directly next to the plants and the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. At the UN Security Council session on August 11, the US indicated that in order to guarantee the ZNPP safety, Russian troops should be withdrawn from that area and let the IAEA experts work there. Serhiy Kyslytsia, Ukraines permanent representative in the UN stated that Russia has to let the IAEA-led mission visit the ZNPP, clear the ZNPP facilities of landmines and withdraw the troops and weapons from the plants premises. But Vasiliy Nebenzya, Russias permanent representative in the UN did not support the offer about creating the demilitarised zone around the ZNPP. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Become our patron, support our work! ROMAN PETRENKO SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2022, 14:56 Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraines Foreign Minister said that Russians who are upset by the prospect of a ban on tourism travelling in Europe can go with their complaints to the Kremlin and to their fellow citizens who support the war. Source: Kulebas Twitter, "European Pravda" "Russians who are upset with the prospect of being banned from tourist travel to Europe can direct their complaints to the Kremlin and over 70% of their compatriots who support the war. No one proposes to ban those few Russians who may need asylum or humanitarian entry," Kuleba wrote. On Friday, Jan Lipavsky, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (which currently presides over the EU Council) suggested to include the ban on issuing visas to citizens of Russia in the new package of sanctions against Moscow. Previously, he supported a complete ban on the issuance of Schengen visas for Russian citizens, which was proposed by some EU countries. It will be recalled that on 11 August, the government of Estonia announced that it would not allow Russians with Schengen visas issued by Estonia to enter the country within a week, with a few exceptions. Kaja Kallas, the Prime Minister of Estonia called to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians for trips to the EU. She stressed that visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right. The European Commission stated that the question of issuing visas to Russians is within the competence of the member states and they can refuse visas in each specific case on the basis of threats to their own security. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron. Salman Rushdie said he felt his life was "relatively normal" in an interview conducted just two weeks before he was stabbed on stage in the US. The award-winning writer is in a critical condition after being attacked at an event on Friday. He has faced years of death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims see as blasphemous. There has been an outpouring of support, with the attack condemned as an assault on freedom of expression. Mr Rushdie, 75, has been put on a ventilator, is unable to speak, and may lose one eye, his agent said. Stern magazine had planned to publish its interview with the author next week, but brought it forward after the stabbing attack. The magazine described how Mr Rushdie had arrived for the interview with no security at all, appeared relaxed as he said the Iranian fatwa was decades old. Police detained a suspect named as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey, shortly after he ran onto the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie and an interviewer at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Mr Matar was arrested for attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, said police. He was transported to Chautauqua County Jail and was due to face charges later on Saturday. Mr Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and in the abdomen, authorities said. He has sustained liver damage, too. Police told a news conference that staff and audience members had pinned the attacker to the ground where he was arrested. The interviewer who was with Mr Rushdie, Henry Reese, suffered a minor head injury and was taken to a local hospital. Mr Reese is the co-founder of a non-profit organisation that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. The motive has not been confirmed by police, who have said they want to examine a backpack and electronic devices found at the centre. A review of Mr Matar's social media accounts has suggested he is sympathetic to the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), NBC News reported. Story continues The IRGC is a major military and political force in Iran - however, no link has been definitively established. Mr Matar was born in the US to parents who had emigrated from Lebanon, a Lebanese official told the Associated Press news agency. Two security officials were on duty at the centre at the time of the attack - one making the subsequent arrest. However, some of the visitors have questioned why security was not tighter for a man with a bounty of more than $3m on his head (2.5m). Members of the audience said the venue lacked basic security measures like bag checks and metal detectors. Like other people planning to attend the author's lecture, Mr Matar had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institution grounds, the group's president said. Fatwa never rescinded Indian-born novelist Mr Rushdie shot to fame with Midnight's Children in 1981, which went on to sell over one million copies in the UK alone. But his fourth book, published in 1988 - The Satanic Verses - forced him into hiding for nearly 10 years. The surrealist, post-modern novel sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous - insulting to a religion or god - and was banned in some countries. A year after the book's release, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie's execution. He offered a $3m (2.5m) reward in a fatwa - a legal decree issued by an Islamic religious leader. The bounty over Mr Rushdie's head remains active, and although Iran's government has distanced itself from Khomeini's decree, a quasi-official Iranian religious foundation added a further $500,000 to the reward in 2012. There has been no reaction from the Iranian government to Mr Rushdie's stabbing. Iranian media described Mr Rushdie as an apostate - someone who has abandoned or denied his faith - in their coverage. Mr Rushdie British-American citizen has become a vocal advocate for freedom of expression, defending his work on several occasions. He has also continued to write, with his next work due out in 2023. Leon Li, the founder of Huobi, the worlds 13th largest crypto exchange, is reportedly looking to sell his near-60% stake in the exchange for over $1B. Bloomberg reported that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and Tron founder Justin Sun have been in contact with Huobis parent company about the deal, but Sun has denied any involvement. The deal would value Huobi at $2B to $3B. Huobis native HT token has surged 18% since the news broke this morning. HT Price. Source: Coinmarketcap SBFs Shopping Spree Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old billionaire brainiac with a reported net worth of $24B, has built a reputation as one of cryptos biggest sharks and has been extending lifelines to cash-strapped companies during the bear market. In June, SBF announced that he had acquired a 7.6% stake in trading app Robinhood. In early July, Bankman-Frieds team at FTX acquired BlockFi for as much as $240M. Hes playing a market metagame the likes of which we have never seen. Its 4D Chess while all others are playing checkers, Tom White, Director of Research at investing platform Stonks, told The Defiant. In this case, Bankman-Fried might be the savior Li needs. A representative from Huobi Global told Bloomberg, He [Li] hopes that the new shareholders will be more powerful and resourceful, and that they will value the Huobi brand and invest more capital and energy to drive the growth of Huobi. Huobi was founded in China in 2013, but was forced out of the country amid a crackdown on the crypto industry last year. In August 2018, it was publicly listed in Hong Kong. (FILES) In this file photo taken on June 13, 2022 a street thermometer reads 48 degrees Celsius during a heatwave in Seville. - In the midst of Europe's heatwaves, social networks have seen a surge in posts showing previous temperature extremes in an attempt to deny global warming, but this data does not contradict the phenomenon, experts say. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP) (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Images) CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Extreme heat waves will now be given names after scientists decided to call the recent heat wave in Seville, Spain "Zoe." An associate professor at Sevilla University Jose Maria Martin Olalla shared Zoe was recorded from July 24 to 27, when the temperatures in the area reached 112 degrees Fahrenheit, according to USA Today. Due to the hot temperatures that the locals endured this summer, a program called the proMETEO Sevilla Project was launched in June to bring awareness to the public about the heat waves with the support of Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center of the Atlantic Council a Washington-based research center and nonprofit organization. July 23, 2022, Seville, Andalusia, Spain: A man reachs the Guadalquibir river bank after one he got the flag, winning the greasy pole game during the ''Vela de Santiago y Santa Ana''. A tradition that tooks place in the neighborhood of Triana the last week of July. (Credit Image: Angel Garcia/ZUMA Press Wire) Angel Garcia/ZUMA Press Wire RELATED: At Least 14 Deaths in Oregon May Be Linked to Heat Wave, Authorities Say Martin Olalla told the outlet that the experts from the group created the name and a category system to "prevent the hazards of exposure to the heat during the afternoon." In the naming process, scientists usually switch between female and male names starting backward in alphabetical order. This year, Sevilla appeared to be experiencing a long period of hot weather compared to the past, with temperatures surpassing 106 degrees for about two weeks. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "Every summer there are some days in Seville with temperatures above this threshold," Martin Olalla shared. "It is not incredibly rare." "In this sense, what is incredibly rare was the amount of days above the threshold," he added. TIME reported the purpose of naming the heat waves is to attract the public's attention, just like the same measures were applied to hurricanes disaster in the U.S. The system is expected to become a model for other countries and governments. Two women use fans to fight the scorching heat during a heatwave in Seville on June 13, 2022. - Spain was today already in the grips of a heatwave expected to reach "extreme" levels, and France is bracing for one, too, as meteorologists blame the unusually high seasonal temperatures on global warming. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP) (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Images) CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty RELATED: Heat Wave Kills at Least 2,000 Cattle in Kansas, Officials Say Heat waves have also been hitting the U.S. this year, with states such as Seattle and Portland setting new records for high temperatures (107 and 115 degrees, respectively). Meanwhile, Phoenix has seen a temperature of 118 degrees, and Palm Spring residents have had to endure 123-degree heat. Flash Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin Friday said that the United States should fully bear the consequences of undermining bilateral relations and damaging China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation. A White House official said that China's move to suspend cooperation with the U.S. to combat narcotics trafficking, including illicit fentanyl, is "unacceptable," adding that the ongoing overdose epidemic driven by fentanyl has claimed more than 100,000 lives in the U.S. in the past year. "In disregard of China's stern warning and repeated representations, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on her provocative visit to China's Taiwan region, which seriously undermined the political foundation of China-U.S. relations," Wang told a daily news briefing. The eight countermeasures from China, including suspending China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation, are a response to the provocation. These measures are reasonable and appropriate, Wang added. "As for the fentanyl abuse in the United States, I'd like to say that first, the root of the crisis lies in the U.S.," Wang said. The international community, including China, has become increasingly strict in control over fentanyl-like substances. However, the abuse of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids continues to worsen in the U.S., and the number of overdose deaths is rising. The reasons for this are worth pondering by the United States, Wang said. "According to the International Narcotics Control Board, the United States is the world's largest producer and consumer of fentanyl-like substances. Americans, who account for 5% of the world's population, consume 80% of the world's opioids," he added. Wang said that the U.S. government lost control over prescription drugs, did not have enough publicity on the harm of drugs, and took ineffective measures to reduce drug demand, ending up with poor drug control. He said the U.S. side must face up to its own problems instead of shying away from them. "Second, China has made great efforts to help the United States solve the fentanyl problem," Wang said. Wang noted fentanyl is not a major problem in China and has never been abused on a large scale. He said that with a humanitarian and responsible attitude, China has been helping the U.S. resolve the fentanyl abuse crisis and working with other countries to tackle the new challenges of the drug problem. "China is the first country in the world to implement a whole-class control of fentanyl-like substances, which is far beyond the scope of the UN convention. However, as the country with the most prominent problem of fentanyl globally, the United States has not officially established the whole-class control of fentanyl-like substances," Wang added. He said that China showed enough goodwill and sincerity to cooperate with the United States on an extraordinary level, which is unprecedented in China's conventional drug control practice. It plays a significant role in preventing illegal trafficking and abuse of fentanyl-like substances. It also sets an example for international counternarcotics cooperation, recognized by the international community, he said. "Third, the responsibility of undermining China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation rests entirely with the U.S. side," Wang added. Wang said the U.S. side used Xinjiang-related issues as an excuse to add a few Chinese scientific research institutions, which are responsible for the detection and control of fentanyl-like substances, onto its "entity list" since 2020. Also, the U.S. side has repeatedly made negative and untrue public statements, stirred up old cases, imposed sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of fentanyl, and offered high rewards for arresting Chinese citizens. The U.S. keeps misleading the public, blaming others, and deflecting responsibility for poor drug abuse governance. China has made representations to the U.S. side many times, but the U.S. side has not given feedback so far, Wang added. "The consequences of undermining bilateral relations and damaging China-U.S. counternarcotics cooperation should be fully borne by the U.S. side," Wang said. Wang said China's stance on strict drug control is firm. Against increasingly rampant global drug abuse, China has achieved remarkable results in drug control. As a responsible country, China will, as always, take an active part in international and multilateral counternarcotics cooperation and contribute its wisdom and strength to global drug governance. "We also sincerely hope that the U.S. side will effectively resolve the fentanyl abuse crisis and the American people will be free from the scourge of drugs soon," he said. Christine sold a portion of the property she shared with her ex for $10. TLC Property records obtained by US Weekly showed Christine sold a portion of land back to her ex-husband Kody. Christine gifted the property for $10 despite being valued at $213,420, according to the outlet. Christine left Kody in November 2021 after more than 25 years of marriage. "Sister Wives" star Christine Brown reportedly gifted her Coyote Pass property back to her ex-husband Kody Brown and his wife, Robyn Brown, following their breakup. According to property documents obtained by Us Weekly, Christine, 50, sold her section of land located on the Brown family's property in Flagstaff, Arizona, to Kody, 53, and Robyn, 43, for only $10. The outlet noted that Christine's land is valued at $213,420. Christine chose to classify the transaction as a deed of gift which resulted in the low price tag, the outlet reported. Christine and Kody on the first episode of "Sister Wives." TLC "For the consideration of Ten Dollars, and other valuable consideration, I or we, Kody Winn Brown and Robyn Alice Brown, husband and wife and Christine R. Brown, a single woman do/does hereby convey to Kody Winn Brown and Robyn Alice Brown, husband and wife the following real property situated in Coconino County, Arizona," the warranty deed reads, US Weekly reported. Christine signed over the parcel on July 28, according to Us Weekly. Christine, Kody, and representatives for TLC did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Kody Brown, Christine Brown and Robyn Brown Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Christine starred alongside Kody and her former sister wives on the popular TLC series for 16 seasons. Christine and Kody married in 1994 making her his third wife before welcoming six children. The series also starred Kody's three other wives: Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, and Robyn Brown. Robyn is the only wife legally married to Kody. Christie revealed that she was leaving Kody on Instagram in November 2021, sharing in a statement that they had "grown apart" and it was a "difficult decision to leave." Kody issued a similar statement on Instagram soon afterward. Story continues "Christine's decision to leave comes with a great deal of sadness," he wrote. "We enjoyed many years together and I have a large amount of respect and admiration for her." US Weekly previously reported that Christine, a Utah native, moved back to her home state following the split. Christine has been vocal about her strained relationship with Kody, including feeling like a "basement wife." In January 2022, Christine noted that it was hard for her and her daughters to "respect" Kody because "he has favorites." In the trailer for "Sister Wives" season 17, Christine explained that she's leaving the polygamous relationship because "Robyn is more important." Christine and Robyn Brown. TLC "I feel like to Kody, Robyn's more important," Christine said in one clip, adding that she feels Kody is enforcing a hierarchy between his wives. "I agreed to be a sister wife, but I agreed to be an equal wife," Christine said in one clip. "I have decided to leave, I'm gonna leave Kody." Read the original article on Insider Sofia Jirau made history this year when she became the first Victorias Secret model with Down syndrome. The 25-year-old took to Instagram in February to reveal that she, along with 17 other women, had joined the fashion brand for a new campaign, the Love Cloud Collection. "I can finally tell you my big secret," the Puerto Rican native captioned her post. "I am Victorias Secrets first model with Down syndrome!" The model told Fox News Digital that she feels "very happy and very grateful" to break barriers. SI SWIM MODEL ELLA HALIKAS TALKS GOING VIRAL AFTER RECREATING JULIA FOXS STYLE: YOU HAVE TO OWN YOUR BODY "When I saw my photos [for the first time], I jumped from excitement," she said. "I loved everything. This experience has changed my life. I can now motivate people to make their dreams come true. And Im very grateful for that because thats my dream too, to inspire others." Raul Martinez, Victoria's Secret's chief creative director, revealed in a statement that the Love Cloud Collection "is a major moment in the brands evolution." "From the cast of incredible women that bring the collection to life, to the incredible inclusive spirit on set, this campaign is an important part of the new Victorias Secret standard we are creating." Victorias Secret was founded by Roy Larson Raymond in the late 70s after he felt embarrassed about purchasing lingerie for his wife. Lex Wexner, the founder of the then-Limited Stores Inc., purchased Victorias Secret in 1982 and turned it into a powerful retail force. By the mid-90s, Victorias Secret lit up runways and later filled the internet with its supermodels and an annual television special that mixed fashion, beauty and music. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER Failing to adapt to changing tastes saw sales tumble. Its annual show was canceled in 2019 amid rising concerns about the brands marketing strategies. There was also increased competition with rival brands like Adore Me and ThirdLove, which have marketed themselves heavily on social media platforms. In 2020, L Brands announced it sold a 55% stake of Victorias Secret for approximately $525 million. They also revealed that Wexner, 84, would step down from the role of L Brands chairman and CEO. After Hulu released a three-part docuseries titled "Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons" earlier this year that focused on Wexner, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital the brand has evolved since revamping as a company in 2021. Story continues "The company featured in this docuseries does not reflect today's Victoria's Secret & Co. When we became a stand-alone company in August 2021, we set out to regain the trust of our customers, associates and partners," read their statement. "Today, we are proud to be a different company, with a new leadership team and mission to welcome, celebrate, and champion all women. This transformation is a journey, and our work continues to become the Victoria's Secret our customers and associates deserve where everyone feels seen, respected, and valued." In 2019, Jirau kicked off her career in Puerto Rico. She went on to make her modeling debut at New York Fashion Week in 2020. BAYWATCH ALUM DONNA DERRICO POSES IN BIKINI AFTER TROLL CALLED HER TOO OLD: FEELING PRETTY DAMN GOOD "Since I was very little, I always said that I wanted to be a model," said Jirau. "One day I took my mothers heels and modeled them all over the house like a supermodel. For me, its really important to inspire others. And its a privilege that I have... I work hard to make my dream come true." "I go to the gym every weekday," she continued. "I also focus on eating very healthy in my house. I pay attention to what I eat and make sure I feel good. I love my coffee time. I have a sweet day when I eat whatever I want. But willpower is very important to me." Jirau insisted she has never felt discouraged from pursuing a career as a model. After modeling for Marisa Santiago at NYFW, she felt even more determined to find work and showcase her talent on set. "I will say to every person in my community who has Down syndrome, you can find a job," she shared. "You can dream big. There are no limits. The key is to get out of bed, put the phone aside and work hard. I [never] felt discouraged as a model because everything can be accomplished. We need to put our fears aside and just do it. Everything is possible even if people tell you no." KELLY HUGHES, THE FIRST SI SWIM MODEL TO BARE HER C-SECTION SCAR, REACTS TO NEGATIVE COMMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA Jirau shared that since the campaign was announced, she has received an outpouring of support from followers who continue to cheer her on. "So many people stop me on the street to take photos," she said. "And I love it. I love taking photos with people and getting to know my followers. I love chatting with them. If you want to be a model, just reach out to me. I will teach you, and we can do this together." Jirau said she is only getting started. She kicked off her own line called Alavett, which sells mugs, wallets, t-shirts, phone cases, and more. The brand, which is named after how Jirau spells out her favorite phrase - "I love it" - features her signature heart doodle. "I am an entrepreneur," she said. "And I love it! I will tell everyone to follow their passion. Practice a lot and dont ever quit. If you have the moves, the attitude and confidence, you can achieve it." A South Fort Myers High School student was arrested Thursday after a tip came through alerting authorities he might have a gun in his car on campus. On Thursday, a student approached a staff member at the school and mentioned seeing an Instagram video depicting a fellow student flashing a firearm. School administrators, along with Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies conducted an administrative search of the student's car in the parking lot. Fake bomb threat: Cape Coral woman arrested after threatening to attend high school graduation with fake bomb And: Cape Coral 10-year-old perp-walked by Lee sheriff pleads not guilty in school threat case During the search, they located a loaded 9mm handgun under the drivers seat. Administrators immediately notified the School Resource Officer. The weapon was secured and detectives from the Youth Services Division responded to assume the investigation. They also determined the gun was stolen during a burglary last month in Lehigh Acres. The case remains under investigation. The student was placed under arrest and charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds. In an email sent to parents Thursday, Ed Mathews, the school's principal, said students weren't threatened. "We do not tolerate this kind of behavior at South Fort Myers High School, so on top of the legal consequences, the student involved will be disciplined per the Student Code of Conduct," the email read in part. As a matter of policy, The News-Press doesn't identify minors facing criminal charges. No further information was available Saturday morning. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Follow him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran. This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: South Fort Myers High School student arrested after bringing gun to school This was as close as I got to my Disney Cruise Line vacation before being sent home. Amanda Krause/Insider My sister and I were supposed to sail on the new Disney Wish cruise ship in July. But when we got to the port, my sister tested positive for COVID-19 and Disney turned us away. We then received a cruise credit to rebook and were sent to the airport via a Disney shuttle. I've been anticipating my first cruise vacation since the start of this year. In January, I scheduled a three-day trip on Disney's newest ship, the Disney Wish, for one of its earliest voyages in June. I invited my sister to join, and we started counting down the days until our sailing. But one month later, Disney announced it was delaying its initial trips because the ship's construction was not complete. Though we were disappointed, we were able to rebook our standard, inside stateroom for a sailing in July with a 50% off discount, bringing our $3,285 vacation down to $1,632. Last month, the time had finally come for me to travel to Florida. I packed my bags, left New Jersey, and took an hour-long shuttle from the Orlando airport to Port Canaveral. But it was there that my cruise dreams came to a screeching halt again. Before I could set foot on the ship, my sister tested positive for COVID-19. She wasn't allowed to board, and to my surprise, neither was I. Here's how our weekend unfolded. My sister and I took this selfie before being turned away from our vacation. Amanda Krause/Insider Disney requires all cruise travelers to be vaccinated and submit proof of a negative COVID-19 test before sailing The testing process is pretty straightforward. Travelers can purchase at-home tests which they must complete via a proctored telehealth service or take a test at their local pharmacy. Both versions can be taken no earlier than two days before sailing. Once tests are finalized, travelers must submit proof of their results to Inspire Diagnostics' Safe Passage website. I took a PCR test at CVS one day before traveling to Florida. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images I visited a local CVS drive-thru two days before my cruise and got a negative result back the next morning. I was cleared to sail. My sister, however, took a PCR test at a Walgreens in a different state that same day and didn't receive her results ahead of our trip. As a result, she needed to spend $75 on another test at the port to follow Disney's policy. Story continues Disney Cruise Line has a medical tent at Port Canaveral where travelers can take COVID-19 tests When we visited, my sister and I counted more than 60 other travelers in the same situation as us. We got in line, checked in with our reservation number, and were sent to the testing section a semi-private area where plastic partitions separated each nurse's station. Once her test was completed, we were sent to a larger waiting room with other travelers and were told that her results would be emailed in approximately 20 minutes. It only took about 10 minutes to get the results in my sister's case. She turned to me with a nervous expression and quietly said her test came back positive. It was then that an Inspire Diagnostics employee came to us, brought us to another plastic-covered section, and gave us two options: accept the result and go home, or take a $125 test to make sure she didn't get a false positive. She also advised that I would not be allowed on the ship if my sister's test was indeed positive, as I'd be considered a close contact despite traveling separately from different states. At the port, you conduct your own COVID-19 test while a nurse watches. SimpleImages/Getty Images There's a separate trailer across the lot for travelers who test positive My sister and I had done our best to quarantine ahead of our trip, and we took at-home rapid tests which came back negative before traveling, so she opted for the second test. Once it was completed, we were moved again this time to a trailer far away from all other travelers. It was there that we were guided to a closed, secluded room with stark white walls, uncomfortable chairs, blasting air conditioning, and an air purifier. We joked that we had been locked in COVID-19 jail. We waited alone for a few minutes before we were joined by a kind Disney employee who brought us water and shared my sister's positive test result. She also asked if we'd like a refund or a credit to rebook our cruise, and said we'd get a free ride back to the airport via a Disney shuttle though we were on our own to figure out travel or a hotel stay from there. In total, we spent about one and a half hours taking the COVID test, waiting for the results, and being sent to the secluded room. We spent another hour on this cruise-themed bus. Amanda Krause/Insider It was devastating to be turned away from our cruise, but I'm thankful Disney didn't let us board After months of planning and a full day of travel between New Jersey and Florida, I couldn't help but cry inside the medical tent. After all, I wasn't sick. But by the time I returned home the following day, I was hit hard with COVID symptoms. I was extremely ill for five days, and am still recovering two weeks later. Had I been on the cruise when I'd planned, I would have spent the trip feeling sick in my room, and I would've infected other passengers and employees. So as stressful as our experience was, I'm happy Disney was diligent and ensured that only healthy travelers boarded the ship. And now, I'm preparing for my cruise all over again. I called Disney Cruise Line a few days after returning home and was able to schedule a new trip for September. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reuse the 50% discount I received back in February, but my cruise credit meant I didn't have to pay the entire bill all over again. My sister and I also won't have to take additional tests if we submit our vaccine cards and doctors' notes to prove that we recently recovered from COVID. I'd be lying if I said there isn't a lingering feeling of disappointment every time I see a Disney Cruise Line advertisement. But at least now I know that I'll appreciate my vacation that much more when I finally step on board the Disney Wish. Read the original article on Insider ST. PETERSBURG Mayor Ken Welch on Friday rejected plans for a new Moffitt cancer treatment clinic, residences and a hotel because he said it did not include enough affordable housing. The redevelopment of the city-owned 800 block of 1st Avenue S was the first project subject to the citys Community Benefits Agreement enacted under Welchs predecessor. It was also Mayor Rick Kriseman who picked a group that included Moffitt to redevelop the property after the cancer hospital floated the proposal and was forced to compete against other bidders. The Community Benefits program, launched last year, requires developments that cost $2 million or more and receive city funds of 20 percent or more of their cost, or $10 million regardless of cost, to reinvest in the community. Depending on the amount of funding received, the requirements can include building new affordable or workforce housing or paying into a fund for those projects, paying into a fund to improve local schools, renovating historic buildings or providing job training. The Moffitt mixed-use project included a 75,000-square-foot outpatient cancer center facility, a 200-key hotel, a residential tower with 400 units, ground floor retail and a public-access parking garage. Proposed community benefits included designating 17.5% of residential units for affordable housing for those making at or below 80% of the area median income and workforce housing for those earning at or below 120% of the area median income. The original proposal only designated 10% of the units for discounted housing. In a news release, the city said Welch negotiated to increase affordable housing units from 18 to 35, half of the overall allotment. But that fell short of his overall goal of 30%, or 120 units, allocated for affordable and workforce housing. This was a strategic decision based on community benefit, shared priorities and the significant value of the subject city land, he said. While we welcome the addition of this facility and hoped we could successfully negotiate this plan to meet our community benefit goals, negotiations did not meet needed affordable housing. Story continues Moffitt spokesperson Kim Polacek gave this statement: Moffitt Cancer Center looks forward to exploring opportunities to serve our patients in Pinellas County. Making cancer care accessible to as many patients as possible is crucial to Moffitts mission of preventing and curing cancer. The project went through vetting by the Community Benefits Advisory Council. At its last meeting on Aug. 1, members took issue with the number of affordable units, but still voted in favor of it. City Council member Deborah Figgs-Sanders helped create the Community Benefits Agreement. She agreed with the mayors decision and said it felt like the project rode too much on the Moffitt name. Figgs-Sanders has also led the fight for considering rent control. She said Welchs decision acknowledges those who spent hours Thursday sharing their stories of increasingly high rents in an unaffordable city. When it comes to city-owned land, we have to do due diligence, she said. Its decisions like this that get to where we are for affordable housing. Chris Steinocher, president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, also said Welch made the right call. With few city-owned parcels left, Steinocher said, the city was being diligent. I think the mayors spoken about priorities today, Steinocher said. I dont know that anyone elses priority is as important as housing. The deal was originally pitched to the city as an unsolicited bid by Atlanta developers TPA Group and St. Petersburgs United Insurance Holdings Corp. That opened up the city to accepting competing proposals. Five other groups offered between $5 million and $16 million. Kriseman selected the Moffitt Cancer Center team in the last two months of his tenure. Moffitt offered $5 million to redevelop the 4.6-acre lot. It was appraised for $24.1 million. Welchs decision is another undoing of one of Krisemans decisions in the last few months of his tenure. Earlier this summer, Welch restarted the redevelopment process for Tropicana Field. The city could continue using the lot for parking and may issue a new request for proposals. JJ Gouin / Getty Images/iStockphoto In 2020 and 2021, American consumers and businesses alike were flooded with various forms of stimulus in an attempt to keep the economy stable during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, there have been various attempts by legislators and even the general public to get more stimulus passed. Here It Is: Our 2022 Small Business Spotlight Read More: 7 Surprisingly Easy Ways To Reach Retirement Goals Although the economy bounced back strongly after the flash recession of 2020 which only lasted two months it has shrunk for back-to-back quarters to start off 2022, which could portend another recession. In light of this, many Americans are hoping for additional stimulus, from either the federal government or individual states, to stave off economic weakness. But are any proposals really anywhere near fruition? Here are the latest stimulus updates to know for August 2022. Federal Updates As of August 2022, the federal initiative for additional stimulus payments seems to be low. Although the Biden administration has proposed limited relief for soaring gas prices via rebate cards or a gas tax holiday, neither has gained much traction yet in Washington. Discussion of additional direct stimulus payments has also quieted dramatically. However, as America seems like it may fall into recession, such ideas may regain momentum later in the year. State Updates Thus far in 2022, the states have done a much better job of getting additional funds to the American people than the federal government, and more are taking steps to get there. Heres the latest on the approval and distribution of state stimulus in 2022. California Dubbed the Middle Class Tax Refund, California will be sending stimulus payments to residents between October 2022 and January 2023. Payments will vary based on your income, filing status and whether or not you have dependents. Essentially, individuals earning under $75,000 will receive $350, and couples with incomes of $150,000 or less will receive $700. Payments go up if you have dependents, and they decrease if you earn more than these limits. The earnings cap is set at $500,000 for couples, heads of household and surviving spouses, or $250,000 for singles. Story continues Colorado In May, Colorado authorized tax rebates of $750 for individual filers and $1,500 for joint filers. Colorado residents who filed their 2021 state taxes by June 30 are expected to receive their checks by the end of August. Those who file their state tax returns by October 17 will receive their rebate checks in January. Take Our Poll: Do You Tip for Service? Delaware Delaware was one of the early actors in the state stimulus game, sending out $300 rebate relief checks starting in May. Florida Florida is sending out $450 payments per child to 59,000 low-income families. Georgia Georgia is another state that took action early in 2022, sending $250 to individuals, $500 to couples and $375 to heads of households starting in May. Hawaii Starting in the last week of August, Hawaii will begin rolling out refunds of $300 for taxpayers earning less than $100,000 per year, or couples earning less than $200,000 per year. Those who earn more will be entitled to $100 refunds. Idaho Idaho residents began receiving stimulus payments in March, but taxpayers had to do a little math to figure out what they would get. The law called for payments of $75 or 12% of the amount they paid on their 2020 Idaho state taxes, whichever was greater. Indiana In May, Indiana began sending out payments of $125 to every state taxpayer, or $250 for couples. Maine Maine started rolling out $850 payments to qualifying taxpayers in June 2022, with the balance to be paid on a rolling basis through the end of the year. To qualify, taxpayers had to have an AGI of less than $100,000 for singles, less than $150,000 for heads of household or less than $200,000 for joint filers. Minnesota Some 667,000 of Minnesotas front-line workers qualified for a stimulus payment of $750, although applications are now closed. Among other factors, workers had to have put in at least 120 hours in a Minnesota frontline sector between March 15, 2020 and June 30, 2021, and they had to meet income requirements as well. New Jersey On July 2, New Jersey began mailing out tax rebates of up to $500. The amount of the rebate was limited to the amount of tax paid after credits, up to the $500 maximum. New Mexico The New Mexico legislature approved a number of rebates for residents in 2022. Payments of $250 were sent in July 2022 to single taxpayers earning under $75,000, while $500 was allocated to joint filers with income of less than $150,000. Additionally, all taxpayers who filed a 2021 return were slated to receive $500, or $1,000 for joint filers, heads of household and surviving spouses. These payments were divided into equal amounts payable in June 2022 and August 2022. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Stimulus Updates To Know for August 2022 Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump; Richard Nixon Matt Rourke/Associated Press; Julia Nikhinson/Associated Press; Associated Press The Mar-a-Lago raid was part of an investigation into Trump's handling of government records. Federal officials seized 11 boxes of classified information. Trump has denied wrongdoing. Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon are among the officials who have also been accused of mishandling records. Federal agents conducted an unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday, but the potential issues being investigated are not new territory for the Justice Department. The agency is investigating if Trump broke three federal laws related to the handling of national security information. One of the potential violations falls under the Espionage Act and concerns the removal of information that pertains to national defense. The others involve concealing or destroying government records. The FBI seized 11 sets of classified or top secret documents from Mar-a-Lago, according to court documents unsealed on Friday. Trump has denied any wrongdoing. It's relatively rare, but not unheard of, for the Department of Justice to investigate and even bring charges against federal officials accused of mishandling government records, including some that are considered classified or top secret. From former President Richard Nixon to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, here are some examples that include documents, emails, and audio tapes. President Richard Nixon President Richard Nixon waves goodbye from the steps of his helicopter outside the White House, Aug. 9, 1974, after he gave a farewell address to members of the White House staff. AP Photo/Chick Harrity, File Nixon is in part responsible for the creation of the Presidential Records Act, a law passed in 1978 that mandates the preservation of records created or received by the president and vice president during their time in office. It also established that presidential records belong to the US and are to be maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of a president's time in office. The law was part of a series of measures passed to address potential corruption after Watergate, when Nixon sought to destroy millions of pages of documents and hundreds of hours of tape recordings from his time in the White House. Story continues Following Nixon's resignation, Congress passed a law in 1974 that would require him to turn over the documents. Nixon challenged it, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled it was within the legislative body's rights to request them. The Presidential Records Act was passed four years later, solidifying presidential records as public, rather than private, documents. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton speaks during a press conference the day after the election on Wednesday November 9, 2016, in New York City. Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images Clinton's emails are perhaps the most well-known example of a federal official being accused of mishandling government documents. While serving as President Barack Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Clinton used a personal email address and server to conduct official business, rather than a more secure government email server. After The New York Times first reported in 2015 on her use of a private email and potential violation of federal requirements, it became one of the major stories of the 2016 election cycle, when Clinton was the Democratic nominee for president against Trump. A State Department inspector general report released in May 2016 found she had violated government policy but that it did not constitute criminal conduct. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey said their separate investigation found there was "evidence of potential" criminal violations concerning the handling of classified information but that there wasn't sufficient reason to bring charges. Another State Department investigation that lasted for three years and ended in 2019 found Clinton's use of a private email server put classified information at risk but that there was "no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information." No charges were ever brought against her. Clinton's email server was found to contain more than 100 emails with classified information, 22 labeled top secret, and over 2,000 that were designated classified at a later date. Sandy Berger, national security adviser to President Bill Clinton Sandy Berger, who served as a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001, pleaded guilty in 2005 to the unauthorized removal and destruction of classified documents from the National Archives. After leaving his White House post, Berger testified before Congress's 9/11 commission, which was examining the government's response to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Berger said he made multiple visits to the National Archives to revisit relevant materials. But a National Archives employee said they saw Berger leaving with documents wrapped around his socks and under his pant leg, prompting a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Berger was found to have smuggled out highly classified documents, destroying some, and lying about possessing them. He agreed to plead guilty and was fined $50,000, sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and stripped of his security clearance for three years. Lower-profile federal officials are more commonly charged In addition to former presidents and top White House officials, lower-profile federal agents are more commonly charged with mishandling government documents. The FBI and the Justice Department have conducted at least 11 investigations into such crimes since 2005, Voice of America reported. The outlet compiled a list of notable cases that included former members of the military and Defense Department employees or contractors; NSA and CIA contractors; and former CIA, FBI, and NSA employees. The sentences included thousands of dollars in fines and several years of probation. Read the original article on Business Insider Justice Scales and books and wooden gavel - stock photo krisanapong detraphiphat / Getty Images Edward Leclair was spotted chugging a "cloudy" liquid as a judge convicted him of child sexual abuse. The 57-year-old man from Texas died just hours after his conviction. Leclair faced five counts of child sexual abuse and would have faced up to 100 years in prison had he survived. A Texas man on Thursday reportedly died after downing a "cloudy" liquid right as a judge convicted him of child sexual abuse. Edward Leclair, 57, sat through nearly 4 hours of deliberation, taking swigs from a clear container the whole time. By the time the judge read the verdict convicting him on five counts of child sexual abuse related to a June 2016 incident he had "chugged" the whole bottle, according to Denton County Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck. "Our investigator noticed him chug the water," Beck said in an interview with CNN. "He told the bailiff he might want to go check on him." After the verdict was read, Leclair had been placed in a holding cell, where he had started to vomit, his attorney, Mike Howard, said, per CNN. Leclair looked like he was "in a state of shock," Howard said, per the Dallas Morning News. "I thought at that time that it was very serious and there was a good chance that he would not survive," he said. Doctors arrived at the scene and provided "medical intervention." Then they put him in an ambulance and took him to a hospital, Beck said. Howard said he saw Leclair take a "long drink from a water bottle" but didn't know what the liquid was, but Beck described it to the Denton Record-Chronicle as "cloudy." Leclair died in the hospital. He would have faced up to 100 years in prison had he survived. An autopsy is planned, and the cause of death has yet to be revealed. Read the original article on Insider U.S. President Donald Trump holds his notes as he talks about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a meeting with House Republicans in the Cabinet Room of the White House on July 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images As president, Donald Trump had a reputation for being difficult to brief and destroying meeting notes. At times, he would ask officials if he could keep documents he received, according to members of his staff. "From time to time the president would say 'Can I keep this?'" Trump's former Chief of Staff told CNN. During his presidency, Donald Trump developed a reputation for being difficult to brief and may have destroyed meeting notes by flushing them down the toilet but would ask officials to keep documents he received, according to members of his staff. Trump's reluctance to sit for the Presidential Daily Briefing while in office was well documented. His first briefer, Ted Gistaro, told CBS News the former president "doesn't really read anything," while intelligence officers described him as "far and away the most difficult" new president to brief. The daily briefing was more often delivered to Vice President Mike Pence than the president, The Guardian reported. Hoping to encourage the president to read more of his briefings, Gistaro's successor, Beth Sanner, included a one-page outline and a set of graphics, former CIA officer John Helgerson recounted in his book, "Getting to Know the President." When he did attend meetings, former President Trump is rumored to have destroyed records, including by flushing written notes down the White House toilets. He also had a habit of ripping and shredding documents, The Washington Post reported. The shredding was so prolific, Politico reported, that an entire team was dedicated to taping documents back together for preservation. "I have seen Trump tear up papers, not into small, small pieces, but usually twice so take a piece of paper, rip it once, and then rip it again and then throw it into the garbage pail," The Washington Post reported Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer, said. In addition to his habit of destroying meeting notes, several staff members noted that Trump would ask officials if he could keep documents he received. Story continues "From time to time, the president would say 'Can I keep this?'" Trump's former Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, told CNN's Erin Burnett on Friday. Mulvaney added the White House had "entire teams" of people dedicated to preserving official documents. Though Mulvaney would not draw a direct line between Trump's habit of asking to keep records and the search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in pursuit of classified documents, his comments echoed those of John Bolton, Trump's one-time national security advisor. "Often the president would say [to intelligence briefers] 'Well, can I keep this?'" Bolton told CBS News. "And in my experience, the intelligence briefers most often would say 'Well, sir, we'd prefer to take that back,' but sometimes they forgot." Read the original article on Business Insider Thousands of Russian troops posted west of Ukraines Dnieper River have found themselves in a vulnerable position as Ukrainian forces have blocked most eastern supply routes, the U.K. defense ministry said Saturday. British intelligence has assessed that two primary bridges in the occupied region of Kherson are now unusable for the transport of heavy military vehicles after Ukrainian precision strikes again targeted one of the crossings Wednesday. "Russia has only succeeded in making superficial repairs to the damaged Antonovsky road bridge which likely remains structurally undermined," the U.K. intelligence update said. Ukrainian infantrymen train on May 9, 2022, near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. John Moore/Getty Images UKRAINE TAKES OUT KEY BRIDGE 'DESTROYING' RUSSIAN PLANS FOR SOUTH 'ADVANCEMENT' Ukrainian forces began targeting major crossings relied on by Russian forces in the region for resupply routes and access to the Crimean Peninsula last month. A rail line is also believed to have been damaged beyond use. Russian troops have since been forced to rely on pontoon bridges to transport men and supplies over the river that separates Ukraines southwestern regions from Crimea. "Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability," the U.K. defense ministry assessed. "Ground resupply for the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points." The ministry said with diminished supply lines Russian troops will be forced to rely on any stockpiles they have accumulated west of the Dnieper River which will "likely to be a key factor in the forces endurance." UKRAINE TAKES OUT RUSSIAN AMMUNITION RAILWAY CONNECTING KHERSON TO CRIMEA Ukrainian defense officials have said its forces will be launching a major offensive along the frontline in the east and south as they look to push back Russian forces. Details on the offensive remain unclear, but advances made by Ukrainian troops in recent weeks in areas like Kherson suggest some aspects of the offensive have begun. Story continues Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looked to shut down hints of what the offensive would look like in a late-night address Thursday, saying it was "frankly irresponsible" to discuss military plans to make headlines. Ukrainian artillerymen in the military assembly center check the weapons and special equipment to make them ready before they go to their duties at the frontline in Kherson, Ukraine on July 15, 2022. Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images "The general rule is simple: war is definitely not the time for vanity and loud statements," he said specifically addressing "all representatives of the state and local authorities." "The less concrete details you give about our defense plans, the better it will be for the implementation of those defense plans," he added. Antonio Conte brushed off Tottenhams poor record at Stamford Bridge ahead of Sundays trip to old club Chelsea (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Archive) Antonio Conte says Tottenham travel to Chelsea with ambition despite their poor past form at Stamford Bridge but admits it is a good surprise to have seemingly closed the gap on their rivals so quickly. Spurs have tasted victory at the home of the Blues on just one occasion since the Premier League started in 1992 and their overall record against the west London outfit is also extremely poor. Chelsea have won the last five meetings and handed out three humbling defeats to Tottenham in January, which left Conte to reflect on the distance between his current charges and his old team. The Italian has made huge progress at Spurs in the ensuing months, with a top-four finish achieved and several new signings improving squad depth while Chelsea are in a transitional period after long-term owner Roman Abramovich departed in May alongside numerous key personnel. It adds to the intrigue before Sundays clash and Conte is confident a different Tottenham will show up. Honesty last season it was the period when I was really frustrated because for me it was not normal to lose three games in a row in only two weeks against the same team, he said. My players tried to give everything but for injuries and a lot of situations, we had only been working together for two months, it was very difficult to reach a good result against Chelsea. Now on Sunday the situation is different. We worked for eight months together, we improved the team because we finished in the top four and to do that wasnt easy but we showed we deserved it. The belief now is different. We dont have the injuries we did last season, but for sure we are going to play against a top team. We want to try to show that we are going in the right way to face this type of team with ambition, not only to fight, but with ambition. This will be very important. Story continues Six signings this summer has added to the overall feeling Tottenham have a squad capable of upsetting the duopoly of Manchester City and Liverpool. Now on Sunday the situation is different. We worked for eight months together, we improved the team because we finished in the top four and to do that wasn't easy but we showed we deserved it. The belief now is different. Antonio Conte January arrivals Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski were the first pieces of the puzzle put together by Conte with the help of sporting director Fabio Paratici and progress has been tangible since March. He added: For sure this is a really good surprise, to see the change of the team in such a short time. Its positive, positive for me and I can be surprised for the short time that we needed to do this. Now there is the more difficult part, because to have a good improvement quickly can happen but when you stay on one level, to have another step and another step becomes more difficult. Its because you have to continue to work, dont make mistakes about the players signing the players and this is really, really important because now is not the time for Tottenham to make mistakes in the transfer market. I know very well I cant have everything quickly because it would be foolish to ask for a lot of players and to spend a lot of money. I think we are doing the right things with common sense, not to spend an amount of money for many players, also because this is not the policy of the club, so I understand this. You have to go in the right way, doing the right things and I think we are doing this. Despite Spurs fine work off the pitch, much of their hopes on Sunday lay at the feet of star duo Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, fresh from their Ballon dOr nominations on Friday. The attacking pair struck 40 times between them in the top flight last season and have played a big role in Tottenham being the leading league scorers of 2022 with 51 goals. The stats speak very clearly and in every team that I trained, we were always the first or the second-best attacking team, Conte insisted. My football is attacking football. Our idea is to score one more goal than the other, for sure, but I know that to win something important, to lift trophies, you need to have a good balance offensively and defensively. Transit Police are looking for a rape suspect wanted in connection with an incident that occurred earlier this month at MBTAs Tufts Medical Station. According to police, detectives have obtained an arrest warrant for Steven Wade Coffey, 28, for an alleged assault and rape that happened on August 4th at 2:30 a.m. Coffey is believed to be homeless and is known to frequent Downtown Boston, police said in a statement. Police are asking for the publics help in locating Coffey and if you know his whereabouts please contact our Criminal Investigations Unit at 617-222-1050 or send us an anonymous text to 873873. If you see Coffey please call 911 and inform the operator of Coffeys status and report your location, police said. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Former President Donald Trumps response to the federal raid on his Mar-a-Lago home this week ricocheted from conspiracy to whataboutism: First, he suggested the FBI could have planted the top-secret material it found at his South Florida residence. Then he shifted focus to his predecessor, Barack Obama, whom he said had done the same thing, only worse a claim the National Archives was moved to debunk on Friday. Trump now appears to have landed on an old standby, claiming victimhood because he supposedly didnt do anything wrong to begin with. He had already declassified everything that had been taken to Mar-a-Lago, Trump argued on Truth Social, the platform he founded after being kicked off Twitter. On Friday evening, Trumps camp sent a statement to Fox News elaborating on that defense. As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different, the statement read. It continued: President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, often took documents, including classified documents, to the residence. He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them. Trump has not held the job of president of the United States, however, in more than 18 months, a point the statement did not seem to address. Statement from Trump Office: As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified.. pic.twitter.com/pnTjRnOqif Acyn (@Acyn) August 13, 2022 Although presidents can declassify certain information, there is a formal process for doing so, and it is not clear whether Trump followed it. Story continues Additionally, it appears unlikely he held the authority to declassify some of what was potentially contained in the documents like information on spies and nuclear weapons. The Washington Post reported earlier in the week that there was information on the U.S. nuclear arsenal among the materials at Mar-a-Lago. (Trump called the report a hoax.) Presidents are required to turn over documents to the National Archives under the 1978 Presidential Records Act. But the National Archives was reportedly aware for months that Trump had been skirting those rules; over a dozen boxes of documents were recovered earlier this year. Attorney General Merrick Garland suggested this week that authorities searched Trumps home and office because they exhausted other options to recover what appears to be highly sensitive information. On Monday, according to the unsealed search and seizure warrant, FBI agents took more than 20 boxes of material along with other items labeled top secret. Some were even described as various classified/TS/SCI documents, using the abbreviation for sensitive compartmented information. Such information is supposed to be viewed in a special, secure facility called a SCIF. If Trump truly had a standing order to declassify anything he took home, it has not been made public. Trump allies have argued that the classification status of these materials was probably nothing more than a clerical error that is, Trump declared the documents to be declassified but they were never formally marked that way. Conservative attorney Jonathan Turley told Fox News on Friday that the end of Trumps term was a very chaotic time with the Capitol attack and all the controversies. The Trump administration may not have had time to go through the usual process, he said. Kash Patel, a top Pentagon staffer and Trump adviser, similarly told Breitbart News that the markings were never updated. Patel claimed he was there with Trump when he said, We are declassifying this information, Breitbart reported. But the rules are there for a reason. A former FBI special agent, Asha Rangappa, explained how the declassification process was supposed to work in a series of tweets that emphasized the effect it has on national security. The process, she argued, ensures that federal agencies can make the correct preparations. If someone is declassifying info that impacts sources and methods, it offers time to protect them or prepare for blowback, Rangappa said. However, a standing declassification order from Trump would be insane to try to enforce, Bradley Moss, a national security attorney and frequent Trump critic, said. That would mean staff officials would have to follow him to the residence every single time he brought those documents with him to make sure to cross out markings and stamp it declassified so that other officials when they saw it, knew to handle it as declassified, Moss said Friday night on MSNBC. You dont get to declassify something just for yourself. You declassify it for everything, added Neal Katyel, who served as an acting solicitor general of the United States in the Obama years, in the same segment. Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear historian, said in an interview with Vox that the ranks of classification are supposed to correspond to how damaging the information would be to the nation if it were released. It could be very damaging if Trump had a document saying the U.S. acknowledges that Israel has a nuclear arsenal, Wellerstein said as an example. (The U.S. does not officially acknowledge Israeli nukes.) Whether or not the Mar-a-Lago materials were technically classified or declassified, however, could be beside the point. The unsealed warrant revealed that the Department of Justice was investigating Trump under several statutes. None of them require that the information be classified, former U.S. attorney and legal commentator Barb McQuade pointed out in an early Saturday appearance on MSNBC. Classification is irrelevant. Government documents that pertain to the national defense may not be withheld from the government upon request for return, McQuade said in a tweet. The obstruction charge in the warrant suggests Trump tried to conceal what he had. Also on HuffPost This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally on August 05, 2022 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Scott Olson/Getty Images During Monday's search of Donald Trump's office, officials found Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret documents. Not everyone can access classified documents, but the President can grant access through executive order. Trump could theoretically give Russian President Vladimir Putin a security clearance, a lawyer speculated in 2019. FBI officials found that Donald Trump had classified documents not meant to be seen by most Americans during a search of the former president's home at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, According to the search warrant, unsealed by the Department of Justice and obtained by multiple news outlets on Friday, officials seized 11 sets of documents labeled Confidential, Secret, and Top Secretthe three levels of security for US documents in ascending order of importance and secrecy. Trump defended himself and said that he declassified the information in the documents or stripped them of their classified status so those without special clearances could view them. Most officials working with the government must have security clearances as well as a reason to access documents restricted by the government. However, as the president, Trump did not need to pass any security clearances. In fact, the President, Vice President, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and many elected officials are not required to get permission for security clearances of any classified documents as their positions in office mean the American people decided to entrust them with national security secrets, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. Generally, US citizens working in the fields of national security, defense, and other sensitive areas of government must go through a security clearance process, which includes an application and a background check, according to the CRS report. The National Background Investigations Bureau must determine whether or not the applicant needs the information specified and whether or not they can be trusted to keep said information a secret. Story continues Agencies like the FBI and the White House Security Office determine who gets clearances within the White House, NPR reported in 2019. Nearly 3 million government employees and contractors had security clearances and over 1.2 million of those clearances were Top Secret, according to a 2019 report of annual security clearance determinations. However, a Top Secret clearance does not mean an official has access to all of the government's highest classified information. Among Top Secret clearances are various categories of Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Programs, which is Top Secret information that corresponds to various areas of work in the government or special policies or projects. Officials must be working in a particular field to access those documents and programs. Compartmented information has been declassified before. In 2010, Former President Barack Obama declassified the number of nuclear warheads in the US stockpile. Presidents can give clearances, usually through executive order, to staff or anyone in their orbit, even against the wishes of those tasked with granting said clearances. In 2018, Trump ordered that his son-in-law, former senior adviser Jared Kushner, be granted a Top Secret clearance, despite concerns from intelligence officials, The New York Times reported in 2019. Sources told NBC in 2019 that fears over Kushner's family businesses and foreign contacts led the FBI to initially reject his application. Trump could have theoretically given Russian President Vladimir Putin a security clearance during his time as president, Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer, told NPR in 2019. Read the original article on Business Insider Donald Trumps attorney has revealed that he and Trump family members watched nearly the entire FBI search of Mar-a-Lago on surveillance cameras, further dashing the former presidents claims that agents likely planted any evidence that was taken. The folks in New York President Trump and his family probably had a better view than I did. Because they had the CCTV, they were able to watch, the former presidents attorney Christina Bobb said in an interview on Real Americas Voice on Thursday. The Trump family was actually able to see the whole thing, she said. They actually have a better idea of what took place inside. Trump was in Manhattan on Monday when FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago. Bobb was on the scene at the resort in Florida but said she spent much of the time in a Mar-a-Lago parking lot to collect paper and answer questions from investigators. Eric Trump told The Daily Mail in an article Wednesday that he watched the search via surveillance cameras. FBI agents removed 20 boxes of documents, including 11 sets of classified information, from Mar-a-Lago on Monday, according to the warrant and property receipt used by the FBI to conduct the search of Trumps Florida residence. Some of the classified information was top secret and designated to remain only in a secure government facility. Sources told The Washington Post in a report Thursday that some of the classified documents were believed to be related to nuclear weapons, which was a key reason for the urgency of the search. The warrant indicated that Trump is under investigation for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and removing and destroying official documents. Bobb said agents at Mar-a-Lago initially asked the staff to turn off the surveillance cameras, reportedly citing agent safety. But the lawyers quickly ordered them switched back on. The cameras were only off for a very short period of time, Bobb said. Story continues The cameras were only off for a very short period of time.@christina_bobb, says that while staff initially complied w/ the FBI request to turn off the CCTV cameras in Mar-a-Lago, President Trumps lawyers stepped in and the cameras were turned back on.@RealDrGina#PrimeTimepic.twitter.com/NXxUvtowqm Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) August 12, 2022 Trump has repeatedly claimed on Truth Social that the FBI likely planted damaging evidence at Mar-a-Lago. Its an accusation that has been widely picked up by his followers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). Trump has never mentioned on his social media platform that agents were in view of surveillance cameras throughout most of the search and were being watched by him and family members, according to his own attorney. He has insisted there were no witnesses to the search. Planting information anyone? Trump sarcastically wrote in a recent Truth Social post. Trump indicates again on Truth Social that the FBI Trump indicates again on Truth Social that the FBI "planted" evidence. (Photo: Screen Shot./Truth Social/.Donald Trump) Bobb said of the FBI in an interview earlier this week that there was no security to prevent the FBI from planting evidence. But she quickly added: Im not saying thats what they did. Bobb also noted: I dont necessarily think that they would even go to the extent of trying to plant information. Trump attorney Christina Bobb suggests that the FBI may have planted evidence in Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/bgJWlF2F8W Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 9, 2022 This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... WASHINGTON The property receipt of items recovered by FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort shows that agents recovered a trove of top secret and other highly classified documents, according to court documents unsealed Friday by a federal judge in Florida. Federal agents removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some that were labeled secret and top secret, according to documents obtained by NBC News shortly before the judge unsealed them. Among the items the FBI took was a handwritten note, information about the "President of France," an executive granting of clemency for Trump ally Roger Stone and binders of photos. There were also papers described as "SCI" documents, which stands for highly classified "sensitive compartmented information." One document attached to the search warrant said the agents were searching for All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime and other items illegally possessed in violation of three laws, including a part of the Espionage Act that the Justice Department describes on its website as a "key national defense and national security" provision. The section cited in the search warrant "applies to activities such as gathering, transmitting to an unauthorized person, or losing, information pertaining to the national defense, and to conspiracies to commit such offenses." The other two laws referenced by the document attached to the search warrant pertain to the improper removal of records and concealing or destroying records to impede investigations. The court documents unsealed on Friday said investigators were searching for evidence of those crimes including any physical documents with classification markings and any government and/or Presidential Records from Trumps time in office, in addition to any evidence of the knowing alteration, destruction or concealment of any government and/or Presidential records, or of any documents with any classification markings. Story continues While Trump and his allies have suggested that any documents in his possession had been declassified by him while he was in office, the three laws cited in the search warrant do not specify that the mishandled documents had to have been classified. NBC News and other news organizations obtained the documents shortly before the judge authorized their public release. The Justice Department filed a notice Friday saying Trump did not oppose the unsealing. Asked for comment on the unsealed warrant, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to statements she made earlier in the week, including one in which she said, "The Justice Department conducts investigations independently, and we leave any law enforcement matters to them. Trump and his lawyers have had the search warrant and documents in their possession since Monday but initially resisted calls to make them public. In a statement overnight on his social media platform, Trump said he did not oppose the Justice Department's motion to disclose the documents to the public. "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years," Trump said. "Release the documents now!" Those remarks came just hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland publicly announced that the Justice Department had filed a motion Thursday to get a judges approval to release the warrant and property receipt, arguing that it was in the publics interest to see the records after Trump revealed the search had taken place on Monday. In a statement Friday, Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich was dismissive of details in the documents, calling it an "outrageous" search and a botched raid where they seized the Presidents picture books, a 'hand written note,' and declassified documents. In a separate statement, Trump said everything he had "was all declassified." Trump received a federal grand jury subpoena this past spring for sensitive documents the government believed he retained after his departure from the White House, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News on Thursday. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was related to documents that Trumps legal team discussed with Justice Department officials at a previously reported meeting on June 3. A separate source confirmed an earlier Wall Street Journal report, telling NBC News that someone familiar with documents inside Mar-a-Lago told investigators there may have been more classified documents at the club than were initially turned over, leading in part to the search on Monday. Donald Trump's page on the Truth Social app, April 25, 2022. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times) Predictions of imminent civil war and calls for violence surged early this week on social media platforms such as Truth Social a network started by former President Donald Trump after the FBIs court-approved search of his Florida home Monday. The search, which resulted in the seizure of classified documents, according to a copy of the warrant obtained Friday by The New York Times, set off an immediate outburst of aggressive and threatening language, akin to the public rhetoric that festered in the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Truth Social users posted that the United States was born through an insurrection followed by several years of bloody violence and that the country would become a communist state just as long as we dont pick up arms and fight back!! There was talk that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants, a phrase from a letter by Thomas Jefferson, and that sometimes clearing out dangerous vermin requires a modicum of violence, unfortunately. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times No more a nice guy, one user wrote. We are at war. Promise you it aint gonna be civil, another wrote. Lock and Load, wrote a third. An account bearing the name of Ricky Shiffer, the man who was killed in Ohio by police Thursday, ending a standoff that officials said started after he tried to breach the FBIs Cincinnati office, had posted messages on Truth Social recommending that patriots go to Florida and kill federal agents. On Thursday, the same account also appeared to confess to an attack on the FBI. In a series of recent posts, the account had railed against law enforcement and issued a call to arms, saying that for two years, they have been conditioning us to accept tyranny. When someone asked whether he was proposing terrorism, the account responded: I am proposing war. The Times could not immediately confirm whether the Truth Social account belonged to Shiffer, 42, of Columbus. Story continues Truth Socials community guidelines note that its preference is that the removal of users or user-provided content be kept to the absolute minimum but say that it will take action in cases in which the platform is being used as a tool for crime or any other unlawful acts. On a list of reasons to report problematic content, Truth Social includes content that depicts violence or threat of violence. The sentiments on Trumps social media network extended to other platforms as well. One Proud Boys Telegram channel, used by hundreds of members of the militant group, posted in the hours after the search that civil war is imminent. On Twitter, there was a tenfold increase in tweets mentioning civil war in the 24 hours after the raid, according to Dataminr, a tool that analyzes Twitter data. But later in the week, a different narrative gained traction, propelled without evidence by other prominent Truth Social users: that calls for violence were posts planted by federal law enforcement officials or Democratic operatives to frame right-wing patriots as insurrectionists and extremists. The point, the conspiracy theory goes, is to give the Biden administration cover to strip Trump supporters of guns or to set up a pretext for martial law. Jack Posobiec, a far-right commentator, wrote on Truth Social on Thursday that ANYONE POSTING ABOUT BEING VIOLENT RIGHT NOW IS A FED. News site Conservative recommended that people assume anyone advocating civil war or violence of any kind is a plant hoping you will help support the lefts narrative. Lara Logan, another right-wing commentator, on Friday posted a video of an anti-FBI sign twisting in the air to show Trump 2024 MAGA on the other side, writing that they have been trying to incite a civil war for some time. In the comments to her post, someone wrote: Remember to take the FBI out. 2022 The New York Times Company Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard criticized the FBIs raid on Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence, saying it changed the country that we grew up in. Now, whatever your views are on Donald Trump, there is no denying that the unprecedented raid on his Palm Beach home earlier this week has set our country on a dangerous new course, and theres no turning back. The FBIs raid on Mar-a-Lago changed the country that we grew up in, Gabbard said Friday in an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight. Trump was the first person to announce the FBIs raid on his residence Monday, saying, These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. A federal judge unsealed the search warrant Friday. A list of items taken from Mar-a-Lago shows the FBI recovered eleven sets of classified documents, including some top-secret documents, roughly 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note, the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, and information about French president Emanuel Macron. We grew up believing that, Hey, our government will apply the law equally to all Americans, whether youre a Republican or a Democrat. Were seeing more and more that, that country no longer exists. Law enforcement at the highest levels of government, whether its the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and now even the IRS have been weaponized to target the political opponents of the uni-party, the permanent Washington and the Biden regime, Gabbard continued. Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to the criticism of the FBI following the raid, saying, Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. Attorney General Merrick Garland has already issued a stark warning to anyone who dares to disagree with these tactics that are all hallmarks of a dictatorship, Gabbard said. Story continues So, you are not allowed to disagree with the FBI. That is the new message. The security state will label you an extremist for daring to challenge or disagree with the regimes weaponization of law enforcement, she added. More from National Review Authorities responded to Logan Airport Friday night after they say two airplanes collided at a low rate of speed. A Massachusetts Port Authority spokesperson said two Delta aircrafts struck each other while both were at gates. One airplane pushed back slowly from its gate and struck another Delta aircrafts wing, according to transportation officials. No passengers on either plane were injured. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Delta Airlines sent along the following statement: We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay in their travel plans following minor, low-speed contact of Delta flight 458 with Endeavor flight 5488, operating as a Delta Connection. All customers and crew members deplaned safely and normally. Customers will be re-accommodated on [a] new aircraft onto their destinations. The FAA is investigating the incident. Authorities responded to Logan Airport Friday night after they say two airplanes collided at a low rate of speed. Photo Courtesy of Samantha Butler. Authorities responded to Logan Airport Friday night after they say two airplanes collided at a low rate of speed. Photo Courtesy of Samantha Butler. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW AFP The United Nations said Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN chief Antonio Guterres would meet this week in Ukraine. The announcement came as Russia claimed massive explosions at a military facility on the Kremlin-controlled Crimean peninsula that also damaged electrical power infrastructure were the result of "sabotage". Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, accused the United States of trying to drag out the conflict, accusing Washington of putting Ukrainians in the firing line and supplying Kyiv with heavy weapons. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February has killed thousands, displaced millions from their homes and ravaged swathes of the country. It has also blocked key grain exports, although ships have now started to set sail from the war-torn country after a landmark deal brokered by the UN and Turkey last month to relieve the global food crisis. Guterres, Erdogan and Zelensky will meet in the western city of Lviv on Thursday to discuss "the need for a political solution to this conflict," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The UN chief will then visit the Ukrainian port city of Odessa -- one of three ports being used in the recent deal to export grain -- before heading to Turkey. - 'Catastrophe' - Early on Tuesday, huge fireballs erupted at a military site in Crimea where ammunition was temporarily being stored and clouds of black smoke billowed into the air, images posted on social media showed. "As a result of an act of sabotage, a military storage facility near the village of Dzhankoi was damaged," Russian news agencies reported the defence ministry as saying. The blasts -- caused by a fire that led ammunition to detonate -- damaged civilian infrastructure, "including power lines, a power plant, a railway track" and residential buildings, the ministry said. The explosions come one week after at least one person was killed in similar explosions at a Russian military airbase in Crimea. Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for either incident, but senior officials and the military have implied Ukrainian involvement. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said the explosions had likely damaged infrastructure supplying power generated at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to Crimea. Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over a series of strikes this month on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine -- Europe's largest. Zelensky warned Monday that a "catastrophe" at the Russian-controlled facility would threaten the whole of Europe. UN spokesman Dujarric said he had "no doubt that the issue of the nuclear power plant" would be raised at Thursday's meeting. - 'Cannon fodder' - Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has used the Black Sea region as a staging ground for its invasion. Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, anticipating little military resistance and hoping for a lightning takeover that would topple the government in Kyiv within hours. But after failing to capture the capital, its forces have become entrenched in a war of attrition along a sprawling front line in the east and south. "The situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict," Putin said Tuesday. Washington is "using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder", he added. Washington has provided key backing to Kyiv, in particular supplying long-range, precision artillery that has allowed Ukraine to strike Russian supply facilities deep inside Moscow-controlled territory. Meanwhile, in the eastern Donbas region, which has seen most of the fighting, Ukraine said Russia had launched a "massive" offensive from an oil refinery in the recently captured city of Lysychansk in Lugansk province. Ukraine's presidency said one woman was killed in Donetsk province, which together with Lugansk makes up the industrial Donbas region now mostly controlled by Russian forces. - 'Symbols of repressions' - The first UN-chartered vessel departed on Tuesday from the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi and will head to Djibouti "for delivery to Ethiopia", Ukraine's infrastructure ministry said. The MV Brave Commander, carrying 23,000 tonnes of wheat, was able to leave after the deal last month lifted a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports, establishing safe corridors through the naval mines laid by Kyiv. Ukraine has said it is hoping two or three similar shipments will follow soon. Russia's invasion has driven an economic, political and cultural wedge between Moscow and European capitals. The prime minister of former Soviet Estonia said Tuesday her government had decided to remove all Soviet-era monuments from public spaces in the country. "As symbols of repressions and Soviet occupation, they have become a source of increasing social tensions," Kaja Kallas wrote on Twitter. That follows similar trends in Poland and Ukraine, which began tearing down statues of Soviet leaders in earnest after Russia-backed separatists captured swathes of the east in 2014. Finland, meanwhile, announced plans to limit Russian tourist visas to 10 percent of current volumes beginning in September, due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine. burs-ah/jj LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is 22 percentage points ahead of her rival Rishi Sunak in the contest to become the country's next prime minister, a poll of Conservative Party members by Opinium Research showed on Saturday. Among a sample of 450 party members who had decided how they would vote in the ongoing leadership election put Truss, who other polls have also shown to be the clear frontrunner, on 61%, with former finance minister Sunak on 39%, Opinium said. The roughly 200,000 members of the ruling Conservatives are voting to decide on a replacement for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who after a series of scandals and a parliamentary rebellion said in July he would step down once the party chooses a replacement. The overall sample size, including those who did not express a voting preference, was 570. Less than a third of them, 29%, said they had already voted and a further 47% said they had made up their mind. Only 19% said they might still change their mind. The leadership vote is taking place by postal ballot, with a winner due to be announced on Sept. 5. The poll was conducted between Aug. 8 and Aug. 12. The poll shows that the top three reasons for supporting Truss were a dislike of Sunak, the perception that she was more trustworthy, and that she had remained loyal to Johnson. Sunak's resignation helped trigger Johnson's downfall. Sunak supporters said he was better on the economy and the most competent or intelligent of the two candidates. The pollster said they had observed 'Johnson nostalgia' among party members, pointing a finding that 63% would rather Johnson remained in charge rather than Truss take over. The preference for Johnson over Sunak was even stronger at 68%. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Alexander Smith) ROMAN PETRENKO SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST, 11:14 The Head of Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration Vitalii Kim and General Dmytro Marchenko, who is in charge of defending the region, announced "certain results" soon and promised to talk about that then. Source: Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote from Kim: "General Marchenko is in the hero city of Mykolaiv. We are working, there is enough work for everyone. What we do I can't and shouldn't say, because it interferes with. And I'm sorry, I will say that there will be no comments by Dmytro Oleksandrovych (Marchenko - ed.) in the near future, until certain results are obtained. We will see then." Background: At the end of July, it became known that Dmytro Marchenko, Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was in charge of defending the Mykolaiv region until April, returned to Mykolaiv Oblast to perform a number of tasks. Ukraine plans to liberate Kherson by the end of the year Major General Dmytro Marchenko. Hanna Maliar, Deputy Defence Minister, said that the military should not talk about the plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and journalists should not ask them about it. Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda! Monkeypox survivor, 20-year-old Camille Seaton, was one of the first people in Georgia with the virus. Courtesy of Camille Seaton A Georgia mother describes her experience after testing positive for monkeypox in July. Camille Seaton, 20, told Insider that it took her three and a half weeks to heal from the virus. She described her experience as being painful but noted that she is fully healing. Camille Seaton looked into her bathroom mirror and started noticing bumps appearing on her face. Seaton knew something was wrong, although she wasn't sure what yet, but decided to separate herself from her 3-year-old daughter just to be safe. "When you first see the bumps appear, that's your warning," Seaton, 20, told Insider. "The first night when the bumps started to appear, I was vomiting and had diarrhea I was just like, 'Okay, something's wrong.' So I took [my daughter], not knowing what it was, to my family's house." Over the next few days, Seaton's symptoms progressed, and it wasn't the typical breakout like she thought. She started realizing that the bumps were turning white and into blisters, describing it as looking like "cereal holes on my face." The Georgia resident checked into the emergency room in mid-July, where the doctors swabbed her lesions. Forty-eight hours later, she was informed that she had the monkeypox virus, an illness that can trigger flu-like symptoms and infectious pus-filled boils that spread throughout the body. "It was itching. It was joint pain. It was excruciating headaches. It was fainting. I was in pain literally all of the time," she said. "You have to go through so much before you even start the healing process." "I actually had a Monkeypox [lesion] in my ear, and I can't hear out of my right ear [canal] really," she added. As of August 12, there have been over 11,000 monkeypox cases in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Public health officials are still grappling with a scarcity of vaccines and rampant misinformation. Seaton's experience is a cautionary tale of navigating an already-strained health care system and using social media to combat gossip. Story continues 'I couldn't pretty much handle anything' Photo shows Day 6 after Camille Seaton, 20, contracted the monkeypox virus. Photo shows Day 6 after Camille Seaton, 20, contracted the monkeypox virus.Courtesy of Camille Seaton Being that Seaton was one of the first people in her state to contract the virus, she said she was contacted by the CDC and told them about her experience. Specifically, in the Peach State, there are 851 cases of the virus, and health officials say infections are rising. In wake of the virus trending upward, the White House declared the outbreak a public health emergency last week. Isolation in her townhouse was lonely for Seaton, especially without her daughter. Experts say that the infection can last between two and four weeks and urge people to prioritize staying at home. However, during the isolation period, Seaton heavily relied on ordering her food and other necessities through delivery apps. She said that about a week and a half after she contracted the virus, the lesions appeared all over her body. "I couldn't wash dishes. I couldn't fold my clothes," she said. "I couldn't pretty much handle anything. It really hurt." To manage her pain, she told Insider that she was mostly taking Tylenol. Limited treatments are available for the monkeypox virus, and Seaton said that she wasn't offered additional treatment. The Department of Health and Human Services plans to make 1.1 million vials of the monkeypox vaccine available, according to a statement. As of August 12, there have been roughly 630,000 vials sent to states around the country, the agency said. And in Georgia, about 27,000 vaccines have been released to the state, which has a population of over 10 million. "You don't find comfort in knowing that there's no cure and that nobody knows what to do for you and that you have to sit there in pain and just literally wait it out and suffer," Seaton said. She started to use TikTok as an outlet to educate others on the virus and continued to update her audience on her progress. "As the cases grow, I just want everybody to know that they're not alone and I'm here to help them, and I'm here to spread information about what I went through so that maybe they can find comfort in having it in general," she said. Seaton took a hit financially after being out of work for weeks. For Seaton, it took three and a half weeks to recover. Once her scabs started to fully heal and she was no longer considered contagious, she worked overtime to disinfect her home to prepare to reconnect with her child. "That's me bleaching the bathroom. I'm cleaning the walls," she said. I'm mopping. I'm disinfecting the counters. I'm putting Lysol on all the door handles and on everything that we touch." Camille and her 3-year-old daughter. Courtesy of Camille Seaton Seaton's first day back to work was on Tuesday at a gas station, where she believes she contracted the virus due to handling money and then touching her face. She said that she has been recognized by strangers because of her online content. And in addition to some negative backlash as well as death threats online, she has received intimidating calls at her job. "The person on the phone was just saying, 'Why are you at work, and you have Monkeypox? Why the f--k would you do that?" she said. "People on the internet, they're saying, 'Ew, why are you spreading it?' They're thinking I'm the one who's spreading it all across Georgia." She added that people have also baselessly accused her of contracting the virus through sex with a gay man a falsehood as experts have explained that anyone could contract the virus, and transmission is not restricted to intercourse. The virus could spread simply through skin-to-skin contact and fabrics. And on top of the physical healing from the monkeypox virus, Seaton had to recover financially as well. The mother said she wasn't sure if her daughter was going to have a home to come back to after being out of work for about a month. She created a GoFundMe for support and has raised nearly $18,000 so far. Seaton said she not only plans to help herself but others as well. "I really want to give back to a lot of hospitals that are treating people with Monkeypox and Monkeypox organizations in general," she said. "The proceeds are going to go to my baby and medical bills that I've to pay. I was able to pay rent. It's just overwhelming the amount of support that I've been getting." Read the original article on Insider We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse. So should Tietto Minerals (ASX:TIE) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'. See our latest analysis for Tietto Minerals When Might Tietto Minerals Run Out Of Money? A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. As at December 2021, Tietto Minerals had cash of AU$47m and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$57m. So it had a cash runway of approximately 10 months from December 2021. That's quite a short cash runway, indicating the company must either reduce its annual cash burn or replenish its cash. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years. How Is Tietto Minerals' Cash Burn Changing Over Time? Because Tietto Minerals isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. Remarkably, it actually increased its cash burn by 282% in the last year. With that kind of spending growth its cash runway will shorten quickly, as it simultaneously uses its cash while increasing the burn rate. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Tietto Minerals due to its lack of significant operating revenues. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth. Can Tietto Minerals Raise More Cash Easily? Given its cash burn trajectory, Tietto Minerals shareholders should already be thinking about how easy it might be for it to raise further cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations. Tietto Minerals' cash burn of AU$57m is about 12% of its AU$489m market capitalisation. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted. Is Tietto Minerals' Cash Burn A Worry? Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Tietto Minerals' cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. Looking at the factors mentioned in this short report, we do think that its cash burn is a bit risky, and it does make us slightly nervous about the stock. Its important for readers to be cognizant of the risks that can affect the company's operations, and we've picked out 4 warning signs for Tietto Minerals that investors should know when investing in the stock. Of course Tietto Minerals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Join A Paid User Research Session Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here Aug. 13In light of recent controversy surrounding the banning of books in Wyoming public school districts, as well as school districts around the U.S., the Wyoming Tribune Eagle spoke with a selection of Wyoming authors to weigh with their perspectives and recommendations for "banned book" reading. Craig Johnson Author of: the "Longmire" book series Once mostly known well around the state of Wyoming, Johnson has gained significant traction since Netflix optioned his 21-book series that follows the adventures of Sheriff Walt Longmire into one long-running series, titled "Longmire." "Obviously, as an author, I'm against it," Johnson said in an interview with the WTE. "The thing that I laugh about is, I mean, just for the fun of it, I looked up to see what was the most banned book in the United States, and it was '1984,' the George Orwell book, for goodness sake. "I'm always consistently amazed by this, because I guess my first question to these people that are trying to ban these books would be, 'Have they read them?" In "1984," Orwell presents a a totalitarian society controlled by a fascist government through the limiting of information, be it conveyed through speech, literature, historical documentation and even, thought. For those who haven't read the novel, or don't quite remember the plot, the main character gets wise to the injustices of the society through the acquisition of a book that reveals the true purpose and methods of control utilized by the governing party. Among other banned books that flabbergast Johnson are the works of John Steinbeck, "Of Mice and Men" and "Grapes of Wrath." The latter of the two was heavily criticized for what was identified as promoting socialist ideals. Johnson recalls visiting Monterey College, where the school erected the National Steinbeck Center in the author's name. Every time he walks into the well appointed building, he remembers that nearby is the town square, where residents burned copies of "Grapes of Wrath" when it was originally released. Story continues "One of the great things is that young people are extraordinarily intellectually resilient and extraordinarily rebellious," he said. "The more you tell them you can't read there's more they're gonna want to. I remember as a kid, all the things that I wasn't supposed to be involved in or supposed to be doing or whatever, those are the first things I was drawn to." Johnson's most recent book in the Longmire series, "Daughter of the Morning Star," received backlash due to the subject matter focusing on the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women. One reader wrote and expressed his disappointment that Johnson was getting "too political." The reader did eventually read the book and cited it as one of his favorites in the series upon completion. Books are meant to have a message, whether that reader agrees the with message or not. So Johnson is avoiding becoming "airport fodder" paperbacks lining airport book stands by ensuring each of his books makes a statement. He specifically puts Walt Longmire in situations that Wyomingites are familiar with. "I tend to refer to it as the 'Burr-Under-the-Saddle-Blanket School of Literature.' You have a sense of injustice when there's something wrong or there's something that you think needs to be addressed," Johnson said. "I've discovered that that's one of the best fuels for me as a writer when I'm a little disgruntled about something. "That burr under the saddle blanket is there, I can feel it and the horse can feel it, neither of us like it, so I'm gonna have to deal with it." Suggested reading: If it's banned, read it. Final comment: "Read things that are going to get you out of your comfort zone or things that you normally wouldn't pick up. Read about the things that are going to stretch you as a human being, things that are gonna be of interest to you. You may be surprised at what you'll gain." Mark Spragg Author of: "Where Rivers Change Direction," "The Fruit of Stone," "An Unfinished Life," "Bone Fire" Spragg feels strongly about the issue of banning books. "It seems to me it's about control, and always under the guise of being somebody's savior," Spragg said. "The savior from sexual input, the language input, the war scenes, whatever. It's been interesting looking over these lists of (top banned) books." Prior to his interview, Spragg sent a document briefly compiling his stance on the matter of banning books, particularly in Wyoming. "Banning books is, more accurately, an effort to ban thought, opinion, and perspective," the statement reads. "I believe that those who urge the banning do so because they are fearful that their point of view will be discovered as untenable, disgraceful, able to exist only in an intellectual or religious vacuum. "Censorship is the tool of dictators, of bullies, of cults, of the intellectually timid." The majority of it is dumbfounding to him. In light of recent events, Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" is as important as ever, and restricting "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee seems "blatantly racist." Book banning is an act that has occurred since mankind began writing and documenting history. He references how the Visigoths sacked Rome in the year 410 and burned every book in the empire. It's one of the prominent book burnings among other instances in history ancient china, the Bolshevik revolution and Nazi Germany. Raised in Cody, Spragg has always thought of Wyoming as a place where though he "might not always agree with his neighbors," but it was never his right to tell them "what they could think, believe, or read." Suggested reading: "A Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley; "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck; "The Handmaid's Tale," by Margaret Atwood; "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain; "Beloved," by Toni Morrison; "The Color Purple," by Alice Walker; "The Satanic Verses," by Salman Rushdie; "Slaughterhouse Five," by Kurt Vonnegut; "The Awakening," by Kate Chopin. Final comment: "I think people are more fearful. Fear that's the root of banning books. You're fearing another voice in the world, another opinion, another perspective, and you find that somehow threatening because it's satisfying to make somebody that you aren't, the other. "The solipsism of it is what always startles me. If you don't like to go swimming, don't drain the pools. There are other people that want to get in the water." Kathleen O'Neil Gear and W. Michael Gear Authors of: The "People" series The Gears, a longtime husband and wife writing duo, echoed the majority of Spragg's beliefs on the subject. As authors, they've had a number of their books challenged and even banned in school districts. In their interview with the WWTE, they wanted to approach the subject as anthropologists, an occupation in which they've both received awards for their work. Where, they with Spragg is that the country is currently seeing a revitalization of book banning and in an attempt to control the flow of creative information due to increased political polarization from both extremist conservatives and extremist liberals. "What we're seeing out there is what anthropologists call a 'revitalization movement,'" O'Neil Gear said. "What that means is, when people feel threatened, because of disease or violence or warfare, what they tend to do is, any idea that is new becomes threatening, and books that represent those ideas are the scapegoats. Therefore, they start banning books." There's the classics listed previously in the article, but then there's newer works, like the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, that have faced pushback in the school system. The Gears go as far to say that the school system has struggled in recent years to push students to think critically about the works they're reading. It spawns from the fear brought on by a changing world, the idea that your truth is the only truth, and no other's belief is viable. However, there is one point where they might disagree with Spragg on the use of banning books as a method for acquiring power. The method of revising history and limiting the creative work of the past is nothing new, as O'Neil Gear argues that history has always been written by the conquerers. When more information is discovered about the past, and as we come to understand past events through a more enlightened lens, then those events need to be reframed. "It's not always just a power struggle, it's about getting it right," O'Neil Gear said. "Mike and I have been doing archaeology for most of our lives, and every day we find something revises our understanding of America. You have to revise that understanding." When it comes to the Gear's "People" series, of which there are over 20 entires spanning since 1990, the series focuses entirely on Native American culture. They've received pushback for their "mythological" depictions of Native American beliefs in "Children of the Dawnland" and "People of the Wolf." Their other work, "Alpha Enigma," was described as being censored by Penguin Random House for insensitive language the use of the word "skinny," describing a small hills as looking like "boils" or saying that a character has a "hispanic accent." Mike Gear estimates that every book they've released has garnered some sort of pushback, and the reality is that authors simply have to get used to upsetting someone, no matter how innocent a reason. "The first time it was so shocking and concerning," Gear said about their first disgruntled reader. "That I answered the door with with the .45 caliber pistol in my waistband and Kathy was around the corner with her nine millimeter. It was that frightening." Suggested reading: "Fahrenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury; "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee; "Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck; "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain Final comment: "This has a religious component in the anthropological sense. People who want to ban books believe that they have ultimate truth that they have revelation, whether it be religious or political," O'Neil Gear said. "When you have ultimate truth then it's very easy for you to decide what other people need and what they should be doing." Tim Sandlin Author of: "Skipped Parts," "Sorrow Floats," "Sex and Sunsets" and "Social Blunders." On the other end of the argument, Sandlin is all for the banning of books. Heck, he's hoping some of his work get banned some time soon. "Well, I think it's horrific for the librarians and the teachers that have to put up with the abuse. Small-town communities, they get ripped in half by these things," Sandlin said over the phone. "From the point of view of the writers and the kids, I disagree with the other writers, I think it's great." While Sandlin manages to pull a good amount of humor from his observations, there's some truth to this idea the fastest way to get a book on the best seller list is to get it banned. At one point it was the classics, like "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Catch 22," which Sandlin gravitates towards for their humor, that were taking the majority of the blame. Even "The Lorax," by Dr. Seuss, garnered pushback in the Northwest because of its pro-environment, anti-logger message, Sandlin said. He also jokes that some of the stories from the Old Testament of the Bible would be banned in schools if he had written them today. Literature that focuses on experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as other ethnic perspectives of the American life, are under fire as of late. "I never heard of a straight kid who decided to be gay because he read one of those books," Sandlin said. "Maybe (these people banning books) don't want the gay kids to have to think that they're not alone and that everybody's against them, but it's sure not turning straight kids gay." The effect on the community is a much more serious matter. "For teachers and librarians that have to take the brunt of this stuff, then it's a bad thing," he said. "You know, book burning throughout history has been a bad sign, it means there's certain people trying to control what you think and what the kids think. "Even though the writers are gonna make a lot of money if they get on the list, it's still not something I would encourage." Suggested reading: "The Lorax," by Dr. Seuss; "Slaughterhouse Five," by Kurt Vonnegut; "Catch 22," by Joseph Heller; "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain. Final comment: "If you tell a bunch of high school kids it's illegal to eat an eggplant, the eggplant sales will just boom." Nina McConigley Author of: "Cowboys and East Indians" McConigley, an award-winning author and writing professor at the University of Wyoming, offers not only the perspective of an author, but as a teacher. She regularly pushes her students to experience literature that they might not agree with. In her class, which focuses on non-traditional narratives of the American West, she requires students to read "The Laramie Project," a play published in 2001 that is centered around events following the torture and murder of UW student Matthew Shepard in 1998. "Brokeback Mountain," by Annie Proux, which explores the sexual relationship between two Wyoming cowboys in the 1960s and '70s, is also in the curriculum. In the past, students have refused to read these two works, opting instead to take a failing grade on the assignments associated with them. Perspectives that conflict with one's pre-set beliefs are often the most powerful. "I heard a lot about the Vietnam War, but the first time I ever really understood the Vietnam War was what I read 'The Things They Carried' by Tim O'Brien," McConigley said. "You understand it, and the perspective is completely different from all the facts and figures in history that I've ever read about the Vietnam War. "I myself write about race in Wyoming and I've gotten so many book clubs in Wyoming where people are like, 'I never thought about race in Wyoming." The one that confuses her is the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel "Maus," by Holocaust survivor Art Spiegelman, which depicts a rendition of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany through a struggle between cats and mice. Students, in her experience, have loved the book, but it was one of the books most recently banned in school systems. In a perfect scenario, challenging books spawn discourse between students. In a sense, it's part of the teachers responsibility to teach the literature in a fashion that clarifies the message of the book. Suggested reading: Maus I and II, by Art Spiegelman; "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison; "1984," by George Orwell; "Captain Underpants," by Dav Pilkey. Final comment: "It's people's fear of the unfamiliar. It's people's fear of the unknown. I see that so much as a teacher. I've had students who are resistant to those kinds of books and then they're like, 'Oh, actually, this is amazing.' They connect completely with something that they didn't think they would." Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_. Virginias community colleges on Aug. 11 announced the launch of a Virginia Infrastructure Academy to address the needs within the infrastructure industries. The availability of a trained, skilled workforce continues to stand out as a significant challenge to infrastructure construction and maintenance industries in the commonwealth, Sharon Morrissey, interim chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, said in a news release. Recent data revealed companies are struggling to fill more than 100,000 infrastructure jobs in Virginia. VCCS seeks to address the problem by coordinating existing infrastructure-related courses across all 23 of Virginias community colleges, with a goal to produce 35,000 skilled and credentialed workers across those industries in the next five years. The programs include heavy construction and maintenance; a focus on road, bridge and tunnel construction; broadband expansion; and on-shore and off-shore wind and solar energy infrastructure and distribution. This is vital to the success of many Virginia businesses, Virginia Secretary of Labor George Bryan Slater said in a news release. Our infrastructure workforce demands are growing daily, and initiatives like the Virginia Infrastructure Academy will help ensure that skilled and qualified people are available for hire, leading to a best-in-class workforce in Virginia. The Lumina Foundation is paying the academys start-up costs with a two-year $400,000 grant, according to a release. The money supports an initial review of existing infrastructure programs across Virginias 23 community colleges, a plan for initial program growth through in-person and virtual offerings, and outreach to potential students. Jason Ferguson, associate vice president of professional and career studies at Lynchburgs Central Virginia Community College, said its a matter of getting the information out to students. For CVCC, we have several programs that fall into this area such as electrical, welding, maintenance, solar and other renewable energies, electrical vehicles and related programs there, Ferguson said. Ferguson said CVCC will continue to try to meet the needs of businesses as they are looking toward the future to address any needs businesses may have. As businesses let us know what those needs are, then its our job to try to figure out how to meet those training needs, Ferguson said. With the influx of animals coming in the doors and the challenges surrounding accessing high volume spaying and neutering, Dr. Elizabeth Farrington couldnt have come to MHS at a better time. Dr. Farrington brings expertise in many different areas of shelter medicine including behavior, workflow, infectious disease control, medical management, safety, staff and volunteer training programs, and population medicine. She has hit the ground running since starting in mid-July and thanks to our partnership with Heartland Pet Hospital, who has allowed MHS to utilize their surgery space, Dr. Farrington has spayed or neutered over 150 animals, performed an entropion eye surgery and completed an amputation on Beck, a kitten who came to MHS with severe nerve damage in his front leg. She also performed immediate medical care for the nine dogs, nine cats, and two sugar gliders that came to MHS last week after being confiscated from a home by Council Bluffs Animal Control. Thanks to Dr. Farrington and our wonderful medical care team, these animals are now getting the much needed food, soft bedding and love they deserve. Dr. Farrington is a Des Moines, Iowa native, and found her calling upon graduating from Iowa State University in 2011 as a shelter veterinarian. She has lived in and served the Omaha, Nebraska community for the last 11 years at Nebraska Humane Society. While Dr. Farrington has greatly enjoyed caring for the 25,000-plus animals that come through NHS doors each year, she is excited to start a brand-new veterinary program as the inaugural Head Veterinarian here at MHS. In addition to her work as a shelter veterinarian, Dr. Farrington teaches an elective course on population medicine to first- and second-year veterinary students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine. She also frequently does relief work at the local veterinary emergency clinic. Dr. Farrington enjoys giving back to her community and is active in her sons elementary school Parent Teacher Association. She currently serves as Chair of the Nebraska Board of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery. The addition of a veterinarian to the team opens many doors for MHS and we are all very excited to see where the future takes us. Thank you to our community for supporting our growth and continued care of the deserving animals that come to MHS to find their second chance. MHS Pets of the Week brought to you by Sherry G. Bills-Taylor: Missy is a 7-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair who, despite her grumpy appearance, is a very affectionate cat who wants all your love. She is looking for a home where she can live the couch potato lifestyle. Juniper is a 2-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair that is ready to find her Dagwood. She is very friendly, affectionate and has successfully lived with other cats. Marty is a 10-year-old male domestic shorthair who is shy and independent. He likes finding a quiet place to hunker down and relax and would rather sit next to you on the couch than in your lap. You can visit these animals at the shelter on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekdays noon to 6 p.m. MHS currently has an adoption special running where cats over 1 year old that have been here for 30-plus days have an adoption fee of just $35. Dogs following the same age and length of stay requirements have an adoption fee of just $50. View all our adoptable pets online by visiting our website at midlandshumanesociety.org/adopt. A man accused of taking an off-duty police officers gun and firing it during an attempted bank robbery in Omaha was taken into custody. Shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Omaha police responded to a help an officer call at the First National Bank branch, 5006 Ames Ave. They found that a 41-year-old man had handed a bank employee a note indicating that there was a bomb in the building. The man did not get any money. As he was heading outside, he encountered an off-duty officer who was working at the bank, and the two began to struggle. The man took the officers gun and fired one round before the officer took the gun back. No one was injured. Police said officers were told that the man had broken into a home not far from the bank near 49th Street and Fowler Avenue. Officers and a police K-9 entered the home and took the man into custody. The officers later learned that the man had tried to enter another home before breaking into the house where he was captured. The man initially was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center but has been moved to the Douglas County Jail, police said Thursday. The man was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, assault of an officer, possession of a gun by a prohibited person, burglary, attempted burglary and two counts of false imprisonment. The man has a lengthy criminal history, including felony convictions for robbery in 2014 and 2020. WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that it will indefinitely extend the deadline for producers to return the pre-filled applications for Phase One of the Emergency Relief Program. A new deadline will be announced after the last Phase One applications are mailed and provide at least 30 days following the mailing. Continuing to build on the initial mailing of pre-filled applications in May, the Department will continue using existing information in USDA and crop insurance files to send additional pre-filled applications starting this week for potentially eligible Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program participants, USDA said in a press release. Once applications from eligible NAP producers are returned, these producers are expected to receive about $105 million in ERP payments for eligible losses from 2020 and 2021 disasters. USDAs Farm Service Agency is now mailing pre-filled applications to NAP producers through ERP to offset crop yield and value losses. To receive a relief payment, producers should complete and return the applications by announced deadlines. Producers are expected to receive assistance direct deposited into their bank account within three business days after they sign and return the pre-filled application to the FSA county office and the county office enters the application into the system. While most crop insurance customers who may be eligible for ERP Phase One received the pre-filled applications in May, there are some who should expect to receive a form in August including: Producers who had an eligible loss in 2020 that had been recorded in the crop insurance records as a 2019 loss (e.g., prevented planting claims). Producers with policies that required additional information before being able to calculate an indemnity for 2021 losses (producers with 2020 losses would have already received that application). Policies that required additional information include Supplemental Coverage Option, Enhanced Coverage Option, Stacked Income Protection Plan, Margin Protection Plan or Area Risk Protection Insurance. Producers without risk management coverage through crop insurance or NAP and those with shallow losses may be covered by the forthcoming Phase Two of ERP. Catastrophic natural disaster events in 2020 and 2021 decimated crops, livestock and farm infrastructure from coast to coast, making it critically important to provide assistance quickly and reduce the paperwork burden on these farmers and ranchers recovering from disaster, said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. I was in North Dakota a few weeks ago and received feedback on how well the streamlined livestock and crop disaster programs are working for our producers and front-line employees. Like any new process, there are some kinks to work out, but we are addressing them and will use the streamlined process to keep the red tape to a minimum. USDA estimates that Phase One ERP benefits will reach more than 5,200 producers with NAP coverage for eligible 2020 and 2021 crop losses. This emergency relief complements ERP assistance recently provided to more than 162,000 producers who had received crop insurance indemnities for qualifying losses. Nearly 13,000 additional crop insurance customers will also receive pre-filled applications in August to cover eligible 2020 losses described above and for producers with more complex policies where indemnities could not be calculated for 2021 previously. ERP and the previously announced Emergency Livestock Relief Program are funded by the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021. The law provided $10 billion to help agricultural producers impacted by wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, winter storms and other eligible disasters experienced during calendar years 2020 and 2021. Overall, USDA has already quickly disbursed over $6 billion dollars under ERP and ELRP with reduced paperwork for the producer and field offices. For more information on ERP eligibility, program provisions for socially disadvantaged or historically underserved producers as well as frequently asked questions, NAP applicants can go to fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/emergency-relief/index. For more information on USDA disaster assistance, including the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet and Farm Loan Discovery Tool, go to farmers.gov. For FSA and Natural Resources Conservation Service programs, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center. For assistance with a crop insurance claim, producers and landowners should contact their crop insurance agent. On July 18, the European Commission signed the new Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy with Azerbaijan to increase imports of Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe by at least 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually by 2027 (Ec.europa.eu, July 18). Today we are opening a new chapter in energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, a key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku (Ec.europa.eu, July 18). Issues of energy security today are more important than ever before said President Aliyev, whose country exported 8.1 bcm to the EU in 2021the first year after the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor, the pipeline through which Azerbaijani gas is carried to the European market. EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson added that Azerbaijan is expected to deliver an extra 4 bcm of gas to the European Union this year (bringing the total to 12 bcm) (Ec.europa.eu, July 18). For President von der Leyen, This will help compensate for cuts in supplies of Russian gas and contribute significantly to Europes security of supply (President.az, July 18). Along with the gas exports, the two partners expressed interest also in promoting cooperation in the areas of renewable energy and connectivity. The Azerbaijani territories liberated from the Armenian occupation in 2020 have significantly increased Azerbaijans renewable energy potential. For President Aliyev, In the liberated areas of Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur, the potential of solar and wind power plants is 9,200 megawatts, and the potential of wind in the Caspian Sea is 157 gigawatts (President.az, July 18). In the agreement, cooperation in renewable energy is mentioned as a key pillar for future EU-Azerbaijani relations. President von der Leyen, affirming this potential, stated, Gradually, Azerbaijan will evolve from being a fossil fuel supplier to becoming a very reliable and prominent renewable energy partner to the European Union (President.az, July 18). Both sides also discussed deepening cooperation in the connectivity sector. Against the backdrop of disruptions in trans-Russia transportation routes connecting Asia and Europe, the key role of the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route (TITR), or Middle Corridor, is rising exponentially. In her speech, President von der Leyen confirmed the EUs interest in building connections with Central Asia and beyond through this transportation passageway. The Middle Corridor holds the potential to also become an alternative energy route between Central Asia and Europe if efforts to bring Turkmenistani and Kazakhstani hydrocarbon resources to the western side of the Caspian Sea succeed (Haqqin.az, July 19). Russias temporary block it recently imposed on the transit of Kazakhstani oil through its territory to Europe reaffirmed the increased salience of the TITR initiatives. In general, the new deal between Baku and Brussels reaffirmed Europes interest in the South Caucasus, which has significantly grown since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This is primarily related to the fact that the EU is going through a critical energy crisis, and the South Caucasus appears to be an alternative supplier and a gate to Central Asias massive energy potential. Azerbaijan has proven itself to be a reliable partner in this field having consistently exported oil and gas to the European market for several years, despite the challenges posed by some outside forces. Azerbaijans standout as an alternative for the EU - in the context of Russian efforts to leverage its energy resources as seemingly the only effective instrument for pressure against the Westis seen by some as a potential source of conflict between Baku and Moscow. Azerbaijani gas plays a critical role in the energy security of some Eastern European countries whose gas demand is relatively low, and as such, Azerbaijani gas can be instrumental in reducing dependency on the Kremlin. For example, Bulgaria, the Black Sea country to which Russia halted gas supply in response to Sofias refusal to pay for energy in rubles, seeks to increase its import of Azerbaijani gas. To this end, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov paid a visit to Baku three days after the signing of the EU-Azerbaijani energy deal (President.az, July 21). In early July 2022, following the opening ceremony for the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov declared, Gas exports to Bulgaria in JanuaryJune 2022 amounted to 160 mcm [million cubic meters], and it is planned to increase that to 600 mcm by the end of the year. Azerbaijan has been exporting 2.6 mcm of natural gas to Bulgaria every day since July 1. The IGB connects Bulgaria with the Southern Gas Corridor (Caspianbarrel.org, July 8). Serbia, which is fully dependent on Russian gas, is another regional country that is currently in talks with Azerbaijan and hopes to import Azerbaijani gas by 2023 (Caspianbarrel.org, February 8; Caliber.az, July 13). The fact that Azerbaijani gas exports cannot completely substitute Russian exports to the EU, which, until recently, amounted to more than 150 bcm annually, has so far helped assuage concerns in Moscow. We never planned to replace Russian gas. This is not possible due to incomparability of volumes, President Aliyev said at a conference in April 2022, answering a question about the possibility of such competition between the Kremlin and Baku (Trend, April 29). Aliyev added, Our energy policy has never raised questions in Russia. We have never had any questions or discussions in any form. I am sure that this will not have a negative impact on our relations with Russia. However, as Azerbaijans role in Europes energy security expands, this situation is likely to change in the future. As such, a shift in relations between Baku and Moscow will necessitate the pursuit of more cautious foreign policy on Azerbaijans part and stronger support from the EU in Bakus efforts to effectively handle the challenges that this new strategic partnership in energy is sure to bring. By The Jamestown Foundation More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) dropped 8.87% from June to July. After nickel prices hit a bottom mid-July, they followed the base metal trend upward. By the beginning of August, however, the rebound had faltered, and prices resumed their descent. Both last months increases and this months declines were extremely narrow. For that reason, prices appear consolidated within their current range, leaving no clear direction for the coming month. Indonesia Plans New Export Taxes Indonesia continues to pursue value adds to its nickel reserves. The hope is that doing so will aid in advancing its stainless steel and battery production capacity through export taxes on raw materials. Back in 2020, Indonesia banned the export of nickel ore entirely. The aim was to pressure its mining sector to invest in processing capacity. That move forced China to replace ore imports with nickel pig iron and ferro-nickel in an effort to feed its stainless steel mills. Now, Indonesia plans to add an export tax to both of those products. This should provide the funding to allow for additional investment in its steel supply chain. Since 2021, Indonesia alone accounts for roughly half of all global nickel production. Historic Impact on Nickel Prices The first export ban on nickel ore occurred in January 2014. Following the enforcement of that ban, nickel prices rose more than 39% throughout the first five months of that year. Eventually, market dynamics pushed prices lower once again. This dramatic price increase occurred despite weak economic conditions throughout parts of the world, including parts of the EU. For Indonesia, the ban had the intended effect as numerous companies in both Indonesia and China soon announced plans to construct NPI facilities on the archipelago. Outside of Indonesia, the ban forced countries like China, Australia, and Japan to pursue other sources of the metal. Before long, companies had secured direct shipping ore (DSO) from places like the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. Indonesia substantially eased the ban in early 2017. This was due to several factors. One was a 2016 budget deficit. Another related to just how successful the ban was spurring the development of nine additional nickel smelters (up from two). Ultimately, this led to a nearly 19% decline in nickel prices during the first half of 2017 alone. Future Nickel Prices and Chinese Imports Despite previously-stated intentions to reimpose the export ban in 2022, Indonesia instead expedited its resumption to January 2020. The decision aimed to bolster the domestic processing sector, which saw rapid development during that time. The move also caused China to increase NPI and stainless steel projects in Indonesia, as it dramatically limited ore imports. Chinese imports of NPI from Indonesia also surged as a result. However, the bans reinstatement did not trigger the same impact in terms of price trend. This was likely due to the emerging pandemic. Instead, prices remained within an overall downtrend that did not hit bottom until late March of that year. Export Taxes on the Horizon The most recent announcement of potential export taxes comes as a result of the increased flow of NPI exports. It was supported by the forecasted increase in the number of domestic NPI and ferro-nickel processing facilities. In fact, the current estimate predicts an increase from 16 facilities to 29 over just five years. Still, a low-value product and limited exports of NPI will incentivize foreign investment in Indonesia as countries pursue battery and stainless steel manufacturing. It would also force importers like China to seek alternate sources for their supply. Related: Dodgy Demand Data? The Oil Price Collapse Conspiracy However, the announcement has yet to spark any noticeable increase in prices. Instead, nickel prices have continued downward since their most recent rally stalled back at the start of August. According to Septian Hario Seto, Deputy Coordinating Minister For Maritime and Investment Affairs, the tax could begin as early as Q3 2022. That said, no formal date has yet been announced. When it comes, the announcement alone will likely trigger a sharp uptick in Indonesian NPI exports as countries prepare to absorb the tax. Of course, any actual response from nickel prices will likely follow the decided levy date. European Commission Launches Anti-Circumvention Investigation On July 26, the European Commission launched a new anti-circumvention investigation. The subject was hot rolled stainless sheets and coils imported from Turkey, but which originated in Indonesia. EUROFER, the association of European steel producers, triggered the investigation over allegations that imports from Turkey violate the anti-dumping measures imposed against Indonesia. Indonesia remains home to several Chinese stainless steel manufacturers. At the moment, the case is expected to be concluded in the next nine months. Meanwhile, all imports of SSHR from Turkey will be registered with immediate effect as instructed by the EC. Could the U.S. Be Next? Thus far, President Biden has largely continued the protectionist approach against China set forth by his predecessor. While the outcome of the investigation and subsequent response to its findings remain undetermined, Europes actions could inspire the U.S. to follow suit. After all, anti-dumping has always been a politically favored agenda. Furthermore, the investigation could cause materials once destined for Europe to instead shift toward the U.S. market. If that happens, it could embolden U.S. mills to lobby for political action to protect domestic interests. By AG Metal Miner More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Crowds totaling more than 8,000 gathered under hazy skies at Lee Bird Field and at the Wild West Arena in North Platte, Nebraska, 35 years ago today as President Ronald Reagan came to town. Reagan, the first sitting president to visit western Nebraska since Harry Truman rode through on a train in 1950, was welcomed to North Platte with many cheers and little grumbling. Reagan said in a speech at the arena that "the picture is beginning to brighten for agriculture in America's heartland." Gov. Kay Orr invited Reagan to Nebraska to continue a series of speeches that he had been making on U.S. economic policy. Agriculture was one element of the president's Nebraska speech. "Land values have stabilized, crop prices are firming, and export markets are expanding," Reagan said. Another several hundred people had gathered earlier at the small airport terminal at Lee Bird Field, where Reagan landed aboard Air Force One at 11:30 a.m. Still others were invited to Reagan's luncheon with state business, farm and political leaders at Nebraska sculptor Ted Long's ranch northwest of town. Greeting the president, as he walked down the ramp, were Orr and her husband, Bill; Nebraska Rep. Virginia Smith of Chappell; North Platte Mayor Jim Kirkman; and a representative of the Lincoln County Board, who proclaimed it "Ronald Reagan Day" in the county. The president also was given a belt from the County Board. Reagan stopped in North Platte for two brief appearances before starting a long vacation on his ranch near Santa Barbara, California. He was not scheduled to return to Washington for 25 days. Reagan's visit came a day after he told the nation that he regretted the "lies, leaks, divisions and mistakes" of the Iran-Contra political scandal. The scandal involved secret arms deals to free U.S. hostages held in Lebanon. Reagan closed his speech with a call for support for his nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Reagan said the approval process for Bork was already the longest in 25 years, leaving the nine-member Supreme Court short-handed when the court's work "has increased to near break-point." Bork's nomination was eventually defeated in the U.S. Senate. METAMORA The last year Emily Cottone ran through the Smores Mud Run at Metamoras Camp Tapawingo, she lost a sock. On Saturday, she and her friend Zoe McKittrick, both of Normal, returned to the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois third mud run with a new trick up their sleeves or rather, their ankles. The two Girl Scouts of Normal Troop 1386 had wrapped their shoes and ankles with duct tape. And it worked. The pair of seventh-graders from Chiddix Junior High School arrived at the finish line, nearly covered head to toe in mud, still wearing their shoes. The Pantagraph caught up with Cottone and McKittrick about halfway through the 5-kilometer, 14-obstacle course, which included several mud pits and piles, large drainage tubes, slippery balance beam logs, rope spider webs and a steep, boggy hill to climb. A new addition this year was the foam pit at the start. The two girls were too tired to run the course by the halfway point. However, this year they had challenged themselves with running the adult course with their parents, which was about a mile longer than the junior one. Zoes mother, Jennifer McKittrick, said they were having a great time raising money for the Girl Scouts, and getting muddy. She added Zoes brother and Cottones brother were there too and ran ahead of them on the course. Dad John McKittrick followed the girls through the course with his wife, Jennifer. He said last year, their familys goal was to get as muddy as possible. A Pantagraph reporter who followed the Normal residents became partly mud-covered as well after falling down into a bog at the bottom of a hill. Susan Knapp, manager of marketing and development for the Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, said their SMores Mud Run coincides with National SMores Day on Aug. 11. She said they modeled the event after a similar one thats run in the Quad Cities. Knapp said the event teaches Girl Scouts about team building, and it encompasses all of the things they build up for the girls. That ranges from building character to getting out into the great outdoors and going on adventures. Both Cottone and McKittrick agreed they had bonded closer as friends from the experience. Knapp reflected that they had the best weather yet this year, and attendees loved the course condition. She also said the turnout was good, with 300 attendees, and theyre going to try to hold a timed mud run next year to bring even more people out. The mud pits were made possible with assistance from the Metamora Volunteer Fire Department, which trucked out water, according to Knapp. Knapp noted that they open their event for the whole community. Courses were available for adults and families, including a separate LiL SMore course for kiddos age 4 and under. Germantown Hills mother Hillary Wasson said the course was awesome for her two kids, Sally and Daisy. The former tried the LiL SMore course for her first time on Saturday. (Sally) was a little scared to do it last year, but this year shes toughened up and given it a go, Wasson said. Wasson said theyre lucky to live close to Camp Tapawingo, and they look forward to the mud run every year. My 10-year-old (Daisy) was literally either smiling or laughing for an hour and a half out there, Wasson said. SPRINGFIELD The Pantagraph earned top honors from the Illinois Press Association for its work in 2021. Central Illinois Executive Editor Allison Petty accepted the Patrick Coburn Award of Excellence trophy on behalf of the Bloomington newsroom during the association's convention on Friday in Springfield. The honor is presented to the small- to mid-sized daily newspaper earning the most points based on its awards in a range of categories including general excellence, photography, newswriting and community service. "This honor serves as a fantastic recognition of what I have the privilege to see in action every day: the deep commitment of our team to their work and this community," Petty said. "Our journalists are dedicated, passionate and engaged, and it's wonderful to see their achievements acknowledged. A huge thanks to our subscribers, whose support makes this work possible. "Hats off, too, to former editor Chris Coates, whose leadership was instrumental in this effort." The Daily Chronicle of DeKalb, which took the trophy last year, placed second and The Telegraph of Alton placed third for this award. In its division, The Pantagraph placed in the top four in 13 award categories, including first, second and third in business and economic reporting. The IPA awards include: First place Second place Third place General excellence, Staff Business reporting, Timothy Eggert and Sierra Henry on Grants aimed to assist Illinois small businesses during the pandemic. Did it help? Fourth place Localized national story, Kade Heather on Platform support Freedom of Information Award, Staff on public safety and scanner usage Newspaper design, Staff Photo series, David Proeber, National Guardsmen secure the Illinois State Capitol for inauguration COVID-19 news coverage, Staff for Next steps reports The Pantagraph was also recognized by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors, placing third in Division II for General Excellence behind the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights. David Proeber, who retired from The Pantagraph in April, was also recognized by the Illinois APME, receiving third place for a personality portrait, Pandemics survivor. The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has said that prices of food have become expensive the world over and Ghana is not an exception. He, therefore, said questions about the high prices of food in Ghana should be put into context. Speaking on TV3s New Day on Thursday, August 11, Dr Afriyie Akoto stressed that Ghana is not experiencing food shortage as perceived and that the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative is paying dividends. This, he stressed, has seen Ghana export so many varieties of food though imports are also being done as a result of the open market being run. People wrongfully say there is food shortage, there is no food shortage in Ghana, he told host Johnnie Hughes. If you look at all the sectors, the agric sector stands out as the sector which is doing well. On his notorious assertion made in 2020 that a bunch of plantain cost between GH3 and GH5, he said: I said that 2 years ago. Things have changed. But on the current price of kenkey, a staple produced from maize, he said he cannot tell for certainty as there are external factors that influence the pricing. Source: 3news Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The New Patriotic Party's Director of Research and Elections, Evans Nimako, has described some comments made by former Special Prosecutor (SP), Martin Amidu, in his latest epistle as needless. He claims the form SP is just seeking attention to be relevant after accusing President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of making national security adjustments with an eye on the 2024 elections. You dont make such a needless comment because you want to be relevant, it cannot be accepted, he noted. In an interview with NEAT FMs morning show, 'Ghana Montie', Evans Nimako wondered why Martin Amidu thinks the national security appointments could be related to national elections. So, what is the need for Martin Amidus article? he questioned. According to him, Amidu's unnecessary ranting is his strategy to gain popularity and contest for the 2024 flagbearership slot of the NDC. It is unfortunate his outburst is coming with a lot of confusion; he just wants to make himself relevant. He should rather prepare himself to contest for the NDC ticket, go out with Mr Mahama and have their battle, he claimed. Below is the full statement by Martin Amidu NEW LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY APPARATUS AND AKUFO-ADDOS LONG GAME OF BREAKING THE EIGHT The press release issued by the Communications Directorate of the Jubilee House, Accra on 5 August 2022 announcing the appointment of new leadership for the National Security apparatus was the eventual actualization of an intentional and purposeful strategic decision by President Akufo-Addo since he lost the second round of the 2008 Presidential Election to ensure that if he ever ascended the Presidency he would not behave like former President John Kufuor to allow an election under his watch to be won by any other political party. Consequently, upon his assumption of office as the President of Ghana on 7 January 2017 Nana Akufo-Addo activated his long game to break the 8 at the 2024 Presidential Election. He determined to ensure that by the middle of his second term in office all the instruments of law enforcement, state security and intelligence power of the Republic of Ghana should be led by persons with proven political dedication and loyalty to his person, and his family and friends. The appointment by the President of Mr. Edward Asomani, Deputy National Security Co-ordinator, to act as National Security Co-ordinator, with effect from Monday, 8th August 2022 subject to the confirmation of his appointment to the receipt of the constitutionally required advice of the National Security Council, given in consultation with the Public Service Commission gives finality to Nana Akufo-Addos long game to capture the National Security Secretariat apparatus towards his electoral agenda for the 2024 parliamentary and presidential elections. The President by the same press release also appointed Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, Deputy Director-General of the NIB, to act with effect from Monday, 8th August 2022, as the Director-General of National Intelligence Bureau, with his confirmation also being subject to the receipt of the constitutionally required advice of the National Security Council, given in consultation with the Public Service Commission as part of Nana Akufo-Addos long game to capture the National Intelligence Bureau apparatus towards his electoral agenda for the 2024 parliamentary and presidential elections. A casual reading of the press release signed by the Communications Director of the Jubilee House does not disclose that it was purposefully written to hide a covert sequence of events in which the Presidents Family and Friends Non-Governmental Organization, the Danquah Institute, was positioned since the 2008 elections as the strategic family instrument for producing Nana Attobrah Quaicoe and Edward Kwaku Asomani for the leadership of the two critical National Security apparatus in anticipation of the 2024 Elections. The antecedents and true sequences of events in the rise of the new leadership of the National Security apparatus shows that Nana Attobrah Quaicoe had sharpened his teeth as the Executive Director of the Presidents Family and Friends Danquah Institute before his purposeful appointment as the Deputy Director of the then Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) in May 2019. Mr. Edward Kwaku Asomani also sharpened his teeth at the same Family and Friends Danquah Institute before his appointment in February 2021 by the President as the Deputy National Security Coordinator, in fulfilment of the pursuance of the important research work, which will lead to another assignment. See Citi Newsroom online publication of 21 October 2019: also, the Daily Guide Network online publication of 23 October 2019 on the research work that was to lead to another assignment. It is important for the reader to keep at the back of his mind the unspoken facts and evidence that Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, and Mr. Edward Kwaku Asomani were recruited into Nana Akufo-Addos Danquah Institute under the Chairmanship of his maternal cousin, Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, an indispensable member of the familys planning and strategies cohort. In a statement issued by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and reported on 3news.com/Ghana on 9 September 2015 the Danquah Institute named Nana Attorbrah Quaicoes who had worked with the Danquah Institute since its inception and rose to the position of Head of Research as its new Executive Director with effective from 1 September 2015. Nana Attobrah Quaicoe was taking over from Mustapha Abdul Hamid to enable him to fulfill other commitments. The strategic location and positions occupied by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and Dr. Mustapha Abdul Hamid within the Nana Akufo-Addo government of Family and Friends are now matters of notorious public knowledge. These are factors to consider in Nana Akufo-Addos electoral long game. Mr. Edward Asomani was appointed the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute with effect from 2 November 2018 to lead the Institute by promoting the Danquah-Dombo tradition and providing its effective leadership. A statement signed by the acting Chairman of the Governing Board of the Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, stated, inter alia, that: He will also be expected to undertake important research, policy advocacy, training and most importantly actively seek and mentor the next generation of leaders. His research interests were also stated to include the political economy of Africa, US foreign policy towards Africa, political leadership, elections and electoral democracy. (Emphasis supplied) However, under a year Mr. Edward Kwaku Asamoni strategically exited the office of Executive Director of the Danquah Institute with effect from 21 October 2019 to enable him pursue important research work, which will lead to another assignment. Mr. Richard Ahiagbah, now a Deputy Director of Research in the Office of the President at Jubilee House, who was appointed to succeed Mr. Asomani as the acting Executive Director of the Institute: comes in with a strong public policy background. Also significant is his experience in electoral research and campaign strategy. Mr. Ahiagbah is reputed to have been a field organizer for President Obamas re-election campaign in 2012: a role he is said to have performed on other senatorial and gubernatorial elections in the United States. (Emphasis supplied). The strategic subtility and craftiness of placing dedicated and loyal members of Nana Akufo-Addos Family and Friends of the Danquah Institute in critical positions within the constitutional apparatus of the Republic towards the actualization of turning Ghana into a private family estate can be discerned by any reasonable and critical thinking citizens who have followed appointments into the Republic of Ghanas state institutions since the Presidents assumption of office in January 2017. Suffice it to reiterate that in the case of Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, and Mr. Edward Kwaku Asamoni, Nana Akufo-Addo had appointed Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, a former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute as the new Deputy Director in Charge of Operations, and One Timothy Coleman, a career BNI officer as the Deputy Director in charge of Administration at the Bureau of National Investigations in May 2019 on the opportunity of the removal of Ambassador Rasheed Seidu Inusah as the Director of the BNI and the elevation of his then Deputy Director, Mr. Kwaku Domfeh as the substantive Director of BNI. Mr. Edward Kwaku Asamoni who strategically exited the office of Executive Director of the Danquah Institute with effect from 21 October 2019 to enable him pursue important research work, which will lead to another assignment was appointed in February 2021 by the President as the Deputy National Security Coordinator, in fulfilment of the pursuance of the important research work, which will lead to another assignment. As a result of this appointment of Mr. Asomani in February 2021 intelligence began circulating in September 2021 of the intended appointment of Mr. Edward Kwaku Asomani as the substantive National Security Coordinator to replace Major General Francis Adu Amanfo (Rtd) who had been appointed to replace Joshua Kyeremeh who died in January 2021. The intended appointment of Mr. Asomani to the substantive position in September 2021 was reported to have been creating internal friction within the National Security Secretariat staff. By way of an aside which reinforces Nana Akufo-Addo long game to break the 8 at the 2024 Elections, it ought to be said that Nana Akufo-Addos Family and Friends radio station, Asaase Radio on 17 November 2021 announced the appointment of Mr. Richard Ahiagbah (who was appointed to succeed Mr. Asomani as the acting Executive Director of the Institute with effect from 21 October 2019 to replace Mr. Edward Kwaku Asomani) as the Deputy Director of Research in the Office of the President with retrospective effect from October 2021 to assist Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah the Director of Research in the Office of the President to monitor and evaluate the work and output of all presidential appointees, providing continuous feedback for the president and ultimately contributing to the development and execution of strategic decisions of the second term of Akufo-Addo government. His profile as published by Asaase Radio stated that: Profile of Ahiagbah Richard Ahiagbah was a field organiser for the former US president Barack Obamas re-election campaign in 2012. He has also undertaken similar roles in senatorial and gubernatorial elections in the United States. (Emphasis supplied). Many a citizen who do not have an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the working of the Republics law enforcement, security and intelligence apparatus designed under the 1992 Constitution to be applied with utmost integrity, transparency and accountability for the protection of the constitutional and democratic regime for the good governance of citizens may not appreciate the abuse of constitutional power involved when a disingenuous president subtlety uses the power and instruments of state in capturing the essential institutions designed to ensure free and fair elections. The events and circumstances of the 2008 Presidential Elections instead of enhancing Ghanas democratic credentials created in the loser of that election, Nana Akufo-Addo, a fixation and paranoia that former President John Agyekum Kufuor could have rigged the elections for him but failed or refused to do so out of personal spite. Nana Akufo-Addo appears to have carried the post-traumatic stress disorder generated by losing the results of the 2008 elections and determined that never under his watch as a President of Ghana will he supervise the smooth changing of government from one political party to another in Ghana. No matter what happens, his political party must win the exiting election under his watch. Those with eyes, minds, and ears to see, think and listen discerned Nana Akufo-Addos long game since 2017 to ensure that he left the Presidency on 7 January 2025 handing over power to his own political party, no matter what happens. His actions and pronouncement upon becoming president with our support vindicate the perception of his fixation and paranoia of supervising the winning of the 2024 elections by his chosen presidential candidate and successor at whatever cost to the preservation and defence of the 1992 Constitution. An interview former President John Kufuor gave to the Financial Times on or about 25 October 2010 alluded to the dissatisfaction of Nana Akufo-Addo and his supporters with the alleged manner he supervised the second round of the 2008 Presidential Election. Mr. Kufuor was accused of not doing enough to support his partys candidate even though he had no option than to obey the final declaration of the results by the Electoral Commission. Mr. Kufuor said: When my term ended, and the votes were declared by the electorate, I obeyed. Even with some of my people questioning. But I said that was the constitution. If anyone felt aggrieved let them go to court. After the Electoral Commission had given notice of a re-run of the presidential election for the outstanding Tain Constituency, a faction within the NPP supporting its candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, with his tacit blessings sought an injunction in the High Court to restrain the Electoral Commission from holding that election and frustrating the handing over of power on 7th January 2009. President Kufuor summed up the implication of the restraining order sought by the supporters of his partys candidate against the electoral commission when he said in an interview with the Financial Times that: Suppose I had sided with my side going to court to restrain the electoral commission it would have meant frustrating the electoral commission from holding the election and then we couldnt have met the constitutional deadline of 7th January. So the only way for me to stay on would have been to declare a state of emergency. And on what basis? So I had to consider the whole thing. Then I said 7th of January I will hand over power to whoever the electoral commission announced. Anyone who felt aggrieved could go to court. So I drove back to Accra a distance of some 100 miles. Thats what happened. The implication was that I would be staging a coup. Nana Akufo-Addo has used every major political conference and event of the New Patriotic Party during his second term as President to underscore his long game of playing his part to ensure that the constitutional institutions of the Republic are positioned in such a way with politically loyal leadership appointees as to deliver his fixation to winning the 2024 elections for his chosen successor. He has consistently underscored the fact that despite his determination, without the variable condition of a united NPP behind the chosen presidential candidate his determination to break the 8 will come to naught. As the Daily Graphic of 19 December 2021 reported, Nana Akufo-Addo told the partys delegates in Kumasi on Sunday that: Every step taken now leading to 2024 is going to be decisive either to give us victory or not. He is reported to have reckoned that it would require discipline and a united front; promising a level playing field for all presidential aspirants to produce an acceptable leader to be backed by all. Nana Akufo-Addo is also reported by the Daily Guide Network on 14 April 2022 to have shared his dream when he met the National Executive Committee (NEC) members of the New Patriotic Party in Accra on Tuesday by reiterating his strong desire to hand over power to another New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in 2025 to ensure continuity of the good work done by his administration. Mr. John Boadu, the then General Secretary was reported to have quoted to journalist at a press conference in Kumasi the words of the President at the NEC Accra meeting as follows: The NPP members should remain steadfast and united around the sterling leadership of the government which is steering through these difficult times. The party can only realise its ambition of retaining political power in 2024 when the party members eschew all forms of bickering, antagonism and all other things that tend to divide us.If we adhere to my wise counsel and remain united as one elephant family with a common destiny, definitely we shall win the elections and I, Nana Akufo-Addo, will hand over political power to another competent NPP person in 2024 (sic), the President purportedly stated. On 30 July 2022, at the occasion of the New Patriotic Partys 30th Anniversary and National Thanksgiving Service held at the Kofi Ohene-Konadu auditorium of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, under the theme; [email protected]: Our Shared Traditional, Holding and Working Together a Stable and Prosperous Nation, the President, Nana Akufo-Addo concluded his speech to the party gathering as follows: I want to end by making one appeal, I want you to help me to achieve the last great political feat of my career in Ghanaian politics, that on the 7th of January 2025, I will go to Black Star Square and hand over the baton to our next NPP President of the Republic who we would have chosen, supported and brought to victory. (Emphasis supplied). Akufo-Addo said further that: Victory in 2024, that is our goal, that is our task and that by the Grace of God, we will achieve. (Emphasis supplied). And as if to thump a finger in the eyes of the electorate and people of Ghana on 5 August 2022, the Communications Directorate of the Jubilee House, Accra then issued a press release announcing the appointment of Mr. Edward Kwaku Asomani, and Nana Attobrah Quaicoe as the new leadership for the National Security apparatus. Then on 8 August 2022 in an interview with the North Star radio in Tamale Nana Akufo-Addo relived his post-traumatic stress disorder of losing the 2008 presidential elections. He is reported on Ghana Web of 9th August 2022 to have said, inter alia that: A lot of people are forgetting that in 2008, we almost broke the 8 then. The elections of 2008 which is the first one with me as a candidate of the NPP, I won the first round and in fact, I was short of outright victory by 23,000 votes. Very narrow. 23,000 votes should have gone the other way round wherever and I would have been president in the first round in 2008. It didnt happen. We went into a second round and in that second round, the NPP lost by 40,000 votes. President Mills was elected with 50.01% of the overall votes. It is the narrowest margin of victory in any presidential contest of the 4th Republic. That tells you the NPP was extremely close to making that statement [of breaking the 8] as far back as that (time) We have all learnt our lessons from what happened. Those that came from our own side, the problems that we had ourselves and those that were external to our party. We are determined this time round that not only will it be a victory, it will be a decisive victory because this National Democratic Congress, they should spend more time in opposition so they can organize themselves better for the future of Ghana than what they are today. (Emphasis supplied) The groundwork to facilitate the accomplishment of the dreams of Nana Akufo-Addo to abuse the constitutional process through the appointing powers vested in him to load the institutions of state power responsible for impartial law enforcement, security and intelligence of the electoral process with the new leadership of the National Security apparatus appointed by Nana Akufo-Addo had already been laid during his first term in office as President when he captured the commanding heights of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization and its associate regulatory authorities and agencies responsible for information technology, and communications. The biometric data of all citizens of voting age who use SIM cards as instruments of ICT are to be captured and stored in a database at the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) pursuant the authority of the Minister and the National Communications Authority (NCA). It is imperative for citizens to remember that the Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Mr. Joseph Anokye, was purposefully brought or encouraged to returned home to facilitate the winning of the 2016 elections by Nana Akufo-Addo and was duly rewarded with that appointment in January 2017. For those who do not know or remember: the Director-General of the National Information Technology Authority (NITA), Mr. Richard Okyere-Fosu, was a former group head of information technology at cousin Ken Ofori-Attas Data Bank Financial Services Limited who went along to the Ministry of Finance with Ken Ofori Atta as the Minister of Finance and was later transitioned to NITA first as Director of Finance and Administration and subsequently elevated to lead the agency. And for those who understand the power of controlling voters and citizens biometric data and means of information technology communications during the 2024 elections the possibility of surveillance of political opponents could not have been far from the main reason for the insistence and railroading of Ghanaian on the Ghana Card registration, and the SIM Cards re-registration exercise using the unconstitutional and infamous process of the Establishment of Emergency Communications Instrument, 202 (E. I. 63). Nana Akufo-Addos long game to use the instruments of state power disingenuous and opaquely to prepare an uneven electoral playing field in such a manner as to realize his fixation and paranoid of winning the 2024 elections, no matter what happens, is being gradually achieved. Interested readers of further details may wish to re-visit my article: Nana Akufos Dictatorship Illegal Sim Card Re-Registration and Solidarity for Boycotting the Use of Mobile Phone of 10 February 2022 which is available online. The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana demands a fair and transparent governance process based on merit and participation by every qualified citizen and enjoins each of us who are citizens to ensure that the Presidential oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and do justice to all citizens without fear or favour, affection or ill will is respected by the President Nana Akufo-Addo. Former President Rawling did not use the instruments of state power to prevent former President Kufuor from winning the 2000 elections against the late Vice President Mills as the governing partys candidate and I as his Vice-Presidential candidate during the second round of that election. Former President Kufuor also underscored the importance of not interfering with the electoral process when he stated in 2008 that: When my term ended, and the votes were declared by the electorate, I obeyed. Even with some of my people questioning. But I said that was the constitution. If anyone felt aggrieved let them go to court. The 1992 Constitution has endured the longest in the democratic history of our dear nation and enjoins all citizens to defend it against any attempts to undermine its spirit or to establish by any subterfuges a one-party state by an elected President entrusted with the levers of state power of the Republic of Ghana. President Nana Akufo-Addos long electoral game while appearing to follow the letter of the law in making appointments to public office substantively breaches the fundamental spirit of the Constitution of integrity, transparency, accountability, and merit and is leading to the actualization of a calculated and deliberate intention to undermine the 2024 electoral process. It is in consideration of the foregoing that I hereby break my silence from public political discourse which I imposed upon myself to call on all patriotic citizens to come together in defence of the 1992 Constitution to ensure that the processes leading to the 2024 elections are not undermined by Nana Akufo-Addos penchant for impunity and abuse of constitutional power that may lead to the jeopardy of the Constitution that we as citizens are enjoined to protect and defend. Ghana must always be put first. Martin A. B. K. Amidu Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Asanteman has today embarked on health Walk to express gratitude and respect for Ghanas Trade & Industry Minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen. According to Asanteman, it is time to show case their son and hero to the world tradition demands. Its follows Reports the National leadership of te party has ordered the Group to halt its intended health walk. Addressing the media, former MP for Nsuta-Kwaman Beposo Hon Kwame Asafo Adjei said we came today as men and women of Asanteman with special interest in the development of Asanteman and all allies to embark on Health wall. IT IS NON POLITICAL as speculated. Some formers MPS and Ministers who served the John Kufuor Administration also joined the health walk. Supporters from other constituencies in the region also participated in the Health walk. An initial count of participants as at 6am on 13th August, 2022 was close to 20,000 people. More people are expected to join. Source: Peacefmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video On 13th August the streets of Kumasi saw perhaps the biggest health walk in contemporary times. Over 200,000 men and women of all ages from different ethnic and religious backgrounds walked on the streets of Kumasi to exercise their limbs and to use the walk as an opportunity to send a message to Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen that Aduru ne so which translates as, it is your turn. Mr. Kyerematen is the current Minister for Trade and Industry in Ghana, he is a prominent founding member of the ruling NPP and many people are counting on him to contest the office of Flagbearer in the NPP and eventually the Presidential election of the Republic of Ghana come 2024. Though Mr. Kyerematen himself has not officially declared his interest in contesting the NPP Flagbeararship race, the mammoth crowd at the walk shows how Ghana is eager to have this fine gentleman of the land to lead the country to catapult it to the next level of transformational development with his great ideas. Even before other potential candidates will settle on their decision, one thing that was prominent among the answers given by the crowd of health walkers was that they know the focus of Mr. Kyerematen, they understand well the mantra of 'Job for the People and Cash for the People'. Some of the people intimated that the unemployment rate in Ghana is high and the fact that more free SHS graduates will be joining the job market soon means that Ghana requires Alan Kyerematens transformational agenda to catapult the country to the next level of sustainable development. Some of the placards and banners at the walk read Aduru wo so, The right person for the job, Yenim wo firi tete Alan Mer3 nie, Asanteman hia wo, Break the 8 with the unifier, Practical Economist, Adwadifo Adamfo, Father for all, among others. The walk was organized by Special Interest Groups in Ashanti Region and was attended by many lovers of Alan Kyerematen, who for a long time have been waiting for an opportunity to express their love and appreciation for the man Alan Kyerematen. The walk started early morning at the Bekwai roundabout and the participants walked with lots of excitement. Most of them understood what they were doing and all participants were sure of one thing, that Alan Kyerematen becoming the next president of Ghana will definitely inure to the benefit of all party members in particular and Ghana as a whole. The love shown by the people of Ashanti is the perfect definition of massive, and in light of the fact that Kumasi is a cosmopolitan city, it can be adduced that Ghana came out massively to walk and to show support for Mr. Kyerematen, This walk has also shown how the grassroots of the NPP massively support him for the presidency. This walk is obviously not a photo-shoot opportunity, but a depiction of the love of the masses for Alan Keyerematen to win the primaries and lead the party to power. The motive in the minds of the tens of thousands of citizens, NPP delegates, Christians, Moslems and people from all tribes united, is to make Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen President of Ghana. Source: Peacefmonline Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Nollywood actor, Moses Armstrong, has been charged with the rape of a minor and supplying abortion drugs. According to the Premium Times, four charges were read to Armstrong in a State High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. His counsel Emmanuel Pantaleon drew the courts attention to his bail application filed on behalf of his client on July 25 and sought the leave of the court to proceed to entertain it. The prosecution, I.U. Robert, an assistant state counsel, while opposing the bail application, cited relevant judicial authorities and urged the court to dismiss the application which he described as an abuse of court process. The Judge, Ntong Ntong, after hearing submissions from both counsel upheld the defence counsels application and granted bail to Mr Armstrong in the sum of N5 million. Photos of the actor outside the courtroom were also shared on social media by his friends and fans. Armstrong was arrested by men of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command in June for allegedly defiling a 16-year-old girl. Reacting to the news at the time of his arrest, the president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas, described the case as a very serious one. To get involved with a child as young as 16yrs is not something I and the association do not represent, would not stand for. This is a very sad development involving a member of ours, but I wouldnt want to comment any further on this case, he said. Rollas revealed that the case is being handled by the first lady of Akwa Ibom State, Martha Udom Emmanuel through her Family Empowerment and Youth Re-Orientation Path Initiative. He also distanced the Guild from the horrendous act. Armstrong is currently the Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins spoke to AFP from the International Space Station on August 1, 2022. If you had the choice, would you rather go to the Moon or Mars? The question is utterly theoretical for most of us, but for US astronaut Jessica Watkins, it hits a bit differently. "Whichever comes first!" Watkins says with a laugh, in a lengthy interview with AFP from her post on the International Space Station (ISS). At 34, Watkins has many years ahead of her at the US space agency NASA, and could very well be one of the first women to step foot on the Moon in the coming years, as a member of the Artemis team preparing for upcoming lunar missions. Missions to Mars are off in the future, but given that astronauts often work into their 50s, Watkins could conceivably have a shot. Either way is just fine, she says. "I certainly would be just absolutely thrilled to be able to be a part of the effort to go to another planetary surface, whether it be the Moon or Mars." In the meantime, Watkins' first space flight was a history maker: she became the first Black woman to undertake a long-term stay on the ISS, where she has already spent three months as a mission specialist, with three months to go. The Apollo missions that sent humans to the Moon were solely staffed by white men, and NASA has sought over the years to widen its recruitment to a more diverse group of candidates. The agency now wants to put both women and people of color on the Moon. "I think it is an important milestone for the agency and the country, and the world as well," Watkins says. "Representation is important. It is true that it is difficult to be what you can't see." The Maryland native added that she was "grateful for all of those who have come before me... the women and Black astronauts who have paved the way to enable me to be here today." Geologist at heart Born in Gaithersburg in the suburbs of Washington, Watkins grew up in Colorado before heading to California to study geology at Stanford University. During her doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, her research focused in part on Mars and she worked on NASA's Curiosity rover, which just celebrated 10 years on the Red Planet. Watkins still has a soft spot for Mars. In fact, she has published a scientific study on the planet during her stint on the ISS. "I would certainly call myself a geologist, a scientist, an astronaut," she says. Watkins remembers the moment that she realized space and planetary geologythe composition of formation of celestial bodies such as planets, moons and asteroidswould be her life's work. It came during one of her first geology classes, in a lecture about planetary accretion, or when solids gradually collide with each other to form larger bodies, and ultimately planets. "I remember learning about that process... and realizing then that that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and what I wanted to study," she recalls. "The notion of being able to be a part of an effort to actually do field work on the surface of another planetary body is super exciting, and I look forward to being a part of it." The Artemis program, a successor to Apollo, is aimed at slowly establishing a lasting human presence on the Moon. The end goal is to set up a base that would be a forward operating station for any eventual trips to Mars. The first uncrewed mission under the Artemis banner is set to take off for the Moon at the end of August. Watkins is one of 18 astronauts assigned to the Artemis team, to either provide ground support or eventually take flight. Officially, every active NASA astronaut (there are currently 42) has a chance to be selected to take part in a lunar landing. 'Push the limits' While previous mission experience may weigh heavily in NASA's choices for personnel for the first crewed Artemis flight, Watkins's academic background certainly should boost her chances of being chosen. Being good-natured and having a healthy team spirit are also key for space flight teams, who spend long periods of time confined in small spaces. Watkins says her colleagues would call her "easygoing," and her time playing rugby taught her the value of working on a team. So how does she define being an astronaut? "Each of us all have that sense of exploration and a desire to continue to push the limits of what humans are capable of. And I think that is something that unites us," she says. Watkins says she dreamed of going to space when she was young, and always kept it in the back of her mindwithout ever thinking it could be a reality. "Don't be afraid to dream big," she says. "You'll never know when your dreams will come true." Explore further Jessica Watkins makes history as first Black woman launched to ISS for extended space mission 2022 AFP A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill in New Delhi, April 27, 2022. Landfills are releasing far more planet-warming methane into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste than previously thought, a study suggests. Smoke hung over New Delhi for days after the massive landfill caught fire as the country was sweltering in an extreme heat wave. Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File Landfills are releasing large amounts of planet-warming methane gas into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste and are a significant contributor to such emissions in urban areas, a study suggests. Scientists used satellite data from Delhi and Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and Buenos Aires in Argentina and identified specific locations in each city that persistently emit high methane levels, all of which were landfills. The cities' overall methane emissions from all sources were 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than previous estimates. The study, published in Science Advances on Wednesday, is aimed at helping local governments carry out targeted efforts to limit global warming by pinpointing specific sites of major concern. When organic waste like food, wood or paper decomposes, it emits methane into the air. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions globally, after oil and gas systems and agriculture. Although methane only accounts for about 11% of greenhouse gas emissions and lasts about a dozen years in the air, it traps 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide does. Scientists estimate that at least 25% of today's warming is driven by methane from human actions. "This is the first time that high-resolution satellite images have been used to observe landfills and calculate their methane emissions," said Joannes Maasakkers, lead author of the study and atmospheric scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research. "We found that these landfills, which are relatively small compared to city sizes, are responsible for a large fraction of total emissions from a given area," he said. Satellite data to detect emissions is still a relatively new field, but it's being used more and more to observe gases across the world. It means more independent organizations are tracking greenhouse gases and identifying big emitters, whereas previously local government figures were the only source available. "This new work shows just how important it is to manage landfills better, especially in countries like India where landfills are often on fire, emitting a wide range of damaging pollutants," said Euan Nisbet, an Earth scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London, who wasn't part of the study. Earlier this year, smoke hung over New Delhi for days after a massive landfill caught fire as the country was sweltering in an extreme heat wave with temperatures surpassing 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). At least two other landfill fires have been reported in India this year. Nisbet added that the newer satellite technology, combined with on-the-ground measurements, makes it easier for researchers to identify "who is polluting the world." China and India are the world's biggest methane polluters, a recent analysis by the International Energy Agency found. At last year's United Nations climate conference, 104 countries signed a pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared with 2020 levels. Both India and China are not signatories. The authors plan to carry out more research into landfill sites across the world in future studies. "It is a quickly developing field and we expect more interesting data to come out soon," said Maasakkers. Explore further Methane satellites find landfills with the same climate impact as several hundred thousand cars More information: Joannes D. Maasakkers et al, Using satellites to uncover large methane emissions from landfills, Science Advances (2022). Journal information: Science Advances Joannes D. Maasakkers et al, Using satellites to uncover large methane emissions from landfills,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn9683 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. There are those who complain like its their job, the paycheck coming in the form of a feeling of superiority, or an act of bonding with the similarly disgruntled. In that regard, complaining may have a half-decent wage, though the benefit package is sorely lacking. Lunar aspects involving Saturn and Mars urge a more empowered approach. ARIES (March 21-April 19). Excellent relationships come in many forms. Some have a daily rhythm and others connect rarely, but youve a warm heart space thats always open for your people regardless of how often you talk. Love flows in your world. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Take advantage of the sunshine. The golden rays will wash away your problems, or at least make them seem much smaller. Tonight features an exchange. What matters is not how much you give but the feeling behind it. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). As much as you wish you could take something back, there is no back, only forward with knowledge that can be applied to different choices. No route is better than another. Each one is an equal and different adventure. CANCER (June 22-July 22). You dont like to lean on people, but this is what will reveal the strength of the bond. To be so diligently self-sufficient that you rob someone of the chance to feel needed would be a mistake. Everyone needs to be needed. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Author Albert Pike suggested that What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. Youll challenge the premise with legendary actions taken on your own behalf. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Part of having a strong will is having a strong wont. Youre clear on your personal policies, but others need to be briefed. Once they understand what youre about, they will stop asking you for the wrong things. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Beware of entities that seem to fulfill an appetite while actually creating one instead. With some things, accumulating more only makes you feel like you need more. An Aquarius is your loyal cheerleader. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Youre not on cloud nine, but youre familiar with its elevation. You may be unconsciously limiting the amount of pleasure to fit in with the people around you a sign to change up your company. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). There may be safety in numbers but not necessarily power. The committee will somehow weaken the thrust of the group. Do you dare do it on your own? Theres strength in a singular vision right now. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Quiet confidence is attractive while arrogance is repellent. Youll walk the line like a graceful tightrope artist. Tonight, what usually takes hours to accomplish will be done in but the few minutes you have to spend on it. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There is no time to insist on your way. There are three other paths before you that are just as good as anything you originally wanted. The efficient way is to choose one and make the most of it. In surrendering pride, you get joy. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). A sense of anticipation permeates. There is a feeling of being in between moments, on the brink of a transformation that may or may not happen. While hopeful for change, youre also aware its not entirely within your control. TODAYS BIRTHDAY (Aug. 12). Youll love deeply and gain a wider range of experiences than you ever thought would come with opening your heart to someone. A financial experiment pays off. Other highlights include new habits around health and fitness, a promotion related to your consistently stellar attitude and performance, and a fun purchase. Scorpio and Aries adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 45, 12, 39, 2 and 47. GREENWICH A man who police say falsely reported an incident in March was arrested by state police on Thursday. Kenneth Straight, 53, of Greenwich, called 911 on March 9 to report a man threatening him with a butcher knife at the Cumberland Farms store on Route 29 in the town of Greenwich, according to police. Straight left the location before the troopers arrived, but an investigation determined that Straight allegedly instigated a verbal altercation with another man at the gas station. Police said he then falsely reported the man pulling out a knife during the argument, including a written statement of events that did not occur. Straight was arrested on a warrant and charged with misdemeanor counts of third-degree falsely reporting an incident, making a punishable false statement and obstructing governmental administration. He was processed by the state police in Greenwich and given an appearance ticket for Greenwich Town Court on Sept. 8. GLENS FALLS Jeanne Ostrander grabbed some potatoes, blueberries, cottage cheese, parsley and a tomato at Crandall Public Library on Thursday morning and placed the produce inside her Boscovs shopping bag. I like the fresh vegetables, and also economic-wise, my husband and I are both retired, so you know, if we can get fresh vegetables its better for us, said Ostrander, who was second in line at the library Thursday. She was one of several people waiting in line at the library Thursday morning to get free, fresh food from the Farm-2-Library program, started by Comfort Food Community. The Greenwich-based nonprofit delivers food sourced from local farms to 11 libraries through the region every week. Im not going to say that Im necessarily in that category, Ostrander said, but there are a lot of people that do need help. Comfort Food Community works to end rural hunger, support local farms, and build healthy communities throughout Washington, Warren and Saratoga counties. The programs provide food access, food recovery, and food as health services, creating a stronger, more sustainable local food system. The Farm-2-Library program is being offered in partnership with the Southern Adirondack Library System. The food, which is free to community members, usually arrives at libraries on Thursdays and sometimes Fridays. The program started in June at Crandall Public Library. The demand for food at the library has been so great, library staff members have started putting half of the food out on Thursday and the other half out on Friday. The first couple weeks we just put everything out, and it just went, said Jeremy Dickinson, the librarys facilities manager. Farm-2-Library has recently seen a notable increase in attendance so much that individuals are lining up outside the libraries waiting for deliveries each week. Its the same at every library I deliver to, said Sarah Harrington, a food recovery driver for Comfort Food Community. People need food. The nonprofit also delivers to various food pantries in the region. Given just the rising costs of everything right now, people that werent feeling the pain of those expenses before, are feeling it now, said Haley Graves, CFCs community engagement manager. Obviously, coming out of COVID, still dealing with COVID, people have lost their jobs or theyre just getting back on their feet so the need has definitely increased, and were definitely feeling it more now than we ever have before. Comfort Food Community raises funds to purchase food from local farmers. Some farms also donate excess food. At the end of the day whether were paying the farm or if were gleaning the excess produce, its still benefiting the farm, Graves said, because its food that would go to waste, and its also surplus crop in their field that they have to deal with. Glens Falls Hospital provided funding through the state Department of Health for the purchase of a refrigerator to store the food. Libraries are an accessible, safe and inclusive place in a community to get books and now food, said Graves. The goal is to encourage people to make healthy lifelong choices, including reading and eating healthy food. Offering food at a library also eliminates the stigma attached to walking into a food pantry, Graves said. No one should feel ashamed for needing a hand or a little extra help, she said, but I think it does take away form that stigma and feeling of shame for needing assistance. So when youre going to your local library, it doesnt feel out of the ordinary, but youre still getting what you need. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday proclaimed unwavering U.N. commitment to a fully denuclearized North Korea, even as a divided Security Council allows more room for the isolated country to expand its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Meeting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, Guterres said he affirms the U.N.s clear commitment to the full, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and DPRK, using the initials of North Koreas formal name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Theres a fundamental objective to bring peace, security and stability to the whole region, he told Yoon, while also praising South Koreas participation in international peacekeeping efforts and fighting climate change. Guterres, who arrived in South Korea on Thursday, later met with South Korean Foreign Minster Park Jin, who said the U.N.-led international community should be communicating a stern and unified message to North Korea that its nuclear ambitions won't be tolerated. Park called for the U.N.s help in finding an effective solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, and Guterres expressed support for South Korean efforts to stabilize peace in the peninsula, the Foreign Ministry said. North Korea has test-fired more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, including its first flights of intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017, as leader Kim Jong Un pushes to advance his nuclear arsenal in the face of what North Korea has called gangster-like U.S.-led pressure and sanctions. The unusually fast pace in weapons demonstrations also underscore brinkmanship aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power and negotiating badly needed sanctions relief and security concessions from a position of strength, experts say. The U.S. and South Korean governments have also said the North is gearing up to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a nuclear warhead designed for its ICBMs. While the Biden administration has said it would push for additional sanctions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, the prospects for meaningful punitive measures are unclear. China and Russia recently vetoed U.S.-sponsored resolutions at the U.N. Security Council that would have increased sanctions on the North over some of its ballistic missile testing this year, underscoring division between the councils permanent members that has deepened over Russias war on Ukraine. Guterres meetings with South Korean officials came a day after North Korea claimed a widely disputed victory over COVID-19 but also blamed rival South Korea for the outbreak, vowing deadly retaliation. The North insists its initial infections were caused by leaflets and other objects flown across the border on balloons launched by South Korea's anti-Pyongyang activists, a claim Seoul describes as unscientific and ridiculous." North Korea has a history of dialing up pressure on the South when it doesnt get what it wants from the United States, and there are concerns that North Korea's threat portends a provocation, which might include nuclear or missile tests or even border skirmishes. ALBANY New York has amended several state laws to remove the word inmate and replace it with incarcerated person to refer to people serving prison time. The changes, signed into law Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, are intended to reduce the stigma of being in jail. Prison reform advocates have said the term inmate has a dehumanizing effect. Prisoners say it can feel degrading when jail guards refer to them as inmates, especially in front of their families during in-person visits. Language matters, said state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill. This is another concrete step our state is taking to make our criminal justice system one that focuses on rehabilitation, rather than relying solely on punishment. Republicans ridiculed the measure as coddling criminals. Parading around a bill that removes the word inmate from legal materials at a time when crime in New York continues to spike at an alarming rate shows you a lot about how misguided the Democrats agenda is, said Assemblymember Chris Tague, a Republican from Schoharie, a town west of Albany. The change is the latest in the state legislatures history of amending terms in state law that may be seen as outdated or offensive. Last month, Hochul signed legislation replacing the term mentally retarded, or other variations, with developmentally disabled in state law. In 2018, the legislature passed a law replacing all instances of the words fireman or policeman with gender-neutral terms like firefighter or police officer in official documents and laws. A similar measure to replace the word inmate in a slew of other state laws was signed in 2021 by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Michel DeGraff, a professor of linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said, word choice to describe certain individuals does matter. Especially when it comes to individuals who are vulnerable in any way. When you say someone is born a slave (for example), it can make someone think there is a category of people who are slaves by nature, but there is no such category, he said. No one is born a slave. You are a human being, and then you were enslaved. DeGraff said language allows people to process the past and the present, and by changing words, you help people better understand who they are and how they got to be where they are. Making changes to help people who have committed crimes, though, carries some political risks this election year. Hochuls opponent in the governors race, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, has made fear of crime a central issue of his campaign, as have other Republicans running for Congress. Violent crime rates have increased across the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hochul said social justice and safety can go hand-in-hand. By treating all New Yorkers with dignity and respect, we can improve public safety while ensuring New Yorkers have a fair shot at a second chance, she said in a statement. MAYS LANDING They are makers in the making. The young people participating in 16 Atlantic County 4-H clubs spent the year perfecting a skill and displayed their projects for all to see Friday at the 73rd county 4-H Fair. Joel Sharpe, 12, of Galloway Township, is active in the county Livestock & Poultry Club and raises chickens, he said. But he also competed in cooking, canning and photography, and earned first place for a photograph, second place for his peach jam and Best in Show for his zucchini bread. I just started canning this summer, Sharpe said. Im staying with my grandparents, and my grandmother taught me. Projects in the main building include traditional projects like baking, preserving, arts and crafts, and fine arts. Also included: robotics, STEM and model railroad, which the organization says is all very much a part of the maker movement. Cape May County 4-H Fair makes triumphant post-COVID return CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE The Cape May County 4-H Foundation learned this weekend that absence The maker movement is defined as a cultural trend that places value on an individuals ability to be a creator of things as well as a consumer of things, according to techtarget.com. Thats pretty much been what 4-H is all about since its founding in 1902, the organization says on its website. On Friday, mostly girls were riding horses in a horse show, and other kids were taking care of rabbits and other small mammals in another tent, and goats, chickens and more in a nearby barn. In the small-animal tent, Malena Foster, 20, of Egg Harbor Township, was showing young kids her blue-tongued skink, which is more than a foot long. Foster has just aged out of 4-H but will soon train to be a leader, she said. Her mom runs the Whiskers, Whistles and Wabbits Club, she said, and teaches kids to raise small animals, rabbits and reptiles. Foster said she has 22 different reptiles, including a baby red-tailed boa that will eventually reach 8 to 10 feet in length. Kendrin Dyitt, 44, who grew up in Pleasantville and now lives in Laurel Springs, Camden County, supports the clubs through his job as a 4-H program associate with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension in Mays Landing. Dyitt said members and new volunteers willing to lead a club are always welcome. Were looking for ways to make it easier, Dyitt said of volunteering to teach a skill. Adults dont need to commit to year-round clubs but can do shorter programs of just weeks or months, he said. Its not all on you. My job is to provide support, Dyitt said. 4-H will advertise a new club and recruit kids for it. If you have a good program idea, kids will come, he said. Email Dyitt at dyitt@njaes.rutgers.edu or visit rutgers-atlantic.org/4h. There are also amusement rides and plenty of food stands and other vendors at the fair. The fair continues Saturday, and the days highlights include a baby parade, a pet parade and a pie eating contest, as well as horse shows and a dance show, and the naming of this years 4-H Ambassadors. The fair runs through 10 p.m. at the David C. Wood 4-H Center & Fairgrounds at 3210 Route 50. Admission is free, but there is a $4 parking fee. For more information, call the 4-H office at 609-625-0056 before the fair or 609-965-1677 during the fair. ATLANTIC CITY On a quiet Thursday in the city, hundreds of vehicles clogged Albany Avenue in both directions as drivers waited patiently for their chance to turn into the entrance of Bader Field. The cars crawled their way up the beaten, dirt path toward a distant lot, stopping to pay the citys $10 parking fee before piling in. However, on the night of the August Full Sturgeon Moon, the nighttime event didnt bring the usual-for-A.C. crowd of beer drinkers, concertgoers or food lovers. Instead, witches, warlocks, fairies and other fantastic beings converged on the first Lunar Faire in Atlantic City. Billed as a witch and weird shopping and social experience, the Lunar Faire is a night market that occurs on every full or new moon from 6 to 11 p.m. Technicolor lights, music, food, vendors, activities and experiences add up to an atypical shopping experience. We thought it would be cool to do a night market, said Tiffany Casey, 41, one of the three North Jersey women who created the Lunar Faire after seeing pictures on social media of a night market filled with lights and other attractions. No one else wanted to do it, so we did. Thousands turn out to see Phish on Atlantic City beach ATLANTIC CITY Thousands of music fans traveled far and wide this weekend to see the popula Casey, her sister Kryssy Hines, 32, both of Boonton, Morris County, and their best friend for more than 30 years, Kelly Dagion, 42, of Bloomingdale, Passaic County, hosted their first Lunar Faire last June with 40 vendors at Crystal Lake Beach Club in Oakland, Bergen County. The event gained popularity quickly, moving on to bigger venues and bi-weekly night markets. It was a total whim coming to Atlantic City, said Casey. She said the outcry of people wanting the Lunar Faire to come to South Jersey was what made them come. Tina Law came down from Jersey City for her third Lunar Faire. Law said the markets are usually held in rural farmland or thrift stores. So being in a big, widespread area was a nice change. Well, everythings kind of magical around here, Law said of the people, surroundings and performances that make the Lunar Faire worth traveling for. Tens of thousands are expected to flock to Atlantic City for back to back concerts ATLANTIC CITY Tens of thousands of music fans from all over the country are expected to fl Laws favorite part beside the great vibes were the drum circles, fire dancers and new vendors at every night market. As long as youre happy, the Lunar Faire is for you, Law said with a smile. Maeve Tarpey, 26, showed up dressed as Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution. Her outfit came complete with an off with your head mannequin head on a stick, mimicking her hair and makeup. Everyones really accepting here, said Tarpey, of Wayne, Passaic County, who had come with friend Elizabeth Post, 28, of Montclair, Essex County. You walk in, and everybodys in costume and excited to see your costume. Tarpey said the Lunar Faire attracted all types: goths, older people and cosplayers. The shopping, crystals, drag shows and circus acts were also favorites of Tarpey. Other attractions included a special blessings ceremony, a magic book exchange club, potions and a tap-dancing medium. Cardi Party brings a different vibe to Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY Despite it being a hot and humid day, excitement was in the air in the city Thursdays event drew 5,000 people and more than 115 vendor stands, which is one of the Lunar Faires smaller night markets. The stands are organized astrologically to give guests and vendors the right energy. This allows people to connect with other people that share the same interests, Dagion said. The market featured locally sourced jewelry, wire-wrapped crystals, ethically sourced candles and other natural products. All the products are authenticated by the Lunar Faire, which seeks small business vendors who specifically handcraft their wares. For small business owners like Daniela Broit, of Toms River, the Lunar Faire has been a blessing. The Lunar Faire is massive for small businesses in a niche market. It gets their name out there and they join the community, Broit said. Broit started her crystal business during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she realized she couldnt work. After going viral on TikTok, her crystal business skyrocketed, she said. Cardi B, Offset to perform at Atlantic City's Bader Field ATLANTIC CITY Rappers Cardi B and Offset will visit the city for a concert, dubbed The Ca The market also helped Broits business last year, but she had to take a break since she was busy graduating from Point Pleasant Beach High School. Because of the success of her business, Broit was able to skip college, since books arent her thing. Her crystal business has allowed her to buy a car and pay off her moms car. Broit said she was thankful for an event that draws all kinds of people of different backgrounds, ages and interests to her business. Jillian Johansen and Cynthia Coons, who identified themselves as witches, were attending their first Lunar Faire. Were witches not Satanists, said Johansen, who elaborated that witches worship the moon and follow the lunar cycles and astrology. We find solace in the moon cycle. Johansen, of Mays Landing, added that witches stay in touch with nature and channel energy from the objects they wield. She wore a shawl her mother, who she said is also a witch, had given her along with a fossil necklace she had bought at the night market. Hundreds enjoy second day of Atlantic City Seafood and Music Festival ATLANTIC CITY Seafood lovers from across New Jersey are at Bader Field this weekend for th Its nice to be around like-minded people, said Coons, of Egg Harbor Township, who got into witchcraft after going to New Orleans for Halloween years ago. Ive never been to an event like this. Coons and Johansen said the city should host more events like the Lunar Faire. The two ladies dont drink and said they have other interests that differ from societal norms. Its definitely bringing a different demographic to Atlantic City, Johansen said. Normally, this is a societal taboo, so its nice to be in the open, said Coons. Also, its not every day you get to dress like witches and get to be who you are. For more information about the Lunar Faire or for upcoming events, visit lunarfaire.com. Emily Paul, president and CEO of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce, recently completed her first year at the Institute for Organization Management, the professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Paul was appointed to her role after longtime President Vicki Clark retired earlier this year. Institute graduates are recognized across the country as leaders in their industries and organizations, Raymond P. Towle, the U.S. Chambers vice president of the Institute for Organization Management, said Wednesday in a news release. These individuals have the knowledge, skills, and dedication necessary to achieve professional and organizational success in the dynamic association and chamber industries. The nonprofit institute offers its training program at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Cape Regional gets $989,300 federal grant to expand ER, radiology CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE Cape Regional Medical Center will receive almost $1 million from the Since its inception in 1921, the institute has educated thousands of association, chamber and other nonprofit leaders on how to build stronger organizations, better serve their members and become strong business advocates, the U.S. Chamber said. Paul said enrolling in the program is vital for Cape's chamber to flourish, given that new ideas and practices help strengthen any organization. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing program and look forward to using all that I have learned to strengthen the Chamber and the business community that we represent," Paul said. Cape's chamber represents businesses in the southernmost end of New Jersey with its 30-member board. A Mays Landing man Thursday admitted raping two underage sisters and impregnating them on three separate occasions, the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office said. The sisters were between the ages of 11 and 13 at the time of the incidents, the Prosecutors Office said Friday in a news release. Isaiah W. Banks-Carey, 28, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual assault. The plea calls for a 25-year prison sentence, after which Banks-Carey must register as a sex offender under Megans Law, the Prosecutors Office said. Additionally, he must undergo lifetime parole supervision and submit to evaluation. Charges filed against Banks-Carey included six counts of aggravated sexual assault, one count of sexual assault and 10 counts of endangering the welfare of a child. After 32 years, Millville man accused of attacking Susan Negersmith WILDWOOD Almost 32 years after Susan Negersmith was found dead on a Memorial Day weekend i Banks-Carey confessed to raping the sisters three times between Jan. 1, 2018, and Nov. 22, 2019, impregnating them three times, the Prosecutors Office said. At the time, he was acting as a father figure to the girls in their home in Atlantic City. The state Division of Child Protection and Permanency reported the case to the Prosecutors Office after both girls experienced simultaneous pregnancies. After giving birth, one of the girls became pregnant again and delivered a second child. Paternity tests confirmed Banks-Carey was the father of the three newborns, the Prosecutors Office said. He was arrested Sept. 4, 2019. When she thinks about her job running the Camden public school system, state-appointed Superintendent Katrina McCombs quotes Scripture: To whom much is given, much is required. As a new school year is set to begin, McCombs is embarking on her second contract at the helm of the troubled South Jersey school district, and the veteran educator says she is up to continue the biggest challenge of her career: turning around the struggling district thats been under state control for nearly a decade. Its a humbling experience, said McCombs, 52, during an interview Thursday. Im just looking forward to whats ahead for the district. McCombs signed a three-year agreement with the state last month to remain Camdens school chief through the 2024-25 school year. Her salary will be $224,726 the first year, with modest increments the remaining years, making her among the highest-paid superintendents in the tri-county area. I think its great for our district, said Minister Wasim Muhammad, president of the Camden Advisory School Board. Now more than ever, it is extremely important for our district to retain stable leadership as we navigate the realities of a post-pandemic educational environment. McCombs has spent her nearly 30-year career in the district, starting in the classroom as a kindergarten teacher before climbing to administrative positions as a vice principal and principal. She became superintendent in 2019, replacing Paymon Rouhanifard, who was brought in by Gov. Chris Christie to transform the failing district after a state takeover in 2013. She served in his administration as a deputy superintendent for four years. During her tenure as superintendent, McCombs has led the district through a budget deficit crisis, made an unpopular decision to close three schools because of declining enrollment and ordered the shutdown of schools during the pandemic longer than any other district in the region. We were bleeding financially, McCombs recalled of her first year. There were times we didnt even know if we would make payroll. McCombs inherited a district that had been plagued for years by poor test scores, a low graduation rate and a high dropout rate. It is unclear when the state will relinquish its control over the school system. I knew it would not be a cakewalk, McCombs said. There have been many challenges along the way. McCombs said the district has improved in the five areas evaluated by the state to determine when local governance will resume: instruction, programs, finances, governance and personnel. The district received an 80% score in the personnel category, the minimum needed, she said. Atlantic City woman sentenced for drug distribution linked to Ventnor man's 2018 death CAMDEN An Atlantic City woman was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for running a d We still have a long way to go, McCombs said. I do see light at the end of the tunnel. There have been other improvements since the takeover. The graduation rate increased from 49% just prior to the state intervention to 70% for the 2019-20 school year before the pandemic upended education. This year, the district also had its first clean unmodified audit since 2015, McCombs said. Some critics, however, say McCombs, like her predecessor, has focused too much on the citys Renaissance and charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run. Thousands of students have fled the traditional public schools, and the 21% dropout rate is among the highest in the state. For the 2021-22 school year, the district enrolled 6,171 students in the citys traditional public schools, 4,048 in charter schools and 6,237 in Renaissance schools. Camden Education Association President Keith Benson said he wants to stem the exodus from traditional public schools. He wants the district to keep its remaining schools open and beef up career and technical offerings so city students arent forced to go elsewhere. My concerns always stay the same: protecting our schools and growing them, said Benson. Im trying to be hopeful. Hopefully, time will tell. MARGATE The subject at the Margate Planning Boards July meeting was, yet again, third-story decks. Like so many other shore towns, Margate is awash in new construction, much of it replacing older homes flooded during Superstorm Sandy, or just homes from another, simpler time. The new houses are meeting what seems like rampant demand for six and seven bedrooms and baths, backyard pools and, of course, those decks. Especially those third-story decks. The new houses are typically higher than ones they replaced, built with as much as a 14-feet-above-sea-level base level for garage or crawl space, before the 30 feet of living quarters start, due to Federal Emergency Management Agency rules. As a result, those decks in some cases now have views out over their neighbors to the ocean to one side and the bay on the other, even from the middle of the island. Neighbors have raised concerns over privacy, not to mention the way sound travels from those decks. But, oh, the sunsets. It used to be third-story decks were allowed only on the ocean- and bayfront streets because nobody else had a view to worry about. Now everyone wants that view. And so much more. Lifeguard races are a unique South Jersey tradition It was Friday in Margate, another hot day in South Jersey, but near the waters edge there w These houses, some have seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, said Richard Patterson, chair of the Margate Planning Board. Its crazy, but I cant tell them how many bedrooms to put in their house. It seems like a status symbol. A status symbol that brings a lot of extra cars to the island. They pay cash for a $5 million home, Patterson said, citing one instance. Theyre down maybe five weekends a year. Ten years after Sandy, the Jersey Shore is being built back bigger, higher and much more expensively. A three-story house at 19 S. Knight Ave. in Margate rises above its neighbors. Builders obtained variances for reducing the front-yard setback and a third-floor deck to construct the home. Realtors urged possible buyers to Do New in a sign. Its listed for $2.79 million. Federal flood insurance caps payouts at $250,000, though homeowners can purchase supplemental coverage. Theres always drama in Margate, whether about unwanted sand dunes or beach block parking. But lately, the attention has focused on the epidemic of building that has hit the shore towns and what, if anything, to do about it. The Downbeach Buzz blog captured this debate in a few trenchant audio excerpts from the July Planning Board meeting, the place where the things that will truly bother people tend to be decided. Funding gap may mean Longport fireworks show is a no-go LONGPORT The boroughs annual Labor Day weekend fireworks show may be in jeopardy this yea At a recent meeting, Patterson colorfully assured another board member that the people who want third-floor rear decks were interested in the sunset, not seeing (Planning Board member) naked. Suffice to say, there are a lot of requests for third-floor decks in Margate, about a dozen since January alone. In July, the Planning Board recommended changing the zoning code to allow third-story decks throughout Margate, without the need for variances, but only in the front. They are currently now allowed only on the beach and bayfront blocks. The board drew the line at rear third-floor decks, which would still require a variance. Patterson argued in favor of allowing rear third-floor decks because if youre on the south side of the street and want to see the sunset, youre gonna need the deck on the back of the house. You can already see your neighbor from the second floor, with the houses 14 feet from the first floor, he said. Your neighbor already doesnt have much privacy. At the July meeting, Realtor Brian Hiltner predicted a wave of coming requests for third-story rear decks, now that the new houses on the south side of the street are high enough to get that sunset view out the back looking toward the bay. Hiltner said that because the board approved a request for a third-floor rear deck recently on Thurlow Avenue from which the elevated house now has lovely views of both ocean and bay his clients feel its OK to come and request one for their properties. Two years ago, it was always known, dont come, youre not getting (the variance), Hiltner told the board. It was common knowledge, dont even come in. Now we see over the past few years, you guys have been granting third-floor decks. As to the issue of privacy for the neighbors below those decks, Hiltner said that privacy ship has sailed. Because the houses are built so high, youre looking into your neighbors house regardless, he said. I have three clients coming in here looking for them. Id like to have one myself. Along with the requests for third stories and decks, everyone wants a backyard pool, which has prompted complaints from Atlantic City Electric, since nearly all of them are too close to utility poles and the pools are interfering with access. Funky Pickle Classic has Ventnor dinking VENTNOR Hundreds of pickleball players, pickleball enthusiasts and locals looking for a go And zoned air-conditioning. Some of these decks around town are actually built to house third-floor air-conditioning units, noted Roger McLarnon, Margates zoning and planning official. They want a zone for each floor, said McLarnon. They all want generators now. Pools are a whole other issue. Were getting flak from the electric company. Theyre threatening to move all the poles to the street. Driving around town, its easy to find new construction towering over older houses in Margates midsection, a place where year-round families used to live in modest one- and two-story homes sending their kids to school and working as teachers, lifeguards and police officers. The year-round community seemed to be flourishing, so much that a few years back, Margate was considering limiting third floors altogether in this section to preserve its (relative) affordability. The town even built another school, no longer needed. Before the pandemic, we were researching having a section of the city have no third floors, making it more family-friendly, because the craziness of prices hadnt reached that area, Patterson said. It has now. Two plead guilty to charges in South Jersey prescription fraud case CAMDEN Two South Jersey men Thursday were the latest to plead guilty to defrauding state a Many of those families are selling their homes. Every person thats held property here for 20, 30, 40 years hit the lottery in terms of property value, says McLarnon. Its hard to turn down $1 million. Patterson, who has lived all his 72 years in Margate, until recently in a house on Lancaster Avenue that was demolished after Sandy, does not want front-yard fences, in an attempt to keep the town at least a bit as its always been. Patterson also wants to ban third stories entirely in lots less than 40 feet wide. He calls the tall, skinny homes built on these undersized lots lighthouses. Do I wish there werent so many big houses? Patterson said. Sure. But I cant put my wishes above the rules. People say, Why do you allow these McMansions? Why do you allow them to tear down these beautiful old houses? Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy VENTNOR Its never too late for one of the oldest historic neighborhood associations in the United States, the St. Leonards Association, to have its 100th anniversary. Officially in its 101st year, St. Leonards Tract was finally able to fully celebrate its century mark after a one-year delay caused by supply issues and pandemic-related precautions, St. Leonards Association President Bill Sill said. Responsible for preserving the neighborhood and its history, the St. Leonards Association was established in 1921 to preserve the integrity of the St. Leonards Tract community by reviewing requests for variances of properties, making sure that established deed restrictions for the neighborhood are upheld. The association also organizes charitable projects for local groups, puts on social activities for members in the tract and in general helps maintain the neighborhood. Looking back at our first 100 years, we have a lot to be grateful for and to be proud about. We do not intend to rest on our laurels, instead we have as our mission for the next 100 years the betterment of the tract and the city, Sill said. St. Leonards Tract was originally owned by the St. Leonards Land Company. The St. Leonards Tract neighborhood was incorporated June 13, 1896, making it seven years older than the city of Ventnor, which incorporated on March 17, 1903, according to the St. Leonards Association. The land between Surrey and Cambridge avenues, named after English dukes, was developed by the St. Leonards Land Company before zoning regulations existed. The neighborhood is all single-family homes, some dating to 1905 or earlier, and many being multi-generational. Many of the very large, multilevel and multiroom houses in the neighborhood were built in the 1920s by Atlantic City entrepreneur Emmanuel Katz, known during the Prohibition era as the Jersey Rum Runner, making the homes architecturally and historically significant. The neighborhood is an asset to our city because it preserves the architecture from that era, Ventnor Commissioner Lance Landgraf said. Residents that lived there created uniform deed restrictions to ensure the distinctiveness of the neighborhood, since the absence of municipal zoning and private deed restrictions meant businesses or livestock could be built next to their homes. This prohibited duplexes and subdivisions for the homes built on the 50-by-125-foot lots. This in turn led to the creation of the St. Leonards Association, to ensure the preservation of the community by reinforcing deed restrictions. Many homes in the tract have stayed in the families for generations, and new homes are often designed to blend into our neighborhoods existing architecture, said Sill. Its a very peaceful, serene and friendly neighborhood. Our association provides a platform for our members to interact as well as to undertake civic initiatives. The historic neighborhood still has many of the original homes due to the century-old deed restrictions. It also boasts many prominent past residents and visitors, including former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Lyndon B. Johnson, White Christmas songwriter Irving Berlin, former state Sen. and Atlantic County political boss Frank Hap Farley, and Paul Skinny DAmato, famed owner of the Atlantic City 500 Club who regularly invited Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and other members of the Rat Pack to his home. Landgraf said the neighborhoods preserved architecture, big lots and the style of the residents living in it are big draws to the neighborhood. Current distinguished residents include former U.S. President Donald Trumps senior counselor, Kelly Anne Conway, former U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo and former state Sen. Chris Brown, R-Atlantic. Its a different architecture than the citys, so it brings you back to historic time, said Landgraf. The homes are well preserved, and the residents take pride in that. The St. Leonards Association also has partnered with the city on several projects to enhance both the appearance of the city and the tract. The city even declared Aug. 14 to be St. Leonards Tract Day, and singled out the association because for 100 years, the association has been true to their mission. Last years 100th anniversary was commemorated with a bronze plaque at the Ventnor pickleball courts on Atlantic Avenue, along with the unveiling of a flagpole and St. Leonards Tract pennant last August. This year, the St. Leonards Association hosted a delayed 100th anniversary party at St. James Memorial Hall on July 30. In attendance were members of the association, residents, local dignitaries and others honoring the history of St. Leonards Tract. Many residents are passionate about the city and the tract, said Landgraf. The neighborhood is so well kept, it encourages us, and the administration, to improve the city and set the bar higher for everyone else. "We very much welcome the Initiative that we have to move forward to a shared future, not a selfish future, but one which is shared by all countries of the world, rich or poor," said an official of Zimbabwe's ruling party on the China-proposed Global Development Initiative (GDI). Produced by Xinhua Global Service Of the tens of thousands of Afghans who clawed their way out of their country amid the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover a year ago August, 307 of them, a little over half children, have landed in the Quad-Cities, mostly on the Illinois side. They are being resettled here by World Relief Quad-Cities, a Moline-based affiliate of one of the nine nonprofit organizations nationwide that have cooperative agreements with the U.S. State Department to help immigrants rebuild their lives in their new country. The challenges are many and formidable, Laura Fontaine, executive director of the Quad-Cities office located in Moline, said. Its a lot more work than giving them a hug and finding an apartment. These are people who because of ties with the United States government or the Afghan military or some other reason abandoned their homes and their belongings under chaotic conditions and threat of being killed. Many have friends and relatives stuck in hiding in Afghanistan or neighboring countries where there are no jobs or food. And most carry the trauma of having lived their entire lives in a war zone. These are people who dont hear sirens except during a bombing, Fontaine said. They havent had time to process. In addition, many have family members that were separated on the tarmac, she said. They might have been in line with their family and someone shot a gun in the air and there was screaming, running. Thats how people got separated. All of our single men have wives and children in hiding. Thirty percent or more of our families have a child or spouse in Afghanistan. And right away, they need so many things: A place to stay, food and household items such as furniture, bedding, pots, pans, dishes, soap, towels, toilet plungers everything that supports daily living. Most fled with what they were wearing and what they could carry. With its own 35-member staff, hands-on help from 35 churches and some of 240 individual volunteers, World Relief found and furnished around 70 housing units for the 77 households that have arrived. Some who came alone are living with others. But that isnt necessarily the most difficult work. Jobs, learning English are pressing needs Finding a job. At present, federal and specially earmarked funding from the state of Illinois covers the first 90 days of rent and utilities, and families can qualify for another three months depending on circumstances, Fontaine explained. Families also are eligible for SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Our job is to empower our clients to get them to be self-sufficient, she said. We dont want them to be on the system. Pashto and Dari are the primary Afghan languages. Educational levels of those living in the Quad-Cities range from being pre-literate in their native language to a masters degree. Occupations included working at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as guards, in the mail room or as interpreters and serving in the Afghan military. Some of the women did engineering, served as police officers or studied medicine and law. But the clock keeps ticking. So far, 63 adults, or 47%, are employed, Eva Schmitt, World Reliefs immigration legal services assistant, reports. Primary employers are Tyson Fresh Meats-Joslin; Export Packaging (XPAC), Milan, and Liberty Packaging, Rock Island, because their jobs dont require special skills or ability to speak English. The main qualification for line work and general packaging is lots of physical stamina and willingness to work second and third shift. Tyson production workers, for example, need to be able to stand for eight to 10 hours and lift up to 40 pounds. For a man in his mid-50s with health problems, that isnt a likely option. Anxiety builds. Learning English. Adults get enrolled in English as a Second Language classes at the East Moline Outreach Center of Black Hawk College, a program funded by a federal grant. Classes began meeting Aug. 10 and will run through the end of the year at two time periods: 9 a.m. to noon Monday-Friday or 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Juggling work schedules and child care and finding transportation are challenges. Figuring out transportation. Clients are taught how to use the MetroLink bus system operated by the Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District and are set up with interpreters to obtain drivers licenses, so they can buy or borrow a car to find and get to work. At first, getting licenses presented an obstacle because the Department of Motor Vehicles in Silvis said it could schedule only one appointment per week for applicants accompanied by an interpreter. Thats because working with an interpreter takes longer; a DMV employee has to be present with the applicant during the entire time of the written test and if the applicant fails and immediately re-takes the test, the employee has to stay another block of time, Brenda Glahn, an attorney for the Illinois driver services department, explained. It comes down to staffing, she said. But, ultimately Glahn and others, including the manager of the Silvis location, worked out a plan in which some DMV employees were dedicated to working only with Afghan applicants until the demand was met. And now when appointments are made, the office makes sure it has enough employees to handle the applicants, potentially pulling from other facilities, Glahn said. Additionally, written exams in Pashto and Dari are expected to be available this fall, so an interpreter wont be needed for that part, Glahn said. It was like moving a mountain, but when it moved, everything went well, Fontaine said of the license holdup. Medical exams. By law, every person must receive a health screening within the first 30 days, and children additionally need physicals to enroll in school. World Relief has been scheduling those appointments, mainly through Community Health Care locations, as people arrive. Enrolling children in school. Children must be registered, equipped with supplies and taught how to get to school. Unless someone drives them, the latter means either walking or riding a MetroLink bus that provides school and peak hour service to education centers within the Moline-Coal Valley and Rock Island-Milan School Districts. A plus is that MetroLink recently announced that rides for K-12 students will be free for the upcoming school year. Path to legal residency remains unresolved Acquiring legal status. None of the above challenges is as formidable as the one that worries Fontaine the most: securing a legal status that will allow the Afghans a path to permanent legal residency and citizenship. Because of the chaos in Afghanistan, they were more or less scooped up and taken to military bases overseas where they were screened and vetted. They then were transported to one of eight military bases in the United States as parolees, but that is only a temporary standing. Again, the clock is ticking. Parolee status allows them to stay and work through 2023. Fontaine and immigration advocates nationwide are pressing for federal legislation that would adjust Afghans legal status to a different classification allowing for that permanent legal residency and citizenship. So far, no free-standing bill to do this has been introduced, and Biden Administration attempts to include adjustment language in appropriations bills this spring failed before passage. Many Afghans, then, live in legal limbo. Failing legislation, Fontaine and her staff have begun working on other ways to get Afghans legal status, but those routes are extremely difficult, can require thousands of dollars for legal assistance and can take literally years. How can I tell a family of 13 that, Hey, you need to get an immigration attorney and that attorney is going to cost and youre on food stamps with one person working, Fontaine said. World Relief working double-time When Fontaine was first asked by her home office in Baltimore how many Afghans she could handle, she agreed to 150 for free. That is, the Moline office would pay resettlement expenses without federal or state aid, using its own money generated through fund-raising and material donations as a faith-based non-profit. In time, she agreed to 175 and in October 2021, the first single Afghan man arrived at the Quad-City International Airport, Moline. A few more people trickled in during November, and then the week before Christmas, it was like the floodgates opened and we didnt stop to take a breath until February, Fontaine said. We were working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. While World Relief normally gets about two weeks notice of an arrival, families began landing every 24 or 48 hours. One was a family of 13. And Afghans werent World Reliefs only clients. The office also was settling people from the African nations of Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Sudan and the Asian country of Myanmar, formerly Burma. The agency hired more staff, which had dwindled to fewer than 15 during the Trump Administration when the number of refugees and immigrants accepted into the country dropped so low that there was little work to do. Before coming to Moline, the Afghans had at least two other stops. From Afghanistan they were taken to military bases overseas where they were screened and vetted by various agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security and Defense and the FBI, Fontaine said. They were questioned, and questioned and questioned, she said. They then were flown to one of eight military bases in the United States. In addition to those coming directly from the military bases, we received so many transfers and walk-ins from other places where initial housing was in sub-standard hotels or where they were stuck forever, Fontaine said. Finding housing: Just the beginning In the Quad-Cities, many Afghans initially were housed at the Hyatt in East Moline where World Relief used its nonprofit discount to pay for rooms. They were wonderful, Fontaine said of the Hyatt staff. So accommodating. They (the Afghans) even got breakfast. To find housing quickly, World Relief called on its old connections and landlords in the area of Augustana College, Rock Island. Then wed get a property ready in a week, Fontaine said, crossing her eyes. Every unit had to be clean and furnished with a certain number of items. One fork, one spoon, one knife. One can opener, one stock pot, Fontaine said. Its down to the nitty gritty. Most of these are donations; the organization even accepts gently-used mattresses if they pass the blue light bug test. Obstacles arose. Some properties owned by out-of-area companies said they wouldnt rent to the Afghans because they couldnt pass a credit check. They come from a war zone! Fontaine said. We saw that as a sign of blatant racism. In another instance, an apartment Fontaine was told was move-in ready clearly was not. I walked in and there was a dead bird. There was a dead mouse. There was poop (human) all over the bathroom. I was gagging. We had signed a lease; we took the word of the landlord. We cleaned it up and put a family in there. Fontaine said she sensed the landlord thought the unit was good enough for a nonprofit organization. For Afghans, getting out of their country was just the beginning. Watching the images on TV of Afghans scrambling to get out of Kabul was heart-wrenching. The rapidity of the countrys collapse as the U.S. military withdrew was stunning. How could this be happening? What was to become of these people? These babies? These families? These women who were doctors and engineers? These men who had been our allies? What, if anything, could I do to help? I decided that when World Relief Quad-Cities began resettling Afghans in the Quad-Cities, I would sign up as a volunteer. I had retired from a life-long job at the Quad-City Times in early 2021, so I had time. In March I began driving Afghans still raw from their rapid relocation to medical appointments, waiting during their appointments, then returning them to their homes. In July I became a partner friend to an Afghan family of six. As readers, you need to know that I volunteer at the agency I am writing about today. But its not my association as a volunteer that compelled my reporting. I have been drawn to stories of refugee resettlement since 1980 when I reported on the successes and failures of Indochinese refugees. These were people from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia who came here in the mid- to late 1970s following the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon. At that time, resettlement efforts were led by the Catholic dioceses of Davenport and Peoria and the New York-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. I remember that some of the sadness and depression these refugees experienced didnt show up until a few years after their resettlement. At first, there was the pressure of getting out and getting established. It was only after life got on an even keel that things caught up with them, things like not being able to say goodbye to their families, homesickness and the awful conditions some endured adrift on boats. I asked questions and wrote down the answers. In 2011, I wrote about a veritable United Nations of people being settled in the Quad-Cities by World Relief people from countries I had never heard of, including Burundi and Bhutan, and also the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Myanmar. Unlike todays Afghans, most of these people had spent years in camps waiting for a chance to resettle in a stable country. Many recalled long, harrowing escapes from their native lands, being handed off at night from one guide to another, always with an exchange of money. The refugee influx was changing neighborhoods and straining the public school systems. The Rock Island-Milan school district reported 28 languages and dialects among its students, Moline-Coal Valley reported 40. Yes Afghans need housing, need jobs, need to learn English. But ultimately more important than any of that, they need to get out of legal limbo. Of the 82,000 Afghans that were evacuated by the United States during July-August 2021, 72,500 were admitted to the U.S. under a temporary, two-year status called parole that offers no path to permanent residency or citizenship, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Once that parole expires, so does the authorization to work in this country and the person is subject to deportation. Under normal circumstances, people fleeing a country because of well-founded fear of persecution would have been vetted and conferred with refugee status while still overseas. Then when they arrived in the United States with that status they would have been eligible to apply for permanent residency within one year and for U.S. citizenship four years after that. But that didnt happen with the Afghans. Because of the urgency of the evacuation some would say botched there was no time to establish immigration status or obtain visas. Afghans were flown to overseas military bases where they were vetted, then entered the United States as parolees. Some were people who had worked with the U.S. military while some were women and girls at high risk of reprisal from the Taliban. In March, the Secretary of Homeland Security granted temporary protection status to Afghan parolees for 18 months allowing them to continue living here, keep working and avoid deportation. As of April 2022, Iowa had 1,130 residents with temporary protection status and Illinois had 3,610, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. This protection can be extended indefinitely by the Secretary of Homeland Security for as long as Afghanistan remains a place of ongoing armed conflict. But temporary protection still doesnt fix the legal limbo. For permanent status, Afghan parolees have two main options under existing mechanisms seeking a Special Immigrant Visa or asylum, both difficult. Immigration advocates push for adjustment Immigration advocates, including Laura Fontaine, executive director of World Relief Quad-Cities, want Congress to pass legislation that would adjust Afghan status to a designation that would lead to permanent residency and citizenship, without going through those other procedures. Congress has discussed legislation called the Afghan Adjustment Act that would do this, but no free-standing bills have been introduced. The Biden Administration tried to include Afghan adjustment language in appropriations measures this spring, but the language never made it into the bills considered by the House or Senate. The most recent attempt was in April as part of a request for emergency funding for Ukraine. There is precedent for adjustment legislation, dating back to 1958 when a path to permanent residency was offered to people fleeing the 1956 Hungarian revolution. Large numbers of people from Indochina -- Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia benefitted in the 1970s after the end of the Vietnam War, according to the Congressional Research Report. But opponents have questioned the soundness of the security vetting procedures conducted prior to entry and the security risks associated with large-scale Afghan resettlement. Some have said the procedures were not tough enough to keep out people affiliated with terrorist organizations. Q-C lawmakers weigh in For these reasons, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is skeptical of the Afghan Adjustment Act, a spokesman said. And while Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, strongly believes America should not abandon its promise to the Afghan men and women who fought alongside U.S. service members or helped us in the fight against terror, she, too, believes there must be appropriate vetting procedures in place before they obtain an adjusted status, spokeswoman Kelsi Daniell wrote in an email. Rep. Marionette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said in an emailed statement that she would continue to study and consider any adjustment of status legislation for our partners who are here in the U.S. and that she remains dedicated to implementing thorough screening and vetting procedures for any individuals being considered. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., said in an email statement that its essential that we live up to our word and continue to support these (people) including evaluating their long term status in this country. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said in an email statement that he is happy to support legislation that provides a clear path to a green card (providing legal permanent residency) for these deserving individuals, referring to people forced to leave their homes behind and flee as a result of service to our country, specifically Afghans who worked alongside our troops, diplomats and non-grovernmental organizations, or NGOs. Existing options: Special visa, asylum As for the two mechanisms already in place, some 36,821 Afghans living in the U.S. are potentially eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa program, created in 2008 to provide a path to permanent residence for Afghans who were employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government for a year, according to the Congressional Research Service. Fontaine, of World Relief, points to the obstacles. Normally, applying for this status would require a letter from the officer in charge of the diplomatic mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Because that embassy no longer exists, that is not possible. In addition, given the dangers of the evacuation and the need to pass through Taliban checkpoints, many Afghans destroyed or left behind documents linking them to foreign governments, the very documents they now need, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan organization that does research and analysis on immigration. In other cases, Afghans cannot complete the requirements because the contracting company that hired them no longer exists, or they cannot locate their supervisor to request a recommendation. Seeking this status also takes time. According to a January report from the departments of State and Homeland Security, average processing time was running around 734 calendar days. Asylum: A second route to permanent residency is to seek asylum, which is identical to seeking refugee status except its for people already living in the United States. Grounds are the same: fear of persecution in their homeland based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Asylum applications must be filed within one year of a persons arrival in the U.S. This route is even more backlogged than the first because it includes all the people seeking residency from south of the U.S. border and elsewhere. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service data, there were 432,341 pending affirmative asylum applications as of December 2021. To place this in context, the service adjudicated 9,727 applications during October-December 2021, the Congressional Research Service states. This route also generally requires the hiring of an attorney or accredited representative with expertise in immigration that can cost thousands of dollars. In the Quad-Cities, legal status is a major, major issue for Afghans, Fontaine said. Were making a whole population pay for our mistake. Weve had a year to rectify this and Congress still hasnt acted. An entire community is being set up for failure because we didnt do our due diligence. Despite the difficulty, World Relief staffers are forging ahead in trying to get legal status for its clients via Special Immigration Visas or asylum. More than half the staff traveled in June to the nonprofit National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago in to be trained in how to do this, Fontaine said. In addition, World Relief is arranging transportation and guidance to Chicago for immigration appointments. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The campaign committee for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, facing trouble for a TV ad aired against a rival in 2020, plans to ask a federal court to block enforcement of a state law making it illegal to knowingly circulate false reports to damage a candidate's election chances. The notice of appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was filed Wednesday by the campaign's attorney. It comes a day after a trial judge refused to bar Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman from potentially using the law to prosecute anyone over the disputed commercial. Lawyers for Stein have argued the law is overly broad and chills political speech. By challenging the state law, Stein may put himself in a bind between his public duties and his political future. Steins campaign committee argues that the statute is unconstitutional, noting one of the attorney generals chief jobs is to defend North Carolina laws in court. Stein, a Democrat, is a potential 2024 governors contender. The law, which dates to at least 1931, makes it illegal to knowingly circulate false derogatory reports about candidates to harm them at the ballot box. Freeman's investigation stems from a September 2020 State Board of Elections complaint about the ad, which was filed against Steins committee by his then-challenger, Republican Jim ONeill. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles, in canceling her July 25 emergency order that had stopped the laws enforcement, wrote Tuesday that the statute was permissible under the Constitution. The ad talks about untested rape kits held by local law enforcement agencies, and a woman appearing in the commercial asserts that ONeill left 1,500 rape kits sitting on a shelf in Forsyth County, where he's been district attorney since 2009. Steins committee and two other plaintiffs sued last month to attempt to the have the law struck down as Freemans office prepared to take its investigation of the commercial to a state grand jury, according to legal briefs. No one has been charged in the case, and its unclear who specifically would have been a possible target. ONeill has said the 2020 ad was false because police agencies, not prosecutors, are responsible for testing rape kits. Stein, who defeated ONeill by fewer than 14,000 votes in November 2020, has defended the ad's accuracy. He said it countered false accusations by ONeill that he had failed to act on over 15,000 untested rape kits since becoming attorney general in 2017. The voters deserved to be informed about the differences between how my opponent and I handled this critical public safety issue, Stein said in a statement Wednesday. "I am confident that this statute will ultimately be struck down and we will move forward. After a state election board investigation, the matter was forwarded to Freemans office, after which the State Bureau of Investigation interviewed Stein, members of his campaign staff and the woman in the ad, who also worked in the attorney generals office, according to briefs. Separately on Wednesday, the state Democratic Party wrote Freeman demanding that she investigate comments O'Neill made in the 2020 campaign's final months that it alleges were also false and derogatory. Party attorney John Wallace pointed to statements O'Neill made to the media, one that he said alleged Stein had done nothing about the rape kits and another that alleged Stein had sued then-President Donald Trump over funding for a border wall with Mexico. Freeman, herself a Democrat, should apply equal protection under the law and open an investigation," party spokesperson Kate Frauenfelder said. In an emailed statement Wednesday evening, Freeman said the Democratic Party was requesting unique treatment but instead needed to follow the normal procedure in a campaign case by filing a complaint with the State Board of Elections. Freeman recused herself from investigating Stein's ad, leaving it with a senior assistant DA in her office. She said Wednesday her recusal would remain for any other 2020 attorney general campaign case. O'Neill didn't have a comment Wednesday. The law at issue is a misdemeanor offense, punishable by up to 60 days in jail with fines. Someone with an otherwise clean record would avoid active time if convicted. Time may be running out on any prosecution, as the statute of limitations on the count is two years. Another state law says a public official convicted of the misdemeanor at issue in the lawsuit must be removed from office by a judge. This directive appears to conflict with a provision in the North Carolina Constitution in which someone like the attorney general can only be thrown out of office through impeachment and conviction by the General Assembly. CHICAGO An officer shot a person on the city's near West Side on Friday afternoon in the second such shooting in less than 24 hours, the Chicago Police Department said. Officers stopped a vehicle and observed someone inside with a handgun, at which time one officer fired their gun, striking the person, police said in a statement. That person was taken to a hospital. The person's condition and age were not immediately released. An officer also has gone to a hospital for observation, the statement said. The handgun was recovered at the scene of the incident, police said. The Civilian Office of Police Accountability responded to the scene and was investigating the incident. The Chicago Fire Department said a male was transported to a hospital. Around 11 p.m. Thursday, a 40-year-old man was shot during a struggle with officers in a South Side neighborhood. Officers approached a group of people while responding to a tracking system that gives alerts to areas where gunshots are fired, police said. The man was shot as officers "struggled with an armed offender," police said. He was listed in critical condition at a hospital. That shooting also was being investigated by Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability. SPRINGFIELD During the 11 days of the Illinois State Fair each August, calorie counts can be tossed out the window. Though its a celebration of the states robust agriculture industry, one of the fairs biggest draws is the food. In total, more than 150 food vendors are featured at this years fair. Food and drink reporter Donnette Beckett and state government reporter Brenden Moore dragged photographer Clay Jackson to different vendors to taste test this years fair food. The selection of new menu items did not disappoint and of course, the reporters willing to tackle tasting the new fare had to get their favorites as well. The research they uncovered is sure to be helpful to fair diners. Apple pie fries One of the happy discoveries included the new apple pie fries ($7) at the Truckin Good Food stand on Main Street. The sweet treat is made up of a fresh cut Honeycrisp apple. Just like you would regular fresh cut fries, said owner Nick Boucher. The crusty texture is made using corn starch before it is deep fried. After its deep fried we give it a toss with some cinnamon sugar, Boucher said. You can dip that in caramel or whipped topping. Boucher, a new vendor at the fair this year, had initially planned funnel cake fries, a new treat found at many fairs and festivals. But he found it sweetened his oil after they were fried. While he was cutting fries one day, he was eating an apple, which sparked the idea. He tested various ways of frying apples. It only took me three weeks to get it on the menu, he said. Truckin Good Foods other menu items include horseshoes, cinnamon rolls and breakfast items. The state fair was the second showing for apple pie fries, after the Champaign County Fair in late July. Boucher said one of his customers there gave him a new slogan: These need to be registered as an addictive substance, he said. Were inclined to agree. Though we tried to keep each taste to a sample size, the apple pie fries were hard to put down. They should prove to be a popular addition to the diverse collection of fair fare. Rainbow grilled cheese Brian Harrison, the owner of 1DK, located on the Avenue of Flags near the grandstand, wanted to add some color to the fair. Enter rainbow grilled cheese ($5) a toastie that literally features rainbow-dyed cheese. Harrison is relatively new to the food truck game and this is his first year as a fair vendor. He began creating his menu for the food truck after experimenting in other kitchens. I tried different things, he said. And I have fun with it. Thats the spirit in which he created rainbow grilled cheese. As Harrison tells it, his nephew simply refused to eat a typical grilled cheese in the basic colors. So he made one in a rainbow complexion. Thats all he would eat after that, Harrison said. Harrison serves various other fair foods, such as tenderloin sandwiches, chicken nuggets, fries and cheese sticks. But the grilled cheese sandwich can be eye-catching. I bag individual colors, then lay it down in layers, Harrison said. He uses Colby Jack cheese instead of American cheese. Thats where you get that gooeyness, Harrison said. This item affordable and fun should be a hit with younger fairgoers. The Village of Cultures The Village of Cultures, at the south end of Main Street, has been a fair staple for decades, giving people a dozen food options that span the globe, including Italian, African, Mediterranean, Cajun and German. This year, fairgoers will be able to figuratively eat their way around the world on a budget as part of the Small Plates, Big Tastes program. Basically, every vendor in the section will offer a sample size of their signature item for only $3. The small tab will allow diners to sample various foods from individual booths that they may not otherwise be able to. State fair manager Rebecca Clark told Lee Enterprises that its our take on a tapas movement. It's a great opportunity for you to be able to sample new cuisines, foods that you never really would have thought of ... It is such a melting pot out here, she said. Several food vendors were testing out what they wanted to specialize in for the taste tests. The Filipino booth had highlighted the vegetable and noodle dish, pancit. If a family comes they dont know what to try, said Filia Tzorkzis, manager of the booth. If they like it, they come back. We tried samples from the Mediterranean stand, chowing down on falafel with tzatziki sauce from the latter. We wish we could have tried more. Walking horseshoe A walking taco has become a common item among vendors, with its simple ingredients and easy-to-hold nature. They can be found at at least four stands on the fairgrounds. But Mehans Lemonade offers a local twist on the concept: the walking horseshoe ($8). A delicacy that originated in Springfield, a typical horseshoe is an open-faced sandwich that features toasted bread topped with meat, French fries and cheese sauce. The walking horseshoe is a modified version of this cutting out the bread and subbing out the fries for potato sticks. But, perhaps the most important ingredients, cheese and meat, are still included. Fairgoers will have their choice of hamburger, chicken or buffalo chicken as a protein. According to the family, their concession stand is the longest running food vendor in the state fair. Weve been here since 1933, said Tad Baird, a great-grandchild of the original owners. His mother, Jan Baird, said the walking horseshoe has been available to fairgoers for about four years. We also have gourmet grilled cheese, she said. Its a place worth stopping for a play on a popular local dish that still offers something different. Vose Corn Dogs Its the state fair; eat a corn dog. There are nearly 30 stands that sell the deep fried, batter-dipped hot dog-on-a-stick, a fair favorite that has Springfield roots, with the Cozy Dog Drive-In claiming to be the first to sell them in the mid-1940s. However, one stand stands about them all: Vose Fine Foods. Open all summer just across from the grandstand, the family-run stand has been a staple on the state fairgrounds for more than five decades. The stand was founded by Springfield native and self-proclaimed "King Corn Dog" Bob Vose, 93, and is now on its fourth generation. That's quite the staying power. And there's good reason. If you ask any local what their favorite corn dog is, it's a pretty safe bet that Vose ($4) will come out of their mouth. The stand gives two options for condiments: ketchup or mustard. Either is fine, though the corn dog stands on its own. Lemon shakeups It's exactly what it sounds like: a mixture of lemons, sugar and water shook up like a cocktail. There are also some variations on this classic throughout the fair. We tried a classic lemon shakeup and a peach lemonade shakeup from Smiley's Novelties & Concessions. They have several different variations of shakeups and are also known for having 30 varieties of funnel cake. After a long day of eating and walking in the sun, the shakeups were, in a word, refreshing. Feeding Frenzy For a third year in a row, the fair's "Feeding Frenzy" program returns to the fair. From 2 to 5 p.m. every day, discounted happy hour prices will apply at select vendors throughout the fairgrounds. "We have really done a lot to be proactive in making sure that the fair is affordable for families," Clark said. "I'm a mom with four small kids. I know exactly what it takes to feed a family when you come out to an event like this." Clark said the program is perfect for those having a late lunch or looking for an early dinner ahead of a grandstand show. Copi The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is offering free samples of Copi in the "Conservation World" section of the fairgrounds from 2 to 6 p.m. during the first weekend of the fair. Copi is the rebranded name for the invasive Asian carp. More fair fare There were too many good options two newspaper reporters to try. But here are some other items worth a taste: Culler's French Fries , a state fair staple for more than 75 years. Best served with salt and vinegar. There are two stands on the fairgrounds. , a state fair staple for more than 75 years. Best served with salt and vinegar. There are two stands on the fairgrounds. Mini donuts served by the bucket or the bag by The Donut Family, which has four stands. The family-run vendor has been serving up yummy fried dough at Midwestern state and county fairs since 1973. served by the bucket or the bag by The Donut Family, which has four stands. The family-run vendor has been serving up yummy fried dough at Midwestern state and county fairs since 1973. Hot Wisconsin Cheese , near the grandstand, serves up a variety of fried cheese products, including mozzarella fingers, cheddar nuggets and jalapeno cheddar. , near the grandstand, serves up a variety of fried cheese products, including mozzarella fingers, cheddar nuggets and jalapeno cheddar. There are several great protein options at the Pork Patio, including a pork chop-on-a-stick. A full list of vendors can be found at bit.ly/statefairvendors. STURGIS Haisley Schaff kept her eyes forward and her hand on the throttle as she rode toward Jackpine Gypsiess hill climb track Friday morning. The 4-year-old only made it through her first run, though, after falling near the finish line. Catchers were in place and caught her and her bike before sliding down the hill. Schaff said she started racing when she was 2 years old, and she likes having fun, going fast and beating her 6-year-old brother Trexton. Trexton also raced Friday morning. He said he puts his nervousness behind him. Taylor Scott, Haisley and Trextons mother, said its a competitive family. She said her husband is a professional archer and is traveling. Scott said the family drove down after competing in flat track in Billings, Montana, Sunday night, got to Sturgis Monday for the hill climb, drove back to Montana for her husbands Tuesday flight, and then drove back down Thursday night for the Friday hill climb. They head back home Saturday. Scott said she and her husband dont ride, but the kids grandfather does. She said neither she nor her husband knew much about the sport before the kids started racing, and its been a learning experience for everyone. I try not to get nervous because I feel like they feed off the bad energy, but they wear protective equipment, she said. Scott said the hill climb at the Jackpine Gypsies is one of their favorites because the crowd is so supportive. She said they know a few of the families that come down from Billings, but dont know some of the locals yet. After a week-long rally, the Jackpine Gypsies closed out the 82nd rally with flat track Friday night. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe received a significant preliminary injunction this week from the U.S. District Court in South Dakota in the tribe's claim of voter rights violations in Lyman County. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Roberto Lange issued the injunction Thursday to implement a new redistricting plan for the Lyman County Board of Commissioners' Nov. 8 election and to begin the adoption of a remedial plan. Cooperation between the Tribe and the County, between Tribal members and non-Tribal members, is crucial to the future of Lyman County," Lange wrote in his decision. "If the County does not come forward with an appropriate remedial plan, this Court can impose its own. Attorneys for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe said the decision acknowledges that the countys current redistricting plan would dilute the voting power of the Native American community and requires the county commissioners to create a new plan for the county elections in November. This decision affirms that gatekeepers must make inclusive changes protected by the Voting Rights Act in a timely fashion and acknowledges that everyone benefits when local governments cooperate with tribal governments like the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said Native American Rights Fund Staff Attorney Samantha Kelty. In May, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe voters filed a lawsuit against Lyman County commissioners for delaying the rollout of fair election districts. While over 40% of Lyman County voters live on the Lower Brule Reservation, an at-large voting system hampered reservation voters to elect a single candidate of their choice to the Board of Commissioners, the tribe's attorneys argued. The 2020 redistricting process required changing the at-large voting system and giving Native American voters an opportunity to select two of the five county commissioners in order to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Vice Chairman Neil Russell said the tribe is ready to "help Lyman County make positive changes on- and off-reservation." Lange's 49-page order acknowledges Lyman Countys voting patterns that tend to favor white-majority voters and places Native American voters at a distinct disadvantage. Lange wrote the effect of a single county-wide district has been to create a system where the Countys white majority can and largely has blocked election of Native-preferred candidates. Lyman County has never seen Native American representation at the county level. The pro-bono organization Public Counsel assisted the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The organization's Senior Counsel Tara Ford said the decision ensures that all voters will have a meaningful say in their representation. This decision acknowledges what Native American voters in Lyman County have experienced for decades, a pattern in which Tribal voters arent on equal footing and in which they do not have a fair chance to elect county leaders who address their issues, Ford said. Were hopeful that with this decision, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe voters will now be able to elect leaders that understand the needs of their community and who will help shape their future. The Redrum Motorcycle Club held its second annual ride in honor of veterans Friday, with completion occurring at the The Monument's parking lot in Rapid City. International President of Redrum Cliff Matias said it is important for the group to support veterans, especially veterans experiencing homelessness. Dozens of motorcycles completed Friday's ride in The Monument parking lot near the Memorial Park band shell where members of the homeless community and all veterans and riders were invited for a free lunch. "We call it the veterans warrior ride," Matias said. "And it's in honor of veterans, Native American veterans and also all veterans who served this country and also a very important part of that is the homeless veterans. We understand there's a really large homeless veteran population here in Rapid City and those that come to the feeds in this park." One supporter who didn't make it to this year's ride is actor Jason Momoa. Momoa is a member of the club and donated several items to the ride and the auction used to raise money to support the cause. Bo Jones is an injured veteran who came from Texas to participate in this year's ride. "This is my first time in Sturgis since I was very young," said Jones, who lost both of his legs serving in the Armed Forces. "It means a lot to get to ride and add my support to what they are doing." Employees who were given a mandate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs have agreed to settle their class action lawsuit filed against their employer for $10,337,500. Hospital workers from the NorthShore University HealthSystem were given an October 31, 2021, deadline to receive their vaccines. Fourteen workers filed a class action lawsuit against the hospital claiming they were discriminated against based on their religion. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees whose religious beliefs conflict with a workplace rule unless doing so would create an undue hardship. Employees requesting a reasonable accommodation are entitled to an individualized assessment and interactive discussion to determine if a reasonable accommodation can be provided. During the pandemic, some employers wrongly believed they could avoid compliance with this federal law in the name of the pandemic. In the Class Action Settlement Agreement filed with the U.S. District Court on July 29, 2022, the Settlement Class includes All NorthShore Team Members who: (1) between July 1, 2021, and January 1, 2022, submitted to NorthShore a request for religious exemption and/or accommodation from its Vaccine Policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination; (2) were denied a religious exemption and/or accommodation; and (3) either received a COVID-19 vaccine to avoid termination or were discharged or resigned based upon their religious declination of a COVID-19 vaccine. NorthShore estimated that approximately 523 Team Members requested and were denied a religious exemption and/or accommodation to its Vaccine Policy requiring COVID-19, including approximately 204 who became compliant with the Vaccine Policys COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and 269 who were discharged or resigned based upon their religious declination of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Settlement Agreement. Following the settlement, NorthShore has agreed to offer reasonable accommodations for employees in all positions who obtain approved vaccination exemptions under NorthShores System Vaccine Program. In addition, those employees who were terminated for refusal to take the vaccine will be offered re-employment. Liberty Counsel represented the plaintiffs and said in a statement, This is a historic, first-of-its-kind class action settlement against a private employer who unlawfully denied hundreds of religious exemption requests to COVID-19 shots. Liberty Counsel estimated that employees who were terminated or resigned because of their religious refusal of a COVID shot will receive approximately $25,000 each, and employees who were forced to accept a COVID shot against their religious beliefs to keep their jobs will receive approximately $3,000 each. In their announcement, Liberty Counsel said, There is no pause button on the federal employment law under Title VII. Employees do not lose their right to reasonable accommodation for their religious beliefs simply because an employer or even the federal government pushes a vaccine mandate under the guise of a pandemic. It is interesting that the first settlement for vaccine mandates is in a healthcare system, an industry that would seemingly be in the best position to argue that unvaccinated workers present a direct threat or create an undue hardship. Going forward, employers should not create a blanket rule that there will be no exceptions to a vaccine mandate for religion or disability. Each person who submits a request for an accommodation needs to be evaluated on an individualized basis, and employers should consider whether the employee can be reasonably accommodated. Employers should document their efforts to engage in the interactive process. For a religious accommodation, employees need only demonstrate that they possess a sincerely held religious belief that conflicts with a workplace rule. The religion need not be one that is traditional or recognized. All documents supporting the need for an accommodation should be maintained in a separate file. It is estimated there are over 600 current lawsuits in the United States against employers for vaccine mandates, and there are likely more to come. NANJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- A freight train left the city of Wuxi in east China's Jiangsu Province and headed for Central Asia on Saturday, local authorities said. The train carries more than 1,000 tonnes of goods, including polyester chips, household appliances, and auto parts, with a combined market value of 30 million yuan (about 4.4 million U.S. dollars). It will pass through Jiangsu's Lianyungang City before reaching Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in about 20 days. Compared with sea transportation, the freight train service can cut the trip by at least 20 days. Since the pandemic, local foreign trade enterprises had difficulties in exporting products, and the freight train service has provided a new solution for these enterprises, said staff with the logistics park at Wuxi west station. Late on the morning of July 15, Joey Reinhardt was at his desk at Barbour Printing, the Tappahannock company his family has owned for decades, when he received an alert on his phone: a fire in progress. As a volunteer firefighter with the Tappahannock-Essex Volunteer Fire Department since he was 18, Reinhardt, now 51, has learned to take such startling notifications in stride. Most of the time, though, the fire being reported is not across the street. With a sense of urgency, Reinhardt hustled out of his office door and raced across Prince Street Oh, yeah, it was a run, he said to make sure people in the Martin-Sale Furniture Co. building, where the fire had started, were getting out. Once he saw they were, he headed down the block to Prince Street Cafe to alert employees and diners eating an early lunch that Friday. He suggested employees move their vehicles from the parking area in the back and then helped make sure upstairs apartments were vacated, and they were. Though the fire hadnt reached that row of brick storefronts, Reinhardt knew it could old buildings, close together in the towns historic district. The time to clear the buildings was right then. Then it was just a matter of needing a whole lot of firetrucks, Reinhardt recalled in an interview Friday, and a whole lot of water. The fire did indeed spread, destroying most of the buildings on that stretch of Prince Street along with adjacent structures on Water Lane. In all, several businesses were displaced including the furniture outlet (although the main Martin-Sale store across the street remains in operation), the cafe, a real estate office, a hair salon and an art studio as well as four families who lived in apartments in the affected structures. The damage is estimated at $2.5 million, said Thomas M. Blackwell, Essex Countys commissioner of the revenue. The fast-moving fire quickly overwhelmed local firefighting crews, and more than 100 firefighters from more than a dozen other jurisdictions answered the call for assistance, said Tappahannock-Essex Fire Chief Paul Richardson. Water had to be pumped from the nearby Rappahannock River to extinguish the blaze, which smoldered until a weekend storm doused it for good. Biggest fire Ive been on, said Richardson, who has served with the department for more than 40 years and has been chief for much of the past two decades. He said last week that the cause of the fire remains undetermined and what started it likely will never be known. Several firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion and minor injuries, but otherwise there were no serious injuries other than a pet cat that reportedly perished in the fire. The damaged area has been fenced off while insurance companies complete their work. There is no timetable for the rubble to be removed, though town officials hope it will begin soon. In the month since the fire, the community has rallied to assist those who were affected the last of the families displaced by the blaze was scheduled to go into new accommodations this past week and there is a common refrain of perseverance and confidence to overcome what Town Manager Eric Pollitt said might have been a knockout punch for other communities. I think this really shows the resolve of this community, said Pollitt, who was in Staunton for his wedding the weekend of the fire. I really think people here are going to do whatever we need to do to make sure something positive comes from this and that it doesnt define us in a negative way. Its going to take a few years its not going to happen overnight but I think were really going to build something special down there. *** Tappahannock is a waterfront town with a population of about 2,000, a gateway to the Northern Neck, via the Downing Bridge, when traveling on U.S. 360 from Richmond. The seat of Essex County, Tappahannock is the oldest town in the county. It has a Native American history that goes back long before Captain John Smith visited in 1608. Several centuries-old structures still stand, including the Ritchie House, which was built in 1706 and stands at Prince and Cross streets on the same block that burned. The brick dwelling, which now houses a law office, survived last months fire, just as it did a similarly devastating blaze in the same block in 1917. A tornado in 2016 that cut a swath through the town, destroying numerous buildings and injuring more than two dozen people, also tested Tappahannocks grit, recalled Reinhardt. Residents responded then, as did neighboring communities just as they have in the past month. Its just incredible, Reinhardt said. He noted in particular how Tappahannocks rival town, Warsaw, just across the bridge in Richmond County, among other assistance, immediately donated money from its next summer concert. To me, its how life is in a rural area, he said. You look out for each other. The last month has been emotional, definitely, said Beth Sharpe, executive director of Tappahannock Main Street, a nonprofit organization that is part of a national network striving to revitalize small towns. But it has been also filled with a lot of pride in our community, said Sharpe, who organized a GoFundMe that has raised more than $42,000 to assist those affected by the fire. Sharpe was a few blocks away from Prince Street in a classroom at nearby St. Margarets School, attending a meeting of the Virginia Rural Leadership Institute when she received a text message about a big fire. By the time she got her first look, the smoke was thick and black and flames were shooting several stories into the air, and sirens were approaching town one after another, a sure sign of distress, but, as she said, also a sign of hope that so many people from outside the community were coming to help. She began mobilizing local merchants: a supermarket sent provisions for first responders as did pizza restaurants; a home improvement store offered any necessary supplies. Later, churches set up meal trains for the displaced residents, she said. That sort of assistance continued in the ensuing weeks. Pollitt said state and local elected officials, as well as government professionals from other jurisdictions, have been quick to offer support and encouragement. A series of down-home fundraisers from lemonade stands to a pancake breakfast Saturday, from T-shirts to Michelles Sweet Treats in Warsaw holding cake auctions have helped those reeling from the fire. I couldnt even begin to name all of the organizations and individuals and groups who have come together to really focus on the future, Sharpe said. Part of envisioning the future includes salvaging bricks from the rubble a volunteer effort is being planned and preserving them for use in future development in the area as part of sidewalks or a statue or something. We dont know what that looks like right now, Sharpe said. But we have one chance to save a piece of this history, and this is our chance. Sharpe said there were already plans underway to revitalize Tappahannocks downtown, and now she said Tappahannock Main Street is there to work with the private property owners of the burned-out block to help them reach whatever their final goal will be as far as rebuilding. Theres a lot of momentum here still, she said. Its horrible ... but we just have to keep moving. *** When she saw the flames, Hannah Overton Tiffany, owner of Tiffany Properties Realty, was on her way back to the office. Shed been in that space, next door to Prince Street Cafe, since February 2020. She parked near the bridge and ran down the street, which was already blocked off, telling anyone who tried to stop her that she needed to rescue her office cat, Victor. At that point, the fire had yet to spread beyond the furniture store. When she arrived at her office, Victor was waiting beside the door. I grabbed Victor and ran back to the car, she said. Though a cat in a nearby apartment reportedly died in the blaze, Victor survived and is doing well in Tiffanys new office a couple of blocks away. The biggest loss was our files, said Tiffany, though she noted the fire really has not affected her business like it did others. It was painful and hard to deal with, but we just kept selling. Real estate is a fairly portable business. We just kept on rolling. The same couldnt be said for Prince Street Cafe, a popular dining spot that was just shy of celebrating its first anniversary, or George Jennings art studio, which was on the other side of the cafe. Jennings, a retired architect-turned-artist, lost 55 years of architectural records plus about 70 framed paintings in his studio and another 17 on display at the cafe, where he not only sold his work but would get lunch. People would buy them at the cafe and then come over to meet and talk to me. It was a fabulous situation. It really was like family, said Jennings, his voice cracking with emotion. Jennings, 79, has been mostly painting for the past seven years, operating under the studio name of G Booker Jennings. (On his website, he explains that Booker is his middle name and that he didnt want to be confused with another artist named George Jennings who is quite good. Look him up.) Jennings was in the studio when the fire broke out in the furniture store. He was alerted to the fire and advised to move his SUV parked behind the building, which he did. By the time he returned from moving the SUV to safety, there was too much smoke to re-enter the building and retrieve anything from the studio, including the keys to an old pickup truck that also was parked behind the building. Several of his paintings besides the ones hes sold over the years survive at Tappahannock Art Gallery. I think we have seven of his paintings, Liz Harper said of the small, nonprofit, volunteer-run gallery that suffered melted vinyl siding from the fire but has continued to operate. His paintings are in a lot of homes and places all over the world. Boy, I wish I had bought more. Jennings, who specializes in plein air painting, is starting his studio again in space hes leasing in the building Tiffany is using for her real estate office. Hes settling in and feeding Victor the office cat, but he has not resumed painting. Its been too hot for outdoor painting, he said, plus his mind just hasnt been in the right place for it. In addition, a new easel had been delivered to him from Italy just before the fire. Its gone, he said. Hes ordered a replacement, but, Now, I have to wait for Italy to send me another one. Meantime, hes been the recipient of sweet gestures from people, such as the anonymous person who sent him everything I need to paint a couple of panels, brushes, brush cleaner. Jennings noted a few of his supplies survived the fire because he painted a scene the night before and then stashed his materials in the trunk of the vehicle he rescued. It was a bit of good fortune in a largely bleak experience. Despite everything, Jennings said hes found himself feeling unusually positive in the past month, thinking about what the future might hold for the devastated block, for Tappahannock and for himself. Tappahannocks a quirky little place, very independent, said Jennings, whos lived in town since 2002 when he purchased a 300-year-old house to renovate. Were keeping our heads up and moving forward. Lets try a thought experiment. Close your eyes and picture a house designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. If youre architecturally savvy, you probably imagined a large property maybe even a mansion with an asymmetrical, brick-and- brownstone facade and a corner tower with a conical roof. The style, which was popular in the United States from 1880 to about 1910, has a heavy, lithic quality that imparts a sense of strength, solidity and permanence. If youre an aficionado of Richmonds architecture, you might have pictured the Lewis Ginter House at 901 West Franklin Street. It was the first large-scale, fully developed residential Richardsonian in Richmond, and its an exemplary example of the style. It also proved to be influential. After its completion in 1891, it helped shape the look of the citys residential architecture for the next decade, said Chris Novelli, an architectural historian with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. By contrast, Im going to go out on a limb and say that when we started this thought experiment, the Richardsonian house that sits cater-corner to Ginter House at 826-828 West Franklin Street didnt spring into your mind. Richmond architect Charles H. Read Jr. designed the property for Leon L. Strause, who like Ginter was a prosperous tobacco merchant. It was built the year after work on Ginter House wrapped up. Strauses house shares some of the styles hallmark features, including a corner tower and rustic brownstone. But where Ginter House uses the red brick typically associated with the style, the Strause property utilizes golden-colored brick. Historians sometimes refer to the late Victorian era as the brown decades because of the darker palette of its architecture, but this house shoots that out of the water, Novelli said. Its bright and sunny. Read, who studied engineering at the University of Virginia and worked in Washington D.C. before opening his own firm in Richmond, designed other Richardsonian buildings here and in the nations capital, said Ray Bonis, a local historian and manager of The Shockoe Examiner, a Richmond history blog. But the Strause property appears to be the only one Read designed with golden bricks. (Read is perhaps best known for designing the plan and first 15 buildings of Union Theological Seminary on the citys North Side, beginning in 1896. He also designed Planters National Bank on Main Street in 1893.) Another difference between the Ginter and Strause houses: Reads design for the Strause property makes the Richardsonian styles connection to the French Chateau style more explicit, with wall dormers ringing the top of the tower. Thats a feature of French chateaux that you rarely see in Richmond, Novelli said. Another distinctive French feature: the gargoyles at the top of the Strause tower. Other striking exterior details on the Strause house include the loggia on the second level and the leaded- and beveled-glass panel in the houses massive front door. Inside, the house was originally distinguished by a suite of first-level formal rooms that included a drawing room, a library and a dining room along the western side and a living hall on the eastern side. Its a floorplan you sometimes see in Victorian houses, particularly ones that occupy a corner lot, like the houses at 932 and 1000 West Franklin Street, Novelli said. The Maymont Mansion finished the year after the Strause property has a variation of the same floorplan. Standout interior features in the Strause property include the classical mantels in the drawing room and library, glass-doored bookcases and the stained-glass window above the main staircase. Strause didnt live in the building for long. According to the city directory, J.W. Gordon occupied the house in 1901. The property changed hands again in 1909. The new owner, E. R. Williams, stayed in the house until he sold it to Dr. Charles A. Blanton in 1928. (The classical mantels appear to have been added by one of these early owners, Novelli said.) The following year, the house underwent its first significant modifications. Dr. Blanton converted it into a residence for his family on one side and medical offices for himself and three other doctors on the other, Novelli said. Blanton also added an extension onto the back of the house, the plans of which were drawn by W. Duncan Lee, a sought-after architect who designed 14 houses on Monument Avenue. Blanton died in 1949, but his family continued to own the building until Virginia Commonwealth University bought it in the 1960s, Bonis said. VCU named the building Blanton House in honor of Charles Blantons grandson, Wyndham Bolling Blanton Jr., who was a VCU rector. A portion of the building now houses offices for VCUs dean of Humanities and Sciences. Even today, the exteriors of the Ginter and Strause-Blanton houses survive largely as they would have appeared in the late 19th century, and each are striking examples of their style. You may be unaware that Friday was a big day in Roanoke. But if you were atop Mill Mountain during late morning you couldnt have missed what happened. Roughly 70 people gathered at the foot of Roanokes most prominent icon, the Mill Mountain Star. They showed up in honor of another Roanoke icon Brenda Hale. At age 76, Hale is serving her ninth term as president of the Roanoke branch of the NAACP. That came after other careers first in the U.S. Army, from which Hale retired as a sergeant first class, and later in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where she nursed sick veterans. In the past 12 years, shes been feted with honorary doctorates from Bethlehem Bible College, Word of Life Theological Seminary and Roanoke College. Titled Roanoke Star Dedication to Dr. Brenda Hale, local luminaries abounded at the ceremony. Among them were Mayor Sherman Lea; former two-time mayor David Bowers; Verletta White, the superintendent of Roanokes school system; and Nancy Agee, CEO of Carilion Clinic. The honor bestowed to Hale Friday is a temporary one. It grew out of a creative fundraising ploy by the Roanoke Kiwanis Club, a civic group thats never been shy about pulling stunts to raise money. Last year, the organization appropriated the star and auctioned it off for yuks as part of their annual pancake breakfast. Sam Lionberger was the inaugural purchaser. It was fun. In May, in advance of the second auction at Twisted Track microbrewery on Shenandoah Avenue, a small band of Kiwanians hatched a plan. Sheila Umberger, Rupert Cutler, Eric Danielsen, Ryan LaFountain, Steve McGraw, Cheri Hartman and Dr. David Hartman pooled their money and decided to buy the icon in honor of Hale. Their winning bid was $650, said club Treasurer John Montgomery. And then they set about inviting 100 or so people to Fridays event. They cast the dedication with a Citizen of the Year vibe. And the spectacle oozed patriotism. Organizers passed out handheld American flags to onlookers. Events commenced after a stirring rendition by Cherice Davis of The Star Spangled Banner. Hale, dressed in red slacks, a white top and an American flag scarf, listened as one speaker after another sang her praises in what felt like a roast of appreciation. We know you represent everything thats great about our country, Cheri Hartman said to Hale during introductory remarks. Hale is the spirit of multiracial unity in Roanoke, said former city councilman Rupert Cutler. Thats my friend, Dr. Brenda Hale. What a wonderful asset she is to the community and the world at large. Brenda is a friend to everyone, said Gloria Randolph King, first vice-president of Roanokes NAACP branch. She fights on behalf of every cause for every person who needs it. Shes fought social justice issues at the local, state and federal level, said city Councilwoman Stephanie Moon Reynolds. The first word that comes to mind is champion, a champion for our children, said White, the schools superintendent. Lea, whos served on the Roanoke City Council since 2004, called her this great servant to the community. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to improving lives. President of the NAACP is not an easy job, the mayor noted. It involves taking public positions on issues that are not always popular something with which hes well-acquainted. You have to have something on the inside, that commitment to serve others, Lea said. After those tidal waves of appreciation, Hale made her way to the podium. She started off by telling the crowd that every time she arrives back in Roanoke from out of town, she knows shes home when she sees the lights of the Mill Mountain Star. The star is so special to me, and it has been all of my life, Hale said. To have this honor here, on Mill Mountain, means the world to me. Then she told a story that surely made some jaws drop. (She elaborated on some details in a conversation we had later.) Hale was born in 1945 at Burrell Memorial Hospital, Roanokes black hospital in the days of segregation. She was the second-born of five children, and the eldest girl. One night when she was 7, Hale and her siblings lost their parents suddenly and tragically. Her mom and dad had been out at the Elks Club, then on Wells Avenue in the Gainsboro neighborhood. When they returned home, the couple argued and the dispute grew more heated. Her father beat her mother until she was down on the floor of the familys kitchen, with her back up against some lower kitchen cabinets. Then he shot her at close range with a shotgun as then 7-year-old Brenda used a dish towel to wipe the blood from her mothers bashed face. The shot was fatal, and her father went away to prison. As a result, Hale and her siblings were broken up, literally. Subsequently, Brenda was sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she was raised by a great uncle and great aunt. They let her return to Roanoke each summer. And after she graduated high school in Bridgeport, Hale moved back here. She told the crowd that her great aunt and surrogate mom, Clara Watson, was a fount of wisdom and determination. She told me, in your lifetime, people will hate you because of your color. They will hate you because of your clothes. They will hate you because of your hair, your shoes. You have to rise up above that hate, and show up every day. I started working at age 9, and I havent stopped yet, Hale added. I dont know how to stop Success is not a destination, but something you choose every day of your life. The ceremony was more than words. After those were exchanged, the crowd moved to the entrance of the overlook, kind of on the stars backside. There the Kiwanians unveiled a double-posted sign displaying a plaque with Hales photo on it. The Roanoke Star Adopted by People Honoring Dr. Brenda L. Hale, it reads. Itll stand there until at least late next spring, after the Kiwanians auction off the star in honor of somebody else. So youve got roughly 10 months to check it out in person. For at least 70 years, Virginia politicians have accepted the notion that some issues are better handled by state agencies than by the courts or General Assembly and theyve been arguing ever since about exactly how much. Now, Gov. Glenn Youngkin aims to have a tool to meet his goal of cutting the states regulatory requirements by 25%. It is the goal of the first major overhaul in more than 25 years of the way Virginia governors review new regulations and revisions to existing ones. Its a target thats not new the General Assembly in 2018 launched a pilot program to do just that, to test the waters for a general cutback. It passed unanimously. The sponsor, Del. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, calling the 2018 bill one of his favorite pieces of legislation to have worked on, said support for easing regulatory burdens has support from both sides of the partisan divide. He found that as he tried to build on the program and create a continuous regulatory program with two-year reduction goals during the latest legislative session, efforts failed in the Senate. The measure won 11 Democratic votes in the House of Delegates and support from five of eight Democrats in the Senate General Laws Committee but died in a party-line vote in the Senate Finance Committee. It came out [of] the House with some Democrats' support, he said. I think if we'd been in a different time era, it might have gotten out with even more support and got through the Senate. Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, who co-sponsored the 2018 pilot legislation, said: We should want regulations when they make people's lives better. And when they're inhibiting people's lives or they're inhibiting government working effectively, we should either revise them or do away with them." Calling it a compromise that hit the sweet spot, VanValkenburg noted that he is wary of regulatory trimming that is arbitrary for the sake of cutting percentages. He did support Webert's proposal to expand the reduction effort. Webert's 2022 bill did not set across-the-board targets but said Department of Budget and Planning should set tailored goals for each agency. Youngkins overhaul sets strict new deadlines and he wants agencies to do better about letting the public know about regulatory changes. His overhaul tightens standards for the once-every-four-years review of regulations that agencies are already supposed to do. Some agencies take these reviews seriously, but for some, the periodic reviews were just perfunctory, said Andrew Wheeler, director of the newly formed Office of Regulatory Management in the governors office. Some agencies put even less effort in. A report last year by then-Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne in the Northam administration found that nearly a quarter of executive branch agencies did no such periodic reviews, while only a bit more than a quarter did reviews of all their regulations. Youngkins overhaul also calls on executive branch agencies to publish annual plans detailing all the new regulations and rules they plan to work on over the following 12 months. It is sort of an early warning system for the public and for businesses that arent closely watching every notice of proposed rulemaking that formally launches the process of making a new regulation or revising an old one. All executive branch agencies, even those exempt from the elaborate requirements of the Administrative Process Act, will have to post proposed new regulations, changes and guidance documents for all executive branch agencies on the states Town Hall website. (The site is a repository for information about proposed changes to state regulations and a portal to participate in or view related public meetings.) Laynes 2021 review found half of all regulations adopted over the past 15 years were exempt from the APA requirements and from any review by a governor. This is about transparency and speeding things up, said Wheeler, who took charge of Youngkins regulatory reform effort after the General Assembly rejected his nomination to serve as Secretary of Natural Resources Ive been doing this work since the '90s, and Im convinced that the more information you present to the public the better the regulations you get, Wheeler said. He served for two years as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump, after working as an energy industry lobbyist and as top lawyer for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. For standard regulatory proposals, Youngkins overhaul sets a three-week deadline for getting a notice of proposed rulemaking to the governor and a five-week deadline to reach the governor's desk once a final version of the proposal is ready. Fast track proposals for noncontroversial changes and emergency regulations move on even shorter time frames. It can take two to three years for a new regulation to get through, Wheeler said. The governor wants to speed things up he wants the government to operate more like a business. The periodic review of existing regulations will now require, not just request, an economic analysis. That analysis will include an analysis of costs and benefits of a regulation. Here, the idea is to look at the regulations impact, as well as costs and benefits of not having the regulation and of any alternative approaches. In addition, the economic analysis will need to look at the impact on families. Here, the starting point will be a look at how regulations affect families transportation, energy costs and education. Theres still work to be done on the metrics for family impact, Wheeler said. Its like were starting with a form 1040EZ but moving to a 1040 long form, he said, referring to standard tax forms. I expect any agency can give us a three or four paragraph narrative, as we develop more specifics were moving from the qualitative to the quantitative. Periodic reviews will also look at the number of regulatory requirements the target of Youngkins 25% reduction. Here, too, theres work to be done. Weve reduced the hours needed to get a cosmetology license, Wheeler said, referring to the state Board of Cosmetologys approval of a plan to cut the hours of training required from 1,500 to 1,000. The move should be a big step toward cutting the average $16,000 cost of education for the license, the board decided. At the same time, the plan calls for a shift of training attention to infection control and safe handling of chemicals. There are a few more formal steps to go through before the change takes effect. Once that happens, the question is how to count that change toward the 25% reduction goal - is it a 33% reduction, or a reduction of just one of several hundred requirements? We still need to look at how to figure out the percentage reduction in regulatory requirement here, Wheeler said. Theres one agency that required every filing be notarized and realized it didnt need to: whats the percentage reduction of that? Deciding on what, exactly, a requirement was and how to measure a reduction was one issue Layne found when reviewing the three-year pilot program at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and the Department of Criminal Justice. The DPOR found its boards, which regulate everyone from architects to professional wrestlers, had 1,984 regulatory requirements it could work with more than 700 others were required by law. Over the three years of the pilot, the department and its boards reduced 534 of the discretionary requirements. I expect that Youngkin's critics will see this as an effort to undermine decisions that should be based on scientific or technical factors and substitute a Gubernatorial veto over regulatory agencies, said John McGlennon, professor of government at the College of William and Mary. In practice, it would seem as though for a one-term Governor whose time in office is already ticking down, it will delay decisions as the rule-making process goes forward, and with greater requirements it seems as if there will be more opportunities to challenge decisions in terms of whether consideration of a decision meets the specified regulatory requirements, he added. Chinese student visas to U.S. tumble from pre-pandemic levels: report Xinhua) 10:25, August 13, 2022 NEW YORK, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of U.S. student visas issued to Chinese nationals plunged by more than 50 percent in the first half of 2022 compared with pre-COVID-19 levels, with the United States losing ground as the most-coveted place for Chinese students to pursue higher education abroad, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "Even before the pandemic, Chinese students were shifting their study-abroad sights elsewhere, driven by doubts about whether they would feel welcome in the United States and the emergence of more domestic and international alternatives. Travel restrictions and heightened safety concerns during the pandemic accelerated that decline," said the report. In the first six months of 2022, the United States issued 31,055 F-1 visas to Chinese nationals, down from 64,261 for the same period in 2019, according to data from the U.S. State Department. "The drop has hit revenue at big and small colleges and universities around the country, including state flagships," the report noted. "For more than a decade, China has been the top source of international students to the United States, providing universities with crucial tuition dollars to offset domestic declines and dwindling state funding at public universities," said the report. In the 2019-20 academic year, before the pandemic depressed study-abroad numbers, Chinese nationals accounted for 35 percent of foreigners studying in the United States and contributed 15.9 billion U.S. dollars in economic value, according to numbers tracked and aggregated by the Institute of International Education's Open Doors report. (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Bianji) HAVANA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Colombian government recognizes the legitimacy of the delegation of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla for peace talks, Colombia's new high commissioner for peace Danilo Rueda told a news conference here Friday. "We have witnessed how ELN shares the Colombian government's peace will," said Rueda, who was on a visit to Cuba as part of an official delegation to contact ELN leaders. Colombia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alvaro Leyva said on Thursday the Colombian government seeks to resume peace talks with the ELN guerrilla in the Cuban capital. "The participants in this first meeting are committed to giving our best to cement the stable, longstanding, and sustainable peace that Colombia and humanity deserve," Rueda said. The statement came days after Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter, was sworn in as Colombia's first left-wing president. Peace talks between the government and the ELN began in 2017 during the administration of former President Juan Manuel Santos but were suspended in January 2019 after the guerrilla group launched a car bomb attack that killed over 20 people. Letters to the Editor: Thankful for care given at Marian; In defense of Oceano pilots; I was suckered by 3 piggies; Future Leaders of America hosted Rob Bonta FLORENCE, S.C. Childrens shrieks of excitement rang in the air, the aroma of chili wafted through the park, groovy melodies played, and a book bag giveaway took place to make sure children had enough supplies for school. The Florence Police Department hosted a Unity with the Community celebration at Northwest Park Saturday to bridge the gap of distrust between police officers and the community. There were nine agencies at the event: the Pee Dee Coalition, the Housing Authority of Florence, the Blood Connection, the National Guard, SC Works, the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission, Florence County Emergency Management, Man 2 Man, and the Florence Fire Department. The event was created by Cpl. Oscar Merchant, who works in the police departments community relations office and serves on the departments community action team. Merchant said his goal was to get back in contact with the community. He said the variety of agencies was available to serve any need a member of the community had. COVID-19 caused a distance between the police and the community, Merchant said. With the issues we have been faced with in Florence, it is imperative that we get back in contact with the community. Merchant said he is hoping that as trust increases with police officials crime in the community will decrease. That is our goal, Merchant said. Statistics show that the more trust people have in the police, the less crime is committed in that area and that is what we are trying to accomplish. Merchant said he wants the community to trust the police, know that theyre going to do their job, and make the community a better place. Merchant said Unity with the Community events have been done at Iola James Park and Levy Park. He said Northwest Park was the last stop. We are trying to show our faces in every part of Florence we have jurisdiction, he said. We are going everywhere and we try to make sure that area is safe. We truly want people to know who we are and to know that we are people just like them. Merchant said he wants the community to know the police officers that serve the City of Florence on a first name basis. We want people to know that we each have our own personalities and ways of doing things, he said. We are much more than a gun and a badge. Public servants like State Senator Mike Reichenbach and Florence City Councilman Chaquez T. McCall showed their support for the celebration. Reichenbach said it was important for him to be at this event because events like these matter. It matters hearing from the community we serve and as a public servant I always tell people this is your seat and this is your community, he said. The best way for us to represent you is for us to hear what is on your mind. Reichenbach said this country needs civil discourse, people talking with each other, and fellowshipping, he said it is what makes us the nation we are. McCall said this event was a display of unity. This event shows that we all have a stake in the betterment of our communities, McCall said. Lets all come together, talk, eat some food, and socialize. Lets show the community that we are together and that we all want to combat the violence that is going on. TaWanda Epps of SC Works said SC Works was an important part of the community because it matches people who are looking for work with employers. We want the community to know that we are there and there is a way for you to gain employment, Epps said. We are there to provide the resources they need to earn self-sufficient wages and start a career. Epps said it is all about partnership. With everything going on in the world, everyone has a negative outlook on police officers, she said. This day shows that it takes all of us to create a functioning community. There is unity in the community and we are all working to make Florence a better place. Craig Lightfoot with the Man 2 Man initiative said bettering fathers in turn creates a better community. It is important to network and see the faces of the people we serve, he said. A father is the protector of the home and when he is not there, a part of the home is neglected. When we equip our fathers with the right tools they can step in and redirect the trajectory of the household. Rounding up some sentencing news and notes for the week that was | Main | "How Little Supervision Can We Have?" Fans of clemency law and history will want to be sure to check out a big recent ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals in Marteeny v. Brown, 321 Or App 250 (Aug. 10, 2022) (available here). The start of the 40+-page opinion provides an effective overview of its coverage: In 2020 and 2021, Oregon Governor Kate Brown granted clemency to approximately 1,026 convicted felons, comprising three groups: (1) individuals vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19, (2) individuals who had fought the historic wildfires that ravaged the state around Labor Day 2020, and (3) 73 individuals who were sentenced as juveniles before the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 1008 (2019), sec-25 of which was codified as ORS 144.397. SB 1008 made substantial changes to the prosecution and sentencing of juvenile offenders, including providing for early release hearings, conducted by the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision (BOPPS), after 15 years of incarceration. The legislature did not make SB 1008 retroactive. The effect of the Governors commutation order for these 73 individuals was to afford them the same procedure, under ORS 144.397, that would be afforded to a juvenile offender convicted today. Two groups of relators Douglas Marteeny, Linn County District Attorney, and Patricia Perlow, Lane County District Attorney (the DA relators), and four family members of victims of the crimes of which the some of the youth prisoners were convicted (the victim relators) petitioned the Marion County Circuit Court for a writ of mandamus directing the Governor, the Department of Corrections (DOC), the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA), and BOPPS to honor and follow all procedural and substantive provisions of Oregon law. In their legal arguments, relators argue that the commutations here were procedurally flawed, and unlawful for a variety of reasons that we detail below. But underlying those technical arguments exists a palpable emotion that deserves acknowledgement: relators feel that they have been denied justice. As we detail below, the clemency power of presidents and governors traces its origins to the earliest days of English common law. The arguments and emotions present in this case echo through the centuries. The power to pardon, sitting within a singular executive be they monarch, president, or governor has always been controversial, seemingly at odds with legislative determination and judicial decision-making. Whenever it has been used, it has lauded by some, and condemned by others. We are not called here to judge the wisdom of the Governors clemency of these 953 individuals; that is a political question. We are tasked solely with determining her authority to do so under Oregon law. And on that narrow question, we conclude that the commutations at issue here were a lawful exercise of the broad clemency power afforded Oregon governors by constitution and statute. Be one of the first to move into Siouxlands latest subdivision Elk Creek. This new construction "1372 Duplex" with an open concept floor plan. Estimated completion in mid-August by Brown Wegher Residential LLC / 1J Homes. 2-bedroom, 2 bath townhouse featuring: master suite with walk-in tile shower, main floor laundry plus mud room, quartz kitchen counters. Concrete patio off living room plus ready to finish basement. High efficiency furnace with programmable thermostat. The information provided is to be used as a guideline only. During the construction process the builder may make changes. Homeowners Association fee of $250 per month covers: lawn care (mowing, fertilizer, irrigation) snow removal plus Club House with Gym & pool for further details see elkcreek.com. Ask about the City of Sioux City tax abatement. There's been a boost in at-home renovation projects within the past year. While remodeling expenditures are slowing down, they are still a hot ticket item within the market. The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity released in July forecasts "year-over-year gains in remodeling expenditures to owner-occupied homes will decelerate from 17.4% in 2022 to 10.1% by the second quarter of 2023." "While beginning to soften, growth in spending for home improvements and repairs is expected to remain well above the market's historical average of 5%," Abbe Will, Associate Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program, said in the report "In the first half of 2023, annual remodeling expenditures are still set to expand to nearly $450 billion." But before you make your next renovation, ensure that it will help and not harm your home's value. GoBankingRates has 20 examples of some. Start by skipping these five projects. Unique lighting fixtures Good lighting is essential, but it needs to be functional rather than ornate. "For example, an oversize hanging light is out of place in a small to medium size Great Room or living room since the fixture will just overwhelm the entire space just as a too-small fixture will be dwarfed by a space that too large and voluminous for it," house plan website The Plan Collection said. Luxury bathrooms It's important not to go overboard with bathroom upgrades. "Potential buyers could be scared off by bathroom remodel mistakes like over-personalized finishes and over-the-top whirlpool tubs that are hard to clean and hard for some people to climb into," GoBankingRates reported. Keep it simple with a walk-in shower with a rain shower head. Brightly colored rooms "Just because a color is popular in magazines doesn't mean it will add value to a house in your area," Tulsa, Oklahoma-based real estate agent Paul Wheeler told HomeLight. "Cutting edge colors only work in cutting edge areas. Places like New York or L.A. pick up color trends first, then they trickle down to the middle of the country a few years later. So if we're too far ahead of the trends, buyers aren't going to like it." Luckily, fixing it is just a matter of another paint job. Guest bedroom-turned-home office Many people have been working from home in the past year, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of your spare room in favor of an office. Custom cabinet installation, rewiring for electric equipment and other improvements have been shown to cost $29,066 and result in a $14,155 value. It may not be worth it. High-end kitchens Many people enjoy top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, but only to an extent. New Jersey-based retailer Designer Appliances says on its blog that not all homes will see an increase in resale value simply because of updated appliances. This could happen if it isn't in a high-end market. (c)2022 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) Visit The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.) at www.ajc.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) The mayor of a southwestern Louisiana city and parish is back after a 21-day stint from an in-person rehab program where he was getting treatment for alcohol addiction and post traumatic stress disorder. The Lafayette City Council and Parish Council were notified Friday morning via email from City-Parish Attorney Greg Logan that Mayor-President Josh Guillory was back in town. Fridays announcement comes 18 days after the initial statement about his plan to seek treatment was issued, news outlets reported. The mayor-president, who has been in office since January 2020, served in the military in Iraq, where he fought on the front lines in active combat. In a news release, Guillory said he had turned to alcohol to relieve stress at the end of the day and that had begun to interfere with interpersonal relationships, particularly with his family. Jamie Angelle, Guillorys deputy chief of staff and spokesperson, said Guillory is scheduled to return to his office on Monday. Angelle said Guillory would address the public during a news conference sometime next week. During his time in rehab, questions were raised about who would be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Lafayette government. When Guillory left, the city said he would remain in authority over parish and city government. Through arrangements with the rehab facility, Guillory had access to a computer and internet service and was able to review and sign contracts, ordinances and other documents, the city said. Attorney General Jeff Landry was asked to weigh in on the matter but had not, as of yet, released an opinion. SIOUX CITY A Kansas man accused of driving to Sioux City to meet a 14-year-old girl has pleaded not guilty of providing marijuana to her and a second juvenile female. Sharan Monger, 21, of Kansas City, Kansas, entered his plea Friday in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of drug distribution to a person under age 18 and one count of possession of a controlled substance. According to court documents, Monger began a conversation on a social media site with the 14-year-old on July 28 and agreed to bring her marijuana, saying he'd also bring alcohol and condoms. Monger arrived in Sioux City early the following morning and met with the teen and another 14-year-old girl, who both got into Monger's vehicle, where he rolled each of them a joint and offered it to them, court documents said. Monger was arrested in possession of two prepackaged bags of marijuana weighing 11 grams. FREMONT, Neb. Sixth Judicial District County Judge Ken Vampola has announced his resignation, effective Sept. 2. Vampola has served as a judge from 2005-22 in the Sixth District, which includes Dakota, Cedar, Dixon, Thurston, Burt, Dodge and Washington counties. He was most recently retained by voters in 2020. "It has been an honor and privilege to serve," Vampola said in a news release. Among the positions he held prior to his appointment to the bench, Vampola was a Winnebago Tribal Court judge from 1998-2003 and a Winnebago tribal prosecutor and juvenile presenting officer from 1995-98. SIOUX CITY SkyWest Airlines continues to operate two flights per day at Sioux Gateway Airport as the Utah-based carrier awaits federal approval of its request to create a new charter service for smaller airports like Sioux City's. SkyWest, which flies connecting routes for United Airlines, offers one daily flight each to and from Sioux City to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Denver International Airport. In March, SkyWest announced plans to withdraw from Sioux Gateway and 27 other small airports by July, citing a shortage of pilots. Because the flights at those airports are federally subsidized under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, the U.S. Department of Transportation required SkyWest to continue serving those markets until a replacement carrier was selected. Boutique Airlines was the lone carrier to submit an EAS proposal for Sioux Gateway by the DOT's May 11 application deadline, offering to fly connecting routes to Minneapolis-St. Paul with 8-to-9-seat turboprop jets. With local travelers preferring larger aircraft, Sioux City leaders strongly recommended against the Boutique proposal. Instead, local officials accepted a deal it negotiated with SkyWest, citing the airline's "excellent track record" at the airport and the comfort of its 50-seat regional jets. Under the proposed agreement, SkyWest would have temporarily reduced the minimum number of weekly flights at Sioux Gateway from 12 to 7. The airline verbally promised to restore the other flights after conditions improved. Other airports served by SkyWest agreed to similar temporary reductions in service. In an Aug. 1 order, the DOT noted the proposed reductions in service fall below the EAS minimums of two daily round trips, six days a week, for destinations outside Alaska. But the agency granted SkyWest temporary waivers to reduce service to those levels as part of its current 30-day "hold-in" order requiring SkyWest to stay at the airport until a replacement carrier is selected. Sioux Gateway director Mike Collett said SkyWest now has the flexibility to temporarily reduce its frequency of flights, but has chosen not to exercise that option at the present time. "We have been working closely with Sioux City airport and community leaders to ensure we are able to provide solid, reliable service for our customers," SkyWest said in a statement. "This includes a request for additional flight schedule flexibility if it is needed in the future. We are not currently planning changes to our flight schedules at Sioux Gateway Airport and encourage travelers to continue flying Sioux Gateway Airport whenever they are planning a trip." In a move to counter the pilot shortage that has impacted the entire industry, SkyWest has separately asked the DOT for permission to launch a new charter service under an agency regulation known as "Part 135." The chapter, which applies to commuter and on-demand charter services that fly aircraft with 30 seats or less, would allow SkyWest to hire pilots with as little as 250 hours, rather than the 1,500 required for pilots for scheduled carriers under "Part 121", thus expanding the pool of eligible applicants. "One of SkyWests key missions has long been to connect small and mid-size markets to the national transportation infrastructure," SkyWest said in a statement. "SkyWest Charter will be a separate operation from SkyWest Airlines and will have the resources, standards, and operational expertise available to provide this service as well as or better than any carrier operating under Part 135 today, with jet aircraft and experienced senior pilots. In seeking commuter authority under well-established guidelines, SkyWest Charter has requested no regulation changes. The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents more than 59,000 pilots from 35 U.S. and Canadian airlines, has objected to SkyWest's chapter service application, arguing the airline is attempting to get around Part 121 rules regarding the flight experience of first officer pilots. The union argued SkyWest should not be permitted to "degrade the margin of safety of our air transportation system by using its new alter-ego company," to shift its current EAS small-community flying from "itself to its surrogate, to operate high performance jet aircraft under public charter rules with lesser experienced, lesser-qualified first officers on the flight deck," the union said in a filing to the DOT posted on regulations.gov. In a reply to the DOT, SkyWest described the union's claims as "replete with misstatements of the facts, incomplete or inaccurate representations of the law and innuendos that miscast (SkyWest) and the authority it has requested." "ALPA's objections are not based on an altruistic concern for air safety but rather unparalleled hubris implying that it, rather than the (DOT), should determine which carriers should be issued a commuter air carrier authorization, and that it, and not the FAA, should determine whether an air carrier's proposed operation fits within existing regulations and the operating rules that should be followed by the air carrier," SkyWest said in its filing posted on regulations.gov. At Sioux Gateway, Skywest's charter service would operate Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft with 30 seats the maximum allowed under 135 rules rather than the 50 seats now offered. The city and airport have voiced support for SkyWest's charter service request. This innovative plan would allow jet service to stay in the Sioux City market and maintain our essential connectivity to the national transportation system, the airport said in a June 7 letter signed by Collett and Joe Kruse, president of the airport board of trustees. SkyWest started at Sioux Gateway in October 2020 with its Denver routes, and added flights to Chicago in April 2021 under its current EAS contract, which is scheduled to run through April 1, 2024. In the first year, SkyWest received a subsidy of $2,045 per flight, or nearly $1.47 million. This year, the subsidy dropped to $880,418, and in the final year, it is scheduled to fall to $533,437. HARBIN, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- In a restaurant in Phuket, Thailand, 5G cloud-based multi-task robots lead guests to their tables to order, and then serve the dishes to them. These robots are made by CloudMinds Robotics, a Shanghai-based tech company which started its cooperation with Thailand's digital service provider in 2019. Products of CloudMinds Robotics have been replacing human crews in security patrol, hotel reception, caregiving, offline retail, temperature measurement and disinfection roles over the past three years, and are venturing forth in other markets in Asia and the Middle East. "In response to the demands overseas, we continue to improve our technical merits and application capabilities, facilitating the transformation of local tourism intelligently through advanced technologies such as 5G," Huang Xiaoqing, founder of the company said at the 2022 World 5G Convention that just concluded on Friday in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province in the northeast of China. 5G mobile communication technologies are underpinning the digitalized, networked and intelligent transformation of economies and societies amid the new round of technological revolution. After three years of official commercialization, China has become the most steadfast supporter of and advocator for 5G. It has built some 1.85 million 5G base stations supporting over 450 million end users, both accounting for over 60 percent of the global total. With more than 20,000 5G application innovations, China endeavors to facilitate international economic and social advancements with its latest 5G achievements. Recalling a case in 2019, when experts of China Mobile showed him the application of 5G on rare earth mining, Stephen Orlins, President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, said it surprised him that even though the control room was more than 1,000 km away, it could still guarantee and monitor the safety of the miners. Such technologies might significantly promote economic growth and job creation in China and the United States, he added. In China, 5G applications have been deeply integrated into intelligent mines, smart factories and digital ports, providing new motivations for economic growth. According to the China Internet Development Report 2021, China's digital economy reached 39.2 trillion yuan (about 6 trillion U. S. dollars) in 2020, accounting for 38.6 percent of the total GDP. "These advances highlight the role of the 5G value chain in promoting economic growth and sustainable development," said Zhu Juwang, director of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "If different regions have different standards, mobile communication services will not be able to reach an ideal scope and scale, and the cost of telecom operators and consumers will also be higher," said Liu Jian, ZTE's senior vice president. According to Liu, Chinese enterprises are actively participating in the construction, application and promotion of the global 5G network, as well as carrying out scientific and technological cooperation in the digital sector with other countries. Qualcomm, a U.S. company also dedicated to international telecom standards, has been working with Chinese mobile communications companies for over 30 years. "Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we still maintained a 20-percent increase in staff numbers per year in China over the past three years. The strong momentum we see in the Chinese market reinforces our commitment to further cooperation with our Chinese partners," said Frank Meng, chairman of Qualcomm China. As 5G application enters a critical phase of rapid development, it is now facing more complex cyber security challenges. Chinese companies are therefore consolidating the foundation for cyber security with their innovations. To promote the development and industrialization of 5G technology, global cooperation in production, education and research is of vital importance. "The advancement of technologies in China is also a process for China to further open up and expand cooperation," said Gong Ke, executive president of the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies. SAN DIEGO (AP) A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison Friday for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off San Diego's coast last year, killing three people. U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino called it the most egregious case Ive ever had in my courtroom in over 15 years in the Southern District of California" before sentencing 40-year-old Antonio Hurtado. Prosecutors say Hurtado was high on drugs when he drove the migrants into rough, stormy seas in the dark on May 2021. As 5-to-8-foot (1.5-2.4-meter) waves pounded the vessel, he jumped overboard and swam to shore, abandoning the passengers he had told to hide in the cabin and under deck. The boat capsized and broke apart as they were hurled into the treacherous early morning waters. Hurtado's lawyer could not be reached for comment. More than two dozen people were injured, including a 15-year-old Mexican boy and a 15-year-old Mexican girl. The 32 migrants all but one from Mexico had agreed to pay between $15,000 and $18,000 to be smuggled into the United States. They boarded the first boat in the small fishing village of Puerto Neuvo, Baja California, Mexico, according to the investigation. From there they traveled about two hours offshore near the Coronado Islands where Hurtado and his 40-foot boat named the Salty Lady were waiting to pick them up and take them to the San Diego coast, prosecutors said. High on drugs, Hurtado passed out for an hour before passengers were able to wake him, prosecutors say. Then the vessel's engine failed but Hurtado ignored his passengers pleas to call the U.S. Coast Guard for help. Instead, he jumped overboard as the boat began to list on its side and swam to shore. Rangers at Cabrillo National Park saw the boat capsize and called the U.S. Coast Guard, one of many federal and local agencies that responded, along with hikers. In the end, 29 people were rescued. Three migrants, Maricela Hernandez-Sanchez, Victor Perez-Degollado, and Maria Eugenia Chavez-Segovia, sustained blunt force trauma and drowned, according to the medical examiner's report. Hurtado was identified by the migrants as being the captain and taken into custody. He told authorities he was coming down from drugs and was taken to a hospital to detox. He also kneed a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the face as he attempted to put an ankle restraint on him before transporting him, according to the investigation. This sentence recognizes the serious nature of these crimes and stands as a stern warning to smugglers: your profit-driven schemes will fail; we will prosecute you for your crimes; and we will obtain justice for your victims," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement. If you made it past early childhood, your chances got better to see your golden years. Grafissimo/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images Every year I ask the college students in the course I teach about the 14th-century Black Death to imagine they are farmers or nuns or nobles in the Middle Ages. What would their lives have been like in the face of this terrifying disease that killed millions of people in just a few years? Setting aside how they envision what it would be like to confront the plague, these undergrads often figure that during the medieval period they would already be considered middle-aged or elderly at the age of 20. Rather than being in the prime of life, they think theyd soon be decrepit and dead. Theyre reflecting a common misperception that long life spans in humans are very recent, and that no one in the past lived much beyond their 30s. But thats just not true. I am a bioarchaeologist, which means that I study human skeletons excavated from archaeological sites to understand what life was like in the past. Im especially interested in demography mortality (deaths), fertility (births) and migration and how it was linked with health conditions and diseases such as the Black Death hundreds or thousands of years ago. Theres physical evidence that plenty of people in the past lived long lives just as long as some people do today. Bones record the length of a life One of the first steps in research about demography in the past is to estimate how old people were when they died. Bioarchaeologists do this using information about how your bones and teeth change as you get older. For example, I look for changes to joints in the pelvis that are common at older ages. Observations of these joints in people today whose ages we know allow us to estimate ages for people from archaeological sites with joints that look similar. A researcher can count the layers within a tooth that were added over time to determine how old a person lived to be. Benoitbertrand1974/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Another way to estimate age is to use a microscope to count the yearly additions of a mineralized tissue called cementum on teeth. Its similar to counting a trees rings to see how many years it lived. Using approaches like these, many studies have documented the existence of people who lived long lives in the past. For example, by examining skeletal remains, anthropologist Meggan Bullock and colleagues found that in the city of Cholula, Mexico, between 900 and 1531, most people who made it to adulthood lived past the age of 50. And of course there are many examples from historical records of people who lived very long lives in the past. For example, the sixth-century Roman Emperor Justinian I reportedly died at the age of 83. Analysis of the tooth development of an ancient anatomically modern Homo sapiens individual from Morocco suggests that our species has experienced long life spans for at least the past 160,000 years. Clearing up a math misunderstanding Given physical and historical evidence that many people did live long lives in the past, why does the misperception that everyone was dead by the age of 30 or 40 persist? It stems from confusion about the difference between individual life spans and life expectancy. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining for people of a particular age. For example, life expectancy at birth (age 0) is the average length of life for newborns. Life expectancy at age 25 is how much longer people live on average given theyve survived to age 25. In medieval England, life expectancy at birth for boys born to families that owned land was a mere 31.3 years. However, life expectancy at age 25 for landowners in medieval England was 25.7. This means that people in that era who celebrated their 25th birthday could expect to live until they were 50.7, on average 25.7 more years. While 50 might not seem old by todays standards, remember that this is an average, so many people would have lived much longer, into their 70s, 80s and even older. Life expectancy is a population-level statistic that reflects the conditions and experiences of a huge variety of people with very different health conditions and behaviors, some who die at very young ages, some who live to be over 100 years old, and lots whose life spans fall somewhere in between. Life expectancy is not a promise (or a threat!) about the life span of any single person. What some people dont realize is that low life expectancy at birth for any population usually reflects very high rates of infant mortality. Thats a measure of deaths in the first year of life. Given that life expectancies reflect averages for a population, a high number of deaths at very young ages will skew calculations of life expectancy at birth toward younger ages. But typically, many people in those populations who make it past the vulnerable infant and early childhood years can expect to live relatively long lives. Advances in modern sanitation which reduce the spread of diarrheal diseases that are a major killer of infants and vaccinations can greatly increase life expectancies. Consider the effect of infant mortality on overall age patterns in two contemporary populations with dramatically different life expectancies at birth. In Afghanistan, life expectancy at birth is low, at just over 53 years, and infant mortality is high, at almost 105 deaths for every 1,000 children born. In Singapore, life expectancy at birth is much higher, at over 86 years, and infant mortality is very low fewer than two infants die for every 1,000 who are born. In both countries, people do survive to very old ages. But in Afghanistan, because so many more people die at very young ages, proportionally fewer people survive to old age. Living a long life has long been possible Its incorrect to view long lives as a remarkable and unique characteristic of the modern era. Knowing that people often did have long lives in the past might help you feel more connected with the past. For example, you can imagine multigenerational households and gatherings, with grandparents in Neolithic China or Medieval England bouncing their grandchildren on their knees and telling them stories about their own childhoods decades before. You might have more in common with people who lived long ago than you had realized. ___ Sharon DeWitte receives funding from the National Science Foundation. ___ When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied White House signals that she not stop in Taiwan on her valedictory tour of Asian capitals, she ignited the worst diplomatic U.S.-China row in decades. And how did last week's collision turn out for the United States? Writes The New York Times: Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan began with her "plane departing from Kuala Lumpur and heading southeast toward the Indonesian part of Borneo, then turning north to fly along the eastern part of the Philippines. A more direct -- and shorter -- route would have been to fly northeast in a direct route over the South China Sea to Taiwan." Pelosi's avoidance of the South China Sea might have something to do with China's claim to 90% of it and China's control of islets in that sea that Beijing has converted into air, missile and naval bases. After 19 hours in Taiwan, the speaker flew to South Korea, where her reception was described as "cool." President Yoon Suk Yeol, though at home in Seoul when Pelosi arrived, did not meet with her, but instead held a 40-minute phone conversation. South Korea, like its neighbors, is anxious not to offend China. Consider this anomaly here: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand all rely on the United States as their No. 1 ally in defending them against China, but all boast of China as their No. 1 trading partner. How did Beijing react to Pelosi's 19 hours in Taiwan? With warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles, China conducted live-fire exercises from Thursday noon to Sunday noon, at six sites surrounding Taiwan. One Chinese missile flew over Taiwan. Five landed in the exclusive economic zone of Japan. The effect of these live firings at and around Taiwan was that of a naval quarantine or blockade. Ships and planes of other nations avoided air corridors and waters being targeted by Chinese forces. China also announced diplomatic and economic sanctions against the U.S. and Taiwan, canceling talks with Washington on climate change and military relations. Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was the triggering event that ignited the Chinese war games against Taiwan. But these air, naval and missile exercises were not planned in a day. They appear to have been prepared as a dress rehearsal for how China intends to go about bringing Taiwan home to the motherland, when President Xi Jinping decides the time is right. Pelosi spent the rest of her trip insisting that her visit represented no change in U.S. policy on Taiwan. Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Pelosi reiterated, "Our representation here is not about changing the status quo," adding that Beijing is "probably using our visit as an excuse." As the live firing went on for 72 hours, the White House echoed Pelosi that the U.S. recognizes Beijing's claim that Taiwan is a "part of China" and does not contest that claim. Nor have we any intention of shifting U.S. policy on Taiwan as it has been pursued since Jimmy Carter broke U.S. diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979. Where was the U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, then on Asian assignment during all this? Cruising in the Philippine Sea, not the South China Sea or Taiwan Strait or East China Sea, all claimed by Beijing. What was the message sent and the message received from the war games with which China responded to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan? From Beijing, the message sent to the U.S. was clear. China regards Taiwan as its detached province. It will confront any power, including the United States, that is perceived to be challenging that political reality. It will respond to any Taiwanese move to establish its independence of Beijing as a casus belli, a justification for war. The White House did not move any planes, ships or missiles to counter the Chinese live-fire exercises and, indeed, reassured Beijing repeatedly that Pelosi's visit did not represent any change in U.S. policy. It is hard to see how Asia's free and democratic nations and U.S. allies Japan, South Korea and Australia could not have taken away the conclusion that bristling Chinese aggressiveness had just been met by American passivity. Hawkish members of the Senate like Lindsey Graham appear to believe that. Consider the path Beijing has lately pursued, It has attacked and captured border lands in the Himalayas from India, claimed virtually the entire South China Sea, fortified half a dozen isles in that sea, claimed the Taiwan Strait as territorial waters, the transit of which by U.S. and allied warships requires China's permission, claimed Taiwan as part of China, as well as the nearby Senkaku Islands held by Japan. Now it has sent military aircraft and warships across the Taiwan Strait into and over the waters surrounding Taiwan and test-fired missiles and rockets to reenforce its claim to the island. When 21st-century China stakes a claim to something in Asia, it backs up its claim with action. The trend is unmistakable and points to a future confrontation over Taiwan. Q: Can dust from Africa reach the United States? A: Yes. Soil-derived aerosols, or dust, are abundant in our atmosphere. One source of dust is sandstorms over the Sahara. These storms whip small pieces of mineral dust from the desert into the atmosphere. Easterly winds then carry large plumes of Saharan dust away from the desert and over the Atlantic Ocean. This weather system is referred to as a Saharan air layer, or SAL, and at times dust in the SAL has traveled to the Caribbean, Texas and Florida. Desert dust from the Sahara and Gobi deserts has been observed on the ice sheet of Greenland. Ice cores in Greenland provide a history of the dust deposition as it appears as layers in the ice. This past July, satellites tracked a large plume of Saharan dust carried over the Atlantic Ocean. The incoming dust produces hazy-looking skies and causes red sunsets and sunrises. If rain should fall through the dust layer, the raindrops collect the soil particles. When the rain droplets hit objects on the ground, the water evaporates and leaves behind dry mud spots. Dust plays a major role in Earths climate. The airborne dust particles absorb and reflect sunlight, thus reducing the amount of solar energy reaching the surface. Hurricane formation is very sensitive to several environmental factors including sea-surface temperature, vertical wind shear and even the SAL. The SAL is much drier than tropical air and can have a strong vertical wind shear. Both factors inhibit hurricane development. Dust can also promote or reduce cloud and storm formation, depending on other atmospheric conditions. Dust from the Sahara impacts biological systems, as it is rich with iron and other minerals that plants and phytoplankton need. Dust transported out of the deserts is a natural fertilizer for ecosystems downwind. Iron and other nutrients in dust can lead to phytoplankton blooms as the dust settles into nutrient-limited waters. Acclaimed BritishIndian author Salman Rushdie had just arrived onstage for an event at New York states Chautauqua Institution when he was rushed by an assailant and stabbed multiple times in the neck and abdomen. The gory incident was caught on video, and soon after, the 75-year-old author was flown to a hospital where, as of this writing, he is reportedly undergoing surgery. Though little is known about the suspect, who was detained by police and identified as 24-year-old New Jersey resident Hadi Matar, observers were quick to recall the death sentence thats hung over Rushdies head for over three decades: an edict from the Iranian government calling on Muslims to murder the writer over his award-winning novel The Satanic Verses for alleged blasphemy against Islam. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rushdie has had little issue with public appearances in recent years, but throughout the 1990s, he was one of the most endangered authors in the world. After the Iranian government called for his death in 1989, Rushdie went into hiding, and violence over his novel persisted: bomb threats in bookstores that carried Satanic Verses, attacks on the books translators, communal clashes in Britain and India, heightened bounties for his capture. Though Rushdie came out of hiding in the late 90s, Islamic fundamentalists and hard-line religious groups harbored a vendetta against the author, and in 2007, the Iranian government stated that its fatwa cannot be revoked (it repeated this again in 2019). Attacks against Rushdie and those associated with Satanic Verses abated throughout the 2010s, with Rushdie even appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm to joke about the matter. But with todays stabbing, speculation regarding the fatwa and Iran has reemerged. Police believe Matar acted alone, but Irans state media still referred to Rushdie as an apostate who insulted the prophet in its official coverage of the attack. To recount this history and understand what may have led to this moment, I spoke on the phone with Nader Hashemi, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver and author of a 2019 piece on the legacy of The Satanic Verses. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nitish Pahwa: Had there been any rumblings from Iranian sources or other Rushdie opponents leading up to this moment, or was this a complete surprise? Nader Hashemi: Complete surprise. The political and global context of the Salman Rushdie saga is very different at this moment in time than it was when the death sentence was first proclaimed, over 30 years ago. The world has in many ways shifted to focus on other global concerns. The state of Islam-West relations has significantly changed. There has been no discussion, chatter, indication that anything like this was on the horizon. I heard Rushdie speak in Denver in 2015. He spoke onstage, and I didnt see any visible security. Advertisement Advertisement Iran certainly doesnt benefit in any way from staging this attack, given its own myriad political, economic, and social crises. I think thats the most interesting and noteworthy aspect of todays event: how it really came out of nowhere. No one was expecting that this would happen, and I suspect the only explanation is that were talking about a lone, radicalized individual who developed some obsession with Rushdie and launched this vicious assault. Advertisement When was the last time the Iranian government, or any major institutions, had made public statements about Rushdie or the fatwa? Advertisement Advertisement The last one could remember was probably over a decade ago, when one Iranian governmentsupported charitable foundation said they would still offer money to anyone who could assassinate Salman Rushdie. But even though Iranian politics in recent years has shifted in the direction of a much more harshly authoritarian, right-wing, hawkish set of political actors who now dominate the entire state, the question of Rushdie was just no longer discussed. The other background story to this is that after the fatwa was issued in 1989, Iran came under severe international scrutiny and effectively was forced to distance itself from the fatwa, saying that after Khomeini passed away, it was no longer government policy to carry out the fatwa. That was the official position of the regime. You did still hear various institutions within Iran that are not in power saying that they were going to still implement it. But in terms of government policy, there was a clear distancing of the Iranian regime from trying to implement the fatwa. That was considered to be accepted by European countries and by the international community, which at the time had pulled ambassadors out of Iran and responded very critically to the supreme leaders fatwa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I would say that several years after the fatwa was issued, after Khomeini passed away, it just wasnt a source of discussion. The best indication that the issue was resolved was that Rushdie started to travel with very little security, because the general sense was that this was an issue that was in the past. For someone who may not be familiar with the details or the history, how would you explain the fatwas emergence and its significance over time? In 1988, when Rushdies book The Satanic Verses was published, it started to generate news among British Muslims who protested the book, claiming it was blasphemous and offensive, an attempt to defame sacred symbols that Muslims around the world held very dear and near. It became an issue that really started in Europe, primarily in England. And then Ayatollah Khomeini, who was in the last year of his life, issued this fatwa claiming it was morally incumbent upon believing Muslims to carry out this death sentence, to avenge the blasphemous statements Rushdie had made in the book. Advertisement This generated a crisis. It brought Iran under severe criticism by the international community, and became a point of friction between Iran and international countries over the stated attempt, by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to assassinate an author. The fatwa was issued in February 1989, and Khomeini dies in June of that year. Then the argument from Iran was, The leader who issued the fatwa is dead, its no longer state policy, and the regime tried to slowly distance itself from that pronunciation. But it took a long time. And of course, Rushdie was living in hiding during those moments. Advertisement Advertisement The related point here is the world of Islam is as diverse and has as many different interpretations as other great world religions. Just because one particular religious leader issues an edict or a fatwa, that does not translate into 1 billion Muslims in the world following that religious decree. I think what Khomeini did was capture the feelings of hurt and anger and anguish that most Muslims felt with respect to the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad and other sacred figures in Islamic history. I think thats basically noncontroversial. But I think where Khomeini is nonrepresentative here is how you respond to an act of defamation. In that sense, it was really just the Iranian regime and its loyalists who were interested in carrying out an act of violence. Most Muslims rejected the fatwa and had no interest in carrying out this act of violence. But they did share the general sense that an act of blasphemy had taken place, and they started to point the fact that Britain has historic blasphemy laws against Christianity, so why is Christianity protected from blasphemy but not Islam, in the context of England? Those laws were then subsequently revoked after the Rushdie affair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And were talking about 1989, when the world changed in many ways. The Cold War was ending in a few months. There were other international events. And then this issue gradually withered away, particularly after the Iranian government was severely reprimanded and its ties to the international community, particularly to the West, were put into jeopardy over this fatwa. Could you pinpoint the moment when it seemed like it was finally safer for Rushdie to be out and about in public again? I dont think there was a particular moment. It was gradual, and I think the more time passed, the more Rushdie and other bookstores felt safe to promote his book and for Rushdie to speak publicly with less security. But for the first decade, from roughly 1989 to 1999, it was a tough time for Rushdie and his security. One of the key turning points were the decision [in 1998] by the Iranian regime to offer guarantees it would not carry out the fatwa. Advertisement What became a sticking point is that even though that was the position of the regime, you still had elements within Iran, these charitable foundations run by hard-line conservative groups, who would say that We still will reward anyone with financial compensation if they carry out the killing. There were different messages coming out of Iran, but the government kept saying, We cant control what everyone says in our country, but its not state policy. So for Rushdie, it took at least a decade before the issue started to become less concerning in terms of his personal safety, and he was allowed to travel freely and not go into hiding. Advertisement Advertisement After things started calming down and Rushdie began appearing in public more, were there any other prominent threats directed toward Rushdie, or was it generally presumed he would be pretty safe? Advertisement Advertisement Threats, none that Im aware of. There were perhaps online lone radicals that may have wanted to carry out the death sentence, but I suspect they were acting alone and didnt have the support of a state apparatus. To my knowledge, there was no other individual who was arrested or surveilled and then charged for trying to carry out this death sentence, which explains why Rushdie started to appear in public and on TV and started to relax his security. Supposing it turns out the attacker had ties to a prominent firm or institution within Iran. What do you think the ensuing fallout would be? Well, Iran would be taken to task by the international community. It will complicate Irans relationship with the outside world, particularly with the West. There will be demands made on Iran to hold accountable those people who have or may have ties to this assassination, particularly if its proved that there was financial incentive or there was a meeting that can be traced back to Iran. It will severely complicate Irans already very precarious situation. At the moment, the big issue is the nuclear deal. There was another round of negotiations, and it looks like were getting close to an agreement. Plus, Iran faces myriad internal economic problems, social protests, a huge crisis of legitimacy. The last thing the regime needs is something like this. It could have been an independent foundation that theoretically could have inspired this person, and if thats the case, it would become another crisis the Islamic Republic is facing. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday strongly condemned the recent terrorist incident in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah, which wounded several people including a Pakistani national. In a statement, it added, "We pray for the speediest recovery of those injured." A man wanted by Saudi state security detonated an explosive belt, killing himself and wounding a Pakistani citizen and three security officials in Jeddah, the Saudi Presidency of the State Security said Friday. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening when the security forces attempted to arrest the man. ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia announced the successful completion of the third filling of its mega-dam on the Blue Nile. "It is with great pleasure, I announce the successful completion of the third filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday during a program at the dam site. The announcement came a day after the East African nation launched electricity generation from the second turbine of the mega-dam. According to the prime minister, the dam will create an enabling situation to facilitate integration among neighboring countries as Ethiopia starts selling power to them from the mega-dam. Highlighting the Abay River (Blue Nile) is a gift for Ethiopia, Sudan and Ethiopia, the prime minister called for wise utilization of the resource, cooperation and unity among the three countries for the best benefit of their peoples and other neighboring nations. The construction of the 5,150-MW hydroelectric dam, which will be regarded as Africa's largest dam upon completion with a total volume of 74,000 billion cubic meters, started in April 2011 on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State in proximity to the Ethiopia-Sudan border. However, the project has been a major issue of dispute since then among the three Nile-bounded countries of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan. Despite countless tripartite negotiations among experts, ministers and leaders of the three African countries, they are yet to reach a trilateral agreement regarding the project. Ethiopia reiterates that the dam will boost its development aspirations to attain middle-income developing country status by 2025. Meanwhile, Egypt and Sudan frequently express their concern that the dam would affect their share of the river waters. Rising from Lake Tana some 570 km north of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, the Blue Nile or Abay River is one of the two principal headwaters of the Nile. An accident in Friday night's (Aug. 12) final race at Grand River Raceway has landed two drivers in hospital. The 10th race was declared a 'No Contest' after an accident took place in the first turn when trailing tier starter Hes Got The Money (Tyler Borth) broke stride while racing in fourth place along the pylons and fell. Shanghai Ky (Lorne House), Jordan Deo (Anthony Haughan) and Thatmomentinlife (Colin Kelly) could not avoid the incident. According to officials from Grand River Raceway, the horses involved in the accident are ok and all walked off the track. Drivers Tyler Borth and Anthony Haughan were assessed on site and transported to hospital for further medical assessment. Tyler Borth will resume activity on Saturday night at Kawartha Downs. Anthony Haughan told Trot Insider that he will be undergoing surgery for a fractured elbow. A time for return has yet to be established. Please join Standardbred Canada in wishing Haughan a full and speedy recovery. To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Grand River Raceway. This week's edition of Rewind takes readers to far eastern Canada and a pictorial trip to Prince Edward Island. Robert Smith has put together a number of vintage photos taken down through the years that have all found their way into the collection of an Islander who loves history and the many old photos that make it so interesting. With Old Home Week now on, this would seem to be a timely topic. Welcome To Prince Edward Island sign in 1957, Port Borden (Earle MacDonald collection) A few years ago a gentleman from Cornwall, P.E.I. discovered a rather interesting hobby to occupy his retirement years. Earle MacDonald, a lifelong resident of the place sometimes referred to as "The Kentucky of the North" when spoken of in harness racing terms, found his interesting pastime somewhat by chance. He collects and restores old pictures which capture the long and colourful history of Prince Edward Island. Many were stored away in attics and gathering dust before they found new life. Due to the region's rich history in harness racing he has just naturally encountered a lot of old photos taken at area racetracks and training spots. I thank him for providing these many great old photos for a larger audience to see. MacDonald told a writer in an interview a few years ago that he got the idea from a Facebook group that was posting old photos of the Island. He found that the quality of the images were often affected by scratches, creases and dark spots. He said "[It] takes away your view of the actual picture." That's when he decided to take it upon himself to "doctor up" the old photos and give them a newer look. For a nominal fee Earle is most often able to improve on the original quality of old photos and restore them to a better state than when found in someone's family archives. His idea took off immediately and his collection soon grew by the proverbial "leaps and bounds." Over the first five years, MacDonald estimated he'd fixed up about 7,000 photos, most of them from old P.E.I. postcards, or from the provincial Public Records and Archives. He summed up his feelings by saying "It's really more enjoyment for me moreso than work. A lot of photos from the archives, they're kind of dark, it's hard to see them...I put them in Photoshop, and I lighten them up so people can see them better and it's almost like finding a new photo in an attic. "The thing that I look forward to is the people that comment on the pictures and they thank me for posting them, " he said. "That's the enjoyment I get from doing my hobby." MacDonald has been sent photos as far away as New Zealand to restore, and said there's no plans to quit his hobby any time soon. "I just love history." His ever growing collection contains a vast array of Island topics and scenes. He has captured quaint old fishing villages, stately mansions, scenes from potato harvests of long ago, numerous farming scenes and of course many great shots from Island harness tracks. I have selected a few from his huge collection and displayed them below. A short description appears with each one. A huge crowd gathers at the Province's favourite racing spot Charlottetown Driving Park to enjoy the fair and a day of harness racing. Generations of Island fans. (Earle MacDonald collection) In this 1928 photo an unidentified gentleman shows off his horse in front of the Exhibition Bldg. It may not have been a racing picture as the horse appears to have a ribbon displayed on its bridle. (Earle MacDonald collection) This enhanced photo which includes some colour was taken at the Charlottetown racetrack. A nice view of the judges stand and infield. (Earle MacDonald collection) An aerial view of the track in Summerside P.E.I. and adjacent countryside. (Earle MacDonald collection) A great old photo taken at St Peters Raceway in 1950. A nice view of the picket fence in front of the grandstand. (Earle MacDonald collection) A very old photo from around 1890 taken at Charlottetown Driving Park. Notice the full judges stand in the infield. (Earle MacDonald collection) Race fans fill every possible space at the Charlottetown track as a field of horses hit the first turn. (Earle MacDonald collection) A very early photo taken at Belfast, P.E.I. in 1918 at the Garfield track. (Earle MacDonald collection) A field of horses race down the stretch at the Summerside track. A view of the grandstands shows how much Islanders love their harness racing. (Earle MacDonald collection) A picturesque shot of the famous tourist spot at Cavendish home of Anne Of Green Gables. (Earle MacDonald collection) A 1915 picture of the potato harvest being done with "horsepower." I couldn't help but notice how nicely all the people were dressed. (Earle MacDonald collection) Quote For The Week: "As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody's day." - Attributed to the recently passed sportscaster Vin Scully. Who Is It? Can you correctly identify this individual? He is no longer with us but has strong ties to today's Rewind. A new version of Who Is It? The late Bill Galvin, widely known and fondly remembered by many, wrote a lot of driver and trainer bios over the years that appeared in racing journals and various other print mediums. Today I am going to reprint one and see if the reading audience can identify the subject. Today's subject "started out riding and jumping horses as a youngster. At sixteen he gave up on school and got his first grooming job at Woodbine. He moved up the thoroughbred ladder and became a jockey for four years. With his height of 5'10" it was difficult to keep his weight down so he crossed breeds and moved on to harness racing where weight was not a problem and he could be involved in both training and driving. In 1968 he joined one of the top OJC stables." Note he went on to a long career. Who is it? Let us know who you think it is. Blast From The Past With the annual Little Brown Jug upcoming next month here is a great shot from many years ago taken at Delaware, Ohio. Can you identify the winning horse and Canadian driver? Let us know who you think it is. Not a bad sized crowd in the background. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Friday that Richmond officials owe residents a further explanation about the purported mass shooting plot city police said they foiled at Dogwood Dell. During an hourlong session with reporters and editors at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Kaine also said he plans to seek re-election in 2024 and that he will back President Joe Biden if the president runs again. During a July 6 news conference, Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith and Mayor Levar Stoney said authorities had foiled a planned July 4 mass shooting at Dogwood Dell. But during an Aug. 3 hearing for two men charged in connection with the alleged plot, a city prosecutor told a judge that he had no evidence that it was planned for Dogwood Dell. I have no inside intel other than what I read in the paper, said Kaine, who served as a Richmond council member and as the citys mayor before he was elected lieutenant governor, governor and U.S. senator. I think, though, city officials are duty-bound to provide an explanation because they came out strong about this is what this was. If they did an arrest up front and they didnt say this was going to be a mass-shooting incident, then they wouldnt owe an explanation about a decision with respect to these charges, Kaine said. But having come out of the gate and [said] OK, this is a mass shooting incident, and then prosecutorial decisions suggest well maybe it wasnt, I think you have to answer that question. Kaine said that if officials reached a conclusion in error, theres no shame in that. He noted that Bill Leighty, a chief of staff during Kaines term as governor, had a saying that the first reports are always wrong, in an emergency. That proved true during the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, the senator said. So people dont need to be embarrassed about saying, We thought X and it turned out to be wrong. Thats always the case, Kaine said. But having told you that, I do think there needs to be some clarification. Jim Nolan, a spokesman for Stoney, said in a statement: As RTD and others have reported and are well aware, this case is now in the hands of federal authorities, and the legal process must be allowed to play out. That said, the mayor expects the police department to continue to keep residents informed on issues of public safety, and on this case, when and where it is appropriate. The mayor believes the most important goal of policing is keeping the residents of our city safe, and he is grateful that RPDs swift action on a tip removed a serious potential threat from the community. He encourages the community to partner with the department to provide the same kind of valuable information that can help keep everyone safe. As for his election plans, Kaine, a senator since 2013, said: My plan right now is yes, Im running. Kaine added that he will make a final decision after this Novembers elections. Im not young, but Im still youthful and healthy and productive and having fun, said Kaine, 64. Regarding the president, he said, If Joe Biden runs, Im going to back him, adding that he has no particular insight into the presidents plans. Kaine, who ran for vice president as Hillary Clintons running mate in 2016, also weighed in on Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. Kaine said Youngkin could be an appealing candidate to Republicans because Youngkins successful run for governor in 2021 threaded the needle in attracting supporters of former President Donald Trump without clinging too close to Trump. Thats a balance thats tough, Kaine said. The senator said he thinks it is unwise for Republican hopefuls to cling closely to Trump, but said Trump voters are the engine of the Republican electorate. If I were on the Republican sideso let me put myself into those shoesI mean, I can see that Glenn Youngkin would be very attractive, Kaine said. Now, the problem that he would have is Donald Trump is still the dominant figure in that party. This week, Kaine denounced a Youngkin tweet that criticized the Department of Justice over the search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The senator noted Friday that while he thought Youngkins criticism was off-base, he said it also did not help the Virginia congressional delegations effort to woo FBI headquarters to Virginia, rather than Maryland. You even see Governor Youngkin understands that, Kaine said of Trumps continued dominance in the GOP. So he had to come to Donald Trumps aid over Mar-a-Lago in ways that I dont think he should have. Kaine added: The challenge for Youngkin is that nobodys ever left the governors office early. Virginia is the only state that bars governors from serving consecutive terms. The only Virginia governor in modern times to run for president during his term is Doug Wilder, who lost the Democratic nomination to Bill Clinton in 1992. Kaine recently introduced the Reproductive Freedom for All Act, an effort to protect abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Kaine said that while the measure does not have enough votes to overcome filibuster rules, he noted that efforts on gun were ineffective during most of his nearly 10 years in the Senate. For 10 years, weve been trying to do something on guns and we didnt have 60 votes. That didnt stop us from putting bills on the table, but we couldnt move them, he said. But eventually the mass shootings in Buffalo and Texas back to back were the things that were the tipping point. Weve got to do something, Kaine said of codifying abortion rights. I just think that the Dobbs case is going to create this steady drumbeat of stories. The Nebraska Consortium of Tribal, State, and Federal Courts has invited Native American communities to share their thoughts and concerns about the court system in Nebraska at two public engagement sessions that will be held in the Panhandle next week. The Nebraska Consortium of Tribal, State, and Federal Courts with facilitator Judge William Thorne, Jr. (Ret.) of the Pomo Tribe will meet with Native American community members in Scottsbluff and Rushville. A session in Scottsbluff will be held Aug. 15, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Lakota Lutheran Center, 1200 E. Overland and in Rushville, Aug. 16, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Rushville American Legion Club,206 Sprague St. In November 2019, the Consortium of Tribal, State, and Federal Courts convened four discussion sessions in Omaha, Niobrara, Macy and Winnebago. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consortium postponed discussions with the Native American communities in the Scottsbluff area. The consortium will reconvene in Rushville and Scottsbluff to participate in two more public engagement events. Participants will be given the opportunity to share their experiences and perceptions of the tribal, state, and federal courts. The information gathered through the discussion sessions will help to inform the future work of the Consortium in facilitating communication and collaboration between court systems. The discussion sessions are promoted in partnership with the tribes and include outreach to community leaders. This public engagement initiative is designed to: Improve Native Americans public trust and confidence in the courts; Improve the state and federal courts confidence in and understanding of the tribal court system; Identify ways to address disparate treatment in the court system with a specific focus on addressing jurisdictional issues among the tribal, state, and federal courts and law enforcement entities; and, Improve judicial awareness and training regarding the realities faced by Native American populations in Nebraska. Justice Stephanie Stacy said, By giving voice to our Native American communities and listening to the concerns of those who look to our tribal, state, and federal courts to deliver swift, fair justice, we hope to improve the justice system in Nebraska and increase public trust and confidence in our courts. Nebraska Supreme Court approved creation of a Consortium of Tribal, State, and Federal Courts in August 2018 the public engagement project is the first major undertaking of the Consortium. The Nebraska Supreme Courts Access to Justice Commission is co-chaired by Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Stacy and Nebraska State Bar Association Executive Director Liz Neeley and is one of six national recipients of a National Center for State Courts Public Engagement grant. KABUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Two civilians were injured as a blast rocked Dasht-e-Barchi area in the western edge of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said. The blast happened at about 10: 30 a.m. local time near the entrance of an electronic national identity card distribution office in the 13th Police District of Kabul city, injuring the two civilians, Zadran said. Earlier, the director of the 13th Police District told a local media outlet that an explosive device, hidden in a motorcycle, went off and wounded four people including two security personnel. This was the second blast in Kabul since Thursday and no group claimed responsibility for the blast. The previous blast, which occurred on Thursday, killed two people, including a renowned cleric. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. On Friday, Aug. 12, representatives of Platte Valley Companies (PVC) donated $20,000 to a project underway at Riverside Discovery Center (RDC) to install a new safety surface to the splash pad. Bright blue CombiTile flooring will be put into place over the next four to five days upgrading the splash pad to a higher level of safety. The recyclable tiles are slip resistant and fall height tested. Were really excited because the splash pad is now over 12 years old, and its starting to get real slippery, Anthony Mason, executive director at RDC, said. This new material is going to be slip resistant, impact resistant, its rated for falls, and the water just passes through the tile and runs underneath it. This is going to be a big upgrade for the splash pad itself, a lot more colorful than the existing surface. The new CombiTile surface, typically seen in water parks and play areas, will allow water to drain through the tiles to flow toward the splash pad drains instead of pooling. One of the features we really liked about this tile is the way the water drains through it instead of running over the top of it, Mason said. It actually just passes through the tile and goes straight underneath it. Installing a tile surface will also allow for easy repairs that may arise over time increasing the longevity of the upgrade. The two-toned blue tiles will be interlocked creating a surface that can be removed in small sections and easily re-installed. Its kind of like a big Lego set, Mason said. Its supposed to last for several decades but if we were ever to need to replace any parts or anything was damaged, we can pull those pieces out and replace them without having to replace the entire surface. In the long run, thatll save us money from ever having to completely redo the whole flooring again. In addition to a colored surface, the splash pad area has gotten new brightly colored umbrellas for shade over picnic tables and increased seating from new picnic tables. In the future, there will be an increase in cement spacing north of the pad and a simple rope barrier will be installed around the area. The barrier will be multipurpose, keeping kids in and unwanted waterfowl out. Were going to be creating a better, expanded seating area for people who are at the splash pad, Mason said. Then well be roping it in and putting in lighting and other visual upgrades like repainting some things. Altogether, itll be quite a visual and functional upgrade for the splash pad to make it that much better of an experience. The timeline for laying the concrete will be addressed after the winter season and once a contractor becomes available. The concrete project will be followed by planting trees in the roped off splash pad area, creating additional shade opportunities. Well definitely get some more trees for future shade and for the parents who are hanging out, keeping an eye on the kids, Chrissy Land, RDC board member said. The splash pad has been a recreational experience in the community that contributes to tourism and supports the educational experience offered by RDC. Like many people in the area, Zac Karpf, president of Platte Valley Bank, said he brought his own children to the splash pad when they were younger. Platte Valley Companies is really pleased to make a significant contribution to this project, Karpf said. Its exciting to see it getting revitalized and having new features added. The Riverside Discover Center really draws a lot of people to the community and the splash pad supports that. A lot of kids come here, a lot of adults, and they can learn about animals and a lot about our region in terms of the history. This really hits on a lot of the things Platte Valley Companies likes to support. The splash pad will be open again next week with the new safety surface on, ready for the community to experience and remain open as long as weather permits. We are so fortunate to have this gem in our community, DeAnna Pierce, RDC board member, said. I grew up with Riverside Zoo, I have kids that grew up with Riverside Zoo, and Im looking forward to someday bringing my grandkids out here. I just feel so privileged to have this in our community for the size that we are. RDC is open seven days a week, summer hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. For more information about RDC and to donate to the splash pad revitalization project, call 308-630-6236 or visit www.riversidediscoverycenter.org. EMERSON When the Post 60 Market grocery store opens soon in Emerson, the community literally will run the store. If needed, many residents here just might be willing to work there for free. A number of them already have, showing up once, twice or three times to voluntarily unpack shipments of dry and canned goods and stock the shelves. They're thrilled to have a grocery store back in town and will do whatever it takes to make sure they're not without one again. "We have a lot of community support for it," Emerson resident Mark Graf said. "It's come together better than expected, and that's exciting. But most of all, I'm excited to have a grocery store back in town." He and the rest of the 800 or so residents of this community, the only one in Nebraska to be located in three counties Dakota, Dixon and Thurston. But since 2018, the number of greater importance here was 0, as in zero grocery stores in town after Mike's Food Town closed. "We went from having groceries in town to driving 20-30 minutes for the nearest groceries," Graf said of the inconvenience everyone, especially elderly residents who have a harder time getting around, has experienced. They won't be making those drives to Pender, Wayne, West Point, South Sioux City or farther much longer. As soon as the cash registers arrive, Post 60 Market could open, store manager Brian Horak said on a recent day when more than a dozen volunteers were helping him stock the shelves with the latest grocery shipment. "Every time I need help, a lot of volunteers show up," Horak said. "Every town needs a grocery store." You won't find anyone in Emerson who disagrees. "That's what the town needs to keep it going. We want to make a go of it," said Fred Sebade, an Emerson farmer who was among the volunteer stockers. In 2020, a group of citizens, along with the village board, began looking for ways to bring a store back to town. With help from the University of Nebraska Extension, they formed a steering committee to explore feasibility and ownership models. It's a challenge many small, rural towns face, said Charlotte Narjes, a rural prosperity Extension educator. Without a grocery store in town, elderly residents who have difficulties driving may choose to move to a community that does have groceries. The presence or absence of a grocery store can play a role when relocating families decide which town to settle in. "That grocery store is an anchor institution," Narjes said. Emerson residents didn't want to be weighed down by the lack of a grocery store any longer. The community formed the Emerson Grocery Cooperative, an ownership model that gives those who buy shares a vote in how the store operates. More than 160 shares have been sold to date, raising more than $120,000, said Graf, chairman of the co-op's board. With the former grocery store building sold and unavailable, the co-op board needed a location. In stepped Emerson's American Legion Post 60, looking to sell its Main Street building that was in need of some work. Proceeds from share sales, grants, donations and loans funded the purchase and extensive renovation of the former Legion hall. The store was named Post 60 Market in honor of the Legion, which will retain a meeting room inside. "It worked out perfect for both the store and the Legion," said Horak, an Emerson native who as a high school student worked at Mike's Food Town and at one time operated a grocery store with his brother in Springfield, Nebraska. Horak will analyze shoppers' purchases to determine which goods to add or discontinue at the store, which will employ two full-time and six part-time workers. "The town's going to manage the store in a way, and I'm going to make it happen," he said. "It's the town's store." Emerson residents appear ready to make it work. Down the aisle from Sebade, fellow shareholder and shelf-stocking volunteer Janie Gutzmann said she, along with nearly everyone in town, is excited to have a grocery store back in town. It's added some much-needed buzz, and traffic. "It's nice to see cars on Main Street, and that's what Emerson's going to have again is cars on Main Street," Gutzmann said. And those cars will be heading downtown, not down the road, for groceries. TAYLORSVILLE Billie Walker has been appointed to serve as health director of the Alexander County Health Department. She was named interim health director in May following the retirement of Leeanne Whisnant. Walker has worked her way up the ladder at the health department since 2003 when she was hired as a part-time bioterrorism coordinator. Soon thereafter, she was named the communicable disease nurse, and became director of nursing in 2008. Walker was promoted to assistant health director in 2019. I am honored to have been selected for this role and consider it a privilege to work every day with such an incredible group of public health professionals, Walker said. I look forward to continuing the work and mission of the Alexander County Health Department, which is to promote, protect, and ensure the health and well-being of every citizen of Alexander County. County Manager Rick French said he is proud of Walkers accomplishments over the years and is especially thankful for her dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Billie displayed exceptional leadership skills during the pandemic. It was a very stressful time, especially for the health department as they worked to keep everyone informed and healthy during this difficult time, said French. She has truly earned the title of health director. A native of Alexander County, Walker is a 1993 graduate of Alexander Central High School. During her secondary education, Walker said she already knew she wanted to be a nurse after taking health occupation classes at ACHS. She attended Catawba Valley Community College while working as a certified nurse assistant (CNA) at Catawba Memorial Hospital. She attained her nursing degree from CVCC in May 1999. Walker served as infection control nurse at Valley Nursing Center for more than a year, and then applied for her first job at the health department. As she advanced professionally, Walker continued her education as the succession plan evolved at the health department. She began classes at Gardner-Webb University in 2013 and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The local health director position requires a masters degree, so Walker continued her studies at Gardner-Webb and attained her Master of Science in Nursing degree in 2018. This was a very strenuous time in my life as I juggled full-time work while raising a family and going to school at night, Walker related. Im proud of my personal and professional achievements as I have worked hard to earn this position with the Alexander County Health Department. I will strive to provide top-notch services for our citizens and a healthy work environment for our employees. Im very thankful for this opportunity. For more information about the Alexander County Health Department, visit https://alexanderhealth.org or call 828-632-9704. The Wake County Sheriffs Office has identified the deputy shot in the line of duty Thursday night as Ned Byrd, according to a press conference. Byrd, a 13-year veteran of the department, was shot multiple times late Thursday night in eastern Wake County, the Sheriffs Office reported. The shooting occurred near a gas station on Auburn Knightdale Road and Battle Bridge Road, reported ABC11, ... Paintings by a local artist who helped run a longtime custom-framing store in Longview are on display at the Longview Public Library through the end of the month. Shirley Bailey brought her love for art to Cowlitz County in the 1980s, painting acrylics on paper until her death at age 92 in 2021. People can view and purchase roughly 50 of her mostly impressionistic paintings on display through Aug. 31 at the Koth Memorial Gallery at the Longview Public Library. Bailey was born in Idaho, but had roots in Longview's early days. Bailey's father helped lay the concrete in the Civic Circle, but soon moved to look for employment during the Great Depression, said Bailey's daughter Wendy Kosloski. Bailey's family traveled often for work, sometimes living in tents. Bailey was drawn to architecture at a young age, crafting houses out of cardboard as a child, said Kosloski. Later, for her own daughter, she made paper dolls. Bailey and her husband Don followed their child and her mill-working husband to Longview soon after the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. About eight years later, they opened Teague's Interiors, first as a custom-frame store in the back of Broadway Gallery, and later moving out and focusing on interior design. If you go What: Shirley Bailey's painting exhibit When: Through Aug. 31 Where: Koth Memorial Gallery, Longview Public Library, 1600 Louisiana St., Longview Bailey's art was inspired by her excursions and interests, Kosloski said. "Mother did a lot of things from her travels, mostly around the state," she said. A series of vibrant butterflies pays homage to Southwest Washington's Robert Michael Pyle's work with the insects. Soft depictions of cyclists along serene paths mirror her bike trip to France as a widow after 53 years of marriage. A painting in the Koth Memorial Gallery depicts a scene from "The Chronicles of Narnia," Kosloski said. Bailey reproduced classic artists' work to learn and was self-taught, Kosloski added. Most pieces are impressionistic, but a few have modern and more realistic approaches. Paintings run from $135 to around $475, with some higher prices due to expensive frames, and range in size to up to about 27 inches by 39 inches. Proceeds from the sales will help fund a commissioned glass sculpture by Washington-native Dale Chihuly to represent the city and be housed in the Longview Public Library. The Art Renaissance Team, or ART, is part of a local nonprofit leading the efforts for the Chihuly piece. "Shirley was a prolific painter through her nineties among many other talents," said Retha Porter, ART chairperson. About 40% of the 4.8 million registered voters in Washington participated in the Aug. 2 midterm primary election, with the highest turnouts recorded in the eastern and far west parts of the state. The turnout for these primary races for state legislative and U.S. House and Senate seats was about the same as 2018, when 40.8% of voters returned their ballots. About half of Washington's voters, 2.4 million people, are concentrated in the Puget Sound region, where a median 37.3% participated in the primary election, according to data from the secretary of state's office. In the 2018 primary, the region recorded a marginally higher voter turnout of 38.6%. King County, which has 1.3 million registered voters, recorded a turnout of over 38% for the primary a significant decline from 2018, when the turnout was over 50%. Spokane County, which has the largest number of registered voters in Eastern Washington, recorded a turnout of about 40%, witnessing a drop since 2018 (45%), when the region trailed King County. Regionally, counties in Central and Eastern Washington recorded the greatest dip in voter turnout this primary election compared to 2018. Yakima County led that pack as more than two-thirds of that county's 27,000 registered voters did not participate in the primary this year. This is a 25 percentage-point drop from 2018. Pend Oreille County in the east followed, with a 23 percentage-point drop in voter turnout compared to 2018. Nearly half the counties in the state recorded a drop in turnout this year compared to 2018, and a few saw a significant swell of voters. The greatest increases were recorded in Lincoln County in the east, Pacific and Jefferson in the west, and San Juan County in the north. Registered voters in these counties account for just over 1% of registered voters in the state but they accounted for nearly 2% of the ballots counted this election. Since 2014, when the state recorded its lowest voter turnout in a midterm primary (31.2%), voter participation has consistently declined in Yakima and Franklin counties in the south-central part of the state. At the same time, turnout in southwest Wahkiakum County and central Okanogan County has grown. A giant asteroid is on the way to Earth today, NASA confirmed. Know what kind of terror it holds for Earth. A day after a massive 390-feet asteroid named 2022 PX1 came very close to Earth, there is a new space rock on way posing a threat to our planet. NASA has warned that another giant 110-feet wide asteroid is ready to whiz past Earth today. This 2022 OT1 asteroid will make its closest approach to within 4.7 million kilometers of Earth. According to NASA, this airplane-sized asteroid, will be traveling at a speed of 5.7 kilometers per second at its closest approach to Earth. These giant rocks in space, known as asteroids generally travel around the Sun, but can change their paths due to the gravitational force of planets and sometimes even collide with them! What will happen if the 2022 OT1 asteroid hits the Earth? NASA says that this giant rock can leave a Paris-sized crater in case it hits the Earth. Thankfully, there is no such indication to happen. as the asteroid will miss Earth! According to NASA, this asteroid will get as close to the Earth as about 4,760,000 km. For better understanding, know that the average distance between Earth and the moon is about 385,000 kilometers. However, this is not the only asteroid that poses a risk to the Earth in the upcoming days. NASA's Asteroid Watch dashboard tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth on a daily basis. The Asteroid Watch Dashboard shows several important pieces of information such as the date of closest approach, approximate diameter of the asteroid, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter with Earth. It displays the next asteroid approaching Earth within 4.6 million miles or 7.5 million kilometers. According to NASA, besides the 2022 PX1 asteroid, there are four other space rocks which are ready to get extremely close to Earth. Here's the list of four of them: 2022 OT1 on August 14 71-foot 2022 OA4 on August 14 110-feet-wide 2022 OT1 asteroid on August 14 93-foot 2022 PW on August 16 MANILA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- As one of the Philippine women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II, Isabelita Vinuya, from Pampanga province, lived in the hope that she would get justice from the Japanese government for their mass violence nearly eight decades ago. The hope to live long enough to receive the apology compensation for her ordeal as a "comfort woman" died on Nov. 23, 2021, when Vinuya succumbed to pneumonia at age 89. Like many victims of Japanese wartime atrocities, Vinuya passed away without seeing justice. "Lola," a Tagalog word that means grandmother, refers to the aging Filipino "comfort women" victims as a group. What happened to Vinuya could also happen to other Lolas. According to Sharon Silva, coordinator of non-profit organization "Lila Pilipina" (League of Filipino Grandmother), which helps Lolas seek justice, more than 1,000 Filipino women were forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese aggressors when Japan occupied the Philippines from December 1941 until its defeat in August 1945. In 2012, the day of Aug. 14 was designated the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women" by the 11th Asian Alliance Conference for "Comfort Women." Among the Filipino victims, 174 became members of Lila Pilipina, while around 90 others grouped themselves as Malaya Lolas when they all made public their experiences in the 1990s. The Lolas are now in their 90s, and many of them are sickly and poor. Silva refused to tell the number of alive victims, fearing that the fading group might be flagrantly ignored by the Japanese government. The "Lila Pilipina" office in Quezon City, a suburb of the Philippine capital, is a small memorial hall for Lolas. An entire wall is covered with photos of Lolas, silently complaining about the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese troops. Silva told Xinhua that the atrocities the Lolas suffered were horrible. "In the case of Lola Estelita, she was a 13-year-old girl when she was caught by a Japanese militarist and brought to a house, where she became a 'comfort woman' for about three weeks," said Silva, adding that another victim even witnessed the massacre of her family right in front of her eyes, before she and two other sisters were taken to a garrison. The horrific sexual violence left the Lolas with nightmare memories, lifelong disabilities, and severe trauma, both mentally and physically. "They never got jobs. Some of them never got legally married. Most of them never traveled. Some of them never had kids," said Silva. "Many of them never really got out of poverty," she added. For Silva, a dwindling number of Lolas means they may not be able to wait for a formal and sincere apology from the Japanese government even till their deaths. "They demand justice. First and foremost, an apology from the Japanese government. Also, this history must be reflected in the history textbooks for young people to learn and remember it," said Silva. In December 2017, a memorial statue of "comfort women" was inaugurated on the banks of Manila Bay, drawing strong protests from the Japanese government. Four months later, the statue was removed under Tokyo's constant diplomatic pressure, and the artist who built it was even threatened. According to Silva, another "comfort women" memorial statue in Laguna Province was also ordered to be removed just three days after its installation due to pressure from the Japanese government. In recent years, some forces in Japan continue to deny the forced recruitment of "comfort women," apparently in an attempt to whitewash Japan's history of aggression. Silva worries that Japan has been instilling twisted history into the heads of the young generation by adopting history-distorting textbooks, leaving them with incorrect historical views of Japan's role in WWII. "I think it has long been trying to circumvent the peace clause in Japan's pacifist constitution, which forbade them to send soldiers abroad for war purposes," said Silva. "There should be no more war," she added, saying some Lolas always tried to talk to young people, especially young women, to be vigilant against all kinds of colonial wars so that their tragedy will no longer happen again. Estelita Dy, 92, is continuing the fight. Nearly eight decades have passed, and the traumatic ordeal that she suffered continues to haunt her like a recurring nightmare. In 1944, 14-year-old Dy was kidnapped by Japanese soldiers while selling vegetables, eggs, and chickens at a market in Bacolod City in the central Philippines. "I just cried and covered my eyes with my hands every time they raped me," Dy recalled in an interview with Xinhua, with her voice cracked. "Once, the soldiers hit my head so hard that I was knocked out for about three days." In 1945, Dy decided to leave her hometown for Manila, fearing that people would know about her ordeal if she stayed in the village. In the Philippine capital, Dy worked and tried to forget her bitter experience. While in Manila, Dy was married and had six children but kept silent about her past trauma until she heard testimony from other victims of Japanese sexual violence. Like the other victims, Dy kept her wartime ordeal secret because of fear of rejection. "I never told my husband about what happened to me because I was ashamed of being raped," she said. It was not until 1993 that she finally took the courage to come out in the open to tell her wartime ordeal. Despite her poverty and frail health, Dy has tirelessly joined fora and protest rallies with other Lolas to demand a formal apology and compensation from the Japanese government. She now lives with his daughters in a tiny house in Manila's Malabon district, and depends on her children for daily food and medical expenses. "I will not stop. If I die, my children and grandchildren will continue the fight. We will continue to renounce war because we do not want the next generation to experience what we went through," Dy said. After a strong solar storm generated a geomagnetic storm on Earth, something special happened- a rare aurora like phenomena. The impact of solar storms can be severe on Earth! From radio blackouts, to hampering other forms of communication, satellite failure to knocking out power grids, solar storms are a scourge. However, that applies to the really powerful solar storms. Those that are weaker, generate some fascinating lights on Earth's poles called auroras. However, this time something strange, and rare, happened. When a solar storm hits the Earth's magnetosphere it sparks a geomagnetic storm and that is what happened on August 8. It was a relatively weaker G-2 level geomagnetic storm. However, this was enough to birth a rare event. It led to the creation of a strange line of light above southern Canada. This rare phenomena is known as STEVE. Also read: Geomagnetic storm just hit Earth and it has had a dazzling impact The images of this rare phenomenon went viral on social media. A user named Alan Dyer shared pictures of the rare event on Twitter. He also wrote, "A great showing of @STEVEPhenomena last night, Aug 7-8, arcing across the sky, and showing his green fingers briefly for about 2 minutes. STEVE lasted about 40 minutes, appearing as the Kp5 aurora to the north subsided. This was 12:30 am MDT from southern Alberta. What is STEVE? "STEVE", short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, usually occurs when the northern lights fade. It lasted around 40 minutes. Discovered back in 2016 by Canadian citizen scientists, STEVE is believed to be created by similar atmospheric disturbances that cause the aurora lights. Explorersweb.com has this to say about STEVE, "Appearing as a giant ribbon of mauve light arcing across the night sky, it accompanied the vivid aurora visible in southern Canada and parts of the northern U.S. Although it looks and behaves like an aurora, it is an unknown phenomenon." NASA explains it is a "a purple ribbon in the sky, with a green picket fence structure underneath. STEVE is not a normal aurora some think maybe it's not an aurora at all" According to NASA, auroras are created when fast-moving, magnetic solar material strikes Earth's magnetosphere. The charged particles escaped from the solar storm hit Earth and get trapped in the magnetic field lines in the atmosphere. The collision of these particles brings a mesmerizing view of the lights known as auroras. The same phenomena is behind the occurrence of STEVE. Besides this, several users also shared images of the aurora views on Twitter. The Space Weather Physicist Dr. Tamitha Skov reshared one of the pictures of these aurora views from inside the vehicle! Dr. Skov Tweet reads, "WOW! #Aurora views like this might occur again tonight in Canada & upper USA if conditions stay as they are." She suggested that the geomagnetic storm caused by the last solar storm is now close to G1-level solar storm now due to the sustained southward field in this fast solar wind, which is the highest level of the solar storm. KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday rebuked Rwandan authorities over democracy and human rights concerns, saying the central African country may not reach its full potential without opening up political space and protecting freedoms. We recognize Rwandas incredibly difficult history of the 1994 genocide and we know the ongoing legacy of that genocide but the criminalization of some people ... in politics, harassment of those who express opposition views to the current government, we believe (that) undermines total peace and stability and success which has been extraordinary in the case of Rwanda," said Blinken at a press briefing. He was speaking in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, the last stop on his three-nation tour of Africa. Earlier Blinken toured a memorial for victims of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, saying he was moved by this memorial and inspired by the resilience of the survivors and the remarkable progress of this country." Blinken laid a wreath at the mass graves honoring the more than 800,000 victims of the genocide perpetrated by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi ethnic group and moderate Hutus. My family experienced the horrors of holocaust and I appreciate the importance of memorializing such tragic events," Blinken wrote in a guest book at the memorial. "The United States strongly supports Rwandas continued efforts towards renewal and national reconciliation. One of Blinken's aims in Rwanda is to engage officials regarding the case of Paul Rusesabagina, a U.S. permanent resident whose conviction on terror charges and incarceration has drawn attention to what some say is the Rwandan government's harsh treatment of its critics at home and abroad. Rusesabagina is the hero of the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, which dramatized his efforts as a hotel manager to shelter hundreds of Tutsis during the genocide. The U.S. asserts that Rusesabagina, a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, is wrongfully jailed in Rwanda. We have been clear about our position with the trial of Paul Rusesabagina. We still have conviction that the trial wasnt fair," Blinken said. "I discussed this with President Paul Kagame but I wont go into specifics of our discussion, but will continue to engage and also follow up with the family." Many activists believe only diplomatic intervention from Washington can possibly help Rusesabagina, 68, who has suffered poor health in recent years, according to his family. He was sentenced to 25 years last September. His conviction came more than a year after he disappeared during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs, accused of supporting the armed wing of his opposition group. Blinken, who visited South Africa and also went to Congo earlier in the week, comes to Rwanda at a particularly difficult time for Africas Great Lakes region, with the small central African nation at odds with vast neighbor Congo over allegations that both governments support rebels opposed to each other. Blinken said he told Kagame that the recent U.N. report accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels is credible. Rwandan authorities deny those charges and have rejected the report by U.N. experts as a move to distract from real issues. Rwandan authorities in turn accuse Congo of giving refuge to ethnic Hutu fighters who played roles in Rwandas 1994 genocide that killed ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. There have long been tensions between the countries. In the late 1990s, Rwanda twice sent its forces deep into Congo, joining forces with rebel leader Laurent Kabila to depose the countrys longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. After his meetings with the leaders of Rwanda and Congo this week, Blinken said he believes both are committed to peace talks and he said the U.S. will support African-led efforts to end the fighting. My message to both presidents of Congo and Rwanda this week has been the same. Any support of any armed group in eastern (Congo) endangers local communities and regional stability and every country in the region must respect the territorial integrity of the others," he said. A meeting between Kagame and Tshisekedi in Angola on July 6 produced a statement calling for a return to normal diplomatic relations, a cessation of hostilities and the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the M23 from its positions in eastern Congo. But M23, which comprises mostly ethnic Tutsis from Congo, continues to hold its positions near the border with Uganda, keeping the spotlight on Rwanda. The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a letter to Blinken last month called for a comprehensive review of U.S. policy toward Rwanda and noted his concern that Washingtons support for Rwanda, widely described by human rights groups as authoritarian and repressive, is not in line with U.S. values. The National Sorghum Foundation presented scholarships to three students, including two from Texas A&M University, for the 2022-2023 academic school year with awards totaling $4,500. Joshua Strine and Trace Harris from Texas A&M and Benjamin Kamrath from the University of Nebraska were the winners. The National Sorghum Foundation is very pleased to provide scholarships to these outstanding students, Chairman Larry Lambright said. Their strong academic performance along with their leadership activities make them very deserving of these scholarship awards. The 2022 Bill Kubecka Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Strine of Bryan, who is in graduate school pursuing a masters degree in agricultural economics. Following graduation, Strine hopes to work in agricultural finance, specifically relating to commodities. The 2022 Bruce Maunder Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Harris, a junior agricultural economics major at A&M from Poth, Texas. After graduation, Harris plans to pursue a career in agricultural lending. Kamrath was awarded the Darrell Rosenow Memorial Scholarship. He is from Columbus, Nebraska, and is a sophomore agronomy major. Upon graduation, Kamrath plans to work in seed sales as an agronomist. These scholarships provide each winner $1,500 to assist with education expenses. Strine also will have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. with National Sorghum Producers as part of the scholarship award to learn more about policies and regulations impacting the U.S. sorghum industry. The Wellborn Lions Club presented two scholarships to graduating seniors from College Station at the end of the school year. Roseanne Jaouhari of College View High School and Laila Navarro of A&M Consolidated High School were selected to receive $1,250 each for their dedication to community service and desire to further their education. During the annual banquet of the organization, these recipients and/or family representatives were recognized to share information about their goals and achievements with members. WELLINGTON, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported 3,650 new community cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement. The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers of COVID-19 in New Zealand now sits at 4,418. The ministry also reported 546 current hospitalizations, including 10 cases in intensive care units or high dependency units on Saturday. In addition, there were 92 new cases that have recently traveled overseas, according to the ministry. New Zealand has reported 1,670,483 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. There are now a total of 1,750 deaths in the country confirmed as attributable to COVID-19, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor, said the ministry. New Zealand is currently under the orange settings of the COVID-19 Protection Framework, where there is no limit for gatherings. Grand Island Education Association and Grand Island Public Schools will not take their substitute teacher pay dispute to the courtroom. The parties have agreed to dismiss the pending litigation and legal proceedings before the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations, said a news release by GIPS and Nebraska State Education Association. GIEA and GIPS were scheduled to have the case heard before the Nebraska Commission on Industrial Relations on Aug. 11. Nebraska CIR is a state agency designed to resolve public sector labor controversies, including those of public school teachers. Conversations aiming to prevent a hearing like that scheduled for last Thursday began sometime after GIEA filed their petition with CIR on Jan. 21. Thursdays regular-session GIPS Board of Education agenda hinted at a potential resolution: Discuss, consider, and take all necessary action to approve the agreement reached by and between Grand Island Public Schools and the Grand Island Education Association to resolve and dismiss the pending litigation in the Commission of Industrial Relations regarding substitute teachers. Following executive session, a unanimous vote by GIPSs board sealed the deal between the district and the local teachers union. Board member Lindsey Jurgens was absent. GIEA had accused GIPS of paying GIEAs member substitute teachers inconsistently with the two parties negotiated agreement a violation of the Industrial Relations Act. The teachers collective bargaining units contention was that GIPS hired long-term substitute teachers to fill open positions that are not technically substitute teaching positions. The long-term substitutes in question were being paid as subs, when they should have been paid as full-time employees. On March 28, the school district made a motion to dismiss the case. The CIR denied GIPSs motion. Soon after the CIR decision, Ashlea R. Whitney, NCIR Legal Counsel said GIPSs attempt to dismiss was essentially saying: The petition (by GIEA) is insufficient in some way. Theres not enough here for (NCIR) to hear the case. The case moved forward. Following a prehearing conference July 19 between CIR, GIEA legal counsel Nick Welding and GIPS legal counsel, the original trial date was postponed. In late July, GIEA President Michelle Carter said both parties needed more time to gather additional documentation. After the GIPS boards decision, Carter would not specify the date when the out-of-court negotiations began. The aforementioned news release states: The agreement represents the mutual goal to compensate the school district's teaching staff members who served students in critical positions during the 2021-2022 school year. Under the settlement, the GIEA teachers involved would receive pay for said school year within a week of the settlements approval. If employed beyond school year 2021-2022, their classification would go up a level on the salary schedule, in accordance with parameters defined by the 2022-2023 Master Agreement struck between GIPS and GIEA. Eight educators were involved in the filing, according to the fully executed settlement agreement, which was posted on the districts website following last nights vote. When asked about having the dispute resolved, Carter referred to the press release. As it says we're looking forward to working collaboratively with the district moving forward. It has been said many times and in many different ways that when we forget our history, we set ourselves up for the failure of future generations. Those who work to preserve history and educate us in all its triumphs, tragedies and travesties are not only providing a great service to us here and now but also are preventing future generations from repeating our mistakes and the mistakes of those who came before us. Milton and Corene McDaniel of Carbondale are two such people. A lifelong resident of Carbondale, Milton McDaniel has witnessed much of our local civil rights history firsthand. Milton has endured and overcome injustice and racial prejudice to become a leader in our community and an example to many. While working for the railroad, Milton became the first African American fireman and engineer north of the Ohio River. In construction, Milton was the first African American member of the sheet metal workers union and went on to establish a successful heating and cooling business in Carbondale. He did not let prejudice and racial barriers hold him back, and his hope has been that he can be an example to other young Black men to achieve their goals in life. Corene McDaniel was raised in the small community of Hodges Park, just north of Cairo in Alexander County. After high school, she moved to Carbondale to attend Southern Illinois University Carbondale and met Milton shortly after arriving. In her work life, Corene is perhaps best known for running her own salon for over 25 years in Carbondales northeast community and for serving on the Carbondale City Council for 13 years. In 1990, Corene welcomed a white friend to work along side her in the salon and was overjoyed to see that her clients, friends and neighbors welcomed the addition. Her friend brought along her predominantly white clients who were happy to be at the salon. This was an encouraging sign of change and the potential of a better future. Milton and Corenes home in Carbondales northeast side has always been filled with life and love. From their two children to their childrens friends, neighbors and many foster children, the McDaniels opened their home to anyone in need of a place to stay. They have always been giving people a lesson learned separately growing up through the example of their parents and then shared together throughout their 55 years of marriage. Milton would often install or repair A/C units free of charge for neighbors in need, and Corene used her salon as a way to find and help anyone in need. In 1997, Milton and Corene founded the African American Museum of Southern Illinois. Starting out as a display of underground railroad quilts made by Corene, the museum has grown in an important destination for anyone wanting to learn about local history. While working on an early exhibit highlighting local African American ice breakers, Milton and Corene were struck by the number of local residents who had overcome racial barriers to accomplish great things for Carbondale and Southern Illinois. The exhibit clarified the focus of the museum. Its stated purpose now is to identify, preserve and portray outstanding achievements in African American history and culture. Through artifacts, art, information and education, the museum provides an important reminder of our past in hopes of creating a better future for all. The African American Museum of Southern Illinois is located inside University Mall in Carbondale and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in October. Through the preservation and presentation of local civil rights history, Milton and Corene McDaniel have devoted their lives to ensuring that future generations will never have to face the barriers they were forced to overcome. Officials from Southern Illinois University Carbondale boast that SIU has increased its efforts to recruit students from the region, but is it paying off? Through Freedom of Information Requests filed not only with SIU but also with other universities which compete for students from the region and through a non-scientific analysis of the data received, The Southern aimed to discover if SIU really is winning the battle for local students. The Challenge For many years, people across the region have said that SIU does not do a good job in attracting local students. It is something that SIU Chancellor Austin A. Lane said he has heard from the moment he took the reins of the Carbondale campus more than two years ago. The university indicated in a media release last month that not only is SIU paying more attention to area students, but also those efforts are paying off, pointing to an increase in local enrollment last year and that area applications, admissions and registrations are all up significantly for the coming fall semester. In an interview with the newspaper in July, Lane said the increased recruitment of area students has been one of the major accomplishments of his tenure. Our biggest success, I would probably say, is recruiting the Southern Illinois region and putting the focus back on the region, Lane said. An emerging theme that kept coming up in my listening and learning tool was that, you know, how could we have the economic engine right here in our own backyard and we not recruit our students from this region? I think, hopefully you're starting to see that commitment, with the relationships that we have building with our superintendents and principals, our counselors, our teachers and our community organizations. I think that's probably our biggest success is that we have made good on our promise to recruit here locally." Is he right? To take an anecdotal look at the situation and results, The Southern filed Freedom of Information requests with several universities that actively recruit students from Southern Illinois: SIU, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Murray State University, Southeastern Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the request, The Southern asked for the total number of new freshman by home address zip code for each of the fall semesters 2017-2021. All but two of the universities provided the requested information. Because FOIA laws are different in Kentucky, Murray State University refused the request. Similarly, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also denied to provide information on new students. To analyze the data received, it was first necessary to define Southern Illinois. Jim Potter, executive director of University Communications and Marketing and SIUs chief marketing and communications officer, said the university considers Southern Illinois to consist of 18 counties: Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Washington, White, Williamson and Union. The data supplied to The Southern included zip codes for new students, so analysis of zip codes within counties was necessary and only the number of students within the indicated counties was considered. This included all zip codes beginning with 629, most starting with 628 and some beginning with 622. The analysis of the refined data may or may not be statistically accurate, as many students from the region enroll as freshman at institutions other than the five included in the research, but it does give a snapshot comparison to the appeal of the universities and the effectiveness of some recruitment efforts. The Numbers During the five years reviewed, the five institutions studied SIU, SIUE, EIU, ISU and SEMO enrolled a total of 1,810 new freshmen with home addresses in Southern Illinois. During that time, 1,018 enrolled at SIU just over 56%. In fact, in every year except 2019, SIU attracted more local freshmen than the other schools combined. As maybe expected, Southeast Missouri State University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville enroll a significant number of Southern Illinois students, with 332 area students going to SEMO as freshmen during the five year period and 336 to SIUE. The Edwardsville institution is especially strong in the 628 zip code area which includes Franklin and Jefferson Counties as well as counties to the east and the city of Du Quoin. Over the 2017-2021 span, Eastern Illinois University enrolled 81 freshmen from Southern Illinois and 43 area students went to Illinois State University for the first time. The fall semester 2019 saw a local enrollment decline at SIU, with just 148 area freshmen choosing the school. On the other hand, 160 students enrolled at the other institutions reviewed for the term. While SIUs total was still the highest of the five colleges (SEMO was second with 61 area freshmen), it enrolled only 48% of the students from the region. Increased Attention Even with SIU gaining 56% of the area students who chose one of the five schools over the five years, officials have felt the pressure to increase area enrollment. In recent years, SIU has boosted outreach to college-bound students in the region and have been more intentional and frequent in visits to area high schools. Kelsi Love, currently a counselor at Hardin County High School who worked in the Galatia school district during the previous two years, said her students have gotten more attention from SIU. I feel like they have stepped up. Theyve been coming to the schools more than they had in previous years, she said. It has been an effort to not only increase enrollment, but also to increase awareness of SIU among local school leaders as well as prospective students and their parents. There is a misperception that when we seek new students, we prioritize other areas of the state above our own. To dispel that myth, I and other university leaders have met with many people at local schools, community colleges and organizations. In addition, we have increased recruiting, marketing and advertising in our region, and we have formed formal partnerships with schools, youth organizations and community colleges, Lane said in a university press release last month. Plus, we have backed up our promises with resources. I am proud to be among the university leaders to personally visit high schools and community colleges to award top students in Southern Illinois with our most prestigious awards, the Chancellors and Provosts Scholarships. The Result SIUs efforts appear at least anecdotally to be working. From the fall of 2019 when it garnered less than one-half of the students in the study, numbers have improved. In 2020, 203 of 359 students selected SIU (56.5%) and last year the percentage jumped to 63% as 287 of 453 area students chose to attend college in Carbondale. Campus officials are even more optimistic about the 2022 fall semester which begins in just over a week. When I look at just Southern Illinois and this is a report that was run on Monday we are within just a few students of matching the number of students we had last year from Southern Illinois and its two weeks out yet, Wendell Williams, SIU Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management told The Southern earlier this week. We have admitted 22% more students from Southern Illinois than we did last year. Williams said that SIU has made nearly 800 scholarship offers to Southern Illinois students totaling almost $4 million. We know that our region is teeming with possibilities for growth and the people in this area know the benefit of SIU and what it can deliver, he added. Anybody who does not focus at home, does not do a good job of serving its students. We dont want students to go someplace else only to realize that the best choice was right in their backyard. Williams said that with the fall semester beginning Monday, Aug. 22, time remains for potential students to make decisions to or not to come to SIU. Official enrollment figures are calculated on the tenth day of classes which will be Sept. 2. The number of property crimes committed in Orangeburg is showing a decrease. From Jan. 1 until July 31, there were 218 larcenies citywide. Compared to the same time period the year before, there were 224. For reports of motor vehicle thefts, there have been 18 this year, compared to 26 reported during the same time last year. Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Director Charles Austin Sr. said Operation City Lights has been helping curb crime in general. The initiative started about seven weeks ago and will continue as long as necessary, Austin said. Austin said Operation City Lights is a collaborative use of DPS resources. We conduct traffic checkpoints and are in the process of conducting meetings with business owners, motel owners, hotel owners, he said. There are areas where we have high volumes of incidents than others, Austin said, and we have increased the level of presence in those areas. One of the ways ODPS is increasing its presence is through firetrucks, Austin said. Its not uncommon now that we might take a firetruck into a community, turn on the spotlight and light up the sky, he said, because the criminal element has to have some place of concealment from which to operate. Weve identified those and we continue an intense presence in those areas so that we flush out whats going on and then we have checkpoints that are available, so once it flushes out, we pick it up, he said. What I would like to do is place four firetrucks strategically at major entry points ingress, egress points throughout the city and on a given night have them turn on the search lights so you can see an apex at some point over the city, he said. Were trying to create a sustainable lighted presence so we dont provide a place of concealment for criminal activity, Austin said. While the agency is concentrated on flushing out crime, officials are also focusing on providing a security shield to other places that havent been affected before, Austin said. ODPS is in the process of surveying lighting throughout the city. If there are areas that need improvement, Austin will present findings to city leaders. Austin also explained that Operation City Lights means increasing the presence of officers in various areas. Weve been able to create presence. Weve changed shifts, for example, so Capt. (Victor) Cordon has investigators coming in at varying hours, he added. Capt. (Alfred) Alexander has modified his shifts so hes created an overlapping presence rather than just depending on Alpha shift having six people in the street. Hes integrated it in a way a portion of Bravo shift may come in at a split time so now you have an increased presence, Austin said. We are continuing to utilize high-profile, high-visibility approaches, but also maintaining community outreach and partnering with as many public and private groups as we can to talk about what each can contribute, Austin said. Ive met with representatives from a couple of civic organizations whove expressed an interest in how they can partner with us, Austin said. Recently, the city administrator and I have been meeting with the superintendent of the school district and other stakeholders throughout the community about how we can partner with the school district, not just individual schools, but beyond school resource officers and how we can establish relationships, Austin said. Austin said ODPS has recently received money to initiate a Teens and Police Service Academy. Austin will assign four officers to work with a group of 25 students who have been identified as at-risk, he said. He noted the Orangeburg County School District is helping the agency set up the program so there wont be a labeling or stigmatizing process. We want the kids to understand if theres a need they have, if we cant fulfill it, we can facilitate that need or issue, Austin said. So that relationship takes us beyond having an officer presence at the school; it engages us in these childrens personal lives. Austin said the agency is also working to address the crimes of domestic and gun violence. For domestic violence, Austin said, That has been a very critical issue for us. It has to be more than just about making arrests. Austin said there needs to be ways to refer the batterers to long-term counseling programs while also tending to the needs of victims and other household members, particularly children. When it comes to addressing gun violence, Austin said theres not a single answer. Currently, ODPS uses fixed-post cameras but may consider purchasing drones as additional tools. Austin also noted, Even if our numbers (of incidents) arent as high as perception, the perception is the reality. We in no way want to diminish the significance of how gun violence, in particular, can drive the fear of crime. If youre having two shooting incidents in Orangeburg, but there are also incidents that are happening in the Midlands and still yet you have other incidents that are happening around the country, its to the point now when nobody can turn on a television or pick up a newspaper or go online without seeing where there has been a string of shooting incidents, Austin said. So my perception is, Yeah, I know they told me we only had two of these in Orangeburg, but what Im seeing on television or what Im reading online convinces me that this is all over the place and were no more safe than anybody else, Austin said. Last year, there were a total of four homicides in Orangeburg. Austin said two of those were determined to be justified. So far this year, there have been four homicides. Investigators havent determined if any of them were justified. Austin said, We realize from the public safety standpoint, particularly the police services standpoint, the decision by a CEO, a developer or business person and that persons significant other to move to Orangeburg and establish business is going to depend on the answer to, How safe are we? And what are the leisure services like? Austin said his youngest daughter and his 5-year-old grandson recently visited. Austin showed them four options he is considering for housing. He noted that his daughter responded, Daddy, youve shown use four places, and I only feel that youre safe in one. His 5-year-old grandson asked him, Wheres the nearest park? And that spoke volumes to me, Austin said. Austin said what was important to his daughter is that he live in a safe and secure community. He noted what was important to his grandson is that when he comes to visit, hes able to go to the park. Austin recalled that when he served as Columbias police chief, he lived in a neighborhood that was very peaceful, quiet and everybody felt safe. What I want for the City of Orangeburg is for every neighborhood to have the same feeling my daughter had at the place that we looked at and that Im ultimately going to call home. Every neighborhood should have that same feeling, Austin said. Thats the key point of our responsibility is to make sure that happens, Austin said. BRANCHVILLE -- Councilman Brett Banks has been reaching out to various companies in Orangeburg County to find one suitable for building Branchvilles walking track to be located at Horton Field. Banks stated, I wanted to work with someone in the county since this will be funded by penny sales tax money, none of the three groups seemed interested in working with us. Banks has decided to look outside of the county now to find a company that will work with the town. Mayor Frank Dickson suggested reaching out to the states Parks, Recreation and Tourism department for help with the project as well. Branchville council voted to raise the millage by 3 percent on taxes. The Red Cross has reached out to Branchville to inform them that they are recruiting for new members and volunteers for hurricane season for 2022. For more information, contact town hall. Raylroad Daze will be Sept. 23 with the opening ceremony at 11 a.m. and Sept. 24 with the parade at 11 a.m. For those who wish to participate in the parade, contact Pauley Jumper at 803-747-5610. Orangeburg County has received a grant through the South Carolina Office of Resilience to perform a drainage study for the county. There will be two public information meetings to gather information about problem drainage areas across the county. The first meeting will be held at Orangeburg County Library on Tuesday Aug. 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for the Orangeburg area. The second meeting will be held at Lake Marion High School on Tuesday, Sept. 6 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for the Santee area. The Railroad Museum board gained three new members, Councilman Tommy Connelly, Councilwoman Rhonda Peeples and Mayor Pro Tem Gregory Oliver. The three remaining seats are to be filled in the future and will help in the operation of the museum and grounds. Spectrum is looking to open a franchise in Branchville, and council has voted to work with them, charging the same percentage as other businesses that have franchised with the town at 5 percent. Branchvilles next council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 at Branchville Town Hall, 7644 Freedom Road. A festive atmosphere filled Orangeburg County School District headquarters Wednesday morning as the district named its teacher and support staff of the year for 2022-23. Edisto High School English teacher Carol Dean was named Teacher of the Year and Whittaker Elementary first-grade teacher assistant Tiffany Grant was named Support Staff of the Year. "Every opportunity that I have to interact with a young person I take it as a meaningful experience; something that my kids can take into their future," Dean said at the annual school district convocation. "I love that. I am a superstar to them." Dean said the students ask her why she keeps coming back to the classroom. "I share with my kids so I can teach your kids and your grandkids and I can tell them all about you," Dean said. "They laugh, but I seriously mean that." "I love what I do," Dean said. "I love this profession and I love my kids. I love Edisto High School." Dean thanked the other teacher of the year finalists for their support. "I am resting on your shoulders," she said. "You guys are amazing. You guys are wonderful." Support Staff of the Year winner Grant offered God all the praise and for the individuals who have helped her along the way. "It is truly about the children," she said. Alternate Teacher of the Year was Whittaker Elementary School second-grade teacher Jasmine Jackson. The Alternate Support Staff of the Year was Lockett Elementary School Nurse Geri Dukes. Both Dean and Grant received $5,000 each and Jackson and Dukes received $1,500 from Nissan of Orangeburg. All four also will receive rings from Jostens commemorating their achievements. "Thank you for what you do," OCSD Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster told the teachers and support staff finalists. "Thank you for your impact. Thank you for changing the lives of children. The things we do for ourselves will die with us, but what we do for others will live for an eternity." "Don't forget your greatness," OCSD Board Chair Ruby Edwards said. "That is what you represent. All our teachers across the district that is what you represent. As you go into 2022-2023 school year, know your impact and don't forget your greatness." The other finalists for both teacher and support staff of the year also each received $500. Additionally, the dealership will also have a Teacher Supply Closet that will be available to any county school district teacher. The supply closet for teachers will open at the dealership Aug. 22 and remain fully stocked throughout the year. The dealership has consistently supported the school district over the years. The other finalists for Teacher of the Year included: Carlos Jenkins: Holly Hill Elementary Amanda Fair-Coles: Dover Elementary Monica Young: Howard Middle The other finalists for Support Staff of the Year included: Dallas Griffin: Bethune-Bowman Elementary School Yvette Perryman-Brown: Robert E. Howard Middle David Brown: Technology Center Prior to the unveiling of the Teacher and Support Staff winners of the Year, Foster encouraged all the district's teachers to "know your impact." I want to remind you of the impact that you have," he said. "You are doing an outstanding job ... youve shown up at food giveaways, games, activities." "Youre going above and beyond what you signed your contract for, and thats because you didnt sign it with ink, you signed it with your heart," Foster said. OCSD students named first, second and third place MLK Oratory Competition winners Malachi Jean, Dilyn Berry, and Harlem Brown, respectively, reiterated the superintendents theme with a delivery of speeches directly to the impact of specific groups of employees. CANBERRA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has decided to establish a national plan to stamp out coercive control. Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Friday met with his counterparts from Australia's states and territories and New Zealand to discuss strengthening the criminal justice response to sexual assault. In a statement on Saturday, Dreyfus said the meeting endorsed a draft proposal for national principles to address coercive control. Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse designed to create power or dominance over a person. "These principles -- the first of their kind -- represent a significant step toward a shared national understanding of coercive control," Dreyfus said. This shared understanding is vital for greater community awareness and will be an important tool in improving the safety of women and children, he said. Friday's meeting came after 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame urged governments to improve the experiences of sexual abuse victim-survivors in the criminal justice system, and harmonize and better define laws around sexual assault. It also endorsed a five-year plan to toughen the justice response to abuse. "The Attorney-General's Department and the Australian Institute of Criminology will review the definitions of consent, as well as broader definitions relating to sexual assault and child sexual abuse," Dreyfus said. "This will include legislation with respect to consent and stealthing, which has been the subject of recent calls for reform from advocates." The South Carolina Association of Counties elected officers for 202223 and five board members to four-year terms at its annual conference, held Aug. 1-4. Elected president was Lexington County Council member Debra B. Summers. She succeeds Oconee County Council Vice Chairman Paul A. Cain, who served as 202122 SCAC president. Its an honor for me to have been elected to serve as president of the South Carolina Association of Counties, said Debra B. Summers. Im looking forward to working with representatives from around the state to help move South Carolina forward. Paul Cains service as president of the SCAC is much appreciated, and has helped bridge relationships for the future, Summers added. My desire as president of the SCAC is to strengthen communication with our counties so that they all benefit from the tremendous assets that the association offers all 46 counties in South Carolina. After all, were blessed to have to have such a resource that all counties can utilize. Summers has served on Lexington County for almost 18 years, as chair and vice chair of county council, and on every county council committee. Born and raised in the Midlands of South Carolina, she currently serves on the Greater Cayce-West Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and the COMET (Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority). She has previously served in other capacities within her community, including: River Alliance Board; Lexington Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission; SCAC Board of Directors; Lexington Chamber Board; Central Midlands Council of Governments; Engenuity Board and Central S.C. Alliance Board. Summers has also served for nine years on the Lexington Medical Center board of directors. She and her husband, Bud, have three children and eight grandchildren. Debbie Summers is universally regarded as a proven and trusted leader in the Lexington community and the state of South Carolina, said SCAC Executive Director Tim Winslow. SCAC staff looks forward to her dynamic and positive leadership in the coming year. SCAC elected other officers as follows: first vice president Roy Costner III, Pickens County Council vice chairman; second vice president William E. Robinson, Allendale County council member; third vice president Mary D. Anderson, Chesterfield County council member; secretary Charles T. Edens, Sumter County council member; treasurer Belinda D. Copeland, Darlington County; and immediate past president Paul A. Cain, Oconee County Council vice chairman. SCAC elected the following board members to four-year terms (to expire in 2026): Daniel Alexander, Barnwell County council member; C. David Chinnis, Dorchester County council member; Barbara B. Clark, Jasper County Council chairwoman; Charles T. Jennings, McCormick County Council chairman; and Herman Butch G. Kirven Jr., Greenville County Council member. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will travel to Orangeburg with U.S. Majority Whip James E. Clyburn to meet with historically black college and university leaders from across the state. Cardona and Clyburn also will speak with students from South Carolina State University about pandemic recovery and how theyve been supported by their university and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. Under the American Rescue Plan, HBCUs in South Carolina have received more than $112 million in funding, according to a release from S.C. State. Last month, S.C. State and Clinton College were awarded an additional $5 million through ARP. The Biden-Harris administration says in 2021 alone, it delivered a $5.8 billion investment to HBCUs. Cardona has two decades of experience. He began his career as an elementary teacher and then served as a school principal. In 2012, he won the 2012 National Distinguished Principal Award for the State of Connecticut and the Outstanding Administrator Award from UCONN's NEAG School of Education. He served in other positions before being appointed Commissioner of Education in Connecticut in August 2019. Results of the 2021 Deer Hunter Survey conducted by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources indicate that the statewide harvest of deer decreased by about 12% last season. The harvest was comprised of an estimated 95,351 bucks and 79,218 does, which made up a total harvest of 174,569 deer, down from the 197,893 estimated harvested in 2020, according to Charles Ruth, SCDNR Big Game Program coordinator. Between 2002 and 2015, the deer population in the state trended down with the overall reduction in harvest likely attributable to a number of factors, including habitat change, two decades of aggressive antlerless deer harvest, and the complete colonization of the state by coyotes and their impact on fawn survival. Although the harvest in 2021 decreased, since 2016 the state's deer harvest has generally been increasing possibly because of declining coyote densities that would naturally occur following colonization. Explaining the decline in harvest in 2021 is relatively easy, Ruth said, and stems from a decrease in hunter numbers. Overall hunter numbers were down about 13%, which coincides closely with the 12% decline in harvest. "Explaining why deer hunter numbers were down in 2021 is more problematic. Hunter numbers increased during 2020 about 6% likely due to COVID-19 and the notion that people had more time and flexibility to hunt. "On the other hand, during the fall of 2021, things were returning to normal and people may have opted more for nonhunting activities, many of which were not feasible during the pandemic. In any event, it will be interesting to see what deer hunter numbers are in 2022. Top counties for harvest in 2021 included Anderson, Spartanburg and Saluda in the Piedmont, and Bamberg, Hampton and Orangeburg in the coastal plain, with each of the counties exhibiting harvest rates of more than 10 deer per square mile, which Ruth said should be considered extraordinary. Although the harvest is lower now compared with its peak some years ago, South Carolina still ranks near the top among Southeastern states in harvest per unit area. All areas of South Carolina have long and liberal firearms seasons, and most deer (145,416) were taken with center-fire rifles in 2021. Bows (9,601 deer) and shotguns (13,093 deer) also contributed significantly to the overall deer harvest, whereas muzzleloaders, crossbows and handguns combined (6,460 deer) produced less than 5% of the total statewide harvest. Although the annual Deer Hunter Survey focuses on deer-hunting activities, there are also questions on the survey related to the harvest of wild hogs and coyotes in the state. Results of this years survey indicate an estimated 16,298 coyotes were taken incidental to deer hunting. This figure represents a 14% decrease from 2020, continuing what seems to be a declining trend in coyote numbers in recent years. Additionally, an estimated 27,964 wild hogs were killed by deer hunters statewide, virtually the same number (28,043) as 2020. Other survey statistics indicate that about 115,862 South Carolina residents and 13,729 non-residents deer hunted in the state in 2021. Deer hunters reported an overall success rate of 69%, which Ruth said is outstanding. Overall hunting effort was estimated at just over 1.8 million days. The number of days devoted to deer hunting in South Carolina is very significant and points not only to the availability and popularity of deer as a game species, but to the obvious economic benefits related to this important natural resource. About $200 million in direct retail sales is related to deer hunting in South Carolina annually. The complete 2021 SOUTH CAROLINA DEER HARVEST REPORT can be viewed at https://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/2021DeerHarvestReport.html The Rhine's water levels are so low that its shipping industry risks a complete halt. Its only hope is decent rainfall. High temperatures and far too little rain are causing more and more problems throughout Europe: one of its largest rivers, the Rhine, is running low on water. The consequences are already impacting Luxembourg: on Friday, not a single ship arrived at the port of Mertert. Read also: Recommendations during a drought However, the problem is not at the Moselle, because the level in Grevenmacher is still at 2.10 meters. But the high levels of algae in the harbour indicate that the river is barely flowing. Shipping traffic is also slowing down: at the moment, ships are loading only a third of their normal loads. Many do not even get to Mertert, or do not get away, because the cost of goods has become much too expensive, says Jurgen Helten, general director of Luxport. However, the real issue comes from the Rhine. On the Middle Rhine, the water level is only at 40 centimeters, and could fall another 10 or 15 centimeters by Tuesday. The situation is reminiscent of the low water of 2018. Michel Girard, who as a captain is regularly on the Rhine, points out that the low water levels have arrived one to two months earlier compared to 2018. If there is no rain soon, there could be no ships sailing on the Rhine even at Christmas to deliver wheat, coal, chemical products or petrol. This would have dramatic consequences for the economy, for which the Rhine is an artery. In this context, the president of the Bavarian service station operators, Gunter Friedl, shared three considerations. Firstly, with the low water and the inland waters, the ships can no longer transport as much. Secondly, there is a shortage of freight lorries at the moment, so it is not possible to use the roads. And finally, there is a lack of staff on the rail network to transport the goods. Peter Claereboets, captain of the Servia, is currently fighting his way up the Rhine. The radar shows that the waterway is getting narrower by the minute. The sandbanks are getting closer to his ship, which is loaded with coal at 30 to 40 percent of its capacity. Not only the low water levels, but also the prices are causing problems in the sector. Claerebots' coal now costs 60 euros per ton instead of the normal 8 euros. Given the current prices, Mertert might go a while without seeing any ships in its port, underlines Helten. After the crisis year of 2018, there was much discussion about whether more barrages would have to be built in the Rhine, he explains. Concerns about the environment, but also the high costs and the time required, put the brakes on the project. Conclusion: today only one hope remains, and that is proper rain. This statement gives one something to think about. Over 30 percent of diesel and gasoline for Luxembourg is stored in Mertert. 80 percent of it comes from the Rhine and the Moselle to Luxembourg by ship. Video report in Luxembourgish: The political and security situation in Mali has deteriorated significantly in recent months, which is why the Ministry of Defence has informed about the involvement of the Luxembourgish Army. Around two dozen Luxembourgish soldiers are currently stationed in Mali, partly in the framework of the EU Training Mission (EUTM), which trains local police officers and soldiers, and under the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which aims to protect the population and stabilise the country. The Ministry of Defence made the announcement in a public statement after other entities, such as Germany, have put their commitment in Mali on hold until further notice. Iranian ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan on Saturday hailed the man who stabbed British author Salman Rushdie -- the target of a 1989 Iranian fatwa calling for his death. Rushdie was on a ventilator after the attack during a literary event in New York state on Friday, more than 30 years after he went into hiding following late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's fatwa. "Bravo to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie in New York," wrote the paper, whose chief is appointed by current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Let us kiss the hands of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife," the daily added. With the exception of reformist publication Etemad, Iranian media followed a similar line, describing Rushdie as an "apostate". State-owned paper Iran said that the "neck of the devil" had been "cut by a razor". Iranian authorities have yet to make any official comment on the stabbing attack against Rushdie. But Mohammad Marandi, an adviser to the negotiating team for Iran's nuclear talks in Vienna, wrote on Twitter: "I won't be shedding tears for a writer who spouts endless hatred and contempt for Muslims and Islam." "But, isn't it odd that as we near a potential nuclear deal, the US makes claims about a hit on Bolton... and then this happens?" he questioned. The attack came after Iran hinted earlier on Friday that it may accept a final compromise to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. This followed the European Union's submission of a "final text" in Vienna. The US Justice Department said Wednesday that it had indicted a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards over allegations he had offered to pay an individual in the United States $300,000 to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton. Iran dismissed the allegations as "fiction". Rushdie, 75, was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel "Midnight's Children" in 1981, which won international praise and Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India, where he was born. But his 1988 book "The Satanic Verses" transformed his life when Khomeini issued a religious decree ordering his killing. In 1998, the government of Iran's reformist president Mohammad Khatami assured Britain that Iran would not implement the fatwa. But Khamenei said in 2005 he still believed Rushdie was an apostate whose killing would be authorised by Islam. Incoming! ... the word most dreaded by a combat soldier. The scream shatters the murky air, implying impending death to a soldier. This day could very well be his last day on earth. The unmistakeable hollow-sounding thump of distant mortar fire is picked up by the astute ears of boy-turned-man long before the mortar ever hit the lines behind him. Medic! ... the second most dreaded word, carries across the confusion; the fear, the fight for life and safety of his brothers, his country, and himself. Wasnt it just yesterday he was camping with his boy scout troop, hiking in the woods, and watching the stars? He faintly remembers snuggling into a dry sleeping bag with a fire warmly crackling, sheltered by the calming darkness of night. Im hit! The young recruit looks back at the soldier behind him, and sees him sink to his knees in the damp red dirt. Back home, a young country girl rides through the grassy pasturelands of Wyoming on horseback, drinking in the rich air of early morning with her dog trotting behind. The brilliant blue sky is clear, and the breeze is fresh and cool. A long blonde braid hangs down her back, swinging in rhythm with the stride of her horse. She searches the horizon for livestock and wildlife. Her thoughts turn briefly to the men fighting a war somewhere across the ocean boys, really. Some she knows, and others are cousins that she often writes to. But the headlines in the newspapers and the television are far removed from her place of innocence her world. Yet she knows soldiers die every day on foreign soil, fighting for their lives, their families, their country, and even for her. In the damp, muddy jungle on the other side of the world, a young infantryman crouches in the billowing smoke next to a fallen soldier clutching his blood spattered chest. To the right, another soldier, his friend, tumbles down face first in the grass. Their rifles clatter to the ground; and the last sound he hears is the unambiguous thud of his body as it hits the ground. Forever silenced, his lifes blood spills out over the red mud of a foreign land. Anger and anguish swell up in the infantrymans gut, and he charges forward, ahead of the smoke and into the fire coming from everywhere. He squints, trying to locate the enemy. They have to be somewhere. But, as usual, they are invisible, as if they are part of the tangled jungle and the ground itself. They are apparitions like demon-possessed ghosts. Then he feels the impact of shrapnel strike his arm and the back of his legs. It shreds his back between his shoulder blades. Where ARE those guys?! he shouts into the smoke. But he is alone. In the shade of a cottonwood, the girl with the braided hair leans against the tree, while her dog rests his head on her leg. Her horse grazes contentedly nearby. They watch as the cows trail slowly in to the waterhole. A red tail hawk drifts in the sky above, head tilted, scoping out the pastoral scene below. In the dank rain, a young warrior tries to staunch the blood flowing from the chest wound of his comrade, but hes already gone. Scared to live, scared to die, he musters up the courage to stand. The barrage of enemy fire streaks overhead into the chaos: screaming, returning fire, and death. For the teenage ranch girl, peace reigns in the present. The cows lick salt, drink from the waterhole, then lie down in the grass and chew their cud. She closes her eyes and dreams of rolling grasslands, foothills rising to the mountains, the flutter of aspen leaves in the fall, and the sweet gurgle of a tiny creek winding through a quiet mountain meadow. When the afternoon sun finds its way close to the western horizon, she gathers up her horse and rides home to the quiet of the corrals and barn. The dog trots beside, ready for supper and hoping for a game of fetch with his favorite ball. Back in the swampy red mud of Vietnam, the young serviceman sits next to his dead and dying brothers, covered in blood, sweat and death, questioning how he can survive the night alone, and wondering what a blonde-haired ranch girl is doing back home, and if she will know him when and if he comes home. If Wyoming voters think of elections as job interviews and candidates as employees or potential employees, hopefully they will come to the conclusion that Rep. Liz Cheney is one of the good ones. Ethicist Dr. Bruce Weinstein, aka The Ethics Guy, describes 10 crucial qualities of high-character employees in his book The Good Ones. Weinstein defines character as the most important qualities that define a person. It is revealed not by words but by actions. The 10 crucial qualities of high-character employees are honesty, accountability, care, courage, fairness, gratitude, humility, loyalty, patience and presence. Cheney exemplifies all 10, making her a good one. Weinstein states that honesty is the most important quality of all, and that is why it leads the list. People who are honest have a passion for the truth. Falsehood in all its forms is a poison to an honest person. Cheney has been a vocal advocate for the truth and has been relentless in pushing against the dishonest claims of election fraud during the 2020 election. She clearly understands that events of Jan. 6 were a result of the countless lies that were told to the Republican electorate. In a speech the night before she was removed from her leadership position, Cheney spoke on the House floor exclaiming Millions of Americans have been misled by the former president. They hear his words but not the truth. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. Clearly, Cheney knows that the big lie of election fraud is a toxin to our democracy. According to Weinstein, there are four elements of accountability: keeping promises, considering consequences, taking responsibility seriously and making amends for mistakes. Recently, Cheney told CNNs Jake Tapper that if she has to choose between keeping her seat in Congress or being honest about Jan. 6 Im going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day. Cheney has taken her responsibility as vice chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol earnestly and fully understands that the consequence is the likely loss of her seat in Congress. Caring employees view themselves as servants. Cheney is a public servant who has been willing to place her service to the country over political party. This is the kind of duty that the residents of Wyoming and Americans alike can be proud of. There is an example in The Good Ones where Weinstein describes an employee with courage. He writes She had the moral strengththe courageto risk her job, reputation, and valued relationships to stand up to the wrongdoing she saw. If this doesnt describe Cheney and her courage, then I dont know what does. Cheney has put her career, her relationships with colleagues and even the safety and wellbeing of herself and her family in peril. All for doing the right thing. Fairness, in Weinsteins employee context, is giving others their due. That is difficult to assess for this purpose but I can appreciate the way the committee has worked in a bipartisan way. Unfortunately, bipartisanship has become a four-letter word. Perhaps Cheney can show Americans that it can be done and in a positive way. Gratitude and humility are closely connected. If humility is the awareness of how we depend on others to get things done, then gratitude is the ability to acknowledge that in one another. Cheney seems to have a strong understanding that Americans are all in this together and that by being united we are stronger than when we are divided. Cheneys loyalty to the Constitution over a flawed, solitary man is what will likely cost her seat in Congress. Weinstein writes Loyalty means aligning ones behavior with the organizations values for however long one is employed. The organizational values for a member of Congress is the Constitution itself. Our country was born in pursuit of freedom from tyranny and control by one man. Fealty to the Constitution should be the only requirement for someone with the desire to hold office described in Article I. Patience and presence are also related. Cheney appears to have patience and understands that the fight to restore the democratic values and against the rights lean towards authoritarianism is a long game. Presence is a commitment to doing ones work by focusing on a single task for a reasonable amount of time. As her father, Vice President Dick Cheney said in a recent ad, Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. I hope voters in Wyoming will look at the list of the 10 qualities of a high-character individual and consider whether a candidate has shown these qualities in action. Rep. Liz Cheney certainly has and that is what makes her a good one. And hopefully a good one to vote for. Delivering beautiful smiles is Dr Cornelia Blackmans life work. Blackman is the founder of CB Dental Studio, a family and cosmetic dental practice where on a typical day she goes beyond examining teeth, gums and other dental issues. Whether Blackman is engaging her patients and followers on Instagram or physically at her practice, one thing is sureher passion for changing lives, one smile at a time. A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy is in critical condition at the Port of Spain General Hospital after bei Its the middle of summer and your pools water level seems to be lower than usual. With it being 110 degrees outside, you brush it off and assume evaporation is the cause. However, this assumption may have just cost you hundreds of dollars without you even realizing it. With the help of PinPoint Leak Detection & Repair, a Rosie on the House certified partner, lets discuss the effects of pool leaks and how to prevent them. Question: How big of a deal is a pool leak? Answer: It can be a very big deal, if you dont deal with it. While the hot temperatures do contribute to your pool losing water, your pool shouldnt lose more than about 1/4 inch in one day. If you find that your pool drops more than that, theres a chance you have a leak. A leaky pool is wasteful. Pool leaks can wreak havoc on your pool and yard without ever being visible to the naked eye. The longer they go unnoticed, the more damage they cause and the more money youll end up spending on repairs later on. While repairs can always be done to reverse the damage, the lasting effects on the environment arent as easy to remedy. As you may know, Arizona has officially entered a water shortage. While it hasnt directly affected residents, that doesnt mean its not a future possibility. Its important now more than ever to do what we can to conserve our water supply before its too late. Your pool could leak hundreds of gallons. Large commercial pools could leak thousands. Now multiply that by the estimated 20% of pools in Arizona that are leaking, and the total amount of water being wasted is unsettling. Q: What are the signs of a pool leak? A: While the most obvious sign of a pool leak is water loss, there are other signs to also look out for. Most common signs of a pool leak: 1. Higher water bills: While higher water bills can occur for a variety of reasons, a significantly large increase likely points to a leak. This sign is especially important for those with an auto-filler since the pools water level is automatically being adjusted for you. With water being automatically added, you probably wont notice the water level dropping, so the excessive water use will only be obvious on your water bill. 2. Chemical imbalance: Balancing the chemicals in your pool should be a part of regular maintenance. Whether you do it yourself or you hire a pool maintenance professional, your pools water should be tested weekly and adjusted accordingly. When your pool loses water, it takes the chemicals along with it, giving algae the chance to grow. So, if you find that your pools chemical levels are becoming difficult to keep balanced or if algae is consistently present, a leak is likely the culprit. 3. Wet spots: Lingering wet spots in your yard or pool deck are another common sign of a leaking pool. One note to make here is that just because you find consistent wet spots in a particular spot, doesnt guarantee that the leak is located there. Water from a leak travels. Wet spots could pop up in one area of the yard while the actual leak is in a completely different area. So, before you dig up the area with wet spots, contact a leak detection professional to pinpoint the exact location of the leak. 4. Cracked or falling tiles: Cracked tiles can naturally happen due to the movement of the Earths surface over time. Another reason tiles become cracked is because of the water level dropping too low. When the water drops too low, the tiles are exposed to excessive sunlight which dries them out and makes them prone to cracking. Once a crack has formed, water will find its way through and slowly begin to damage the pools surface and structure. Q: How do I conduct a pool evaporation test? A: Try this simple bucket test. It will indicate how fast the pool or spa is losing water. 1. Fill the pool to its normal level. 2. Fill an empty bucket one inch from the top with pool water. 3. Place the bucket on the first or second step of the pool. Place a few brick or rocks inside to keep it from floating away. 4. Mark the water level inside the bucket. 5. Mark the water level of the pool on the outside of the bucket. 6. Operate the pool for 24 hours just as it had been when a leak was first suspected. After 24 hours, compare the two levels. If the pool water (outside mark) goes down more than the inside water level, there is probably a leak. Call a professional pool service company or leak detection company to investigate where the leak is coming from and have it repaired. Q: How can I avoid pool leaks? A: The best way to avoid pool leaks is to keep up with regular maintenance and repairs. Keeping chemicals balanced, emptying baskets, vacuuming, brushing and equipment monitoring, are all a part of regular maintenance. Just like you do regular maintenance on your car to keep it in good shape, the same goes for swimming pools. On top of maintenance, perform regular equipment inspections to ensure everything is operating properly. If you notice anything is broken or not working, repair it immediately to avoid further damage to the rest of your pool and its equipment. One issue can create a domino effect of problems and before you know it, that one small repair just became multiple big ones. Three people are facing animal neglect charges and the town of Marana is facing questions over its handling of complaints about a boarding kennel where a Tucson familys pet dog recently died of suspected dehydration. The town received three reports of troubled conditions at Buhrkes Pet Resort in the three weeks before Ella, a 7-year-old Lab mix, was found lifeless next to a dry water bowl July 5, inspection reports show. Steven Buhrke, owner of the now-closed boarding kennel in the 8100 block of West Tangerine Road a facility once so reputable some police departments used it to board police dogs is charged with three counts of animal neglect, a misdemeanor under the town code. Also charged are two relatives who ran the facilities in Buhrkes absence, a stepson facing two counts and a stepdaughter facing three counts Their next court date is Aug. 23. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a $2,500 fine, six months of jail and 3 years of probation. Buhrke, 52, could not be reached for comment. His main business phone number still works but the voicemail was full. Also, he did not respond to two text messages sent to three different cell phone numbers listed as alternate contacts on the kennels website as of late last year. The website no longer exists but much of its former content is preserved on the internet archive. Buhrkes business license was revoked by the town on July 15 after authorities removed the animals, the reports show. The town provided the inspection reports, arrest sheets and more than 300 photos to the Arizona Daily Star in response to a public records request. Cesar Nava said he and his wife and kids are bereft over the loss of Ella, the protector and best friend of their children ages 2 and 7 years old. As soon as each child learned to talk, Ella was literally the first name they learned. Thats how important she was to us, said Nava, a Tucson native who moved back home with his family last year after eight years in the Marine Corps. Nava said he hopes the defendants get jail time. I know every dog has to die someday, he said. But they shouldnt have to die like this. Three complaints in 10 days The town of Marana received three complaints about Buhrkes between June 13 and June 23, records show. The first complainant said her two healthy dogs spent two weeks at Buhrkes and came home emaciated. The second said her three dogs did not receive enough food or medicine and had feces and urine on them after a five-day stay. The third complaint was an anonymous call to 88-CRIME that reported kennels covered in feces and requested an animal welfare check. Lisa Shafer, Maranas director of community services, who oversees animal services, said the first two complaint inspections found no evidence animals were being mistreated. So an inspector made a note to go back and check again in a week or two. Inspections are unannounced, she said. A third inspection on June 26, in response to the June 23 complaint, found the first hint of a problem: a German Shepherd whose outdoor kennel run was mostly covered in feces, reports show. Burhkes stepdaughter, the caretaker on duty, received her first citation for animal neglect that day. Shafer said up to that point, inspectors hadnt seen anything serious enough to suggest animals were at risk of death. The dogs all had water during those visits, inspection reports show. So nine days after the third complaint, Nava dropped off Ella and their other dog at Buhrkes while the family visited friends in Phoenix over the July 4 weekend. They had used the same kennel last year without incident, he said. Both dogs were healthy, he said. Nava said when he went back to get the dogs, Buhrkes stepson said he couldnt find them. So Nava went looking himself and found one dog alive and Ella deceased, her body already stiff with an empty water bowl nearby. The other dogs water bowl also was empty, he said. The stepson and the stepdaughter, who also was on site for part of the day, both were charged on suspicion of neglect in Ellas death. The photos Nava took that day with his cell phone are now in the hands of a town prosecutor. Shafer said the post-mortem exam showed a strong possibility Ellas death was due to heat exhaustion and dehydration. The fatality prompted the town to start inspecting Buhrkes at least once a day, a move that may have saved another dogs life, records show. No water, 96-degree heat On July 11, an inspector found all the dogs without water in their bowls, a report said. Buhrke and his stepchildren were all on duty that day, and the town charged all three of them on suspicion of animal neglect. On July 12, an inspector found several more dogs without water bowls and cited Buhrke. On July 13, a white French bulldog named Lola was discovered alone with no water in an overheated area separate from the main kennel, reports show. Lola was panting and breathing heavily in 96-degree heat and appeared in distress the report said. When an inspector gave her water, she quickly lapped up two full bowls, it said. Buhrke was cited again for that incident. Two days later, on July 15, the town pulled boarding kennels business license. Buhrke had 10 days to appeal the revocation, but did not do so, said Shafer, the town official. On the day of the shutdown, one of the towns inspectors asked Buhrke when he first realized his business was in decline. Buhrke, who moved to Prescott last year, said noticed some things slipping earlier this year. He also said the pandemic took a big toll on his business. Until recently, Buhrkes was an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona and boasted an A+ rating. The BBB board revoked the accreditation a few weeks ago in the wake of recent problems. Town faces criticism As word of Ellas death has spread on social media, the town of Marana has been vilified for not acting sooner to put Buhrkes out of business. Shafer, the town official who oversees animal services, rejects the criticism. She said inspectors did their best in a tough situation and needed time to gather evidence the kennel would pose a threat if allowed to remain open. I have read a lot of the comments online. People were just like Shut em down, Shafer said in an interview. Well, yeah. But you cant just shut down a business. You have to have a legal basis. Nava said hes reluctant to criticize the towns actions without more facts. Right now, I honestly cant say. I just dont know yet, he said. Bank calls loan Nava said he is seeking legal advice. Its unclear, though, whether the business had any assets left when it closed. On July 12, three days before the town put Buhrkes out of business, a California bank filed a notice of intent to sell the kennel property at public auction later this year, Pima County land records show. The bank said it is looking to collect the balance owing on a $384,000 business loan Buhrke took out in 2014 using the property and its contents as collateral. Nava said he takes some solace from the thought other dogs wont have to suffer. Im just glad the situation has been corrected, he said. Does it suck that it took my dog dying for it to be corrected? Yeah. It does. Marana has lost one of its oldest and most prominent residents. A towering saguaro nicknamed Strong-Arm collapsed and died along the trail at the Tortolita Preserve on Aug. 4 after a long bout with a bacterial infection. Its exact age is unknown, but experts believe it was at least 150 years old. It was older than the State of Arizona, thats for sure, said Jason Grodman, natural resources supervisor for the Marana Parks and Recreation Department. Strong-Arm had its own sign and everything. It was one of several named saguaros within the preserve, which sits on 2,400 acres of Arizona State Trust Land that Marana maintains under a 99-year lease. What made this particular saguaro special was its sheer size and its dense cluster of arms. Mark Johnson once counted 34 of them from his Dove Mountain home that used to look out on the cactus. He offered his semi-scientific and very specific estimate for Strong-Arms age: 161 years, which would have had it sprouting around the time of Abraham Lincolns inauguration and the start of the Civil War. Johnson is one of the founding members of the Tortolita Alliance, a nonprofit neighborhood group that advocates for the continued protection of the preserve. He announced Strong-Arms death in a blog post on the alliances webpage a few hours after most of the cactus collapsed. One long arm and three small ones remained standing until Aug. 6, when they toppled to the ground, leaving only the saguaros broken, 8-foot stump. Fortunately there are a lot more saguaros out there, Johnson said. Its another good reason why we need to protect that 2,400 acres. We have to give the smaller saguaros a chance to become Strong-Arms. In mourning Mark and Kathy Dobbels live two houses down from Johnson. Kathy was startled by the sound of the cactus crashing down at around 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, though she did not know what the noise was right away. I thought someone was trying to break into the house, she said. The Dobbels said a lot of people on their street themselves included often took their visiting friends and family members to see Strong-Arm and pose for pictures in front of it. Kathy broke the bad news to the snowbirds in the neighborhood with a group email that went out to 16 people. Were really in mourning, she said. Weve lost a good friend. Mark said they noticed something wrong with Strong-Arm last summer. It just started looking more brown and more brown, he said. Its really sad. (A great-horned) owl family used to make a nest in it every year. This was the second big saguaro that has died at their end of the preserve in the past year. Last summer, they lost one even closer to their backyard that they called Pancho. What else is there to do in a pandemic when youre in a lockdown? Name the saguaros behind your house, Kathy explained. Its been a bad couple of years for big cactuses around Tucson, according to saguaro researcher Bill Peachey. A number of aging giants have been wiped out recently by the cumulative effects of extreme weather events, including freezes, heat waves and powerful wind storms. Its happening more often with less time in between, and the plants dont have time to recover, he said. Peachey only needed a few seconds to determine Strong-Arms cause of death: The plant was filled with bacterial rot from top to bottom. This was in lousy condition when it fell, he said as he examined the plant on Tuesday. To have all of those arms infected, this cactus lost the battle some years ago. Very big loss According to Peacheys measurements, Strong-Arm stood more than 33 feet tall, with six, closely bunched main stems, each over 20 feet in length. Based on its size and the growth rates of other saguaros in the Tucson area, it was probably somewhere between 150 and 175 years old. Long arms is one of the signs of an old, old cactus, he said. The saguaro was in such a weakened state that it could have been toppled by almost anything. A gust of wind could have done it, Peachey said, or the weight just got to be too much. Whatever the cause, Strong-Arm lived up to its name to the end, he said. It was riddled with bacteria and at the very edge of death, and it still held its form until the very last moment. Its death leaves a hole in the local ecosystem. For more than a century, the cactus served as both a neighborhood grocery store and an apartment complex for countless desert creatures, including bats, insects and birds such as the now-rare cactus ferruginous pygmy owl. A saguaro this size would have been a major producer of nectar, fruit and shelter, Peachey said. Where are the woodpeckers going to go? And (without their holes) where are the elf owls and purple martens going to go? Theres a whole cascade of badness that this exemplifies, he said. The initial collapse of the cactus blocked the recreational trail that loops through the preserve, so Maranas parks department sent a crew out to clear a new path around the downed plant. Two days later, the last remaining giant arm dropped off, blocking the trail once again. This time, Grodman said, the crew cut a section out of the fallen arm so hikers and mountain-bikers could pass through without slowing down. But people have been stopping anyway. A handful of people made special trips to the preserve last week to check out the grisly scene, snap a few pictures and pay their respects. There has even been some talk among the neighbors and others about holding some kind of ceremony in honor of Strong-Arm. Grodman said whatever they do should be respectful, particularly to the Tohono Oodham, who think of saguaros as people, the embodiment of their ancestors. I dont want to call it a memorial (service) necessarily, he said. Call it a celebration of life. 26 photos of Tucson's quirkiest saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Tucson's quirky saguaros Agent: Rushdie off ventilator and talking, day after attack MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) Author Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk, a day after being stabbed as he prepared to give a lecture. Rushdie's agent confirmed information contained in a tweet by another author Saturday. Earlier in the day, the man accused in the attack in upstate New York pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges. A judge ordered Hadi Matar held without bail after the district attorney told her Matar took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie. Rushdie, the renowned author of The Satanic Verses remains hospitalized with serious injuries. Sinema took Wall Street money while killing tax on investors WASHINGTON (AP) Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona has received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose interests she has staunchly defended in Congress. That's according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance disclosures. The revelation comes after Sinema single-handedly thwarted her party's long-standing goal of raising taxes on such investors. Sinema says the contributions did not influence her thinking on the matter. But many in her party see Sinema's defense of the favorable tax treatment received by such investors as indefensible. Expanded IRS free-file system one step closer in Dems' bill WASHINGTON (AP) The flagship climate change and health care bill passed by Democrats and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden will bring U.S. taxpayers one step closer to a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system. Its something lawmakers and advocates have been seeking for years. For many Americans, its frustrating that beyond having to pay sometimes hefty tax bills, they also have to shell out additional money for tax preparation programs or preparers because of an increasingly complex U.S. tax system. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says, Its definitely something we should do, and when the IRS is adequately resourced, its something that will happen." Praise, worry in Iran after Rushdie attack; government quiet TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iranians are reacting with praise and worry over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdies attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault as well. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. Russian shelling heavy in east; Ukraine strikes key bridge KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian officials say Russias military shelled residential areas across Ukraine. They also say their own fighters have damaged the last working bridge over a river in occupied southern Ukraine, hurting Russia's ability to resupply its military. The mayor of the eastern city of Kramatorsk said a Russian rocket attack killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night. Further west, a governor reported more Russian shelling of a city not far from Europes largest nuclear power plant. Ukrainian military intelligence alleged that Russian troops have shelled the nuclear plant. The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed Saturday its forces had taken control of a village on the outskirts of the eastern city of Donetsk. Italy's Lake Garda shrinks to near-historic low amid drought SIRMIONE Italy (AP) Italys worst drought in decades has reduced the countrys largest lake to near its lowest level ever recorded. Tourists flocking to Lake Garda on Friday for the start of a long weekend found a vastly different landscape than in past years. An expansive stretch of bleached rock extended far from the normal shoreline. Northern Italy hasnt seen significant rainfall for months, and snowfall this year was down 70%. With rivers that farmers use to irrigate crops drying up, authorities allowed more water from Lake Garda to flow out to local waterways. The lakes temperature, meanwhile, has been above average for August and on Friday approached the average for the Caribbean Sea. What takes years and costs $20K? A San Francisco trash can SAN FRANCISCO (AP) What takes years to make and costs more than $20,000? A trash can in San Francisco. The pricey, boxy bin is one of three custom-made trash cans the city is testing this summer as part of its yearslong search for another tool to use against its dirty streets. San Francisco began its search for the perfect trash can in 2018 when officials decided it was time to replace the more than 3,000 round public bins that have been on the streets for nearly 20 years. What trash can the city gets will depend in part on the feedback from residents. The city promises the new bins will be in place by the end of 2023 and will cost a maximum of $3,000 each. 8 Israelis wounded in Jerusalem shooting JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli police and medics say a gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalems Old City, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza. Two of the victims were in serious condition after the attack early Sunday. The shooting took place as the bus waited in a parking lot near the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray. The attack in Jerusalem follows a tense week between Israel and the Palestinians, including three days of fighting in Gaza after Israel killed Islamic Jihad commanders there and the killing of three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank. Suspect in 4 New Mexico killings left trail of violence ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Police and court records show the main suspect in the slaying of four Muslim men in Albuquerque has committed regular acts of violence in the six years since he resettled in the United States. Police believe 51-year-old Afghan refugee Muhammad Syed tracked the movements of his victims before ambushing them late at night, motivated seemingly by interpersonal conflicts. He is charged in the deaths of two men and is the primary suspect in the slayings of two others. Syed has denied involvement in the killings. Members of Albuquerque's small, close-knit Muslim community are coming to terms with the idea that maybe they never really knew Syed. Troubling questions unresolved in latest end to Till case The white woman whose accusations prompted the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 talks in a memoir about getting preferential treatment from Mississippi authorities soon after the killing. Some wonder whether Carolyn Bryant Donham is still being protected decades later. A prosecutor says grand jurors recently looked at the evidence and decided against indicting the woman in Till's abduction and death. Critics contend the decision was wrong. And some say authorities have been careful to protect the white woman ever since the killing happened. It's unclear whether grand jurors will ever consider the case again. But a retired FBI agent says new evidence is still possible. PHOENIX Maricopa Countys supervisors are asking a judge to impose financial sanctions on the states two top election deniers, Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Finchem. Lake, who is running for governor, and Finchem, the GOP nominee for secretary of state, filed a lawsuit in April seeking to ban the use of ballot counting machines. It is full of claims that are demonstrably false, contends an attorney for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Emily Crager. Moreover, she told U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi that any reasonable investigation would have revealed as much. That means Lake and Finchem violated court rules barring the filing of frivolous lawsuits, Crager said. Crager told the judge the lawsuit has no factual or legal basis and was filed for the purpose of undermining confidence in elections and to further their political campaigns. She said the lawsuit is so chock full of false statements, some of which she called complete fiction, that Tuchi should dismiss it and fine the candidates and their attorneys. Lake did not respond directly to Cragers legal filing. When asked about it by Capitol Media Services, Lake responded, When are you going to cover my policies? You and the rest of the PHX area media look absolutely ridiculous. Finchem called the countys legal filing nothing more than the attempted weaponization of the judicial process against the political process. If they cant stand up to scrutiny for elections, thats their problem, not our problem, he told Capitol Media Services. Tuchi has not said when he will rule. Lakes, Finchems claims In filing suit, Lake and Finchem argued that the machines that tabulate ballots are unreliable because they are subject to hacking. They said the use of components in computers from other countries makes them vulnerable. There is something even more basic, said the attorney who filed the lawsuit on their behalf, Andrew Parker. He said the tabulation of votes is an inherently governmental function, yet by using machines built and programmed by private companies, the state has effectively farmed that out. Whats worse, Parker said, is that the technology is kept secret from the public. This lack of transparency by electronic voting machine companies has created a black box system of voting which lacks credibility and integrity, he wrote in the lawsuit. Lake and Finchem want a court order to have the 2022 election conducted with paper ballots that would be counted by hand, which the lawsuit calls the most effective and presently the only secure election method. Maricopa Countys rebuttal Cragers response starts with the contention that Arizonans vote by machine. Both plaintiffs Lake and Finchem have voted on paper ballots for nearly 20 years, Crager wrote. Thus, their claims that Arizona does not use paper ballots are the very definition of frivolous. During all that time, she said, their votes were tabulated by machine. But Crager said there was no challenge in the early 2000s, nor when the county began using equipment from Dominion Voting Systems in 2019. Instead, they waited until they were running for statewide political office, when a significant portion of their likely voters had become erroneously convinced that the 2020 election was stolen, she wrote. Only then did they raise concerns about tabulation equipment, after having determined that promoting distrust in elections was politically profitable, Crager continued. Indeed, both plaintiffs are actively stating their intentions not to concede and require a 100% hand recount of all ballots. There are other specific problems with the lawsuit, she said. For example, Crager said, the legal papers cite findings by Cyber Ninjas, the firm hired by Senate President Karen Fann to audit the results of the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Maricopa County. But she said many of the findings proved blatantly false and were based on the companys lack of knowledge of election procedures and its plain ineptitude. Crager also said claims of what occurred in other states was irrelevant as the equipment used in Maricopa County is different. And Crager told Tuchi a special master hired by the Senate confirmed the county uses an air-gapped system that protects against connection to the internet. This court should not countenance candidates filing a meritless lawsuit for political purposes, which asserts fictional violations of constitutional rights and is completely devoid of any factual basis, but furthers a false narrative that election results cannot be trusted, she said. A new clinic aimed at providing northeast Oklahomans with less costly dental care while training the next generation of young dentists is now open to the public. The OU College of Dentistrys Delta Dental of Oklahoma Comprehensive Care Clinic, located at OU-Tulsa, will officially hold a ribbon-cutting later this month, but it began receiving patients a few weeks ago, officials said, and is already showing why it was desperately needed. We are inundated, said Dr. Rieger Wood, the clinics director of operations. We began screening in June and accepted about 160 patients. Weve got almost another 100 waiting in the queue wanting to be screened. Wood added: I had concern whether we would have enough patients to support this location, support our students. Because youre basically starting a practice from scratch. So the response has been wonderful. The intent of the state-of-the-art clinic located on the third floor of the OU Health Physicians Schusterman Center Clinic, 4444 E. 41st St. is to give dentistry students a setting to learn in, Wood said, while providing comprehensive oral health care to Oklahomans who need more affordable services. Fees for services are about one-third of what they would be at a private practice, he said. Care is provided by third- and fourth-year dental students under the supervision of licensed dental faculty members. Total cost of the new clinic, including equipment and site renovations, was $3.4 million, with $2 million coming as a gift from OU Dentistry partner Delta Dental of Oklahoma and its foundation. Building off of OUs longtime original clinic in Oklahoma City, the Tulsa clinic is the first of several clinical extensions anticipated throughout the state. Wood said if the clinic has one need so far, its for more pediatric patients. We have pediatric dentists that are here on Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings, he said. And pediatric patients dont have to be screened. Officials said Oklahomas poor standing nationally ranking 49th for access to affordable dental care was a motivating factor in the colleges decision to expand. Over the last five years, OU Dentistry has provided dental and emergency care to over 285,000 patients at the Oklahoma City location, with nearly one-quarter of them traveling from the northeastern part of the state, officials said. The college also serves many indigent patients, many of whom live in northeastern counties and do not have access to dental care. The new Tulsa clinic is I think one of the best things to happen for Tulsa in years because theres such a need, said Dr. Sharon Wann, who as an assistant group practice director oversees students at the clinic. A lot of the people from eastern Oklahoma who used to travel to Oklahoma City are now being transferred here. Weve even had patients from Arkansas coming over. For more information, call 918-619-4000 or go online to dentistry.ouhsc.edu/patients. BANGKOK (AP) Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who last month fled anti-government protests in his country, arrived in Thailand on Thursday night on a flight from Singapore, where he had been staying since mid-July. Thai television stations showed Rajapaksa and a woman believed to be his wife outside the VIP hall at Bangkoks Don Mueang airport being led to a limousine, which then drove off to an undisclosed destination. Officials in Thailand on Wednesday said they had been asked by the Sri Lankan government to allow him entry, and that he would be permitted to stay temporarily. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he was aware of Rajapaksas intended visit and that it was allowed for humanitarian reasons because the former president was seeking asylum in a third country. He did not elaborate but said Rajapaksa would not engage in political activity while in Thailand. Rajapaksa has made no public comments about his travel plans. After fleeing Sri Lanka last month, he first went to neighboring Maldives in a Sri Lankan military plane and then to Singapore, where his visa expired Thursday. He submitted his resignation only after he left Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans have staged massive street protests for months demanding democratic reforms and solutions to the countrys economic collapse. Protesters who had occupied official offices and residences in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, blame mismanagement and corruption by the Rajapaksa family for the economic crisis that has led to serious shortages of essentials such as medicines, food and fuel. The island nation is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout program. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said Wednesday that Rajapaksa's "stay is temporary in nature with the aim of onward travel. No political asylum has been sought. He said that because the former president held a diplomatic passport, he would be allowed to stay for 90 days without a visa. In addition to being criticized for mismanaging his country's economy, Rajapaksa has been accused by human rights groups of involvement with war crimes when he was defense secretary during Sri Lanka's civil war, which ended in 2009. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has touted the states record savings accounts that reached $2.8 billion with promises of tax cuts. Thats a poor way to spend that money considering the dire needs in many public services. Stitt made savings a priority, a forward-thinking goal for lean times. However, that savings has been at the expense of some critical state needs. Between 2002 and 2020, Oklahoma experienced nine revenue failures, mandating automatic cuts to agencies. Some of those affected services have never been fully restored. To build up the savings, the Legislature left $382 million on the table from the last fiscal year and didnt spend $964 million available this year. Those remain in the general fund. Weve argued more of that funding ought to have gone to public programs. The states Constitutional Reserve Fund, called the rainy day fund, has more than $1 billion, and the revenue stabilization fund has $171 million. The economy has been good in Oklahoma with oil prices reaching high levels and federal pandemic and stimulus money filling financial gaps. That wont last. Tax cuts in Oklahoma are easy to make with a simple majority legislative vote. To raise taxes, thats a nearly impossible task with a requirement of supermajority approval. Once a tax cut is made, it never returns. That ties the hands of future lawmakers who will face economic downturns. Its not fair to the agencies still struggling from more than a decade of cuts. Education took the biggest hit. The state has never fared well funding its public schools, so the budget failures put it on a course to the crisis being faced today. With schools set to open in the next two weeks, hundreds of job postings are listed in districts across the state. Oklahoma ranks 46th in per-pupil expenditure and last in the region, according go the National Center for Education Statistics. To bring that to a regional average of surrounding seven states, it would take about $920 million. If thats too high, how about the $161 million that 22 senators were willing to give to private schools through a voucher bill that failed. Public schools got about $17 million largely line-itemed to special projects. Higher education was cut by 35.3% between between 2008 and 2019. That led to tuition raises of about 32%. Funding boosts could lead to more affordability for students. An obvious bill to pay is for State Questions 780 and 781, passed by Oklahoma voters in 2016. It mandated savings made in prison population reductions go to county government for mental health programs. Not a penny has been sent to counties, a violation of the law. As of November, the state owed $500 million to the counties. Oklahomans still struggle getting appointments for drivers licenses and have frustrations with unemployment benefits. State parks need updates, and prisons need more guards who deserve better pay. Tax cuts sound great, particularly during election years. In practice, they never make significant differences to personal households and do significant harm to public services. Oklahomans would be better served investing in our public programs. If there is a lesson to be learned from last months actions by the State Board of Education, its that enforcement of House Bill 1775 is about as subjective and arbitrary as any law on the books. In July, the board voted 4-2 to accredit Tulsa Public Schools with a warning over an alleged violation of HB 1775. Mustang Public Schools received the same treatment after that district self-reported a violation of the 2021 law. In casting her vote on TPS, board member Estela Hernandez said she had hoped for a harsher judgment but went along with accreditation with a warning one step above accreditation with probation to send a message that violating HB 1775 would not be tolerated. Well, message received: Even the thinnest of cases can have real consequences for schools. Putting aside feelings about TPS, this action and this process is troubling. It started when a Memorial High School teacher alleged that a 2021 training session unfairly depicted whites in a way that would cause shame for actions in the past. The state Department of Education said the materials used didnt violate the law. But the agencys general counsel, Brad Clark, claimed that audio from that session indicated a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of HB 1775. Board members were not shown evidence when they voted, which is concerning. Tulsa World reporter Lenzy Krehbiel-Burtons review of the audio revealed that a speaker read from the training materials verbatim. If the written materials didnt violate the law, its impossible to see how an exact recitation of those materials did. State board members acted anyway, despite not having reviewed any evidence. The board vote appears to be a preordained outcome to make an example of a school district targeted by state elected officials in an election year fraught with culture war battles having little to do with improving public schools. The majority of State Board of Education members showed that they will use the slightest hint of an allegation to punish school districts. Its a warning to get in line with their feelings when it comes to matters on race and its role in history. The consequences of this are extensive. HB 1775 is broadly and vaguely written, meaning enforcement is largely subjective. More significantly, this puts a chilling effect on teachers, who may ignore subjects on American race relations out of fear. This harms education quality, keeping students from information needed to be competitive in todays world. Educators cannot teach American history without broaching the subject of race. Whats more, teachers need to understand the differing backgrounds of their students before stepping into the classroom. It helps them be better at their jobs. We encourage the State Board of Education to revisit this issue in light of actual evidence. Also, lawmakers must take a hard look at HB 1775 and either repeal it or fix it. The consequences cannot be ignored. FBI agents in this week's search of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Florida home removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the Justice Department said on Friday, while also disclosing it had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations. The bombshell disclosures were made in a search warrant approved by a U.S. magistrate judge and accompanying documents released four days after agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach. The Espionage Act, one of three laws cited in the warrant application, dates to 1917 and makes it a crime to release information that could harm national security. Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records were "all declassified" and placed in "secure storage." "They didn't need to 'seize' anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago," the Republican businessman-turned-politician said. Former U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, U.S., August 6, 2022. Photo: Reuters The search was carried out as part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed documents when he left office in January 2021 after losing the presidential election two months earlier to Democrat Joe Biden. Although the FBI on Monday carted away material labeled as classified, the three laws cited as the basis for the warrant make it a crime to mishandle government records, regardless of whether they are classified. As such, Trump's claims that he declassified the documents would have no bearing on the potential legal violations at issue. FBI agents took more than 30 items including more than 20 boxes, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trump's ally and longtime adviser Roger Stone, a list of items removed showed. Also included in the list was information about the "President of France." An officer from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) stands guard inside Trump Tower, after former U.S. President Donald Trump said that FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., August 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters The warrant showed that FBI agents were asked to search a room called "the 45 Office" - Trump was the 45th U.S. president - as well as all other rooms and structures or buildings on the estate used by Trump or his staff where boxes or documents could be stored. The Justice Department said in the warrant application approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart that it had probable cause to believe violations of the Espionage Act had occurred at Trump's home. That law was initially enacted to combat spying. Prosecutions under it were relatively uncommon until the Justice Department ramped up its use under both Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama to go after leakers of national security information, including leaks to the news media. The law's section cited as the basis for the warrant prohibits unauthorized possession of national defense information. It did not spell out the details about why investigators have reason to believe such a violation occurred. An itemized receipt for and list of property seized in the execution of a search warrant by the FBI at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate shows items reading 'Info re: President of France' and 'Various Classified/TS/SCI documents' after being released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 12, 2022. Photo: Reuters The Justice Department has used the Espionage Act in high-profile cases in recent years including former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, former military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The application also cited probable cause of possible violations of two other statutes that make it illegal to conceal or destroy official U.S. documents. Levels of classification There are three primary levels of classification for sensitive government materials: Top secret, secret and confidential. "Top secret" is the highest level, reserved for the most closely held U.S. national security information. Such documents usually are kept in special government facilities because disclosure could gravely damage national security. An itemized receipt and list of property seized in the execution of a search warrant by the FBI at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen after being released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 12, 2022. U.S. District Court/Handout via Reuters FBI agents on Monday collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, it was disclosed on Friday. Agents were revealed to have collected a set of documents labeled "classified/TS/SCI documents," a reference to top secret and sensitive compartmented material. Trump has not been charged with any wrongdoing. It remained unclear whether any charges would be brought. An escalation Monday's search marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations he is facing from his time in office and in private business, including a separate one by the Justice Department into a failed bid by Trump's allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election by submitting phony slates of electors. Trump on Wednesday declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general in a civil investigation into his family's business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced that the department asked Reinhart to unseal the warrant. This followed Trump's claim that the search was political retribution and a suggestion by him, without evidence, that the FBI may have planted evidence against him. Legal experts said Trump's claim that he had declassified the materials would not be a useful defense should he ever face charges. "The statute does not even strictly require even that the information be classified so long as it is relating to the national defense," Northwestern University law professor Heidi Kitrosser said, referring to the Espionage Act. The first page of a search warrant approved by a U.S. District Court magistrate judge allowing the FBI to search former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is seen after being released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 12, 2022. U.S. District Court/Handout via Reuters The investigation into Trump's removal of records started this year after the National Archives and Records Administration, an agency charged with safeguarding presidential records that belong to the public, made a referral to the Justice Department. Republican House of Representatives Intelligence Committee members on Friday called on Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray to release the affidavit underpinning the warrant, saying the public needs to know. "Because many other options were available to them, we're very concerned of the method that was used in raiding Mar-a-Lago," Representative Michael Turner, the committee's top Republican, told reporters. If the affidavit remains sealed, "it will still leave many unanswered questions," Turner added. The Justice Department's request to unseal the warrant did not include a request to unseal the accompanying affidavit, nor has Trump's legal team publicly made such a motion. Since Monday's search, the department has faced fierce criticism and online threats, which Garland have condemned. Trump supporters and some Republicans in Washington have accused Democrats of weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to target him even as he mulls another run for the presidency in 2024. The two-way trade between Vietnam and South Korea may amount to US$100 billion this year, instead of 2023 as previously targeted, said South Korean Consul General in Vietnams Da Nang City Ahn Min Sik. The South Korean diplomat released his ambitious expectation after reviewing the bilateral trade result of $45 billion in the first half of this year at a seminar held in the central metropolis on Friday. The event, themed The history of exchanges between and future prospects of the Vietnam - South Korea relationship, was part of the celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Despite the heavy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, both countries gained a two-way trade value of $80.6 billion in 2021, much higher than the $500 million recorded 30 years ago, Consul General Ahn said. Considering the ongoing trade growth trend, as shown in the first six months of this year, the bilateral turnover may reach $100 billion in 2022, instead of next year as earlier expected, Ahn said. The diplomat also revealed that the two countries people-to-people exchanges have expanded to five million people, including nearly 60,000 Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families. At the event, Vietnamese and South Korean scholars suggested the two nations deepen the bilateral relationship, through expanding cooperation in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics, culture, science and technology, education and tourism, and people exchanges. Since the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 1992, the two countries have twice upgraded their relations to comprehensive cooperative partnership in the 21st century and then to the strategic cooperation partnership in 2001 and 2009, respectively. The relationship between the two countries is about to be further elevated to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, so the two countries need to draw up a plan for the next 30 years of the bilateral ties, the consul general said. South Korea is now an important leading partner of Vietnam in most fields, while the Southeast Asian nation, a fast-growing and dynamic economy with an important role in the ASEAN and East Asia, is also a key partner of South Korea in its New Southern Policy, according to the Da Nang Portal. Geographical, historical and cultural similarities between Vietnam and South Korea have helped the two nations get close to each other and promote a great development of their cooperation and friendship relations, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Lan, from the Academy of Politics Region 3, commented. Over the past 30 years, the fruitful relationship between the two countries has been influenced by a series of factors, both objective and subjective, both historical and contemporary, including the changes of the world situation from 1991 up to now, the reform efforts by South Korea, Vietnams doi moi (renovation) policy, the external relation policies of both sides and the needs for mutual cooperation, Dr. Lan elaborated. In addition to its embassy in Hanoi and a consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City, South Korea launched another consulate general in Da Nang on November 6, 2020. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnam and the U.S. have agreed to continue their cooperation in energy security, the U.S. Department of State said in a press release on Thursday. Delegations from Vietnam and the U.S. met in Washington, D.C. for the fourth annual U.S.-Vietnam Energy Security Dialogue on July 26-28. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An and the State Departments Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) Senior Bureau Official Harry Kamian led the delegations. The delegations discussed key areas for continued bilateral clean energy cooperation such as power market development, energy conservation and efficiency, transmission, power storage, and the steps necessary for an energy transition that will achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Vietnam and the U.S. discussed the future of advanced clean energy technologies such as offshore wind, nuclear, hydrogen, electric vehicles, and battery energy storage, as well as Vietnams consideration of the role of liquefied natural gas. The delegations welcomed the participation of private sector representatives from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. ENRs Power Sector Program highlighted ongoing technical and regulatory engagements in support of the Japan-U.S.-Mekong Power Partnership. In addition, ENR invited Vietnam to two power market and renewable energy study tours in the U.S.. The tours will take place later this year and will be led by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and U.S. Energy Association, with the participation of other partners. Representatives from Dominion Energy shared valuable insight with the delegations regarding the companys experience in U.S. offshore wind development. ENR also highlighted AES Corporations intent to pursue offshore wind development in Vietnam, another reflection of the growing commercial ties between the U.S. and Vietnam in the clean energy sector. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announced a grant awarded to the National Power Transmission Corporation of Vietnam (NPT) for technical assistance to advance the deployment of smart grid technologies in Vietnam. NPT selected Connecticut-based Actionable Strategies LLC to provide the assistance. On July 26, Deputy Minister An also chaired a roundtable on sustainable energy development organized by the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Forced labor is a chronic disease in U.S. 11:29, August 13, 2022 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily The U.S. has concocted the biggest lies of the century such as the so-called genocide and forced labor in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and has enacted and implemented the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, all in an attempt to smear and contain China. The falsehoods about Xinjiang created by the U.S. have aroused strong indignation among the Chinese people and drawn widespread criticism from members of the international community who uphold justice. China recently released a report titled The United States Practice of Forced Labor at Home and Abroad: Truth and Facts to clarify facts, debunk lies and reveal the horrible track record of forced labor in the U.S. and the countrys hypocrisy and double standards on human rights. The U.S. is in no position to call itself a human rights judge, and it has no right to point fingers at other countries. The allegation of force labor in Xinjiang is purely out of thin air. Forced labor was an original sin of the U.S. It was not democracy or human rights, but cruel slavery that helped the U.S. complete the primitive accumulation of capital. For a country with a history of only 246 years, slavery had been legal in the U.S. for almost one-third of its history. Data shows that the value of labor extracted from black slaves by U.S. slave owners is as high as $14 trillion at current prices. Sven Beckert, a historian from Harvard University, said that the U.S. and the West prospered through slavery, not democracy. The U.S. nominally abolished slavery, but it didnt put an end to forced labor. From the floating hells, which transported poor Chinese peasants to the U.S. in the 1860s, to todays sweatshops, private prisons, and farms that employ children to do farm work, forced labor has existed in various forms in the U.S. and still persists till this day. Hundreds of thousands of people are living under modern slavery in the U.S., which indicates that forced labor has become a chronic disease of the country. Facing this severe problem, the U.S. politicians, who talked a lot about human rights, chose to turn a blind eye and adopt an indifferent attitude, not to mention taking actions to solve the issue. For a long time, the U.S. has proclaimed itself as a beacon of human rights. However, the so-called beacon of human rights does not shine a light on its dark history. To date, the U.S. has yet to ratify many international labor rights protection conventions, including even the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Private prisons in the U.S. have been turned into concentration camps of slavery, and the U.S. has formed a sprawling prison-industrial complex, legalizing forced labor among prisoners. There remain about 500,000 child farm workers who are engaged in high-intensity farm work in the U.S. They are subject to violence, sexual assault, intimidation, debt bondage, work-related injuries and infectious diseases. Slavery is a problem the public thinks we solved long ago, but, in fact, its alive and well, said Laurel Fletcher, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The widespread negative impact of forced labor in the U.S. has caused serious transnational human trafficking and human rights violations in other countries. According to the statistics, up to 100,000 people are trafficked to the U.S. annually and fall victim to forced labor. Some U.S. companies have long practiced forced labor abroad. In 2019, the Washington Post disclosed that a number of U.S. chocolate giants had been using raw cocoa harvested by child workers in West Africa. Each of the child cocoa workers earned less than $1 a day. The international community has long been seriously concerned about forced labor in the U.S. However, the U.S. government turned a blind eye to this and treated the human rights of child workers with indifference. The U.S., while ignoring its own horrible track record of forced labor, fabricated lies about forced labor in Chinas Xinjiang, and then pushed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and created rumors of forced decoupling, forced unemployment, and forced poverty. Fabricating a lie and then using it as an excuse to pressure other countries is a trick Washington has always played in handling international affairs. Facts have proved that the U.S. is not concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang, but aims to exclude China from the industrial and supply chains, undermine Chinas development and disrupt international economic and trade order, and serve the U.S. strategy of containing China. The people of the world will make the right judgment and justice will not be absent. The U.S., while ignoring its own serious problem of forced labor, made up lies to contain and pressure other countries. Its hypocrisy and sinister intentions will be seen through by more and more countries and people. The U.S. will eventually pay a price for its wrongdoing. (Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.) (Web editor: Peng Yukai, Bianji) A car crashed into a petrol station in Dong Da District, Hanoi on Friday night, injuring at least eight people waiting to fill up their tanks. The incident happened at around 10:15 pm at the station on Lang Street. The car, numbered 30H-758XX, hit the pump hard enough to cause it to tilt, but thankfully no damage involving fuel was caused. A car crashed into a gas station on Lang Street in Dong Da District, Hanoi, August 12, 2022. Photo: Ha Quan / Tuoi Tre At least eight people were injured, including two employees of the station. The police have identified the car driver as 35-year-old Ngo Cong Han, hailing from northern Bac Ninh Province and residing in Hanoi's Thanh Oai District. This supplied photo shows Ngo Cong Han, who crashed his car into a gas station on Lang Street in Dong Da District, Hanoi, August 12, 2022. Han told officers that he consumed some beer and was driving home right before the incident. A measurement result showed Hans breath alcohol concentration was 0.9mg per liter, well above Vietnams 0.0mg limit, at the time of the incident. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Functional forces reported minor property damage after a fire hit a building in downtown Ho Chi Minh City at midnight on Friday. The blaze began on the top floor of the four-story Seaprodex building, which is home to several restaurants and coffee shops, on Dong Khoi Street in District 1 at around 0:00 on Saturday and quickly spread. The restaurants and coffee shops were closed by the time the fire broke out. The Seaprodex building is on fire in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, August 13, 2022. Photo: Thanh Nghia / Tuoi Tre Many explosions were heard from the inferno, according to witnesses. Firefighters put out the blaze in just a couple of minutes later. No casualties were reported but numerous tables and chairs were destroyed. Fire trucks are pictured at the scene of a fire in the Seaprodex building in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, August 13, 2022. Photo: Thanh Nghia / Tuoi Tre Fire trucks are pictured at the scene of a fire in the Seaprodex building in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, August 13, 2022. Photo: Thanh Nghia / Tuoi Tre Fire trucks are pictured at the scene of a fire in the Seaprodex building in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, August 13, 2022. Photo: Thanh Nghia / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Until recently internet rumours attached to Neighbours actor Geoff Paine were quite ridiculous. Wikipedia entries had suggested his Neighbours character Clive Gibbons had its derivation from British comedian, Bill Oddie of The Goodies. According to the entry, Paine had supposedly insisted on the characters surname being Gibbons, after seeing British comedy trio The Goodies, performing their single The Funky Gibbon in 1976. Paine supposedly even remained a good friend of Oddies, meet twice a year to discuss Gibbon related matters. Its hilarious. I was 21 when I started, Neighbours, I was just another actor auditioning for it, Paine recently told TV Tonight. The idea that I had any sway over the character or any of that sort of stuff is absolutely nuts. I had never left Australia, until I was well into my 20s. So the idea that I had travelled to the UK to meet Bill Oddie is just hilarious beyond belief. I dont know how Wikipedia works. Can Geoff Paine go into his own Wikipedia entry and edit it? Can I just have an asterisk saying *This is really funny and completely made up? The entry has since been deleted. Yoram Hirshfeld radiated so much kindness, according to former student Amnon Eden, whose son Saul is pictured here with Mr Hirshfield in 2007 (Amnon Eden/PA) A former student of an Israeli man who died in a car crash in Ramsgate has described him as being special and someone who radiated so much kindness. Yoram Hirshfeld, 78, and his daughter Noga Hirshfeld, 40, a Cambridge physicist were killed after a black Alfa Romeo collided with five pedestrians outside a multi-storey car park in Ramsgate, Kent, on Wednesday night. Amnon Eden, 54, who lives in Essex, reflected fondly on the first time he met Mr Hirshfeld around 25 years ago, when the latter, who was a mathematics professor, stood in as a substitute for his first year algebra lecturer at Tel Aviv University in Israel. For the first time ever the lecture immediately made sense. Perhaps the best example ever for the difference that a great teacher can make Amnon Eden For the first time ever the lecture immediately made sense. Perhaps the best example ever for the difference that a great teacher can make, the principal scientist at think tank sapience.org told the PA news agency. His teaching was legendary. He knew how to explain complex math at the highest order in a way that even I, not a mathematician, and dyslexic to boot, could understand. Mr Hirshfeld became Mr Edens masters and PhD co-supervisor when he studied computer science and he said that when he needed help with mathematical logic, he was there to guide me. Saul who was one at the time with Yoram Hirshfeld in 2007 (Amnon Eden/PA) He said he was sorry that his former professor died in such a tragic and unnecessary manner. Despite moving to Essex in 2002 to take up a post as a lecturer at the University of Essex, the scientist spent many holidays with Mr Hirshfeld at his home in Rosh Pina, in upper Galilee, and also saw him and his family at their home frequently as a student. Mr Edens son Saul, then just a few years old, also took a particular liking to the academic. He radiated so much kindness, the first time my son Saul met him he jumped to his arms and hugged him, he said. Yoram deserves an obituary of sorts for being the greatest teacher and a brilliant mathematician... Yoram was special. Story continues Amnon Eden He added: Yoram deserves an obituary for being the greatest teacher and a brilliant mathematician. Ive lived in five countries (Israel, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, and the UK) and worked with thousands of people (but) Yoram was special. Tributes have also been paid to Ms Hirshfeld, also known as Noga Sella, who was a girl guides leader with 2nd Milton Guides and Milton Rangers in Cambridgeshire. On Facebook, Girlguiding Cambridgeshire East said: It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Noga Sella, Leader with 2nd Milton Guides & Milton Rangers. Noga passed away on Wednesday evening, as a result of a tragic accident whilst on holiday in Ramsgate. Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers at this time. Oded Sharon, a friend who met Ms Hirshfeld when they studied together at university, said: We went to university together 20 years ago and became close friends back then. We shared a sense of humour and bonded over geeky things like Star Trek. Noga was one of the kindest, smartest, rare kind of good people I knew. There were further fatalities as a result of the crash, with a girl of primary school age being taken to a London hospital for treatment for serious injuries, Kent Police said, adding that all the pedestrians were members of the same family. A vigil was held on Thursday evening on Leopold Street, Ramsgate, to pay tribute to the family. US natural gas exports to Europe have surged. LOIC VENANCE/Getty Images Energy companies and traders are raking in huge profits selling US natural gas to Europe as prices there skyrocket. The US is now sending 60% of its liquefied natural gas exports to Europe, up from less than 20% this time a year ago. "You're not talking about a margin. You're talking about a multiplier," one expert said. "All in all, it's insane." Energy companies and traders are raking in huge profits selling US natural gas to Europe as prices on the continent skyrocket, with a single shipment netting around $200 million of profit, according to industry experts. US exports of natural gas across the Atlantic have surged in 2022, as companies pounce on the huge earnings on offer while European governments facing a Russian supply squeeze desperately try to fill their storage tanks before winter. "You're not talking about a margin. You're talking about a multiplier," Laurent Segalen, an energy investment banker who hosts the Redefining Energy podcast, said about the so-called arbitrage trade. "All in all, it's insane," he told Insider. Segalen said companies with gas to sell in the US can fill a large ship and send it across the Atlantic for around $60 million, with the cargo then fetching around $275 million in Europe. Buyers who locked in deals to purchase US natural gas before the latest surge in European prices would also be making huge profits, according to Segalen. Felix Booth, head of liquefied natural gas analysis at Vortexa, said he thought companies could be making around $150 million on each shipment. "It's an incredible arbitrage that's open at the moment," he said. Booth said anyone holding natural gas in the hope that its price would rise has experienced "incredible" profits. Large energy companies such as France's TotalEnergies as well as major trading houses such as Trafigura and Gunvor are some of the key players buying and selling US natural gas. Booth said the companies are delivering what the continent needs as supplies run low. "It's not purely profiteering," he said. "There's a reason why the prices are so high." Story continues Natural gas prices in Europe have spiraled upwards in 2022 as Russia has slashed exports of the fossil fuel to the continent. Last month Russia's Gazprom cut flows through the crucial Nord Stream 1 pipeline into Germany to just 20% of capacity. European gas prices have risen around 200% in local currency terms over the last year. When converted into dollars, benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas futures prices stood at around $62 per metric million British thermal units (mmbtu) on Friday. By contrast, US natural gas is far cheaper, given the country's plentiful supplies and its lower capacity for exports. US Henry Hub natural gas futures traded at around $8.70 per mmbtu Friday, even after rising sharply in recent months. The gaping price difference has pushed major companies to ramp up exports from the US to Europe. Just shy of 60% of US liquefied natural gas exports or 115 kilotons per day went to Europe in August, according to commodities data company Vortexa. That's up from just 19% or 35 kilotons a day in the same month in 2021. In June, US shipments supplied more gas to Europe than Russian pipeline flows, according to the International Energy Agency. The surge in global energy prices has been extremely lucrative for the big energy firms. Gunvor, a major trading company headquartered in Switzerland, posted record profits in the first half of the year. Total's profit also hit a record, with the company's trading arm performing strongly. Segalen and Booth both said they expect US natural gas exports to Europe to continue at similar levels as governments such as Germany scramble to secure supplies of the fossil fuel, which is vital for heating and industry. Read the original article on Business Insider The danger of polio is present in New York today. The statement seems ripped from the headlines during the 1916 New York polio epidemic, which killed 6,000mostly childrenand paralyzed 27,000 in just four months. But it was made just last week, by New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett, after the identification of poliovirus in both Rockland and Orange counties in June and July. New York City health officials on Friday announced the presence of the virus in wastewater there as well. Health officials were recently notified of an unvaccinated Rockland County resident diagnosed in July with the potentially disabling and even deadly virus, which famously paralyzed President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the waist down. Most people with the virus dont display symptoms. A handful present with flu-like complaints, but only one in roughly 100 develops serious side effects like paralysis. Public health officials likely wouldnt be aware of wider spread so soon if it werent for wastewater surveillance, which some say is a bit of a crystal ball when it comes to identifying epidemics and pandemics to come. The technology rose to prominence during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and public health officials are now turning to it to try to gauge the true spread of monkeypox, with its sometimes atypical symptoms and spread. We wouldnt know polio was spreading if not for it, either. In some regards, wastewater is a public health dream scenario, Dr. Mark Siedner, an infectious disease doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, told Fortune. Everyone poops, and most people poop every day. It provides real-time data on infection rates. In that regard, its an extremely powerful tool, particularly good at detecting early warning signs. Before people get sick, we might get a signal. When toilets are telltale Consider wastewater: a repelling reality of human existence with the blessed potential to warn public health officials of unexpected pathogens in the communityperhaps before cases present in doctors offices and emergency rooms. Story continues Global health emergencies like COVID-19 and monkeypox may seem like a new phenomenon, but theyre not. Such scourges typically occur at least once every quarter or half centuryand theyre bound to become more frequent as climate change forces animals and humans into more frequent contact, experts say. And wastewater pathogen surveillance has a long history, too, dating back nearly 100 years. It was used to monitor for polio in the 1940s and hepatitis A in the 1980s, but in limited circumstances and capacity. It began to gain traction after the turn of the century, when it was used to monitor prescription and illicit drug levels, track the flu, and again, in efforts to detect and contain silent polio outbreaks. But COVID-19 was its moment to shine. Early in the pandemic, scientists discovered that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is shed in fecal matter. Scientists increasingly began to rely on it as testing failed to meet demand. Soon it was picked up by colleges, in an attempt to rein in large outbreaks, then cities and states. Less than a year into the pandemic, it had gained enough recognition that the U.S. launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System, which works with local health departments to track COVID levels throughout the nation. Nearly three years into the pandemic, rates of traditional PCR and antigen COVID testing are abysmally low, and at-home test results are rarely reported to public health departments. This has put the U.S. and other countries with similar testing trends in a situation many experts have equated to flying blindat a time, no less, when the most transmissible, immune-evasive COVID variant yet, BA.5, is sweeping the world. Wastewater has become scientists eyes. Thanks to it, we know that COVID was recently at or near record highs in many locations in the U.S., including Californias Bay Area and Coeur dAlene, Idaho. The levels were seeing in wastewater at a number of plants we monitorand other plants around the country we dontare just as high or almost as high as they were during the first surge in January, Alexandria Boehm, professor of environmental and civil engineering at Stanford University, told Fortune in July. Stanford and Emory University have partnered with Alphabet-owned Verily, a precision health company formerly known as Google Life Sciences, to offer wastewater reporting of pathogens like COVID-19 for free to interested sewage treatment plants in the U.S. The partnership started with reporting levels of COVID-19, flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and human metapneumovirus, another upper respiratory virus, in participating communities, which now number around 40. It just recently added the ability to screen for monkeypox, given the global outbreak, and will soon have the ability to report which of two widely circulating monkeypox variants are more prevalent in a community, just as it reports on COVID-19 subvariants. As a scientist, Im trained to be skeptical and test the null hypothesis that things dont workand wastewater again and again is proving to be a really amazing resource for probing infectious disease in the community, noted Boehm. Boehm said shes amazed at how well levels of infectious diseases in wastewater correlate with those traditionally diagnosed in communitieseven respiratory illnesses like flu and RSV, which one might not expect to find traces of in wastewater. Shes hoping that levels of monkeypox in wastewater prove just as usefulbut the jury is still out, as scientists cant be sure if wastewater levels are predictive until they have a good handle on the presence of the disease in a community from traditional testing. What we can say is we know if we get a positive [in a community], at least one person is infected and excreting, she said, adding that those with monkeypox shed virus via respiratory secretions, urine, feces, and open sores. We can also look at trends and see if concentration is going up or coming down. Great for broad brushstrokes The handy thing about wastewater is that its nearly impervious to changes in human behavior, or hurdles to obtaining health care. Regardless of whether someone knows they need to be tested for a diseasewhether or not they want to get tested, are able to obtain a test, or report the results of an at-home testtheir infection will be recorded, because, as people do, theyll bathe, shower, brush their teeth, and use the restroom. Humans dont have to opt in to their excretion going into the wastewater the way theyd have to when they go get a PCR test, Boehm said. They dont have to make an appointment, drive there, wait in line, get that thing stuck up their nose. If youre hooked up to the system, your information is getting recorded in wastewater. Its not perfect, however. Some pathogens, like group A Streptococcus, which causes strep throatcant be tracked in wastewater, Siedner said. In fact, many bacteria cannot be. And while a positive result from wastewater alerts public health authorities to the presence of disease, it doesnt alert them as to who is sick, and where, so they can intervene. Its great for broad brushstrokes and early warning signs, but its not great if more detailed data is needed, he said. A lack of consistency in testing nationwide also hampers the potential utility of wastewater. Some areas dont test, and not all areas that do test for the same pathogens, experts say. Further, you have to know what youre testing for in wastewater in order to find it, meaning its not a tool that can be used to detect new pathogens with pandemic potential, said Dr. Howard Forman, a professor of radiology, biomedical imaging, and public health, at Yale School of Medicine. In hospitals patients are only checked for whatever their symptoms are. Wastewater, I still think it really varies by location what people are testing for. I do think it would be great to have broader screening. It would be great if we had the type of analytics that would allow us to screen for every possible virus. Divining sewage The knowledge afforded by wastewater does, however, allow public health workers to move in rapidly and promote prevention. People tend to be more receptive to immunizations when they see the threat, versus when they think its for some public health purpose. Dr. Morgan Katz, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told Fortune that wastewater alone is insufficient for community disease surveillance because it doesnt provide the exact number and location of those with the disease. But it augments traditional methods like PCR and antigen testing, she said. It is a complement to our existing surveillance systems and a great way for us to get a marker of a brewing outbreak before we start seeing a lot of people with symptoms, she said. It can be particularly helpful in college dorms, nursing homes, or other congregate living facilities where it is particularly important to identify a developing outbreak early. While wastewater offers an incomplete view of community disease spread, it does offer invaluable insights. One recent takeaway: Monkeypox could easily end up in pretty much every major metro in the U.S., Bradley White, a senior scientist at Verily, recently told Fortune. A look at the partnerships monkeypox heat map, which displays data for its nearly 40 U.S. testing sites so far, shows levels spiking in Californias Bay Area, as well as monkeypox presence in Parker, Colo.; Roswell and College Park, Ga.; Coeur dAlene, Idaho; Ann Arbor; and Garland and Sunnyvale, Texas. Theres clearly some spread going on across the entirety of the U.S., White said. It seems like eventually this will probably get everywheresomething we had hoped stays isolated doesnt seem like it will. One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic has been that its highlighted the utility of wastewater surveillance, and the ability to spot and potentially stop breeding outbreaks early on. Using the same setup and even samples it was using to test for COVID-19 and subvariants, RSV, and flu, Verily was able to quickly pivot and add testing for monkeypox. It will soon add a test that determines which variants of monkeypox are appearing in local sewer systems and may add an assay for polio, if staff at local public health agencies ask for it, Boehm said. Its the future, and a resource we havent yet taken full advantage of. The pandemic certainly did its part to make wastewater testing vogue, Siedner said. It wasnt something routinely done before. Its a very creative tool. Hopefully, as we think about the lessons weve learned from COVID-19 and how to strengthen our public health systems, one thing that will be elevated will be wastewater detection. It may be the way of the future. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com 1. First wheat export under UN deal as two more ships leave Ukraine Two more ships left Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Friday, including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a UN-brokered deal, Turkey's defence ministry said. A total 14 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war. The Belize-flagged Sormovsky left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Friday, the Turkish ministry said, carrying 3,050 tonnes of wheat to Turkey's northwestern Tekirdag province. It was the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports before February 24, when Moscow launched its full invasion of its neighbour. Ukraine has some 20 million tonnes of grain left over from last year's crop, while this year's wheat harvest is also estimated at 20 million tonnes. The Marshall Island-flagged Star Laura also departed from the port of Pivdennyi, bound for Iran with 60,000 tonnes of corn aboard, the ministry said. Meanwhile, another ship docked in a Ukrainian Black Sea port on Friday to begin loading up with wheat for hungry people in Ethiopia, in the first food delivery to Africa under the UN-brokered plan. So far most of the cargoes under the deal have carried grain for animal feed or for fuel, heading to Turkey or Western Europe. The MV Brave Commander, which left Istanbul on Wednesday, arrived late on Friday in Yuzhne, east of Odesa on the Black Sea, to pick up the grain purchased by the World Food Programme (WFP). UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the ship named Brave Commander will carry its wheat to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where it will be unloaded and sent on to Ethiopia. "This is the first delivery of humanitarian food aid under the Black Sea Grain Initiative," WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri told a news briefing earlier in Geneva. The WFP hopes there will be regular humanitarian shipments thereafter. Story continues Announcing the shipment, European Council President Charles Michel said "cooperation of all involved actors is key to alleviating food shortages and hunger around the world. Ethiopia, along with neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, is facing the worst drought in four decades in the Horn of Africa. 2. Russian oil flows to Czech Republic 'to resume on Friday night' Russian oil flows to the Czech Republic will resume through the Druzhba pipeline after more than a week on Friday evening, Slovak pipeline operator Transpetrol said, as transit fee payments were unblocked. Supplies via the Druzhba pipeline had been suspended to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia since August 4, because Western sanctions prevented paying transit fees to Ukrainian transit company Ukrtransnafta, Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft said on Tuesday. A European bank has agreed to process the payment for the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine, removing the cause of the stoppage. "Tonight (Friday) at 2000 GMT (2200 CET), oil flow to the Czech Republic will be resumed," a spokesperson for Transpetrol said. Czech Industry Minister Jozef Sikela also said that the oil will start flowing again. The Czech Republic covers roughly half of its oil consumption from Russia. "We have found a way to unblock the transit fee payment for oil deliveries and its shipment through the Druzhba will resume soon," Sikela said on Twitter. "The disruption did not affect the functioning of Czech refineries or the fuel market," he added. Flows to Hungary and Slovakia were restarted on Wednesday after Hungary's refiner MOL and its Slovak unit Slovnaft found a workaround by paying the fee to Ukrtransnafta themselves. Central European countries are partially dependent on Russian oil and largely dependent on Russian gas, and have secured exemptions from the European Union's incoming ban on imports of Russian oil until they adjust their shipping routes and refineries so that they can take other oil. 3. Ukraine appeals to UN and Red Cross over POWs Ukraine's security agencies issued a joint statement on Friday calling for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send representatives to locations where Russia is holding Ukrainian prisoners-of-war (POWs). The request follows earlier allegations by Kyiv that Moscow's forces have tortured and executed prisoners, including by staging an explosion in a Ukrainian POW camp in Olenivka. Moscow claims Ukraine shelled the facility, killing over 50 POWs. Ukraine's General Staff on Friday reported widespread shelling and air attacks by Russian forces on scores of towns and military bases, especially in the east where Russia is trying to expand territory held on behalf of separatist proxies. Ukrainian authorities said eleven rockets hit the area around the town of Kramatorsk overnight Thursday into Friday, damaging buildings but causing no civilian casualties. The authorities also said Kurakhove, north of Donetsk, was also hit by rockets overnight. Two civilians were killed and a few residential houses damaged. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, said on Telegram seven civilians had been killed and 14 wounded in the past 24 hours. Three civilians, including a boy, were wounded in overnight shelling of Marhanets, a town opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said in the latest in a string of similar reports. 4. Russias Black Sea aviation fleet degraded by Crimea blasts, says UK Blasts this week at the Russian-operated Saky military airfield in western Crimea led to the loss of eight Russian combat jets, degrading its navy's Black Sea aviation fleet, Britain said on Friday. While the damaged jets are only a fraction of the overall aviation fleet, Britain said Black Sea capability would be affected, since Saky is used as a primary operational base. The base airfield probably remained operational, but its dispersal area had suffered serious damage, Britain's defence ministry added in a regular intelligence bulletin on Twitter. The explosions on Tuesday, which Russia has said killed one and injured five, will prompt its military to revise the threat perception in the region, the ministry added. Kyiv declined to say whether it had been behind the blasts. But the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers cited unidentified officials as saying Ukrainian forces were responsible. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told officials to stop talking to reporters about Kyiv's military tactics against Russia, saying such remarks were "frankly irresponsible". The fewer details you divulge about our defence plans, the better it will be for the implementation of those defence plans," Zelenskiy said in an evening address on Thursday. 5. EU 'to discuss visa ban for all Russians' A visa ban on all Russians to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine will be discussed by the European Union at the end of August, according to Czech diplomatic chief Jan Lipavsky, whose country holds the EU Council presidency. The measure, demanded by the Ukrainian authorities, divides the EU. The EU sanctions must be adopted unanimously by the 27 Member States. "A total ban on Russian visas by all EU member states could be another very effective sanction against Russia," Lipavsky argued. The minister will sound out his counterparts at an informal meeting in late August in Prague. "In this period of Russian aggression, which the Kremlin is stepping up, there can be no question of tourism as usual for Russian citizens," he argued. However, the Czech minister must convince the head of European diplomacy, Spain's Josep Borrell, who chairs the foreign and defence ministers' council. Sanctions proposals are one of his prerogatives. "We cannot currently ban entry to people with visas from another Schengen country. We are looking for options," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas recently stressed, supporting a general ban. Finland is also arguing for a European decision, as the country's legislation does not allow for a total visa ban based on nationality. As an important transit country for Russians, it wants to reduce tourist visas, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said in early August. But the Commission is not hiding its reservations about a measure that would penalise all Russian nationals and insists on the need to protect dissidents, journalists and families. "Member States have a wide margin for issuing short-stay visas and they examine applications on a case-by-case basis on their merits," said a spokeswoman. "Russians overwhelmingly support the war, cheer missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and murder of Ukrainians. Let Russian tourists enjoy Russia then," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a Twitter post. The Czech Republic stopped issuing visas to Russians on 25 February, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine. The EU has adopted six sets of sanctions against Moscow, including a halt to its coal and oil purchases. It has also put more than 1,000 Russians, including President Vladimir Putin and many oligarchs, on its blacklist of banned persons and restricted short-stay visas for officials linked to the regime since late February. HA NOI National Assembly Chairman Vuong inh Hue attended a conference that sought experts opinions on the draft Law on Medical Examination and Treatment (amended) in Ha Noi on Friday. The draft law was tabled for discussion at the third session of the legislature, and is expected to be approved in the next sitting, Hue said, stressing its significance to not only the medical sector but also socio-economic development. The top legislator noted contents that need to be adjusted in the document, regarding the granting of practice permits, medical checkups and treatment for foreigners, foreign medical experts, self-financing mechanism at medical facilities, resources for health care, and public-private partnership in this regard. Representatives from the Ministry of Health, universities and hospitals and experts raised their opinions on financing in public hospitals, medical costs and public-private cooperation in the sector, among others. They said the State budget should make the lion share in infrastructure investment at public medical facilities. Viet Nam counts 1,420 hospitals, of which 1,189 are public hospitals that have played a key role in providing medical services. VNS VIENTIANE Chief Justice of the Supreme Peoples Court of Viet Nam Nguyen Hoa Binh paid courtesy calls on General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith and President of the Lao National Assembly Xaysomphone Phomvihane in Vientiane Friday. Binh informed the Lao leaders about the results of the sixth court conference of Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian border provinces, saying that it afforded a chance for participating judges to share information and experience in dealing with cross-border civil cases. He added that cooperation among courts of the three countries have been stronger at both the central and local levels. According to the official, Vietnamese and Lao courts will continue working closely together in different areas in the future, mostly in the exchange of delegations and training for Lao judges and judicial officers in Viet Nam. General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith spoke highly of collaboration between the two countries courts at both the central and local levels. He also pledged to support their ties in the coming time. The Lao National Assembly Xaysomphone Phomvihane, for his part, suggested the two judicial sectors continue working closely together to promptly deal with arising negative issues, thus bringing practical benefits to people and winning public trust in the administrations, Parties, States and regimes. In the morning of the same day, Binh attended a ceremony marking the 40th founding anniversary of the Peoples Supreme Court of Laos. Speaking at the event, Lao Vice President Bounthong Chithmany highly valued the Lao court systems dedication to the cause of national construction and protection. He called special attention to tightening the Viet Nam Laos friendship, with ties between the two countries courts being an indispensable part. Earlier, on August 11, Binh held talks with his Lao counterpart Viengthong Siphandone to set out future cooperation orientations. On the occasion, the Vietnamese side presented several electronic equipment to the Peoples Supreme Court of Laos. VNS In a fast-changing and ever more digitalised world, the need for forward-thinking, innovative, and ethical finance and accounting professionals is more important than ever before. Sharing the mission to ensure the accounting profession continues to maintain its reputation and impact, ACCA and the UEH have signed a cooperation agreement to roll out nine modules from the ACCA Advanced Diploma in Accounting and Business into UEHs ACCA embedded accounting programme. This means that UEH students on the ACCA embedded accounting programme will have the opportunities to gain ACCA Advanced Diplomas in Accounting and Business, Oxford Brookes University Bachelor Degrees in Applied Accounting, and UEH Bachelor Degrees in Accounting. The students will only need to complete five more modules to acquire the ACCA qualification and become certified professional accountants within a significantly shortened period of time. ACCA also recognises the cooperation agreement as a meaningful way of connecting industry to the education sector with UEHs ACCA embedded accounting programme, students will be prepared for the working world and equipped with the relevant skills to help companies comply with both international and local practice standards while acquiring the knowledge and practical skills they need to perform. Renjith Varma, ACCA's regional director for mainland Southeast Asia ACCA's regional director for mainland Southeast Asia Renjith Varma said, With a network of over 1,000 offices and 7,000 partnering companies, ACCA knows what employers and the marketplace are looking for. Thus, besides building a body of knowledge for students, the ACCA-UEH programme will also give them the needed skills to deliver on the job across various sectors." This cooperation agreement is another milestone in bringing global learning quality, prestigious career development opportunities, and enhancing the employability of UEH students, he added. The initiative between ACCA and UEH also aims to contribute to building competitive, competent, efficient, and ethical finance and accounting graduates who will be the next generation of national finance and accounting professionals to develop the profession in Vietnam. Major boost for finance and accounting students During March and April, the Vietnam Association of Certified Public Accountants (VACPA) and a number of universities signed cooperation agreements to offer the International Financial Reporting Coordination Certificate (IFRS) course to students majoring in Finance and Accounting. ACCA Futurist 2022 offers golden opportunities for young talents ACCA Futurist 2022 offered 50 scholarships to support and encourage young Vietnamese to access international certificates on May 11. According to the Ministry of Finance, the disbursement of the state budget capital as of the end of July stood at nearly $8.1 billion, accounting for 34.47 per cent of the yearly plan and a slight on-year reduction. Of this, one centrally-run agency and 11 localities reported disbursement at more than 50 per cent, 17 ministries and agencies have reported less than 10 per cent, and the remaining met the national average. Some major infrastructure projects are delayed and costs are only going to go up in that case, Le Toan Specifically, in Ho Chi Minh City, the disbursement of public investment in the first seven months accounted for about 15 per cent of the total allocated capital or almost $1.4 billion. This figure includes $108 million from the central budget and $1.28 billion from local funds. Many important works in the city have yet to expense anything, including one project for green traffic development, a water improvement initiative in the Tau Hu-Ben Nghe-Doi-Te canal basin, compensation and resettlement support for metro line 2 (Ben Thanh-Tham Luong), and an environmental sanitation project. Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment Le Thi Huynh Mai said that the cause of the slow disbursement of public investment related to long delays with compensation for site clearance. In addition, the price of raw materials is rising along with the cost of labour, so contractors are pausing or reducing construction because they are concerned that the more they work, the more losses they incur, said Mai. The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), which was allocated about $174 million, showed one of the poorest performances by realising only 2 per cent in the first seven months of the year. Explaining the situation at last weeks governmental meeting between the prime minister and ministries, agencies, and localities, VAST president Chau Van Minh said, The amended Law on Construction and its requirements on fire prevention have caused some delays in the implementation of public investment. It takes time for several parts of projects to fall in line with the regulations. In terms of the public investment project to build the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu said that the delay was caused by the low capacity of the contractors and their inability to carry out the next phases of the project. Three more projects are also waiting for licenses there so they cannot spend any money. The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has pointed out over 20 obstacles in the implementation of state-funded projects in various sectors. These belong to three groups including those related to institutions and policies (in the fields of land, natural resources, the environment, state budget and public property, construction, bidding, and public investment), those related to implementation and organisation, and those caused by the specifics of the 2022 plan. On the other hand, numerous ministries, agencies, and localities are reporting very good performance. They said that the most important lesson is to focus public investment on a smaller number of projects instead of spending on too many at once. For example, the Ministry of Transport has approved 12 big projects for public investment, Thai Nguyen province has selected nine using the state budget and five using the local budget, and Cao Bang province has two important projects. Across the country, the government has cut about 5,000 projects compared to the previous term, with the figure now standing below 5,000. Chairman of Quang Ninh Peoples Committee Nguyen Tuong Van said, The number of projects this term is only about one-eighth of the 600 public investment projects of the province in the previous term, including nine new projects starting last year and about 12 projects this year. Quang Ninh province is focusing on 10 key projects that are driving forces for development with a total capital of about $1.74 billion. These include the Van Don-Mong Cai expressway ($304.3 million) and a new road along the river connecting the Halong-Haiphong expressway with Quang Yen town and Dong Trieu town ($391.3 million). Chairman of Thai Nguyen Peoples Committee Trinh Viet Hung said that the northern province is paying attention to major projects, such as the route connecting Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc, and Tuyen Quang with a total investment of about $174 million for phase 1 and $87 million for phase 2. Currently, Thai Nguyen has disbursed about 59 per cent of the total capital of more than $217.4 million. According to the MPI, for the direction of public investment disbursement in 2022, the government and prime minister have already issued nine resolutions (two of them specialising in public investment disbursement), three dispatches, and seven documents. An online conference with ministries, agencies, and localities has been organised and six task forces to overcome challenges and boost disbursement have been established. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested that the disbursement of public investment capital is considered a key task. If it is not completed in line with the annual plan, the head must take responsibility and the capital should be moved to other projects or investors. The prime minister hopes that in the next months meetings related to the disbursement of public investment, many successes are reported to provide a positive outlook for economic growth in the last months of the year. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister I highly appreciate all the ministries and agencies that have performed well in the disbursement of public investment at 50 per cent and more but must criticise those that have fallen below the average of the countrys figures. Disbursement of public investment is a very challenging task. The disbursement figures in the first seven months of last year reached 35-40 per cent, and the performance of 2020 and 2021 as a whole was good (at 96-97 per cent of the yearly plan). In 2022, the public investment plan is set at $23.56 billion, 2.5-fold that in 2016 and $4.8 billion higher than that last year. Even though the task is exceedingly complicated, we should maintain our bravery and promote the wisdom and synergy of the whole political system. With great determination and effort, along with drastic and synchronous direction, we can find solutions that are suitable for the situation. We should further enhance the responsibilities of ministers, agencies, and chairs of the peoples committees of provinces and cities. They should review all procedures and work in line with regulations to control corruption. They must review regulations under their management, and where possible, immediately correct errors. If jurisdiction falls under the authority of the government, they should propose solutions. The MPI should study and propose capital adjustments among ministries, agencies, and localities, and they can self-move the capital of their various projects. Those that have not performed well must be humble, ask for advice, and refer to the practices of better-performing units, including setting up task forces and taking part in monthly meetings. The MPI and the Government Office have to urgently build, complete, and also submit a resolution on this content to the government, which will promote significant changes for the future. Government sets up six working groups to boost public investment disbursement Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed Decision No.548/QD-TTg on May 2 establishing six working groups to solve problems related to the disbursement of public investment. Disbursement continues to play catch-up Disbursement of public investment and official development assistance remains slow compared to the plan assigned by the government while the speed of economic recovery greatly depends on public investment, with its efficiency expected to contribute to Vietnams rapid and sustainable growth. The study found that 61 per cent of the surveyed businesses plan to increase their headcounts, while 27 per cent will maintain their workforce. Manufacturing and processing to account for the strongest recruitment Manufacturing and processing toped the industries planning to increase recruitment within the next six months with 19 per cent, followed by wholesale, retail, and trading (12.7 per cent), professional consulting services (9.5 per cent), banking and finance (9.5 per cent), construction (6.4 per cent), food and beverage, hospitality, and leisure (6.4 per cent), and real estate (6.4 per cent). Vietnam's hiring intentions for H2/2022 The most in-demand job levels include executive and junior levels (49 per cent). The runners-up are blue-collar workers (24 per cent), senior management (18 per cent), C-suite (5 per cent), and fresh graduates without experience (4 per cent). The survey also reveals that over 70 per cent of the surveyed companies have recovered from the pandemic with 50 per cent or more actively recovered and only about 12 per cent saying that their business operations remain significantly affected. Experts said that the positive economic outlook gives employers in Vietnam confidence to increase recruitment in the second half of 2022, though not as significantly as over the last six months. In total, 88 per cent of the surveyed enterprises plan to increase or at least maintain their current headcounts as compared to 95 per cent for the equivalent index in the first half of 2022. Over the past months, the government's timely and practical support policies have enabled businesses in Vietnam to flexibly and proactively adapt to the new normal and maintain a strong recovery momentum post-pandemic. Nguyen Xuan Son, country operations manager for staffing and outsourcing services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said, "The current Vietnamese labour market is bustling, especially in mass recruitment and blue-collar worker hiring. The supply chain and logistics industry continues its remarkable growth as it plays a key role in the circulation and transportation of goods and production materials." Top industries planning to increase recruitment within the next six months In June, the World Bank reported in their Economic Update for Vietnam that the country may reach a 5.8 per cent growth rate in 2022, higher than the figures for some other Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Nguyen Xuan Son, country operations manager for staffing and outsourcing services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said, From our perspective, the current Vietnamese labour market is bustling, especially in mass recruitment and blue-collar worker hiring. The supply chain and logistics industry continues its remarkable growth as it plays a key role in the circulation and transportation of goods and production materials. Regarding the demand for blue-collar workers, he added that the need for production workers in certain industries such as manufacturing, healthcare and pharmaceutical, and consumer goods is high. The sectors with high employee turnover currently are telesales and customer services in finance, insurance, and e-commerce. Fields with recruitment challenges The survey found that businesses in various fields are facing recruitment difficulties with up to 57 per cent of the surveyed employers having experienced difficulty hiring staff. Foreign language skills are becoming an indispensable requirement for workers. Up to 24 per cent of the respondents revealed that the percentage of their employees with English proficiency is quite low. Particularly, 30 per cent of the surveyed companies revealed that fewer than 10 per cent of their employees have the necessary English skills to work. Contingent workers are becoming an important human resource strategy as a global employment trend. Up to 45 per cent of surveyed employers said that they intend to use seasonal or part-time workers over the next three to six months. Nguyen Thu Trang, country sales manager at ManpowerGroup Vietnam said, The current demand for recruitment in industrial parks is vibrant, especially in manufacturing and processing and electronics and technology. Many employers said that they could not recruit the desired number of workers despite increasing their benefits packages. Alongside permanent recruitment services, businesses are increasingly using outsourcing services to supplement their current labour force during peak seasons. To deal with the obstacles, 22 per cent of surveyed employers opted to use executive search and permanent recruitment as an HR solution, while 16 per cent of the companies planned to use staffing and outsourcing services to replenish their workforce. The Vietnam Employment Outlook Survey Q3 & Q4 2022 was conducted by ManpowerGroup Vietnam at the end of the second quarter of 2022 with more than 100 employers in 21 different industries across the country. The respondents were human resources (HR) managers, talent acquisition managers, business owners, and HR specialists in diverse industries including manufacturing and processing, technology, wholesale, retail and trading, real estate, IT, professional consulting services, and construction, among others. ManpowerGroup Vietnam is the largest global recruitment, staffing, and outsourcing company in the country and has been operating in Vietnam since 2008. It is the first totally foreign invested company licensed to provide recruitment, staffing, and outsourcing services by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs since 2008. ManpowerGroup Vietnam is part of ManpowerGroup and is a leading global workforce solutions company that helps organisations transform in the fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing, and managing the talent that enables them to win. The group develops innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organisations every year, providing them with skilled talent by finding meaningful and sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skill sets. Its expert family of brands Manpower, Experis, and Talent Solutions creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across more than 75 countries and territories and has done so for over 70 years. ManpowerGroup is recognised consistently for its diversity and as a great place to work thanks to its inclusion and equality. In 2022 ManpowerGroup was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the 13th year all confirming its position as the brand of choice for in-demand talent. Vietnam's recruitment demand bounces back Vietnam has seen the recovery of rising recruitment demand across various industries despite labour shortages in some specific fields and positions. IT industry holds huge recruitment demand: report The demand for IT personnel continues to soar given a rising recruitment need seen across many sectors serving post-pandemic business recovery and growth, according to a report on the Vietnamese labour market in the 2nd quarter by the payroll, recruitment & outsourcing agency Andeco Vietnam. Tourism sector lacks workforce after COVID-19 It is becoming difficult to ensure the quantity and quality of workforce for the tourism sector after the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector needs an influx of quality staff to meet the needs of the rising tourism industry. At the event entitled Hanoi-Vientiane (Laos) Cooperation for Mutual Development, businesses from the two sides agreed to boost cooperation in manufacturing investment, tourism, transport, hotels, agriculture, and high-tech agriculture. Director of Hanoi Centre for Investment, Trade, and Tourism Promotion (HPA) Nguyen Anh Duong said that the centre will organise programmes in Vientiane to create opportunities for businesses from the two countries to increase investment cooperation and tourism promotion. At the conference in Hanoi on August 10 According to the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment, in the first six months of 2022, Hanois export turnover to Laos reached $74.8 million and the import value hit $98.3 million. The HPA will organise programmes in Vientiane to create opportunities for businesses from the two countries to increase investment cooperation and tourism promotion. The exhibition highlighting the solidarity and cooperation between the capital cities of Vietnam and Laos Since 2004, Hanoi has provided funding for localities in Laos to build facilities, thus contributing to a boost in socioeconomic development. They include the Vientiane-Hanoi friendship vocational school, a clean water supply system in Xaysomboun town, and lighting systems in some areas of Vientiane. Meanwhile, Lao businesses in the fields of commerce, real estate, banking and finance, automobiles, and others have so far invested about $8 million in Hanoi. On the same day, an exhibition highlighting the solidarity and cooperation between the capital cities of Vietnam and Laos took place in Hanoi as part of the activities to celebrate the Vietnam-Laos Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022. Vietnamese, Lao investment ministries enhance co-operation The Ministries of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and Laos signed an agreement on bilateral co-operation for the 2019-2021 period during talks between the two ministers in Vientiane on June 22. Laos concerned about new wave of COVID-19 Lao health authorities are concerned about a new wave of COVID-19 after 86 new cases were recorded on July 27 alone, 70 of which were in the capital Vientiane. Hanoi hosts agro promotion weekend The Hanoi Centre for Investment, Trade, and Tourism Promotion (HPA) ran an event to promote agro products from July 22 to 24, aiming to raise brand awareness and boost consumption. At the end of July, Samsung Electronics announced the first shipment of 3-nanometer semiconductors, the first of its kind worldwide. The move marks an important milestone in the race to develop the most advanced and efficient chip in the market. Tungsten riches not yet in grip of giants, illustration photo/ freepik.com The advancement in the sophisticated chipmaking technology, which helped Samsung beat foundry rival TSMC of Taiwan, is expected to bring the group more customers looking for powerful chips that enable smaller, faster, and more efficient technology products. TSMC and Samsung have been engaged in intense competition to overtake each other by introducing the most cutting-edge and effective chips to the market and gaining clients for contract chip manufacturing. In the first quarter of this year, the worldwide foundry market was dominated by TSMC with 53.5 per cent of the market share, followed by Samsung with 16.3 per cent, according to industry tracker TrendForce. Tungsten has several important applications in semiconductor fabrication. In an attempt to take advantage of this race, top tungsten-producing nations like Vietnam are hoping to use their material riches to help the top companies compete and beat each other. In fact, Vietnam was the second-biggest tungsten producer globally last year, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). As reported by German data provider Statista, in 2021 China topped the rankings by producing 66,000 metric tonnes, with Vietnam second on 4,500 tonnes and Russia on 2,400 tonnes. By 2040, the total demand for the rare mineral is expected to quadruple. Meanwhile, the mineral demand for electric vehicle batteries and battery storage will grow around 30-fold, according to the International Energy Agency. However, groups like Masan High-Tech Materials (MHT) are yet to join the supply chain of Samsung in Vietnam. The Nui Phao mine in the northern province of Thai Nguyen is the leading asset of Masan Group, in which MHT is in charge of mining, processing, and export activities. In 2021, the total output of MHTs tungsten increased by 97 per cent, while the company delivered net revenues of $581.5 million, up 86 per cent year on year. Samsung always strictly controls information about the source of tungsten and does not discuss the limited supply of tungsten from China, as well as the pressure on sourcing the material to produce chips or batteries. Nevertheless, Vietnam is Samsungs second-largest global production base. Theoretically, analysts said, it is possible to supply a certain amount of tungsten from the Nui Phao mine to Samsungs six manufacturing plants in Vietnam. This would help Samsung to increase the localisation rate of raw materials in the country. At the same time, it would also help Samsung reduce transportation costs when China is tightening the supply of tungsten to the world market and promoting the export of high-grade processed tungsten products. MHT boasts several advantages. In particular, its open-pit mine helps lowers the rate of rock removal and labour costs. MHT, however, cannot compete with China in the supply of raw materials to multinational technology companies like Samsung in the domestic market. Currently, Chinas consumption of concentrated tungsten products is growing faster than production, according to the USGS. The Nui Phao mine has a lifespan of 20 years. Due to shrinking reserves, mining activities have to be conducted deeper and farther. Meanwhile, the mining rights of MHT will end in 2028. After the acquisition of the mine in 2013, Masan started commercial production in the following year. At that time, the global tungsten market experienced oversupply as China shut down many tungsten mines for environmental reasons. In 2022, MHT expects to achieve revenue of about $620-641 million. According to the classification of the General Department of Geology of Vietnam under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam has discovered more than 5,000 mines and ore points containing about 60 different types of minerals. Mines of high-value minerals, such as copper, gold, tungsten, bismuth, and nickel-cobalt mostly have small reserves. Tungsten is gradually running out after a long period of indiscriminate mining and selling of raw ore, said Nguyen Bao Linh, a researcher at the Institute of Mining-Metallurgy Science and Technology under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Tungsten ore is difficult to mine because of its complex composition. The Thien Ke mine in the northern province of Tuyen Quang for example, which is 24km west of Nui Phao, has to combine different mineral extraction methods to obtain tungsten of high quality, Linh said. Vietnam's tungsten supply chain asserts its global market position As the tungsten price increases, global manufacturers are now seeing that Vietnam has gradually emerged as the leading integrated supplier of advanced high-tech materials. When River Valley Intermediate School was built in 2009, Angela Wilson was part of the first class of teachers to work in the building. After 13 years shuffling around the district teaching an array of subjects, Wilson is back under the same roof to teach at the transformed middle school in another brand new classroom, which she said feels right. You know you just get that peace that comes over you? And youre like, Im home, Wilson said. Wilson is one of about 180 Midway Independent School District teachers at schools new to them for the upcoming year, including about 50 first-year teachers, after the district has wrapped up bond-funded additions, scrapped intermediate schools and carried out the resulting reshuffling of attendance zones. Since voters approved the bond, the district built a new Park Hill Elementary School on Ritchie Road and added a new career and technical education wing to its high school. Its two former intermediate schools have received major renovations, turning Woodgate Intermediate into the new Chapel Park Elementary School, and turning River Valley Intermediate into River Valley Middle School. The seven elementary schools districtwide are now serving kindergarten through fifth grade, absorbing fifth graders from the intermediate schools. The two middle schools are now serving sixth through eighth grades, absorbing sixth graders from intermediate schools. District spokesperson Traci Marlin said the journey to where the district is now was not simple, but the result has brought positive feedback from parents, staff and students. Everything was very strategic, purposeful, not always easy. But the idea wasnt to try to make it easy. The idea was trying to make it as good as it could possibly be, Marlin said. Quick growth in the district and a projection for more in the coming decade were driving forces behind the additions. Wilson said her transition from her most recent campus, Woodgate Intermediate, to River Valley Middle has been simple and she is excited to keep teaching science. She will teach both eighth and seventh graders, including some familiar faces who she also taught while at Woodgate. Once we came over here and did the meet and greet with (Principal Paul) Offill, I knew I was in the right spot, Wilson said. Mandy Johnson, principal at newly built Park Hill, said the districts human resources department has been working to ensure balanced staffing of new and veteran teachers at each of the campuses, which is reflected in the mix of teachers at her school. Theres a mixture of seasoned teachers and also brand new teachers to the district and to the field of teaching, and I think its like that probably on every campus, Johnson said. Veteran teachers had the opportunity to voice their opinion on switching schools, adding another layer of strategy when deciding on staffing. Wilson, a 28-year teaching veteran, said she was ready to go wherever the district needed her. I feel like were super well balanced, Wilson said. We have veterans and then we have young people that just have so much energy and they just revitalize everybody. Extra teachers and staff require extra professional development and training sessions. Marlin said teachers have been training to use classroom technology appropriately, how to set up their rooms to facilitate learning and standard campus procedures, among many other things over the past week. The first day of classes for the new school year will arrive Thursday. Weve had tremendously more new hires than weve ever had before, so that has been its own extra challenge, Marlin said. Marlin said the district also has 120 mentor teachers, including Wilson, to guide new teachers when they need help. First-year teachers receive two years of mentorship, and teachers new to Midway have one year. Weve had the mentor program for many years, Marlin said. It is crucial and key during this time of that major transition of all the new people and all the movement. Marlin and Johnson said PTA volunteers have been another crucial piece in facilitating the change. Ive been really touched about the PTAs and how theyve embraced our new campuses, Marlin said. Theyve kind of just taken us under their wing. With campuses closures then limits on gatherings, parents were not able to be as involved in the district as usual during earlier stages of the pandemic. Johnson said PTA members have been hard at work all summer, networking and helping out as needed to make coming back to an open campus easier for everyone. On the first day I have some of the PTA volunteers that will be helping us open car doors and helping us with procedures to make parents feel good too, Johnson said. They see other adults and adults that they know, even, out in the community to help and take part and they havent been able to do that in a while. Coming back to an open campus also requires new safety measures, and Marlin said many features were included in the new facilities to help teachers conduct class safely and efficiently. Every classroom door at Park Hill has a lock that allows a teacher, even from the the back of the room, to see if the door is locked or unlocked. Wilson has the same type of lock on her new door at River Valley and said it makes her feel safe. There are many other features intentionally included at Park Hill to make learning functional, exciting and engaging. Classrooms are fitted with rounded desks on wheels that can be moved around the room into many configurations, allowing for more movement and collaboration. Youre not going to see desks that look like a square desk facing forward with an attached chair, Marlin said. She said there is research to show that including different types of furniture and the natural lighting featured in Park Hills design facilitates better engagement. Wilson, who has not had a window in her classroom in some previous years, said she can tell natural light makes a difference for her students. Until youre a teacher, you dont realize how much a window can affect the mood in the room, Wilson said. Classrooms even have wiggle chairs to accommodate students who need to move while they work. Marlin said Midways two new elementary campuses have the library at the heart of the school. Park Hills library features moveable furniture and shelves, ceiling-high windows that look out onto the schools outdoor amphitheater and a mural displaying agricultural elements based on the history of Hewitt. We can move it (the furniture) around for different kinds of lessons, plays, acting, parent events, everything, Marlin said. The districts designs for school renovations place emphasis on open, collaborative spaces with lots of moveable elements. River Valley and Midway High Schools new Career and Technical Education wing each also have open seating areas with eclectic and comfortable furniture. Wilson said the common areas remind her of a junior college, which she thinks students will be excited for. A lot of the elements included were added to accommodate teachers needs. Park Hills gym has numbered rows of dots across the floor, which Marlin said was a request from a teacher. The hallways also have strategically placed tiles of offset color that show students where to line up each time. More features at the brand new elementary school include: Bullet-resistant glass that faces the outside of the school Three conference rooms, teaching workspaces and teachers lounges Plans to integrate accessible playground elements with the existing playgrounds A cafeteria with a catering kitchen and booth seating. All of the changes were made possible by a $148 million bond package voters approved in 2019. The package covered Park Hills construction, the high schools new career and technical education wing, conversions of the two former intermediate schools, renovations of Midway Middle School, renovations of the districts technology center, and replacement of roofs for five buildings and air-conditioning systems for three campuses. DEAR NEIL: I have had this same problem with my dwarf Burford hollies for years. The center and low-area leaves and branches thin out and die. The top and end parts remain green. I have these hollies in two areas, one facing south (10 years) and one facing west (four years). They are hand-watered two times per week and I feed them and apply iron. I have five other types of hollies and they are not having any types of troubles, although theyre not in hedge-type configuration. Any suggestions? Dear Reader: Youre trimming the plants repeatedly at the same heights. They put out new shoots at their growing tips, but then you have to trim those away to maintain the same heights. It looks like the bottoms of the plants in your photo are very dark, so there is little light to encourage new shoot growth down there. Perhaps there is a landscape tree casting shade, or maybe the photo was just taken late in the day. If this were my landscape, I would consider cutting these way back (18 inches) next January and letting them regrow, then trying to prune them gradually, one branch at a time, so that you maintain a more natural growth form. Or take the planting out and replace them with shorter, more spreading plants like Carissa or dwarf yaupon hollies that will never get this tall. DEAR NEIL: I am looking for a tree to place in a cemetery. It must be less than 4-inch caliper, fast-growing, hardwood, long-lived and with very few droppings, as neighbors markers must be kept clean. I have been researching a male Chinese pistachio which seems to fit the criteria and the Keith Davey selection seems ideal. A local tree farm owner tells me that any real tree farm would cull the females out and sell only the males. Id like to plant this fall. What would you suggest? Dear Reader: You have done a fine job of researching this project. Im impressed. However, I would take fast-growing out of your list of requirements. Every single fast-growing shade tree has one or more fatal flaw, and every single one of those species dies a short and hard life. Also, Id also suggest that your next compromise might be on the size that you buy. Any tree approaching a 4-inch diameter trunk would require heavy equipment to bring it in and plant it. It may be difficult to maneuver it around headstones and gravesites. Plus, it limits your options on what is available in the nursery trade. But thats not my battle to fight, so Ill get back to your question. Im assuming this is (and will always be) full sun. The male pistachio is a great idea. Tree growers would have to get their trees up to large sizes to be able to find out if they have male or female trees. (For those unfamiliar, female pistachios bear fruit that can result in unwanted seedlings.) The Keith Davey selection has not been common, but I see that its being grown by a large national wholesaler, so you should be able to find it. Personally, Id go with the smaller tree in the same circumstances if it were my choice, especially if I was going to have to carry water to it by hand until it got established (2 or 3 years). Fall planting is the best again, youre right on target. Good luck! DEAR NEIL: Our city has put us under watering restrictions. Ive heard that letting the grass grow taller shades the ground and, to some degree, inhibits some post-sprinkling evaporation. Should we mow or not mow? Dear Reader: My vote is always to continue mowing at the recommended height month after month. Letting grass grow tall encourages the lawn to become thin as the blades stretch in competition for sunlight. Then weeds move in and really start the competition for water. Mowing keeps the turf low and dense. DEAR NEIL: I have areas of my Bermuda grass that turn silver and die. Ive tried fungicides and it still dies. Nothing seems to work. Do you have any ideas? Dear Reader: Oh, what Id give for a photo. If the adjacent parts of the lawn are highly manicured and dark green, I would suggest cottony blight, also known by its disease name, Pythium blight. Ive had a lot of questions on that recently. You can see dramatic photos of what it looks like in a lawn by Googling university Pythium blight Bermuda lawn. Youll find good matches from Texas A&M, Clemson, North Carolina State, Louisiana State, Oklahoma State and other Southern ag colleges. Or, if the adjacent grass is also neglected, just to lesser degrees, it could be that the lawn isnt getting nearly enough water. Even Bermuda grass can burn up in this heat and drought. DEAR NEIL: What is the life expectancy of a Bradford pear? We have one that was planted when our house was built 35 years ago. Its between our drive and the neighbors yard. I wanted to take it out five years ago but our neighbors asked us to keep it. Two branches broke and fell while we were at work last week. I dont want any more to come down and hit our cars or the neighbors house. Should I take it down now or wait and see if it loses any more branches? Dear Reader: My advice? Hurry. They normally split right down the middles of their trunks when theyre 15 to 18 years old. I planted three in 1978. That was before we knew. The first one split completely in half in 1990. By then the reports were coming in from across America, so I took all three of mine out. You are on borrowed time already. Your tree, as judged by your photo, is sparse and brittle-looking. Take it out on your terms. The cost of having someone do that for you will be significantly less than replacing a car or repairing a roof. It was a complicated week for former President Donald Trump. The FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday as part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records that had been moved to Florida. The former president was then in New York on Wednesday as part of a civil investigation, but he says he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the deposition. Then on Thursday, we learned that the Justice Department had asked a court to unseal the search warrant used in the FBIs search. Attorney General Merrick Garland cited the substantial public interest in this matter" and said he had personally approved the warrant. That evening, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: Release the documents now! For an expanded look at the case, please download the bonus episode of Hot off the Wire called FBI investigation into former President Donald Trump. In political news, Democrats moved closer to passage of their economic agenda. Indiana became the first state to approve an abortion ban following the Supreme Courts recent decision. A Trump-backed candidate won a primary in Wisconsin. President Joe Biden signed a bill to help veterans. And a former police officer was sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6 riots. It was an eventful week for court cases involving hate crimes, abortion and misinformation. And in other national news, President Biden visited Kentucky and a new general will lead American forces in Africa. Concerns over the economy continued this week, although several reports indicated there may be relief in sight. Consumer and producer prices showed some improvement in July. Gas prices kept falling and the national average dipped below $4 for a gallon by the middle of the week. Airfares have also declined. The jobs market was somewhat mixed as employers continued to add jobs, however, unemployment claims have been on the rise. Grocery deliveries have also declined, likely due to higher prices. In other news, Kia issued a recall and Twitter was in the news over its deal with Elon Musk as well as a security breach. Insurance checklist for kids heading off to college | PennyWise podcast Don't forget insurance before sending your child off to college. Learn more on the PennyWise podcast. In international news, President Biden signed the CHIPS Act, which drew the ire of China and extended tension between the two nations as well as Taiwan. We had several updates out of Ukraine, including the destruction of Russian jets, resistance from Ukrainians, and a return from a fast food giant. New Zealand welcomed back cruise ships as COVID restrictions eased and Germany is dealing with drought. Finally, in health and science news, a look at the link between climate and diseases, a Lyme disease vaccine, monkeypox, sleep patterns of spiders, freshwater losing ground and a court case involving a pharmacy chains link to the opioid crisis. Compiled and narrated by Terry Lipshetz from Associated Press reports Does religion make us more ethical? | The Ethical Life podcast The hosts debate whether we are interpreting the Bible correctly, the existence of an afterlife and the effectiveness of prayer. DES MOINES Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will make a stop in Iowa next week to campaign alongside Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley in Clear Lake. The Dallas County Republicans tweeted an invitation to the fundraiser, which will also feature local party leaders and the Republican Party of Iowas Co-Chair Linda Upmeyer. Cruz was last in the Hawkeye State to campaign for Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in a 2021 fundraiser. Cruz, who won the 2016 Iowa caucuses by a narrow margin, has hinted that hes mulling a 2024 run for president. He joins a growing list of national Republicans scoping out the state this year, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, former Vice President Mike Pence, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. NUNN, AXNE CLASH ON ABORTION: Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne released an ad this week slamming her Republican opponent, Zach Nunn, for his position on abortion. The ad shows Nunn in a primary debate responding to a question about if all abortions, no exceptions should be illegal in the U.S. Nunn joined the other two primary candidates in raising his hand to support the idea. Axne and Nunn are running to represent Iowas 3rd Congressional District in one of the highest-profile House races in the country. Zach Nunns policies are dangerous for women and out-of-touch with Iowa voters. Cindy Axne has voted multiple times to protect womens rights, and to codify Roe v. Wade, Paige Godden, a spokesperson for Axnes campaign, said. The Iowa GOP shot back at Axne, saying she supports radical abortion policies. While Axne criticizes Zach Nunn for protecting innocent life, Axne is steadfast in her support of abortion on demand and abortion up until birth, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said. NUNN LEADS AXNE IN NEW POLL: A poll of likely voters in Iowas 3rd Congressional District found Republican candidate Zach Nunn with an 8-point lead over incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne. The poll found Nunn with 49% support compared to 41% support for Axne. The poll was commissioned by an interest group advocating for term limits in Congress. It surveyed 400 likely voters in the 3rd District between July 29 and Aug. 5, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 points. NEW YORK (AP) Reporter Joshua Goodman traveled with his family to the Chautauqua Institution in western New York for a peaceful week away from the news. Instead, the news found him. Goodman, an Associated Press correspondent for Latin America based in Miami, was attending a lecture by author Salman Rushdie on Friday when Rushdie was stabbed onstage. The journalist said goodbye to his wife and asked her to pick up their two children before he began to work, equipped only with his mobile phone. He dictated words, took photos and sent video that told the world someone had attacked Rushdie, whose 1988 book The Satanic Verses was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims and led Irans then-leader to issue an edict calling for the authors death. It was a remarkable example of being in the right place at the right time to witness an unexpected event. It was very surreal is the only way you'd describe it, Goodman said. This was the last place you'd expect something like this. The institution is more than a century old, located over an hour away from the closest major city of Buffalo, N.Y. It is known for its summer retreats where visitors come for spiritual reflection and education. Goodman was one of 13 family members who rented a house on the grounds for the week. He left his computer behind and ignored emails. Goodman, 46, learned to sail. On Thursday night, he and his family roasted marshmallows while watching a full moon rise over Lake Chautauqua. Rushdie's interview, advertised as focusing on the importance of persecuted writers having a place to work, was one of the week's highlights. Goodman arrived at the outdoor amphitheater just as it was about to begin. The threats against Rushdie a $3 million bounty was placed on his head and he spent years in hiding had not been forgotten. Some audience members joked nervously about not wanting to be in the front row. But there was very little security at a location where many families don't even lock their doors at night, Goodman said. Rushdie was seated and was being introduced when his attacker climbed onstage and began assaulting him. From his vantage point, Goodman said he wasn't sure if Rushdie was being punched or stabbed, until he could see what appeared to be blood. There was a moment of shock, he said. Everyone in the audience was sitting in disbelief. When an officer with a police dog and others rushed toward the stage, Goodman realized what was happening and switched into reporter mode. He quickly sent an email to several of his editors at AP about what was happening and headed toward the stage himself. Goodman lingered to take pictures and interview witnesses despite the institute's staff saying he and all the audience members had to leave, he said. Goodman had covered protests before while stationed in Latin America, so scenes of violence were not foreign to him, but never in such a bucolic setting. The AP sent an alert to its members about the news at 11:06 a.m. Eastern, followed by the first story six minutes later. It was only after an hour of work that Goodman had the chance to reflect on what he said was one of the worst things he'd ever seen. It was so callous and deliberate, he said. Goodman said he was sad for his children who, like many, are affected by bad news in the world. He had hoped for a week's reprieve, and they had enjoyed their time in summer camp. I don't take any satisfaction in witnessing tragedy, he said. I do take satisfaction in informing others. The Chinese air force is sending fighter jets and bombers to Thailand for a joint exercise with the Thai military on Sunday. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the training will include air support, strikes on ground targets and small- and large-scale troop deployment. Chinas expanding military activities in the Asia-Pacific region have alarmed the United States and its allies and form part of a growing strategic and economic competition that has inflamed tensions between the worlds two largest economies. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Thailand in June as part of an effort to strengthen what he called Americas unparalleled network of alliances and partnerships in the region. CLEAR LAKE Attendees who gathered Friday night for the first in-person Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at the Surf Ballroom since 2019 didnt exactly pack the house. But the house was packed with energy. It was the 19th annual Wing Ding, a fundraiser for several county Democratic parties from around North Iowa. It comes at a time when polls show Democrats prospects in November both in Iowa and nationally are dim. But news from Washington, D.C., has been brighter in recent days as Democrats pushed big bills through Congress, gas prices have dropped and prices at the wholesale level fell from June to July, the first month-to-month drop in more than two years. Speaker after speaker exhorted the small crowd not to despair. We are going to have a lot of surprises come this fall, because the rest of the country says Iowa is a red state now. But Iowa has blue in it, and Iowa will remain a red and blue equal until we can take over, said state Rep. Jennifer Konfrst as the Wing Ding got into full swing. The keynote speaker Friday was Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who rose to political fame in a viral speech in April where she defended herself from Republican accusations of trying to groom and sexualize kindergartners. But perhaps the most important voice at the event was Deidre DeJear, Democratic candidate for governor. Education, or rather the declining state of education in Iowa, was the topic on everyones mind. I want to be able to talk about education. What Im going to do is restore not only the value and integrity of our education system, but to prepare students for a future they can believe in. A future they want to stay in Iowa for versus leaving the state, said an impassioned DeJear. She said Iowa was once the number one state in the nation in education, but has dropped to around 20th. We are funding less and less per pupil than we did 10 to 15 years ago, and the cost of business is going up, she said. I know Iowans want to be number one again, not just because of the rankings, but because of what that did for our students future. Other priorities include resolving the inadequacies that exist in Iowas health care and mental health care systems, such as high cost and lack of access due the shortage of facilities. A third issue is labor force empowerment. Every state that touches Iowa pays higher wages than the state of Iowa. I know we are better than that, DeJear said. She said many things can change if there was a leader willing to lead Iowa in the right direction. I often say that Iowans are not short of vision. All across the state, in every county, there are challenges and Iowans have solutions for them. They just need a governor who is willing to turn the lights on, DeJear said. She wants to debate those issues with Gov. Kim Reynolds, and requested a series of three face-to-face meetings last week. DeJears staff is still waiting to hear back from the governors office. The opportunity to debate is the opportunity for Iowans to see where I stand on the issues and the opportunity for her to defend her record, DeJear said. Its an opportunity for them (voters) to decide, of the two of us, which one of us is more fit to move the state forward. Although Reynolds has raised more money for her campaign, DeJear said she is a strong opponent. There are some things that balance the act of money, DeJear said. As she has campaigned she has been picking up support from independents and Republicans alike. I guarantee this race will not be won because of the R or D behind peoples names. It will be won because of the I behind our names. Because were just talking about regular, everyday Iowan issues, and it is incredibly important that we stand true to that right now. State Sen. Zach Wahls said, We deserve an economy that doesnt just work for the ultra rich and big corporations. We deserve an economy that works for the rest of us. Its up to us to fight for public education. Because we know Iowa teachers dont have a sinister agenda. Because public money is for public schools, and Iowa teachers are not the enemy, they are heroes. Wahls reflected on his place within the party: I believe in the American dream. If you are willing to work hard, no matter who you are or where you come from, you should have a fair shot at a better life. Im a Democrat because I believe in the importance of civil rights, workers rights, and womens rights. Im a Democrat because I believe in the truth of the Scripture that tells us from those of whom much is given, much is expected. Thats why Im proud to be an Iowa Democrat. Secretary of Agriculture candidate John Norwood said, If you drink and you eat you should care about this position. His campaign theme, Iowa: Built to Last, focuses on protecting water and soil across generations. Amanda Ragan, a 20-year state senator from Mason City, rounded out the evening by presenting the 2022 Beacon Award to Sen. Rob Hogg for outstanding service to the Democratic Party. Hogg has served in both the House and Senate, was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and was minority leader for Senate Democrats. He is a staunch supporter of education, but his most striking accomplishment has been his involvement and advocacy addressing climate change. Hogg shared the news that Congress had just passed some pretty big bills, and his voice shook with emotion as he said, I have been working my entire adult life for this moment today. For solutions we so desperately need for farmers. For workers. For jobs. For consumers. For our environmental future. For our security and the security of our allies around the world. And its going to President Bidens desk to be signed. My fellow Democrats, we have a lot to be proud of. We need to tell Iowans the good things we are accomplishing. And for me, what a historic day to receive the Beacon Award. I cant think of anywhere I would rather be tonight to celebrate this bill than with you here at the Wing Ding at the historic Surf Ballroom, Hogg said. Weather Alert ...Showers and Thunderstorm Chances Through Thursday... * Monsoon moisture will continue to provide chances for showers and thunderstorms across the eastern Sierra and western Nevada through Thursday with chances diminishing into the weekend. * These fast moving storms will be capable of dry lightning strikes across portions of northeast California and far Northwestern Nevada tonight into Thursday morning. * Wetter storms are expected over areas roughly south of I-80 in the Sierra and western Nevada through this evening and into Thursday morning. Localized areas of heavy rainfall with localized areas of flash flooding will be possible across areas of steep terrain and across recent burn scar areas. * Storm potential will trend down on Thursday and Friday with the best chances for isolated storms remaining across northeast California and Northwest Nevada. A few of these storms could be stronger with the potential for hail, heavy rainfall, and gusty outflow winds. * Ensure you have a way of receiving weather alerts. If you live in a flash flood prone area, especially near a burn scar, be ready to act quickly if heavy rainfall occurs. GALLUP A man charged with driving drunk without a valid license and then barreling into a parade in Gallup will remain jailed until trial. A McKinley County-Gallup District Court judge on Friday denied 33-year-old Jeff Irving, who is accused of injuring at least 15 people last week, any conditional release. Judge Louis DePauli said he had no faith that Irving could refrain from drinking and driving. He cited previous DWI charges and failures to show up in court. Barry Klopfer, Irvings defense attorney, argued Irving was never convicted of most charges and deserved to be out of jail. Irving faces aggravated DWI, 14 counts of leaving the scene of an accident, one felony count of leaving the scene resulting in great bodily harm and third-degree felony aggravated fleeing. Prosecutors say Irvings blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when he drove an SUV into the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial parade on Aug. 4. Irving, who had two passengers, sped through downtown Gallup about 15 minutes after the nighttime parade started. His license had been revoked or suspended for another drunken driving charge and the SUV had no registration or insurance, police said. The event was the kickoff of the 10-day Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial Centennial Celebration. Videos on social media showed people yelling for others to get out of the way and some pushing parade-goers to safety. By all appearances, it was a normal day on the bus. A man in the back listlessly scrolls through his phone. A few rows ahead, another man sits beside a young girl. Then, without warning, a third man sitting alone pulls out a large gun, aims it and in an explosion of smoke and glass fires into a glass door of the Albuquerque Rapid Transit bus. Security video shows the shooter grab the weapon and his belongings and head for the door. The man in the back covers his ears, a look of pure terror on his face, and the young girl peeks over the shoulder of the man shielding her. At the next stop, the man with the gun gets off as two passengers get on and take their seats like nothing happened. Police say theyve identified the shooter as 52-year-old Allen Salazar and have issued a warrant for his arrest in the Aug. 6 incident. Salazar faces charges of shooting at or from a motor vehicle, criminal damage to property and negligent use of a deadly weapon. Police said Salazar told the driver afterward that it was an accident, and the driver told officers Salazar rides the Central bus in Nob Hill up to four times a week. An ABQ Ride spokeswoman would not say if there have been other shooting incidents on the city bus in recent years. A breakdown provided to the Journal shows that, between January and June, there were 16 security calls for an assault and 28 for a fight either on the bus or at a stop. In that time period, out of the total 3,516 security calls, 450 were for the ART bus route more than any other line. Court records show Salazar has been arrested in cases of aggravated assault upon a peace officer resulting in great bodily harm, cruelty to animals and DWI. His most recent arrests, in 2019, were for allegedly pulling a bag of cannabis out in front of an officer and pushing a relative when she confronted him about growing cannabis in her yard. In 2020, according to court records, a relative filed a restraining order against Salazar, saying he is a known violent felon with a history of schizophrenia and drug abuse. According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court: The Aug. 6 incident happened around 1:15 p.m. and police responded shortly after. An investigator sent an email throughout the department with the shooters picture, and a sergeant identified the man as Salazar. Officers were told the damage to the bus was more than $2,600 and the other riders left after declining to give their information to police. Police said after the shooting, someone on the bus yelled, What the hell was that, and Salazar became aggressive and yelled multiple vulgar words. Police said Salazar then told the driver it was an accident, give them my information, call the cops, Ill be right here. During that statement, (Salazar) exits the camera view and does not come back, according to the affidavit. The bus driver told police he has been driving the Central route for three or four months. The driver said he had seen the shooter two to four times a week and he is typically quiet and sits by himself. The driver told police the man rides the bus between Solano and University. Police showed the bus driver an MVD photo of Salazar and he said it looks like him if he had a mustache. Photos included in the affidavit showed Salazar with and without a mustache in MVD and jail booking photos. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE A global paper shortage has raised concerns around the nation about whether enough ballots can be printed and obtained in time to run this falls elections. But a top New Mexico elections administrator said the paper paucity should not cause problems for state county clerks. Specifically, Deputy Secretary of State Sharon Pino said the states two outside ballot vendors have assured state officials they have a sufficient paper supply to conduct the Nov. 8 general election. We are fortunate here in New Mexico, Pino told the Journal. The paper shortage is due to a decline in U.S. paper production in recent years and supply chain issues, according to a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. The report said paper orders that previously took days or weeks are now taking months to process, while costs have increased by 40% or more in some cases. Transportation issues have also played a role in the paper shortage, with the American Trucking Association predicting that an existing shortage of truck drivers will worsen over the next decade. Some voting officials around the country have already reportedly faced lengthy delays in their attempts to secure paper ballots and envelopes in advance of election dates, with part of the problem stemming from the fact ballots are typically printed on high-quality paper. Since 2006, New Mexico has used a paper ballot system that requires most voters to manually mark ballots and feed them into electronic vote tabulating machines. The system allows elections officials to recount paper ballots in certain cases. Under state law, county clerks run New Mexico elections, but the state is required to pay all associated costs, including printing ballots and paying poll workers. Meanwhile, the two vendors currently contracted by the state to provide printed ballots and other materials are Automated Election Services, a Rio Rancho company, and Illinois-based Robis Elections. Absentee voting is scheduled to begin Oct. 11 around New Mexico, though ballots for some military members stationed overseas will be sent out even earlier. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal First came the fires. Then, the floods. Now, wildlife agencies are concerned that ash-laden watersheds from this years wildfires have harmed at least two of New Mexicos native trout species. Crews this summer have rescued and relocated trout from burn scar areas. But ongoing flooding has complicated those efforts. The Black Fire grew to more than 325,000 acres in southwest New Mexico. Three Gila trout populations, including two genetically-pure relic populations, lived in the fire footprint. Jerry Monzingo, wildlife and fish program manager for the Gila National Forest, said these fish evolved with fire in the ecosystem. But historic drought has dried up much of the trouts habitat. When all of these streams were connected, you could burn part of a watershed and it would impact one stream, but maybe not a tributary, so the fish could repopulate, Monzingo said. Now, the loss of connectivity prevents fish from moving from one stream to another, and naturally repopulating an area. Wildfires themselves may not harm the fish. But ash, post-fire floods and debris can change the water chemistry in sensitive streams. Monzingo said the floods can scour riverside plants and rearrange the stream habitat. Fire will also do that by burning the actual vegetation next to the stream system, and that increases the water temperature, he said. Warmer water is a threat to even the toughest trout species. The Forest Service transported nearly 90 Gila trout from the burn scar to a Mora hatchery. But severe burns and monsoon rains made one creek inaccessible. We feel pretty certain that we lost the population in South Diamond Creek, Monzingo said. We dont know that for sure at this point, until perhaps this fall when we can get in and do some surveying to see if any fish survived. Rio Grande cutthroat trout The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burned across more than 340,000 acres in northern New Mexico this spring and summer. Game and Fish spokesperson Ryan Darr said the fire impacted high conservation value Rio Grande cutthroat trout across the Canadian, Pecos and Rio Grande basins. We do not have any post-flooding sampling yet because flooding is ongoing, but we expect that some populations have been lost, Darr said. Game and Fish has rescued and relocated hundreds of fish this summer in the burn scar by working with the Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New Mexico State University. Crews stun the fish with an electric shock device before transporting them by helicopter in oxygenated containers to a hatchery. Biologists also add chemicals to the water that prevents infection by replacing fish slime that is lost with handling. The team rescued genetically pure trout from the Rito Morphy southwest of Mora. Those fish are at NMSU while the Forest Service removes non-native fish from a creek on the Valle Vidal. Trout saved from Alamitos Creek near Holman were held at the states Seven Springs hatchery near Fenton Lake before being relocated into other waterways. Seven Springs is housing a third trout population of about 180 fish rescued from the Valdez Creek. The Valdez Creek fish will be used to establish a broodstock for eventual restocking of populations in the Pecos drainage, Darr said. Crews attempted a fourth rescue in the Rio Mora, a Pecos River headwater tributary, but Darr said the fish had already perished. Fires can sometimes wipe out invasive fish species and open up habitat for native trout. The 2012 Whitewater-Baldy Fire in the Gila eliminated non-native brown trout and rainbow trout from several streams. The Forest Service was then able to restore Gila trout to those waterways over the ensuing few years. But it can take a long time for streams to recover after catastrophic fires. Fish that are rescued from burn scar areas are more likely to spend the rest of their lives in a hatchery. For trout that were already suffering from long-term drought and low water levels, the fires and floods could prove to be devastating. It could be years and years before that habitat supports the fish again, Monzingo said. TEHRAN, Iran Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdies attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Irans capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. I dont know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam, said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities. Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran, said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China. Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the countrys economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammads life. I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled Satanic Verses as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death, Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven. Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. Matar, the man who attacked Rushdie on Friday, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from the southern village of Yaroun, the towns mayor Ali Tehfe told the AP. Yaroun sits only kilometers (miles) away from Israel. In the past, the Israeli military has fired on what it described as positions of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah around that area. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouzs main story covered what it described as: A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie. The reformist newspaper Etemads headline asked: Salman Rushdie near death? The conservative newspaper Khorasan bore a large image of Rushdie on a stretcher, its headline blaring: Satan on the path to hell. But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Irans former shah by Khomeinis supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as bonyads in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shahs time, often serve the political interests of the countrys hard-liners. Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the countrys Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the countrys government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatamis foreign minister in 1998 said that the government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it. Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a good feeling after seeing Rushdie attacked. This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people, he said. Others, however, worried the attack regardless of why it was carried out could hurt Iran as it tries to negotiate over its nuclear deal with world powers. Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial currency plummet and its economy crater. Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now closer than ever to weapons-grade levels amid a series of attacks across the Mideast. It will make Iran more isolated, warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh. While fatwas can be revised or revoked, Irans current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has never done so. The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid, Khamenei said in 1989. As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target. As recently as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this question posed to him: Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslims duty in this regard? Khamenei responded: The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued. ___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press journalists Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 Albuquerque Journal Authorities have arrested a man who they say was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with Rio Rancho police at a Walmart on Saturday morning. The officers were not injured. The shooter had fled in a stolen vehicle after the gunfire exchange, and the Rio Rancho Police Department said he and two others were detained several hours later in Albuquerque. Officers recovered an additional stolen vehicle when they detained the suspects near Osuna and Interstate 25, said Lt. Jacquelynn Reedy, a Rio Rancho police spokeswoman in an email. The shooting took place around 6:30 a.m. when officers went to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked in a handicapped spot in the Walmart parking lot at 901 Unser SE, by Southern, police said. As they approached the vehicle a man exited Walmart and ran toward the officers. Officers tried to detain the male, at which time the male suspect reached between the seats for a handgun, and shot at officers at near point-blank range, Reedy said. Officers took cover and exchanged gunfire with the male. The vehicle, described earlier as a 2019 blue Honda Civic, headed south on Unser, before being found in Albuquerque. Police did not immediately release the names of the people taken into custody. Reedy added that the investigation is ongoing and anyone with information about the incident can contact Detective Ben Parker at bparker@rrnm.gov. On the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, as we grow introspective about our journey as a nation, Zee Theatre presents a few thought-provoking and entertaining teleplays to mark the special occasion. Enacted and created by theatre luminaries, the plays will be aired from August 13th to 15th and will showcase the indomitable spirit of India and its citizens. An overview of the plays: Tadbeer: Filmed by Saahil Saple, this story unfolds in the grey area between right and wrong. Starring Raj Arjun and Siddharth Menon in pivotal roles, the story revolves around P.K, a highly placed commander from a politically supported right wing group who is all set to carry out the assassination of an activist fighting for equality and freedom of speech. A young foot soldier Somu and an ex-army recruit Darshan are also entrusted with a mission that they know very little about. Once they come to know about the details of the task they are supposed to finish, will they be able to pull it off? The teleplay also features Manoj Kolhatka and Jayant Gadekar. It will be aired on Airtel Spotlight and Dish and D2H Rangmanch Active on 13th August at 2 pm and 6 pm. Shobha Yatra: Have we as citizens lost the ideals that won us our freedom? This teleplay directed for stage by Ganesh Yadav and for the screen by Attar Singh Saini offers an answer as it provides us an unsettling peek into the lives of six working professionals, all set to play the roles of Gandhi, Bose, Tilak, Nehru, Rani Laxmibai and Babu Genu for an Independence Day ceremony. The teleplay stars Anand Alkunte, Ayaz Khan, Chirag Vohra, Mansi Multani, Nikhil Ratnaparakhi and Sumukha S. As the story develops, we see the distance between reality and the idealism of the past. Will playing the roles of historic legends rekindle patriotism, integrity and honesty among the protagonists? To know the answer, watch this satire that reveals multiple social ills even as it raises laughter, only on TataPlay Theatre. It will be aired on 13th August at 2 pm and 8 pm. State vs Malti Mhaske: This adaptation of Gary Earl Ross award-winning courtroom drama, 'Matter of Intent is directed by Nikhil Mahajan. Starring Divya Menon as the protagonist, the teleplay revolves around a 20-year-old Dalit housekeeper Malti who is accused of murdering her high-caste employer. She has little chance of proving her innocence in a system where she has been condemned even before the trial has begun. Hope comes in the form of Tara, a lawyer, who takes on rampant caste discrimination and with the help of a renowned psychiatrist puts up a brave fight to defend not just Malti but others of her kind. The teleplay also features Divya Menon, Sagar Deshmukh, Smita Tambe and Vikram Kochhar and will be aired on Airtel Spotlight, and Dish and D2H Rangmanch Active on 14th August at 2 pm and 6 pm. Final Solutions: Mahesh Dattani's acclaimed play Final Solutions' examines communal conflicts through the filter of human relationships and shows us that hate is just an expression of ignorance. If we only stopped 'othering' people and made an effort to understand them, we would feel empathy and kinship rather than hate. The depiction of a communal riot also shows how women are undermined and subjugated regardless of the milieu they belong to. Through the voices and stories of Ramanik, Hardika, Aruna, Bobby, Javed, Tasneem and Smita, we learn how similar all human lives are and that we are more than the labels we are known by. Dattani won a Sahitya Akademi Award for the book, 'Final Solutions and Other Plays.' The play stars Uttara Baokar, Vipin Sharma, Samta Sagar, Lyra Dutt, Srishti Shrivastava, Alok Kumar and Niketan Sharma. It will be aired on Tata Play Theatre on 15th August at 2 pm and 8 pm. IDFC Mutual Fund celebrates unity in diversity uniquely with their latest investor awareness film titled #UnitedByInvestments, releasing this Independence Week. The film pays tribute to the diversity that defines the various investors across the country. While Indias strength in diversity has been spoken about and celebrated year after year, it has mostly addressed the various regions, languages, ethnicities, and cultures that are spread across our nation. The film can be viewed on https://youtu.be/0cxEMuxli-o. The #UnitedByInvestments film is also available on IDFC Mutual Fund social media channels. Diversity is given new meaning in the film, where the fund house. talks about various investor personalities and their approach to investing, expressed through opinions. The film releases at a time when the Indian diaspora exists on the digital world, with social media erasing borders and regions. With Pan-India content being celebrated and One India ideologies gaining traction, the film intends to send out a message about investments and mutual funds being a constant across the nation, with every citizen wanting a better life, more financial freedom, and stability when it comes to finances in the long term. Mutual Funds are presented as an answer that unites people, and gives the investment type a universal appeal. According to Gaurab Parija, Head Sales & Marketing at IDFC Asset Management Company Limited, As India celebrates 75th year of independence with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the mindset of its citizens is shifting from that of a saver to becoming an investor. The investor of today is a unique individual in his/her own right, and has a unique personality and opinion. We wanted to celebrate the new age diversities while uniting the people under one common goal of financial freedom through mutual funds and hence the conceptualization of #UnitedByInvestments. Jignesh Dawda, VP Marketing at IDFC Asset Management Company Limited added that, The film showcases various characters, from different parts of urban-India, from Gen-Z investors, bloggers, free thinkers, and more. The film also takes things a few steps ahead by acknowledging non-binary individuals and non-conformists amongst the target audience represented. With various opinions that break stereotypes and stand apart, building up the story, the film brings it all together by uniting people who are divided by opinions through mutual funds. Jio World Centre, the newly launched cultural & business landmark located in the heart of Mumbai, is inviting everyone to join in for the Independence Day celebrations at its Dhirubhai Ambani Square, home to the magical Fountain of Joy. The three-day-long immersive itinerary is packed with activities for all age groups. Visit to witness a dedicated patriotic theatrical symphony of water, light, sound, mist, and fire at the majestic, lotus-inspired, Fountain of Joy. Special celebrations include a live DJ, dance performance, fancy-dress competition with a favourite freedom fighter theme, face painting, delicious food kiosks, festive lighting and much more. Robin Hood Army (RHA), a zero-funds volunteer organization that works towards getting surplus food from restaurants and communities, to the plates of those less fortunate, on Indias 75th Independence Day, has partnered with leading media conglomerate ABP Network for Mission75, where they are serving 75 lakh meals across India. The mission has already begun, and lakhs of meals have already been served till date. To start conversations about the initiative and the sad reality millions of Indians face, the NGO has partnered with a creative agency, The Minimalist. Based on the topic that never goes out of trend, weight loss, The Minimalist conceptualised a clever, provocative film - #KhaaliThaali. The film utilises Khaali Thaali, a simple tool to depict the brutal reality of many Indians and delivers a hard-hitting message. The static posts were disguised to look like ads about people who have experienced transformative weight loss, only to reveal the grim reality of how they did not have a choice in the matter. Speaking on the initiative, Aarushi Batra, co-founder of RHA, and Yugank Kapila, Mission75 lead, said, For us at RHA, the truest form of nation building is doing everything we can to make the lives of our fellow country men and women better - whether by serving meals, creating opportunities for employment, supporting them with health care and making them self-reliant. Were thrilled to have The Minimalist on board with us to help us spread the message and reach millions more to create the impact we are hoping to Sahil Vaidya, Co-Founder, The Minimalist said, At The Minimalist, we have always been passionate about how our core philosophy can be used to drive thought provoking communication for important social issues that plague the country. We are proud to support RHA with a campaign that aims to make people think deeply about the issue of hunger and get propelled into taking action. Thats how you can use the power of creativity to drive real social change The film will be promoted across social media platforms of RHA and ABP Network, and has been released in Marathi, Bengali and Hindi on ABP Networks TV channels. Recognized for their thought-provoking communication, The Minimalist is a creative solutions company based out of Mumbai and has offices in Delhi and Bangalore. They have been aiding brands across India to enhance their mainline and digital presence through inventive techniques. Maate, a consciously designed 360 wellness brand and a by-product of Priyanka Raina's unique perspective on parenthood, introduces its new visual identity. The company's essence, which remains faithful to motherhood, is still embodied in the new brand identity, which undergoes a considerable alteration. Through constant research and innovation, Maate continues to bring the potency of herbs in an improved formulation. The brand's new, playful and colourful avatar appeals to the child within. The founders of the company, Priyanka and Suresh Raina, set out with a simple and clear objective in their mind: to create a premium baby product brand made in India that all mothers could use without raising their eyebrows, free from the worry of dangerous chemicals, and in phase with the rising number of observant and cautious consumers. For Priyanka's firstborn, her search for high-quality, environmentally friendly items made her realise that there are several natural beauty products available for adults, but there are only selective options for kids. She sought advice from specialists, researched production, and was involved closely in the process to create items without the use of chemicals to create something which is natural, vegan and sustainable at the same time. The project started late in 2016 and thus the birth of Maate, a purely homegrown brand, right from product to packaging. On asked about Priyanka's belief about motherhood, she says, Maate creates an incredibly unique experience for each mother that allows them to choose whats best for their child." Today, Maate has come a long way. It has become more informed, has more insight into what it is that its customers want, and most importantly, what Maate can do to make itself better. The new brand identity comes at a pivotal moment in Maate's re-evaluation of itself and its future. Maate's ethics and ideologies are matched with the new identity as it continues to look ahead, creating a distinct aura around itself. I started getting texts Friday morning from people on the scene at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York, one from my sister-in-law, an ER nurse at a nearby hospital: Salman Rushdie was stabbed at Chautauqua, flown to Erie, could not get bleeding stopped. I know the area well. I have a summer home in Chautauqua (pronounced sha-TAWK-wa.) County, the site of my 2000 novel, the then futuristic 2006: The Chautauqua Rising. A celebrated writer, the 75-year-old Rushdie has been living under a fatwa since February 14, 1989, the day that Irans Ayatollah Khomeini decided that Rushdies novel, The Satanic Verses, was blasphemous against Islam. He was a regular visitor to the Chautauqua Institution. The fact that Rushdie would be stabbed at Chautauqua is perversely and tragically ironic. YouTube screengrab In the way of background, a Methodist minister founded the institution on Chautauqua Lake in 1874. It served as a campground meeting for summer school teachers and proved popular enough that by century's end, traveling "chautauquas" were bringing progressive enlightenment to citizens around the nation. I set the climactic scene of 2006 at the institution itself. The book tells the tale of a grassroots rising that anticipated the Tea Party insurgency of 2009-10 and the MAGA movement of more recent years. When I wrote the book I was unaware that a quiet insurrection was brewing on the institution grounds. A group known as Chautauqua Christian Fellowship (CCF) had emerged to correct the Institutions political and theological leftward drift. The same year that my novel was published, 2000, the institution accelerated that drift by selecting the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell to be its director of religion. A longtime apologist for Fidel Castro, Campbell had made news the year before her appointment by orchestrating the forced return of Elian Gonzalez to Communist Cuba. At the time of Campbells retirement in 2013, one of her woke acolytes toasted Campbell, saying, When Janet Reno is looking for someone really tough to get on the [Elian] case you have some sense of whom we are dealing with here. Don't Mess With Joan. Upon her arrival at Chautauqua, Campbell embarked on two contradictory missions, one public, one private. Publicly, she championed "interfaith dialogue," specifically an outreach to Muslims known as the "Abrahamic Initiative. A gay-friendly Christian community with a bathing beach, an active theater scene, and a substantial Jewish population may not have seemed a natural draw for Muslims, but Brown was insistent. "We didn't have a Muslim presence," she told a reporter for a local newspaper, "but we knew if we wanted to talk about the Abraham link, we needed to have all three legs of the stool." She expected resistance. "There is among the Jewish groups, and some conservative Christian groups as well, an objection to Islam," Campbell lamented. It would, of course, take some persuasion to build a stool when two of the legs objected, but as Chautauqua was learning, Dont Mess With Joan. Privately, for all her talk of inclusivity, Campbell began to crack down on the CCF. Whereas the group had once been able to run its own programs freely and without interference, Campbell now limited the CCF to three speakers a year. She would vet the speakers in advance and monitor them when they spoke. In the summer of 2002, the CCF invited me to speak -- one of its members had read my novel. Since I had never spoken or written about Islam, I apparently passed muster. That same summer Campbell had invited Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to lay the groundwork for a Muslim cultural center at Chautauqua. This was the same New Jersey slumlord who called the U.S. an accessory to the crime of September 11 and demanded that President George W. Bush give an America Culpa speech to acknowledge the harm America had done to the Islamic world. Rauf would secure his fifteen-minutes of fame in the scheme to build a mosque and community center at the site of Ground Zero, a project that, if nothing else, gave the woke an extended opportunity to spawn new Islamophobes and scold them. When the CCF invited me to speak at the institution, I was not aware that Campbell had seized control or that she had started her Abrahamic stool-building. I would learn soon enough. Addressing what I called the "illiberal orthodoxy of the media, I dedicated most of my talk to the medias crude stereotyping of the religious right. Towards the end, I pointed out the one notable exception to the medias anti-conservative bias. "Islamic extremists in America, I argued, have proven to be exactly the bogeyman that the media have long imagined the Christian right to be -- patriarchal, theocratic, sexist, homophobic, anti-choice, and openly anti-Semitic." I then spoke of a particularly honorable and brave Muslim moderate named Sheik Muhammad Kabani to make the case that extremism was something of a norm. I cited his testimony that 80 percent of the mosques in America were in the hands of extremists and added that some were not above encouraging murder to get their way. Kabani, the chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, had made this claim at a State Department event in 1999. His numbers came from his own eight-year study of 114 mosques. Campbell had one of her minions monitor my talk and record it without my permission. She apparently did not like what she heard. Her reaction as headlined in the Chautauquan Daily -- Brown (sic) comments on Cashill statement -- was a minor masterpiece of do-gooder doubletalk. Campbell began with progressive boilerplate about the institutions commitment to a free exchange of ideas. She then quickly segued into the inevitable caveats. One was that speakers be respectful of the views of all. The second was that their information be factual. Campbell was to be the judge of both, and an unforgiving judge she proved to be. Jack Cashill stepped outside the boundaries of civil discourse, she ruled. Several of his comments were not only provocative, but potentially harmful. The only evidence of potential harm that Campbell mentioned was my reference to Kabani. She did not claim I misquoted him, but rather that I had taken the quote out of the context of Kabanis own struggle with Saudi Arabia. In a historically Christian summer community of ten thousand with no known Muslims in residence, Campbell branded me an Islamophobe for failing to acknowledge the intramural nuances of Muslim politics. This was nuts. The Kabani statement feeds fear and prejudice, Campbell claimed. Pandering to fear through innuendo can hardly be defined as civil discourse. I was learning what the CCF already knew: tolerance was not exactly in the woke wheelhouse. In Rushdies previous appearances, both to appease Campbell and to protect his own life, he was careful to stay inside the Institutions boundaries of civil discourse. His cautions protected him from the wrath of the institution, but tragically, alas, they could not protect him from the wrath of the world beyond its gates. For more about Jack Cashill, see www.Cashill.com. Russia's bloody and senseless war against Ukraine has been going on for almost six months. Instead of the original goal of quickly seizing Ukraine and turning it into a puppet state or a province (the name "Ukraine" is derived from the Russian word for outskirts"), Russia has suddenly encountered an impenetrable wall of resistance. Two questions logically arise: 1) why did Russia attack Ukraine? and 2) how and when will the war end? Today's Russia is the heir to two political formations: feudal and then capitalist tsarist Russia, which died in 1917, and the communist Soviet Union, which lost the Cold War and disintegrated in 1991. Throughout its millennial history, the Russian Empire and its successor, the Soviet Union, have always aimed at expanding their territory at the expense of foreign lands and establishing control over other countries. At the same time Russia never paid the slightest attention to the development of its internal infrastructure and improving the lives of people. Hence the popular Russian saying: "There are only two problems in Russia: bad roads and fools, where the fools tell people which road to take. In the peasant country of Russia (until the mid-16th century it was called Principality of Muscovy) there has always been slavery (serfdom): from 11th century till 1861 under the princes and tsars, and then under Bolsheviks from 1928 to 1974. A lack of individual freedom gradually formed the passive slave mentality of the Russian people (I must note here in Ukraine there never was slavery, so the mentality of the Ukrainian people is very different). A slave does not want freedom, a slave wants others to become slaves this miserable idea is engrained into the flesh and blood of the Russian people. They are very tolerant, obedient and ready for endless deprivation and suffering if only "not to get worse." For its ability to tolerate any misery, Russia cannot be defeated from the outside, especially since it has nuclear weapons. The good news is that under certain circumstances (as discussed below) it can slowly decay from within, dying on its own without external force. Of course, there is always a small number of active selfless people who want change, but their activity under the Soviet rule and in our time has been brutally suppressed with the silent approval of the masses. The level of repression under Putin can only be compared to that of Nazi Germany. For example, the invasion of Ukraine is ordered to be called a "special operation," and anyone who uses the word "war" is arrested and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. Russia's ruling elite is used to living by imitating the West and enjoying imported things. Just two hundred years ago few of the Russian nobility knew Russian language (they spoke French or German), and absolutely all quality objects, from clothing, to weapons, to machines for factories, were imported from Europe. In the 1930s, almost the entire heavy industry of the USSR was built by the American firms. One could say that Russia has been embedded into the world economy for centuries: it exported raw materials and imported everything else. Today, Russia produces no manufactured goods (except old-fashioned weapons) and is completely dependent on the import of end products. Several years ago I was invited to give a lecture on modern electronics at a Russian university, my alma mater. During my presentation I noticed the total indifference of the students: no one took notes, they yawned, looked not at the slides, but at the ceiling, etc. After the lecture, everyone left without asking a single question and these were the grad students from the radio-electronics department! I asked my friend, the head of the department: Weren't they interested? Maybe they didn't understand? He answered: They did not want to understand! The main idea for them is to get a formal degree as quickly as possible and become officials, so they could live happily off bribes. That same evening my former classmates (we were all in our early seventies), whom I had not seen for almost half a century, invited me for a dinner. I asked: Guys, how do you live in your retirement? They laughed: What retirement? The authorities don't let us retire. We work at the military plants that still produce weapons developed in the 60's and 70's of the last century. We know the designs in and out, so we can maintain the production, but there's nobody to replace us And what about the young university graduates?, I asked. You saw those graduates at your lecture today, they are completely ignorant and know nothing So, what will happen when you are gone? It will be bad, very bad, said my peers. After the collapse of the USSR, tens of thousands of highly qualified specialists left the country forever and now the scientific and technical level in Russia is extremely low. The Russian propaganda about "hypersonic rockets, "nuclear-powered" airplanes, and other fantasy projects is nothing more than fairy tales to be fed to its own naive population. Russia has lagged behind other developed countries by at least half a century and there is not the slightest chance of catching up. Russian soldiers are fighting in Ukraine with outdated weapons, 50-60 years old, whose effectiveness is not comparable to those supplied by the US, U.K. and other countries. Nevertheless, they have a huge stockpile of the old-fashioned weapons, and until it runs out, Russia will fight. Everything that Russia has done during its entire history was with a gigantic waste of resources, both human and material, and that is how Russia achieved its goals. Yet, it won't work like that this time: no American lend-lease, no powerful allies. India, Iran, or North Korea don't count. Quantity will not trump quality! The massive sanctions imposed by Western countries certainly have had a strong impact on Russia's ability to produce weapons, but the sanctions have had only a small effect on the mood of ordinary people accustomed to patience and obedience. If cars disappear from the market, Russians will ride horse-drawn carts. If there are no smartphones, they will use landlines. If wires disappear and there is no paper for letters, they will write on birch bark, like 500 years ago if only "not to get worse." Alas, "worse" for this people has no limit. The Russian people will tolerate anything and swallow any propaganda garbage. No totalitarian state can live without an ideology. In the USSR, it was the communist ideas of Marx. Later it became clear that Marxism everywhere had failed repeatedly and miserably (which, incidentally, does not prevent the American left and other "progressives" from flirting with Marxism). Under Putin, instead of Marxism, a militaristic ideology based on megalomania has been adopted: "We are the strongest, the most spiritual, the most invincible, everyone is afraid of us!" The country launched mass military hysteria at all levels, from kindergartens to universities. However, this could not go on indefinitely; the intense militaristic heat grew and demanded a vent Russia needed an enemy which could be attacked and defeated with impunity "with little blood and on foreign soil" (the same slogan as Stalin propaganda used before WW2). The role of the enemy was assigned to Ukraine, the hatred for which Russian propaganda furiously and unabashedly built up after the seizure of Crimea in 2014. As soon as Covid was removed from the agenda, war with Ukraine became inevitable. When the "blitzkrieg" that began on February 24, 2022, completely failed, the purpose for the war urgently had to be modified; now the purpose of the war is the war itself. No longer does Russia need to conquer Donbass or Kiev. all it needs now is a permanent war. And the longer it lasts, the better for Putin's regime. There is simply no other way for Putin or his cronies to survive: they are no longer able to leave their positions and retire or escape to other countries. Their situation is utterly hopeless even in the event of a hypothetical victory over Ukraine, Russia will inevitably collapse, for being under sanctions, its economy will not be able to support occupation of the second largest geographical European country. War is the only "glue" that can hold Russia together for a while. In reality, there is not the slightest chance for Russia to permanently defeat Ukraine. Even a small victory over a single area, if it happens, would only be temporary. Therefore, for Putin its absolutely impossible to end the war leaving Ukraine without victory means admitting defeat, which his own comrades-in-arms will not forgive. If Putin cannot end the war, then the war must end Putin. In 2019, Putin rode a hortse for the cameras (YouTube scrreengrab) The war can come to an end only with a complete victory for Ukraine and the end of Putin. I mean the physical end of him. During the entire history of Russia and the USSR, with few exceptions, their leaders have not died peacefully in their beds. Their end typically was violent. When might this happen to Putin? I am not Nostradamus able to predict the future, but based on what we roughly know about Russia's weapons reserves, its ability to recruit soldiers, and the rate of which Ukraine is accumulating advanced precision weapons, it seems to me that the end of Putin and his regime, with a complete expulsion from the Ukrainian territory, could occur by about the summer of 2023. What will happen after Ukraine's victory? It makes no sense to compare Russia to Germany or Japan after their defeat in WW2. Those countries were conquered, and the entire population was forced into reeducation. That process took about 20 years, the life span of one generation. After the Exodus of Jews from Egypt, Moses led his people to wander through the desert for 40 years the life span of two generations. He wanted the former slaves to lose their slave mentality and to give birth to a generation of people with a free spirit. No one is interested in conquering Russia and no one will forcibly reeducate the Russian people. They must do it themselves. Without the external pressure, a self-reeducation may be much longer than 40 years. The bitter path of decay and disintegration and then repentance may take as long as a century. In the future, Russia (if that name is kept) will inevitably have to be reborn on its own, so that the slave genotype disappears and a new freedom-loving and civilized nation emerges. Let us hope so. Authors website: www.fraden.com In 1988, Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was published. In the 34 years since then, he lived under the shadow of an Iranian fatwa backed by a healthy prize purse. On Friday, Hadi Matar, a New Jersey resident, tried to make good on that fatwa, repeatedly stabbing Rushdie during the latter's appearance in Chautauqua, New York, grievously wounding the 75-year-old author. Matar's conduct reveals where all censorship eventually ends: with a death sentence. That's something for Americans in 2022 to think about. Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie was raised in Bombay and England. After attending Rugby and King's College, Cambridge, and spending a short time in Pakistan, where his family had moved, Rushdie settled permanently in England. He began writing fiction in the mid-1970s and became famous with his second book, Midnight's Children, published in 1981. He wrote several other well received novels, but it was 1988's Satanic Verses that catapulted him to a level of fame that ended with his sustained multiple, nearly life-threatening stab wounds in a small town in upstate New York. Rushdie's problem was that The Satanic Verses depicted Muhammad, he of the Koran, in an irreverent light. Muslims were outraged, and several predominantly Muslim countries banned the book. Iran went a step farther. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shia fanatic who sparked the revolution bringing radical Islam to Iran, announced that the book was blasphemous and, in keeping with typical Islamic behavior, called for the author's death by issuing a fatwa. This was backed up with a $2.5-million bounty. The fatwa forced Rushdie to live in hiding for six years, sparked massive Muslim riots across the globe, led to bombs being planted in England, and saw an Italian translator beaten and knifed and a Japanese translator murdered. In 1998, as part of restoring dealings with the U.K., Iran's foreign minister announced that Iran would no longer seek Rushdie's death, nor would it encourage others to do so. While that may have been Iran's official position, it didn't stop clerics from demanding Rushdie's death, nor Iranian organizations from adding money to the bounty. By 2016, the bounty had grown to almost $4 million although, presumably, the pleasure of murdering a blasphemer would be a sufficient reward for a devout Muslim. After all, in Pakistan, people routinely murder alleged blasphemers for free. Image: Sir Salman Rushdie by ChrissKockelmann. CC BY-SA 4.0. Still, Rushdie must have felt safe in Chautauqua, New York, a small town in the southwestern corner of the state, by Lake Erie. The town was the home of the first Chautauqua in America, giving its name to the hugely popular adult education and social movements that swept America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were typical of the American drive for self-improvement. Rushdie's appearance in the small town (before a very large audience) was entirely consistent with that movement, for he is a living symbol of intellectual uplift. Islam, though, has no room for free speech or free thought. Hadi Matar, whose social media show that "he is sympathetic to Shia extremism and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps causes," holds the Islamic view that those who express ideas that challenge the totalitarian ideology need to be killed. Therefore, while Rushdie was speaking, Matar leaped onto the stage, stabbing the author around 15 times. Even before the news detailing Rushdie's injuries broke, it was obvious that the attack was horrific. Rushdie's blood was spattered across the screen behind his chair, which meant deep wounds and possible arterial lacerations. One witness described "blood erupting." Andrew Wylie, Rushdie's literary agent, later stated how grievously wounded Rushdie had been: "The news is not good. Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged." Injury to Rushdie's liver alone explains all the blood. The liver is like a giant sponge and, when lacerated, bleeds profusely, with the flow difficult to stanch. What happened to Rushdie is appalling, but it's to be expected when a totalitarian power encourages fanatics to police any ideas that threaten that power. We're not there yet in America, but we are drifting closer. For example, after the Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the states, various leftists threatened to kill Supreme Court justices and the Democrat party, from Biden on down, refused to criticize these statements. That tacit approval ended with a deranged so-called "transgender" man allegedly planning to murder three conservative justices, starting with Brett Kavanaugh. Across America, in colleges and universities and, increasingly, in high schools and below, students are being taught that words are violence and even that silence is violence. They believe that speech that offends them justifies violent, even deadly, responses. Likewise, exercising one's right not to speak is also a violent offense that deserves a physical response. In other words, young Americans are being taught that the First Amendment is meaningless and that their values demand violently suppressing speech. Rushdie has my best wishes for a safe, speedy, and complete recovery. And America has my best wishes that this horrible attack helps us recognize that the First Amendment must be returned to primacy across the land. Yesterday, Vice President Harris, the nation's foremost word salad chef, delivered her latest catastrophe at an Oakland Generation Fund event. "So equity, as a concept, says: Recognize that everyone has the same capacity, but in order for them to have equal opportunity to reach that capacity, we must pay attention to this issue of equity if we are to expect and allow people to compete on equal footing." Kamala Harris: "Equity as a concept says recognize that everyone has the same capacity, but in order for them to have equal opportunity to reach that capacity, well, we must pay attention to this issue of equity." pic.twitter.com/Z6l0Zd8Em1 TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 12, 2022 This ends a record streak of sorts for Harris; she had gone for a month without any major oratorical setbacks. Her previous colloquial calamity occurred on July 13 at the American Rescue Plan Workforce Development Summit, when she attempted to explain the importance of transportation. "Transportation seems like maybe a small issue; it's a big issue. You need to get to go and need to be able to get where you need to go to do the work and get home." KAMALA HARRIS: "Ya need to get to go and need to be able to get where you need to go to do the work." pic.twitter.com/ueNSjh9VI3 RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 13, 2022 Also in July, when asked about the failure of Democrat presidents and Democrat-controlled Congresses to codify abortion "rights" during the 50 years that Roe v. Wade stood, Harris failed to construct a meaningful sentence: "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. Certain issues are just settled." did past Dems fail by not codifying Roe v. Wade over the past five decades? Harris: 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. pic.twitter.com/4eF9M2Jvw6 Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 8, 2022 Harris was lost in the jungle of words while paying tribute to the victims of the July 4 parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois that left seven dead and over two dozen injured. It was most insensitive to babble incoherently following such as tragedy. Vice President Kamala Harris just spoke at the scene of the Highland Park mass shooting. We have to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to take this seriously, she said. pic.twitter.com/vpLSydpJM0 Jake Sheridan (@JakeSheridan_) July 6, 2022 Back in June, on the Juneteenth holiday, Harris claimed that the U.S. had 400 years of slavery, despite the fact that slavery ended with the conclusion of the Civil War, less than 250 years after the arrival of the first slaves in America. In May, during the ASEAN Summit, Harris could hardly muster words to explain the importance of teamwork and baffled everyone. Kamala: "We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issuesand to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together...We will work on this together"pic.twitter.com/wrklQopoMQ Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 15, 2022 Harris was at her best in March, delivering mindless pabulum. During a meeting with the Jamaican prime minister, Harris said, "We also recognize just as it has been in the United States for Jamaica one of the issues that have been presented as an issue that is economic in the way of its impact has been the pandemic." Kamala: "We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issuesand to work together as we continue to work, operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together...We will work on this together"pic.twitter.com/wrklQopoMQ Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 15, 2022 In Louisiana, Harris struggled with the metaphysics of time. KAMALA HARRIS: "The significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time...there is such great significance to the passage of time." pic.twitter.com/jUsnyNiSpB RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 21, 2022 In January during an interview on NBC News, Harris struggled to explain or defend Biden's failing strategy to combat COVID-19 and uttered the words that have come to define her level of profundity. .@craigmelvin asks if its time to change admins strategy on Covid, Harris says: It is time for us to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day. Every day it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow this thing down pic.twitter.com/8I52Q43050 Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) January 13, 2022 Last October, Harris's hammy act ruined a pre-recorded NASA video that was meant to promote scientific aptitude among young children, talking down to them as if they were six-year-olds. Shes not allowed to speak to adults anymore. pic.twitter.com/oURKkSjsnp Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 8, 2021 Last August, Kamala resorted to cackling when asked about Biden's catastrophic and unplanned withdrawal from Afghanistan that left that country more unstable than an overturned beehive. It led a BBC correspondent to remark that Harris had made America appear like an "incompetent, uncaring and unreliable" ally. Last June, Harris stumbled when NBC News's Lester Holt quizzed her about her not visiting the U.S.-Mexico border despite being assigned the task of resolving the border crisis: THIS IS BAD: Holt: "WHY not visit the border?" Harris: "We are going to the border" *NERVOUS KACKLE* Holt: "DO YOU have any plans to go to the border?" Harris: "At some point..." *SHRUGS* Holt: "YOU haven't been to the border" Harris: "I haven't been to Europe!" *KACKLE* pic.twitter.com/VKz9zIaYj5 Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 8, 2021 It is essential to state that none of these appearances was spontaneous, where Harris was caught off guard and had to speak impromptu. These weren't pressers with adversarial reporters waiting to pounce upon her. The interviews were prescheduled, and the interviewers were friendly, while the forums where she spoke had friendly audiences. Harris had ample time to be thoroughly prepared. She obviously has access to the best speechwriters, subject matter experts, and communication experts. For speeches, she had the luxury of carrying prepared notes or reading off a teleprompter. Harris's word salads demonstrate not only her considerable incapability, but also abject apathy toward her job. She doesn't even care to lift a finger to do a better job. This would explain the constant exodus of her staff, including her speechwriters. So why did Biden's handlers pick such a talentless and lazy running mate? Biden's rapidly declining cognitive state was and is perfectly obvious to anybody watching. Biden's handlers knew that any individual of reasonable abilities would have seen this as an opportunity to unseat Biden by using the 25th Amendment. The individual would have first made a strong public presentation that would inspire confidence and then work behind the scenes to dethrone Biden. When she was assigned the important task of resolving the border crisis, anyone else in Harris's place would have immediately traveled to the border and used it as an excuse to hog media footage. Harris didn't have to act or implement, but instead emulate President Obama merely talk about wanting to resolve the crisis and be seen on cameras conducting meetings. Much like Obama, she would even resort to commentary i.e., talk as though you are not responsible and feign forthrightness and sincerity. But she squandered the opportunity. Harris's constant struggles to express herself despite her functioning cognitive abilities and mental faculties make a man showing signs of dementia appear the brighter individual. Quite a feat. Biden's handlers also knew that liberals would fawn over her race, her sex, and the fact that she is the "first" among her demographic group to hold such a high office. She featured on magazine covers and received flattering coverage the moment she was selected. Biden's handlers purposefully and publicly assigned the important task of resolving the border crisis to expose Harris's inabilities early in their tenure. Any illusions created by the favorable coverage were dispelled. Harris has made Biden appear unimpeachable. Even when Democrat outlets carry pieces about Biden's unpopularity, they always refer to Harris's unpopularity, which is a euphemism for her incapability, just to make it clear that she isn't suited for the top post. Why should we waste time chronicling Kamala Harris's relentless displays of inabilities? It's because Harris's utterances are part of the national record and hence part of history. People usually refer to speeches made by the nation's top leader to be inspired to learn how sentences are constructed, and how language can be used to convey not only facts, but also sentiments and speeches are delivered. Some of these utterances have become historical milestones. Kamala Harris has done the opposite. With her inabilities and her indifference, she has become a perfect instance of how things should not be done. The headlines are damning: Trump had national security documents or classified documents or nuclear secret documents in his possession, a clear criminal violation. One former CIA head even put out a tweet effectively saying that Trump should be executed for treason. Everyone who believes that Trump committed a criminal act is wrong. These claims completely misunderstand the nature of Trump's (indeed, of every president's) plenary power and how it plays out with respect to documents and classified information. The left is ecstatic. The Washington Post hollered, "Trump warrant papers list 11 sets of classified documents seized." The Atlantic assured readers that "Not Even the President Can Declassify Nuclear Secrets: Fan letters and snapshots are one matter, and launch codes are another and here the details of classification might decide just how much trouble Trump is in." Michael Hayden, who served in the Air Force, and then went on to a career as a high-level government functionary former director of the National Security Agency, principal deputy director of National Intelligence, and director of the Central Intelligence Agency approvingly retweeted "historian" Michael Beschloss's explicit suggestion that Trump should be executed: Sounds about right. https://t.co/hJCjxhN2BQ Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) August 12, 2022 That tweet establishes that brains and an understanding of our constitutional system are not a prerequisite for being either a government hack or a leftist historian. The Democrat line is clear: Trump had classified national security documents in his possession, which is a criminal act, so he needs to be prosecuted and, preferably, executed. In fact, it is impossible for a president to mismanage classified or national security documents. Indeed, even if Biden reclassified the information, Trump still did not commit a crime. Everything the Democrats believe is dead wrong. Image: Moving Van (edited) by SGMCA. CC BY-SA 4.0; Donald Trump (edited) by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. The president of the United States has plenary power over national security issues, including document classification. That means that, under the Constitution, as to national security, the president has complete and unlimited power. He is the king of the national security world, and no one can gainsay him, whether the bureaucrats who work for him, Congress, or the Supreme Court. Democrats, however, are pushing back against this reality. The best example I've found comes from Graeme Wood, an African-American studies and philosophy major, who authored the above-mentioned Atlantic article (which is currently The Atlantic's "most popular" article). Wood reluctantly concedes some of the president's unlimited power. He quotes J. William Leonard, former head of the Information Security Oversight Office, who said that "the rules and procedures governing the classification and declassification of information apply to everyone else [other than the president]." Wood continues, saying, "[The president] would not have had to file paperwork just 'utter the magic words,' Leonard told me." In other words, Wood acknowledges that Trump, while president, by packing up and taking documents with him, automatically declassified them. Wood accurately notes that Biden could have reclassified the documents. There's no evidence, though, that he did so. In addition, even had Biden done so, that would not convert Trump into a criminal. The Constitution is extremely hostile to after-the-fact (i.e., ex post facto) criminalization of acts that were legal when taken (Art. 1, 9 and 10). Britain's habit of doing that was one of the main reasons behind the American Revolution. Wood's core argument against Trump is that a president's plenary power does not extend to nuclear secrets. The reason, Wood says, is that the Atomic Energy Acts of 1946 and 1954 produced a super-category of classification involving anything nuclear, one that overrides even the president. That's untrue. Congress cannot override the president's plenary power. Presidents can voluntarily respect a national security law, but they do not have to abide by it. Again, plenary power means, as Wikipedia summarizes, "a power that has been granted to a body or person in absolute terms, with no review of or limitations upon the exercise of that power." Wood cites Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518 (1988) to argue that nuclear secrets override the president's power. He contends that "[t]he 1988 Supreme Court case Navy v. Egan confirmed that classification authority flows from the president except in specific instances separated from his powers by law." Wrong again. The Egan decision examines only whether a civil service board can review a "laborer's" being denied national security clearance. In that context, the Supreme Court was clear about the president's plenary power, unimpeded by congressional acts: The President, after all, is the "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States." U.S.Const., Art. II, 2. His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security and to determine whether an individual is sufficiently trustworthy to occupy a position in the Executive Branch that will give that person access to such information flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President, and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant. See Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U. S. 886, 367 U. S. 890 (1961). In sum, the only proof you need that Trump declassified the documents is the fact that, when he was still president, Trump treated them as declassified. Biden cannot criminalize Trump's actions by later re-classifying the documents (and there's no evidence that he did). And of course, if there were nuclear codes, they are changed regularly and would certainly be changed from one administration to the next, meaning that any information Trump has is as useful as the cartoon in an old Bazooka bubble gum wrapper. Around the world, there are countless brutal governments who terrorize their own people. Yet American foreign policy regarding oppressive regimes is paradoxical. Some we rightly shun, while others get a pass for the purpose of trade. Political leadership in this country should call for an end to trade with any non-democratic nation, as American markets should not be financing tyranny throughout the world. The Chinese government, one of the most notorious aggressors against human rights, is winning in a trade war against the U.S. every American dollar spent buying "Made in China" products enriches the Chinese Communist Party. But it's not just the Chinese. We need to sever ties with them all. Force American companies to choose: liberty or tyranny. If they choose tyranny, they lose all access to American markets. Refusing to engage in trade with oppressive nations would send a clear message to the world. If countries want to do business with the third most populated country in the world, they must be free. Whatever business is lost by taking the moral high road can be recouped in other countries that value freedom increased trade between democracies is a good thing for the world. It is time for the United States to return to being the leader of the free world. We took on the USSR and won, and we can do the same against any nation that brings the same Soviet-style brutality to its people. Why do we profit from theocracies around the world? Why do we finance modern-day slavery in China and other nations? Why do we trade with countries exploiting child labor? Why do we conduct business with nations that treat their female citizens as less than human? Freedom is the rising tide that lifts all ships. Free and competing markets lead to innovation a unique aspect that only comes from a free citizenry, and does not exist under tyranny. Morally, there should be no picking and choosing between tyrants tyranny is tyranny. We do not trade with Iran and North Korea, but we trade with China? Is the CCP a kinder, gentler thug than the others? Of course not. The Chinese are just as brutal to their people as the other tyrants. The United States should not be helping to prop up tyranny in the world. Rather, it should be severing ties. Now, democratic nations are not perfect. There is no perfect government, since there are no perfect people. However, there is some ability to redress grievances, and the government is answerable to its people, to at least some degree. If the United States makes clear that we will trade with only democracies, future revolutions will result in at least some going the democratic route. The more democracies there are, the better for the world. Are there any resources that necessitate trade with a tyrannical government that we can't get at home or elsewhere in the world? It is certainly not energy. We have enough oil and natural gas to crash the global economy if we wanted to unleash it on the world. Is it rare earth minerals? No there are other suppliers in the world who have what we need, and the truth is far from the media narrative regarding the hype and concern. From Scientific American: But in the long run, many experts say the global market involving these materials would likely survive even if China completely stopped exporting them. China has nothing we need, including access to their markets. Most people in China are slaves to their government, lacking the resources to buy much of anything. There is absolutely no moral reason to trade with tyrants anywhere in the world. Continuing to trade only props up tyrants. We cannot be the leader of the free world and trade with those who brutalize and enslave their own people. Severing trade with tyrants is the moral thing to do. Bob Ryan is a writer who has an MBA. He is an American Christian Zionist who staunchly supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. He has been a weekly blogger at the Times of Israel since 2019. Inbal Goldberger, in a piece published to the World Economic Forum website two days ago, detailed a "solution" to online hazards. Among the obvious perversions found on the internet, Goldberger asserted that "disinformation" and "hate speech" fall under the umbrella of online abuse. However, terms like "disinformation" and "hate speech" are specious language, and as we are all painfully aware, the labels are interchangeable with "truth." Regarding the Big Tech social media giants, empirical evidence on the efficacy or lethality of the COVID shot is likely to earn a disinformation tag, while "misgendering" or "deadnaming" a dysphoric and mentally unstable adult would be hate speech despite the fact that nothing untrue or hateful would have been said. Campaigns against "disinformation" and "hate speech" are simply ones of censorship, directed at very particular demographics: political conservatives and those who oppose the agenda of the Great Reset perversity. And now Klaus Schwab's group is getting in on the censorship game, continuing to repeat polarizing propaganda. Goldberger, a cyber-security expert, said: The solution, however, is not as simple as hiring another roomful of content moderations or building yet another block list. Without a profound familiarity with different types of abuse, an understanding of hate group verbiage, fluency in terrorist languages and nuanced comprehension of disinformation campaigns, trust and safety teams can only scratch the surface. "Hate group" verbiage and fluency in terrorist languages? Well, who determines what a "hate group" or "terrorist" is? Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center? Monday marks the ten-year anniversary of an attack carried out by an actual terrorist, one emboldened by rhetoric like that of the SPLC and Goldberger. On August 15, 2012, an armed Virginia man using a "hate map" published by the SPLC entered the offices of the conservative Christian policy group and think-tank the Family Research Council, looking to kill as many staff members as possible. Thankfully, an unarmed security guard thwarted the attack. The perpetrator was quoted as saying, "I don't like these people, and I don't like what they stand for." In the wake, the SPLC remained obstinate. Executive vice president Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jerry Boykin said: Nothing speaks to the SPLC's inhumanity as much as its behavior after the shooting at FRC. Rather than remove the map used by a terrorist to attempt to kill dozens of people, the SPLC doubled down and even expanded its list to include other non-violent conservative, Christian and parent organizations who opposed the SPLC's political agenda[.] The attitudes of groups like the WEF and SPLC are clear: opponents of global tyranny and radical Marxism are terroristic, not those who commit violence in the name of political and cultural leftism. Human remains found in a mill in Oldham following a fire in May have been identified as belonging to Vietnamese national Uoc Van Nguyen, Greater Manchester Police said. The 31-year-old was one of four Vietnamese nationals reported missing to the force on July 21 and who may have been in Bismark House Mill, Bower, Street, Oldham, during a fire on May 7. He maintained regular contact with his wife until the date of the fire, at which time he said he was in a mill, police said. Teams have been searching the remnants of the mill since demolition workers discovered human remains indicating three victims on July 23. Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes, GMPs victim identification lead, sent his condolences to Uocs family. On behalf of all involved in Operation Logan, I send condolences to Uocs wife and his loved ones, he said. Specially-trained officers are in direct contact with them and to ensure they are fully updated and supported. Inquiries are ongoing to establish why Uoc and other, currently unidentified, individuals were in the mill during the fire. Anyone with information which may assist us should contact Greater Manchester Police or Crimestoppers, anonymously. Uoc Van Nguyen (Greater Manchester Police/PA) On Friday, a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police named three other people believed to have been in the mill at the time of the fire, who were reported missing on July 21. The force said Cuong Van Chu, 39, arrived in the UK in June 2019 and maintained regular contact with his wife and children until May 7, but his family had not heard from him since. The force spokesman said Duong Van Nguyen, 29, had been in the UK for about a year and last contacted his family about three months ago, when he said he was living in an abandoned house and looking for work. The fourth missing person was named as 21-year-old Nam Thanh Le, who arrived in the UK in January and last contacted his family on May 4 when he said he was living in a derelict house in Dam, believed to be Oldham, and looking for work. Rail passengers will suffer fresh misery on Saturday because of strikes by train drivers, with more industrial action planned in the coming weeks amid the worsening disputes over jobs, pay and conditions. Members of Aslef at nine train companies will walk out for 24 hours, crippling large parts of the network, with some parts of the country having no services. Football fans, tourists and holidaymakers will be among tens of thousands of passengers affected by the strikes. Aslef will mount picket lines outside railway stations, with officials saying they expect continuing support from the public despite the impact of the action. The strikes will hit Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains. Mick Whelan, Aslefs general secretary, told the PA news agency that the train companies were unable to offer a pay rise without the permission of the Department for Transport, but the Government was insisting it had nothing to do with them. He warned that if there is no breakthrough to the long-running row soon, more strikes are likely to be called. We dont want to go on strike strikes are always a last resort but the companies, and the Government, have forced our hand. We dont want to inconvenience passengers because our friends and families use public transport too, because we believe in building trust in the railways in Britain, and because we dont want to lose money by taking industrial action. Mick Whelan said train drivers did not want to strike (Nick Ansell/PA) The companies have said that they cannot, or will not, give our members an increase. They blame the Government a result, they say, of the dodgy deals they did when the franchises were turned into management contracts while the Government says its down to the train operators. So we are caught in a Catch-22 situation where each side blames the other. Aslef said that drivers on strike on Saturday have not had a pay increase for three years. The union is also balloting drivers at Chiltern Railways, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express for strikes, with the results due later this month. Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, said: The Aslef leadership has for the second time in as many weeks decided to impose yet more uncertainty for passengers and businesses by disrupting passengers weekend plans. My open invitation for talks with Aslef stands. The railway is too important to this country to allow decline but, with passenger numbers still 20% below pre-pandemic levels, securing a bright future means we have to adapt to attract more people back. Protesters on the picket line outside Leeds train station (Danny Lawson/PA) We call on Aslef to come to the table, so we can fund the pay rise we want to give our people while delivering the improvements in Sunday services and greater punctuality our passengers deserve. While we will do all that we can to minimise disruption and to get people where they need to be, if you are going to travel on the routes affected, please plan ahead and check the latest travel advice and be aware that services may start later the morning after strikes. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions will strike on August 18 and 20 while industrial action will be taken on August 19 by London Underground and London bus drivers. Meanwhile, a row continued to rage over cuts to Sunday services on Avanti West Coast, which the company and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps blamed on unofficial action by Aslef, which the union strongly denied. A Department for Transport spokesperson said of timetable changes announced by the company: People deserve certainty and confidence that their train will run on time, and while this move was unavoidable, it should minimise the fallout for passengers. This is a prime example of why we need to modernise our railways, so that passengers benefit from reliable timetables which dont rely on the good will of drivers volunteering to work overtime in the first place. The Department for Transport said it was entirely false to claim the Government was blocking negotiations. We have said from the outset we urge the unions and industry to agree a deal that is fair for railway staff, passengers and taxpayers. The department pointed out that 16 billion was spent to keep the railway running during the height of the pandemic, adding that without that support there was a risk companies would have collapsed, and thousands of jobs could have been lost. Rail workers have seen above average pay increases over the past decade, with their wages increasing by around 25% from 35,000 in 2011 to 44,000 in 2021, said the department, adding that rail staff pay increases must be fair and in line with the wider public sector. A Utah couple landed a sturgeon last week that handily broke the Idaho state record by several inches, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said in a Friday news release. Greg and Angie Poulsen, of Eagle Mountain, Utah, were fishing at C.J. Strike Reservoir on Aug. 5 when they hooked a white sturgeon. The reservoir, about an hours drive south of Boise, extends to the Snake and Bruneau rivers. The massive prehistoric sturgeon are known to inhabit the Snake River, though Fish and Game said the largest specimens are typically found in Hells Canyon. The Poulsens sturgeon measured in at 124 inches or just under 10 feet, 4 inches. The previous record, set in 2019, was 119.5 inches, just a few inches shy of the 10-foot mark. Greg and Angie Poulsen (left, middle) and Wendy Guess (right) of Eagle Mountain, Utah, hold a 124-inch white sturgeon from C.J. Strike Reservoir, clinching the current catch-and-release state record. Sturgeon fishing in Idaho is catch-and-release only, and its illegal to remove the fish from the water as their skeletons are made almost entirely of cartilage and the animals can be easily injured. Fish and Game officials said just 10 sturgeon longer than 10 feet have been documented in Idaho in the last several decades. The largest specimen was a 131.5-inch sturgeon caught in 1993 by Idaho Power biologists. White sturgeon are a slow-growing fish that dont reach sexual maturity until about 10 to 15 years in the Strike Reservoir area. They can live to be around 100 years old. C.J. Strike produced another record fish recently a 42.5-inch long catfish with a girth of 32 inches that was caught and released late last month. Salman Rushdie speaks during the Mississippi Book Festival in August 2018. (Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press) After Salman Rushdie was attacked as he began a lecture Friday in western New York, it was a potent reminder that an Islamic leader had issued a high-profile edict calling for the writer's death in reaction to his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses." That death sentence a fatwa had immediate effects on Rushdie's life, spurring him into hiding for the better part of 10 years and dogging him and others around him who were related to the publication of the book. But what exactly is a fatwa? And how might it be a factor in Friday's stabbing, which took place in front of a 2,500-person audience? We'll need a few basics first. Who is Salman Rushdie and what is his background? Rushdie was born in India in June 1947 and grew up in Bombay before relocating to England for public boarding school and then university. He worked as an advertising copywriter for years, then published his first novel, "Grimus," in 1975. He didn't gain literary acclaim until his second book, "Midnight's Children," won the 1981 Booker Prize, the United Kingdoms most prestigious literary award. Speaking on PBS in 2006, he characterized himself as "a hard-line atheist." The writer was knighted in 2007 by Britain's Queen Elizabeth for services to literature. To date, he has written 14 novels, most recently 2019's "Quichotte." Rushdie has been married four times, most recently to "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi from 2004 to 2007. He has two sons one with his first wife Clarissa Luard and another with his third wife Elizabeth West. His second wife was American author Marianne Wiggins. What is a fatwa? In simple terms, a fatwa is a decree from an Islamic religious leader. In Rushdie's case, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned The Satanic Verses as blasphemy in February 1989 and called for the writer's death. Partly because the situation was so high-profile, "fatwa" and "death sentence" became linked in U.S. popular culture. But a fatwa isn't always about violence. For example, in 2005 a group of U.S. and Canadian Muslim scholars and religious leaders issued the following fatwa: All acts of terrorism are haram, forbidden by Islam. It is haram, forbidden, to cooperate or associate with ... any act of terrorism or violence. The edict went on to say all Muslims had a civic and religious duty to cooperate with law enforcement in their effort to protect civilians. What is 'The Satanic Verses' and why was it declared offensive? "The Satanic Verses" was Rushdie's fourth novel, published in 1988. The author described the novel, written in English, as primarily a chronicle of the immigrant experience. However, devout Muslims criticized the book's characterization of Muhammad and other figures of early Islam. Notably, it depicts the prophet as momentarily weak. One Southern California Muslim told The Times at the time, "I think it is an attack on the miracle of the Koran itself." Some details about the 1989 Rushdie fatwa Rushdie immediately went into hiding after Khomeini called for his death that February. Wiggins, his wife at the time, told a U.K. paper that year that they had moved 56 times in five months every three days and always had an armed bodyguard in the wake of the announcement on Tehran radio. Khomeini died in June 1989, months after issuing the Rushdie edict, but the fatwa lived on. In 1993, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran publicly renewed the death edict against the author. The writer, who was still in hiding, appeared at a Sunday service in Cambridge, England, and told the congregation that he was facing "a straightforward terrorist threat. He vowed at the time to step up his public appearances. Has anyone else been caught up in the fallout? In July 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi, the scholar who translated "The Satanic Verses" into Japanese, was found stabbed to death in the hallway of a building on the Tsukuba University campus, northeast of Tokyo. His body had a deep knife wound in the neck and cuts on the hands and face, police said. A week earlier, Ettore Capriolo, the man who translated The Satanic Verses into Italian, had been attacked at his Milan apartment, suffering knife wounds on his neck, chest and hands. Capriolo survived the attack. The attacker had attempted, unsuccessfully, to get Capriolo to reveal Rushdie's address. In October 1993, the novels Norwegian publisher, William Nygaard, was shot three times and left for dead outside his home in Oslo. He spent months in a hospital recovering. It wasn't until 2018 that authorities filed charges and stated that the shooting was linked to "The Satanic Verses." Has anyone tried to call off the fatwa? Nope. In 1998, in an attempt to reestablish diplomatic relations with Britain, leader Mohammad Khatami said Iran wouldn't support or hinder any assassination attempt against Rushdie, but almost a decade later the state news agency said the edict was still in effect. Over the years, the bounty offered for killing Rushdie has climbed to more than $3 million. What was Rushdie doing when he was attacked? Rushdie and lecture moderator Henry Reese were about to discuss the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression," according to the website of the Chautauqua Institution, which is known for its summer lecture series. Others scheduled for upcoming lectures include ballet dancer Misty Copeland, political commentator and L.A. Times contributor Jonah Goldberg and journalist Maria Ressa. Who is the suspect in Friday's attack? A man clad in black and wearing a black mask rushed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution lecture and appeared to punch or stab Rushdie 10 to 15 times before the 75-year-old fell or was pushed to the floor. The man was immediately arrested by a state trooper who was on the scene. New York authorities identified the suspect Friday afternoon as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., according to the Daily Beast. Matar has not been charged but stands accused of stabbing Rushdie in the abdomen and neck. A doctor attending the lecture rendered aid immediately before EMTs arrived, law enforcement said, according to ABC News. Rushdie went into surgery, but his condition was not immediately known Friday afternoon. Also unclear on Friday? Matar's motive. Witness Carter Byham told The Times that the suspect "crept up real fast behind him with a short-bladed black knife" and that "the first attack was to his throat on the right side." The moderator "tackled the guy," Byham said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. This story was originally published on idahocapitalsun.com on Aug. 12, 2022. Historic flooding and park closures have contributed to a 20% decrease in visitors to Yellowstone National Park through the first seven months of 2022. In June, 536,601 people visited Yellowstone National Park, which represents a 43% decrease from the record 938,845 people who visited during June 2021, according to a press release from Yellowstone National Park. June 2021 was the busiest June on record in terms of visitors, Yellowstone officials said. Overall, year-to-date park visitation for 2022 was also down compared to 2021. Through the end of June, 1,268,053 people visited Yellowstone National Park, which is a decrease of 20% compared to the corresponding time period from 2021, park officials said. The decrease in visitation wasnt a surprise. Following days of exceptionally heavy rainfall, Yellowstone flooded June 13 and rangers and staff evacuated the park. Park officials refer to the natural disaster as a 500-year flood event. Roads and bridges were overwhelmed, mud and rock slides were set off and major damage to multiple roads were confirmed, according to a Yellowstone National Park travel and entrance advisory that is being distributed to park visitors this month. Yellowstone National Park remained closed for about a week and half following the floods before three of the parks entrances reopened to the public, spokeswoman Linda Veress told the Idaho Capital Sun. Two of the parks entrances located near areas most severely affected by the flood remain closed to vehicles. As of this articles publication, Yellowstone National Parks North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, and Northeast Entrance at Cooke City, Montana, remain closed to vehicles, although cyclists and pedestrians on foot are allowed. Additionally, public travel in vehicles is restricted north of Mammoth Hot Springs and east of Tower-Roosevelt Junction. Meanwhile, three other popular park entrances the West Entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana, the East Entrance near Cody, Wyoming, and the South Entrance located near Grand Teton National Park and Jackson, Wyoming, are open for the public and vehicle traffic. Updated park visitation data through July is expected to be released within the next two weeks, Veress said. 2022 is the 150th anniversary for Yellowstone National Park, which became the worlds first national park on March 1, 1872, after President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. Known for its geothermal features, canyons, waterfalls and diverse wildlife, most of Yellowstone is located in Wyoming, although small sections of the park extend into Idaho and Montana. Yellowstone was established and protected as a national park before Wyoming, Idaho or Montana became states. Yellowstone officials offer timelines for reopening closed sections of the park Park officials and contractors are already at work repairing damage from the floods. Earlier this month, Yellowstone officials released updated timelines showing they hope to reopen the North Entrance and Northeast Entrance to vehicles by mid-October, weather permitting. We are working pretty hard to reconnect the roads so that we could have access for regular visitor traffic by Oct. 15, Veress said. According to the timelines, park officials hope to open the two-lane Old Gardiner Road as a short term reconnection project to allow the public and vehicles to travel between Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance at Gradiner by Oct. 15. As for long-term solutions, National Park Service officials are working with Federal Highway Administration officials to analyze long-term alternatives to the permanent reconstruction of the primary road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner. This road is closed and not drivable due to several washed out road segments, Yellowstone National Park officials wrote in their updated timeline. Yellowstones timeline also calls for repairing five damaged sections of the Northeast Entrance Road between Slough Creek and Barronette Meadows in time to have that road open to regular vehicle traffic. National Park Service officials are also working on long-term plans and alternatives for the Northeast Entrance Road as well. As of this articles publication, about 93% of roads and 94% of the Yellowstone backcountry is open and accessible, according to park officials. Paraguay's Vice President Hugo Velazquez Moreno has been included on a U.S. list of politicians considered to be corrupt. (Marta Escurra / Associated Press) Hugo Velazquez Moreno said Friday he will resign next week as vice president of Paraguay after being included on a U.S. corruption list for alleged involvement in offering bribes to a public official. His inclusion on the corruption list, announced Friday morning by Marc Ostfield, the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, rocked Paraguays political world not only due to Velazquez's role in President Mario Abdo Benitezs administration but because he is seen as a leading contender to be a candidate for the Colorado Party in next years presidential election. Minutes after Ostfield spoke at a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, the capital, Velazquez expressed his innocence but said he would drop his presidential candidacy and would present his resignation to Congress next week so he could defend himself against the allegations. It really hit me like a bucket of cold water, Velazquez said during an interview with a local radio station. I don't know what he's referring to, because he didn't give too many details. Ostfield said Juan Carlos Duarte, a former prosecutor who is a personal and business associate of Moreno, was also named on the corruption list. Ostfield said Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken received credible information that showed how, at the request of Vice President Velazquez, Duarte, his close personal and professional partner, offered a bribe of more than $1 million to a public official. This was consistent with an apparent pattern of corrupt activity, and, in this case, was carried out to obstruct an investigation that threatened the vice president and his financial interests, Ostfield said. As a result of the designations, Velazquez, Duarte and their immediate family members will no longer be allowed to enter the United States. Velazquez said he is completely and totally in the dark about the allegations detailed by Ostfield. The vice president said he would resign because he wants to go out like a common citizen to defend what I think is an injustice." Abdo said the U.S. allegations surprised us all but praised Velazquez for his quick decision to drop out of the presidential race and announce his resignation. I congratulate him for his mature attitude in prioritizing the interests and the construction of credibility of our nation in announcing to the Paraguayan people that he will resign as a candidate and as vice president, the president said. In addition to his close relationship with Velazquez, Duarte is legal counsel for the entity that runs the Yacyreta Dam, which is jointly owned by Paraguay and Argentina. Duartes act of corruption abused and exploited his powerful and privileged public position within the Yacyreta Bi-National Entity, risking public confidence in one of Paraguays most vital economic assets, the State Department said. Duarte has been removed from his post at Yacyreta, Abdo said. The designation comes weeks after a former president of Paraguay, Horacio Manuel Cartes, was included on a U.S. list for his involvement in significant corruption. Cartes served as president between August 2013 and August 2018. Ostfield emphasized that the designation has nothing to do with politics, and Washington will continue working closely with President Mario Abdo Benitez and his government in a variety of issues, including the fight against corruption, impunity and against money laundering and terrorism financing. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Lina Gonzalez-Granados conducts a program including Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" for her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) For the record: 5:02 p.m. Aug. 13, 2022: A previous headline on this article referred to Lina Gonzalez-Granados as a composer. She is a conductor. Thursday night, Lina Gonzalez-Granados became the second of the four young conductors making their harrowing Los Angeles Philharmonic debuts at the Hollywood Bowl this month. They are harrowing in no small part because of the mere single rehearsal that same morning. With no hope for coaxing finesse, most debutants go in for making a big splash in the big outdoors with big effects. Gonzalez-Granados proved no exception, although she also happened to be very good at that. Then again, a morning rehearsal may have felt like a small luxury to the 36-year-old conductor from Cali, Colombia, who has been an assistant conductor to Riccardo Muti at the Chicago Symphony since February 2020. During a CSO dress rehearsal in June, Muti tested positive for COVID-19, which required Gonzalez-Granados to immediately take over and run through Beethovens Violin Concerto for the evening concert, leaving her to also conduct Brahms First Symphony cold that night. An impressed orchestra extended her position, which was supposed to end that month, for another season. Then again, Gonzalez-Granados may already have her foot out the CSO door. Her Bowl concert will be followed by an even more decisive debut next month, as she begins her new post as Los Angeles Opera's resident conductor by leading Lucia di Lammermoor for the company's opening night. In November, Gonzalez-Granados will make her third local debut, this time with the Pasadena Symphony, which is currently trying out conductors to fill the orchestras music director vacancy. Gonzalez-Granados, in fact, seemed already right at home at the Bowl. She opened with Nina Shekhars Lumina, a short sunburst of a piece, which was written while the composer was a student at USC. The schools Thornton Symphony gave the premiere in 2020 (a fact curiously left out of the Bowl program notes, for those who took the trouble to hunt them down on their cellphones). That was followed by Paganinis Sonata per la Grand Viola, a small concerto that featured L.A. Phil principal violist Teng Li as soloist. Rimsky-Korsakovs Scheherazade, after intermission, served to showcase the L.A. Phil's first associate concertmaster, Nathan Cole. Shekhars Lumina has been getting a lot of attention. The Minnesota Orchestra performed it in May. A week later the New York Philharmonic music director Jaap van Zweden added "Lumina" to a program of Beethoven and Mozart and included the piece on the orchestras tours to Germany and Vail, Colo. The 11-minute score, inspired by classic Indian music, begins like a raga finding its tones and shortly explodes like an orchestral supernova in a wash of microtones before returning to its quiet origins. Shekhar says in a video she made for the New York Philharmonic that she feels the need to focus our attention, to help us listen to our environment and honor silence. Yet despite a reasonably straightforward performance, little of that proved suitable for the Bowl. Opening silences were filled by picnickers packing up and aircrafts flying overhead. The great outburst, loudly amplified, somehow came out as a Hollywood-ish climax. The YouTube and Soundcloud recordings Shekhar links to on her website fill in the nuances lost outdoors. The Paganini piece, however, is Bowl catnip. Shaped sort of like an aria from an Italian opera from 1834 (Paganini happened to write this the same year as the Lucia Gonzalez-Granados will conduct in September), it begins with a recitative-like introduction followed by a song-like central section that leads to a propulsive theme and variations. At 12 minutes, the score is aria length. The orchestra has little to do. The viola part explores not only the instruments rich low register, but in the variations goes dazzlingly high with stratospheric harmonics. Teng Li is the soloist in Paganini's "Sonata per la Grand Viola" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Li made a meal of it. Her viola starkly expressive in the recitative, rich and resonant in the song and dazzlingly virtuosic in the variations might have been a superhuman mezzo-soprano. The Sonata was written near the end of Paganinis life, when, in poor health, he had to give up concertizing as the worlds most brilliant violinist, and is modest in comparison with his violin concertos and solo violin pieces. It is little heard or recorded. This was the L.A. Phils first performance of it. I dont imagine all that many other major orchestras have bothered with it. They should. That is if they can find their own Li. Gonzalez-Granados official title in Chicago is the somewhat demeaning Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice. Her Scheherazade" was not the work of an apprentice, but it was Solti-like. She went in for making stentorian statements. The Russians tend to treat the Sultan's brassy theme as the mysteriously ominous presence of the ruler, Shahryar, in "One Thousand and One Nights," the inspiration for Rimsky-Korsakov's score. Gonzalez-Granados made it simply a show of raw power, an aural force to glue you to your seat (or bench). Nevertheless, the many solo instrumental passages, particularly Cole's fanciful realization of Scheherazades seductive violin interjections and Burt Haras glorious clarinet ruminations, were individual triumphs. Several principal players are on vacation, and that excitingly allowed other players their moments to shine. Still, this Scheherazade came on strong and pretty much stayed that way. A well-rehearsed Lucia, which will have six performances, should present a far fuller picture of Gonzalez-Granados' artistry. And while shes at it, if she feels this strongly about Rimsky-Korsakov, how about pitching one of his wondrous yet neglected operas to L.A. Opera? This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A South Carolina judge on Thursday revoked bond for Curtis Eddie Smith, a distant cousin and alleged co-conspirator of Alex Murdaughs, sending Smith back to jail indefinitely. But it was the emergence of a new defendant not named in an earlier press release from the S.C. Attorney Generals Office caught up in the tangled web that raised new questions about the alleged money and drug scheme led by Murdaugh and Smith, 62. On Thursday, Spencer Roberts, 34, of Colleton County, was given bond by Judge Clifton Newman for two white-collar charges of getting COVID-19 unemployment insurance illegally and obtaining property by false pretenses. The charges arose, like the charges that Murdaugh and Smith now face, from state grand jury actions. Attorney General prosecutor Creighton Waters told Newman Thursday that one current warrant against Roberts charges him with applying for and accepting $24,000 in unemployment benefits during the pandemic by falsely claiming he was laid off from Sims Car Wash, and there is no such business. Waters said the other warrant charges Roberts with filing false papers with the government saying he ran a COVID-19-affected business and needed $20,000 to meet his payroll. Waters told Newman that Roberts is part of the investigation down in the Lowcountry a reference to various financial and drug crimes that Murdaugh has been charged with, according to sources familiar with the case. Roberts received downstream a substantial number of checks allegedly originating from Alex Murdaugh, Waters told the judge, adding that search warrants not yet made public in Roberts case mention Murdaugh and allege that Roberts participated in illegal acts involving a substantial amount of narcotics. Additional investigative information alleges Roberts alleged involvement in narcotics and a substantial amount of narcotics were found as a result of the search warrants, Waters said. After court, sources familiar with the case said that law enforcement believes Roberts was a key part of a pipeline that funneled drugs to Murdaugh through Smith. The sources asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Murdaughs attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, have said Murdaugh had a longtime opioid drug addiction on which he spent large amounts of money. The pipeline is believed to have worked this way, sources said: Murdaugh would give checks of stolen money to Smith, who would cash them. Then Smith would give the cash to Roberts, who would use the cash to buy drugs. Roberts would then give the drugs to Smith, who would then give them to Murdaugh, the sources said. This is an ongoing investigation. There is a lot more thats being explored and that is to include a substantial amount of drugs, Waters said. The amount of drugs is of trafficking weight, Waters said Thursday, adding that drug trafficking charges carry a mandatory minimum 25-year sentence. Waters did not explain why Roberts has not been charged with drug violations. However, prosecutors who are trying to get a person to testify against others often use the possibility of a serious charge as a lever to convince that person to talk. Roberts was arrested Monday as law enforcement served search warrants on three properties in Colleton County, Waters said. He was the central target of the search warrants, which turned up a gambling den, a Glock pistol, drugs and cash, Waters said. Roberts was at the gambling den property, he said. At Waters request, Newman set bond at $200,000 on the charges with a condition of house arrest and GPS monitoring. Roberts attorney, Mark Peper of Charleston, had urged a personal recognizance bond or a much smaller surety bond, telling the judge his client is a lifelong resident of Colleton County and has good family support. Roberts has not yet been charged with any Murdaugh-related crimes Murdaugh remains in the Richland County jail on a slew of financial-related charges and also weapons and murder charges in the June 2021 shooing deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul. He has denied the murder charges. In Smiths case, Newman sent him to jail Thursday after hearing evidence from Waters that Smith had misrepresented his financial situation at a June bond hearing by telling Newman he had no money when in fact he had nearly $60,000 in a bank account. He also had broken conditions of his bond, Waters explained. In June, when Smith was arrested, Newman let him go free on $250,000 bond on conditions he stayed on house arrest and only left home for certain limited purposes. But Waters told Newman that Smith had gone to stores and private homes that he was not supposed to. Up to now, the Murdaugh saga has involved specific allegations of murder against Murdaugh and massive fraud. Murdaugh faces numerous charges of stealing more than $8.4 million from his former law firms partners, their clients and others. But the drug allegations shared by Waters Thursday have given the sprawling criminal case a whole new dimension. Iranians reacted with praise and worry Saturday over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death. It remains unclear why Rushdies attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, N.J., stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event Friday in western New York. Irans theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. Author Salman Rushdie talks about the start of his writing career, during the Mississippi Book Festival, in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 18, 2018. Author Salman Rushdie talks about the start of his writing career, during the Mississippi Book Festival, in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 18, 2018. (Rogelio V. Solis/) But in Tehran, some willing to speak to The Associated Press offered praise for an attack targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his 1988 book The Satanic Verses. In the streets of Irans capital, images of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini still peer down at passers-by. I dont know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam, said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities. Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal. I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran, said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. This will negatively affect relations with many even Russia and China. Iranians walk past a billboard bearing the portraits of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran on Saturday. Iranians walk past a billboard bearing the portraits of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran on Saturday. (ATTA KENARE/) Khomeini, in poor health in the last year of his life after the grinding, stalemate 1980s Iran-Iraq war decimated the countrys economy, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. The Islamic edict came amid a violent uproar in the Muslim world over the novel, which some viewed as blasphemously making suggestions about the Prophet Muhammads life. I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled Satanic Verses ... as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death, Khomeini said in February 1989, according to Tehran Radio. He added: Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven. Law enforcement officers detain Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., outside the Chautauqua Institution, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in Chautauqua, N.Y.. Law enforcement officers detain Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., outside the Chautauqua Institution, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in Chautauqua, N.Y.. (Charles Fox/) Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made a point to note one man identified as being killed while trying to carry out the fatwa. Lebanese national Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a book bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London hotel on Aug. 3, 1989, just over 33 years ago. Matar, the man who attacked Rushdie on Friday, was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from the southern village of Yaroun, the towns mayor Ali Tehfe told the AP. Yaroun sits only miles away from Israel. In the past, the Israeli military has fired on what it described as positions of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah around that area. At newsstands Saturday, front-page headlines offered their own takes on the attack. The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouzs main story covered what it described as: A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie. The reformist newspaper Etemads headline asked: Salman Rushdie near death? The conservative newspaper Khorasan bore a large image of Rushdie on a stretcher, its headline blaring: Satan on the path to hell. The front pages of the Aug. 13 edition of the Iranian newspapers, Vatan-e Emrooz, front, with title reading in Farsi: "Knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie," and Hamshahri, rear, with title: "Attack on writer of Satanic Verses," are pictured in Tehran Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. The front pages of the Aug. 13 edition of the Iranian newspapers, Vatan-e Emrooz, front, with title reading in Farsi: "Knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie," and Hamshahri, rear, with title: "Attack on writer of Satanic Verses," are pictured in Tehran Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. (Vahid Salemi/) But the 15th Khordad Foundation which put the over $3 million bounty on Rushdie remained quiet at the start of the working week. Staffers there declined to immediately comment to the AP, referring questions to an official not in the office. The foundation, whose name refers to the 1963 protests against Irans former shah by Khomeinis supporters, typically focuses on providing aid to the disabled and others affected by war. But it, like other foundations known as bonyads in Iran funded in part by confiscated assets from the shahs time, often serve the political interests of the countrys hard-liners. People scan publications at a news stand in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. People scan publications at a news stand in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. (Vahid Salemi/) Reformists in Iran, those who want to slowly liberalize the countrys Shiite theocracy from inside and have better relations with the West, have sought to distance the countrys government from the edict. Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatamis foreign minister in 1998 said that the government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it. Rushdie slowly began to re-emerge into public life around that time. But some in Iran have never forgotten the fatwa against him. On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a good feeling after seeing Rushdie attacked. This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people, he said. A remote Icelandic community is fighting to save puffin chicks. Every year residents of Heimaey, an island off the coast of Iceland, form puffin patrols to rescue chicks, known as pufflings. Kolbrun Sol Ingolfsdottir, one of the towns residents, told the PA news agency that she has been going on puffin patrols since she was a little girl. Ive been on puffin patrols since I was maybe five years old, she said. And its so fun going now with my own children. However, she said that the puffin population has been in decline for the past couple of years. When I was a little girl, we would maybe find 40-50 pufflings in one hour, she said. That was a lot of fun, (back) then there were a lot of puffins, but it has gone down slowly now for a couple of years. Local children, out on Pysjueftirlitio (Puffing patrol) (Aaron Chown/PA) The Sea Life Trust Puffin Rescue Centre rehabilitates and cleans any injured or oiled pufflings at the rescue centre in Heimaey. Audrey Padgett, general manager at the centre, said: The last two years, we saw more than 7,000 baby birds rescued and released each year. And last year we helped release about 31 of them that had been oiled or injured. A rescued puffin is fed in the Sea Life Trust Puffin Rescue Centre (Aaron Chown/PA) She added that they had seen worrying conditions this year. She said: This year though were seeing some really worrying conditions on this island in particular. Were only seeing about 35% of the burrows have chicks in them, and a very low nesting rate. So the scientists who are studying them are trying to figure out what might be going on. Is it changing ocean temperature, availability of food, avian flu, anything like that that could be affecting these birds? And so its more important than ever that we help any of those baby pufflings get out to the sea that we can. A day after Salman Rushdie was stabbed Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York, authorities announced the suspect was arrested on an attempted murder charge. Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery after the attack. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said Friday night the author is currently on a ventilator and cannot speak. He said Rushdie will likely lose an eye, adding that the nerves in his arm were "severed" and his liver was "stabbed and damaged." Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. Matar was arrested for attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, New York State Police said in a statement Saturday. The suspect was transported to Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned on Saturday, they said. He was arrested at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak. Matar was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, Mayor Ali Tehfe told The Associated Press. His birth was a decade after the publishing of "The Satanic Verses" Rushdie's 1988 novel that drew death threats from Iran's leader decades ago. The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said. An official from Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah told Reuters on Saturday the group doesn't "know anything" about the suspect and decline comment. Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institution's 750-acre grounds, Michael Hill, the institution's president, said. The suspect's attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment. Matar's home was blocked off by authorities. New video shows the chaos moments after notable author Salman Rushdie was stabbed. Police units were on stage within seconds. Video via MentNews pic.twitter.com/po8x0mrpj9 Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) August 12, 2022 WNY News Now captured video of Matar being transferred to the Chautauqua County jail late Friday night from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown. "The Satanic Verses" was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie's death. Iran's theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no rationale for Friday's assault. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed Saturday by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie's wounds as "serious but recoverable." Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriff's deputy were assigned to Rushdie's lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million to anyone who killed him. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie's appearance. The assailant ran onto the platform "and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, 'What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten," Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds. Dramatic video of the aftermath of the attack was posted on social media. Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask. "We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there's still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds" that it wasn't, she said. Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater. The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's attack, which led an evening news bulletin on Iranian state television. From the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the attack as "reprehensible" and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a quick recovery. "This act of violence is appalling," Sullivan said in a statement. "We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing." "Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event," New York Governor Kathy Hochul tweeted after the attack. Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes, and the literary world recoiled at what Ian McEwan, a novelist and Rushdie's friend, described as "an assault on freedom of thought and speech." "Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world," McEwan said in a statement. "He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and he will not be deterred." PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said the organization didn't know of any comparable act of violence against a literary writer in the U.S. Rushdie was once president of the group, which advocates for writers and free expression. After the publication of "The Satanic Verses," often-violent protests erupted across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family. At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie's hometown of Mumbai. 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. Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa calling for Rushdie's death. Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn't focused on the writer. The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, "Joseph Anton," about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk the same year the memoir came out that terrorism was really the art of fear. "The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid," he said. Anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered long after Khomeini's decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016. An AP journalist who went to the Tehran office of the 15 Khordad Foundation, which put up the millions for the bounty on Rushdie, found it closed Friday night on the Iranian weekend. No one answered calls to its listed telephone number. Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel "Midnight's Children," but his name became known around the world after "The Satanic Verses." Widely regarded as one of Britain's finest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal accolade for people who have made a major contribution to the arts, science or public life. Organizers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which opens Saturday in Scotland and is one of the world's largest literary gatherings, are encouraging guest authors to read a sentence from Rushdie's work at the start of their events. "We are inspired by his courage and are thinking of him at this difficult time," festival director Nick Barley said. "This tragedy is a painful reminder of the fragility of things we hold dear and a call to action: We won't be intimidated by those who would use violence rather than words." The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night. The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before. At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence. "Hate can't win," one man shouted. This story was originally published by CBS News on Aug. 13, 2022. RELATED CONTENT: Salman Rushdie Attacked On Lecture Stage In New York Olympian Kim Glass Attacked in LA, Man Charged With Felony Assault Dave Chappelle Attacked by Man While Onstage at Hollywood Bowl Ireland Baldwin Reveals She Was Attacked, Posts Pic of Bruised Face Sir Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator and may lose an eye after he was stabbed on stage in New York state. The 75-year-old Indian-born British author sustained nerve damage to his arm and damage to his liver, according to the New York Times. New York state police have named the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, and he has been arrested for attempted murder and assault. The police announced on Saturday that Matar has been transported to Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned later in the day. Sir Salman, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua some 65 miles southwest of Buffalo, when the incident occurred. He was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to police officials, before he was taken to hospital. According to the NYT Sir Salmans agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak. Mr Wylie added the news was not good and the author will likely lose one eye. He said the nerves in Sir Salmans arm were severed in the attack and his liver was stabbed and damaged. Major Eugene Staniszweski of New York State Police said late on Friday: Earlier today at approximately 10.47am, guest speaker Salman Rushdie, aged 75, and Ralph Henry Reese, age 73, had just arrived on stage at the institution. Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped on to the stage and attacked Mr Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen. Several members of the staff at the institution and audience members rushed the suspect and took him to the ground, and shortly thereafter, a trooper who was at the institution took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a Chautauqua County Sheriffs deputy. Author Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution (Joshua Goodman/AP) Mr Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor who was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene. Mr Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma centre and is still currently undergoing surgery. Photos from the Associated Press (AP) news agency showed Sir Salman lying on his back with his legs in the air and a first responder crouched over him. His book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous, and its publication prompted Irans then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Mr Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution, suffered a minor head injury. They were due to discuss Americas role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression. A video posted to Twitter by an AP reporter in the audience showed a man dressed in black being led away from the stage. New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved Sir Salmans life. She added: He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone whos been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life. The Chautauqua Institution, which was hosting the lecture, tweeted about the incident, writing: We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on co-ordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the amphitheatre today. Its president Michael Hill said: What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history. We were founded to bring people together and community to learn and in doing so, to create solutions through action, to develop empathy and to take on intractable problems. Sir Salman is taken on a stretcher to a helicopter for transport to a hospital (AP) Today now were called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits hate. Jeremy Genovese, 68, from Beachwood, Ohio, a retired academic from Cleveland State University, told the PA news agency he arrived at the amphitheatre as it was being evacuated and people were streaming out. He said: People were in shock, many people in tears. Chautauqua has always prided itself as a place where people can engage in civil dialogue. The amphitheatre is a large outdoor venue where people have given lectures since the late 1800s. You need a pass to access the grounds but it is not too difficult to get in. Protests in the UK about the publication of the novel The Satanic Verses in 1989 (PA) Sir Salmans publisher Penguin Random House said they are deeply shocked and appalled by the incident. Chief executive Markus Dohle said in a statement to PA: We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. He added: Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay. Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: Salman Rushdie has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them. This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on those values. The whole Labour Party is praying for his full recovery. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing. Sir Salman was previously president of PEN America, which celebrates free expression and speech, and chief executive Suzanne Nossel condemned the attack. @SuzanneNossel, CEO of PEN America, issued the following statement in response to the attack on author @SalmanRushdie: PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was PEN America (@PENamerica) August 12, 2022 She tweeted: PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former president and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie. She added: Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced. Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnights Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981. It went on to bring him worldwide fame and was named best of the Bookers on the literary awards 25th anniversary. Blood stains mark a screen on the stage where author Sir Salman Rushdie was during a knife attack during a lecture in New York (Joshua Goodman/AP) The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses. Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 hit film Bridget Joness Diary. The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salmans killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands. He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queens Birthday Honours. Tory leadership contender Rishi Sunak has said the stabbing of Sir Salman Rushdie should be a wake-up call for the West about the threat which Iran still poses. In the aftermath of the attack on the 75-year-old author, the former chancellor warned attempts to revive the international Iran nuclear deal may have reached a dead end. He also suggested that there could be a case for imposing sanctions on Irans hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). On Saturday, Hadi Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, entered pleas of not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at court in Mayville, New York State. Sir Salman Rushdie (Ian Nicholson/PA) The 24-year-old was born in the US to parents who emigrated from southern Lebanon and a review of his social media accounts suggested he was sympathetic to the cause of the IRGC, according to US media reports. Sir Salman had been living with death threats since 1988 when Irans then supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeni issued a fatwa denouncing his novel, The Satanic Verses, as blasphemous to Islam. In 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence but the fatwa was never fully rescinded and some Iranian media have reportedly welcomed the attack on the writer. In a statement, Mr Sunak suggested attempts to revive the international nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under which Iran was supposed to give up its attempts to develop nuclear weapons in return for the easing of sanctions may be futile. Salman Rushdie has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them. This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on those values. The whole Labour Party is praying for his full recovery. https://t.co/pgG8dY8GV2 Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 13, 2022 A nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to our ally Israel, and indeed imperil the whole of Europe with ballistic missile capability, he said. We urgently need a new, strengthened deal and much tougher sanctions, and if we cant get results then we have to start asking whether the JCPOA is at a dead end. The brutal stabbing of Salman Rushdie should be a wake-up call for the West, and Irans reaction to the attack strengthens the case for proscribing the IRGC. Earlier, Boris Johnson said he was appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: Salman Rushdie has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them. This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on those values. The whole Labour Party is praying for his full recovery. US President Joe Biden said he was shocked and saddened by the attack on the writer. Salman Rushdie with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear, he said. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression. The UK could see temperatures as high as 35C this weekend, amid wildfires, drought, and thunderstorms. It comes as the southern half of the UK has been beset by drought conditions this weekend, while the northern half braces for thunderstorms on Sunday. An amber heat warning has been issued by the Met Office. This means heat-related illnesses including sunburn and heat exhaustion are likely among the general population, and delays to public transport are possible. Meanwhile, yellow thunderstorm warnings are in place from noon on Sunday until 6am on Monday for most of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and from 10am until midnight for Wales and England. (PA Graphics) Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said that the weather will continue to be dry across the south. For the rest of the weekend, across the south, there will be a continuation of the very dry and hot conditions, he said. Were looking at temperatures, for the remainder of Saturday, of up to 34C or 35C across the south, feeling a little bit fresher across the north, but temperatures up there still well above where they should be for the time of year. As we move into, into Sunday, a slight change with low pressure starting to arrive from the south. There is an increasing risk of some isolated showers across Devon and Cornwall, very early on Sunday. Most places still generally dry and fine, with some strong August sunshine, with those temperatures rising rapidly during the course of Sunday morning and into the afternoon. He added that there was still a risk of more wildfires. It has been extremely dry for an extended period and the ground and vegetation has been baked dry, so there is a significant risk. People sit on the dry grass of Primrose Hill, north London (Dominic Lipinski/PA) An official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group (NDG), which comprises representatives from the Government, water companies, the Environment Agency (EA) and others. Englands drought could persist into the next year, according to the EA. John Curtin, executive director for local operations at the EA, said that after the driest summer in 50 years, it would take weeks worth of rain to replenish water sources. Three water companies, Welsh Water, Southern Water, and South East Water, have all imposed hosepipe bans, while Yorkshire Water has announced a ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water is planning one in the coming weeks. On Friday night, fire crews in Derbyshire tackled a huge blaze, with four fire engines at the scene in Creswell, Worksop. Footage shared online showed flames filling the horizon and large plumes of smoke in the sky above a residential area. It's been an exceptionally hot day in most places Here's a look at today's provisional top temperatures in each of the home nations #heatwave #heatwave2022 pic.twitter.com/ZjixgQFlKH Met Office (@metoffice) August 13, 2022 In Dorset, a team of firefighters worked through the night to bring a wildfire at Studland under control, which was believed to have been sparked by a disposable barbecue. Dorset Police said on Saturday firefighters had discovered an unexploded piece of ammunition believed to date to the Second World War on the scorched heathland. The force said a bomb disposal unit would be attending and warned the public in the surrounding area they may hear a loud bang as they dispose of the device. It comes as Dorset Police appealed for anyone with any information about the cause of a large heath fire in Poole on August 4 to come forward. Witnesses saw three young boys on bicycles making off from the scene at Upton Heath at about 2.30pm. The fire had a significant impact on the community, and took firefighters several hours to put out. (PA Graphics) Elsewhere, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is currently battling a large wildfire in the town of Camborne. At just after 3pm, the service said eight fire appliances were trying to control the blaze on Kerrier Way. At 4.20pm, it asked the public to stay away from the scene, which is close to a residential area, due to the potential of live electric wires falling, and to allow further fire engine to reach the fire. While a body was found in a Doncaster lake after emergency services responded to reports that a man in his 20s had got into difficulty. Emergency services attended the scene at Lakeside lake at around 4.10pm on Saturday, South Yorkshire Police said. The sweltering temperatures also affected the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, where a planned mass take-off at 6pm had to be cancelled. The events organisers said that, in very hot weather, the hot air balloons rise so high they can get caught in currents of air high up in the atmosphere, which is dangerous for the pilots and crew. The Nightglow event, where balloons perform a light show, is due to take place at 9pm as planned. Restaurant Weeks summer 2022 incarnation is lasting 30 days to commemorate 30 years. With more than 600 restaurants participating in all five boroughs, its impossible to try them all. A quick scan of the Restaurant Week site yielded this sampling of enticing eateries and mouthwatering morsels. Sylvia''s soul food restaurant Sylvia''s soul food restaurant (Mario Tama/) 1. Sylvias Restaurant The vaunted soul food eatery, celebrating its 60th birthday this month, is merging two of its most beloved offerings into one delectable combo dish to mark its anniversary and Restaurant Week its world-famous barbecued ribs and fried chicken. 328 Malcolm X Blvd., Manhattan 2. Gallaghers Steakhouse From a prohibition-era speakeasy to renowned steakhouse, Gallaghers has emerged from the worst of pandemic lockdown to rebound with its still-signature steak lunch special. This Theater District mainstay stocks its meat-aging room with USDA Prime dry-aged beef, and it is offering them for $30 lunch and $30 Sunday lunch/brunch 228 W. 52nd St., Manhattan 3. Arthur Avenue Fiasco If youve been wanting to try the famed Arthur Ave., a good place to start might be Arthur Avenue Fiasco, on the eponymous street in Bronxs Little Italy. For $30 weekday lunch or Sunday lunch/brunch, or a $45 dinner, you can sample classic Italian American dishes. 2376 Arthur Ave., Bronx The Carlyle The Carlyle (Shutterstock/) 4. Dowlings at The Carlyle If youre hankering to get swanky, head to the Upper East Side to Dowlings at The Carlyle for its Restaurant Week prix fixe lunch or dinner. The eatery, which opened at the end of last year in the Carlyle Hotel, features the culinary creations of Sylvain Delpique, formerly of 21 Club. Tableside prep is one emphasis of his menu that features his interpretations of timeless New York favorites and throwback dishes from another era, according to the spots website. 35 E. 76th St., Manhattan 5. The Fulton From Monday to Friday through Aug. 21, The Fulton is offering a delectable-looking prix fixe lunch menu whose appetizers include Long Island fluke and heirloom cucumber salad, followed by fish tacos, salmon or glazed chicken. The location at the end of South Street Seaports Pier 17 offers breathtaking waterfront views from floor-to-ceiling windows, or a patio. 89 S. St., Manhattan City Winery City Winery (NOAM GALAI/) 6. City Winery Chelseas City Winery, in addition to a lengthy $45 and $60 prix fixe menu for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, is perched right on Pier 57, overlooking Hudson River Park, with the inevitable sunsets over the Hudson. This Wine Spectator winner is also a full-fledged performance space, among other amenities. Pier 57 at Hudson River Park, 25 11th Ave., Manhattan 7. Bar Boulud Another Wine Spectator winner, this Upper West Side eatery is among the 100 restaurants serving up $30 bottles of wine to commemorate the 30th year of Restaurant Week. That is on top of truffled pork sausage, trout amandine and escargot, among other French fare in its Monday-Friday $45 lunch and $60 dinner options. 1900 Broadway at W. 64th St., Manhattan 8. HanGawi For $16, you can add a lychee mojito soju cocktail to your summer appetizer platter of chilled pumpkin porridge with stuffed shiitake mushroom, eggplant rolls, kimchi vermicelli rolls and baby dumplings and summer bibimbap, all vegetarian, in the $60 prix fixe dinner at this Koreatown spot. 12 E. 32nd St., Manhattan 9. Fonda This Park Slope Mexican restaurant is offering a $45 dinner weekdays and on Sundays, consisting of some variation of Roberto Santibanezs vision. Raised in Mexico City and trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, the teacher, author and chef has a unique take on enchiladas, tortillas and adobo. Thoughtfully crafted margaritas, per its Restaurant Week entry, are extra. 434 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn 10. Rabbit House Omakase and Sake Bar This Lower East Side Japanese restaurants signature addicted pork spare rib, is on offer at reduced price as part of Restaurant Week. And thats just the start of a menu including striped bass crudo with green gazpacho, cold udon with summer truffle broth and choice of Long Island duck breast or mushrooms. Chef and sake sommelier Yoshiko Sakumas hat-tip to Restaurant Weeks 30th anniversary is a $30 sake pairing. 41 Essex St., Manhattan Liz Truss has pledged her commitment to uphold the United Kingdom as she hit out at politicians in the devolved administrations for playing political games rather than delivering for voters. The Foreign Secretary said that if she succeeds in becoming prime minister, she would also take on the role of minister for the Union a position created and held by Boris Johnson. Her intervention came after she sparked controversy by denouncing Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as an attention seeker suggesting she would ignore her demands for a fresh referendum on independence. Her comments were seized on by the SNP leader who said it showed Ms Truss would ignore Scotland if she wins the race for the Tory crown in a ballot among party activists. In a statement, Ms Truss who remains the clear favourite to succeed Mr Johnson insisted she would govern for the whole UK family if she gains the keys to No 10. Having grown up in Paisley before going to a comprehensive school in Leeds, I consider myself a child of the Union. When I say I will deliver for our country, I mean all of it, she said. My government would put the Union at the heart of everything it does and ensure that all corners of our country are rightly championed at the very top of government. For too long, people in parts of our United Kingdom have been let down by their devolved administrations playing political games instead of focusing on their priorities. If elected prime minister, I will deliver for our whole country. We are not four separate nations in an agreement of convenience, as some would have us believe. We are one great country which shares a history and institutions, but also family and friends, memories and values. Another brilliant week meeting members across the country, sharing my @Conservatives vision. Ballots have landed so be sure to vote early. #LizForLeader pic.twitter.com/FhQ4sfA04b Liz for Leader (@trussliz) August 12, 2022 I would ensure that our entire family continues to get the attention, support, and investment that it deserves. Ahead of a visit next week to Scotland, she accused the SNP of being preoccupied with the issue of independence when, she said, they should be focused on averting a recession. The SNP has hit out at the comments, accusing Ms Truss of having a total disregard for Scotland. Westminster Depute Leader, Kirsten Oswald MP, said: Instead of rhyming off pointless, generic rhetoric about the UK being one great country, Liz Truss must listen to the people of Scotland who voted overwhelmingly in favour of another independence referendum last year. The longer she denies reality, the stronger our case becomes. Be in no doubt, though: whoever does become the next prime minister, Scotlands voice will be heard. She also hit out at the Labour administration in Wales for failing to invest in infrastructure and attacked Sinn Fein politicians in Northern Ireland for trying to drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. In contrast, she said she would invest in infrastructure throughout the UK, such as upgrading the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer and building the M4 relief road in Wales. She said she would also continue to work to open up new export markets for products such as Scottish whisky and smoked salmon, Welsh lamb and ships from Northern Ireland. The new prime minister will be announced when MPs return to Westminster following the summer break on September 5. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons when they raided former President Donald Trump's home in Florida this week, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. It was not clear if such documents were recovered at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, the Post said. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The U.S. Justice Department asked a judge on Thursday to make public the warrant that authorized the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, after Trump, a Republican, portrayed it as political retribution. The request means the public could soon learn more about what investigators were looking for during the unprecedented search of a former president's home. The search was part of an investigation into whether Trump illegally removed records from the White House as he left office in January 2021, some of which the Justice Department believes are classified. 'The department does not take such a decision lightly' Attorney General Merrick Garland, the top law enforcement officer and an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, told a news conference that he had personally approved the search. The Justice Department also seeks to make public a redacted receipt of the items seized. "The department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken," Garland said. His decision to publicly confirm the search was highly unusual. U.S. law enforcement officials typically do not discuss ongoing investigations in order to protect people's rights. In this case, Trump himself announced the search in a Monday night statement. Garland said the Justice Department made the request to make public the warrant "in light of the former president's public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter." A source familiar with the matter said the FBI retrieved about 10 boxes from Trump's property during the search. Trump was not in Florida at the time of the search. A Secret Service officer stands guard outside former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on August 9, 2022. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Late on Thursday, Trump called for the immediate release of documents related to the search. "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years," he said on his Truth Social platform. The government has until 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Friday to let the court know whether Trump's attorneys will object to unsealing the warrant. The case is before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who reviewed the warrant to ensure the Justice Department had sufficient probable cause for the search. While seeking to unseal the warrant, the Justice Department has not asked the judge to unseal the sworn statement in support of the warrant, the contents of which could potentially include classified information. Two of Trump's attorneys, Evan Corcoran and John Rowley, did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement earlier on his Truth social network, Trump said: "My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established. The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it." The unprecedented search marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations Trump is facing from his time in office and in private business, including a separate one by the Justice Department into a failed bid by Trump's allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election by submitting phony slates of electors. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks about the FBI's search warrant served at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate during a statement at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington on August 11, 2022. (Leah Millis/Reuters) The investigation into Trump's removal of records started this year, after the National Archives made a referral to the department. Former Archivist David Ferriero has previously said that Trump returned 15 boxes to the government in January 2022. The archives later discovered some of the items were "marked as classified national security information." A couple of months before the search, FBI agents visited Trump's property to investigate boxes in a locked storage room, according to a person familiar with the visit. The agents and Corcoran spent a day reviewing materials, the source said. A second source who had been briefed on the matter told Reuters the Justice Department also has surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago in its possession. Garland's Justice Department has faced fierce criticism and online threats since Monday's search. Trump supporters and some of his fellow Republicans in Washington accuse Democrats of weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to target Trump. In Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday, an armed man suspected of trying to breach the FBI building died following an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement officers, an Ohio State Highway Patrol official said. Garland condemned the threats and attacks against the FBI and Justice Department. "I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked," he said. Some Democrats have criticized Garland for being overly cautious in investigating Trump over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. There were more electives There were better teachers There were less tests There were more exciting ways to learn Other Vote View Results STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 13, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministrys accusations on Defense Army units violating the ceasefire is false, the Artsakh Defense Army said in a statement. The Artsakh military said the Azeri ministrys statement is another disinformation. by Shafique Khokhar On August 11, Voice for Justice organized demonstrations to demand that the rights of Christians and Hindus be respected. Several religious leaders expressed closeness and solidarity. Lahore (AsiaNews) - "The Pakistani government must improve laws, policies and actions to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and improve citizens' access to justice, without distinction." This was the call of participants in demonstrations organized on August 11 in Sahiwal, Vehari and Multan by Voice for Justice (Vfj) to mark National Minorities Day. Several speeches were made by the dignitaries who took part in the protest. Vfj President Joseph Jansen emphasized the vital role played by Christians and Hindus in the country, "It is regrettable that religious minorities have faced injustice and discrimination despite having made significant contributions to the establishment of Pakistan." In Lahore, the organization Rwadari Tehreek Pakistan staged a two-day hunger strike in front of the Punjab Provincial Assembly to express dissatisfaction and concern with the minority representation system, which is considered unfair and undemocratic. The protesters demanded that urgent reforms be enacted to ensure that civil rights are also respected for minority citizens, who should be guaranteed the opportunity to elect their representatives by vote. The hunger strike was led by Samson Salamat, president of Rwadari Tehreek, who was joined by well-known local political and religious leaders who expressed their closeness and solidarity with the minorities and their demands. by Stefano Caprio In Russia, Western sanctions are starting to bite. Putin and his acolytes have de facto privatised the country, and consider it their property. The ongoing transformation is falling on the majority of the population, deprived of any say in the matter. Milan (AsiaNews) As many economists had predicted, this month Russia is starting to feel the economic effects of Western sanctions. However, this is not biting into Putin's economy", but rather that of ordinary people, i.e. what is little is left of Russias middle class who since the 1990s tried hard to reach a standard of living similar to that of Western societies. The first five years under Boris Yeltsin, from 1992 to 1997, saw the first wave of liberalisations and "savage capitalism", ending with the financial crash of 1998, with the devaluation of the rouble and the transition under Putin towards a vertical management of political and economic power in the 2000s. This brought about the expulsion of non-submissive oligarchs. One of them, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, spent a decade in a Siberian concentration camp, guilty of trying to defend liberal principles. The owners of other big energy and natural resources companies, the only real players in the Russian economy, have patriotically aligned themselves with the Kremlin, enjoying the privileges that come with membership in the ruling caste, which includes Putin himself and his family. Other players in the domestic economy have tried to organise themselves in the shadow of the "pax oligarchica", exploiting the limited access to international trade to provide consumer goods of all sorts to the 30-40 million citizens (less than a third of the population) living in a more modern and independent way, free from the traditional socialist passivity of the Soviet era. Vladislav Inozemtsev, economist and director of the Moscow-based Centre for Research on Post-Industrial Societies, a non-profit think-tank, is one of the voices of the weak liberal opposition to the Putin regime. Putin and his associates have de facto privatised the whole country, and consider it in all respects their property, he writes in the Moscow Times. The financial system is based on state corporations, and limits to the rule of law, reflecting the views and interests of the leaders. Russia has now lost any chance of freeing itself from dependence on raw materials, and is bound to become a satellite of China. What is unfolding now does not represent the failure of Putinomics, but its final consecration. Breaking ties with the outside world, dividing investors between enemies, unfriends, and a few friends, the refusal to fulfil most international obligations, and the confiscation of many foreign assets at home signal the triumph of our way of doing business, as a proud Putin boasts. This is reinforced by state misappropriating copyrights and licences, organising illegal and parallel imports to circumvent sanctions and much more, to the benefit first and foremost of state corporations, above all the military. However, this has been a severe blow to relations between Russian and foreign firms. The latter have struggled hard, starting with the joint ventures at the end of the Gorbachev period, but which, in one way or another, managed to transform Russias entrepreneurial culture, as well as the habits of Russian consumers. In recent years, mass communication, advertising, and news media underpinned the manufacturing sector, including auto assembly, e-trade and digitisation, services, as well as fertiliser and metal industries. Now they are completely silenced, controlled, or reduced to putting out mere propaganda. The most qualified people in information technology, freelance business, and private enterprise are leaving Russia in droves, treated as fleeing traitors, to quote Putin, a trend welcomed by the regimes inner circle. For the latter, such losses will not affect the development of our economy", understood as infantile and paternalistic forms of governance, a mix of Soviet-style welfare and Chinas neo-communist oligarchic dirigisme. The regimes plutocrats and connected bigwigs will not likely suffer much although a period of adjustment can be expected with the cake divided up differently, and some members victims of sudden accidents, suicides, or poisonings. The burden of the transformations will fall on the majority of the population, now deprived of any voice in the matter, after the systematic repression of all forms of opposition in the last two years. It is now clear that the housecleaning of the recent past was not meant to prop up the system forever, but rather to prepare it for a definitive break, through a metaphysical war, with the whole world. Putin will not be removed from the Kremlin because of economic sanctions, nor by military defeats or grassroots revolutions, neither of which are likely under present circumstances. History is moving towards a new phase, and it will be necessary to imagine a new world, in both East and West, one that can start again after the wars and the erection of new barriers. No prophet has yet appeared to describe the future, post-Ukrainian Apocalypse world. Only same tales of doom can be heard, like the dystopian vision of the Day of the Oprichnik, a 2006 novel by Vladimir Sorokin, who conjured up a Russia once again hermetically sealed from outside influences, which is something actually happening right now. Today's headlines: US ready to send aircraft and warships to Taiwan Strait; Japanese minister visits controversial Yasukuni temple; Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto runs for president; India: we are not pressured to buy energy from Russia; Naval'nyj founds a union for inmates of the camp where he is imprisoned. SYRIA-TURKEY Turkey-linked opponents of Bashar al-Assad launched a series of protests yesterday after the Turkish government called on the conflicting parties to reconcile. The demonstrations took place in Idlib province, which is controlled by pro-Ankara forces and Islamist formations, and Aleppo province. USA-TAIWAN-CHINA The Biden administration revealed that U.S. ships and warplanes will pass through the Taiwan Strait in the coming weeks. In recent days the sea arm has been the scene of massive Chinese military maneuvers in riposte to the visit of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. JAPAN Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura today visited the Yauskuni Shinto temple, which honors war criminals from World War II. The move will provoke inevitable remonstrances from China and South Korea. Chinese and South Koreans see the holy site as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. INDONESIA Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has announced that he will run for president in 2024. The former general, leader of the Gerindra party, has already run in two presidential elections (2014 and 2020), which were won by Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. The current president cannot run for a third term. Other potential challengers are Ganjar Pranowo, governor of Central Java, and Anies Baswedan, governor of Jakarta. INDIA The Indian government says it has not been pressured by Western countries over its energy purchases from Russia, which has been hit by U.S. and allied sanctions after invading Ukraine. In July, India became the world's top buyer of seaborne Russian oil, surpassing China. RUSSIA Oppositionist Aleksej Naval'nyj has founded a union named "Promzona" for inmates of the lager in which he himself is held. It will serve to defend their rights as workers inside the detention camp. The dissident sent the forms he filled out to the prison management of the Melekhovo hard regime camp in the Vladimir region, causing panic among the leaders. AZERBAIGIAN The Sumqayit-based "4Maps Bilgi Technologies" company in Azerbaijan, which depends on the Baku Economy Ministry's Development Agency, has begun reformulating Google's (and other companies') maps regarding Nagorno Karabakh. The breakaway region is now considered permanently taken over, although it is partly controlled by Armenian separatists. Email Newsletters Get the best of The Aspen Daily News in your inbox. Our newsletters are free, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Utility vehicle wholesales grew 11 per cent to 1,37,104 units last month from 1,24,057 units in the same period last year. Representational Image/DC PUNE: Passenger vehicle dispatches to dealers in the country rose 11 per cent in July to 2,93,865 units from 2,64,442 units a year ago with the easing of the semiconductor supplies, which helped automakers ramp up production ahead of the festive season. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) said on Friday that car dispatches jumped 10 per cent to 1,43,522 units in July from 1,30,080 units in the year-ago period. Utility vehicle wholesales grew 11 per cent to 1,37,104 units last month from 1,24,057 units in the same period last year. Scooter wholesales climbed to 4,79,159 units against 3,73,695 units. Similarly, motorcycle wholesales increased to 8,70,028 units in July compared to 8,37,166 units a year ago. Three-wheeler dispatches to dealers also increased to 31,324 units from 18,132 units a year earlier. The saga is nearing an end, but its definitely not the one the millionaire in question, Graham Wildin, had in mind. Hes been sent to jail over his refusal to tear down the man cave, and will be spending the next six weeks in custody, before he has to actually act on the tear-down order.It all started in 2014, when Wildin (such an ironically fitting name, in retrospect) spoke to the media at large about his man cave, which hed built next to his home in Gloucestershire, UK. He said hed built it as a way for his family to get some together-time when the weather was bad. The weather is usually bad over in the UK, so Wildin made sure he integrated a little something for everybody in the man cave: a full playground for the kids, a bowling alley, a private movie theater, a squash court, a bar and a casino, a nightclub, and the cherry on top, a private garage for his 20-strong collection of vehicles.This wasnta man cave, it was a private complex designed for entertaining day and night, spanning over 10,000 square feet (929 square meters) and estimated at $260,000. As you can see in the video available at the bottom of the page, Wildin was thrilled with his work, and also apparently modest, claiming that this was no ego trip but something hed done for his family As it so happened, the complex was also illegal. Wildin never applied for the construction permits with the council, but he was still shocked when the same council ordered him to tear it down. In 2018, he was given two years to do just that, but Wildin turned to seeking loopholes to avoid it: he tried to pass the complex as a business venture to avoid paying taxes, and when that failed, bought adjoining land in his familys name, to block the council from sending demolition machinery in.In March this year, as the deadline neared, Wildin made one last-ditch attempt, moving all his collectibles into the street . His hope was that neighbors would complain to the council about blocked traffic, which, in turn, would order him to put his cars back inside the complex, and thus cancel the tear-down order. A slippery, crafty sod is how the same fed-up neighbors described him to the press , complaining about how he was making their lives difficult just because he wanted to both have his cakeeat it.Sod seemed the right descriptor for Wildin, who would often pass the neighbors in his Porsche, yelling at them through the open window that they needed to go back to driving school if they couldnt pass his parked cars without damage to either vehicle. Hed even parked some of his cars, which included other Porsches, a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley, a Range Rover, and a bright yellow vintage Jensen Interceptor , near the driveways of other people, blocking their access to the main street.In court, Wildin tried to argue that he was too poor to tear down the complex on his own: hed been brought on the brink of bankruptcy because of the case. Despite evidence provided in court that hed handed over everything to members of his family in the years since the dispute started, he claimed that he was dirt poor.He might drive around in a Bentley or a Rolls, but they werent his, he said. His entire car collection was now the property of a family company. He didnt even own the house to which the complex was attached, and would have to couch-surf with his kids when it was rented out to tourists. That said, in the past couple of years, Wildin sold off several pieces of property, including the home, two cottages and a property in Tenerife, but he failed to inform the court where the money had gone.The judge ruled that Wildin had deliberately stalled acting on the councils order, and that he had gambled in building the complex without permits because he could afford to. Wildin was sentenced to 6 weeks in jail; once he gets out, he has to pay 10,000 ($12,200 at the current exchange rate) to the council and render the complex unusable, or risk being sent back to jail. His jail stint is just a pause from getting to work to tear down the man cave, if you will.If theres a morale to the story, its something along the lines of, its all fun and games until you decide to follow your man-cave-related dreams with complete disregard of local regulations. Built in partnership with Red Bull Racing, the Valkyrie is basically a street-legal track car. Its one of those rare breed beasts you cant easily get, even if you have the money.So its only fair that behind the wheel is someone with both the budget and connections to become a happy owner an actual professional driver, although retired. None other than David Marshall DC Coulthard, British former racing driver turned journalist, was spotted in Monaco behind the wheel of Aston Martins hypercar.A recent YouTube video posted by ExoticCarspotters shows the former BBC commentator casually cruising down the streets of Monaco, his son riding shotgun.With production numbers limited to 150, and a price per piece of $3 million, witnessing one in real life is a rare sight indeed. Its no wonder the unmistakable symbol of opulence caught the eyes of most everyone in its radius, with people rushing to catch the Marina Blue painted spaceship on camera.Having competed in 15 Formula One seasons between 1994 and 2008, Coulthard had 62 podium finishes, with 13 Grand Prix victories in total.Even though he retired from Formula One racing at the end of 2008, hes still probably missing the thrill of it. So what better way to catch that feeling again than behind the wheel of a Valkyrie?According to Aston Martin , Valkyrie comes as close as possible to being a Formula One car without being restricted to the track.Too bad the traffic wasnt exactly ideal, otherwise Coulthard would have turned Monaco into his own playground. You can see him casually driving his Valkyrie in the video below. Some jobs come with inherent risks, and this seems to be the case here. James May, one of the three OG presenters of Top Gear and current The Grand Tour host, was involved in a serious crash during production. 8 photos If you want to ride like a royal, this is your chance. There is a Ford Escort RS Series 1 option that used to belong to Princess Diana and a luxurious, custom Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II that used to belong to Queen Elizabeths sister, Princess Margaret.Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Rose, The Countess of Snowdon, received the Rolls-Royce in May 1980.The Silver Wraith, which is the longer wheelbase version of the Silver Shadow II, was customized to meet Princess Margaret 's every demand. It's finished in Cardinal Red with a black Everflex-covered roof with Standard Pennant and Royal Crest mountings. To make it even more eye-catching, it features a blue police light on top.When it comes to the cabin, it has a matte Rosewood dashboard, with the door panels covered in Black Nuala leather. Similar to several other Royal cars, the seats have pale green upholstery, with the back seat raised so the Princess could be seen when riding in it. The interior was completed with deep-pile, deep-green carpets.Her Royal Highness seemed to love this Silver Wraith II better than any other vehicle shes ever owned because she used it for 22 years. It was also part of her funeral service at Windsor Castle in 2002.However, it looks like not everyone is as excited as Princess Margaret about it because it has been available for purchase in 2020 and again in 2021 at H&H Classics, and it didn't sell. It has only 47,359 mi (76,216 km) on the clock, and it was regularly serviced at the main Rolls-Royce dealers in London, Uk, with mechanic Chris Lee handling the maintenance.Now its available again for sale at Collecting Cars , from Geoffrey Thomas, a private seller in Northamptonshire, UK. The seller claims he paid over 80,000 (approx $118,000 at today's exchange) some six or more years ago. It comes with a vast quantity of paperwork and a multitude of photographs of the late Princess. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday expressed interest in utilising expertise of NRI doctors in improving healthcare in the state. Photo: By Arrangement. VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday expressed interest in utilising expertise of NRI doctors in improving healthcare at village clinics, PHCs, mid-level health institutions and teaching hospitals in Andhra Pradesh. A group of NRI doctors from the USA had called on the CM at his camp office and expressed their intent to extend all requisite support to the AP government in providing proper healthcare to people of the state. Jagan Mohan Reddy suggested to NRI doctors that they train and improve skills of over 15,000 ASHA workers, so that they can help patients at grass-root levels while providing medical care. He wanted ASHA workers to be trained in dealing with high-risk pregnancies and critically ill new-borns. The Chief Minister expressed interest in the mental healthcare programme of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). He felt trained counsellors could be assigned to schools for providing psychological first aid to school children. Government advisor on NRI medical affairs Dr. N. Vasudeva Reddy requested the CM to include a postgraduate programme in family medicine in all medical colleges of AP. This would help promote the family doctor concept in the state in a big way. AAPI president Dr. Ravi Kolli invited Jagan Mohan Reddy to attend the 16th Annual AAPI Global Healthcare Summit being held in Visakhapatnam from January 6 to January 8, 2023. Dr. Ravi briefed the Chief Minister about the objective of the summit to raise awareness about key health care problems that people of Indian subcontinent face, particularly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, women and childrens health, mental health and infectious diseases. The AAPI president said their association is keen to work with the AP Chief Minister in making AP a model state through model programmes for management of various diseases, improving health outcomes universally, training the trainer sessions involving learning modules in different specialities, and tele-consultations. Dr. Prakash, founder president of NGO Train and Help a Baby Organisation, informed the CM that they are working to reduce neonatal mortality through prevention, treatment and follow-up. He said his organisation would like to support AP in its healthcare initiatives. The NRI doctors also called on health minister Vidadala Rajani and briefed her about their healthcare initiatives. Whether he is in cahoots with President Putin or not, funneling money into his war in Ukraine or not, Abramovich is among the Russians sanctioned in the UK, his former adoptive home country. The second his name was added to the list, he boarded one of his private jets and fled overseas, and embarked on a not-so-secret mission to stash any multi-million asset that might be seized by authorities. This included his fleet of superyachts.As noted above, its hard to establish exactly which vessels are his with accuracy, but this much is known for a fact: he owns the $610 million megayacht Solaris , the $600 million megayacht Eclipse , the $71 million superyacht Halo, and the $24.6 million explorer slash shadow yacht Garcon. Impressive price aside, these four vessels are considered masterpieces of naval design, offering unparalleled levels of luxury.All four are now safe in Turkish waters, where they are not subject to sanctions and will not be seized.Solaris and Eclipse have been in Turkey since earlier this year, having made the journey there shortly after sanctions were announced. Solaris is in Bodrum, while Eclipse was, until the other day, in Gocek. Reports in the British media note that Halo and Garcon also arrived in Gocek the other day, and that their arrival coincided with Eclipse leaving and heading to Marmaras. All four vessels are now at anchor, with no further plans for travel at least, not according to publicly available data. Halo and Garcon had previously been detained in Antigua and Barbuda, at the behest of the UK government earlier this year. While a subsequent investigation determined that their direct beneficiary was, indeed, Abramovich, authorities in Antigua and Barbuda did not impound them because they had no sanctions laws. On July 22, both ships left port and were headed to Morocco, according to the data they were transmitting. Instead, they arrived in Gocek, which seems to have been the intended destination all along.Abramovich may deny his ties to Putin or any wrong-doing, but his actions reveal that he planned his moves in advance, at least as far as taking his assets to safe havens goes. Reports claim that he is no longer able to cover the overall costs of ownership for the same assets, including maintenance and weekly salaries, but at the very least he still has them in his name. Some comfort must come from that: not everybody can brag of having $1.3 billion in boats floating around in Turkish ports. The way it works, however, eventually proved to be a double-edged sword, as people out there rapidly discovered other nefarious uses of the AirTag The GPS tracker relies on the iPhone network to send location information to the owner. In other words, it doesnt need a permanent connection to the Internet, as the location data is transmitted through nearby Apple smartphones.The AirTag has therefore become a very popular device among stalkers, who planted the little device in places where its nearly impossible to be seen, all with the purpose of tracking their victims. Apple has already introduced a series of privacy protections, so the AirTag can alert nearby users when the device is moving with them.Nevertheless, a man in the United Kingdom didnt care about the AirTag alerting system and used the device to track his former girlfriend. 41-year-old Christopher Paul Trotman harassed her ex-girlfriend on multiple occasions with phone calls after they broke up, but the man eventually turned to an AirTag specifically to keep an eye on her every move.The GPS tracker was planted into the rear bumper of her car, according to the Swansea Crown Court.Thanks to Apples privacy protection system, however, the AirTag actually alerted the woman that she was being tracked. Because technology isnt everybodys cup of tea, though, the victim ignored the message, so the tracking was discovered days later when her daughter received the same alert on her own iPhone.A police investigation discovered that the AirTag was owned by Christopher Paul Trotman, and after initially denying all accusations, he eventually pleaded guilty.The man has therefore been jailed for nine weeks while also receiving a restraining order to make sure he doesnt get anywhere close to his ex-girlfriend. EV On his GoFundMe page, Hansen talks about his career in the military. He used to be a Special Agent assigned to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Protective Services Battalion. In other words, he knows a thing or two about solving crimes after he spent a career engaged in this type of work. That is why Tesla hired him in 2018.According to Hansen, he was tasked to conduct several very high-profile and specific internal investigations pertaining to potentially damaging alleged criminal activity at the Gigafactory . Weirdly for the investigator, after he presented his findings, he started to witness ongoing efforts to minimize and marginalize his efforts.That ultimately led to Tesla firing him. Hansen shares that he believes it was a consequence of doing his work thoroughly and recommending specific actions that needed to be undertaken to protect the company. This is not the first report of retaliation that we have heard about. Cristina Balan was also trying to help Tesla when she sent an email message to Elon Musk to warn him about some issues she thought he didnt know about. A while later, she was forced to resign. Tesla later accused her of kickback and embezzlement, which led her to sue the company for defamation. Balan is now fighting themaker as a pro se: she said she lost faith in lawyers.Hansen didnt: the legal expenses are the main reason he asked for help. Not because his attorneys the same ones that assisted Martin Tripp are expensive but rather because he wasnt prepared for the lengths Tesla will go to in order to silence anyone attempting to stand up and expose their practices.According to the whistleblower , Teslas tactics are legally questionable, consistent, covert, overt, and they employ them decisively and long-term with the specific intent of siphoning the energy, resources, motivation, and desire of victims who attempt to take a stand based on justice and personal integrity. So far, Hansen has received $52,260 from the $125,000 goal. You can check his GoFundMe page here The numbers seemed crazy when the car made its debut, and the company caught some flak for catching fire on Top Gear, but the company has learned from the experience. The cars have improved drastically since those early days and are now some of the most insane-looking hypercars. However, the company made huge strides from its meager beginnings and is now producing some true marvels of mechanical engineering and aerodynamics.Two of those amazing vehicles will be on display at one of the biggest annual car events. As part of their tour throughout the US, Zenvo has confirmed they will attend and exhibit at events during Car Week in Monterey , California. Being a hypercar manufacturer, however, Zenvo will do so from a private house situated within the Quail Lodge resort. They will be hosting customer viewings and vehicle orientations for the two insane TSR-S hypercars that they will bring to the event. Next on their attending list will be the mandatory Exotics on Broadway, where they will headline the event on the 20th of August.Following the success that the company saw during the Goodwood festival of speed, Zenvos chairman of the board, Jens Sverdrup is excited about the event. He said that Monterey Car Week is, to some people, a sort of holy grail of annual car meetings. As such he believes this event is the pinnacle of their American tour. For this special occasion, they are now bringing out not one but two examples of their mighty TSR-S to showcase their abilities for creating the ultimate track toy. Zenvo is also excited to confirm that guests will enjoy exclusive access to a private preview of digital designs for one of their brand new projects. Additionally, the commercial and sales team will be on hand to accompany guests and provide answers to any inquiries throughout the event. The man accused of carrying out a stabbing attack against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie has pleaded not guilty plea in a New York court on charges of attempted murder and assault All evacuations have been lifted and a major Southern California freeway has been reopened after a rail tank car filled with an overheated chemical was cooled down Bakersfield water customers used less water in June but need to keep up the good work SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday sacked four more of its employees for allegedly having links with separatists. This is the latest in a series of moves by the government to terminate the services of the employees in the interest of the nation. Pursuing a tough policy against what it sees as their anti-national activities, their being in the government service a threat to the security and integrity of the country or their violating Government Servants Conduct Rules, the J&K government has in the past three years dismissed dozens of its employees including teachers, revenue officials, engineers and policemen. In one such spell, two sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Muhammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin were with nine others terminated in the interest of the nation as per the Constitutional provision in July last year. On Saturday, the Hizbs chief another son Syed Abdul Mueed working as an IT manager in J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) was with wife of former Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) commander Farooq Ahmed Dar alias Bitta Karate, a scientist and a professor at the University of Kashmir fired in the interest of the security of the state under Article 311 of the Constitution of India. Dars spouse Assabah-ul-Arjamand Khan was a Jammu Kashmir Administrative Services (JKAS) officer posted as a DPO (Publicity) at the Directorate of Rural Development, Kashmir. Dar who is currently lodged in Delhis Tihar jail after his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in an alleged terror funding case is accused also of slaying many members of the minority Kashmiri Pandit community in the initial days of militancy in the Valley. An identical order issued by the government to sack Mueed, Khan and Dr. Muheet Ahmad Bhat, Scientist-D in Post-Graduate Department of Computer Science and Majid Hussain Qadri, Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies at University of Kashmir states that Lieutenant Governor is satisfied after considering the facts and circumstances of the case(s) and on the basis of the information available, that the activities of these officials are such as to warrant their dismissal from service. The order further says that under sub-clause (c) of the proviso to clause (2) of Article 311 of the Constitution of India that in the interest of the security of the state, it is not expedient to hold an enquiry in the case(s). Reacting to their dismissal, former minister and Peoples Conference (PC) chairman, Sajad Gani Lone, tweeted. Every citizen of India has his or her own rights. A son cannot be held responsible for his father or wife for her husband or a father for his son. Sad - that kinship is used as a justification to sack people. This simply is not good. In all humility I register my disagreement. Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have also in the past criticised the government over such dismissals. Ms. Mufti had after five government officials were fired over similar allegations earlier this year said that these actions are at aimed offsetting the balance in the administration and disempowering locals. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had informed the Parliament in March that no new rules have been notified by the J&K administration under which employees can be dismissed from service if they or their family members are found to be sympathetic to people accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA). Minister Of State in the MHA, Nityanand Rai, had while responding to a written query in Rajya Sabha on whether the J&K administration has notified new rules under which employees can be dismissed from service if they or their family members are found to be sympathetic to people accused under the UAPA and the PSA said, The Government of J&K has not notified any new rules in this regard. The J&K government under Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, had in April 2020 constituted a Special Task Force (STF) for identifying and scrutinizing its employees involved in any activity detrimental to the security of the country or deemed as anti-national, evoking sharp criticism from various political parties, employees trade unions and human rights activists. The J&K government had subsequently designated a separate official committee responsible for scrutinizing and recommending cases under Article 311(2)(c) of the Constitution. Spindletop Rotary Club has donated $5,000 to the Symphony of Southeast Texas and Some Other Place from funds raised at its annual roast event. The club hosted the Celebrity Roast of Symphony Conductor Chelsea Tipton on April 7. Friends were invited to attend the night of good-natured fun as Tiptons special friends roasted him with stories from behind the scenes at the symphony. The symphony received $3,500 and, at Tiptons request for a contribution, Some Other Place was given $1,500. Additional funds raised from the event will benefit Rotary service projects and grants, including a new partnership with Blanchette Elementary in providing books for all students. The "forecast" also looks great for March 30, 2023! Spindletop Rotary Club invites the community to save the date for the Celebrity Roast of KFDM Meteorologist Greg Bostwick at the MCM Elegante Hotel. Sponsorships will be available soon. For more information on Spindletop Rotary, visit spindletop-rotary.org. For media, contact Public Relations Chair Debbie Bridgeman at (409) 504-6913. The Region 5 Education Service Center has announced Lisa Meysembourg of Woodville ISD as its regional winner for TASBs 2022 Superintendent of the Year. Meysembourg has served as superintendent there for the past three years, with a total of 25 years in public education. She was chosen for her leadership skills, dedication to improving the quality of education in Woodville ISD, and her commitment to public support and involvement in education. After living abroad as a military wife and mother, she graduated summa cum laude from Kansas State University. In 1997 she began her career in public education in Texas, where she served as classroom teacher.Numerous forks in the road led to her current role as Superintendent of Woodville ISD. Meysembourg is a long-time Lion and Rotarian, sits on the board of the Allan Shivers Library, serves as a member of the Woodville Reading Club, and is active both in her church and the American Legion. Previous awards include the Margaret Thatcher Leadership Award TCWSE 2022; Tyler County Chamber of Commerce IMPACT Award 2020; and BRAVO Award, TCWSE 2019. Meysembourg will next be interviewed as a regional winner in late summer by the TASB State Selection Committee, at which time five finalists will be chosen to proceed in the process for the State Superintendent of the Year award. Her letter of nomination applauds Meysembourg for the districts successes under her leadership, including continued school operations during COVID; a blended model of face-to-face instruction supplemented by virtual learning; implementation of 1:1 digital learning district-wide; and a rebuilt technology infrastructure. One noteworthy quote from the nomination letter reads: While other districts were suffering under the stresses of educating during a pandemic, our board of trustees had a remarkable calm due to the comfort and confidence of having Lisa Meysembourg leading our district. Her ability to shoulder the load of going through a bond election, day to day school operations, her involvement in civic organizations, and furthering her professional development outside of her home district, is what sets her apart from the rest. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission has announced that its two public research facilities, the Sam Houston Regional Research Center in Liberty and the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in Austin, have been awarded official certificates as affiliate libraries of FamilySearch. This designation brings additional genealogy resources to TSLACs patrons. The FamilySearch web service includes more than 6 billion searchable names and 2 billion images of historical genealogical records and adds more than 300 million free records and images annual from all over the world. It has amassed billions of birth, marriage, death, census, land and court records from more than 130 countries to help researchers discover and make family connections. Libraries and archives are wonderful local gathering places for learning. The state commission is excited to become FamilySearch Affiliate Library, said State Archivist Jelain Chubb. This partnership helps us expand opportunities for research, family history connections and personal discoveries to our patrons. Visitors to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission other FamilySearch affiliate institutions can access millions of digital images while researching on site at the library. For more information about doing research at the state commision, see www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/visit or call its reference desk at (512) 463-5455. Actress Anne Heche, who had been in a coma since a car crash last week, has been declared brain-dead and is being kept alive on life support to see if her organs are viable for donation, one of her representatives said Friday. Heche, 53, was critically injured Aug. 5 when she crashed the Mini Cooper she was driving into a home in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, authorities said. She suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and was being treated at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital, according to a statement released on behalf of her family and friends Thursday night. It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable, the statement said. The declaration of brain death had come Thursday night, the representative later confirmed. The crash started a fire that took 59 firefighters more than an hour to extinguish, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. Heche was the only person in the car, authorities said. Jeff Lee, a public information officer with the Los Angeles Police, said an initial blood sample drawn from Heche at the hospital had revealed the presence of drugs, but he did not say what kind. He said a second test was needed to rule out any substances administered by hospital staff but those results could take weeks. In 1991, Heche won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding younger actress in a drama series, for playing good and evil twins on the NBC soap opera Another World. She starred in several popular Hollywood films in the late 1990s, including Donnie Brasco, Wag the Dog and Six Days Seven Nights. She continued to have television roles, including on Men in Trees in 2006 and Hung in 2009, and performed on Broadway, starring in Proof in 2002 and Twentieth Century in 2004, for which she received a Tony nomination. In his review of Twentieth Century, Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote of Heches portrayal of Lily Garland, Her posture melting between serpentine seductiveness and a street fighters aggressiveness, her voice shifting between supper-club velvet and dime store vinyl, Heche summons an entire gallery of studio-made sirens from the Depression era: Jean Harlow, the pre-mummified Joan Crawford and, yes, Carole Lombard, who famously portrayed Lily in Howard Hawks screen version of Twentieth Century. She has several projects that are in postproduction, according to IMDb, including Supercell, a movie with Alec Baldwin, and the HBO show The Idol. She had recently finished filming on Girl in Room 13, a Lifetime movie that is scheduled to premiere in September, Variety reported. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Experts stated that little has been done to improve the facilities for pedestrians, except from token gestures such as encroachment drives. The footpaths are often used by schoolchildren, students, or the elderly who want to stroll a short distance. DC Image/S. Surenderreddy Hyderabad: Hyderabad has 9,000 km of roads. Experts believe the length of the sidewalks or footpaths should be almost twice that of the road length. However, as there are only 900 km of sidewalks, harried pedestrians are compelled to use the road alongside moving vehicles, putting their lives in danger. The nodal agencies, including the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation (HRDCL), and the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC), have laid about 84 km of footpath over the course of seven years, as opposed to the 1,100 km that had been proposed two years ago. The project was abandoned midway because the government decided to work with private agencies as part of the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Project (CRMP) to maintain the city's pavements. Experts stated that little has been done to improve the facilities for pedestrians, except from token gestures such as encroachment drives. The footpaths are often used by schoolchildren, students, or the elderly who want to stroll a short distance. They noted that the majority of roads in the city lack designated sidewalks. As a result, most footpaths are out of reach for pedestrians, and using them can be perilous or even fatal. Often, people find it extremely difficult to walk safely because practically every pavement has been encroached into on both sides of the majority of the roadways. The GHMC itself has planted saplings, allowed public and private toilets, and other departments have built transformers, water kiosks, and other amenities on top of the pavement. The GHMC officials had received a strong warning from the High Court last year about the consequences of failing to comply with its orders regarding the removal of encroachments on city walkways. The GHMC had, however, failed to clear encroachments. The GHMC increased the road length from 452 km in 2014 to 816 km in 2021. It was given the mandate to construct 10 km of footpath in each zone by minister K.T. Rama Rao in 2020, according to officials. Sixtynine new footpath works were sanctioned costing Rs 32.75 crore with a length of 75.64 km. Out of this, 60 works costing Rs 26.81 crore for 62.08 km are completed and the remaining nine works costing Rs 5.94 crore are at the various stages of execution. As part of CRMP, 6.55 km existing walkways have been renovated, and 60.94 km of new footpaths have been laid. In 2020-21, 487 projects were completed for a total estimated cost of Rs 80.53 crore, and 68 more projects with a cost of Rs 31.54 crore are in the planning stages. However, the corporation has so far been able to repair and maintain 84 km of footpaths so far. Asked about the delay in laying footpaths and preventing them from encroachments, a senior GHMC official who requested anonymity told Deccan Chronicle that other line departments and other GHMC wings have not been working in tandem. The official stated that until and unless the government makes a definitive decision, city residents will be compelled to walk on the streets. Walk away, no footpath >>> 9,000 km Road length >>> 2,800 km Bitumen roads >>> 6,200 cement Concrete roads >>> 6,600 km Single lane roads >>> 1,700 km Two-lane roads >>>550 km four-lane roads >>150 3-lane lane roads (Barring single lane roads all the remaining categories should have 15,300 km of pavements on both sides) UNITED NATIONS (AP) A year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, prominent Afghan rights activist Sima Samar is still heartbroken over what happened to her country. Samar, a former minister of womens affairs and the first chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, left Kabul in July 2021 for the United States on her first trip after the COVID-19 pandemic, never expecting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country and the Taliban to take power for the second time soon after on Aug. 15. I think its a sad anniversary for the majority of people of my country, Samar said, particularly for the women who dont have enough food, who do not know what is the tomorrow for them. A visiting scholar at the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School at Harvard, she has written the first draft of an autobiography and is working on a policy paper on customary law relating to Afghan women. She is also trying to get a Green Card, but she said, I honestly cannot orient myself, where I am, and what Im doing. She wishes she could go home but she can't. In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, she recalled a Taliban news conference a few days after they took power when they said if people apologized for past actions they would be forgiven. And I said, I should be apologizing because I started schools for the people? said Samar, a member of Afghanistan's long persecuted Hazara minority. I should apologize because I started hospitals and clinics in Afghanistan? I should apologize because I tried to stop torture of the Taliban? I should apologize to advocate against the death penalty, including (for) the Taliban leadership? All my life I fought for life as a doctor," she said. So I cannot change and support the death penalty. I shouldn't apologize for those principles of human rights and be punished." Samar became an activist as a 23-year-old medical student with an infant son. In 1984, the then-communist government arrested her activist husband, and she never saw him again. She fled to Pakistan with her young son and worked as a doctor for Afghan refugees and started several clinics to care for Afghan women and girls. Samar remembered the Talibans previous rule in the late 1990s, when they largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions. A U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which al-Qaida orchestrated from Afghanistan while being sheltered by the Taliban. After the Talibans ouster, Samar returned to Afghanistan, moving into the top womens rights and human rights positions, and over the next 20 years schools and universities were opened for girls, women entered the workforce and politics and became judges. But Samar said in an AP interview in April 2021 four months before the Talibans second takeover of the country that the gains were fragile and human rights activists had many enemies in Afghanistan, from militants and warlords to those who wanted to stifle criticism or challenge their power. Samar said the Afghan government and leadership, especially Ghani, were mainly responsible for the Taliban sweeping into Kabul and taking power. But she also put blame on Afghans because we were very divided. In every speech and interview she gave nationally and internationally over the years, she said Afghans had to be united and inclusive, and we have to have the peoples support. Otherwise, we will lose. As chair of the Human Rights Commission, she said she repeatedly faced criticism that she was trying to impose Western values on Afghanistan. And I kept saying, human rights is not Western values. As a human being, everyone needs to have a shelter access to education and health services, to security, she said. Since their takeover, the Taliban have limited girls public education to just six years, restricted womens work, encouraged them to stay at home, and issued dress codes requiring them to cover their faces. Samar urged international pressure not only to allow all girls to attend secondary school and university, but to ensure all human rights which are interlinked. And she stressed the importance of education for young boys, who without any schooling, job or skill could be at risk to get involved in opium production, weapons smuggling or in violence. She also urged the international community to continue humanitarian programs which are critical to save lives, but said they should focus on food-for-work or cash-for-work to end peoples' total dependency and give them self-confidence and dignity." Samar said Afghan society has changed over the past two decades, with more access to technology, rising education levels among the young and some experience with elections, t even if they weren't free and fair. She said such achievements leave the possibility of positive change in the future. Those are the issues that they (the Taliban) cannot control, she said. They would like to, but they cannot do it." Samar said she hoped for eventual accountability and justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Otherwise, we feel the culture of impunity everywhere, everywhere -- and the invasion of Russia to Ukraine is a repetition of Afghanistans case," she said. Her hope for Afghan women is that they can "live with dignity rather than being a slave of people. Sasi Ponchaisang / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Hardin County students, who may not have all the school supplies they need, can stock up on Saturday morning. The Boys and Girls Club of Hardin County will be giving away school supplies starting at 10 a.m. Saturday until inventory runs out, according to a news release. Its part of the organizations Back to School Extravaganza event, in which Boys and Girls Club locations distribute free backpacks packed with school supplies to students. After receiving up to 6 inches of rain in some areas over the past week, the intensity of Southeast Texas' drought has lessened. National Weather Service Lake Charles Meteorologist Montra Lockwood said areas of Southeast Texas saw 2 to 6 inches of rain within the past seven days. She said the outlook of rainfall for the next couple of days also looks "really good." "For (Friday) we're looking at about between a 70 and 80% chance of rain, kind of similar to what we were expecting for (Thursday)," Lookwood said. "On Saturday, (there's) still close to about 80% chance of rainfall. We are seeing lower rain chances (at the beginning of the week, but still pretty good with around 40 to 50% at least on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday is probably the lowest rain chances for the next seven days with about a 30% chance." So the next couple of days are looking really good for rain. According to the Service, a "surface trough of low pressure" is developing over the north-central Gulf of Mexico just offshore of southeastern Louisiana. "This system has a low chance -- 10 % -- of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next five days," the National Weather Service said in a weather update. "Any development will be slow to occur as it drifts west-southwestward over the northwestern Gulf of Mexico." Either way the development goes, the service is reporting the possibility of locally heavy rains, specifically across coastal portions of the Southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana this weekend. RELATED: Parts of Southeast Texas could see an inch of rain this weekend Since receiving the rain, the U.S. Drought Monitor's Thursday update shows that Southeast Texas' logged drought level as improved. Although parts of Jefferson County saw "extreme drought" conditions last week, the county, along with Hardin and Jasper, is mostly seeing "abnormally dry" and "moderate drought" conditions this week. Only a small portion is seeing "severe drought." Orange and Newton counties are only seeing "abnormally dry" conditions. Even though the drought conditions in the area are improving, the threat of forest fires does not diminish, according to a Thursday news release from the Texas A&M Forestry Service. "A bolt of lightning can reach up to 53,000 degrees Fahrenheit (which is hotter than the surface of the sun)," according to the news release. "Lightning is a major cause of wildfires." RELATED: Drought conditions persist across Southeast Texas, Hardin County extends burn ban Out of the 254 counties in Texas, only 30, including Jefferson; Orange; Hardin; and Newton counties, do not have a burn ban. Hardin County has had a burn ban up until this week. Judge Wayne McDaniel removed its order restricting outdoor burning that was in place for over three weeks. The removal was effective as of 5 p.m. on Thursday. "Some areas of Hardin County, especially the Village Mills, Votaw and Thicket areas, have not received as much as other areas of the county," the order resignation reads. "Should you decide to burn anywhere in Hardin County, please use extreme caution to see that your fires are kept small and contained, and please refrain from burning high winds or near dead vegetation. Please be considerate of your neighbors and your first responders." RELATED: Jasper County declares state of disaster, burn ban Jasper County continued its Aug. 3 burn ban and declaration of disaster on Wednesday. "(The county was) in imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from countywide drought conditions, which continue to exist to this date," a continuation from the county reads. "Such conditions have created a public safety hazard that would be exacerbated by outdoor burning. Jasper County's Commissioners Court determined that "extraordinary measures" need to be taken to "protect or rehabilitate property" and are required, according to the continuation. "All outdoor burning or outdoor burning of trash, brush, trees, storm debris, construction material debris or open campfires is prohibited until expiration of this Order, unless renewed, continued or rescinded (by the county) in the event that sufficient precipitation is received within Jasper County to greatly relieve countywide drought conditions," the continuation reads. "The order does not apply to burning of vegetative material when such burning is performed in accordance with a prescribed plan which addresses the useful nature of such activity such as natural resource management as described by the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service." WFO LAS VEGAS Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Saturday, August 13, 2022 _____ FLASH FLOOD WARNING Flash Flood Statement National Weather Service Las Vegas NV 356 PM PDT Sat Aug 13 2022 ...FLASH FLOOD WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 4 PM PDT THIS AFTERNOON FOR SAN BERNARDINO AND SOUTHWESTERN CLARK COUNTIES... The heaviest rain has moved out of the warned area. Flash Flooding is no longer expected to pose a threat. Please continue to heed remaining road closures and avoid driving through any remaining standing water. A Flood Watch remains in effect until 100 AM PDT Monday for portions of northwest Arizona, southeast California and Nevada. The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... Northeastern Imperial County in southeastern California... * Until 800 PM PDT. * At 357 PM PDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Up to 1.5 inches of rain have fallen. Additional rainfall amounts up to 1.5 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Life threatening flash flooding. Thunderstorms producing flash flooding. SOURCE...Radar. IMPACT...Life threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... mainly rural areas of Northeastern Imperial County This includes the following highways... CA Route 78 between mile markers 58 and 67. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Bennington, VT (05201) Today Cloudy with rain ending for the afternoon. High 76F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable. HYDERABAD: Stating that he would not participate in the by-poll election campaign in Munugode Assembly constituency, the Bhongir MP and AICC star campaigner Komatireddy Venkat Reddy today said that he would continue in Congress party and he will die as Congress party trusted activist. Venkat Reddy blamed the TPCC Chief and MP A Revanth Reddy for alleged mudslinging on him by a party leader at a public meeting held in Chundur recently. "The person who abused me in a public meeting was innocent. The TPCC leaders deliberately encouraged the Munugode Congress party leaders to target me by abusing them in their speech," Venkat Reddy alleged. When the TPCC decided to conduct a public meeting in Munugode constituency, no party leadership invited me and never informed me about the party meeting. "Some senior leaders are trying to force me to leave the Congress party with the support of the TPCC chief. I will not leave the party and will die as a Congress party activist. The TPCC chief must tender his apologies," the Bhongir MP demanded. The Telangana Congress party In-Charge Manickem Tagore has called on a number of senior leaders to discuss Munugode by-polls issues. "Why did the party leaders start avoiding me and they never share information? The AICC leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will look into the issue," Vankat Reddy said. In Munugode, his brother Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy was MLA and he resigned recently and would join the BJP. He will contest in by-polls from BJP ticket. Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School in Adams has announced the appointment of three new trustees. On Aug. 13, 1961: East Germany sealed off the border between Berlins eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years. The death of Miguel Estrella was a heartbreaking tragedy. The loss of a young life in crisis and the unimaginable pain of his loved ones mark the scars of a society that continues to unsuccessfully wrestle with providing for the mental well-being of its citizens. Pittsfield officer was justified in shooting Miguel Estrella, DA's investigation finds The Pittsfield police officer who shot and killed a distraught man in March will not face criminal charges. The Berkshire District Attorneys Office said Friday that the officer's use of deadly force March 25, reviewed during a four-month probe, was supported by law. That is all true even as the circumstances of Mr. Estrellas death did not amount to a crime. A thorough and transparently reported Berkshire District Attorneys Office investigation came to the same conclusion as a Pittsfield Police Department internal probe. Both ruled a PPD officer was justified in use of force when he fatally shot Mr. Estrella, who police and bystanders say was emotionally distraught, intoxicated and approaching police with a knife after repeated commands and multiple taser deployments failed to stop him. After announcing the conclusion of her offices report at a news conference, DA Andrea Harrington turned over the microphone to Mr. Estrellas sister, Elina. She fought through tears to underscore the crisis that has affected her family and countless others across America: Miguel died because theres something wrong with the way that we deal with mental health crises. The sad but glaring truth of that goes beyond the tragic events that played out on a spring evening on Onota Street. We, the people of America, have a mental health crisis. It has been deepened by digital-age atomization, pressurized by pandemic and made deadlier by an opioid epidemic, but at its core this is a catastrophe of care or lack thereof for far too many. We have people neighbors, friends, family members who are sick or struggling or just need help, and the richest nation in the history of the earth cant seem to deliver it to some who need it most. Sometimes, they suffer in silence. Other times, it erupts in the saddest of headlines. It all amounts to the predictable outcome of a society that too often only notices and cares for mental health awareness when people are in extremis. This burden falls disproportionately hard on lower-income folks, people of color, children and other already vulnerable populations. At a time when most people cant agree on anything, nearly everyone agrees this is a shameful state of affairs. So what are we going to do? Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyers plans to add positions like social workers to municipal health staff and the Police Department hopefully will help. Of particular importance are the mental health co-responder units that can accompany police to scenes where mental health crisis is a primary factor. The PPD currently has one of those co-responders, but it cant cover a whole day. Any serious piece of emergency response should entail more robust coverage whether that means multiple shifts, on-call hours or some combination thereof. This point was painfully driven home by the revelation that the PPD mental health co-responders shift ended just before the polices first interaction with Mr. Estrella on March 25 a call that ended peacefully but was followed by a second 911 call after Mr. Estrella became more distraught, which resulted in his death. At the state level, the Legislatures session-ending mad dash arguably overshadowed the importance of a landmark mental health law. The legislation, signed by Gov. Charlie Baker this week, targets several barriers to care. An expedited review process aims to ameliorate the so-called boarding crisis, which often leaves young patients in desperate need of acute mental or behavioral health care languishing in ER beds awaiting treatment. It also requires insurers to cover an annual mental wellness exam, similarly to yearly physical check-ups. That first-in-the-nation measure wisely seeks to leverage preventive efforts to hopefully stem costlier crisis response. Additionally, new incentive mechanisms are targeted at drawing more providers into the system, which could make a big difference in rural, underserved regions like the Berkshires. These moves at Pittsfield City Hall and the Statehouse are not all-encompassing solutions to this sprawling, complex problem, but they are progress, if incremental and overdue. Real progress is important and worth noting, even as it is tempered by the sorrowful reality that it cant bring back Mr. Estrella or all others we have lost to despair, distress and desperation. What we owe them, their families and their communities is to meaningfully reckon with this wicked problem and confront the difficult questions that come with not only pronouncing systemic change but acting on it. The work to build and repair trust between police and vulnerable communities must improve. During Mr. Estrellas first, nonviolent interaction with police on the night of March 25, the DAs report notes that officers sought to help Mr. Estrella, but that he was skeptical and seemingly triggered by the arrival of more officers. One can be convinced of the officers genuine desire to help while simultaneously questioning whether we should be tasking already overburdened police departments with responding to nonviolent but distressed people. How can emergency responses be altered to lower the likelihood of tragic ends to these situations? On the other hand, if Pittsfield and other cities will explore a heavier reliance on unarmed mental health response units, what should be the policies for sending them to and protecting them within situations that are not yet violent but are potentially volatile? Most people agree we need a complete shift in our prioritization of mental health care. Are we as citizens taxpayers and officials alike willing to put our money where our mouth is and put our pronounced morals into policy action? None of these is an easy question. None of the real answers will be simple or cheap or expedient. But for many like Miguel Estrella, they dont have an easy choice in personally confronting the nations mental health crisis. They dont have a choice at all. Mr. Estrellas loved ones described him as big-hearted, hard-working, complicated and burdened with deep trauma over which he had no control. As a society, though, we do have a choice: We can continue to look away from the roots and mechanisms of this vexing problem and the vulnerable souls it steals or we can confront it. BOISE - For the third time this year, C.J. Strike Reservoir in southwestern Idaho has produced a state record fish. Earlier this month, Eagle Mountain, Utah residents Greg and Angie Poulsen traveled to Idaho in hopes of tangling with North America's largest freshwater fish, the white sturgeon. On August 5, when fishing on C.J. Strike Reservoir, Greg Poulsen did just that, when he landed a monster 10-foot 4-inch sturgeon. At 124 inches in length, this white sturgeon set a new state record in Idaho, beating the previous record of 119.5 inches, set in 2019 by Rusty Peterson and friends. While the Snake River around C.J. Strike Reservoir has good numbers of sturgeon, fish over 10 feet are exceedingly rare, and usually only seen in Hells Canyon. Out of hundreds of fish collected during surveys from the Snake River around C.J. Strike Reservoir, only a handful of sturgeon in this class have been seen. In 1993, biologists from Idaho Power captured a 131.5-inch behemoth, as well as a 119-inch fish in 2015. Downstream in Hells Canyon, where biologists have handled more than 4,000 sturgeon during surveys over the last 30 years, only 10 fish have ever exceeded the 10-foot mark. Fishing for Idaho's white sturgeon is allowed strictly on a catch-and-release basis, and they may not be removed from the water while handling. To view all Idaho Fish & Game State record fish, click HERE. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Members of New Mexico's Muslim community pushed Thursday for the Afghan refugee suspected of killing four Muslim men to remain behind bars pending trial citing previous accusations of domestic violence and video surveillance that appeared to show him slashing the tires of a vehicle parked outside the local mosque. The video from early 2020 had prompted leaders of the Islamic Center of New Mexico at the time to admonish Muhammad Syed and tell him not to return to the mosque. The woman whose tires were slashed never went to the police and charges were never filed, said Ahmad Assed, the Islamic center's president. But nearly two years later, her brother-in-law became one of the victims. Muhammad Zahir Ahmadi was fatally shot last November behind the market he owned with his brother. Police have named Syed, 51, as the primary suspect in Ahmadi's death and in the fatal shooting of another man in early August. Authorities already have charged him with two counts of murder in the deaths of two other Muslim men in recent weeks. Syed was arrested late Monday more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from his Albuquerque home. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas, citing the ambush-style killings as his concern. Albuquerque police on Thursday released two brief videos showing part of Syeds arrest. The footage from body-worn cameras includes an 18-second clip of Syed face-down on the ground as officers tell him to put his hands behind his back. He appears to tell them he does not speak English as they put him in handcuffs. In the other clip, he is shown walking from the back of a police cruiser into the department's headquarters. He wore a striped long-sleeved shirt, dark pants and sandals. Syed is scheduled to appear in court Monday, when a state judge will consider a motion by prosecutors seeking to detain Syed without bond pending trial. Prosecutors have argued that Syed is dangerous and that no conditions of release will ensure the community's safety. Syed denied any connection to the crimes that shook the city and its small Muslim community after he was arrested during a traffic stop, saying he was heading to Houston to find a new home for his family over fear about the killings. His public defenders declined comment on the case Thursday except to say that they were reviewing evidence and preparing for Monday's hearing. Given the level of media attention, we need to be very careful to not let this case be tried in the public forum and not a court of law, said Tom Clark, one of Syed's state appointed attorneys. Assed and other members of the city's Muslim community said they were working with law enforcement to try to keep Syed in custody. Despite police saying personal conflicts might be part of the motive for the killings, Assed said in an interview that Muslims are struggling to understand why the men who were killed were targeted and that the killings raised questions and concerns about whether more attacks had been planned. Its certainly our concern for this community as we move forward and its a concern because not knowing more about the motive, we are at a disadvantage in understanding whether that was what was planned, that was it, or whether more victims were on the radar, Assed said. The first killing in November was followed by three between July 26 and Aug. 5. According to a criminal complaint, police determined that bullet casings found in Syeds vehicle matched the caliber of the weapons believed to have been used in two of the killings and that casings found at the crime scenes were linked to guns found at Syeds home and in his vehicle. Police said they received more than 200 tips and one from the Muslim community that led them to the Syed family. Syed knew the victims, authorities have said. Syed has lived in the United States for about five years. When interviewed by detectives, Syed said he had fought against the Taliban, according to a criminal complaint filed in court Tuesday. He lived in an apartment in Albuquerque with family members who told reporters that he was a truck driver but hadn't worked for a company in a long time. Court documents show the domestic violence allegations Syed was accused of involved separate altercations with his wife, a son and his future son-in-law. The cases were dismissed because the victims declined to press charges. Access to 228 eJournals is being provided round the clock to 71 states and centrally funded Government Institutions including all All India Institute of Medical Science Rajesh Bhushan, Union Secretary for Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the 3rd National Conference ERMED Consortium: Digital Health Resources: A reality in the presence of Dr (Professor) Atul Goel, DGHS at National Medical Library, in New Delhi. National Medical Librarys Electronic Resources in Medicine (NML-ERMED) Consortium is the flagship electronic resources consortium by the Directorate General of Health Services(DGHS) & Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, wherein access to 228 eJournals is being provided round the clock to 71 states and centrally funded Government Institutions including all All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS). Bhushan congratulated the NML for their expansion efforts and pointed out that the overall library scenario has changed nationally and globally post-pandemic. The prime focus of ERMED is helping medical colleges to comply with NMC guidelines, standardise care across all clinicians, reduce variability in care, enable safe patient care, drive appropriate drug use and prescribing behaviour, decrease medical errors, stop unnecessary diagnostic testing, shorten length-of-stay, lower mortality rates, exposure to the latest research, information development, scientific and technological progress. ERMED consortium would expand the research output and the ranking of the member institutions in this process. The Government of India has provided the financial support required for access to electronic journals under the NML-ERMED consortium project. ERMED members have access to advanced clinical tools and resources published by well-known publishers for benefit of faculty members and students. The official website of NML-ERMED(http://www.ermed.in/) and booklet were also launched at the event. A federal court in Florida has removed the webpage for the judge who signed off on the FBI raid of former President Donald Trumps home. The page for U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart was taken down on Aug. 10, archived versions of it confirm. No information at this time, the computer operations manager for the court, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, told The Epoch Times. A deputy clerk for the clerk did not pick up the phone or return a voicemail. The page contained Reinharts biography, his email address, directions to the courthouse at which he works, the phone number for his chambers, the number for his deputy, and the names of the deputy and the judges law clerks. The pages for all of the other magistrate judges for the court remain online. Signed Off on Raid Reinhart, who was appointed to his position by other judges, has confirmed that he was the judge who approved the FBIs raid of Trumps Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. The resort was raided on Aug. 8 by approximately two dozen agents, one of Trumps lawyers told The Epoch Times. Christina Bobb, the lawyer, said Reinharts name was listed as the approving judge on the search warrant agents gave to Trump representatives. The warrant and the supporting materials, such as an affidavit outlining why the FBI was asking for a warrant, remain sealed. But Reinhart responded to requests to unseal the material, which identify the warrant as the one used to raid Trumps resort, by ordering the Department of Justice to respond to the requests, indirectly confirming that he approved the warrant. The governments response to the requests to unseal, filed by nonprofit Judicial Watch and the Albany Times Union, may be filed under seal to avoid disclosing matters already under seal, Reinhart said in a brief order. The response must be filed by 5 p.m. on Aug. 15. It has not yet been filed. Neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice have explained why the raid took place. Lawyers for Trump say agents were looking for classified and presidential materials. Earlier this year, U.S. archivist David Ferriero told Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, that there were classified materials discovered in boxes of records that were transferred from Trumps residence to the National Archives in January. Judges History Reinhart was a trial attorney for the Department of Justice from 1988 to 1996, when he transitioned to being an assistant U.S. attorney based in West Palm Beach. He was involved with the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, who ultimately avoided federal prosecution in exchange for pleading guilty to a single state charge of soliciting a minor. Shortly after the plea deal was reached, Reinhart left the government and spent ten years in private practice. Among those he represented were Epsteins housekeeper and pilots, according to court filings. Reinhart became a magistrate judge on March 14, 2018. Reinharts wife, Carolyn Bell, is also a judge. She was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, to a state circuit court in 2018. Reinhart shared the announcement on Facebook. On the same page, Reinhart criticized then-President-elect Trump, taking issue with Trumps criticism of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who has since passed away. I generally ignore the President-elects tweets, but not this one, Reinhart wrote, adding later that he agreed with the statement, Donald Trump doesnt have the moral stature to kiss John Lewiss feet. Sanjay (in picture) said that BJP will help realise the aspiration of Telangana martyrs and support the statehood protagonists. He called upon poets, artists and intellectuals to join the BJP. Facebook HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Saturday alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos administration had let down those who gave up their lives to achieve statehood. Rao has been running an autocratic and naya-Nizam rule and had not supported families of martyrs, he said. He was speaking after the Praja Sangrama Yatra reached Thungathurthy Assembly constituency on Saturday. He paid rich tributes to Telangana martyr Srikantha Chary. Sanjay said that the Telangana movement gathered momentum after Chary had immolated himself. However, Rao was least concerned about improving the lot of the educated youth, he said. He said that BJP will help realise the aspiration of Telangana martyrs and support the statehood protagonists. He called upon poets, artists and intellectuals to join the BJP. He met a cotton farmer Yadagiri in Anajpur village and inquired about their problems. Yielding to his request, Sanjay drove a tractor in the fields. Sanjay thanked the people for hoisting the National Flag marking the diamond jubilee celebrations of independence. Western nations provided Kiev billions of dollars in aid at the commencement of the Russian special forces operation in Ukraine, but the majority of it has come in the form of weapons to engage Russian forces. It appears that some Ukrainians, nevertheless, put the weapons to good use. This is how Ukrainians sell the NATO-supplied weapons abroad. Investigations has revealed that certain US-supplied weapons have already been seen on dark net marketplaces and in international smuggling networks, proving that Moscows warnings to western nations about the risks of unrestrainedly flooding Ukraine with weapons are beginning to come true. After a scan across marketplaces on the dark net a different portion of the internet accessible, for instance, through the Tor browser an online shop named Weapons Ukraine was discovered on the THIEF marketplace. Faithful to its name, it readily sells firearms. Express Delivery of 200 Rifles Weapons Ukraine claims to be situated in Kiev, has a Russian name, and boasts of 32 successful deals validated by a guarantor an intermediary given by the hidden website to ensure that a client receives their goods and the seller receives their money. The shops proprietor sells M4S assault rifles from US arms suppliers for $2,400, which is far more than the Pentagons pricing range of $600 to $1,200. Screenshot of weapons Ukraine shop on the THEIF dark web marketplace. But unlike Pentagon, Weapons Ukraine is prepared to sell several hundred of these guns to anyone around without any bureaucratic difficulties, such as export licenses. In this example, the online store accepted to sell to Houthi fighters from Yemen who went by the alias 3ladin houthi a fictitious identity assumed by the Sputnik Arabic journalist. When the journalist contacted the trader, who was addressed in Arabic and converted into English via an internet translator, the guns dealer asked to switch to Wickr messenger for future interactions. Via: EETimes: British startup Opteran, a spinout of the University of Sheffield, has a completely different view of neuromorphic engineering compared to most of the industry. The company has reverseengineered insect brains to derive new algorithms for collision avoidance and navigation that can be used in robotics. Opteran calls its new approach to AI natural intelligence, taking direct biological inspiration for the algorithm portion of the system. This approach is separate to existing computer vision approaches, which mainly use either mainstream AI/deep learning or photogrammetry, a technique that uses 2D photographs to infer information about 3D objects, such as dimensions. Opterans natural intelligence requires no training data, and no training, more like how a biological brain works. Deep learning today is capable of narrow AI it can execute carefully defined tasks within a limited environment such as a computer game but huge amounts of training data is required, as are computation and power consumption. Opteran wants to get around the limitations of deep learning by closely mimicking what brains really do, in order to build autonomous robots that can interact with the real world while on a tight computation and energy budget. Our purpose is to reverse or reengineer natures algorithms to create a software brain that enables machines to perceive, behave, and adapt more like natural creatures, said professor James Marshall, chief scientific officer at Opteran, in a recent presentation at the Embedded Vision Summit. The German peoples vaccination status will soon be recognizable by color, thanks to an upgrade to the Health Ministrys Corona-Warn-App, reports German newspaper Berliner Zeitung. Different colors will give different rights in the future, the article notes, adding that a similar system already exists in China. Which is hardly comforting, especially given how some Chinese authorities appear to be abusing that system. While many EU countries, including even neighboring Austria, have softened or suspended their COVID-19 vaccine passport restrictions, Germanys Health Minister Karl Lauterbach seems determined to take them to a new level. This week, he unveiled Germanys Corona plans for the autumn in the latest iteration of the so-called Infection Protection Act. Some of the proposed plans have not gone down well with the public. Even politicians and some newspapers are kicking up a stink. Different Colors, Different Rights Most controversial of all is the Health Ministrys plan to repurpose the Corona-Warn-App into a color-coded system as a means of more easily corroborating peoples vaccination status. As already mentioned, the apps different colors will confer different rights in the future. Those rights will apparently include the ability to access certain public places as well as the right not to wear a mask in hospitality venues. In order to qualify, you need to have been vaccinated in the past three months or have recently recovered from infection. Lauterbach has previously stated that forcing the unvaccinated or undervaccinated to wear a mask in public almost like a badge of shame might cause them to reconsider their position on the vaccines: It will certainly be an incentive to think about whether they would like to be vaccinated. All of this no doubt sounds familiar to American readers. After all, it is a virtual replica of the Biden Administrations Mission Accomplished mask reversal back in May 21. As Yves noted at the time, the CDC [thought] it was reasonable to operate on a vaccination honor system and have the vaccinated ditch masks and social distancing. That was despite the fact that only 35% of Americans were fully vaccinated and it was not yet known whether breakthrough asymptomatic cases could spread the disease. Now, we know they can. We also know that the current crop of vaccines do precious little when it comes to actually protecting against transmission of the virus. Lauterbach himself knows this from first-hand experience, given he is currently grappling with his second COVID-19 infection despite having received four shots of COVID-19 vaccines. Given what he knows about the vaccines leaky nature, encouraging, or perhaps better put, compelling recently vaccinated people to dump their masks makes zero sense from a public health perspective unless, of course, the only goal is to maximize vaccination. Of course, by the time the draft law is in place, in early October, Pfizer-BioNtech may have already launched its new Omicron-adapted vaccine. For the moment, the average rate of uptake for a second booster among adults in the EU is extremely low, at just 7.5%. That compares to 64% for the first booster. Of course, Lauterbacks policy proposals may help to boost demand for the largely German-manufactured product once it does hit the market. Color-Coded Control Germanys color-coded app was developed by SAP and T-Systems, the IT services arm of Deutsche Telekom, and is an update on the previous system that showed whether someone falls into the 3G, 2G or 2G-plus (Germanys Covid pass rules) category. A color coded system will apparently make it quicker and easier to process vaccine passport holders. With the contract for the app set to expire at the end of 2022, its developers have been lobbying for the contract to be extended and its applications expanded, reports Der Spiegel. They argue that the apps high level of support among the scientific and medical communities and its wide installation base mean that it is far too good for a place in the Museum of Communication. They would much prefer it either to be recalibrated as a general federal warning app or to be expanded to include the electronic patient file (ePA) of every citizen. So far the health ministry has rejected these proposals. Its worth noting that T-Systems has already played a key role in making the EUs vaccine passport systems interoperable and was recently chosen by the World Health Organization (WHO) to do the same at a global level. Of course, Germany would not be the first country to roll out a color-coded app as part of its COVID-19 response. Beijing has been operating one for some time, albeit not to denote a citizens vaccination status but rather the state of each persons health, proximity to COVID-19 cases, abnormal PCR test results and failure to take a PCR test within the 3-7 day cycle (h/t bonks). Unlike Germany, China does not have a vaccine mandate. But as the article in Berliner Zeitung notes, the so-called Health Code apps do play a crucial role in the country: The apps create movement profiles and display the state of [each persons] health. Depending on the color, the users have different rights. A green code allows free movement while orange and red mean quarantine for up to two weeks In China, you are not allowed to work, shop or ride the train without the right app colour. The Health Code apps, now universally installed and accepted, can also be used to control citizens for other purposes, as the German state broadcaster Tagesschau reported in February (machine translated): Wang Yu has not been able to move freely for some time. She is a lawyer in China and a critic of the authoritarian Chinese regime. She has often been placed under house arrest. But recently the regime appears to have developed a different method: her health app does not show the green code despite receiving three negative PCR test results. As a lawyer, I had to deal with a case in court. But they changed my code to yellow, says Wang Yu. I was completely helpless. You cant move at all, you cant go anywhere. In the meantime, nothing works without the health app in Chinas big cities: Wang Yu is turned away at the supermarket without the green code. She cannot board a taxi, bus, subway or train. In Beijing, even the entrances to apartments are monitored. Everyone lives within a gated compound with only one entry. Guards have set up their border posts there. Everyone has to scan the QR code with the health app and show the green code. At first, Wang Yu couldnt go to her home either. Because their app didnt work again and again. The guards at the barrier to Wang Yus condominium would not let her in. After a heated argument, the guards let them pass. But you dont know what tomorrow will bring. Maybe the guard wont let me through then. And I cant break in here, says the lawyer. What drives Wang Yu almost insane: Everything is based on arbitrariness. There are no laws governing the use of the health app. Im a lawyer. I love the law. I need precise rules to follow. However, the Chinese parliament has not decided on this. There is nothing. No paper, no regulations. The restrictions imposed by the app are completely illegal, Wang Yu concludes. In recent months local authorities in Central China even used the COVID-19 health app to prevent account holders from seeking access to funds that have been frozen by their banks. According to Asia Times, more than 400,000 depositors of six rural banks in Henan Province have been unable to withdraw their money since April. Yet when some of those depositors tried to travel to the banks headquarters to take part in protests, they suddenly found that the health code on their app had turned red, making them ineligible for travel. As Ive previously noted, the Western press tends to shine a bright light on the Chinese governments deployment of new digital technologies to expand its surveillance and control of the Chinese population. That was certainly the case with the recent events in Henan Province. The BBC, Bloomberg, the New York Times, CBS, CNN and France 24 all covered the story at least once. Myriad reports, some absurdly overblown, have also been published over the years on Chinas creeping introduction of a Social Credit System. Yet whenever the same highly intrusive technologies are being rolled out in so-called liberal Western democracies, the Western media is nowhere to be seen. Back in Germany Lauterbachs proposals are meeting strong resistance, both in the media and in political circles, particularly within the ranks of the SDPs junior coalition party, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the two main opposition parties, the CDU and AfD. Like them, Germanys widest read tabloid, Bild Zeitung, accuses Lauterbach of adopting panic measures. One article even posits that the renewed pressure to get vaccinated may form part of a plan to get rid of Germanys huge stockpiles of surplus vaccines before they expire. The small details of the proposals have been well set out in many newspapers, including the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, which carefully dissects the various measures before commenting clearly on each proposal. There are, it says, few objections to a proposal to reimpose FFP2 mask wearing on long-distance trains and flights from German airports from October 1 this year to April 7, 2023 (Good Friday). Where the paper takes issue is that the new measures will place a huge strain on hospitality, sport and cultural events if their respective staff and security guards have to check who is freshly jabbed (i.e. within the past 3 months), who is in recovery (i.e. have had the virus in the previous 3 months) and who needs to be tested on site (at the expense of the hospitality business). The three-month period is out of step with other European countries applying six or nine-month periods. It also clashes with recommendations from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which warned in January that boosting every few months is not a long-term option since it risks adversely affecting the immune system. It also goes against the recommendations of Stiko, the body of public health experts who report to the government. I dont understand why you should be vaccinated every three months, said CDU health expert Erwin Ruddel. In all other European countries, planning for the Corona winter is handled differently. Even Lauterbach himself says he doesnt expect people to get vaccinated every three months. Yet why set the limit for eligibility at three months? The new laws, if implemented in their present form, will provide an overarching need for compliance tempered by each of the 16 federal states having the right to add their own measures depending on the severity of any localised outbreak. But according to Ruddel, the draft proposals will probably be heavily watered down by the time they have completed their passage through the Bundestag. Some civic-minded Germans may feel affronted by an article likening what some would regard as relatively modest, if somewhat unenforceable, measures with elements of Chinas creeping high-tech dystopia. But it is worth remembering that Germany and Austria led the way back in 2021 in introducing (or at least trying to) lockdowns of the unvaccinated and universal vaccine mandates, even as it was becoming clear that the vaccines themselves offered zero hope of controlling the spread of the virus. As Melbourne stumbled into another lengthy lockdown this time last year, Corrie Perkin was forced to make a heartbreaking decision she would close her bookshop in Hawksburn after 12 years. The combination of six lockdowns and fruitless negotiations over a new rental agreement brought the saga to an abrupt end. It was a wretched time for everybody, but for Perkin it meant serious reflection about what would come next. What she didnt want to do was go back to journalism (she worked on this masthead) or working in communications, as she did at the National Gallery of Victoria. Corrie Perkin in Sorrento this week. Credit:Eddie jim She wanted something with books and authors her passion and thats when she dreamed up the idea of the Sorrento Writers Festival, which launches Sunday and will take place April 27-30 next year. The peninsula town has always had a special place in her heart. Theres a photo of her sitting on the front beach clutching a bottle of Tarax soft drink in her two-year-old hands. Her parents had bought land in Sorrento and intended to build, but it had to be sold when her father, Graham Perkin, then editor of The Age, died suddenly. The expectation is set long before we walk through the front door. Smile a lot, make future plans with her and do not, under any circumstances, mention The C Word, my mother says as she smokes a nervous, final cigarette under the awning. Stunned silent, I want to shout, The only reason were here is because of The C Word, but I dare not; I know Im here to say goodbye to someone Ive adored my whole life. Someone who everyone knows is nearing the end of her months-long battle with cancer her doctors, her family (both immediate and distant), and even her neighbours while she herself has no idea she has it. The reality of the situation is even more ridiculous than it sounds. What do you do when everyone knows your loved one is dying but they insist on keeping it a secret from the patient themselves? Credit:Stocksy To give this story some context, in some cultures China, Japan and my ancestral home of Turkey, where this scene plays out the belief that to tell a patient of their impending death is to hasten it perseveres. In a minority of cases, the patients family collude with his or her doctors and opt out of telling the truth, explaining the lengthy hospital stays, painful treatments and vials of pills upon a series of pesky-but-certainly-not-terminal maladies. To date, my great-aunt has had irritable bowel syndrome, gallstones and many exploratory procedures and while its true she has defied medical expectation and lived (and lived), keeping up with the lie has been devastating for everyone else. When we finally enter the flat, my great-aunt looks drawn and sallow but sweeps me up into a generous hug. Did you see how many gallstones they removed? she says, showing me a bowl full of them. Yes, Hala, I respond, using the Turkish word for aunty and wondering where on earth my uncles found whatever is in the bowl. HYDERABAD: The Munugode Assembly constituency is all set to witness hectic political activity with back-to-back bypoll campaign meetings scheduled on August 20 and 21, by the TRS and the BJP. Both the parties have taken the upcoming bypoll in Munugode necessitated by the resignation of MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy as a matter of great importance. Kicking off what promises to be a high decibel no-holds-barred campaign with a public meeting in the constituency, Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao will address a gathering on August 20. Though it is not certain who the TRS candidate will be, it is expected that Rao could make an official announcement at the meeting regarding that. Meanwhile, the TRS is making plans to mobilise massive crowds for the meeting with the likes of former minister and MLC P. Mahendar Reddy on Saturday saying that they were making plans to mobilise at least one lakh people for the event. The BJP is also gearing up for its massive show of strength on August 21, the day after Raos meeting. The BJP meeting is to be addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah and will see Rajgopal Reddy join the party. For the BJP, the Munugode byelection has become a matter of prestige with the national party throwing its entire weight behind its state unit. The BJP sees Munugode bypoll win as the first serious step towards coming to power in the state when elections for the Assembly are held next year. Meanwhile, with two major public events around the corner in Munugode, the district police have begun preparations to ensure foolproof bandobast arrangements and also to ensure hassle-free movement for the people attending the meetings. Nalgonda superintendent of police Rema Rajeswari said since both meeting venues had been finalised well in advance, they had already started work on the ground. Since both meetings are huge and will have public movement from surrounding mandals, ensuring hassle-free public movement would be the priority and also the security of the VVIPs attending the meetings. We have already deployed teams to chalk out plans for traffic movement. Crowd management would be another priority for both the meetings, she said. Nine months after the tabling of Jenkins Set the Standard report and just as our stomachs were recovering from the scandalous behaviour it exposed in the federal parliament the Broderick review has hit our desks with a thud, this time with a focus on the culture in the NSW parliament. Two extraordinary women, both sex discrimination commissioners (one current and one former), both charged with reviewing parliamentary workplaces because of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct. Its ironic that two accomplished women Kate Jenkins and Elizabeth Broderick have been sent in to clean up a culture that exists due to the bear-pit nature of Australias parliaments. Premier Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor addressing the media after the release of the Broderick review on Friday. Credit:Louise Kennerley But theres one way to improve the bear pit: reduce the number of bears. In the federal report, gender inequality was cited as a driver of bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault within parliament. And by crowding out women at the most senior levels a male-dominated and testosterone-fuelled culture dominates. Nine News reported Fadlallah was the former girlfriend of Sydney crime figure Helal Safi, a drug dealer, standover man and Kings Cross bouncer who died in January last year. There used to be an unwritten rule in the criminal element that you dont touch family and women. I think that rule of engagement and rule book has been thrown out the window, Doherty said. They just dont care any more. I think this demonstrated how low theyve got to this point where any person that may be associated with someone they want to target, they dont discriminate. That is an unwritten rule and it has never been broken. It is unprecedented. Police located three burnt-out cars in Moorebank, Revesby and Yagoona and are investigating whether they are linked to the incident. Credit:Dean Sewell Several crime scenes have been established, which will be examined by specialist forensic police. Police also located three burnt-out cars in the surrounding suburbs of Moorebank, Revesby and Yagoona and are investigating whether they are linked to the incident. Asked about the number of shooters in the attack, and whether the three burnt cars in the suburbs surrounding the shooting were stolen, police said investigations were continuing. The two women were at the Hendy Avenue residence with friends before a night out, and Hazouri, a hairdresser, was there to style Fadlallahs hair, Nine News reported. Mother of two Lametta Fadlallah, 48, and Amneh al-Hazouri, 39, died after a shooting targeting Fadlallah on Saturday night. Credit:Channel 9 The 39-year-old was remembered in a tribute from her workplace on Sunday.We are shattered, our heart is broken, you left us too soon, may your memory be eternal GOD bless your soul. Till we meet again, the post read. About 8.40pm Prayoon Kradphej was watching television in his home on Hendy Avenue across the street from the shooting. When the bullets were fired on the quiet street, he thought he was hearing fireworks. It went boom, boom, boom and all the dogs started barking, he said. My wife said, Dont go out anywhere, its a gunshot, they might shoot you. Twenty minutes later there were police everywhere, he said. After it was sprayed with bullets, the silver four-wheel drive sped around the corner onto Weston Street and drove about 800 metres up the road. A Weston Street resident, who didnt want to be named, called the police when she heard a man and a hysterical woman emerge from the car. They were walking around and the two injured people were in the back, she said. He was trying to get her back into the car and she was visibly distraught and hysterical. I thought it was maybe domestic violence so I called the police just in case. Two other cars pulled up after the four-wheel drive but drove away when police arrived, she said. Two women shot in Sydneys west were treated by paramadics on Revesby resident Peter Aitkins driveway. Credit:Dean Sewell Revesby resident Peter Aitkin said the three cars came down Weston Street really fast and pulled up outside his home. A group of men and women emerged from the cars and there were raised voices, a commotion, and men moaning in distress. A crime scene has been declared after a womans body was found on the side of a Queensland road. The woman was found dead on the side of 4AK Road at Oakey. Police said the 47-year-old woman was found dead on the side of 4AK Road at Oakey, about two hours west of Brisbane, just before 8am on Saturday morning. Early information indicates the woman may have been struck by a vehicle between 8am and midnight, a police statement read. Police were continuing to investigate the incident and asked for anyone with dashcam footage from the area to come forward. Tech giant Apple is embedding itself in Australian schools, accrediting Apple teachers and awarding its most devoted schools distinguished status, in a move one expert says risks distorting established recognition of teaching expertise. Apple has awarded almost 50 schools in Australia Apple distinguished school status for demonstrating the companys vision for learning with technology. Teachers out to gain Apple teacher accreditation must complete online modules that prove their proficiency with Apple products. Students at Warringa Park School in Hoppers Crossing, one of almost 50 Apple distinguished schools in Australia. Prerequisites for achieving distinguished school status include that all students use Apple technology for learning, that the Apple platform is used in innovative ways, and that staff are proficient with devices such as iPads and Mac computers. The influence of Apple on Australian education is being studied in a federally funded project led by Australian Catholic University research fellow Dr Steven Lewis. I arrived at the soiree atop one of the city hotels a little late, taking a glass of fizz from a waiter and seeking out a familiar face in one corner of the assembled throng. In an opposite corner was Lillian Frank, social diarist for the opposition weekend papers whom I had not noticed at that stage. But I soon did. Lawwwrence! came the cry in Lillians distinctive accent. Dont you love me any more! Oh gawd. Heads turned, I waved limply. Seems Melbournes self-appointed social matriarch thought that, as a new gossip columnist on the scene (I think it was my Tattler column in the afternoon Herald at the time), I should have sought her out immediately. You know, a sort of column buddy. Lillian was a force of nature in her prime and her column-writing prime lasted a helluva long time. Lillian Frank: As well as her bouffant hair style she was wearing long, long false eye lashes. Credit:Age photographer Through changes of newspaper editorship, through changes of company ownership, Lillian Franks weekly jottings endured. No one pretended she was a good writer, or even a real journalist, but she had a phenomenal circle of contacts, many of whom, in the early days, seemed to be the wives and partners of business bulls and Rich Listers. Australia is in trouble with China again. This week the Chinese ambassador in Canberra, Xiao Qian, came close to threatening war over Australian support for Taiwan. So much for Labors China honeymoon. But dont start work on that backyard bomb shelter yet. A simple online search of China threatens Australia turns up 25 million hits, or about one for every Australian. Its nothing personal. Chinas gonna China. Chinas ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra on August 10, 2022. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen What is personal is Chinese leader Xi Jinpings deepening isolation and paranoia. Xi is clearly still in charge, but he rules through a balance of enemies, not a preponderance of friends. He must continually stoke conflict in order to maintain his authority, and that includes international conflict. Australia is only an incidental factor in his domestic political balancing act. Xi has held the top job in China for 10 years and his mandate is now up for renewal. Some call it a mandate from heaven on the model of the old Chinese emperors. Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, that mandate has come from the Chinese Communist Party, with the leader of China governing through a broad consensus of the party elite. Washington: Americas large drug companies spent more than any other industry to lobby Congress and federal agencies this year but still suffered a major defeat after failing to stop a bill that allows the government to negotiate prices on select drugs. Despite the pharmaceutical industrys spending at least $US142 million ($200 million) on lobbying efforts, the $US430 billion Inflation Reduction Act to change climate, health and tax policies will become law. A win for Democrats: President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base. Credit:AP The Democratic-led US House of Representatives approved bill on Friday that is seen as the biggest climate package in US history, delivering a major legislative victory for President Joe Biden ahead of the November 8 midterm elections. It cleared its largest hurdle last week with passage in the Senate, without any Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the bill, followed by passage by the US House of Representatives. A start-up developing an on-the-go cleaning case for reusable menstrual cups has won a slice of 75,000 in funding from the University of Bristol. For their final year research project Kira Goode and Monica Wai surveyed thousands of women to find what deterred them from using the sustainable period product. The result was Cup2, a portable sterilising and cleaning case that tackles what they found to be the two key barriers to use: concerns about changing them in public toilets and difficulty steralising at home, particularly in shared houses. Kira and Monica, who have now graduated, will use the 11,500 to fund their current patent application, as they look to go public with the design in the next few months. Consumer testing is now nearing competition and they hope to bring Cup2 to market in June 2023. Kira and Monica calculate that those using a menstrual cup and their cleaner will save 564 over five years and use 96.6% less single-use plastic (from disposable menstrual products) over 10 years. They hope to donate a Cup2 for every one they sell. Monica, who studied for an Integrated Masters in Management with Innovation at Bristol, said: It feels crazy to have won! It really makes the hard work worth it and its so exciting to be closer to our launch target! Ultimately, our mission is to help and improve the lives of menstruators. We hope that by creating this product and building a community we can work towards reducing some of the taboo surrounding periods. We also want to help the environment by reducing the use of single use plastics. Kira, who studied for an Integrated Masters in Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Innovation, said: Its amazing to win this funding, which is going to make a real difference to what were doing. The only competitor currently on the market only fits very specific cups. Ours will cater for every size and shape. Cup2 will have a big impact on peoples lives, and on the environment too! Other winners of University of Bristol start-up funding include: Route Zero , a carbon calculator that shows the cost, duration and environmental impact of different transport options for a given journey. Founder Albie Baker-Smith won 10,000 and a one year membership to SETsquared Bristol , the University of Bristols world leading tech incubator. , a carbon calculator that shows the cost, duration and environmental impact of different transport options for a given journey. , the University of Bristols world leading tech incubator. Big Sister Swap , a clothes swapping service that allows users to refresh their wardrobes sustainably. Founder Hudi Charin won 7,000 . , a clothes swapping service that allows users to refresh their wardrobes sustainably. . Milbotix , whose smart socks alert carers to signs of distress caused by pain, anxiety or frustration, and could be used by 1.5 million people living in the UK with dementia, an autism spectrum disorder or a learning disability. Founder Zeke Steet won 20,000 and pro-bono legal support from law firm VWV. , whose smart socks alert carers to signs of distress caused by pain, anxiety or frustration, and could be used by 1.5 million people living in the UK with dementia, an autism spectrum disorder or a learning disability. Eleat, a company producing a tasty, healthy cereal that is high in protein, high in fibre, low in sugar, vegan-friendly and gluten free. Founders Hywel Rose and Hugh Hamilton-Green won 10,000. Michele Barbour, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise & Innovation at the University of Bristol, said: We were once again bowled over by the range of genuinely new and interesting business ideas sent to us by our students, staff and alumni. Its hugely positive to see that many of the prospective businesses had a conscious aim to improve peoples lives and solve real world problems. Not everyone can win, but we hope all those who sent us their brilliant ideas go on to pursue them. Last year, two students building the UKs first female urinal won University of Bristol start-up funding. PEEQUALs urinals have since become a common sight at UK festivals, including Glastonbury.